During Vietnam, "the
JWB had cases of kosher
food which they made
available to Jewish
chaplains to supplement
diets," said Rabbi Landman,
the council's part-time depu-
ty director. "Apparently
they had a budget that made
this possible."
Jews who remained in
uniform were most often in
places where obtaining
kosher food was relatively
easy.
Subsequent budget cuts
and staff reductions left the
council's skeleton,
peacetime staff ill-equipped
to meet the needs of many of
the front line soldiers, Rabbi
Landman said.
Many Jewish organiza-
tions, remembering the
council's service in previous
wars, turned to them this
time as well, only to find
them unprepared and
faith, with little or no help
from the council, according
to several chaplains and
Jewish organization leaders.
"The JWB basically told
the Department of Defense
that they could get away
with less (for the Jewish ser-
vicemen)," said William
Rapfogel, director of the Or-
thodox Union's Institute for
Public Affairs. "That's very
troubling."
Additionally, both the
Defense Department and the
council questioned as late as
December whether any
kashrut observant ser-
vicemen were even in the
Gulf.
"No Jewish personnel
have requested kosher ra-
tions," other than for holi-
days and "other times when
they have wanted to keep
kosher for special occa-
sions," Col. David Peterson,
head of chaplains for the
military's central command
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
said in a December phone
interview.
"There is no problem with
active-duty servicemen,"
said Rabbi Lapp, adding that
only Jewish reservists at
home have expressed any
concern.
Chaplains who have been
in contact with those ser-
vicemen disagree.
"There are definitely full-
time kosher people over
there," said Rabbi Brett C.
Oxman, a chaplain stationed
at Lowry Air Force Base in
Denver.
He received a letter from
3
one soldier who has been
subsisting on "dates and
L nuts" because the military's
standard ration, called
MBE's —Meals Ready to Eat
Rabbi Brett C. Oxman of Denver sent
— are not kosher.
over $6,000 of kosher food to the
Many of MRE entrees are
Persian Gulf.
made with pork, none meet
understaffed, the chaplains
rabbinic standards of
and Orthodox organization
kashrut, and ingredients are
representatives said.
not listed.
"The government assumed
"Technically, I couldn't
that the JWB would take
even eat the peanut butter
care of it, when the JWB was
because I don't know where
running with a peacetime
it came from," said Victor
staff," said Rabbi Mark A.
Stiebel of Baltimore, an ac-
Abramowitz, an army
tive-duty Navy physician at
chaplain for 21 years now
Bethesda Naval Hospital
stationed at Ft. Monmouth,
outside Washington who
keeps kosher.
N.J.
The council has sent more
This problem is com-
than 2,000 individual seder
pounded by reservists being
kits, as well as three shofars
called up to serve in the
and hundreds of skull caps,
Gulf.
prayer books, menorahs and
Jews comprise a much
candles since August to Jews
larger portion of the reserve
serving in the Persian Gulf.
forces than they do in the ac-
But you can't eat a ram's
tive-duty military. This is
horn, and a seder kit is
especially true of the highly-
designed to last for only one
trained specialized reser-
vists — physicians, techni-
meal.
As many as 100 kashrut-
cians and engineers — who
observant servicemen have
have been called up to serve
been struggling daily to
in large numbers.
observe the tenets of their
"They were meditating to
4
Rabbi Maurice S. Kaprow, left, and assistant John Dalpe prepare to lead High Holy Day services aboard the
USS Saratoga, then stationed in the Mediterranean.
the very end, on how many
Jews there were, and if
kosher food was needed,"
one senior chaplain said of
the council. "I don't care if
there's only one Jewish kid
who needs it, we have to
provide it."
Separate Efforts
When many organizations
concluded the Chaplains
Council would be of little
help, they struck out on
their own, raising money
and supplies independently.
This was despite claims
from Rabbi Lapp in
December that "everything
is being taken care of" in
terms of providing for the
Jewish personnel.
"When we got reports that
people in the field were not
being serviced, we had to get
involved" by raising ques-
tions with the Pentagon, Mr.
Cohen said.
Hundreds of cases of
kosher food have been sent
from across the country,
"despite the JWB, not be-
cause of them," one chaplain
said.
Much of the support has
come in response to appeals
by one army chaplain, Rabbi
Mitchell S. Ackerson of Ft.
Bragg, N.C., who acted on
his own before he was
shipped to Saudi Arabia in
January.
He urged Jewish corn-
munities around the United
States to send kosher food or
money to purchase it for
soldiers in the Gulf.
Rabbi Lapp has said that,
because of the danger of food
spoilage, all food shipments
should be cleared with his of-
fice first. But several
chaplains charged that this
was an attempt by the coun-
cil to claim credit for the
effort. "How can matzah and
canned fish spoil?" asked
Rabbi Oxman who has
helped send more than
$6,000 in kosher food to the
Persian Gulf.
Some believe the council's
actions are an attempt to
"There are
definitely full-time
kosher people over
there."
— Chaplain Brett C. Oxman
preserve some semblance of
its former glory and to
deflect criticism of its scaled-
down effort.
"(The council) is a remnant
of the past," added Mr. Rap-
fogel of the OU. "They didn't
want to make waves .. .
They were afraid that people
wouldn't accommodate
them."
Lessons Learned
Passover marks talk of a
permanent cease-fire, and
the exodus of U.S. soldiers
from the desert.
The end of the war brings
new opportunities, many
say, to reexamine the coun-
cil's role in serving the re-
ligious needs of Jews in
uniform.
"I have a feeling that there
will be a lot of discussion
between organizations and
the JWB about their role in
all of this in the future," Mr.
Rapfogel said.
"This has been a learning
experience," said Mr. Cohen.
"Maybe they will be better
prepared and more sympa-
thetic next time."
Col. Sanford L. Dressin,
the army's senior active-
duty rabbi, has asked Rabbi
Lapp to sit down with Jew-
ish chaplains after the con-
flict, and evaluate the coun-
cil's activities, he said in a
phone interview from
Heidelberg, Germany. "I
think it's extremely impor-
tant that we look at the
positive and the negative."
Rabbi Oxman said the
council must realize that
most important is not who is
in charge of serving Jewish
military personnel for
kashrut and other religious
needs, but that they are
served.
"I think that, given their
resources and their per-
sonnel, they should assess
what they can personally
guarantee for Jewish per-
sonnel," Rabbi Oxman said.
"If they can't do it, they
should delegate it, but
overall it is their respon-
sibility to see that it is being
done." El