When Lakewood native and US Air Force chaplain Menashe Miller, returned home from Iraq on January 7, his colleagues on the Township Committee chose him to be the mayor of Lakewood. Despite the pressures of his new post, Mayor Miller graciously shared some time with Mishpacha.
What inspired you as a born-and-bred Lakewood ben Torah to strive for political and military careers?
I never strived for any of this. Prior to my involvement in these matters I was a quiet kollel yungerman sitting in the back of [Beth Medrash Govoha’s] Beis Eliyahu. If you had told me then that I’d be mayor of Lakewood or involved in the military I would’ve said that you landed on your head. But obviously Hashem had different plans.
My kiruv activities with Gesher [currently Torah Links] got me involved with several Jewish troops based at McGuire Air Force Base located about forty miles southwest of Lakewood. I was urged to get involved in an official capacity which I did. My political career began when local askanim were seeking a yungerman with a simple name to run a “write-in” primary race against an individual they mistrusted on matters of interest to the kehillah. I won the primary an unusual occurrence for a write-in candidate lost in the general election but won a seat on the committee the following year.
What do your chaplaincy duties demand from you?
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