TRISH ABRAMS
arus wv vnu cuy vn ost lk shdv sxj, cvtu ypan, uag ot hf lnn lhvuk-t og, fk gbmvu
God has told you, O human, what is good, what the Lord requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. ~ Micah 6:8
I am a fourth generation military officer. As a kid, I played on military obstacle courses and ran through medical tents set out in fields. I did my homework in Army clinics and often fell asleep peacefully to the sounds of nighttime firefight training or helicopter missions in the distance. I always felt safe, and despite the risks, I still feel that way. I was always ready for new adventures, to meet new people, to see new places, and that hasn’ t changed either. Although I didn’ t follow my mother’ s exact footsteps in the military medical field, I do have the incredible honor to tend to the hearts and minds of soldiers entrusted into my care and to focus on their spiritual well-being. With the utmost pride, I get to call myself a member of the United States Army Chaplain Corps.
What I have learned about callings is that if you answer“ hineni” and you mean it, no matter how scared you are and how impossible it seems that you can actually do it, G-d will give you helpers to push you through the hard things. This will give you the momentum to work hard and press on, no matter what life throws at you. And before you know it, you’ ve actually done it, and you’ ve survived! As a 1st Lieutenant in the United States Army Reserves, I am about to be ordained as a Rabbi because I decided that with G-d’ s help, I could do hard things. And if you ask, G-d will help you do hard things too.
My journey towards ordination has been a very challenging one. I knew it would be hard, and so I ran away from it for many years, hoping that teaching religious school and focusing on Jewish education would be enough. Although I enjoy teaching and have done so in public, private, and religious settings for over 15 years, I knew that there was a specific call on my life and that I needed to do more. But that more meant being a military chaplain, not just a pulpit rabbi. This was terrifying to me because although I have been a military child and wife, I never was the one who had to actually do the soldier things, like my mom and my husband did. I didn’ t think that I could measure up to the physical standards and what would be required of me as a soldier, and as an officer. And then I did it anyway.
AJR 2026 5