Senior Living Where stamps intersect Judaism Debbie Burke
J
oe Weintrob has been collecting stamps specifically about Israel, Jewish life, and the Holocaust since he was in the Cub Scouts in 1954. Now, Weintrob particularly likes to look for KKL (Keren Kayemet Le’Israel) stamps, which feature the early history of Israel and its leaders. He owns several Austrian tabs (an extra rectangular section on a sheet of stamps, often with information about the stamp) dedicated to Theodor Herzl and the Holocaust. Weintrob is most interested in a stamp’s colors, theme, and who is being honored. An active member of a stamp club that meets twice a month at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church in Virginia Beach, he says his “great white whale” of stamps would have to be “the Israel Tab 7-9 and J1-5. It’s about $4,000. [My late wife] Irene would have had my head if I spent that much.”
Stamps with a Jewish connection.
A rewarding and robust retirement: Steve and Nancy Rosenberg
L
ong-time Virginia Beach residents Nancy and Steve Rosenberg have made the Simon Family JCC’s Fitness facilities a huge part of their life. Steve, a retired health care administrator, works out on the elliptical, treadmill, free weights, weight presses, and band activities, while Nancy, who was a school counselor in the Chesapeake Public Schools, attends Pilates and Zumba classes three times a week. They are active members of Ohef Sholom Temple and Nancy serves on the Holocaust Commission. As a couple, they’ve been attending the Norfolk Forum for more than 30 years, and attend the Virginia Stage, Virginia Symphony, MOCA, and Virginia Musical Theater. Outside of fitness, Steve enjoys reading, gardening, and for the past 26 years, has partnered with his son Evan in a fantasy baseball league (the couple has a son who lives locally and another son in Missoula, Mont.). Nancy enjoys sending greeting cards to both relatives and friends. Steve’s job brought the couple here from New Jersey. Says Nancy, “We loved the friendly people, Jewish worship and activities, and great climate compared to the north.” This summer, they say they’re looking forward to a family vacation in Ocracoke, N.C.
26 | JEWISH NEWS | Seniors | July 18, 2022 | jewishnewsva.org
Star Trek 50th anniversary stamp show, New York, 2016.
Doron Almog, retired general and disabilities advocate, set to head Jewish Agency Ron Kampeas
(JTA)—The Jewish Agency’s nominating committee recommended Doron Almog, a storied retired general and a longtime advocate for people with disabilities, to lead the body that bridges Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. The nomination of Almog, 71, now goes to the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors, where it is all but assured of approval. The nomination follows an extended period of consideration since May 2021, when the last chairman of the agency, Isaac Herzog, announced his successful run for the Israeli presidency. The agency has been led in the interim by an acting chairman, Yaakov Hagoel. Almog has a long career in the military, assisting in the 1976 raid on Entebbe, Uganda to free a plane held hostage by German and Palestinian terrorists. He helped to lead the secret airlift of Ethiopian Jews in the mid-1980s, and led the Southern Command, which had Gaza as a responsibility, during the Second Intifada.
An Israel Prize laureate, Almog has also led disability advocacy. He founded Adi NegevNahalat Eran Rehabilitation Village, named for his son Eran, who died at 23 from Castleman’s disease, a lymph disorder. The Jewish Agency, established in 1929, handles numerous aspects of the Israel-Diaspora relationship, including fund-raising for Israel, encouraging and absorbing immigrants in partnership with the Israeli government, and running Jewish education and identity-building programs at home and abroad. Its funding is provided by North American Jewish federations, together with the federations’ counterparts in other countries and other donors. The nomination committee reportedly considered more than a dozen candidates, including a number of women and Sephardic Jews—neither group is represented among the chairmen of the agency going back to 1929. Serious consideration reportedly was given to Idan Roll, the deputy foreign minister who is a leader of Israel’s LGBTQ community.
