USAG Wiesbaden brings service members together for Yom Kippur

CLAY KASERNE, Germany - USAG Wiesbaden invited Jewish service members from across Europe to celebrate Yom Kippur, bringing deployed service members from Poland and another part of Germany together to celebrate the holiday Sept. 20 to 21 in Wiesbaden.

Chaplain (Major) Moshe Lans, the only active-duty U.S. Army Jewish chaplain currently stationed in the region, provided religious support to the local Jewish personnel while actively coordinating outreach to ensure that geographically dispersed Soldiers-such as those on rotation in Poland-are not spiritually isolated.

"One of my responsibilities is to try to provide for all the Jewish persons in Europe," explained Lans.

"I was not able to go out to them because I have my congregation here, but because of the hard work of their command, the V Corps, the deputy chaplain in Poland, and the United States Army Europe and Africa chaplain, we were able to bring some of our deployed service members from Poland [and another part of Germany] here to us and we were able to include them into the greater Jewish community here."

Three deployed Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division visited Wiesbaden to join the local congregation.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the two most sacred events in the Jewish calendar, collectively known as the High Holy Days. Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year and serves as a time of spiritual reconnection with God, which initiates a ten-day period of deep introspection and repentance. This solemn window concludes with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a day where individuals actively seek forgiveness both from fellow human beings and God to enter the new year in a purified state.

"This is a special time for the Jewish Soldiers and we wanted to make sure that they felt that they had the opportunity to practice their faith and the Chaplain Corps is able to assist with making that happen", said Master Sgt. Isaiah Mott, 1ID Religious Affairs Non-Commissioned Officer. "It's special for Soldiers to be able to practice that free exercise of religion, not only for the Jewish faith, but for all faith groups that are recognized."

This initiative provided an opportunity for service members to step away from their rotational duties, experience the High Holidays in a communal setting, and participate in deep personal reflection alongside their peers.

"Yom Kippur is so important to me because it is such a deeply personal holiday," said 2nd Lt. Benjamin Kuhn with the 16th Engineer Battalion, who is currently stationed in Poland. "It forces you to take an honest, introspective look at yourself. I feel so fortunate to be here, because even though it is a personal holiday, being surrounded by others who are also taking that same investigative look into their own lives helps build a powerful sense of community. It gives you the comforting understanding that others are going through the exact same journey, as we all look inward to ask God how we can atone for our failures over the past year."

Spc. Blake Carney with the 1st Sustainment Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division, who also traveled from Poland to join the service, shared similar sentiments.

"I haven't had many opportunities inside of the Army to actually go ahead and [practice Yom Kippur]," Blake said. "This is my first Yom Kippur service since joining [two years ago] and I finally have the opportunity to practice again, so this has definitely been nice. And I've got to travel from Poland to Germany, which in itself is pretty cool and it has definitely provided me with another story to tell my family whenever I go home."

For more information from the Religious Support Office visit: https://home.army.mil/wiesbaden/about/garrison/rso