For more than two decades, Rabbi Lawrence Freedman has considered service a religious expression and patriotic undertaking. As a chaplain in the 171st Air Refueling Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, Freedman has aided thousands of military personnel by teaching Torah, delivering invocations and fulfilling various spiritual needs. On Dec. 31, he will officially conclude his duties as a lieutenant colonel chaplain.
Mere weeks from retirement, Freedman, 61, spoke with the Chronicle about the responsibilities of service, nuances of chaplaincy and what’s next for a faithful rabbi.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Congratulations on your upcoming retirement. Before we discuss what’s next, let’s talk about now. What do you do as a chaplain?
There’s three chaplains at the 171st Air Refueling Wing. We take care of the spiritual needs and the spiritual fitness of the troops. This means helping them feel connected to something larger than themselves. It could be the church, could be family, could be the Air Force, it could be the unit, it could be a whole bunch of different things, but they need to be connected to something larger than themselves, so they don’t feel adrift, so they don’t feel lost in the world. When you start to feel lost in the world, you don’t perform well. You don’t do your job well. If you don’t do your job well, then we can’t launch and recover aircraft. If we can’t launch and recover aircraft, we’re failing at our mission. So the job of a chaplain is to provide and provide for. Whatever your spiritual thing is, I need to provide it or provide for.
Chaplaincy involves public responsibilities and individual duties. Tell me more about your interactions with soldiers.
They call it “ministry of presence,” which basically means a lot of walking around, a lot of talking to people and building relationships. Some of the soldiers I work with are really young. They’re 18 or 19 years old. Some of them aren’t out of high school — they’re in the Air Force but they haven’t gone to basic training, so they don’t wear a uniform — and while they’re at the base, they learn to salute and they learn to march, and they learn the jobs they’ll be doing. I would go in and talk to them about morality, about how you make decisions that are good and true to your values. I would bring in Jewish stuff, and they liked it.
People have various spiritual needs. How do you meet the demands?
I once had a chaplain colonel who was teaching us, and he said, “I may not be able to be your pastor, but I can always be your chaplain.” That definitely works for me, because I cannot be everyone’s rabbi, but I’m definitely their chaplain.
Before I came to Pittsburgh, I was in Newburgh, New York, and I was part of the 105th Air Mobility Wing. We had eight Jews on a base of 1600 people. We had 45 minutes that we were allowed to run our worship services. I knew that they didn’t want davening — they were not a davening crowd — so I brought breakfast. Everyone laughs at the cliche, but I would bring bagels and cream cheese, and I would do Torah study. Usually it was about the parsha, but sometimes about a holiday. They loved it. I couldn’t pull it off here. I tried. I just didn’t have as many Jews. I also came during COVID and that didn’t help for building community. As for working with troops, regardless of their faith, you have to learn to listen to people in a different way. You have to learn a different vocabulary. You have to figure out how to stay true to yourself and share what you are without proselytizing and without being annoying.
You’re a non-combatant airman. Do you ever worry about relating to the troops?
I give invocations before flights go off but oddly enough I’ve never been up in a military plane. I’ve been inside them — they’re not comfortable, there are no windows — but I’ve never been up. I know it’s weird, but I don’t think it’s a disconnect to give a blessing for something I haven’t done. I haven’t had surgery, but I’ve been bedside saying blessings for patients. I haven’t been dead either, but I do a whole bunch of funerals, right?
You’re finishing up nearly 22 years of military service. How’d you start?
I came in very, very late. I was 39 and running the religious school here very successfully. One day we were in New York City, and it was Fleet Week (a citywide salute to the sea services) and there were these young sailors walking around. I remember I saw one of them, and I said to Deborah, “What do you think about me going into military chaplaincy?” And she said, “Sure.” It was just another challenge. It was just a thing. I don’t have great origin stories.
Still, you’ve undertaken some pretty sizable responsibilities.
I was sent to Manhattan in April of 2020. COVID had just started and I was among the first people in Manhattan. I was with a fatality search and recovery team. I was the chaplain for the unit — we did bring in another one, so there were two of us — and we took care of the spiritual needs of about 150 troops, and other people who brought in semi-trailers, who were not used to dead bodies. That was a big one. It was a full month. The other one was when I went to Kuwait in 2011 to do Passover. I was there for two weeks doing Passover-related Torah study and Shabbat. I also went to Qatar to do a seder in 2024. Coincidentally, while I was in Qatar, there was a colonel whose daughter was working towards her bat mitzvah. I worked with her over Zoom from Pittsburgh to help finish her preparations, and then we did the bat mitzvah on the embassy grounds in Doha.
Though you’re retiring from the military, you’re continuing to serve as director of the Unified Religious School (a project of congregations Beth Shalom, Rodef Shalom and Temple Sinai). How does being a chaplain influence your professional perspective?
I’m always interested in recruiting. It’s an interesting thing where many Jews are like, “Oh, you joined the IDF. How great. That’s amazing. What dedication.” And then when you join the American military, they say, “There’s Jews in the American military? How is that a place for a Jewish boy?” What I’ll say is that people should understand the military is a community of people working together. It’s a good place for Jews to join up, whether you go for a couple years, or a whole career. Do the reserves and guard, or if you like it, go to active duty. It’s a very interesting experience, and it’s something that Jews in America should not think is foreign to them or unavailable.
Before we wrap up, what else do you want readers to know?
I think the biggest takeaway is people love to say, “Thank you for your service,” which is very nice. But I always want to say to them, “You’re welcome, but everybody should be serving their community.” Lots of people can serve in lots of ways. People should think about that. Maybe pastors and rabbis could be police chaplains or volunteer firefighter chaplains or volunteer firefighters. They need people. Maybe you can figure out a way to get involved in the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition — they do all kinds of stuff to make the community better. Go be part of a pickup basketball game and be a ref. I think the takeaway is to go serve your community. Find somewhere, whether it’s in a uniform or not, but go serve your community. PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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