By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
Joshua Slotnick has the military in his blood.
“He is the product of soldiers,” said his father, Jeff Slotnick of Tacoma.
“He is the product of soldiers,” said his father, Jeff Slotnick of Tacoma. Both of Joshua’s grandfathers served in the Korean War. His mother spent a couple years in the military while his stepmother currently serves in the army. Jeff served in the first Gulf War and boasts a 21-year military career.
This time around, Joshua has gone to war. As a combat engineer in the 326th Engineer Battalion, he has his work cut out for him. Reports from the front have portrayed soldiers in Joshua’s position as the people who cleared landmines before the convoys descended upon Baghdad.
But Joshua has gained recognition that he may not even know about: his picture was featured in the Israeli newspaper Hamodia, then picked up by Reuters news service and eventually ended up in Newsweek. It showed Joshua wearing a camouflage yarmulke kissing his prayer book.
Until last week, the picture was the only specific knowledge the Slotnick family had regarding Joshua’s whereabouts. They have not been in contact since mid-March, and it will likely be several more weeks before they speak again. However, Jeff said he received a call in early April from a member of Joshua’s unit. She said they had entered Baghdad, and Josh was doing well.
The elder Slotnick is not too worried about his son. “He’s doing a job. It’s been a mixed bag of nuts for me. On the one hand I’m a soldier, his mom is a soldier,” he said. “We understand the necessity of his service. On the other side, I’m a concerned dad.”
Joshua, 19, was born in Italy but moved to Tacoma in 1985. He has been in the military for about two years, including time spent in reserves between his junior and senior year of high school. After he graduated early, he entered the 101st Airborne Division — a division that led the charge into Iraq at the start of the war. He is currently assigned to a base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Rabbi Simon Benzaquen of the Sephardic Bikur Holim synagogue, where the Slotnicks — Joshua also has two siblings — are members, said he’s very close with the family. He said the Newsweek photo captures completely Joshua’s commitment to Judaism. Outside of updates from Joshua’s father, Rabbi Benzaquen said they didn’t have much contact, but he said he “always had this special feeling of Josh, he was very respectful.”
Rabbi Benzaquen added that Jeff has played a big part in his son’s upbringing. “He’s a god-fearing man,” he said.
According to Lt. Col. Rabbi Brett Oxman, who oversees the chaplains at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, dedication to any religion is strongly encouraged. He says of religious military personnel, “they tend to be more moral, more ethical, better soldiers, better airmen.” Joshua, he added, holds deeper beliefs than many personnel he has worked with.
Jeff Slotnick also has strong ties to the Jewish community. Aside from his relationship with Rabbi Benzaquen, he is also a lay leader for the Fort Lewis base. Slotnick said that community has about 70 members. While stationed in the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War, he performed the same duties there.
In addition, Jeff Slotnick owns a security company that he said is the only one in the area to specialize in working with Jewish institutions. He has worked with many area synagogues, agencies and schools to help implement emergency preparedness plans and new security procedures.
When asked about support of the war, the elder Slotnick makes no bones about his support for the troops and the reasons the U.S. has entered Iraq.
“I’m very supportive of the war in Iraq. I’m very supportive of what Joshua is doing. He feels a tremendous sense of commitment,” Slotnick said. “History repeats itself, and I don’t see Saddam Hussein as any different than Adolph Hitler.”
If any military personnel felt wrong about fighting this war, Rabbi Oxman said none of the Jews serving from the Puget Sound area voiced their reservations to him. “Not a one, not a single one. Not only that, there’s been nobody that’s come to anyone on my entire staff,” Oxman said.
While there are other Jews from the area who are serving in the Persian Gulf, Rabbi Oxman declined to name them or say how many from his base had been sent overseas. He did mention, however, that the military makes accommodations for all religions, including observant Jews.
“I know people who are 100 percent Shomer Shabbos,” he said, and because they need at least some break from combat, they can use Saturdays as that time.
Eating is not so difficult, either. “Believe it or not, they have kosher rations,” he said.
Rabbi Oxman also said that everyone who has received Care packages from members of the Jewish community greatly appreciates it.
He said it shows how Jews in this country support what the troops are doing in the Gulf.
Jeff Slotnick certainly supports them. While he wants to see his son come home safely, he believes that Joshua is fighting for the freedom of the people both here and in Iraq.
He said he understands that war protesters have a right to their point of view, but he wants them to understand “it’s real easy to be a protester when your stomach is full and you have the freedom and ability to voice your opinion, and you can go home at night and sleep in a warm bed. There are others in Iraq,” he continued, “that don’t have that same freedom.”