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Veterans Deal With Shrinking Post Membership
L OCA L
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
WILLIAM ROTH, commander
of Jewish War Veterans Furer-
Barag-Wolf Post 126 in Cherry
Hill, New Jersey, hosts monthly
meetings Sundays at 9:30 a.m.,
always starting with bagels and
cream cheese.

Although now back in
person after a year-and-a-half
of virtual meetings, things
don’t feel the same.

Membership at Post 126
has dwindled this year, both
because of new veterans disin-
terested in joining and old
members dying. At its most
popular, Roth said Post 126
had 300 members. It’s now
plateaued at around 40-50.

Post 126 isn’t alone; other
Jewish war veterans posts are
struggling with maintaining
membership, breaking the
chains of generations of Jewish
veterans who kept these frater-
nities alive.

Donald Feldman, commander
of JWV Post 98 in Philadelphia,
is the baby of his group — he’s
86. His father joined Post 98 as a
World War II veteran; Feldman
joined in 1960, having served
in the Marines in 1954 and the
Army from 1954-’62.

When Feldman joined
the post, there were up to 60
members attending meetings;
now, attendance is half of that.

Once 150 members strong,
Pennsylvania Department
Commander Richard Fine’s
Philadelphia County Council
JWV meetings now struggle to
reach 15-20 members. His post
also skews older, with many
of the veterans, Fine included,
serving during the Vietnam
War. Two served in the
Gulf War.

“They call me ‘the kid,’ and
I’m 77 now,” Fine said.

The aging membership
has posed a problem for the
posts’ longevity. COVID
hasn’t helped. Since the
pandemic began, Post 126 lost
12 members, Roth said. Last
month, Fine attended three
funerals in as many weeks.

Recruiting younger veterans
has proven challenging.

Post 126 used to hold
meetings at night, but those
who worked during the day
were often too tired to attend.

By moving meetings to Sunday
morning, Roth hoped younger
parents could drop off their
children at religious school
before heading to a meeting.

So far, his plan hasn’t worked.

Post 98 is having similar
problems. The post also just
resumed in-person meetings,
but Feldman wasn’t able to
organize virtual meetings over
the pandemic. When they
invite younger veterans, they’ll
attend one meeting but won’t
return. “They may be interested, but
right now, they say hello and
goodbye,” Feldman said.

Afghan veterans have
“had enough of the military,”
Feldman said.

“They want their own time
and their own place and their
own space,” he said.

Roth believes the younger
generation just doesn’t prior-
itize posts. He didn’t join a
post until after he was married.

When his wife died, he became
even more involved in the post
to keep busy.

To bolster attendance,
posts sometimes partner with
surrounding synagogues,
hoping to attract member-
ship among congregants.

Though Roth hasn’t found
this to be helpful, Post 126 has
partnered with the Katz Jewish
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JEWISH EXPONENT
A 2017 Post 98 gathering, where members were recognized by the
Pennsylvania Senate for their service.
Photo by the Jewish Exponent
They call me ‘the kid,’ and I’m 77 now.”
RICHARD FINE
Community Center, which
allows the post to gather in its
meeting room.

Though post commanders
have made an effort to recruit
younger veterans, they feel
they can only do so much.

“It’s up to the individual,”
Feldman said.

But one of the assets of
going to post meetings is the
profound empathy among
its members, something
well-suited for veterans of
similar cohorts.

“Veterans don’t normally
talk about their time in service
and what they did unless
they’re with other veterans,”
Fine said. “Most civilians
wouldn’t understand.”
When many of these
veterans were serving, they
experienced antisemitism.

Fine recalled not being able
to eat the food in basic training
because it wasn’t kosher. His
rabbi wrote a letter asking for
Fine to get separate, kosher
rations during his three-year
service in the Army. Fine
received kosher food, but it
cost him more than $4,000.

“I couldn’t feed myself on
two dollars and 25 cents a day,”
he said.

At another point, a Jewish
friend of Fine, two weeks before
he was shipped out, traveled
to Atlanta with two friends,
one of whom was Black. The
hotel they were planning on
staying at turned the party
away, refusing to allow Black
and Jewish guests to stay there.

Within the posts, there’s
not just a desire to share the
memories of times past, but
also a reverence for the work of
veterans, especially those who
fought in unpopular wars, such
as the Vietnam and Korean
wars and those who were
proudly Jewish in a time of
robust antisemitism.

“We owe a good country to
our veterans,” Feldman said. l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM

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