The following Friday evening I led services. One of the soldiers, whose mother goes to a Chabad in a small western town, told me he really appreciated the traditional Shabbat service, and the others were willing to learn and try it. There is such a mix of backgrounds in this wonderful group. One reservist was called up from his job as a mashgiach and sent here for a year; he davens with the Artscroll Siddur. A young soldier from the mortuary affairs unit wants to learn to sing 'Adon Olam'.
After we make kiddush over a quickly dwindling bottle of kosher wine, we talk over some of the plans for Chanukah. Everyone is intrigued when I tell them I brought a 12 foot tall menorah from Texas. As we wish each other a Shabbat Shalom / Good Shabbos, I remembered the friends and the good things from my last deployment and hoped for a continuing good year.