Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
The directive ignored a significant nuance: courts have granted Orthodox Jews and Sikhs who serve religious exemptions allowing them to keep their beards.
“It’s not a small thing about, ‘Oh, can you have a beard? Or what about my hair?’” said Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog group that exposes Christian nationalism in the armed forces. “This is a comprehensive, universal attack on anyone who is not straight, white, Christian and male.”
“How do you show that a beard is going to destroy good order, morale, discipline, unit cohesion?” Weinstein said. “So you have to go through some gymnastics there.”
A number of lawsuits have helped codify the right to religious exemptions for beards. In 2011, Rabbi Menachem Stern successfully sued the Army after being barred from serving as a chaplain because he refused to shave. In 2016, the Sikh Captain Simratpal Singh won an accommodation to maintain his unshorn hair and beard while serving. And in the 2022 case Singh v. Berger, a court ruled that Sikh recruits could not be denied entry into the Marine Corps for keeping beards.
But Weinstein said Hegseth’s comments have caused alarm and confusion among his religious clients.
“Everybody is terrified,” he said. “If you feel that you’ve been denied your accommodation request, there’s only so much you can do.”
The Department of Defense did not respond to the Forward’s request for further clarification about how its policy on religious exemptions to grooming standards would change.
forward.com
https://forward.com/fast-forward/772945/pete-hegseth-beard-military-jews-sikhs-grooming-standards/
“It’s not a small thing about, ‘Oh, can you have a beard? Or what about my hair?’” said Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog group that exposes Christian nationalism in the armed forces. “This is a comprehensive, universal attack on anyone who is not straight, white, Christian and male.”
“How do you show that a beard is going to destroy good order, morale, discipline, unit cohesion?” Weinstein said. “So you have to go through some gymnastics there.”
A number of lawsuits have helped codify the right to religious exemptions for beards. In 2011, Rabbi Menachem Stern successfully sued the Army after being barred from serving as a chaplain because he refused to shave. In 2016, the Sikh Captain Simratpal Singh won an accommodation to maintain his unshorn hair and beard while serving. And in the 2022 case Singh v. Berger, a court ruled that Sikh recruits could not be denied entry into the Marine Corps for keeping beards.
But Weinstein said Hegseth’s comments have caused alarm and confusion among his religious clients.
“Everybody is terrified,” he said. “If you feel that you’ve been denied your accommodation request, there’s only so much you can do.”
The Department of Defense did not respond to the Forward’s request for further clarification about how its policy on religious exemptions to grooming standards would change.
Hegseth says ‘no more beardos’ in the military. What about religious exemptions?
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said beards will no longer be tolerated in the military. Where does that leave Orthodox Jews and Sikhs?
forward.com
