A much-needed increase in the number of rabbis in fatigues may soon become a reality in the United States.

On Jan. 22, the Department of Defense issued a directive easing rules on beards and other displays of religious beliefs for military personnel in all branches of the armed forces. While special allowances have been made in rare cases in the past, the new directive gives wider leeway, especially for the existence of facial hair.

The military can now only deny the expression of “sincerely held belief” if it is judged to “have an adverse impact on military readiness, unit cohesion, and good order and discipline.”

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With a sorely felt shortage of Jewish chaplains throughout the military, the rule change is expected to pave the way for the enlistment of bearded rabbis as military chaplains, a near impossible goal under the previously strict grooming code. The rule change will also affect Sikhs, Muslims and members of other religion groups, encompassing beards, turbans and other forms of religious expression.

The change in policy was welcomed by both Jewish military chaplains and lay leaders.

Rabbi Mendy Katz, director of prison and military outreach at the Aleph Institute—a Florida-based, Chabad-affiliated organization that provides social services and Jewish resources to military personnel and their families—explains that the directive has been eagerly awaited.

“We at Aleph have been trying for years to get the military to approve rabbis with beards across the board,” he says. “This has been a long time in coming, and it will do a lot to help the Jews who are serving our country in the military.”

For chaplains like Rabbi Stern, bringing Judaism to the troops can sometimes be a family affair.

The new regulation serves to further push a military establishment that is traditionally averse to change. In 2010, Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Mendy Stern, who had been denied a commission in the U.S. Army Chaplaincy Corps because of his beard, filed a federal lawsuit against the Army with the help of the Aleph Institute, claiming his constitutional rights to religious freedom and equal protection under the law had been violated. After a year-long battle, the Army ultimately settled, allowing him a one-time exception.

Stern is now a captain on active duty, stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.

“We live in a great country where religious freedom is respected,” adds Katz. “It may be hard for an institution like the military to make changes, but these are changes that must be made.”

He believes that the new rules will usher in an era of more Orthodox—and specifically, Chabad—rabbis enlisting in the military as chaplains. “Rabbi Stern is a very successful chaplain, and there is a great opportunity for many more,” he says.