Torah, Cheesecake, & My M-16

The Jerusalem Post recently reported on the efforts of the Jewish Chaplains Council and the Aleph Institute to help deployed troops celebrate Shavuot.

The Jewish Chaplains Council teamed up with the Jewish Publication Society to send 2,750 copies of the Book of Psalms and the Torah to Jewish soldiers. The Aleph Institute sent out more than 1,000 “shelf-stable” portions of cheesecake so the troops could have a traditional dairy meal for the holiday.

The article discusses the two organizations’ overall efforts to support Jewish troops and shares some of the experiences of chaplains in theater. My favorite anecdote from the article:

[Rabbi] Kronenberg recalls one soldier in Afghanistan who attended every religious service Kronenberg held, and regularly asked the rabbi questions about Judaism.

Before Kronenberg left, the soldier asked him to call his parents to tell them he was OK. When Kronenberg did so a few days later, he mentioned how impressed he was by the soldier’s Jewish commitment.

“That’s funny; he never attended any services here,” the parents said.