30 | NOVEMBER 30 • 2023 
J
N

SPC Rachel Baker shares 
her story at Shaarey Zedek’s 
Veterans Shabbat.

Proud to Serve M

y name is Rachel Baker, and I am 
a 20-year-old U.S. Army combat 
veteran.” 
That was Specialist (SPC) Baker’s opening 
line as she began her remarks from the bimah 
before a large gathering at the 
annual Veterans Shabbat service 
at Congregation Shaarey Zedek 
(CSZ) on Nov. 11.
I, like everyone in the congre-
gation, was riveted to Rachel’s 
every word as she spoke in detail 
about the dangerous mission 
that was her recently completed 
nine-month deployment with 
the Michigan Army National Guard in Syria. 
Dressed in her fatigues, it was hard to wrap 
your brain around the fact that only seven 
years prior, Rachel stood before this very con-
gregation as a bat mitzvah. 
Rabbi Aaron Starr and Cantor David Propis, 
the same clergy who officiated her coming-of- 
age service in 2016, were beaming from the 
bimah with pride. “It is always an honor and 
privilege to watch the children who become 
bar or bat mitzvah on our bimah grow up into 
mature, committed Jewish adults,” Rabbi Starr 
said. “Rachel’s commitment of service and 
self-sacrifice to our community, our people 
and our country is a blessing to us all. She is 
a light in the midst of a dark world. I’m so 
proud of her!”
Cantor Propis fondly echoed those senti-
ments. “I remembered Rachel’s bat mitzvah,” 
he said. “She is an old soul. And, even at 
age 13, demonstrated maturity way beyond 
her years. She was raised by two incredible 
parents and an incredible grandmother, who 
taught her values for our country and Israel. 
She is a very special lady and a born leader.”

PATRIOTISM AND PARSHAT
I had the privilege of writing a cover story 
about Rachel in the Aug. 4, 2022, edition of 
the JN, From Frankel to Fatigues, just prior to 
her deployment.
Rachel was brought up in a very patriotic 
household, a devotion that extended to the 
Baker family’s love for Israel. As I wrote at the 
time, Rachel was just a grade-schooler when 
the Bakers hosted Israeli soldiers in their 
home. Her father recalled then how proud 
he was of his daughter who, unsolicited, later 
wrote a letter to an IDF soldier thanking him 
for “keeping us and Israel safe.” That exposure 
and her 14 trips to Israel solidified Rachel’s 

Alan 
Muskovitz
Contributing 
Writer

Proud to Serve

OUR COMMUNITY

SPC Baker on her 
base in Syria as a 
Chinook helicopter 
prepares for lift off.