Menachem Stern’s bushy black beard is at the center of a federal court case.
Stern, 29, a Lubavitch rabbi from Brooklyn, N.Y., last week filed suit against the Army, saying that a no-beard restriction violates his religious freedom.
In January 2009, Stern had applied to become a chaplain in the Army, which has been historically short on Jewish spiritual leaders.
That June, his application was accepted, according to a lawsuit filed Dec. 8 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., with one condition: He must shave off his beard to comport with Army regulations prohibiting facial hair.
But rules are rules, the Army asserts, and Stern – like the 550,000 other enlisted personnel – must adhere to the military’s strict regulations if he wishes to serve.
Stern, however, argues that his journey through the Army’s bureaucracy has revealed widespread contradictions in the way its polices are applied to service members. Enlistees from other religions, he said, have been granted facial hair exemptions in the past.
From the outset, Stern explained in an interview Dec. 13, he made it clear that his beard is fundamental to his faith.
“By not trimming my beard, I represent the unadulterated view of the holy Torah, the way we believe a person should live,” Stern wrote in his original chaplain application. “It is the strength Jews have retained of traditions for thousands of years.”
After submitting his application, Stern then filed a formal request to be exempted from shaving his facial hair, according to court documents.
In his request, Stern points to Leviticus chapter 19, noting that as a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi, he is “strictly prohibited from shaving or removing” his facial hair “in any manner.”
On Sept. 1, 2009, the unshaven Stern was formally appointed as a reserve commissioned officer, and instructed to complete a Chaplain Officer Basic Course.
The following day, however, his appointment was rescinded.
A missive penned by Col. Scottie Lloyd, the Army’s director of Human Resources and Ecclesiastical Relations, noted that Stern’s appointment was an “administrative error,” wrongly sent. He didn’t qualify for active duty, Lloyd continued, “because of the military regulation prohibiting the wearing of beards.”
At that point, Rabbi Sanford Dresin intervened to advocate on Stern’s behalf. As executive director of chaplains at the Aleph Institute, a group that certifies and provides support for Jewish chaplains, Dresin thought he could run interference.
With just nine active duty rabbis serving as Army chaplains, Dresin believes the Army should bend its rule to accommodate Stern – just as it has in the past.
Dresin, Stern and his lawyer, Nathan Lewin, argue that the military is being overly
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