U.S. Air Force Swears In First Bearded Chaplain — A Rabbi

By JTA September 10, 2014

The U.S. Air Force is swearing in its first bearded chaplain, a rabbi.

Rabbi Elie Estrin, the director of a Chabad House on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, will be sworn in Wednesday at McCord Air Force Base in the state, Chabad.org, a news website of the movement, reported.

The military only this year relaxed its guidelines and recommended leeway for chaplains with beards, although in 2011, the U.S. Army swore in Rabbi Menachem Stern, also a Chabad rabbi, as a chaplain in South Carolina.

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