Great story! Yep, that's how ten year olds spell. I should know. I teach fourth grade. ;-)

Joannah:

I'm still a lousy speller. Karen proofs all my blog entries for me. I'm too lazy to check my crumbling diktionary:)

You addressed that letter to the wrong person. You can only get results from letters written like that if you send them to your Congressman.

Jake:

Great, now you tell me!

The sentiment is beautiful and earnest.
btw, I've had the same Merriam-Webster for almost 20 years. It has just the right heft (for an adult).

I guess that good spelling comes with practice. And I also figure that you and I used our Merriam-Webster dictionaries differently: I might've learned correct spelling from it, but you, Robert, got some wonderful vocabulary!

For the nineteen years that I worked full-time in publishing, I literally sat with that dictionary on my lap or very close at hand.

isn't that what google is for? (great story Robert)

Robert, I can just see you, in my mind's eye, as a young boy, making and collecting all these little vignettes for publishing on Seraphic Secret years later. How could we ever know how interesting our little lives would sound when we were adults?

They still don't serve kosher food at West Point.

Now wi no whose to blaim! :)

P.S.: There are kosher MREs.

Hah!

I giggled all the way through this. I swear, I could clearly see this conversation between you and your father....vividly. You are such the storyteller!

I love hearing the stories of your youth.

Jeremiah:

I couldn't use the dictionary for quite a while. My spelling was too lousy.

Pearl:

Yup, sometimes I just leaf through the dictionary and pick up new and novel words.

Cruisin:

Can you check spelling on google? I didn't know that.

Suz:

Believe it or not, I think my life is pretty darn ordinary and bo-ring.

Solomon:

Yup, all my fawlt.

How long will it be before they offer Hallal meat for Muslim soldiers?

Shayne:

Right after the religion of peace sends a homicide bomber into West Point.

I couldn't use the dictionary for quite a while. My spelling was too lousy.

That's because you were holding it upside down. :-)

After I took the PSATs, I started getting brochures from all sorts of colleges all over the United States. The very FIRST brochure to arrive at my house was from . . . West Point. My parents and I looked at the brochure, and then at each other -- I was in 10th grade, a little Orthodox Jewish girl, overweight and out of shape and just looking to meet Orthodox Jewish boys -- and we all cracked up.

Sarah:

After I took my PSAT's I started getting brochures from the prison system.

You know a friend of mine had a son who joined dthe army. By this time (past 2000) people wre assured of kosher food. But the catch turned out to be that that didn't apply during basic training. Also, they only had religious services I think on Sunday. He could make havdalah but not kiddush. He was miserable, wanted to get out and was in fact rather quickly discharged.

This actually probably can be done but you have to know what to do and what to ask for. If somneone first contacted a chaplain they might tell them what is what.

See this by the way:

http://www1.emax.ca/mj_ht_arch/v49/mj_v49i16.html#CDP

From: Carl A. Singer
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 06:35:11 -0400
Subject: Orthodox Jews in the military

> I have often had that very same thought. For example, a lot of energy
> is being expended on how to make gays feel welcome in the military,
> but very little attention is being given to making sure Orthodox Jews
> can serve.

>From the context above, one presumes the discussion regards the
U.S. military. As someone who spent over 30 years active and reserve in
the U.S. Army -- and I am NOT a chaplain -- I think I can comment with a
bit of authority rather than speculation.

1 - Gays are not welcome in the military. Legislation / policy commonly
referred to as "don't ask, don't tell" crafted by lawyers whose closest
encounter to the military was burning their draft cards notwithstanding,
the military will (properly) protect the safety of a gay soldier -- but
(properly) will not tolerate any openly gay activity. It's one
leadership challenge too many.

The military has been on the forefront of many social innovations, (WW-I
Captain, later U.S. President) Harry S Truman integrated the military
long before American society was truly integrated. The military tends
to be color-blind meritocracy. I think I've said enough on this
tangential topic.

2 - For the record. The military provides KOSHER meals to any who ask.
Turns out very, very few do. I remember that Chase Manhattan Bank had
hot kosher TV dinners (prepackaged meals) available on an ongoing basis
in their cafeteria -- At IBM I could pre-order same waiting only for
them to be heated. But outside of NYC and other major Jewish areas,
it's easier to get a hot kosher meal in the Army than in the civilian
world. (Unless, of course, you bring your own.)

Despite a very, very small number of Orthodox Jews in the military there
are Jewish chaplains. My niece who is currently serving in Korea has
access to a Jewish Chaplain.

In basic training (I was an enlisted man for two years) there was a
"kosher trailer" at Fort Campbell Kentucky provided by the Jewish
community of Nashville.

On those many occasions when my duty required that I wear a suit
vs. uniform I had no issues with wearing a yarmulke -- perhaps a curious
question asking it was a holiday or something.

As an aside -- I've found in both civilian and military world that
non-Jews who are religiously observant tend to be much more concerned
with my "rights." Friday afternoon is a case in point -- even in the
summer when Shabbos starts late, some of my fellow soldiers would get
uneasy in late Friday afternoon when I was still around.

Let's get real -- today there are very few Jews in the (U.S.) military.
Now that you know that kosher meals are available, what's stopping you.

One caveat, as a rather senior officer, I got treated well regardless :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

End of Volume 49 Issue 16

In case anyone is interested in helping Jewish servicemen, there is an organization started by a former Hebrew school student of mine, Joe Kashnow.

This is how his organization is described on his webpage, www.jewishsoldier.org:
"On Wednesday Sept 17, 2003, a Jewish soldier, SPC. Joe Kashnow of the 4th Infantry Division, was wounded by an IED in a terrorist ambush attack during a routine escort mission in Iraq.

With much praise and gratitude to G-d who kept him alive through such an experience, SPC. Kashnow has established the Jewish Soldier Foundation as a resource for Jewish soldiers in the US Military and their families."

BubbyT:

Thanks so much for making us aware of this most important foundation. May Hashem bless SPC Kashnow and all our brave soldiers.

I had similar issues when I was ten--but better spelling.

The problem with serving in the military isn't really kosher food. The problem with it (and with quite a few other professions) is SHABBOS. That one day in 7 when you can do pretty much nothing.

It's a problem in my profession as well, one which led to quite a few slammed doors.

Toddler:

In my twisted mind I imagined that all West Point Cadets did all day was "kill Kommies"--and I knew that Halachically it was okay to fight on Shabbos in order to preserve your own life.

So, not only couldn't I spell, but my grasp of reality was, um, somewhat tenuous.