Daniel Sperling - Shabbat in Iraq

 

 

I joined the army after law school. I wanted to serve my country. I thought that being an army lawyer would help me grow in the legal profession in a unique and challenging place. I graduated during the recession and I could not find another job. [audience laughter] I knew that I made a mistake pretty much right away, but I did not realize how painful a mistake that was until the summer of 2010, when I got orders to deploy to Iraq with the third Armored Cavalry Regiment. We were stationed at a small outpost about an hour south of Baghdad. It was about 115 degrees outside. I was the lawyer, so nobody liked me, because I was the guy who told people that they couldn't do what they wanted to do. Even though combat operations were over, our base still got shelled pretty much every night by rocket attacks. 

 

Now, when somebody is shooting rockets at you, there's not much that you can do, except get on the ground as flat as you possibly can and hope that they don't hit you. We had this security agreement in place with the Iraqi government that said that we couldn't shoot back. So, you can imagine that after about five months of this, everybody on that base was scared out of their mind. I was really regretting the choices that I made that had gotten me here. 

 

The regimental command decided to do something about it. They decided to send out a questionnaire to every trooper on the base to see how we were feeling. [audience laughter] It was to gauge unit morale. So, some of the questions were really basic. It asked, “Are you thinking of hurting yourself or others? Are you getting enough sleep?” But one question that really stood out for me was, “Do you have a spiritual support network?” 

 

Now, I was not a religious person, so I checked the box, no. I handed in my survey and I didn't think about it. The next day, I had a knock on the door of my containerized housing unit. It was the regimental chaplain, Major Claude Brittian. Major Brittian was a Baptist pastor from Georgia. He had an enormous gap in his two front teeth that you could always see, because even though there was a war going on, he was always smiling. The chaplain says to me, “Brother Daniel, I noticed that you are of the Jewish faith, and you said that you do not have a spiritual support network. Would you like my assistance?” 

 

Now, I don't remember telling the chaplain that I was Jewish, but he knew that I was a lawyer from New York, so he could have put two and two together. [audience laughter] I didn't think that I needed help, but here was this man standing in my doorway, smiling at me, offering me the only kind thing that anybody had offered me the entire time that I was there, and who was I to say no to a Baptist pastor who outranked me. So, I said, “Yes, I would like some help.” 

 

The next day, a box showed up at my door. It had four yarmulkes, a box of Hanukkah candles, a dreidel and a pamphlet entitled Judaism Customs and Practices. [audience laughter] This was all stuff that I didn't really know that I needed, but I was very touched by the gesture. [audience laughter] It was not until a month later that the chaplain approached me a second time and said, “Brother Daniel, I have found that there are other Jews who are living on this outpost. Would you like to get together with them on Friday night for Shabbat services?” 

 

Now, I had two major objections to this. The first one was I wasn't a very religious person, and the second one was something about my people's history told me that we shouldn't put all the Jews together in one place. [audience laughter] It was like putting all your eggs in one basket. But here was this man smiling at me, offering me this kindness, and so I didn't want to say no. So, on Friday night, I went down to the post-chapel. It was a little awkward, because it was a multiuse chapel, which meant that there were crosses and Christian iconography everywhere. Only one of the three Jews on post spoke Hebrew, and it wasn't me. 

 

And the chaplain's assistant, I guess he had never really seen a Shabbat service before. He was very curious. So, he stayed in the shadows and watched us the whole time. [audience laughter] So, we got through the service, we said the prayer over the candles and over the challah. We were about to say goodnight when the chaplain's assistant jumps up and says, “Wait, Jews, there's more. [audience laughter] Follow me.” So, we follow him to the back of the chapel and there's this closet. He opens up the door to the closet and there's a box. And he says, “Open the box.” So, we open the box. And inside the box are 16 glistening bottles of purple Manischewitz wine. [audience laughter] [audience cheers and applause] 

 

Not grape juice. Wine. The chaplain's assistant says, “The service is not over until you've said the prayer over the wine and you've all had a drink.” My lawyer alarm goes off like an air raid siren. [audience laughter] I'm like, “Wait a minute. General order number one specifically prohibits imbibing intoxicating beverages in a deployed environment.” The chaplain's assistant says, “No, lawyer. You're wrong. There's an exception to that policy for Jews. [audience laughter] On Friday nights, Jews are allowed to have one glass of Manischewitz wine with Shabbat services. Well, I'll be down.” [audience laughter] 

 

So, we raise our glasses, we say the prayer over the wine and we all have a drink. And because it was the first time any of us had a drink in about six months, that was all it took to get us completely smashed. [audience laughter] I had found my spiritual support network. [audience laughter] So, the alcohol and the companionship on Friday night, it really helped. But that in and of itself wasn't really enough to get us through the pain of a year-long deployment. What helped much more than that was knowing that there was somebody out there who was there watching out for us, helping us find the spiritual support network that I didn't know that I needed. 

 

The war ended or at least I went home from it. I found out a few years afterwards that Chaplain Brittian actually passed away. He was in his early 50s. A lot of people came out to remember him, because I wasn't the only one on that post who he helped out in a very dark time. There were about 1,200 troopers on that base and he helped find a spiritual support network for all of us. So, now on Friday nights, when I drink wine, I drink to the kindness and the memory of a Baptist pastor. Thank you.