Chabad Rabbi First Rabbi Ever to Address U.S. Military Chaplaincy

Editor’s note: Chabad Lubavitch has really been out there supporting the troops. This is the kind of material one really enjoys posting.

HILTON HEAD, S. CAROLINA – (March 21, 2008)

Dvora Lakein

In a speech hailed by one priest as the most inspiring talk since Martin Luther King Jr., Chabad Rabbi Yossi Jacobson addressed the Chief of Chaplains Senior Leader’s Training Conference on March 6, 2008.

As the featured religious speaker at the event in Hilton Head, South Carolina, Rabbi Jacobson was the first rabbi to ever address the United States Military’s annual chaplaincy event.

His invitation came at a very difficult time for the U.S. Military Chaplains. Two-star General Chief of Chaplains Doug Carver later reflected, “We are broken, but Rabbi Jacobson helped us find light within our brokenness.”

During the five-day conference, General Carver and other advisors tried to instill faith within the beleaguered chaplains’ hearts. These spiritual advisors “have grown tired and stressed in the midst of providing ministry and support to those who are fighting the war,” said General Carver of the seven-year battle in Iraq and the general war against terrorism. The goal of the conference is to provide them with the religious strength to continue their personal battle.

Colonel Yakov Goldstein, also a Chabad rabbi, who has been in the military for more than three decades and is currently the highest ranking Jewish chaplain, was approached by conference organizers a year ago. Coordinators wanted his help to create a “different kind of event,” in what would be General Carver’s first year as chief of chaplains. They specifically wanted a Jewish speaker to “break the Christian paradigm.”

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