Returning from active duty or stationed somewhere new and unsure how to rejoin your local Jewish community? JWV is committed to helping Jewish service members and veterans feel like a part of the Jewish community where they live.
We know that it can be particularly hard for Jewish military personnel and veterans to transition into their Jewish community because we have been there. In the Jewish community, you are the military guy, and while you are in the military, you are the Jewish guy. So, it can be hard to connect without those shared experiences to bind you together.
That is why JWV coordinates with Jewish Community Centers, Jewish Federations, synagogues, and Jewish Family Services organizations across the nation to help ensure that Jewish servicemen and women can easily find a home in their Jewish communities.
We are committed to ensuring that each Jewish community has a military transition resource officer. JWV and Jewish community organizations work in tandem to help make sure that a veteran who seeks to maintain his Jewish heritage has the tools to do so. If your community does not have an appointed military transition officer, JWV can help you find someone in your own community to help fill that role.
The most important thing the Jewish community can do for our new veterans is making sure that they are able to connect with other Jewish veterans who have transitioned back into the community.
The resources that a military transition officer can provide helps those who seek to be involved with a Jewish community, but are unsure of the first steps to take. If you need assistance finding a local JWV Post or JCC, please email us at jwv@jwv.org
“We need the Jewish community to get involved with us. I’d rather have my own community send me care packages rather than getting a random package labeled ‘to any soldier’. I once got a package from a Jewish school in New York, and I started a conversation with those students. It is weird that I had more of a connection with this school in New York than with my hometown community. It should not be that way.”
