For greater than a century, U.S. army chaplains have worn insignia figuring out their religion — a cross for Christians and tablets with a Star of David for Jews. Now Jewish chaplaincy teams are asking the Pentagon to intervene after chaplains from Messianic Judaism, a Christian motion that blends Jewish practices with perception in Jesus, started carrying the Jewish image.
The trouble is being led by the Aleph Institute, a Chabad-affiliated group that endorses Jewish chaplains for the U.S. army.
Aleph requested the army to analyze the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, which endorses Messianic chaplains, and to revoke its endorsement authority if it continues permitting clergy to put on Jewish insignia historically reserved for Jewish chaplains.
“It’s clear that [the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregation] is performing in a fashion incompatible with the interfaith cooperation and respect that has outlined 150 years of U.S. army chaplaincy,” Aleph wrote in a letter to the Armed Forces Chaplains Board.
In a view shared by many Jews, Aleph suspects that the Messianic motion is a facade — a deceitful tactic aimed toward proselytization.
“They’ve engaged in closely misleading habits, all for the aim of trapping unsuspecting Jews into the idea that Jesus is a part of Jewish theology,” Aleph’s letter mentioned. “On account of persecution, pressured conversion, and excessive ways employed by many Christian nations over the millennia proselytization of Jews is taken into account an antisemitic tactic.”
Army chaplains function clergy and counselors for members of the armed forces, offering worship providers, pastoral counseling and spiritual lodging for troops and their households. As a result of chaplains often is the solely clergy obtainable in fight zones or distant postings, their insignia — patches and small metallic pins worn on their uniforms — perform as a fast sign of spiritual identification.
Insignia for Jewish chaplains within the army.
Aleph and different Jewish chaplaincy teams say the chaplaincy system is being undermined by the Messianic motion, whose adherents might establish as Jews however will not be acknowledged as such by any denomination of Judaism.
Rabbi Sanford Dresin, Aleph’s vice chairman of army packages and a retired Military chaplain, warned in a separate letter that utilizing Jewish symbols may mislead Jewish troops about who represents Judaism.
“All the spectrum of American Jewry unequivocally opposes any insignia to be designed for put on by Messianic chaplains aside from the cross,” Dresin wrote. “Any insignia containing a standard Jewish image can be deceptive to Jewish service members, and can be misleading in nature.”
Different Jewish chaplaincy organizations have joined Aleph’s effort.
Rabbi Laurence Bazer, who endorses Reform, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis and cantors as army chaplains by way of the Jewish Chaplains Council, mentioned Jewish teams are working collectively on the problem.
“In coping with the Messianic chaplains and insignias, we stand with our companions, Aleph Institute, and others in our place,” Bazer mentioned. “We’re in partnership, and we’re working towards resolving this so they don’t seem to be utilizing any form of Jewish image.”
Fashionable Orthodox leaders have additionally raised issues.
In a January letter to the Armed Forces Chaplains Board, the Rabbinical Council of America warned that the usage of Jewish symbols by non-Jewish clergy may create confusion within the army chaplaincy system.
“Within the army setting, insignia will not be personal expressions of perception,” RCA leaders wrote. “They’re government-authorized identifiers that talk a chaplain’s spiritual endorsement and pastoral function. Using Jewish symbols by chaplains not endorsed by acknowledged Jewish our bodies creates a critical danger of confusion and misrepresentation and conveys an look of official Jewish authenticity that doesn’t exist.”
Messianic leaders reject the criticism and say their chaplains are merely following present army coverage.
Barney Kasdan, a pacesetter of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations who oversees the group’s army chaplaincy endorsements, mentioned Messianic chaplains establish as Jews and due to this fact put on the identical insignia as different Jewish chaplains.
“The tablets — the Ten Commandments — is the normal Jewish insignia,” Kasdan mentioned. “We establish as Jews, and so far as the Division of Protection is anxious, in the event you’re a Jewish denomination you put on the Jewish insignia.”
Kasdan mentioned the group presently has 5 Messianic chaplains serving within the army and three candidates in coaching. The group turned an formally acknowledged chaplaincy endorser with the Division of Protection in 2017, he mentioned.
Kasdan mentioned Messianic leaders can be open to adopting a separate insignia if the Pentagon created a coverage permitting one.
“We might be proud of our personal distinctive insignia design that’s completely different from the tablets,” he mentioned. “However proper now we’re simply following the present coverage.”
Messianic chaplains additionally say the Christian cross doesn’t replicate their spiritual identification.
“A cross doesn’t replicate who we’re culturally,” Kasdan mentioned. “If a chaplain carrying a cross is main a Jewish-style service — reciting the Shema, utilizing a siddur — Christians would say that’s deceptive.”
The dispute comes at a second when the army chaplaincy is underneath heightened scrutiny amid broader political debates about spiritual expression within the armed forces. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth has signaled help for increasing spiritual expression protections for service members and chaplains, although the Pentagon has not introduced any coverage modifications associated to chaplain insignia.
Requested concerning the Jewish teams’ issues, a Pentagon spokesperson mentioned the division had acquired the correspondence however declined to remark additional.
“As with all correspondence, the Division will reply on to the authors as acceptable,” the spokesperson wrote in an electronic mail. “Right now, we don’t have something to offer on this.”
One of many chaplains cited in Aleph’s grievance is James Burling, who serves with a Marine fight coaching battalion at in North Carolina. His spiritual coaching comes from Christian establishments, together with a grasp of divinity from Azusa Pacific College, an evangelical Christian college, and graduate research in pastoral counseling at Southern California Seminary.
Burling mentioned in an interview that he wears the insignia his endorsing group directs him to put on.
“I put on the insignia I’m directed to by my endorser,” he mentioned. “He directed me to put on the stone tablets with the Star of David on prime.”
Burling describes himself as Jewish however says his spiritual follow takes place in Messianic congregations.
“I establish as Jewish,” he mentioned. “However so far as what I follow, I attend a Messianic synagogue.”
He mentioned he doesn’t try and convert Jewish service members and as a substitute focuses on pastoral care.
“If I meet Jewish Marines, I make certain they’ve what they want,” he mentioned. “I give them Tanakhs. I make certain they’ve their scriptures. I don’t push something on them.”
Burling pointed to a San Diego rabbi, Yoram Dahan, as somebody accustomed to his Jewish studying and involvement in the neighborhood. However Dahan mentioned that whereas Burling had studied Torah with him, he by no means understood Burling to be Jewish.
“James studied Torah with us and he was very critical about it. He loves Israel. However after all he’s Christian,” Dahan mentioned.
“If he says he’s Jewish, it isn’t true and it’s not good,” Dahan added. “The Messianics are a really harmful group.”
Kasdan mentioned Messianic chaplains hope the problem will be resolved cooperatively.
“We wish to work within the spirit of cooperation and peace,” he mentioned. “We’re simply making an attempt to serve the army and their households.”
However Aleph and different Jewish chaplaincy teams say the stakes transcend theology.
As a result of Jewish service members might depend on insignia to establish clergy who characterize their religion, notably in distant or high-stress army settings, they argue that Jewish symbols ought to stay reserved for chaplains representing Judaism.
“This isn’t a theological dispute or an effort to exclude any particular person from service,” the RCA letter says. “It’s a matter of accuracy in authorities speech and the safety of spiritual freedom for a minority religion group that relies on clear institutional alerts.”
