In Service To Hashem and Country

Military in My Blood

Glogauer’s enlistment was inspired in part by the five generations of men in his family who wore the uniform for their countries. His German great-grandfather won an Iron Cross in the First World War, serving with the Kaiser’s army. But in 1936, the family escaped from Hitler’s Europe and settled in South Africa.

Glogauer, 50, immigrated with his parents to Calgary in 1978. After attending that city’s I.L. Peretz School, and then public high school, he completed multiple university degrees. Rabbinical ordination followed, and a 25-year career in Jewish education on several continents. His autobiography “Never Give Up” was published in 2016.

Around that time, he made his decision to leave teaching.

“It made me realize that serving in the military would be an opportunity for me to give back to the larger community and, in moving back to Canada, give back all that Canada had provided for me,” Glogauer told the Canadian Jewish News in 2018. 

Meets Jews Every Day

Jews make up only an estimated one per cent of the regular strength in the Canadian Armed Forces – or somewhere around 700 men and women. The military does not release official numbers.

“I have a tiny, tiny portion of Jewish members,” Glogauer said, adding that not everyone chooses to make their religion public. Jewish personnel can wear the letters JUD on their identity discs, as he does, but not all do. Nevertheless, he encounters Jews “each and every day.”

“I was walking across the hangar last week and someone said to me ‘Shalom Aleichem’,” Glogauer said.

With social distancing restrictions now in place in Halifax, making it trickier for him to introduce himself as the new chaplain, Glogauer is trying a creative approach.

“Once a week I bring a couple dozen bagels [from East Coast Bakery] to the wing commander. They love it!” Glogauer said. “It’s a good way to schmooze.”

Chaplains are also required to foster closer ties with local clergy, under the Religious Leader Engagement Doctrine. Although Halifax synagogues were not holding in-person services due to COVID-19, Glogauer did connect with some of the local rabbis. He also received an enthusiastic welcome through a Zoom talk he did for the Atlantic Jewish Council.

“Some of the nicest people I’ve ever met in Canada are here in the Maritimes,” Glogauer told them.

With the pandemic preventing Glogauer’s Toronto-based family from regular visiting, his wife, clinical psychologist Dr. Maline Chaya Glogauer, hoped to drive to Halifax for Shavuot with their two youngest children. Unfortunately for the family, health and safety regulations derailed the visit.

“It’s the only real challenge,” the rabbi acknowledged, two months into his new posting. “It’s a little rough.”