# Rabbi's Beard Doesn't Make Cut August 20, 2010 Author: Devlin Barrett Source: The Wall Street Journal Rabbi Menachem Stern's stringy brown beard is hardly an unusual sight in his Brooklyn neighborhood. But in trying to become a chaplain in the U.S. Army, Mr. Stern has gotten tangled in a military bureaucracy that has made exceptions for other beards, but not his. The 28-year-old rabbi was notified last year that he had been accepted as a chaplain in the Army Reserve. Almost immediately, Army officials contacted him to say the acceptance was a clerical mistake, and that unless he was willing to shave his beard, he couldn't join. See also:- [ Advocacy/Government ](/news-stories/advocacygovernment) - [ Military ](/news-stories/military) - [ Interfaith ](/religions/interfaith) - [ Judaism ](/religions/judaism) - [ Sikhism ](/religions/sikhism) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)