If you cut me, I bleed American

By Chaplain (Rabbi) Carlos C. Huerta

NEW YORK  — The FORWARD published an article in their online magazine on February 21, 2020 that was entitled, “I’ve taught at six Jewish Day Schools.  They’re preaching dual loyalty to Israel,”  It was by Anonymous.  I do not doubt that the author felt that he or she needed to stay anonymous for fear of reprisal.  I also do not doubt that the author perceptions are real to him or her, but I come to offer another view.

First, I am not anonymous.  I am a retired American Soldier that spent over 30 years serving my country in uniform.  The first decade was during the Vietnam war as a Field Artillery officer and the last 15 years of my service was as a United States Army Chaplain, a Rabbi.  I served all around the world, but I also served for nine years as the Jewish Chaplain of the United States Military Academy at West Point.  During that time, I had the honor of serving my Country twice in Iraq with the 101^st Airborne Division (Band of Brothers).  Part of my responsibility, besides serving the needs of my Soldiers (Jewish and non-Jewish) was to work with those who had PTSD, notifying families that their loved ones who had served in battle will not be coming home and burying our honored dead Jewish-Americans.  It was hard duty, but it was what honor required.  It was what my Judaism required.

The article mentioned above opened up with the fact that the author was shocked that a little less than 25% of Jewish-Americans surveyed felt more loyalty to Israel than America.  Assuming that the survey was correct, I find it lifting that over 75% Jewish-Americans support our country and its values.  What the survey does not show is how many non-Jewish Americans do not support our country or its values.  We just have to look at the racist militia groups that say “The Jews will not replace us”, or the hate groups online that support young White men going into Black churches  and killing innocent worshipers to realize that all is not well in the non-Jewish American groups.

I do not wish to deny the author’s experience at Hebrew day schools, but I wish to augment it with another point of view.  While I was at the Military Academy from 2000-2009, I was asked by dozens of the local Hebrew day schools and synagogues in the New York City area to come and talk about service to the Nation.  Before September 11, I had spoken to over ten Hebrew day schools in the area, mostly for Veteran’s Day or Memorial Day.  After I came back from Iraq that number of my presentations and talks to Hebrew day schools jumped to over 10 a year.

The administrations [of Hebrew day schools] wanted the students to understand what it was to be an American, what the sacrifice of our Soldiers was all about and how Jewish Soldiers honorably served their Nation.  They took great pride in knowing that we as Jewish-Americans served and continuing to serve, bleed, and die for our Nation.  To this day, an Orthodox Hebrew day school in Rockland County displays at their entrance a six feet by five feet Iraq battle flag from the 101^st Airborne Division that I sent them in 2003.  They display it so that all their students, staff and faculty will not forget the sacrifice of our Jewish Soldiers to their Nation.

While I was in Iraq in 2003, over ten Hebrew day schools in the northern New Jersey and Rockland area organized drives to send Soldiers needed comfort items such as shaving gear, toilet paper (nothing changes), candy, snack food, to include religious items, books, and other reading material.   Stationed in Mosul, Iraq, I was the recipient of over 100 boxes that I distributed to both Jewish and non-Jewish Soldiers.  All these were collected by the students of these Hebrew day schools.  This was done because of their love for our Nation and those that served it.

At the Military Academy itself, there are between fifty and sixty-five Jewish Cadets that attend, depending on the year and I had the honor of serving them.  They came and come from all walks of American Jewish life. They come from Yeshivas, Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, and Orthodox movements.  Some wear Tefillin every day, some daven every day, some have no religious affiliation but they all would be the first to tell that they are proud of being both Jewish  and American.

This history of Jewish military service to our Nation goes far back.  The first graduating class of the United States Military Academy in 1802 had to two graduates.  One was named Simon Levy so one can say that not only they we help establish West Point, but we were 50% of the first graduating class.  Just last year the Jewish Chapel at the Military Academy celebrated graduation its 1000^th Jewish Cadet.   These brave souls serve our Nation in time of peace and in time of war.  While I was in Iraq in 2003, we lost our first Jewish Cadet to this present war.  He was a 2001 Graduate, First Lieutenant David Bernstein, who was fatally wounded while trying to safe life of his driver after an attack.  This is the stuff our Jewish youth.  This is not the stuff of dual loyalty.

One can look at our Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients, our honored dead, our still serving Jewish-American Soldiers to know that we are Americans, we love our Nation, and are willing to die for it.  All of this does not contradict Anonymous’ experiences but tells that there is another deeper side of Jewish American allegiance.  All of us have a love of Israel but make no mistake, we are American.  We have and will continue to go in harm’s way and die if need be to serve our Nation, its people, and preserve both our Jewish and American values.

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Editor’s Note: Chaplain Carlos Huerta provided the following background on himself:  “During a year in which the headlines were dominated by war, Rabbi Carlos Huerta took Judaism to the front lines. This past spring Huerta, 52, was one of 28 active-duty Jewish chaplains in the military, and the first one into Iraq, traveling with the elite 101st Airborne Division. As the head rabbinical chaplain at West Point Military Academy before the war, Huerta could have stayed home in cushy New York, but he volunteered himself for the front to make sure his GIs had spiritual guidance nearby. After a 22-year stint as a field artillery officer, he had a better idea than most what the soldiers were going through, and he let nothing stop him in ministering to them. For Passover he arranged a Seder in a sand-swept tent on the desert outskirts of Baghdad; it required some improvisation, with army-issued Louisiana hot sauce standing in for the bitter herbs. On top of his work ministering to the men and women, when his troops were later stationed in Mosul — the ancient city of Nineveh — he also took on the title of Minister of Education for one sector of the city. At the opening of one school for Iraqi children he read the dedication in Arabic, as part of his larger effort, his wife said, “to make it clear that he is not an occupier, but there to serve them, and help the community.” In addition to the Bronze Star he earned for service in combat, he was recently honored with the chaplain of the year award by the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America.”