Here I've travelled to Rota, Spain to officiate at the bar mitzvah of Michael Kleyn in June, 2005. It was the first bar mitzvah anybody could remember having taken place at the base chapel at Naval Station Rota.
This bar mitzvah, of Ryan Tannenbaum, happened in July 2007. This was a very special event, and it deserves a few words of explanation. It took place at the synagogue in Obersulm-Affaltrach, a small town in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, not far from Stuttgart, Germany. The synagogue was last used for a Jewish worship service just before Kristalnacht. The townspeople restored the shul and turned it into a museum after the war, but this was the first Jewish service that had taken place in it in 59 years. The curator, a German Christian gentleman, was so thrilled to assist us to hold the event there. We filled the sanctuary for a lively celebration of Ryan's coming-of-age with family members who came from the US and many guests, both jewish and non-Jewish, from the US expatriot community.
Larry and Cindy Tannenbaum know how to throw a party! He works for US European Command in Stuttgart and they have been living in Germany for some time. They struggle, as do most Jewish families stationed overseas with the military, to make Judaism come alive for their children in places that don't have the Jewish infrastructure many of us have come to take for granted. Using historical synagogues, bringing a Jewish celebration into towns that have had no jewish presence in many years (a couple of years earlier I officiated their daughter's bat mitzvah in another town but similar situation), makes their kids realize that they are doing holy work, not just having a party. The Tannenbaums manage through a little effort to make Judaism fun and meaningful at the same time; I love their approach and wish more Jews would do it as well as they do. Bravo, Larry and Cindy! (And Ryan acquitted himself well with his haftarah reading, thanks in large part to the efforts of Hebrew teacher and Jewish Lay Leader extraordinaire, Dianna Duncan, pictured here.)
For Thanksgiving Dinner in 2007, I took the family to the base DFAC (Dining FACility) to serve the meal for the single airmen and -women.
After the photo op we did, in fact get to work serving!
The Seattle Seahawks Seagals came by to share some holiday cheer also. Here, Kristin (left) and Stephanie (right) sign pictures for the kids. We learned a lot about NFL cheerleaders and what they do.
I can't resist showing this off! It's a public service announcement I made for American Forces network. It made me a minor celebrity throughout our forces in Europe and beyond. My niece was in Iraq at the time, and one day she telephoned home and told my brother excitedly: "I saw Uncle Don on TV!!!"
The above two YouTube videos are, of course a Berit Milah ceremony I performed at US Army Clinic at Katterbach Kasserne, in Bavaria near Ansbach. It's the couple's first child. Unfortunately the father, who was there for the birth having returned from Iraq for his mid-term leave only hours before, was unable to stay long enough to share in the occasion and was already on his way back to Iraq. The mother, Liz Ponder, was quite a trooper; as you can see, she was with us the entire time. Since I am not trained as a mohel and I am here in Europe where the services of traditional mohalim are difficult at best to procure, I often travel about to the various bases to do milah ceremonies such as this one.
I'll always cherish my time in the Air Force chaplaincy, the adventures it enabled me to experience, and the important ministries it opened to me! But all good things come to an end; I've since moved on to my new gig as a congregational rabbi at Temple Beit Torah in Colorado Springs.