CLOCKWISE: Art Fishman, 91, recalls taking a rickshaw to the City of Shanghai Synagogue.
Fishman’s Armed Forces prayer book. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Rabbi Allan Blustein, left, blows shofar at
a service during the 1960s in Europe.

down in Hermann Göring’s chair and
talked to them about the Holocaust,
each in terms they could understand.
They still associate the High Holidays
with a seriousness from that experi-
ence.”
Allan Blustein passed away in 1992
at age 61. He made the most of a life
shortened by a long illness. For his dis-
tinguished military career and his self-
less dedication to his country, Lt. Col.
Rabbi Allan Marshall Blustein was the
recipient of two of our nation’s most
prestigious awards: the Four Chaplains
Award and the Legion of Merit Medal.

HOLIDAYS DURING COMBAT

Colten Baitch, 32, spent his formative
years in Michigan. Raised in an
Orthodox household, his family
moved to Ann Arbor in 1993 when
he was 7 years old. After graduating
from Ann Arbor Pioneer High School,
Colten joined the Army in 2005 and
remains on active duty today.
“I’ve been an Orthodox Jew my
whole life and in my 14 years of
continued active service,” Colten says.
He has done three combat tours of
duty; twice in Iraq in 2005-2006 and
2008-2009, and once in Afghanistan
in 2010.
Colten has faced many years when
his observance of the High Holidays
and his service to his country have
intersected; none more agonizing
than when serving in a Scout Sniper
Platoon in August 2010. His platoon
had just suffered tremendous
casualties, and Baitch’s unit, deployed
in the Arghandab River Valley in the
Kandahar Province in Afghanistan,
“was ordered to clear the entire valley
of enemy fighters,” he said.
“The operation took several
weeks and went the entirety of the

High Holidays. I was one of the first
American soldiers to infiltrate the
Village of Marjan and set up a sniper
position on Rosh Hashanah … with a
siddur and an Israeli flag tucked inside
my body armor.”
The battle waged on through the
Day of Atonement. “I fasted while
fighting on Yom Kippur, with the
exception of water. I spent the day
spotting enemy fighters and calling
for mortar and artillery fire on their
positions for Bravo Company, which
was taking heavy fire. I would pray
during lulls in action. They gave
me the option to get pulled back to
observe the holiday, but our unit
was so close to one another and the
fighting was so heavy that I refused
to go.”
Colten looks back on that fateful
time in his life with no regrets. “We
ended up securing the valley and
minimizing Taliban freedom of
maneuver; never once did I ever
receive any sort of flak for being so
devout to my beliefs as a Jew.”
He said his actions earned him
respect and acknowledgement from
his peers and superiors.
“It was a memorable and solemn
fight that I will carry on my shoulders
for the rest of my life,” Colten says. “I
am proud to say I did all of this as a
Jew, a religious Jew.”
Colten still serves in the Army as
a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson in
Columbia, S.C. Thankfully, this year, he
will spend Yamim Noraim, the Days of
Awe, out of harm’s way with his local
Chabad congregation and with his
wife, Shayna, and their two daughters,
Bayla, 3, and Naomi, 1, by his side.
Wishing all our Jewish War Veterans
a happy, healthy and safe new year. •

 O T E


November 6 th

2018

Amy WechslerZDVERUQDQGUDLVHGLQWKH:HVW%ORRPÀHOG-HZLVK
Community. She has been an Attorney for over 18 years, and is a
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advocate for our citizens with opioid and other addictions, she
is helping to spread the lifesaving treatment program, Hope Not
Handcuffs, across Oakland County. She is a strong supporter of
Drug/Sobriety Treatment Court programs for non-violent offenders, as
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unemployment rates. Treatment Programs are both State and Federal
grant eligible, thereby saving the taxpayers money as well. Amy has
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www.electamyforjudge.com.

Vote Amy Wechsler for 48th District Judge
in the Non Partisan section on the back of
the ballot on November 6th!

jn

September 13 • 2018

33