Review: My Sky Pilot Career

Rabbi Landman’s memoir, My Sky Pilot Career : A Rabbi in the United States Air Force, is a wonderful look into the career of this accomplished Jewish Chaplain. For those unfamiliar with Rabbi Landman’s work, he served as an Air Force chaplain for over 25 years and played a major role in shaping the Jewish chaplaincy into what it is today. Perhaps most notably, Rabbi Landman served as the deputy director of the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council for over 20 years before retiring in 2007.

The book is a great trip through his career that spanned numerous countries and continents. I personally think it should be required reading for new Jewish chaplains (and perhaps lay leaders too). It’s a pretty easy read and at only $3.99 for the Kindle version there’s little reason not to buy it. Even if the specific events occurred decades ago, many of Rabbi Landman’s encounters and challenges are remarkably similar to the same ones we deal with today.

For example, in 1963 Rabbi Landman was assigned to visit the community at Wheelus Air Base in Libya. When he arrived he discovered that there were only 17 Jewish personnel on the roster for the base – 12 of which showed up for services (and none knew each other). After some very simple efforts the community “expanded” to 57 (25 active duty and 32 dependents), appointed a lay leader, and even started their own Jewish nursery school!

Even if you aren’t looking for examples or ideas as a chaplain or lay leader, there are a number of fantastic stories from the rabbi’s travels. One that stuck out to me was during his service in Germany. On several occasions Rabbi Landman served on the faculty for religious retreats for Jewish servicemembers stationed around Europe. These retreats were held at the U.S. Army recreation center in Berchtesgaden, Germany. For those unfamiliar, Berchtesgaden was the site of The Eagle’s Nest, Hiter’s retreat headquarters. The irony was not lost on Landman.

When a Jewish retreat took place there, a flag with the Star of David was unfurled the hotel porch, high above Berchtesgaden for all to see. Knowing that Berchtesgaden was one of the primary Bavarian breeding grounds for Naziism, I often wondered what the local burghers must have felt now that two decades had passed since Hitler’s death and a living Jewish presence was exhibited above their city!

A big takeaway  that stood out to me from Rabbi Landman’s book was his ideas of how Judaism fits into the interfaith puzzle of military chaplaincy. He recognized that Judaism is one pillar of the “tri-faith concept”. This concept is based on the idea that American culture is made up of three distinct melting pots of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. The empowering aspect of this idea is that despite our small numbers, Jews are granted a 1/3 stake in recognition and assets in the chaplaincy. In the decades since Landman’s service, it could be argued that a forth pillar that is made up of Muslims might make this a “quad-faith” concept. Even still, a 25% share is well above what our numbers would initially suggest.

It’s hard to completely explain the concept here (I’ll save that for the book), but there are responsibilities as well as rewards to us holding this elevated status in the share of religious resources in the military. It’s clear that this idea was a guiding principal for the rabbi and empowered him to achieve many of his numerous accomplishments.

I highly recommend the book. It might not change your life, but it’s an entertaining read and will surely inspire chaplains and lay leaders of all walks of life. You can learn more about the author and the book on Rabbi Landman’s website: nathanlandman.com