The US Military Academy at West Point recently hosted civilian college students and fellow military academy cadets at its annual religious Warrior Weekend at the cadet chapel.  Designed to give the civilians a sense of their religious military heritage, it also gave the military cadets the opportunity to “immerse” themselves in their culture.

The event, described below, is an admirable effort by cadets and officers to do two important things: convey to civilians that their faith is not inconsistent with military service; and remind military cadets of the depth of their spiritual heritage.

Called the “Jewish Warrior Weekend,” the relatively new event was started by a 2003 USMA graduate and is intended to explore Jewish connections with the US military:

The purpose of this weekend was to imbue civilian Jewish college students with a sense of their American Jewish military heritage, while at the same time providing both Jewish and non-Jewish cadets with an opportunity to immerse themselves in Jewish culture. The weekend consisted of Shabbat meals and services, military and non-military speakers, and an opportunity to learn about life as a Jewish cadet.

The USMA cadet who started it, now an officer, was Daniel Helmer.  Just as this site does with fellow Christians, Helmer’s objective was to show other Jews that being in the US military was not “antithetical to a Jewish worldview.”  In fact, it is perfectly aligned with it:

When we organized that first ‘Weekend of the Jewish Warrior,’ Chaplain Huerta and I wanted to raise awareness of the Jewish presence in the military. We wanted other Jews to know that not only was military service not antithetical to a Jewish worldview but it was the epitome of Tikkun Olam and tzedakah. Serving in this army is a mitzvah in and of itself.

The event, and Helmer’s motives, provide an excellent spiritual support for both civilians and military, and for both those of the Jewish faith and those who are not.  West Point is to be commended for supporting it.
 
That said, it is a near certainty that had West Point hosted an equivalent “Christian Warrior Weekend,” there would have been an unending diatribe from critics claiming that publicizing US military ‘Christian warriors’ emboldened our adversaries, provided propaganda to our enemies, endangered our troops, etc.

Fortunately, this admirable young tradition at the USMA hasn’t received such vitriol.  Perhaps the critics think Islamic extremists are only bothered by US military Christian warriors.