When Rabbi Levi Ceitlin was figuring out what he wanted to do as a profession, he knew that he wanted to have a background in rabbinical studies — although he didn’t want to become a congregational rabbi.
So, he started to lean toward becoming a social worker and psychologist. Then, a dean gave him advice that changed his course in the process of being ordained as a rabbi.
“He looked at me and he goes, ‘the first thing they teach you in psychology and social work is how to leave your heart by the door. Your talent lies with your heart. Find something else,’” Ceitlin said.
So Ceitlin discovered chaplaincy, which allows him to continue to lead with his heart and serve in a rabbinic capacity while being outside of a standard pulpit. As of last month, he is the newest member of the chaplain team at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis.
He serves as a rabbi there following a stint at Camp Pendleton in Southern California.
Ceitlin’s job as a chaplain in the Navy is divided into four categories, or primary responsibilities: care, provide, facilitate and advise. In the tough world of the military, the first component — care — is essential, he said.
“A commanding officer has to give orders and can’t take feelings into account. The ship’s got to go, yet some people are leaving behind families. Some people are leaving behind loved ones. And the commanding officer has to make the hard decision of, ‘yes, we’re going to separate you from loved ones, and there’s going to be hard times.’ Sometimes people feel, ‘well, nobody cares about me. Nobody cares about the hardships that I’m being put through,’” Ceitlin said. “Well, it’s the chaplain’s job to say ‘I care.’ And we go around, we talk to people, and we look in on them, on their personal lives and their spiritual life and their emotional life. So that’s the thing that we do the most as chaplains, the category that we live in the most.”
Ceitlin will also be tasked with helping provide support services for Jewish midshipmen, although his position isn’t actually limited to working with Jewish students.
“If somebody comes to me and they’re Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and they say ‘I want to go celebrate or practice, and I need support,’ our job as a chaplain is to make sure that they have the support and to advocate for them no matter what their religion is,” Ceitlin said.
Academy chaplains also advise commanding officers on anything to do with religion. The job is a busy and diverse one, and that’s how Ceitlin likes it.
“I feel like I wear three hats, one being a chaplain hat, one being a rabbi hat and then the other being a Chabad rabbi hat,” he said.
While Ceitlin enjoyed working at Camp Pendleton and abroad, which gave his family the chance to see the world, there is a special opportunity at the Naval Academy.
“The midshipmen are the best of the best. At the academy, we have the ability to impact the next generation of leaders. So being here, being able to support these young men and women, is an honor,” he said.
Working in the Navy instead of at a standard temple or Chabad house brings its own unique parameters, of course. Ceitlin’s immediate supervisors are all Christian faith leaders. He said he has an “amazing” relationship with them, and that he is particularly excited that the academy is bringing in its first Muslim chaplain this year.
“I happen to know him very well, I worked with him at Camp Pendleton,” Ceitlin said. “He’s a good friend of mine, so I’m really looking forward to working with him as well.”
Ceitlin has already heard from parents of midshipmen what his work means to them as their kids navigate stringent military life and one of the hardest educational curricula in the country, on top of the physical requirements of life at the academy.
And while Ceitlin is originally from Montreal, his wife and children all hail from California — meaning that their introduction to Annapolis this winter was an interesting one.
“We arrived here the weekend of the snowstorm [which was] more of an ice storm,” he said. “We have a long driveway, and the entire thing was covered in six inches of snow, of which the top four inches was solid ice. My wife was like, ‘that’s really different.’”
The family has begun to settle into their new home, though, and Ceitlin is excited for what the future brings.
“With the military, we got to travel the world to different places that are rich in history, and we’ve gotten a love for that. So we’re really looking forward to being in Annapolis, exploring the historical parts of Annapolis, and not only that, but just being on the East Coast with the amount of history that it holds,” he said. “I’ve only been here for less than a month, but it’s been an incredible opportunity so far.”
