Divine Providence, Separation, and Unlikely Sources of Inspiration – a Guest Blog Entry by Yoni Goldstein

Well, I have now been deployed for half of a month, and already I have appreciated and missed (dozens of times) the strong, vibrant Jewish community and warm, supportive family in Seattle. Before beginning to record my observations in earnest, I want to express my gratitude for having the opportunity to share some thoughts on this wonderful blog. I hope that you, the dear readers, can gain something from our experience this deployment.

We arrived in our deployed location and within two hours of hitting the runway and exiting the aircraft, I met the chaplain (a fine gentleman) and he informed me that two weeks hence, a couple of rabbis planned to spend Shabbat here on base. Needless to say, tired as I felt, I nearly jumped out of my skin and became overjoyed. How rare to spend Shabbat on deployment with other Jews with whom I had a common religious bond, background, and values set! Very excited, I proceeded to contact the chaplain after the meetings ended and hosted the two rabbis – very nice guys and a real pleasure to host – this past Shabbat. We’ll revisit this topic momentarily.

My biggest concern this deployment remained Shabbat observance, since I had fairly easily figured out the Kashrut issues and I actually have a kitchen where I can cook. Last deployment, I unfortunately had to break Shabbat sometimes (not all the time, B”H) because of our combat operations in and out of theater. Although I have a heter if necessary, I decided this time to do everything in my power – now that I have a little more experience and rank/clout – to keep every Shabbat to the maximum extent possible. Thus far, with 3 Shabbatot under my belt this deployment, I have been successful! Thank G-d, we arrived at our location on Friday morning and not evening, so I had plenty of time to prepare and procure lots of drinking water (Tisha B’Av, a 25-hour fast, fell the next night) and observed Shabbat with little trouble. The next week, however, enabled me to see the Hand of G-d almost openly.

My crew and I flew to Germany for an Aeromedical Evacuation stage mission which lasted about 6 days, conducting sorties in and out of the combat zone. We alerted to the airplane the next Friday, and immediately after takeoff, experienced a catastrophic environmental system failure. We shut down the left side of the environmental system and isolated the problem, but we had to turn around and land. Long story short, we landed in Germany about an hour and 10 minutes prior to sunset and the beginning of Shabbat. We hustled back to the hotel and I got to my room with three minutes to spare, so I set my lights and lit candles just before sunset. Aside from the rushing and hectic Friday, I actually had the opportunity to again observe Shabbat. Yes, I certainly missed my family tremendously, but I saw that G-d granted me a wonderful blessing and I had a very meaningful and Torah-filled Shabbat. In truth, I was slightly frustrated at first when the plane broke and we had to cancel the medevac mission (we had critical patients apparently waiting to be lifted out) but when I realized that I now had another opportunity to keep Shabbat, I did not dare question or pass it up. Dare I say, I maintain that I bore witness to a small miracle. Little did I know that my blessings would only multiply in the next week.

When we returned from Germany on Wednesday, I had not only about 20 pounds of kosher frozen chicken that I purchased there, but I also had several emails awaiting my attention regarding the two rabbis who planned to visit our base. They travel the world every summer as part of a Chabad program supporting small and far-flung Jewish communities. Our base became their first stop in this particular country. We corresponded through email briefly, and when I met them about two hours before Shabbat, I had tears of joy in my eyes at the whole concept of having a quorum with whom to share the sanctity and experience of Shabbat. With a few of the other Jewish personnel stationed here, we had a wonderful Kabbalat Shabbat prayer, festive dinner with copious amounts of L’Chaims, words of Torah, singing, and Michelle’s recipe for honey-soy chicken. The dinner lasted until about 1 o’clock in the morning, and we did not want it to stop! The next day I hosted lunch in my little room with a cholent, homemade brownies, and we had a wonderful experience. To think that halfway around the world, so far from a Jewish community of substance, we could have an authentic, beautiful Shabbat struck me as nothing short of inspirational.

Although I remain separated from my loving, sweet family for the next little while, I find it exceedingly important to retain a fresh perspective and positive outlook on life. One of the ways I have been able to maintain this mentality manifests itself in our basic Jewish purpose: cleave to G-d and become closer to Him. In the sometimes hectic pace of my Air Force career and very busy schedule, something so fundamental slips so easily through the cracks. Here, while I am flying missions regularly and working on my master’s, I miss my family and then I get to thinking about how to become a better husband and father upon my eventual return home. Ray Charles, among others, sung that “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” and that certainly holds true. Not only have I realized how much I miss Michelle and the children, I have also come to the conclusion that I must return home a far better man. In an interesting twist, I originally was supposed to deploy and return before the High Holidays. The schedule, however, changed and I am here for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Perhaps I am supposed to take away something from this; how should I utilize my time here, with the holidays, to become that better man? Once again, Michelle showed me the way through her own example and gentle prodding, to take the initiative and draw strength from within.

I have dedicated myself to take advantage of the opportunities here to bring Torah to this place and attempted to grow spiritually. Inspired by the example of my father and brother, two of my biggest heroes, I have begun to study daily one page of Talmud (the Aramaic Oral Law that explains and governs Jewish law and teaches us analytical thinking) and hope, with the help of G-d, to continue this practice as long as I can. In addition, the Chabad rabbis have linked me with the local Jewish community and the base community to organize Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services and blow shofar (the ram’s horn used to sound various blasts and call us to repentence). I never imagined such a thing ever occurring. What a unique opportunity!

A final word, if I may. As a very enthusiastic people-watcher, I have had the good fortune to observe the people in my unit, especially my crew, endure all kinds of stressors and difficult situations, both in flight and on the ground. In “Ethics of Our Fathers,” Chapter 4 Mishna 1, Ben Zoma (a great sage who lived over 1800 years ago) said, “Who is wise? One who learns from every man.” What does this mean? Defying conventional wisdom, a wise person is not one who teaches, but who is always willing to learn. We must be willing to take away lessons from every person we encounter, and in my crew I saw the vast spectrum of personalities, character traits, and learned something from each person. Perhaps the most poignant lesson I learned is the importance of the unique role of every type of person on a crew. We had several emergency situations and during the course of each one, every crewmember approached the problem from a different angle. Through their approaches I learned about them. The analytical thinker in our crew sought to determine the root cause, while the by-the-book, methodical individual broke out the checklists and troubleshot the problem. The emotionally-minded person thought of the mission we had begun and the consequences of turning back. He immediately began coordinating alternative plans and contingencies. Meanwhile, the calmest individual just strove to fly the plane and ensure that we maintained basic flight, navigation, and radio discipline over congested European skies. A hectic 30 minutes though it seemed, I learned so much about how people come together to work well as a team with a common goal, removal of the ego, and melding of personalities. It truly exemplified the crew resource management concept and saved our plane and crew for another day.