Military FIRST PERSON
Navy has three rabbis stationed in Tidewater Rabbi Yonatan Warren, BCC Lieutenant Commander U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps
Three rabbis walk into a bar. One Reform, one Conservative, one Orthodox.
T
he story is significantly less funny than you might imagine. While, in general, rabbis tend to be pretty funny people when you get them together in social settings, this was a business meeting. It just happened to be in the bar of the hotel where the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council was engaged in annual training. The three rabbis walked into a bar in Miami Beach, Florida to talk explicitly about building connection and community for Jewish military service members and their families in Tidewater. While synagogues and community organizations have long supported Jewish military
members in the area, many military Jews (for a variety of reasons) still feel isolated or outside the mainstream community. Now, for the first time (possibly in the history of armed forces chaplaincy), three Navy rabbis would be stationed in the Norfolk area and they committed to working together to enhance Jewish Military connection and experience in Tidewater. It is unclear which is more rare: three Navy rabbis stationed in Norfolk or the fact that these three rabbis from different backgrounds, experiences, ranks, and denominational affiliations like each other and want to work together to make things happen. I have been in the area for several years. I grew up in Hampton, matriculated through Hebrew Academy of Tidewater and stayed active in the southside community through USY in high school. Ordained
by the Jewish Theological Seminary, I joined the Navy in 2011. In 10-years on Active Duty, my tours include 3d Marine Logistics Group in Okinawa, Japan, the Brigade of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, and sea duty aboard the USS Oak Hill (LSD-51). I now serve the Navy as a clinical staff chaplain (hospital chaplain) at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center. I have been working for years to make Jewish connections between servicemembers and the community and with each other. But, I have never been more delighted than when I found out I would be able to work with these two exceptional other chaplains in realizing this dream. The senior rabbi of the group, Rabbi Aaron Kleinman, grew up in Virginia Beach. A graduate of Norfolk Collegiate School, Kleinman studied at the U.S. Naval Academy before commissioning as
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18 | JEWISH NEWS | Military | October 26, 2021 | jewishnewsva.org
Rabbi Yonatan M. Warren, BCC, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps.
a Naval Aviator. After tours at VAW 120 and VAW 121 here at NAS Norfolk, as well as DCMA Saint Augustine, FL, he entered the Reserves and began his Judaic studies. Ordained by Yeshivas Pirchei Shoshanim, Rabbi Kleinman has been
