This Week
Sower Foe?
Did military officer go far enough to accommodate Yom Kippur rites?
JOE BERKOFSKY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
T
he Vietnam War was rag-
ing and Jack Zimmermann
was stationed in the dan-
gerous demilitarized zone
alonab the north-south border when
the High Holidays arrived in the fall
of 1965.
When combat with the Viet Cong
quieted, Zimmermann, who com-
manded an artillery battery, got
approval to attend High Holiday
services in a rear position in Da
Nang, along with a few other Jewish
Marines.
The request was not unreasonable:
The military requires its branches to
meet the religious needs of troops
unless doing so harms individual or
unit readiness, morale, discipline or
safety. "The army is very, very cog-
nizant of the obligations of Jewish
service personnel for Yom Kippur"
and other religious observances,
Zimmerman says.
So when Zimmerman — a deco-
rated combat officer, ex-Marine
prosecutor and trial judge who now
is a Houston attorney — heard
about a recent case of alleged anti-
Semitism in the military, he quickly
got involved.
Refael and Margaret Chaiken of
Houston say they were discharged
from the U.S. Army this fall because
they attended Yom Kippur services.
The Army denies the charge, insist-
ing that it tried to accommodate the
Chaikens' religious needs but that
they disobeyed orders.
"The command was really
involved and very active in working
with them, but at the same time
they had a military mission they
needed to meet," said Tanja Linton,
Orthodox
Remember MIAs
New York/JTA — Orthodox congre-
gations will commemorate missing
Israeli soldiers this Shabbat.
In an effort to draw attention to
Israeli MIAs, the Orthodox Union's
12/19
2003
24
media relations officer for Fort
Huachuca, Ariz., where the
Chaikens were stationed.
The fight began in October when
the couple disobeyed orders not to
attend daylong Yom Kippur services
at the military base, where they were
training to become interrogators in
the war on terrorism.
"I have never seen anything like
it," said Zimmermann, 62, who is
serving as the Chaikens' spokesman
and has advised them not to talk
with the media further about their
case.
Last week, the conflict escalated
when the Anti-Defamation League
and two members of Congress
appealed to the Army to review the
couple's case. In a Dec. 12 letter to
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,
ADL National Director Abraham
Foxman said if the couple's story
proves true, their civil rights may
have been violated.
"It is our understanding that the
Army customarily accommodates the
religious beliefs of its personnel,"
Foxman wrote. We believe these
accusations to be uncharacteristic of
the military."
The couple was participating in a
"human intelligence collector"
course at the base. Refael, 27, an
Orthodox Jew and a former resident
of the West Bank city of Hebron
who holds.dual citizenship and is an
Israel Defense Forces veteran, speaks
Hebrew and Arabic. Margaret, 26, a
graduate of the Sorbonne, speaks
French and Hebrew.
Got Permission
Zimmermann said the couple, both
privates, got permission from class
supervisors to attend Yom Kippur
services on Oct. 6. But the base bat-
Institute for Public Affairs is sponsor-
ing "Shabbat of Remembrance," a
weekend of prayers and services.
Congregations are being urged to
appeal to elected U.S. officials on
behalf of nearly a dozen missing
Israelis, including Israeli air force navi-
gator Ron Arad and Israeli business-
man Elhanan Tannenbaum.
talion commander, Lt. Col. Dennis
Perkins, warned the couple two days
before the holiday that if they
missed a full day's class, they would
have to start the entire four-month
course again, Zimmermann says.
Margaret, who was two weeks
away from completing the course,
agreed, as did Refael, who was two
months into the course, according to
Zimmerman. Col. Perkins deter-
mined that "military necessity
required that they attend training,"
Army spokesperson Linton said.
Instead, Col. Perkins said the cou-
ple could skip a class formation the
evening before Yom Kippur and did
not have to attend the formation at
the end of Yom Kippur so that they
could attend services later in the day
after class, Linton said.
The couple also was allowed to
forego wearing leather army boots
on Yom Kippur, Refael was allowed
to abstain from shaving and both
were allowed to skip a physical-fit-
ness session because they would be
fasting, Linton said.
The army also took other steps to
accommodate the couple religiously,
Linton said. For Rosh Hashanah,
they were driven to an Orthodox
synagogue in Tucson, though intelli-
gence trainees typically are banned
from straying far from the base. The
army also arranged a phone call
with an Orthodox chaplain to dis-
cuss observing Jewish law in the
military, and they were put in touch
with a local Orthodox layperson,
she said.
The couple attended early-morn-
ing formation on Yom Kippur but
could not be found the rest of the
day, Linton said. Zimmermann
insisted that the couple believed they
had the approval of class supervisors
to attend services all day. "They had
Brazil To Open
West Bank Office
Rio de Janero/JTA — Brazil is set
to open a diplomatic mission in
the West Bank, Brazilian media
reported.
Recently, Brazilian President Luiz
what they thought was appropriate
military approval to attend what
they believe is a religious obliga-
tion," Zimmerman said.
Other details remain unclear.
Zimmermann maintains that base
officials could easily have found the
couple at services, though Linton
said they were "unaccounted for."
In the days that followed, the cou-
ple filed a discrimination complaint
with the Army's Equal Opportunity
Department. On Nov. 14, the cou-
ple was given general discharge
papers alleging what Linton called "a
pattern of misconduct."
In addition to defying orders, the
Chaikens violated a rule against frat-
ernizing with superiors by attending
a "non-religious event" one week
after the high holiday, Linton said.
Zimmermann countered that the
couple simply accepted the invita-
tion of the wife of a local Jewish
officer stationed in Iraq to attend a
Yom Kippur break-fast meal. Now
the Chaikens are considering their
options, Zimmermann said.
Meanwhile, Reps. Robert Wexler,
D-Fla., and Chris Bell, D-Texas,
wrote Dec. 9 to the undersecretary
of the Army, Les Brownlee, asking
him to look into changing the
Chaikens' discharge from dishonor-
able to honorable, which would help
their civilian job prospects.
"We certainly understand the
importance of maintaining order
within the military. We do, however,
question why, absent any apparent
necessity, the Chaikens were denied
the opportunity to attend services,"
Bell and Wexler wrote.
Zimmermann said the couple
should fight back. "In my opin-
ion," he said, "an injustice has
occurred." ❑
Inacio Lula de Silva met with
Palestinian leaders during a visit to
Arab states.
According to Jornal do Brasil, one of
Brazil's major newspapers, the presi-
dent will visit Israel in the first half of
2004.