US naval petty officer finds her rabbinic legs at sea

Seminarian is the first rabbinical student to get a prestigious military scholarship as she prepares for a career as a chaplain

THE NAVY’S RECRUITING poster proclaims, “Join the Navy and See the World.” Kanaan Goldstein joined and the native of Norman, Okla., not only saw the world, she found her calling.

“I loved it,” she said of the six years she served in the Navy, five of them aboard the USS Wasp based in Norfolk, Va.

“I had beautiful relationships, saw the world, met people from all different walks of life and learned things about myself,” Goldstein, 29, told Jewish Insider in a Zoom interview. “I decided I wanted to become a Jewish lay leader and to lead services on the ship.

“I became qualified to do that and when we went out to sea, I would go to the chapel, turn around the little Jesus and transform it from a Christian to a Jewish space.”

Goldstein was soon given the go-ahead to conduct Shabbat services on Friday evenings.

But there was one problem – there was only one other Jewish sailor onboard. The service morphed into Torah study, but quickly became a safe space for others on the ship to come and speak with her about whatever was on their minds. There was no other space for those kinds of discussions on the ship.

FULL STORY The Naval petty officer who found her rabbinic legs at sea (Jewish Insider)

Photo: Kanaan Goldstein