It was an unusual Sukkos gathering at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, a mix of service members in uniform mingling with civilians who had been cleared to enter the base.
After all, it isn’t every day that a bris takes place the Covenant of Abraham on a U.S. Army base—let at Fort Sam Houston alone in the Army’s own sukkah.
The meal inside was no caterer’s work. Every dish had been prepared in the Jewish chaplain’s own kitchen, and all of it was for the guest of honor, an eight-day-old boy who had not yet been given his name.
Most notices for a brit simply give a time and an address. The one sent by Chaplain (Maj.) Menachem “Mendy” Stern, a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi who serves as the Jewish Army chaplain at the base, also asked whether the receiver needed a base pass.
Stern’s part in the occasion had begun weeks earlier, when a Jewish service member stationed on base had told him she was expecting.
The day after Yom Kippur, she called again, telling him the baby had arrived. It was a boy, and she and the baby were both doing well.
“I immediately started the coordination to bring a mohel,” Stern said.
A reserve military chaplain who is also a certified mohel was available, and they arranged to fly him in. That left the question of where to hold the celebration.
“Obviously, because it was Sukkos, it would be held in the sukkah!” Stern said.
A Jewish baby boy joins
The Army’s sukkah stands behind the Stern home on base, which also has the installation’s only kosher kitchen. Every year, soldiers help the rabbi put up the sukkah before the holiday and take it down when it ends, and Jewish troops use it throughout Sukkos.
The Army traditionally pays for the mohel, Stern said, but not for the rest of a bris. His wife, their daughters and a daughter’s friend who was visiting for the holiday did all the cooking and baking themselves. The result, Stern said, “was a meal that could rival the best of the best kosher caterers in New York or Miami.”
About 30 guests came, roughly half military and half civilian.
Before the ceremony, Stern and the mohel, both officers, gave the family what’s known in military lingo as a “mission brief”—the step-by-step briefing soldiers receive before an operation. They explained what would happen and showed the family the instruments, sterilized and sealed.
Stern served as sandek. The baby’s aunt and grandmother carried him in. A Jewish chaplain from the nearby Air Force installation recited the blessings as they welcomed this child into the Covenant of Abraham and gave the boy his name: Shraga Feivel ben Avraham.
Earlier that day, just after the tables had been set, Stern felt rain begin to fall and went outside expecting the worst. A hurricane had been forecast to hit the region that day. Instead, a brief drizzle fell from what looked like a cloudless sky and stopped almost as soon as it started.
Stern counts it as hashgacha pratis, Divine providence, along with everything else that came together.
“It was beautiful,” he said. “We could not have planned it better.”
Tech Sergeant Discovers Her Jewish Identity at Military Base Sukkah
This Sukkos, Baltimore Shliach and Chaplain Rabbi Chesky Tenenbaum, director of the Jewish Uniformed Service Association of Maryland–Chabad (JUSA), brought the joy and traditions of Sukkos directly to Maryland’s military community.
For the first time, JUSA arranged a Sukkah at the 175th Wing at Warfield Air National Guard Base. One Staff Sergeant was especially appreciative, explaining that the Sukkah allowed him to eat his meals in a Sukkah while working on base.
The Sukkah also led to an unexpected Jewish discovery. A Tech Sergeant stopped by the Sukkah and shared that, although she does not identify as Jewish, she said her maternal great-grandmother was Jewish. Rabbi Tenenbaum explained that, according to halacha, she is considered Jewish.
Rabbi Tenenbaum then explained the significance of Sukkos and the mitzvah of Lulav and Esrog. Intrigued, the Tech Sergeant expressed an interest in participating but explained that she did not speak Hebrew. Rabbi Tenenbaum assisted her in reciting the brocha, and she held the Lulav and Esrog and performed the mitzvah for the first time in her life.
At Aberdeen Proving Ground, the U.S. Army’s oldest active proving ground, JUSA continued its ninth consecutive year of providing a Sukkah in the courtyard of the APG Main Post Chapel.
On the first day of Chol Hamoed, JUSA hosted a Sukkah Party that brought together a strong turnout of soldiers and civilian staff. Participants had the opportunity to recite the blessing over the Sukkah, shake the Lulav and Esrog, and celebrate the joy, unity, and traditions of Sukkos together. During Chol Hamoed, Jewish soldiers and civilian employees were able to use the Sukkah. JUSA thanks the APG Chapel and the military communities at both installations for helping make these Sukkos celebrations possible.
Throughout Sukkos, the JUSA Chabad House hosted a variety of programs and activities. Among the highlights was a visit from the local Jewish Baltimore Police commander, who joined the JUSA community to do the Mitzvah of Lulav and Esrog.
The JUSA Chabad House, located in Baltimore, an affiliate of Chabad of Maryland, is the only such Chabad House of its kind dedicated to Maryland Jewish Men and Women in Uniform, including Military and Veterans, Law Enforcement and First Responders. For more information, go to jewishusamd.org.