'Proud to serve': Beth Shalom's Rabbi Melman sworn in as chaplain for Illinois National Guard

His father pictured in full military dress. The Army trophy he'd received. Down in the family basement for a young son to admire.

“Some of those images never left me,” Rabbi Aaron Melman said of his father's treasures in their Toronto home.

Decades later it's Neil Melman's turn to admire his son wearing those sharp Class A's. Aaron Melman, rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, was sworn in as a chaplain for the Illinois Army National Guard in a March 17 ceremony at Camp Lincoln, Springfield.

“Just being proud to serve and, to me, serve our soldiers in uniform in a spiritual capacity seems like it would be an honor, I would say, and I'm already feeling that sense of honor, excitement, awe and, as I said as well (that day), a little trepidation,” Rabbi Melman said.The trepidation should wear off rather quickly. The rabbi is a natural for this role.

The initial inspiration, his father served with the U.S. Army Reserves during the Vietnam War era.

One of Rabbi Melman's friends was a chaplain in the Massachusetts National Guard.

A cousin served in the Guard in Illinois in the 1960s, activated for duty during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Aaron Melman himself has seen acute suffering. As a student rabbi with the New York Fire Department, in 2001 he ministered to firefighters, first responders and others at ground zero in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

“That ability to provide even a little comfort to them pushed that piece of me who wanted to serve. It ultimately propelled me to this day,” he was quoted as saying in a March 18 news release.

Melman, who started the process toward chaplaincy with a webinar last October, thanked his wife, Elisa, and teenage children Jordan and Hannah, as they watched the March 17 ceremony remotely.

He thanked them as well as Congregation Beth Shalom Senior Cantor Steven Stoehr, Assistant Rabbi Warner Ferratier, and congregational leadership.

“The timing was right because I felt my kids are in an age now where they're much more self-sufficient,” said Rabbi Melman, who has dual American-Canadian citizenship.

He received a direct commission as a captain in the Guard and will attend the Chaplain Basic Officer Leader Course later this year.

Eventually he'll be assigned to a unit in Chicago, will train with them two days a month and serve two weeks a year, in addition to counseling soldiers, their families and command leaders as needed.

“I'm just really looking forward to the opportunity to serve,” Melman said. “And for me it's serving state, serving country and serving God in new and exciting ways.”