I am an observant Jew. I never concealed it. We always kept a Kosher home. But it is not possible to follow all the rules of keeping Kosher on board an American warship. Even so, I did always avoid eating items that are specifically forbidden in the Old Testament. That’s how the following story came about.
The first day my new ship set sail from Piraeus, Greece, the menu for dinner in the officer’s Wardroom was pork chops. Dinner in the wardroom was a formal affair. All the officers sat down together when the Executive Officer sat down. The stewards served the meal on a large tray with meat in the center and potatoes and vegetables on the two ends. He went from person to person and each officer took what he wanted. When it was my turn, I took only the potatoes and vegetables, not the meat. At the end of the meal, as I was leaving the wardroom, the Chief Steward approached me.
“Excuse me. Sir,” he said, “I noticed you didn’t take any of the meat. Wa something wrong with the meal?”
“Oh, No, Chief” I replied. “I’m Jewish, so I don’t eat pork or shellfish. I’m sure everything was fine. It’s simply because of my religion that I didn’t take the pork chops.”
“Thank you, Sir.” he said, “I understand.” and that terminated the conversation.
I really didn’t want to go into any greater detail. Especially since the Chief Steward was a Filipino, and probably Catholic.
A few days later the officer’s menu called for pork for dinner again. This time, when the duty serving steward approached with his heavy tray he stopped at the officer on my left, and then continued on to the officer on my right, skipping me entirely. I was about to complain that i did want at least the potatoes and vegetables, but before I could turn and speak another steward emerged from the galley carrying a single plate with beef steak as the main course and deposited it in front of me.
I must stress that i had not asked for any special treatment. I had only mentioned my “Kosher problem” that one time. But the wardroom staff remembered. Every time there was pork, ham, lobster,shrimp, or anything similar that I would not have eaten there was beef, either a steak or a hamburger, delivered directly to me. I did not request the special consideration, but I did greatly appreciate it.
Wetherhorn 