U.S. Air Force Swears In First Bearded Chaplain — A Rabbi

By JTA September 10, 2014

The U.S. Air Force is swearing in its first bearded chaplain, a rabbi.

Rabbi Elie Estrin, the director of a Chabad House on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, will be sworn in Wednesday at McCord Air Force Base in the state, Chabad.org, a news website of the movement, reported.

The military only this year relaxed its guidelines and recommended leeway for chaplains with beards, although in 2011, the U.S. Army swore in Rabbi Menachem Stern, also a Chabad rabbi, as a chaplain in South Carolina.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO