Chabad-Lubavitch of Upper Montgomery County in Gaithersburg, Md., became the first synagogue in the suburban Washington county to participate in the Maryland Army National Guard’s Partners in Care program.

An initiative of the National Guard’s Chaplain’s Office, the program coordinates support for soldiers and their families with local faith communities.

Col. William Sean Lee, Joint Force Headquarters Chaplain, came up with the idea of including the synagogue in the program at the commissioning ceremony of Rabbi Chesky Tenenbaum, the center’s administrator, as chaplain to the Maryland Defense Force.

Lee remarked that both the National Guard and the Chabad synagogue share the mission of helping people in need. …