Friday, January 18, 2008

A JEWISH MILITARY CHAPLIN IN IRAQ

A Jewish Military Chaplain in Iraq - Anna Badkhen (Boston Globe) Mortar and rocket attacks occasionally jolt Camp Victory, the American military complex around Baghdad International Airport where U.S. Army Captain Andrew Shulman, 41, lives.  An Orthodox Jew from Malden, Mass., he has been stationed there since May, counseling soldiers of all faiths, holding Jewish holiday services, and providing spiritual guidance to Jewish service members all over Iraq.

Most of the troops he counsels are Christians from the Third Infantry Division, grappling with family lives disrupted by lengthy deployments. Shulman seems to revel in the paradoxes that accompany his deployment, like the time the Catholic chaplain ordered kosher Manischewitz wine for Communion - apparently, it keeps well.

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