Another Article about Chaplain Shulman

Local man serves as Army chaplain

As the lone Jewish chaplain in Iraq, Andy Shulman currently spends his days counseling soldiers in one of the most dangerous places on earth.

For four years, Shulman, a Malden resident, worked as a program director for Congregation Beth Israel in Malden’s West End. However, as he wrote in an e-mail: “I was looking for something different.”

And something different he has found. Shulman now assists hundreds of soldiers – including American Jewish service members – as a chaplain with the Fourth Battalion of the Combat Aviation Brigade, Third Division. The battalion is stationed on the outskirts of Baghdad, outside the city’s international airport.

“The chaplain’s main responsibility is to ensure that each soldier’s Constitutional right to the free exercise of religion is being met,” Shulman wrote in an e-mail. “That’s the whole philosophy behind the military chaplaincy. Our mission is to ‘perform or provide’ religious support.”

Additionally, Shulman provides one-on-one counseling to soldiers and advises the battalion commander on troop morale and ethics. “And of course,” he added, “‘minority faith’ chaplains like me look after members of our own faith groups.”

Read the article at the Jewish Advocate.