Rabbi Jacob Goldstein of Crown Heights will lead Yom Kippur services dressed not in the Lubavitch black fedora, but in full battle gear at a Combat Operating Base in eastern Afghanistan.
Josh Nathan-Kazis of the Forward reports that Goldstein is part of the crew of four military rabbis who will be helping Jews serving in Afghanistan to observe the High Holy Days.
Nearly 100,000 American troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan. The number of Jewish service members is unknown, though at least 37 Jews have died there and in Iraq since 2001.
After Rosh Hashanah, the Lubavitch rabbi was planning to go with his bodyguard and assistant, an African-American soldier from Louisiana, to Combat Operating Bases and Forward Operating Bases in the midst of Afghanistan’s combat zones.
“I will be conducting the services in full body armor, full battle gear, which means helmet and full body protection,” Goldstein said.
“That’s the way you live in a COB or an FOB. That’s not Crown Heights, right?”
Even in the relative safety of the larger bases, Goldstein said, he wears his army uniform rather than the typical Lubavitch hat and coat.
A friend of his wife knit him a camouflage-patterned gartel, the belt chassidic Jews wear while praying, which he brought along.
A shliach comes in any uniform. This warmed my heart! Shana tova!