Monday, February 20, 2006
Little Rock, Arkansas Police get first Rabbi chaplain
At the first Little Rock Police Department prayer breakfast in a Jewish synagogue, Rabbi Martin Applebaum joked with some of the officers about the lack of bacon and ham in the meal before leading a brief prayer.
“God will give you strength to do what you do,” he said.
Last week Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas and about a dozen officers gathered at the 100-year-old Synagogue Agudath Achim to meet Applebaum, the newest addition to the department’s growing chaplain program. He’s Little Rock’s first Jewish police chaplain and, according to Applebaum, the first ever in Arkansas.
After the meal the officers listened and sipped coffee as synagogue President Robert Safirstein worked the medieval Jewish sage Maimonides into a brief lecture on police officers’ relationship with the public.
Most police gatherings are raucous, boisterous affairs, even prayer breakfasts in churches, police say. But the officers at the synagogue were quiet and composed — a reflection of the novel circumstances, said a police spokesman.
Fewer than 1,000 Jews live in Little Rock, and Applebaum knows of only one Jewish police officer in Little Rock, but police chaplaincy is a peculiar form of ministry. It’s nondenominational, and chaplains are legally and ethically discouraged from promoting their faiths. At the same time, the department wants its eight-person chaplain corps — which includes Methodist, Baptist, Church of Christ and nondenominational Christian ministers — to serve every group in the city, police officials say.
“The whole purpose of the chaplain program is trying to reach everyone where they are,” said spokesman Sgt. Terry Hastings. The Jewish community “is something we need to be aware of.”
Applebaum, who traveled around the world during his 13 years as a chaplain in the U.S. Army, moved to Little Rock in September to take the helm at Agudath Achim. He had already served as a police chaplain for police departments in Des Moines, Iowa; Niagara, Ontario; for locallevel police agencies while in the Army; and had volunteered with Little Rock police.
He was accepted to the unpaid position after a brief background check and will eventually attend the department’s Citizen’s Police Academy to learn more about the department.
http://www.ardemgaz.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=ArDemocrat/2006/02/20&ID=Ar01102&Section=Arkansas
At the first Little Rock Police Department prayer breakfast in a Jewish synagogue, Rabbi Martin Applebaum joked with some of the officers about the lack of bacon and ham in the meal before leading a brief prayer.
“God will give you strength to do what you do,” he said.
Last week Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas and about a dozen officers gathered at the 100-year-old Synagogue Agudath Achim to meet Applebaum, the newest addition to the department’s growing chaplain program. He’s Little Rock’s first Jewish police chaplain and, according to Applebaum, the first ever in Arkansas.
After the meal the officers listened and sipped coffee as synagogue President Robert Safirstein worked the medieval Jewish sage Maimonides into a brief lecture on police officers’ relationship with the public.
Most police gatherings are raucous, boisterous affairs, even prayer breakfasts in churches, police say. But the officers at the synagogue were quiet and composed — a reflection of the novel circumstances, said a police spokesman.
Fewer than 1,000 Jews live in Little Rock, and Applebaum knows of only one Jewish police officer in Little Rock, but police chaplaincy is a peculiar form of ministry. It’s nondenominational, and chaplains are legally and ethically discouraged from promoting their faiths. At the same time, the department wants its eight-person chaplain corps — which includes Methodist, Baptist, Church of Christ and nondenominational Christian ministers — to serve every group in the city, police officials say.
“The whole purpose of the chaplain program is trying to reach everyone where they are,” said spokesman Sgt. Terry Hastings. The Jewish community “is something we need to be aware of.”
Applebaum, who traveled around the world during his 13 years as a chaplain in the U.S. Army, moved to Little Rock in September to take the helm at Agudath Achim. He had already served as a police chaplain for police departments in Des Moines, Iowa; Niagara, Ontario; for locallevel police agencies while in the Army; and had volunteered with Little Rock police.
He was accepted to the unpaid position after a brief background check and will eventually attend the department’s Citizen’s Police Academy to learn more about the department.
http://www.ardemgaz.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=ArDemocrat/2006/02/20&ID=Ar01102&Section=Arkansas
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