Join us for a special Veterans Day commemoration as we honor Jewish Americans who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Through three veterans’ stories, this moderated conversation will explore what led them to serve, how Jewish identity shaped their experiences, and how military service has influenced their lives and leadership. The evening connects wartime history with the enduring responsibilities of service, remembrance, and community.

Featured participants

Dr. Richard Baum World War II veteran of the 20th Armored Division, which helped liberate Dachau; recipient of the Bronze Star and Combat Infantry Badge.

Major Gen. Jeff Jacobs (Ret.) Chairman of the West Point Jewish Chapel Fund; helping lead the American Jewish Military Service Initiative.

Rabbi Noah Farkas President & CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles; third-generation veteran and former U.S. Navy Reserve chaplain during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Dr. Richard Baum was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1925 and enlisted in the United States Army right out of high school in 1943. He served in 20th Armored Division in Europe, which liberated Dachau Concentration Camp and fought the remaining SS troops in Southern Germany. He earned the Bronze Star and Combat Infantry Badge for his service. In June 2026, at the age of 101, he traveled to Normandy to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of D-Day. 

Major General Jeffrey A. Jacobs, US Army (Retired) was commissioned in the United States Army as an infantry officer upon graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1979. He served seven years in the Regular Army, in the 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and in the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He commanded a rifle company in the 4th Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment for nearly two years and deployed it for six months to the Sinai Peninsula as part of the Multinational Force and Observers.

In the Army Reserve, Major General Jacobs served in a variety of command and staff assignments as an infantry and civil affairs officer. He commanded an institutional training battalion in the 108th Division (Institutional Training) at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and twice commanded brigade-level units. He was mobilized three times. During Operation Uphold Democracy in 1994, he was the operations officer of the Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Center of Combined Joint Task Force 190 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He served in Bosnia in 1996 during Operation Joint Endeavor as a civil affairs plans officer in the G-3 (operations and plans) section of the Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps and as the operations officer of the Joint Election Operations Center, helping to coordinate the first free elections in Bosnia. He was on active duty for over two and a half years during Operations Noble Eagle and Iraqi Freedom, first as the commander of the 2125th Garrison Support Unit at Fort Bragg and then as the commander of the 354th Civil Affairs Brigade attached to the First Armored Division in Baghdad, Iraq. From 2005 through 2008, Major General Jacobs served as the commanding general, 350th Civil Affairs Command, headquartered in Pensacola, Florida. He commanded the contingency command post, United States Army North (Fifth Army) at Fort Sam Houston, Texas from 2008 through 2011, deploying the command post in support of civil authorities for Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008 and for Hurricane Irene in 2011. Major General Jacobs most recently served as the commanding general, United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne), headquartered at Fort Bragg until his retirement in 2014. He served as the Army Reserve Ambassador for South Carolina from 2019 through 2025.

Major General Jacobs holds a bachelor of science degree from West Point, a juris doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and a master of strategic studies degree from the United States Army War College. His decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit (three awards). He has earned the master parachutist badge and the Ranger tab, among other badges.

Major General Jacobs has published numerous articles and a book on Army reserve component issues. He is a retired civilian attorney.

Jewishly, Major General Jacobs is the chairman of the board of directors of the West Point Jewish Chapel Fund. He is the regular ba’al kriyah (Torah reader) and an occasional shaliach tzibbur (cantor) for Beth Shalom Synagogue, a Conservative congregation in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina; he has also served on the synagogue board and as the ritual committee chairman. He continues to serve the Army Jewish community as the Jewish lay leader for Fort Jackson.

Rabbi Noah Farkas serves as the Federation’s President & Chief Executive Officer. Named by The Forward as one of America’s most inspiring rabbis, Noah served from 2008 to 2021 as a clergy member of Valley Beth Shalom, the largest Jewish congregation in the San Fernando Valley, where he led successful innovations in synagogue life through social action, mental health, and next-generation spiritual initiatives.

Noah is a proven civic leader in Southern California. In addition to his work as an appointed commissioner and former Chair of the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority over a two-year campaign, he mobilized a broad coalition of synagogues, churches, and other organizations to pass historic legislation that invested over $5 billion into housing and services for the vulnerable. Noah is also a third-generation veteran and served as a United States Navy Reserve chaplain during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

A prominent voice helping to define the next generation of American Jewish leadership, Noah has served for several years as scholar-in-residence of the Federation’s Rautenberg New Leaders Project and a close partner to the Board of Rabbis. He founded Netiya, an interfaith organization fighting hunger in Los Angeles, as well as the Seminary Leadership Project, which has trained hundreds of Jewish clergy nationwide to create social change. Noah is also a founding board member of Zioness, a pro-Israel organization fighting antisemitism – including anti-Zionism – with the same clarity and intensity used to combat other forms of bigotry. His writing on millennial engagement, spirituality, and Jewish innovation has been published widely and his work has been quoted or featured in the LA Times, The New York Times, Associated Press, Reuters, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, and on NPR.

Noah was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and earned a BA in Jewish Studies at the University of Judaism (now American Jewish University).