Today, 11/11/2011 is Veterans' Day in the U.S.
It used to be Armistice Day in remembrance of the end of World war I, but it had a name change to include all veterans of all wars in which the U.S. sent troops.
Public schools are closed. Jewish schools, - some, many, most - are open, "business as usual."
That bothers me on several levels.
Whether we are American Jews or Jewish Americans - and there is, I suppose, a succinct difference - we live in, and enjoy the freedoms of, the U.S.; freedoms won and guaranteed by the military - the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, and Navy and the Guard and Reserves of these organizations..
Jews have served in the military and militias since pre-Independence. Jews played roles, some prominent, in all of America's battles. Jews are buried alongside non-Jews at Arlington, General Lee's estate in Northern Virginia.
Most Jews went into the military and at the end of their "hitch," they returned to civilian life. Still, there were, and are, Jewish "lifers," people who make the military their career.
So it seems to me - I did my time with the Air Force - that Jewish school children should be aware of, and celebrate, Jews' roles in guaranteeing this county's freedoms.
Likewise, there should be recognition in America's synagogues. There is in some.
Today in my congregation was "just another Yom Shishi." Granted, 99 percent of the congregation are immigrants - from Israel or Latin America. I assume the Israelis did their "time" with the IDF. I know of only one other veteran - a 90-year-old gentleman who served in the Army during World War Two.
On Shabatot we - as most congregations in America - include a prayer for Israel's soldiers, but we ignore America's military, those protecting our rights to offer a prayer for the IDF.
I understand why Jewish (day) schools don't take the day off to honor veterans - there simply are, I'm told, too many days off already thanks to our holidays. But is it really necessary to take off all the days of Hanukah? Is it necessary to shut down for "winter vacation" at the same time public schools close to celebrate another belief's holiday? Couldn't we extend the Jewish school's year by one day?
I hope that at least Jewish school teachers will take some time to teach their students a little about Jews in America's military. Not all Jews ran off to Canada or otherwise dodged the draft. (Some Jews did run off to Canada in the late 1930s to join Canadian forces fighting the nazis.)
Jews in the American military have a proud history and they are maintaining that pride serving in today's U.S. armed forces.
We served with honor; our children should know that. It's a shame that many will not.
