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Army investigates 101st Airborne chaplains accused of dismantling on-post programs for Jewish soldiers

The 101st Airborne Division chaplains have fired the longstanding Jewish lay leaders at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, allegedly without providing any reason, effectively ending Friday night Shabbat services for Jewish soldiers and their families.

Chaplains in the 101st Airborne Division have fired the longstanding Jewish lay leaders at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, allegedly without providing any reason, effectively ending Friday night Shabbat services for Jewish soldiers and their families.

The two ranking chaplains also refused to support the Jews’ attempts to celebrate Passover on March 30, the first night of the eight-day long religious celebration, allegedly because it conflicted with Christians’ Good Friday observances and would save money during the installation’s four-day holiday.

Jeanette Mize, her husband, Curt, and son, Lawrence, served as lay leaders for Jewish worship on the installation for nearly two decades. On Feb. 28, the three were allegedly fired without cause under the direction of the division chaplain, Col. John Murphy, and his deputy chaplain, Lt. Col. Sean Wead.

“There was no explanation why I was fired,” Jeanette Mize told Army Times.

She added that her family has “faithfully provided weekly Shabbat and yearly religious worship events since 1999,” and they have worshiped at Fort Campbell since 1984.

“This is the first time in at least 34 years that the Jewish soldiers and their families have been denied weekly Shabbat worship at Fort Campbell,” she said.

Mize and her family have never been paid for the services they provide for the roughly 80 members of the Jewish community on Fort Campbell.

“There is no synagogue in the Fort Campbell area or the nearest towns of Hopkinsville or Clarksville,” she said. “The nearest synagogue is located in Nashville, more than 50 miles away.”

Mize added that other religious groups at Fort Campbell could actually worship nearby, “outside the gate,” but there is still worship at Fort Campbell for these organizations.

At the meeting in which she was terminated, two subordinate chaplains did not give her a reason for her dismissal, and would only say they appreciated her service of many years, according to Mize.

“I asked him what he ‘appreciated,’ since he and [the other chaplain] had never been to a worship event, even though I had invited them for High Holy Days and Shabbat,” she said.

One of the chaplains told her he had been busy with a Catholic event and that another Christian Army chaplain reported back to him.

When Mize said that chaplain has never attended a religious worship service, he responded that “it would compromise his religion to attend,” according to Mize.

“They had to celebrate Passover on a non-Passover date,” Weinstein said. “That’s like telling Christians ‘I know you want to do Christmas on Dec. 25, but it’s more convenient if you do it on Dec. 7, so we can save money.’ ”

Mize said she was told that if the Jewish community still wanted to hold a Passover event on the proper night, there would be no advertising or support for it.

“When you say that some of the most senior military chaplains can’t even observe Jewish faith practices because it would be offensive to their religious views, it doesn’t get much worse than that, except when you tell them that if they want the base chaplains to support Passover, they have to choose a day that isn’t Passover,” Weinstein said.

Mize added that one chaplain in particular, whom she characterized as a fundamentalist Christian, bullied and threatened to take over the religious decisions for Jewish worship after he was assigned to be the Jewish lay leaders’ chaplain sponsor in the summer of 2017.

“I made appeals to replace him,” Mize said. “Nothing was done about this. [He] enjoyed his position and exerted his authority.”

Mize said the lower level chaplains were under the direction of Murphy and Wead, who she claims were transparent in their intention to make conditions so bad that she would quit. The dismissals came when she would not do that, according to Mize.

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Thanks for the tag @sophieandtheorchestra !!!

Are you named after anyone? Nope! My parents just wanted a one-syllable name and, fun fact, they wanted it to be unisex so i wouldn’t get discriminated against on resumes.

When was the last time you cried? idk. recently.

Do you have any kids? HAHAHAHHAHAH i am 18. No thank God. Though I often call the theatre kids I work with my kids lmao

Do you use sarcasm a lot? Less in recent years, but still fairly often.

What’s the first thing you notice about people? I don’t know. Maybe whether or not they appear friendly. Like if they look angry or if they’re smiling or whatever.

Eye color? Hazel

Scary movie or happy ending? Literally FUCK scary movies.

Any special talents? I mean I can sing and play some instruments and I did stand-up for years which I wasn’t terrible at.

Where were you born? Santa Monica, CA.

Hobbies? Writing and music mostly

Do you have any pets? two dogs and a tortoise none of whom i have seen since august :(

What sports do you/have you played? like, all of them. I played soccer for 11-ish years, basketball for 7-ish, karate for 6-ish, softball/baseball for 8-ish, volleyball for 3, flag football for a season… I was actually a really sporty kid. I don’t do any anymore though so.

How tall are you? I’m not.

Favorite subject in school? Theatre!

Dream job? BROADWAY

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