Keeping the Faith from page A20

they know more about holidaysi just get
really psyched at services so I end up lead-
ing them. I have been working on modern-
izing the music and prayers so that they
speak to a more modern audience!'
Married by Rabbi Marla Hornsten of
Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, the cou-
ple currently holds synagogue member-
ship not far from their Kentucky base at
Congregation Micah in Brentwood, Tenn.,
where both volunteer and attend services.
They also are involved in organizations
supporting and connecting Jews in the
military, including the Aleph Institute and Jews in Green.
"Believe it or not, many military instillations have synagogues or at least organized
Jewish groups on them," Jessica said. "Both of these organizations connect these com-
munities and support them. And every military base we have been to has something
going on. It may be small or hard to find, but there is always a network, a community, a
Shabbat gathering. The small Jewish group I belong to in the Army is the most egalitar-
ian group of people I have found in the military. It doesn't matter if you are a colonel or
a private, a wife or a friend, religious, secular or a convert, born in the U.S.A., Russia or
Israel. We are all a part of it, and we all take care of each other."
Said Roman, "Being Jewish in the service is like being Jewish anywhere else. Having
my challenges and difficulties helps me to build a bond with Hashem that I do my best
to carry over to when times are good. I see the effects of Hashem's work every day; I
talk to Him every day, all day. There is nothing that I have that Hashem did not give to
me, and nothing that I lose which He does not take. The best that Hashem gave me was
Jessy; she is the perfect wife for a soldier who is deployed. She is strong, independent
and takes great pride in running the household. With her I have no worries about my
home [shalom in the home].
"That is not something every one can say, and it really is a miracle that just kind of
happened. So being Jewish is very simple in the military and anywhere else. It takes
three things: strong emunah, a strong connection to Hashem and to reach out to your
neighbor!"

Jessica Kocherovsky:
An Army Wife's Perspective

Jessica Kocherovsky reflects on being Jewish,
having a husband serving in Iraq, living on an
Army base and raising a Jewish child. "Roman
can get kosher foods and occasionally a rabbi
is flown in, but that is not really what it means
to be a Jew in the military," she said. "The
accommodations the Army gives you are not
the important ones. The important ones are
the ones that you make for yourself.
"It is when you come home and touch your
mezuzah and get the strength to leave your
baggage of a day full of the weight of the
world being loaded on your shoulders, life and
death decisions unfolding before your eyes,
and hearts and minds being broken and put
back together, all left at the door.
"It is when you have been in Ranger school too long and all you have to cling
to is the memory of the Shema and your ability to talk to God.
"It is when you are going on a mission, a real mission. No glamour, just risk,
responsibility and danger. You put on your armor that you had blessed by your
rabbi at the temple in the sanctuary before the Torah in front of God. A bless-
ing that makes the act feel blessed; something that gives you emunah in God,
in yourself and in you coming back.
"It is when you go in to labor early and you know not even God can move
your husband across the desert fast enough to squeeze your hand no matter
how hard you pray, so instead you squeeze God's hand.
"It is when God gives you the strength to have 15 months of Shabbat dinners
with an empty plate next to yours and a baby who doesn't know her father.
"You learn in the military that the accommodation is God."

❑

Steve
Shelden:

An Officer And
A Doctor

Navy Lt. Dr. Steve

Bloomfield Township native Steven Shelden recently received two
new titles, courtesy of the U.S. Navy. Two weeks ago, he gradu-
ated from officer development school as a newly commissioned
lieutenant; a month earlier he graduated from Michigan State
University College of Osteopathic Medicine, which he attended on
a Navy scholarship.
"I've always been patriotic and always felt I could do more
to serve my community, so when I was offered a scholarship to
medical school, it just seemed like the right thing to do:' said
Shelden, an Eagle Scout, who turns 26 on July 3. "Looking back, I
don't remember a moment
where I said `I'm going to do this.'
I just moved along the process
slowly, until I was taking my oath.
But I know that if I had to do it
all over again, I'd make the same
decision."
A member of Temple Kol Ami
in West Bloomfield, Shelden said,
"I'm just leaving a training com-
mand where I was during Shavuot.
If I requested special privileges
for Shabbat or for Shavuot, I was
given them. And I was offered
special food arrangements if I
desired!"
Shelden, who is set to begin his
residency in internal medicine at
the National Naval Medical Center

in Bethesda, Md., next month, has hardly been surrounded by
other Jewish service men and women. "In my training company
of 40 doctors, nurses, lawyers and chaplains, there are four Jews,
including two new rabbinical chaplain candidates:' he said. "I'm
told that's a much higher proportion than the rest of the Navy.
There are only about 10 rabbis in the entire Navy. Jewish services
are rare, and eating completely kosher would be difficult if not
impossible. Most Jews I've met who do keep kosher go with veg-
etarian choices."
Shelden's duo-achievements make him a third-generation
osteopathic physician with military ancestors going four genera-
tions back. His great-grandfather, the late Fred Cam, served in
the Mexican-American War as a cavalryman; his great-grand-
father, the late Samuel Sinkoff, served during World War I in the
quartermaster corps; and his grandfather, the late Dr. Manuel P.
Shelden, served in Europe as an infantryman during World War
II. Shelden's great-uncle Donald Carn of Bloomfield Township
served as a naval aviator in the Pacific during WWII.
Steve's parents, Dr. Michael and Kathleen Shelden of Bloomfield
Township, acknowledge this heritage. "We're proud of them all, but
especially of Steve with his recent accomplishments:' said Michael.
"There were three student rabbis in Steve's class in officer devel-
opment school; one Conservative, one Orthodox and one Reform','
said Michael. "Steve related to those new officers and chaplains
more on a personal than religious level. So far, Steve does not seem
to find that the Navy traditions run counter to those of Judaism.
He seems to have embraced both, which we feel is an indication of
his strength as a citizen and as a Jewish man."

❑

Call To Duty on page A22

July 3 • 2008

A21