Overview
- Held Feb. 11–15, 2026, the 19th annual gathering brought together more than 200 chaplains, service members and cadets for training, spiritual renewal and community-building.
- Sessions addressed suicidal ideation, halachic decisions in wartime and moral challenges in deployment, with contributions from Rabbi Yechiel Krisch, Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe, Becket Fund counsel Michael O’Brien, Chief Judge Matthew Solomson and IDF Chief Rabbinate officials.
- Participation stretched from U.S. bases nationwide to overseas posts in Spain, Germany, Japan and Hawaii, alongside representatives from Israel and NATO partners including the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Canada.
- Cadet engagement grew with 25 West Point attendees—nearly 20% of the academy’s Jewish students—joined by peers from the Naval, Air Force and Coast Guard academies.
- A communal Shabbat capped the event, highlighted by 102-year-old WWII veteran CPL Harold Terens donning tefillin for the first time and receiving an aliyah, as organizers underscored Aleph’s role supporting roughly 15,000 Jews in the U.S. military.