Army Capt. Menachem Felzenberg calls military service “really a whole family business” with several relatives serving, including his brother and father. But there’s another crucial part of that family equation, too: Felzenberg is an Orthodox Jew.
“The mission always comes first, but when you make accommodations, you certainly can serve in the military as a Jew,” said Felzenberg, a space operations officer out of Peterson SFB in Colorado. “Across the whole spectrum of military service, you can find a way to fit, and it’s important for other Jewish service members to see that and talk about it.”
Felzenberg and approximately 250 other Jewish military members were able to do exactly that at the Aleph Symposium in Bal Harbor, Florida. Held on March 5-9 and created by the Aleph Institute, the Symposium is the largest annual professional training and spiritual gathering of Jews in the U.S. armed forces. Aleph Institute estimates the number of Jews in the military to be around 15,000.
“Aleph is truly a one-stop shop for supporting Jews in all branches of the U.S. military and from all backgrounds and affiliation levels,” said Ch. Maj. Elie Estrin, an Air Force Reserve chaplain, in a press release. “Whether it’s coordinating a global Jewish military WhatsApp chat, helping Jewish soldiers stationed in Syria get Kosher food or hosting Pesach seders for the 12 Jews on Minot AFB in North Dakota, Aleph wants every Jew on active duty to know they’re not alone.”
Felzenberg, a West Point graduate, has seen that connectedness firsthand. He serves as a lay leader for Peterson and Schriever SFB, meaning he takes on leadership roles like teaching, preaching and community building within the local Jewish population. Events like the Aleph Symposium, he said, assist in building a critical network.
“I’m most excited about gaining new tools to take to the installations and soldiers I’m serving to better help them,” Felzenberg said. “Like today we had a discussion on keeping kosher in the military, and I’m learning ways to help advise soldiers and leadership and non-Jewish chaplains on how to practice Judaism in a military environment.”
Symposium offerings, meant for service members as well as their families, included Keys to a Successful Military Marriage, Challenges to the Free Exercise of Religion, Behind the Mask of Purim and more. Army Lt. Col. Shlomo Shulman, a senior chaplain currently stationed in Belgium, called the Aleph Symposium a “recharge at the mother ship.”
“Military life is isolating, and we need to reunite at least annually and learn what’s trending,” he said. “My experience of being Jewish in the military has been fantastic and unpredictable, as I get to see the world, meet amazing people, see amazing places, help people and minister to and hang out with soldiers, which is always a blast.”
Felzenberg labels the armed forces as “a melting pot” of religions, a reality he sees as positive.
“For me, it’s been very rare that I’ve run into any issues as an Orthodox Jew in the Army,” he said. “I work and pull duty on Christian holidays, so I can get Jewish holidays off. I think my Judaism has also uniquely let me support other soldiers in exercising their faith, whether it’s Christian, nonreligious, Hindu or something else, because the Jewish values and philosophy have allowed me to help a lot of people.”
For more information on the Aleph Institute, see alephmilitary.org.
