As the lights dimmed at the Kinus Gala Banquet, a video played that instantly captured the room: the story of Staff Sergeant Benjamin Craig, a U.S. Marine who rediscovered his Jewish neshama on a remote island in the Pacific.

Sergeant Craig shared his remarkable journey – from a disconnected Jewish teenager to a proud Marine who discovered his heritage on a small island in the Pacific, guided by an Air Force chaplain with a “big mangly beard.”

When Staff Sergeant Craig thinks about the Marine Corps, he thinks about legacy. “There is a pride of belonging. Every Marine has gone through something to earn that uniform. It is a privilege.”

But his path to finding that uniform, and his deeper identity, took an unexpected turn far from home.

Growing up near Boston, he described himself as “very disconnected” from Yiddishkeit. “I didn’t know what Shabbos was. I didn’t know what tefillin was.” When asked about a bar mitzvah, he shrugged it off. He didn’t understand it.

As a teenager, he felt he was heading in the wrong direction. “I reached a fork in the road. I needed a change.”

The Marine Corps stood out. “You try to become a Marine. They do not come after you. You need to prove you can be there. That is what I wanted.”

Boot camp was overwhelming. “The second you step off the bus, it is chaos.” But halfway through, something shifted. “I was looking for purpose, for meaning. Once you find that, you become unstoppable.”

The Marine Corps gave him purpose. Later, he found something even deeper.

In August of 2020, Craig was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He sought a Jewish connection and asked his chaplain, “Is there anything Jewish on this island?”

The chaplain was surprised. “You are serious?”

He directed Craig to Chaplain Captain Levi Pekar, the Air Force chaplain at Kadena Air Base – a shliach serving Jewish servicemembers.

Craig had only seen Reform rabbis before. He walked in and saw an officer in uniform with a long beard and tzitzis. “I did not understand. In the military, you do not see that.”

Rabbi Pekar welcomed him warmly. “Come next Friday. Come for Shabbos.”

“I asked, ‘What is that?’”

That became his first Shabbos. “I understood almost nothing. People were standing, sitting, standing again. I was lost.”

After davening, he offered to walk them to their car. The rabbi told him, “We walked here,” and explained Shabbos.

For a year and a half, he did not miss a single Shabbos. The walk back became the highlight of his week.

Then came his first tefillin. “I did not understand any of it.” Rabbi Pekar told him, “Do not worry about the details. Take a moment. Connect with Hashem. Enjoy it, because you only put on tefillin for the first time once.”

“Something changed after that,” Craig said, “and I began connecting deeply.”

Marine culture emphasizes passing values to the next person. “That is ten times greater in Yiddishkeit,” he said. “Hundreds of generations passing down our way.”

Now Craig teaches Jewish Officer Candidate School students every Sunday. He teaches Torah, helps them with tefillin, brings challah and grape juice, and makes brachos with them.

Wherever he served – Japan, Korea, the Philippines – Chabad was there. “They never know who will walk in. They never know who is lost or searching. That is why the Rebbe sent his soldiers.”

He reflected on why shluchim go to remote places. “There are a thousand reasons not to go. But one person showing up can justify everything.”

“If not for Rabbi Pekar, I would never have gone to Eretz Yisroel, never started teaching other Jewish candidates, never found this connection.”

He discovered a spiritual foundation that stays with him beyond the uniform. “I am a better Marine because I am a good Jew, and I am a better Jew because of my Marine values. They are not separate.”

He concludes with a clear direction for his future. “Right now, I am in the American military. One day, I will be working for the Army of Hashem.”

The video concluded with a standing ovation as Staff Sergeant Benjamin Craig ascended the stage together with Chaplain Captain Levi Pekar, the Air Force chaplain who congratulated him on becoming engaged and presented him with a small gift – a special mezuzah on behalf of the Rebbe’s army for him and his kallah and the future Jewish home they will build – as the crowd joyfully sang “Siman Tov U’Mazel Tov.”

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