Twelve Beth El congregants, led by Rabbi Yoni Warren, Rabbi Jacob Herber USCG, and Admiral Herm Shelanski, Ret., were treated to a special morning minyon aboard the USS Harry S. Truman on Thursday, Oct. 30.
Some may recall when the Truman was commissioned in 1998. Now, after half the life expectancy of the carrier, it is time for the Truman’s overhaul and recharging of its nuclear power, a process that will take about seven years.
In 2007, then Captain Shelanski, along with the help of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Mark Talisman, founder of the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, secured a Holocaust Torah saved from Lithuania (the Torah had been earmarked for a Nazi museum to remember the lost Jewish community, but the museum never materialized). More than 600 members of Tidewater’s Jewish community and the community at large, attended and participated in a beautiful ceremony “lending” the Torah to the Harry S. Truman on June 24, 2007.
Now in 2025, with the Truman heading for a lengthy repair, Rabbi Warren assisted in finding a temporary home for the Torah at Congregation Beth El. At this Truman minyon, a brief ceremony took place where the importance and relevance of the Torah was acknowledged, and the Torah was turned over to Beth El. In addition to the Beth El Congregants, those attending included Commanding Officer, Captain Daniel Prochazka (Prozac), Executive Officer Gordon Shriver, U.S. Army Chaplain (Col.) Shmuel Felzenberg, Rabbi Aaron Kleinman, CDR, CHC, USN., Cantor Elihu Flax, and Capt. Matt S. Weems, Force Chaplain for Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic.
Captain Prochazka noted that the Torah’s “presence aboard the Truman reminds us that true strength is measured not only in power, but in resilience, memory, and hope. Just as our namesake, President Truman, affirmed the right of people everywhere to live in freedom and self-determination, this Torah stands as a lasting symbol of those same ideals.”
Admiral Shelanski shared memories of his experiences on the Truman with the Torah. Rabbi Herber humbly accepted the responsibility of caring for and utilizing the Torah during its time at Beth El.
The USS Harry S. Truman Torah now sits in the ark at Congregation Beth El, where it will remain for the next seven years and serve as a living testimony to the prosperity of the Jewish people.
