It started as a casual conversation between Lt. Col. Sean Kilcomons, the second in command of the New Jersey State Police, and Lt. Marc Zislin.

In that conversation Kilcomons asked a simple question: Why, if there were associations for other ethnic groups within the state police, wasn’t there one for Jewish officers?

“I never thought he’d ask me that question,” said Zislin, who is the head of Port Discovery & Adjudication Unit of the Port Compliance Bureau.

Then, just days after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, the superintendent of the state police, Col. Patrick Callahan, brought together Muslim and Jewish troopers to discuss the atrocities.

“Jewish and Muslim troopers are all the same in uniform,” said Zislin. “We all come from different backgrounds, from different races, religions and sexes but we all identify as NJ state troopers. We all have one mission—the safety of the people of New Jersey.”

With that thought in mind, on May 1, 2024 the Jewish Troopers Association, Inc. was launched as a nonprofit with Zislin as president and Capt. Adam Grossman of the employee relations & community outreach section of the community outreach bureau as its vice president.

“As someone who oversees outreach statewide for police, it’s important to be seen to make people feel safe in the community,” said Grossman.

Sitting at Rutgers Chabad in New Brunswick, along with Chabad Administrator Rabbi Mendy Carlebach, the pair shared with The Jewish Link the importance of Jewish officers being seen, goals of the new organization and the support they have received.

“The goal is to become a charitable organization, to support networking and community involvement in the Jewish community for Jewish troopers in New Jersey,” said Zislin. “We want to be able to offer resources, promote cultural understanding and create a bond among law enforcement.”

Rabbi Carlebach, a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police chaplain and police chaplain in South Brunswick, noted he and his family have a longstanding relationship with the state police—his father, Chabad Executive Director Rabbi Yosef Carlebach, is a state police chaplain.

He cited the strong support both Callahan and Kilcomons have shown in urging Jewish troopers to be proud of their identity. Additionally, Rabbi Carlbach said both Grossman and Zislin are such familiar figures around Chabad that many students know them on a first name basis and feel “a hug of support” in the face of antisemitism.

Zislin said on a regular basis Jewish troopers are sent to Chabad’s J Cafe on Tuesday nights to schmooze with students.

“We wouldn’t be able to do this without the help of Mendy and his father,” said Grossman.

“After Oct. 7, when he comes in uniform, parents notice him and thank him,” said Rabbi Carlbach, who suspects the presence of the troopers is the reason students feel so safe at Chabad. “Students come up and engage them.”

Through them the Jewish troopers have found spiritual and practical guidance. They have joined with the Jewish community in Lakewood on Sukkot.

“We want the Jewish community to know we exist,” said Grossman.

Zislin downplayed the rather common belief that there are few Jewish troopers.

“They are coming out of the woodwork,” he said, with the organization already up to about 25 members.

The association has had many highs since it got off the ground. Jewish troopers were asked to walk alongside the New Jersey-Israel Commission’s float in the Israel Day Parade in New York. They lit a menorah at State Police Headquarters.

“We unfortunately deal with people at their worst so it’s great to be able to meet the public and just have a conversation,” said Grossman.

An especially moving activity was going on the March of the Living last year to Auschwitz along with the Carlebachs, Sgt. Mudduser Malik—president of the New Jersey State Police Muslim Officer Society—Kilcomons, Callahan and Officer Marlena Banko. The trip was sponsored by Rutgers University’s Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience.

“It was an honor and privilege,” said Grossman, the grandson of Polish Auschwitz survivors who lost many relatives in the Holocaust. “For me to go back and honor my grandparents was very powerful.”

For Zislin the trip brought home a frightening reality: “If we had been living in Europe more than 70 years ago, instead of wearing the uniform we’d have all been killed.”

For both troopers being part of the association has strengthened their connection to being Jewish.

“Life kind of got in the way of my identity,” acknowledged Zislin.

The association has now created a High Holiday calendar for the force, is aligned with the Anti-Defamation League and hosted an Israeli delegation on 9/11.

The ultimate goal is to create a foundation to provide scholarships to the children of any law enforcement officer in New Jersey killed in the line of duty to be named in honor of Sidney Spiegel, who served as a bodyguard for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in World War II, became a police officer in Somerville after the war, then had a 25-year career as a New Jersey state trooper.

For more information, contact the organization at [email protected]. It is currently setting up a website, jewishtroopers.org, that is expected to be functional soon.

Debra Rubin has had a long career in journalism writing for secular weekly and daily newspapers and Jewish publications. She most recently served as Middlesex/Monmouth bureau chief for the New Jersey Jewish News. She also worked with the media at several nonprofits, including serving as assistant public relations director of HIAS and assistant director of media relations at Yeshiva University.