c. 2003 Religion News Service
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ Do you have a favorite Psalm or simply enjoy reading them? Do you want to support the U.S. troops but don’t know how?
If you answered yes to both questions, Michael Adams may have something of interest for you.
Michael, a seventh-grader at Challenger Middle School, has a Web site for people to sign up to read or recite one or more of the 150 Psalms in honor of a member of the U.S. military _ whether he or she is in combat or not.
Michael first put up his Web site (http://home.earthlink.net/(tilde)operation(underscore)michael) March 14. After just a week, more than 70 people had signed up for at least one of the Psalms.
“I’m very pleased and a little surprised,” said Michael, son of Abbe and Tom Adams. “We’re getting at least three a day, sometimes as many as 10 or 15.”
Michael got the idea for the project while studying for his upcoming May bar mitzvah with Rabbi Jeffrey Ballon of Temple B’nai Sholom in Huntsville. When Michael asked him what he could do to show support for the Jewish military personnel, Ballon told him to e-mail Chaplain Kenneth Leinwand, who is stationed in Germany, for his advice.
“I asked him what I could do for the soldiers and he suggested I have people recite or pray the Psalms and to get some of my classmates to sign up for them,” said Michael. ‘`He said there is power in prayer and that would be the best thing I could do. Rabbi Ballon wanted me to take it further and include all soldiers. It’s a way of bringing everyone together.”
With a little technical support from his father and spiritual support from his mother and Ballon, Michael wasted little time getting his Web site up and running. He already has people from a number of states, including his grandparents in New Jersey, signed up. Other states represented include Ohio, Florida, New York, Hawaii and California. People from Germany and Italy have signed up. One soldier who signed up said his location was “classified.”
While many kids use the Internet for less than ideal reasons, Tom Adams figured his son’s project was worthwhile. He signed up to read the first Psalm.
“I figured it was a good use of the Internet,” said Tom Adams, an engineer. “I’m very proud of him for several reasons.”
Michael is an A-average student and was recently selected for the National Junior Honor Society. He sings in the Challenger choir, is a Boy Scout, takes tae kwon do and is trying hard to be a role model for his younger brother, Jake, 6. “It’s hard sometimes,” said Michael with a grin.
Abbe Adams signed up for the second Psalm.
“It’s just up to the person how often he or she wants to recite it,” she said. “He chose not to be that specific and people can recite or pray it as often as they like. It’s not a restrictive site. It’s just up to each person. Several people have signed up for more than one Psalm.”
War in Iraq has made the Adams family even more aware of the need for faith.
“This hits very close to home for us and we still have a lot of friends in the military,” she said. “It’s for anyone and is interdenominational and interfaith.”
“Operation Michael,” as it is called, is definitely interfaith. Tom Adams grew up attending Trinity United Methodist Church in Huntsville. After high school, he attended West Point. While there, one of his classmates introduced him to a high school classmate _ Abbe Schrott, who grew up in a Jewish family in Brooklyn, N.Y. After marrying, the Adamses often moved with the military, but when Tom Adams left the Army in 1992, the family moved to Huntsville.
Two of the first Psalms to be claimed were the 23rd and 100th, said Michael.
His former rabbi, Steven Jacobs, who teaches religion at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, signed up for Psalm 119 _ the longest Psalm with 176 verses.
“Michael is a very special young man and it is obviously reflected in the project he has chosen,” said Jacobs, who serves as the Aaron Aronov Chair of Judaic Studies at Alabama. “It’s an honor for me to sign up and to participate in something that is such a long-standing Jewish tradition of reciting the Psalms.”
Michael’s grandfather in New Jersey arbitrarily picked Psalm 117. He didn’t know it is the shortest Psalm with just two verses.
“I told him he’d have to pick another one, too,” said Abbe Adams with a laugh. Michael has yet to sign up for a Psalm. He’s waiting to see how many, if any, are left.
“Rabbi Ballon told me if they all weren’t taken by May 9, I’d have to do the rest,” said Michael. Maybe that’s why he’s working so hard to ensure each Psalm will have a sponsor.
DEA END BETOWT
