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Israeli native is 1st woman Naval Academy rabbi
While she was on the verge of w: becoming a freshly minted rabbi, Daniella Kolodny was exploring career options, when a fellow clergy member, who happened to be a Navy chaplain, suggested that she give the military a try.
Kolodny hadn't had much exposure to the armed forces while growing up in Columbia. But she took the plunge, and the rest is military history - literally.
A 2004 graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Kolodny is the only active-duty woman rabbi in the Navy and the first-ever woman rabbi to serve as a chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, her current station.
"It's a good thing to be able to serve the Jewish people in the military, because there are not enough rabbis," said Kolodny, who is in her second tour of duty. "When a nation is at war, it's a good time to be a chaplain. People are suffering. And the spiritual questions and concerns are more acute when people are under fire, literally and figuratively."
Kolodny, who demurred on her age, is one of eight chaplains at the Naval Academy, and the only Jewish one. During her three-year active-duty career, her responsibilities have ranged from conducting Jewish services to comforting service members who have been wounded in battle.
"It's a very different thing to provide pastoral care for somebody who is 18, and only two weeks ago was hale and hearty, and was then wounded, and suddenly suffered a loss of bodily functions," she said. Although that individual's spiritual needs may be similar to an elderly or chronically ill patient, she added, the context is radically different, and that counts for plenty.
Kolodny...