Over at the Jewish Press, Rabbi Hanoch Teller has a fascinating series tracing in storytelling form several major stories in the history of Judaism in the US military. The first two articles describe the story of Mitchell Geller, who after many years of military service starting in the 1950s was ultimately forced out over a beard he refused to shave — resulting in him losing his retirement. The interesting end to the story can be read in Part II.

The third and fourth articles in the series begin the story of S. Simcha Goldman, the Navy chaplain turned Air Force psychologist who would ultimately be the plaintiff in Goldman v Weinberger — a case which continues to frame military religious freedom even today. Teller’s fifth article in the series will presumably conclude the case of Rabbi Goldman. It will probably be published early next month and be found here.

The stories offer a relatively rare insight, with some commentary, into the history of both Jewish religious expression in the US military as well as military religious freedom as a whole.

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