By: Josefin Dolsten | Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
Date: May 2, 2018

(JTA) - A U.S. Army installation located on the Kentucky-Tennessee border is probing the dismissal of a volunteer Jewish lay leader.

The lay leader, Jeanette Mize, told JTA last week that she was terminated in March by two 101st Airborne Division ranking chaplains at Fort Campbell without explanation after providing services to Jewish soldiers since 1999.

[...]

Mize, who reached out to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation for help, said in a statement that there is "religious persecution for Jewish soldiers and their families" at the hands of two chaplains, Col. John Murphy and Lt. Col. Sean Wead, whom she characterized as "fundamentalist Christians." Mize also said that the base organized a Passover event that did not actually occur on the holiday, and that upon attempting to organize a celebration on the correct date, she was told that it would not be advertised or receive funding.

Mize claims that another Christian base chaplain who was tasked with supervising her never attended Jewish services and that she was told it was due to the fact that doing so "would compromise his religion." There are some 85 Jewish soldiers at the installation, according to Mize.

[...]

Following reports of the investigation, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., urged Secretary of Defense James Mattis to ensure the investigation's completion.

"The dismissal of the Jewish lay leaders, the reports that division chaplains refused to support attempts to celebrate Passover and the discontinuation of Shabbat services would appear to infringe on the Constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom of the Jewish service members at Fort Campbell," Engel wrote in a letter Monday to Mattis.

[...]

The CEO of the Columbus, Ohio, Jewish Foundation, Jackie Jacobs, sent a letter on Wednesday to 101st Airborne Division Chiefs of Staff Cols. Brett Sylvia and Mark Faria urging "a fair and just investigation."

By: Lee Chottiner| Jewish Community of Louisville (JCL)
Date: May 2, 2018

For 19 years, Jeanette, Curt and Lawrence Mize of Clarksville, Tennessee, have conducted Shabbat and holiday services for Jewish servicemen and their families across the state line at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

[...]

For Jeannette Mize, the termination is the culmination of a stormy relationship with the division chaplain, Col. John Murphy, and the deputy chaplain, Lt. Col. Sean Wead, that involved bullying and threats.
"It's just been very difficult all year long," she told Community. "I just felt I haven't had the support. I had to go begging money for the cantor who was coming in for High Holy Days.

"I've been bullied and threatened," she added. "Communication has been cut off. Exposure to other faith groups and chaplains has been limited."
The Army is investigating. It has appointed an officer to conduct the probe, who has already been in touch with Mize. JTA reported that U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-New York, has urged Secretary of Defense James Mattis to ensure that the investigation is completed.

Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), the Mizes' civil rights advocate, said they are victims of "old school classic anti-Semitism by fundamentalist Christians."

He is calling for the reinstatement of the Mizes and for all those responsible for their dismissal to be "visibly and aggressively punished."
The MRFF is a watchdog group dedicated to separation of church and state in the military.

Mize said the chaplains had never complained about the way she, her husband and son have conducted services.

[...]