Jewish Prison Chaplains needed in Brooklyn and Otisville

The Aleph Institute was founded in 1981 by Rabbi Sholom Lipskar at the behest of the Rebbe and has been a lifeline for Jewish inmates. Throughout the years they have been arranging for Rabbis and Rabbinical students to visit incarcerated individuals in prisons and jails throughout the country. Aleph has also been actively involved in advocacy for the Religious Rights of those that are incarcerated.

Throughout the years, Shluchim and members of Anash have added to this great work, by volunteering and working directly for local county, city, state and Federal entities as Chaplains.

Surprisingly, throughout the entire country, only four Jewish Rabbis are serving the Federal Bureau of Prisons as Chaplains. Recently, the BOP’s senior Rabbi, Avrohom Richter, Shliach in Howard Beach NY, has been promoted to work for the Bureau of Prison’s Central Office Chaplaincy Branch. He oversees Prison Chaplaincy in the Northeast Region of the United States. Amongst his duties is the recruitment of Chaplains for his region and the assistance in recruiting Jewish Chaplains for the entire country. His previous duty location was FCI Otisville, and there is currently a vacancy for a Jewish Chaplain there. The Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, is also searching for a Jewish Chaplain.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), is the Prison system of the Federal government of the United States, the largest Prison system in the country. The BOP has Chaplaincy positions in every facility throughout the country. The agency is committed to meeting the religious diversity needs of those in federal custody including incarcerated Jewish men and women.

BOP Chaplains lead out of their own faith tradition and facilitate religious accommodations across faith lines. They also are pastorally available for inmates and staff in times of crisis or grief. Lastly, BOP Chaplains along with religious contractors and volunteers lead faith-based reentry programming to ready those in federal custody for effective post incarceration community reintegration.

The requirements to serve as a BOP Chaplain are as follows:

1) Earned Bachelors Degree
2) MDiv or equivalent graduate theological degree of 72 credit hours
3) 2 full years of professional ministry experience
4) Religious credentialing of being ordained, licensed, commissioned, or documented by an outside religious entity to serve in a ministerial capacity
5) Religious endorsement
6) 1 unit of CPE or supervised ministry internship

The Federal Bureau of Prisons with the assistance of Aleph are in search of Rabbis who meet these qualifications.

If you are a Shliach or Yungerman and you have Semicha and are interested in one of these two positions that are available now in Brooklyn or Otisville or to receive a courtesy review of your eligibility, please conduct Rabbi Richter directly at [email protected] .

If you are interested in volunteering at a prison wnaywhere in the US, Please email [email protected]. If you are willing to study Torah on the phone with a Jew in prison or visit a Jew in prison one on one, please email [email protected].

Please find below the translation of a letter of the Rebbe printed in Lekutei Sichos chelek yud bais regarding Jewish prisoners.

BH
Erev Shabbos HaGadol 5736
Brooklyn, NY

Greetings and Blessings,
I was pleased to receive your letter. I wish to express my happiness over the good news of your efforts to provide our incarcerated Jewish brothers opportunities for mishloach manos and matanos le’evyonim, as well as strengthening their connection with Judaism in general. There is certainly no need to explain to you the great merit of such efforts.
Indeed, it is my hope that your past success will encourage you to increase your efforts in the upcoming days. As, all our Jewish brothers are Jews every day and in every place, and Judaism is their essence and vitality. Torah study and mitzvah observance are “what a person does and lives with,” as per the instruction of Hashem in His Torah, the Torah of life, which is instructions for daily life. These instructions are in full effect at every time and in every space, including for the incarcerated who are located in an exile within an exile.
The above has a special connection with the current time, as we are a few days before Pesach, which is referred to as the “Time of our Freedom” in the holy liturgy of this holiday’s prayers and blessings.
One of the lessons of Pesach is the emphasis on the Time of our Freedom. This phrase is mentioned and repeated many times throughout the holiday, and moreover, we preface this line with labeling this time, “festivals for rejoicing, holidays and seasons for gladness.”
Despite being in a bitter exile, the cause of which is, as we recite in the prayer, “We were exiled from our land because of our sins,” it is possible for a Jew to genuinely celebrate the time of our freedom. Even in exile, we celebrate true freedom, especially in the spiritual sphere, which is the core of man who is called “similar to the Divine.” Not only this, but the person is able to celebrate it with joy and gladness, as mentioned above.
This extends from the general to the particular: The above applies in the fullest sense to an individual who is incarcerated as a specific punishment for a specific sin. He is able to experience spiritual freedom through connecting himself with Torah and mitzvos which provide the person with true freedom — even when physically located in prison. Moreover, contemplating this idea (that one can attain true freedom even while one is physically incarcerated)provides the ability to inspire true joy and the ability to fulfill the instruction, “Serve God with joy.”
Our Sages instruct that action is primary. Likewise, the intention of my letter is for the Pesach campaigns to be accomplished in actuality, on a greater scale and with more strength, among larger circles of Jews, and with those who are currently incarcerated.
They are, to a larger extent, dependent on the assistance of others located on the outside who can enable them to fulfill the mitzvos of Pesach — including the days of Chol HaMoed — to the fullest extent and with joy.
The guarantee, “toil and you will succeed,” certainly applies to this task. Furthermore, “G-d operates measure for measure.” The result of extending assistance to those experiencing an exile within an exile in prison, providing them with freedom (as much as can be possible within the prison walls), is that the blessings of G-d are drawn down — and many times over to those active with, and those benefiting from this campaign that they will all experience personal freedom, to the extent possible while in exile.
And from this personal redemption may we proceed to the global redemption, hastening the true and complete redemption of all of our Jewish brothers, wherever they may be, with Mashaich Tzidkeinu; may it be speedily.
Respectfully, and with blessings for success in the Pesach campaign and in all of the above, may you have a happy and kosher Pesach,

The Rebbe’s Signature