(JTA)—The Orthodox Union has endorsed religious liberty provisions added to the Respect for Marriage Act, marking the first time that the group has said it could support federal legislation enshrining the right to same-sex marriage.
When more than 100 Jewish groups endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act this summer, the OU, an umbrella group representing Modern Orthodox syna gogues, was not among them. The group had previously sat on the sidelines as well when the U.S. Supreme Court weighed Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, in which the court ruled that same-sex marriage was protected under the Constitution.
But last month, the OU said in a letter to senators working on the Respect for Marriage Act that enough religious free dom provisions had been added to the legislation that the group’s concerns were assuaged. The group worked with other religious groups, including the Mormon church, to lobby lawmakers to add the provisions.
The OU’s advocacy director, Nathan Diament, told JTA that a spokesperson had erred by characterizing the OU’s position as “expressing support for the compromise bill” as a whole.
The OU still does not countenance same-sex marriage under Jewish law, its long-held view, and if the bill does not pass, Diament told JTA, that would be acceptable to the OU, too.
Still, the letter says that the group was convinced that Orthodox rabbis and communities would not be compelled to compromise on their religious beliefs if the bill becomes law, as it appears likely to do. Following the advocacy by the OU and other groups, a bipartisan group of senators sponsored an amendment to the bill that would enshrine protections for religious groups that do not accept samesex marriage as a matter of doctrine.
“The leadership of the Orthodox Union…cannot endorse the main pur pose of H.R.8404,” three OU executives wrote to the four senators. “However, we welcome the provisions added to this bill by your amendment in the nature of a substitute in the Senate that appropri ately address religious liberty concerns (provisions that were absent in the ver sion of the bill passed by the House of Representatives).”
The Respect for Marriage Act, which the Senate passed, aims to repeal a decades-old federal law that defines mar riage as being between a man and a woman. Obergefell superseded that law, but earlier this year, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas mentioned Obergefell as another decision that he believed should be reconsidered.
That spurred lawmakers to try to guar antee same-sex marriage rights through legislation. The U.S. House passed a ver sion of the Respect for Marriage Act, sponsored by Jewish Democratic Rep.
About the cover: Rendering of Aviva courtesy of Beth Sholom Village.
Jerry Nadler, in July. The Senate’s version, added an amendment that ensures that nonprofit religious groups will not have to provide services to celebrate same-sex marriages and also clarifies that polyam orous marriages are not subject to the law.
The Orthodox Union is not the only religious group to have previously opposed same-sex marriage rights to have said they can accept the new bill. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, known as the Mormon church, which spent millions of dollars to oppose a California same-sex marriage referen dum in 2008, also endorsed the Right to Marriage Act with its new religious freedom provisions.
The bill comes at a complicated time for Modern Orthodoxy’s handling of LGBTQ issues. The denomination’s flagship edu cational institution, Yeshiva University, has appealed to the Supreme Court for the right to bar an LGBTQ student club, while still stressing to students that it wants LGBTQ students to feel comfortable as part of the community. The OU’s endorse ment of the Respect for Marriage act walks the same tightrope.
“Judaism is emphatic in defining mar riage as a relationship between a man and a woman. Our beliefs in this regard are unalterable. At the same time, Judaism teaches respect for others and we con demn discrimination against individuals,” Diament said in a statement associated with the OU’s letter to the senators who took up its advocacy.
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King Charles III wants to make sure that the United Kingdom’s chief rabbi can make it to his coronation ceremony next year—so much so that he’s letting the Jewish leader sleep over at his house.
The coronation is set for May 6, 2023, which falls on a Saturday. Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and his wife Valerie, who are Orthodox, are not allowed under Jewish law to travel by car or use electricity on Shabbat.
King Charles’ current residence, before he moves into Buckingham Palace, is Clarence House, located a few minutes’ walk from the palace. So the sleepover allows the Mirvises to walk to the ceremony.
While the Telegraph reported that a member of the rabbi’s staff called the offer “an amazing gesture,” it’s not the first time the king has accommodated Mirvis’ religious observance.
After Queen Elizabeth died on a Thursday, the king’s reception at Buckingham Palace was rescheduled too early in the day on Friday to allow Mirvis to attend and fulfill rabbinical duties later in the day.
Mirvis, 66, has been chief rabbi since 2013, succeeding the late Jonathan Sacks.
A coronation on Shabbat is a rare occurrence. In 1902, then-Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler attended the corona tion of King Edward XII on Shabbat, alongside members of the prominent Rothschild and Sassoon families. (JTA)
You’re On Your Own, Kid, isn’t just the name of a track on Taylor Swift’s newest album—the phrase describes the way many of the pop star’s Jewish fans were feeling after she released the dates for her upcoming tour.
Shabbat-observant Swifties voiced their disappointment with the dates, which were all slated for during or just after the end of Shabbat, on Friday or Saturday nights. (One was scheduled for April 2, a Sunday, in Arlington, Texas.)
In response, Swift added eight more shows to the U.S. leg of her tour, all on weeknights, in cities such as Philadelphia, Seattle, and Los Angeles. Many applauded the additions.
Swift’s Midnights album sold over a million copies in its first week, and she is now tied with Barbra Streisand as the female artist with the most albums to top the Billboard chart. Swift will take the Jewish Haim sisters, who feature in the music video for her song Bejeweled , along for part of the tour. (JTA)
Leonard Cohen’s momentous trip to the Sinai Desert to perform for Israeli soldiers in the wake of the Yom Kippur War is being turned into a dramatized TV series.
Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai will be written by Yehonatan Indursky, a co-creator of Shtisel, the landmark Israeli drama about an Orthodox family in Jerusalem, according to Variety
The limited series, an adaptation of journalist Matti Friedman’s 2022 book of the same name, will film in Israel in 2024. It’s being co-produced by Keshet, the Israeli company that has also pro duced shows such as Prisoners of War, which was adapted for U.S. audiences as Homeland.
Cohen’s trip to the frontlines of the 1973 war became a turning point in the way the folk troubadour incorpo rated his Jewishness into his songs—for instance, his 1974 album New Skin for the Old Ceremony featured Who By Fire, a song inspired by the Yom Kippur Unataneh Tokef prayer. Despite being internationally famous, Cohen slept in an army sleeping bag, ate army rations, and performed a series of concerts for on-edge soldiers, who decades later told Friedman that they were moved by his support.
“In October 1973 the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—39 years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end— traveled to the Sinai desert and inserted himself into the chaos and blood of the Yom Kippur War,” the show’s press materials read. “Moving around the front
with a guitar and a pick-up team of local musicians, Cohen dived headlong into a global crisis and met hundreds of fight ing men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Cohen’s audience knew his songs might be the last thing they heard, and those who survived never forgot the experience.” (JTA)
Nearly seven months after they were denied boarding in Frankfurt, a group of more than 100 Hasidic Lufthansa passengers are getting paid for their troubles.
The airline is paying each passenger $20,000 plus giving them $1,000 to reim burse them for expenses incurred during the May incident, according to Dan’s Deals, the discount travel website that first reported the incident at the time. After legal fees and some other expenses, each passenger will net approximately $17,400, the site is reporting.
Lufthansa would not confirm the dollar figures but told the JTA that it is seeking to settle with each of the affected passengers, capping a series of concilia tory responses to the incident.
“Although we are not commenting on the details, we can confirm that Lufthansa endeavors to settle the claims with all of the passengers denied boarding on May 4th, 2022,” the company said.
That date was when airline agents in Frankfurt barred many Jewish travelers coming from New York City from board ing their connecting flight to Budapest, citing the fact that some of the pas sengers were not wearing masks, as was required. But that rule was applied inconsistently, passengers said at the time, and a Lufthansa supervisor was caught on video speaking disparagingly about Jewish passengers as a group.
“It’s Jews coming from JFK. Jewish people who were the mess, who made the problems,” the supervisor said on the video.
Amid intense media coverage, Lufthansa publicly apologized, saying that the company “regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude the
affected passengers from the flight.”
The company added, “What trans pired is not consistent with Lufthansa’s policies or values. We have zero tolerance for racism, antisemitism, and discrimi nation of any type.”
In late July, Lufthansa announced the creation of a senior management role to combat discrimination and antisemitism, even as an independent investigation commissioned by the airline concluded that there was no evidence of insti tutional antisemitism that led to the incident.
In September, the American Jewish Committee announced a new program to train Lufthansa employees how to iden tify and respond to antisemitism. (JTA)
“Why wear a tallis to shul when you can wear a very real product from Walmart?”
Ilan Kogan, an Orthodox rabbinical stu dent, asked on TikTok Monday, Nov. 28.
Kogan was talking about “Elegant Sunscreen Scarves Sun Block Shawl Scarf Beach Shawl Towel Clothing Accessories for Women Judaism (Blue),” the search engine-optimized title for a product that looked a lot like a tallit, the shawl worn by Jews during morning prayers.
His post was one of several to call attention to the product listed on Walmart’s website, with reactions ranging from curiosity (“I have so many ques tions,” tweeted Atlantic columnist Yair Rosenberg) to outrage (from the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism). By Tuesday, Nov. 29, Walmart had removed the item, which had been listed for $40.99, as well as a second with a similar name from a different seller that had been available for the cut-rate price of $14.49.
“Walmart has a robust trust and safety program, which actively works to pre vent items such as these from being sold on the site,” a spokesperson told JTA. “After reviewing, these items have been removed.”
In this case, the products were sold by third-party vendors using Walmart’s online marketplace, where shoppers can browse up to 60 million items. (JTA)
Groundbreaking: Friday, December 9, 9 am
In keeping with the shared values of Pembroke Square Associates and Beth Sholom Village, Aviva Pembroke will be a senior living community open to people of all faiths, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Both organizations believe in inclusivity, celebrating diversity, and the importance of giving back to the community. These common principles have set the stage for a great partnership.
desire for an affordable luxury senior living community—as Virginia Beach has never seen an independent living resource like Aviva Pembroke.
Amy Weinstein
For more than 42 years, Beth Sholom Village has been caring for seniors, creating a community that focuses on enhancing quality of life and providing support services tailored to address indi vidual physical, social, and spiritual needs.
Much has changed since BSV opened its doors in 1980, but the tradition of caring has not. Guided by the Jewish values of care, culture, and community, the quest for creative ways to meet seniors’ needs has never wavered. BSV’s legacy is very much alive; building a vision for the future based on that legacy.
Today, Beth Sholom Village is at an important crossroads—a defining moment that will shape it as a regional leader in the development of more responsive and flexi ble programs for older adults in Tidewater for decades to come.
To ensure that BSV fulfills its prom ise to honor parents, grandparents, and future generations, it is seeking the interest, involvement, and support of all who care about the future of Tidewater’s Jewish com munity as it embarks on its newest venture.
Aviva Pembroke is deigned to be a stateof-the-art community with an impressive list of luxurious amenities at an ideal loca tion in the heart of Virginia Beach. Created in partnership with Pembroke Square Associates, it will be a central part of the
new vision for the reimagined Pembroke Mall, now known as Pembroke Square.
Pembroke Mall opened in Virginia Beach in 1966 as the first enclosed shopping mall in the area. The 600,000-square-foot facility located on 54 acres was once home to shopping giants Sears & Roebuck, Miller & Rhoads, Woolworth, Rices Nachmans, Stein Mart and Regal Cinemas. Kohl’s, Target, Latitude Climbing + Fitness, Nordstrom Rack, Fresh Market, and REI joined the mall throughout multiple rede velopments and after Sears closed in 2018.
In 2021, Pembroke Square Associates announced a $200 million redevelopment plan for the shopping center that will include quality shopping, chef-crafted dining destinations, luxury apartments, a hotel, and the senior living community, Aviva Pembroke.
Fred Napolitano, one of Pembroke Mall’s original owners, says, “Pembroke Square Associates is happy to join with Beth Sholom Village to develop a senior living community at Pembroke Square. Aviva Pembroke will be a great addi tion, joining Pembroke Square after 57 plus years of stewardship and community involvement.
“We decided to partner with Beth Sholom Village because they are local, familiar with the market, and have an excellent reputation of operating senior communities,” says Napolitano.
Aviva Pembroke will feature high-end amenities, an affordable luxury lifestyle, and a variety of floor plans for residents. Apartments offered include a 1-bedroom, 1-bath; 1-bedroom, 1-bath with den; 2-bedroom, 2-bath; and a 3-bedroom, 2-bath. All apartments within the stateof-the-art senior living community will have an outside terrace, walk-in closets, and top-of-the-line appliances. There’s an option for all stages of aging at Aviva Pembroke with 121 independent living apartments, 20 assisted living apartments, and 12 memory support units. As of this publication, 35% of the available inde pendent living apartments are spoken for, with future residents submitting their fully refundable $1,000 deposit.
The growing excitement within the community is encouraging and reinforces what Beth Sholom Village leadership already knew—it is building what people have been waiting for. There is a need and
David Abraham president, and CEO of Beth Sholom Village, says, “We knew we were onto something with a faithbased community that will have luxury apartments and amenities. However, the response to the project and the capital campaign have been just outstanding.”
Led by Jay Kossman and Lawrence Steingold, the Growing Our Future Capital Campaign for Aviva Pembroke launched in late 2021. Starting with a commitment from the Beth Sholom Village Foundation, additional funds have been raised from community supporters, making it possible for Beth Sholom Village to build on the success of the last four decades.
Beth Sholom Village and Pembroke Square Associates invite the community to the Aviva Pembroke Groundbreaking Ceremony at the future site of Aviva Pembroke (Constitution Drive and Jeanne Street).
Information about available apartments and the Groundbreaking Ceremony can be found at www.avivapembroke.com
Amy Weinstein is director of philanthropy at Beth Sholom Village.
All training is perishable and should be refreshed at least annually. As we move into the next round of holidays, this is a timely reminder. It is during this next period when auto burglaries, robberies, and residential burglaries increase.
When you leave a location, your actions should be the same. It doesn’t matter whether you’re leaving home, work, school, or a store. Try not to rush and just head directly out. Instead, take a moment, stop, and look around. Notice what is going on. Do you see something or someone that doesn’t belong? A car with someone inside and the motor idling? Someone who seems to be watching you or the area? Something that just causes you to think, “Huh, that’s odd?”
If you have that moment of thinking, “that’s odd,” you might want to alter your immediate plans. Listen to your inner voice when it tells you something is off. By doing this, you are practicing “Situational Awareness” (SA).
If someone becomes aggressive towards
you, DO NOT ENGAGE WITH THEM. Try to allow them passage. If they begin to follow and challenge you, call 911. Explain to the operator what is happening, where you are, and ask them where the closest safe haven (a police or fire station) is to you. Give them as much of a description of the other vehicle and driver. If you have to come to a stop and the aggressive driver is still around you, it is imperative you leave room to escape if the driver tries to approach you. If you become a victim of a road rage attack, remain calm. The offend ers in these situations usually flee the scene immediately. Call 911. Wait for help. If you are not in a safe location and can drive away, go to a public location, i.e., gas sta tion, store parking lot, etc., and inform 911 where you are.
This advice works well if you are unfor tunate enough to get a flat tire. If you are not in a safe area or are in an unfamiliar neighborhood, drive to a safe location. You can drive on the rim. Better to replace a rim and tire, than stay in an unsafe location and end up injured or worse.
How about walking? Again, pay
There are many ways to support Israel and its people, but none is more transformative than a gift to Magen David Adom, Israel’s paramedic and Red Cross service. Your gift to MDA isn’t just changing lives — it’s literally saving them — providing critical care and hospital transport for everyone from victims of heart attacks to casualties of rocket attacks.
Support Magen David Adom by donating today at afmda.org/support or call 866.632.2763.
To better protect the members of the Jewish community who attend area synagogues, day schools, and other Jewish agencies in Tidewater, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater with support from Tidewater Jewish Foundation, joined with the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond and United Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula to partner with Secure Community Network (SCN) to enhance local security pro grams in 2020.
to enhance the safety and security of those within 147 Federations, the 50 largest Jewish non-profit organizations in North America and more than 300 independent Jewish communities.
afmda.org/support
Secure Community Network, a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization, has served since 2004 as the official homeland security and safety initiative of the organized Jewish community in North America. Established under the auspices of the Jewish Federations of North America (UJFT’s national umbrella agency) and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, SCN works
Through UJFT’s partnership, SCN’s Virginia Regional Security Advisor, David Brackins, has been working with Tidewater synagogues and agencies, to address the continuous need to make Jewish gathering places more secure and enhance existing security practices.
To learn more about SCN, the partnership with UJFT, and their work in Tidewater, contact David Brackins, SCN regional security advi sor, at dbrackins@securecommunitynetwork. org or to learn more about the Community Security Committee, contact Robin Mancoll at RMancoll@ujft.org.
has a greater impact on the lives of Israelis.
JEWISH TIDEWATER
or police/sheriff’s station. Call 911 and explain what you see. Stay on the phone with the operator. As you approach your home look around. Does it appear as you left it? If people are loitering in the area, drive on. If you are concerned enough, call the non-emergency line for your local law enforcement. If you park in a garage at your home, open the door as you approach so you’re not waiting in your driveway for the door to open. Close the garage door as soon as you’re in the garage. This will help deter an attacker from rushing into the garage while you’re vulnerable. If you park outside, take a few seconds before you get out. It is time well invested.
When you leave home, leave lights on to illuminate the perimeter. If you have an alarm, use it. Make sure all windows and doors are locked. Are expensive items visi ble through your windows?
When you arrive at your destination, don’t rush in. Take a second to look inside to assess the situation. There are numerous stories of people walking right into a store during a robbery.
Once you’re finished with your busi ness, conduct the same assessment on your way out. If you have driven to your loca tion, have your keys out and ready. Even if you have a car that doesn’t require a key to enter, have them out. Keys can be an effec tive self-defense weapon, if needed, and if someone approaches you and demands your car, you are situated to toss the keys in one direction while you run in the opposite direction.
NEVER have your house keys on the same key ring as your vehicle. If someone gets your keys and they are together, they now have the keys to your house and your address somewhere in your glove box. When you get in your car, if you’re like me, it takes a minute or so before you’re ready to start the engine. So, the first thing you do is LOCK YOUR DOORS.
So, you’ve completed your errand, your work or school day is over and you’re heading home. What do you do? Practice SA. Is that car driving into your neigh borhood following you or just going the same way you are? If you feel someone is following you, DO NOT DRIVE HOME. Drive to a safe location, fire department,
SA should become a regular part of your day. No matter what you are doing or where you are, SA will help keep you safe as you are out and about.
Know where emergency exits and restrooms are located. If you like to listen to music while out, try using only one earbud and keep the volume at a level where you can hear ambient noise.
(JTA)—Two weeks after feting Donald Trump as America’s most pro-Israel pres ident ever, the Zionist Organization of America had harsh words for the man who aspires to return to the White House.
“ZOA deplores the fact that President Trump had a friendly dinner with such vile antisemites,” ZOA said Sunday, Nov. 27 in a news release. “His dining with Jew-haters helps legitimize and mainstream antisemitism and must be condemned by everyone.”
he hoped to assist Ye, whom he described as “troubled,” and that he did not know who Fuentes was. (Ye said he had come to Mar-a-Lago to ask Trump to be his run ning mate in his own nascent campaign.)
Fuentes said that was little excuse for dining with him.
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Today, Spigel Scholars are designing buildings of their own.
A scholarship that Bernard’s daughter, LucySpigel Herman, created at the community foundation to honor him helps future architects pay for their education.
The group was referring to Trump’s dinner with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West who came out as an antisemite, and Nick Fuentes, the rightwing provocateur and Holocaust denier. Trump hosted the pair at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, on Tuesday, Nov. 22.
Reaction to the dinner was initially muted in the days before Thanksgiving, but over the following long weekend, a host of figures denounced Trump for meeting with the two men, though some did so more strongly or explicitly than others. Among Jews, the criticism has come not only from Trump’s longtime detractors, but from some of his biggest fans.
“To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this,” David Friedman, Trump’s ambassador to Israel, said on Twitter. “Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable.”
“We got along great, he expressed no antisemitism and I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on Tucker Carlson, Trump said of Ye, referring to a Fox News opinion show hosted by Carlson, whose embrace of an antisemitic conspiracy theory has led the Anti-Defamation League to call for his removal. “Why wouldn’t I agree to meet? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes.”
The response was reminiscent of Trump’s swatting-away of criticism after he told the Proud Boys, a far-right group, to “stand back and stand by” during a presidential debate in 2020, in response to being asked to condemn white supremacists from the debate stage. He subsequently said he did not know who the Proud Boys were. (The group later rebranded as explicitly antisemitic.)
“A good way not to accidentally dine with a vile racist and antisemite you don’t know is not to dine with a vile racist and antisemite you do know,” the Jewish right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro tweeted. (Shapiro’s tweet kicked off a heated exchange with Ye, who recently returned to Twitter as the social media platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, restores many accounts that were suspended for violating the site’s old rules, including Trump’s.)
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Friedman is rarely anything but effu sive in praising Trump, whom he once said would join the “small cadre of Israeli heroes” for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights and exiting the Iran nuclear deal, among other measures. But this time, his tone was more pleading as he tweeted to Trump: “I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and rele gate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”
Trump for his part said in statements on his Truth Social social media site that
Trump’s contention that he did not know Fuentes raised eyebrows for some. Like the Proud Boys, Fuentes is part of the extremist fringe of the Republican Party that has made up part of Trump’s base. The founder of a white nationalist group called America First, he was a leading organizer of the “Stop the Steal” rallies organized by Trump supporters to try to overturn the election results showing that he lost in 2020; he was also present at the rally that Trump addressed preceding the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that aimed to derail the transition of power.
Fuentes, who routinely rails against Jews on his livestream, also attended the 2017 far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Trump famously said there were “very fine people on both sides” and more recently has grown close to far-right lawmakers in Trump’s party, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia and Rep. Paul Gosar in Arizona.
But even those who took Trump at his word that he did not previously know
Reaction to the dinner kept Trump in the spotlight over the course of a hol iday weekend, a double-edged sword for the first Republican to declare a 2024 presidential campaign. Trump’s rise was fueled by nonstop media coverage, includ ing of seeming misdeeds that did not doom him with his supporters. Still, one Trump advisor told NBC News that the event was a “f—ing nightmare” for the campaign, which has gotten off to a rocky start.
Also condemning the meeting were Jewish organizations that have not hes itated to criticize Trump’s flirtation with extremists in the past, including the American Jewish Committee, the Reform movement of Judaism and the Anti-Defamation League. At least two Orthodox Jewish organizations, which had praised Trump’s policies as president also criticized the meeting: the Orthodox Union and the Coalition for Jewish Values.
The Biden White House also con demned the incident. “Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America, including at Mar-a-Lago,” its statement said. ”Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned.” (Asked to com ment on Trump saying he didn’t know Fuentes, Biden himself told a reporter, “You don’t want to hear what I think.”)
The White House’s statement did not name Trump, nor did statements from many Republicans, including the Republican Jewish Coalition, at whose
annual conference Trump spoke last month. The group did not initiate a statement, but, in response to reporters’ queries, released one.
“We strongly condemn the virulent antisemitism of Kanye West and Nick Fuentes and call on all political leaders to reject their messages of hate and refuse to meet with them,” said the statement, first solicited by the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman. The RJC and its CEO, Matt Brooks, retweeted Haberman.
Why the RJC would not name Trump drew follow-up questions from reporters, including Haberman, as well as a barrage of criticism on social media.
Brooks, evidently stung, called such queries “dumb and short-sighted” and said on Twitter by way of explanation, “We didn’t mention Trump in our RJC statement even though it’s obviously in response to his meeting because we wanted it to be a warning to ALL Republicans. Duh!”
Max Miller, a Jewish Republican just elected to Congress from Ohio and a former wingman for Trump, also did not name Trump and instead appealed to Ye, who at least until recently had become cherished on the right as a Black Christian conservative, to make a course correction.
“Nick Fuentes is unquestionably an antisemite and a Holocaust denier. His brand of hate has no place in our public discourse,” Miller said on Twitter. Ye “doesn’t need to keep walking this path. Letting people like Nick Fuentes into his life is a mistake.”
Prominent Jewish Republicans not making statements included David Kustoff, a Tennessee Jewish Republican congressman; Jason Greenblatt, once a top Middle East adviser to Trump; and Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her hus band Jared Kushner, who were both top advisers to Trump when he was president. A spokesman for Kushner did not reply to a request for comment.
Lee Zeldin, the Jewish Republican New York congressman seen as having a future in the GOP leadership after performing more strongly than expected in a failed bid to be elected governor of a Democratic state, also did not issue a statement, and his spokesman did not
reply to a request for comment. Zeldin has otherwise been outspoken on Jewish issues in Congress and co-chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Black-Jewish caucus.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who is the only Black Republican in the Senate and who co-chairs its Black-Jewish caucus, also had not commented. Scott is believed to be a 2024 presidential hopeful.
Other Republican leaders denounced extremism but did not call out Trump by name. Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman known for her closeness to the former president, like the RJC, replied only when asked by a reporter—in her case, from Bloomberg— and did not name Trump.
“As I had repeatedly said, white suprem acy, neo-Nazism, hate speech, and bigotry are disgusting and do not have a home in the Republican Party,” McDaniel said.
Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned antisemitism— but without mentioning Trump, Fuentes, Ye, or any of the forms of antisemitism they have expressed. Instead, Pompeo spoke of his own role in undermining the boycott Israel movement—a cause that none of the men who dined together has embraced.
“Antisemitism is a cancer. As Secretary, I fought to ban funding for antisemitic groups that pushed BDS,” Pompeo said on Twitter. “We stand with the Jewish people in the fight against the world’s oldest bigotry.”
Trump was the ghost in the Republican machine last month at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference in Las Vegas: the declared candidate who party leaders believe still commands the unswerving loyalty of at least a third of the base. With his capacity for lashing out at critics, taking on Trump directly is seen as a fool’s game by many in the party.
A handful of Republicans already known for their open criticism of Trump, including Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, did denounce him by name.
“This is just awful, unacceptable con duct from anyone, but most particularly from a former President and current can didate,” Christie tweeted.
Andrew
Lapin
(JTA)—Birthright Israel is drastically cut ting back on the number of free trips it plans to offer to Jewish young adults, scal ing back its operations by up to a third, the organization announced last month.
The cuts come amid what the orga nization said is a mix of financial pressures, chiefly infla tion and heightened travel expenses in a post-COVID world. It plans to make added appeals to its top donors but still expects to heavily reduce its Israel trips in 2023 to as few as 23,500 participants, down from 35,000 this year and 45,000 annually pre-pandemic.
engagement among younger generations of Jews, and studies commissioned in the two decades since have shown that Jews who participated in Birthright trips were more likely than peers who applied but did not go to marry somebody Jewish and to feel a deeper connection to Israel. One such study was released last month.
26“Without a major immediate increase in fundraising, we will be hard-pressed to have the positive effect we’ve had on many individuals,” Mark said.
maximum age of participants after 5 years of allowing Jews aged 27 to 32 to enroll
“The significant cost increases of our program mean that we will not be able to accommodate as many appli cants in the coming years,” Birthright CEO Gidi Mark said in a statement provided to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
However, Birthright’s own fundrais ing has not been affected. A Birthright spokesperson told JTA that the organiza tion actually expects its funding to increase from 2022 to 2023, but that the growth won’t be enough to compensate for the rise in expenses and inflation.
The group has shown other signs lately of scaled-back operations for its free 10-day trips to Israel for Jewish young adults. Earlier this year Birthright said it would lower the maximum age of participation back to 26, after five years of allowing Jews aged 27 to 32 to enroll. The group’s lead ership said at the time that the increased age limit was backfiring by convincing younger Jews to keep delaying their trips. Birthright also merged with Onward Israel, another Israel travel program for young adults, during the pandemic.
The program was founded in 1999 as a means of encouraging greater Israel
The Birthright Israel Foundation, its fundrais ing arm, is making a large appeal to donors this year for increased funding. Though it receives large portions of its estimated $150 million annual budget from the Israeli government and large donors such as the Adelson Family Foundation, the foundation’s CEO, Izzy Tapoohi, said it is “a myth” that “just a few large donors” fund Birthright.
It’s been a difficult period for sev eral of Birthright’s most stalwart funders, from various legal troubles for founder Michael Steinhardt to potential sanctions for Russian Jewish philanthropists in the wake of Russia’s war with Ukraine. Young American Jews have also indicated in demographic studies that they feel less cul turally and politically connected to Israel than previous generations, and the group IfNotNow, which aims to end American Jewish support for Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, urged a boycott and other protests of Birthright.
Israel’s recent election that propelled a far-right bloc into government is widely seen as likely to drive a further wedge between Israel and many young American Jews.
Birthright Israel is a recipient of funds from United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.
countries,” says Naomi Limor Sedek, TJF’s president and CEO, “an estimated 200,000 Jews were living in Ukraine, many of whom were trapped in conflict zones in east Ukraine or fled the fighting.”
Ira M. Steingold, Esq.
Coastal Virginia Magazine pre sented the publication’s annual Giving Back Awards at a ceremony last month at MOCA in Virginia Beach. Tidewater Jewish Foundation was one of the 15 nonprofit organizations and seven businesses of various sizes and visions that were honored.
According to Leona Baker, editor-inchief of Coastal Virginia Magazine, the annual awards recognize “some of the region’s outstanding nonprofit organi zations and businesses that make our communities and the lives we lead here safer, healthier, happier and more equitable for all who call Coastal Virginia home.”
Among the published reasons for TJF’s recognition are:
• Serving as the philanthropic pillar of the Tidewater Jewish community and instilling importance of philanthropy across generations;
• $58 million in legacy gifts for the Jewish community anticipated;
• Recently established Feldman Family Medical & Health Professions Student Scholarship to award up to $10,000 a year to Jewish students; and
• $540,000 was granted from TJF donors, directed to partner agencies work ing on the ground in war-torn Ukraine.
When Russia invaded Ukraine and “refugees began spilling across bordering
Support for the Jewish community was urgently needed. The global Jewish commu nity rallied its resources and came together, drawing from more than a century of crisis response expe rience to aid those Jews who remained in Ukraine, those trying to evacuate, and the thousands of refugees who have now spread across Europe and other countries.
“The Tidewater Jewish Foundation provided a $25,000 grant to the United Jewish Federation Ukraine Emergency Fund. Nobody anticipated the scale or length of the fighting. In FY2022, Tidewater Jewish Foundation donor-ad vised fund holders granted $540,000 to Ukraine emergency relief, with over $440,000 going directly to the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Ukraine Emergency Fund,” says Limor Sedek. The UJFT Fund was created, she notes, to help with a variety of issues, such as securing the local community and its institutions, maintaining critical welfare services, launching an emergency hotline, securing five Jewish schools, and training staff to manage crisis needs.
“Our donors also recommended grants to the following organizations: Friends of United Hatzalah, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, American National Red Cross, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS, and Agudath Israel of America,” according to Limor Sedek.
“Our experience with Payday Payroll has not just been positive but fabulous! They are true experts at what they do. Whenever we have an ‘internal hiccup’ even if not directly related to payroll, but in record keeping or data collection we call them and they always help us out. They find a solution for everything.”
Elena Barr Baum
How often in life is something worth a two-year wait? The Holocaust Commission proved this can absolutely be true.
Sponsored by Bank of America and originally scheduled for October of 2020, then postponed twice by the pandemic, Tom Dugan came to town last month with his one-man show based on the life of Simon Wiesenthal. Dugan brought this “5% hero” to life for the community one evening, and to a packed house of stu dents the next morning. (Wiesenthal had files on 22,000 Nazis and brought 1,100 to trial—thus he felt being described “a hero” was too much. “Maybe a 5% hero?”)
Simon Wiesenthal, sometimes called the “Jewish James Bond,” was a survivor of many concentration camps who dedi cated his life to bringing criminal Nazis to justice. His quest was “to convey what happens when barbarism meets technol ogy.” The play portrays Wiesenthal, who died in 2005, in his office on the day of his retirement in 2003. The audience, with whom he sometimes interacts, rep resents a student group assembled to learn about his work. And Dugan delivers a master class.
The play is designed not to horrify or bring tears, though the events Wiesenthal
describes surely do both. Instead of focus ing on the details of emotional pain or atrocities, Dugan’s Wiesenthal uses them, as he notes about value of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, to force humanity to look in the mirror. “If this one man was capable of such cruelty,” he reasoned, “then we all are.” Wiesenthal wanted “to convey what happens when barbarism meets technology….It does not take a criminal mind to commit mass murder,” Dugan’s Wiesenthal said. “Only blind obedience to authority.”
As Wiesenthal, Dugan commanded the stage, using all of it to talk about the Nazi hunter’s origins in what is now Ukraine—losing his family, his survival, and reunion with his “young wife,” to whom he was married for another 60 years. He also shared stories of some of the most famous criminals he helped cap ture, with the assistance of many western governments. Even on his “last day,” he tried in vain to secure the capture of a Nazi who was living under an assumed name in Syria.
After the 90-minute play’s evening performance, Dugan held a Q&A session and continued to engage the audience with more stories of his creation of the play, somewhat inspired by his father, who liberated a concentration camp (“Not by himself!” Dugan quipped.) Few people
left their seats until he had finished, and then they enjoyed a dessert recep tion sponsored by Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers, with treats provided by Bakers Crust.
The next morn ing, Dugan staged a repeat performance to a group of more than 400 middle and high school stu dents from across the area. These are the shows he likes best, because, as Wiesenthal knew, education about the horrors of history is the only thing that will keep them from happening again. The students came from public, private, and home school groups. They and their chaperones were very engaged throughout the show, and one group from Cape Henry Collegiate was able to stay long after the Q&A to speak with the playwright/actor.
With the controversy currently surrounding the revision of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s History and Social Science Standards of Learning, the importance of teaching REAL history is apparent. (The Holocaust Commission is dedicated to helping educators teach Holocaust and the histories of other geno cides, so that lessons can be learned.)
One of the scenes from the play detailed how the “lost boys of Europe” could not believe the truth because their ashamed fathers had minimized the hor rors of the war. Wiesenthal took it upon himself to find the man who arrested Anne Frank, perhaps the best-known victim of the Holocaust, and have him admit to this act. He found him, serv ing as a police officer in Vienna, just a few miles from Wiesenthal’s home. His admission served to confirm the truth for countless would-be deniers.
It is everyone’s job to remember the victims and the heroes, and keep them alive with their history. Elie Wiesel said, “If you listen to a witness, you become a witness.”
Thanks to this powerful production, there are close to 1,000 more witnesses. Please use your voice to stand up for witnesses and their history, whether it is with the Board of Education or a bully or a Holocaust denier. We owe it to their memory.
Elena Barr Baum served as the director of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Holocaust Commission from 2010 to 2022.
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The late, notably irreverent comedian Lenny Bruce once quipped that most Jewish holidays are “observed” rather than celebrated, including Hanukkah. Perhaps when Bruce performed that particular shtick back in 1961 that joke was accurate…Jews solemnly lit the hanukiah, ate some latkes, played a little dreidel, and maybe, just maybe, children received some gelt.
How times have changed! While still recounting the miracle of Hanukkah and the holiday’s celebration of religious freedom along with the rededication of the Temple, today’s Hanukkah is filled with parties, decorations, fun food and drinks, and, of course, gifts. Yes, we celebrate Hanukkah!
This section contains articles that cover it all, including a piece on the seriousness of the holiday with a message from Rabbi Israel Zoberman on page 21 and personal thoughts and traditions about Hanukkah from locals on page 16.
Eitan Altshuler introduces readers to an alternative to oil-drenched donuts and latkes with Gulab Jamun, a treat made by the Jews of India. This dessert is delicious and takes minimal time to prep and cook. Page 18.
Hanukkah-themed books for children, parties, and a reminder to donate to Jewish Family Service’s annual Chanukah Gift Program are among the many other articles featured.
We also celebrate with Elijah Mallenbaum, a recent bar mitzvah who took his mitzvah project to a new level with his contributions to Habitat for Humanity. Page 25. Mazel Tov Elijah!
Whatever you’re celebrating this season, we hope you do it with good health, peace, and lots of mazel.
Chag Sameach and Mazel Tov!
Terri Denison
Editor
Everyday life can be stressful and full of uncertainty. Having a special time of year like Hanukkah, when we know exactly what to do, the way we have always done it, or to start a new tradition, provides a comfortable sense of structure, control, and stability.
From reciting blessings to lighting the menorah, raising a glass to make a toast, eating jelly donuts and potato latkes, as well as spinning the dreidel, Hanukkah tradi tions are replete with rituals. Along with rituals, many core values are relevant to include leadership, freedom, hope, light, community, giving, resilience, and belief.
The Aleck and Koltun families wish everyone a safe and fulfilled holiday season, as well as a happy and healthy New Year.
looking forward to helping our kids set up and light their chanukiyot and saying all the Berachot together.
Full disclosure, we do it all!
Thanksgiving kicks off the winter holidays in my home. Our adult children come from far and wide to pull out every holiday decoration, menorah, tree, Santa, light, and dreidel that we own and begin the process of turning our home into what looks like a Hallmark movie set! I kvetch and complain a little (especially when they try to decorate in July), but, I really love the happiness it brings to us all.We started a new tradition a few years ago, each doing a little research and sharing a spiritual, religious, or historical insight/ fact about the holidays and then discussing it. A standard tradi tion in our home for every holiday throughout the year is playing a guitar, piano, or percussion instrument and singing together after a delicious meal.
From our house to yours, we wish you a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season!
This Hanukkah, I am excited to be back with my family in Virginia Beach and Norfolk. I’m excited to make latkes with my sister and mom, spin dreidels with my step sister, and light candles with my dad. This was one of the first Jewish memories I have with my family and I’m looking forward to rekindling the light in a way that hasn’t been possi ble for the last few years while I was in college.
A time to rekindle Hailey BehrmanDebra J Aleck. Jonathan Kugel. Hailey Behrman. Marilyn Johns.
Debbie Burke
Dreaming of Hanukkah: Counting down to the Festival of Lights
Amy Shoenthal
Arcadia Children’s Books
18 pages, 2022
L ots of color, a lesson in counting and Jewish history, and a sprin kle of latkes… what can be bad? Marketing executive and journalist Amy Shoenthal has penned a book that has all these elements in a fun and easy-to-fol low package for young readers with her new release, Dreaming of Hanukkah: Counting down to the Festival of Lights. The story includes the highlights of this special holiday, featuring four spinning dreidels, seven delicious donuts, 10 pieces of gelt, and more. Shoenthal recently spoke to Jewish News about what inspired her and shared her favorite things about the holiday.
Jewish News: What inspired this book? Amy Shoenthal: Arcadia Publishing has this lovely “counting down” children’s book series that takes young ones through places like Boston, New Orleans, and more, and now they’ve expanded the series to include holidays. Nancy Ellwood from Arcadia lives in my neighborhood, and she had advised illustrator Kate Durkin and myself on another children’s book we were writing ( A Magical Day in Sunnyside). During one of our morn ing coffee sessions, she asked if we’d be interested in collaborating with her and Arcadia on a book about Hanukkah.
JN: What qualities did you feel were important to imbue into the characters here?
AS: I wanted to show that everyone of all ages and all backgrounds can enjoy celebrating Hanukkah. That’s how I cel ebrated the holiday growing up, so I wanted to bring that sentiment to this book.
JN: What are your stron gest memories of Hanukkah when you were a child?
AS: My mother went above and beyond decorating our house every year to make it feel really fes tive and special. I have a vivid image of our dining room table covered in dozens of wrapped presents to give out to family members and guests. Every year, we hosted a small Hanukkah gathering for our friends who didn’t celebrate it in their homes. Hanukkah is really about the same thing that consistently makes most holidays so special—eating good food and spending time with family and friends. And then eating some more.
JN: What traditions do you and your family enjoy on the holiday?
AS: I want my daughter to be able to enjoy all the holidays the people in her community celebrate. We had our neigh bors over to our house last year for a cozy Hanukkah gathering where we lit candles, ate latkes, and gave out little presents to the kids. It reminded me of how I cele brated the holiday growing up and I hope to continue that tradition every year.
For more information, visit amyshoenthal.com/book.
Beyond the classics, there are more than a few days over Hanukkah to enjoy a variety of fried foods. The Jews of India like to celebrate by making Gulab Jamun, a milk fritter soaked in cardamom/rose syrup.
Unlike latkes, this dish is neither energy- nor time-consuming to make from scratch. For the dough, you want a some what sticky consistency, but after a minute or two, it will absorb more of the liquid and become more manageable.
When frying the dough, don’t look away. If the oil is too hot, the jamun balls will burn in a hot second. With my burner on medium, I check the temperature of my oil with an instant thermometer, keeping it somewhere between 315–330º F, and I sug gest first putting one jamun ball in to test.
Surprisingly, though, the real hero of the dish is the syrup, which I flavor with rose and cardamom, but you could get creative to whatever your liking. If you like the jamun balls on the crispy side, you could just pour a thick syrup, like honey, over them as a glaze, but traditionally, they are soaked in a thin syrup—sometimes for hours, getting a bit soggy, but packed with flavor.
As for toppings, personally, I use dried rose petals, raisins, and ground pistachio, but use your imagination – perhaps coco nut shavings or powdered sugar. There are many ways to make this recipe your own.
Note: This recipe is dairy. In fact, the dough is four times more dry milk powder than flour. I have not made a vegan/ pareve version before, but there are many vegan recipes very different from this one. However, I imagine it might be possible with coconut milk powder, margarine, and coconut milk as substitutes.
Cook Time: < 5 minutes
Prep Time: 15 minutes Servings: 4 Calories: 130 per serving
For the fritters
Nonfat dry milk powder— 2 cups Unbleached all-purpose flour—½ cup Baking soda—½ teaspoon Unsalted butter (melted)—6 tablespoons Milk—½ cup
Oil for frying (2–3" deep)
For the glaze
Sugar—2 cups Water—2 cups Cardamom—½ teaspoon ground (about 5 pods) Rose Water—to taste, drizzled on afterward or incorporated in the syrup
Start with the glaze:
1. Bring water to simmer and dissolve the sugar.
2. Add the cardamom. Keep the syrup simmering till it thickens a little. Watch it because if it’s too thick, the jamun balls won’t be able to absorb the liquidy syrup.
For the fritters:
3. Mix the dry ingredients. Then, add the melted butter, making it crumbly.
4. Add milk gradually. Lightly knead, and form a smooth dough. Divide into small balls.
5. Fry the dough balls in a deep-sided pan with 2-3” of oil at 315-330F. Fry the first one alone as a test. Watch very carefully. Balls should be amber when done. Transfer to paper towels and let cool.
6. Drown fritters in hot syrup in a separate bowl. Plate to serve, drizzle rose water on top and garnish with whatever you like. Some people keep their jamun balls soaking for hours before serving.
Eitan Altshuler is with the Cardo Café at the Sandler Family Campus where he is cre ating an Israeli menu. He spent more than eight years in Israel.
A local Jewish man with two young chil dren came to Jewish Family Service for help with his family and overdue bills. He had lost his full-time job when his work place unexpectedly shut down. He did not have enough funds to pay bills and have anything else left over. JFS used donor funds to pay his overdue electric bill and gave him some groceries. He told the JFS case man ager that he wanted to get his sons winter coats and a few games. Because of the gen erosity of donors at Hanukkah, he received new winter coats, gloves, hats, school sup plies, a bicycle, pants, shoes, books, and games for each of his children. He was very surprised and told JFS, “I did not know that strangers would be so kind. This will truly be a special holiday for our family now. Please tell everyone thank you!”
Now in its 30th year, Jewish Family Service’s annual Chanukah Gift Program began in November. This program pro vides holiday gifts to local Jewish children and teens in financially struggling fami lies. JFS is asking the local community to continue its tradition of helping again this year In addition to the gifts used during Hanukkah, many are distributed through out the year. JFS expects to serve more than 50 different local Jewish children and teens in 2022.
The wish list of what these children and teens need is long. For donors, this is an opportunity to do a mitzvah for chil dren who have no choice in their families’ financial situation. For young donors, this is a way to learn and practice tzedakah, giving to others, as they shop with parents for gifts for other children, knowing that the gifts will make a significant impact.
• Purchase new, unwrapped gifts, both fun and practical for specific children and teens in need... Donors may call JFS at 757-459-4640 for children’s wish lists.
• Go shopping and buy some extra items for those in need.
• Send JFS gift cards from local department stores, electronics stores, music stores, and grocery stores, to allow families go shopping themselves.
• Send JFS a tax deductible cash dona tion, and JFS will do the shopping.
All Hanukkah donations must be received by December 5, 2022. Checks should be made payable to Jewish Family Service and sent to JFS, Attn: Maryann Kettyle, 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Suite 400, Virginia Beach, VA 23462.
Jewish Family Service assists local Jewish families in need at all times of the
Contact JFS starting November 14th to request a Family Wish List Create a Mitzvah Day tradition with your family and friends and go shopping together for gifts Consider a tax deductible monetary donation to JFS, and JFS will do the shopping for the items most needed/requested Purchase gift cards from department stores, grocery stores, etc , and families can shop for themselves Shopping on Amazon? Use AmazonSmile and choose JFS as your charity A portion of your purchase amount will be donated to JFS
year and will keep any surplus donations for use throughout 2022–2023.
All gifts & donations should be brought to JFS by December 5th
Checks payable to Jewish Family Service and mailed to:
Jewish Family Service
For more information, contact Maryann Kettyle, JFS case manager, at 757-459-4640 or MKettyle@jfshamptonroads.org.
Attention: Maryann Kettyle
5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Ste 400 Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Questions? Call Maryann Kettyle 757 459 4640 or mkettyle@jfshamptonroads org
Sunday, December 18, 2–5 pm,
The emcee says, “For 18 points and the lead, what is the difference between a menorah and a Hanukkiah?”
If you answered “shamash place holder,” your team would take the lead for the Spin This! Chanukah Trivia game at Temple Israel.
Two teams, led by Tidewater’s ShinShinim, will vie for the top spot in the gelt tally. Teams will alternate spin ning the dreidel to determine the trivia category.
For this game, contestants will use four categories for the four Hebrew let ters: Nun (nisht in Yiddish)–Notable Jews; Gimel (Gantz )–Gimme a Beat; Hay (Halb)–Chanukah Historical; Shin (or Pay)–Stuff one should know about Israel at 75. Each
of the three rounds will offer increasing gelt winning values.
Tidewater’s ShinShinim, Aya Sever and Alma Ben Chorin, are preparing trivia questions and answers, as well as designing a game-show dreidel.
All participants and spectators will enjoy a feast of Israeli-style desserts and non-alcoholic beverages. To assure an accurate count, RSVP by Dec. 12 by call ing Temple Israel, 757-489-4550.
Everyone is encouraged to bring their own hanukkiah and candles for the light ing of the first candle—the start of the festive Hanukkah season. Temple Israel is located at 7255 Granby Street, in the Ward’s Corner section of Norfolk.
Tuesday, December 20, 6–9 pm
Enjoy drinks, dreidel tournaments, interfaith trivia, raf fle baskets, live bands, and more! Ugly sweaters are encouraged for this evening of adult Hanukkah fun. Co-sponsored by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s YAD, this event is open to the entire Tidewater Jewish community, ages 21-101. $18 per person or $50 per family (childcare included).
For more information or to RSVP, email reservations@ohefsholom.org or call 757-625-4295.
Hanukkah’s origins in the drama of a small, yet determined people with a large vision standing up to the might of the Hellenistic empire of antiquity is a poignant demonstration and a timeless reminder of Israel’s unique and timely legacy. The heroic Maccabees’ successful revolt of the few against the many in 167 B.C.E. following the dictates of the Syrian Greek King Antiochus IV, that sought to deprive the Jews of practicing their own faith, was a stance of a proud conscience.
The word “Hanukkah” and its festive meaning represent the spirit of dedication to irreplaceable ideals and ideas through the cleansing of Jerusalem’s Temple from pagan defilement. The Talmud’s focus on the miracle of the cruse of oil lasting eight days reflects the rabbis’ aversion to the bloodshed and the Hasmoneans’ intra-political strife associated with the war. Consequently, the Books of the Maccabees were not included in Jewish Biblical canon, but were fortunately pre served through the Catholic one. In truth, the conflict was not only against the enemy from without, but in response to the assimilation from within. The encoun ter with the dominant, flourishing, and tempting Greek culture led, however, to a fruitful philosophical engagement influ encing Rabbinic thought and logic.
Hanukkah’s flickering lights symbol ize the miracle of Jewish survival in spite of overwhelming odds, endowing the human family with an enduring promise for a world transformed and redeemed.
The 2020 Abraham Accords offer renewed appreciation for the potential of peace in a troubled region. Let us con tinue to pray and labor that the ancient promise of prophetic Shalom’s healing, hope, and harmony from the distant hills of Judea will yet be realized.
At stake is the wellbeing of all of God’s children, including the offspring of Isaac and Ishmael whose familial bond cannot be denied. How frustrating and telling that there are Palestinian and other Arab leaders attempting to re-write history with the shameful aid of UNESCO (The
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) by removing the incontrovertible Jewish connection, as well as the Christian one, with the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, and thus from the Land of Israel, seeking to extinguish Hanukkah’s authenticity.
Hanukkah’s celebration of religious freedom of choice is vigorously tested and contested in the controversy over Jewish worship at the Western Wall and its southern end (Robinson’s Arch). The Women of the Wall’s long struggle for equal acceptance, as well as the pain ful disappointment of the Reform and Conservative streams over the unfulfilled agreement by the Israeli government for egalitarian worship in the southern section are a cause for concern in the context of Jewish pluralism in Israel, along with Israel-Diaspora relations. As the United States, the State of Israel, and the entire free world fight the blight of ter rorism with misogynistic Iran’s Ayatollahs begrudging the Maccabean victory lead ing the way, much can be learned from the old and new Maccabees’ saga and spirit. The terrorists negate the life-enlighten ing, pluralistic, and inclusive principles of Hanukkah’s bright menorah daring to challenge the darkness of oppression in all its destructive forms.
Putin’s Russia’s barbaric and crim inal assault on Ukraine’s independent sovereignty brings the world to the precipice’s edge. Europe’s move to the political far right and the emerging threats to American democracy with the atten dant rise of antisemitism should alarm all and be ignored only at our own peril. All humans have now become vulnerable Jews. Still, empowered with our people’s indomitable faith and noble example to face a formidable foe—physically, spiritu ally, and psychologically—all will prevail.
Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman is founder of Temple Lev Tikvah and is Honorary Senior Rabbi Scholar at Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church. Both are in Virginia Beach.
(JTA) In a supermarket here, Ohad David made a beeline for the most expensive olive oil in the store.
He took three bottles of the award-win ning Midnight Coratina brand, which goes for about $3 per ounce. It has “medium potency, green fruitiness and a green-leaf, grassy bouquet,” according to its description on the website of Ptora, the boutique olive oil factory that makes it.
But David, a 40-year-old insurance agent and father of five, did not buy the oil for its taste.
Like thousands of Orthodox Jewish consumers who buy premium olive oil ahead of Hanukkah, David purchased $160 of the stuff only to burn it—in a menorah.
Observant Israelis increasingly like to use olive oil in their Hanukkah candela bras instead of wax candles because of its significance in the holiday’s story.
Hanukkah, which this year begins on Sunday, December 18, is a celebration of how the Maccabees, after defeating the Greeks, were able to light the menorah in the temple in Jerusalem for eight days with a one-day supply of oil—believed to be of the olive variety.
“Using olive oil for Hanukkah candles is not required by halacha [Jewish law], but in our communities everybody does it,” David says.
Those who follow suit want only 100% pure olive oil to use in their menorahs— and that has become more expensive in Israel over time because of tariffs on imports and the rising demand.
In response, some producers dilute their olive oil with cheaper vegetable oils without disclosing all of the ingre dients and lure consumers in with lower prices. The product can still be consid ered kosher, but it is unacceptable for the observant Jews who want only pure olive oil in their menorahs.
olive oil sector in Israel.
Israeli author ities perform inspections on dozens of brands each year around Hanukkah and often find oil advertised as pure to contain up to 50% canola or soy oil. But despite fines and the naming of offenders online, the phenom enon persists.
For David and others in his commu nity, the solution is to stick to boutique brands, no matter the cost.
“You know there’s no monkey business because to them it’s a matter of pride, so there’s a high level of transparency and trust,” David says. He discovered Ptora while visiting their facilities during a family trip to the northern Negev desert, where the factory and groves are located, about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
Like many boutique olive factories in Israel, Ptora offers tours and tastings to increase their brand recognition.
“The place is magical,” says Hani Ashkenazi, owner of the Jerusalem Olive Oil factory, about the Ptora groves. He is technically a competitor, but the two companies cooperate on some projects to leverage their respective strengths.
found that Israeli olive oil was on average double the price of its European counter parts, costing about 9 euros (roughly $10) in Israel per liter compared to 5 euros throughout much of the European Union. Israel employs a protectionist customs policy meant to level the playing field for local producers.
Both production and demand are rising steadily in Israel, a 2020 report from the ministry shows. About 30,000 tons of olive oil are sold in Israel annually, of which about 12,000 are imported. In comparison, the average annual produc tion between 1990 and 2010 was 5,000 tons. The average for the past decade has been 16,000 tons annually.
(For comparison, Egypt, with a land area 47 times that of Israel’s, produces about 20,000 tons of olive oil annually. Italy produces about 340,000 tons annu ally, and the biggest producer is Spain, providing about 1.7 million tons annually, or half of the world’s supply.)
“[T]he temptation to deceive custom ers is tremendous,” Rabbi Moshe Biegel, an expert on Israel’s kosher certification industry, wrote in a 2020 essay on the
The olive is a national symbol tied closely to the country’s broader agricul tural history—it is even depicted in the official emblem of the State of Israel. In 2019, Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture
In recent years, local producers have profited from growing demand for olive oil generally and a preference for Israeli brands specifically, says Ashkenazi, who runs her olive oil factory in the northern Negev with her partner, Moosh.
“Hanukkah is the Jewish feast of light, but it’s also the feast of the Israeli olive oil,” she says. “Each year we’re seeing an increase in sales especially ahead and during Hanukkah.”
The share of shoppers seeking it as candle fuel is unknown, but increasingly firms are buying packages of premium Israeli olive oil as a holiday gift for their employees, Ashkenazi says.
Business is going so well that Ashkenazi says she doesn’t need the pro tectionist taxes imposed on the imported products.
“Competition is good, the consumer should have broad choice,” she says.
light the Hanukkah menorah, counterfeiters see an opportunity
“Hanukkah is the Jewish feast of light, but it’s also the feast of the Israeli olive oil.”
Celebrating the reded ication of the Jewish temple after it was taken back from the Greeks in the 2nd century BCE, Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is a fun and festive holiday spanning eight days and is best known for menorahs, latkes, and dreidels.
This year, families are invited to turn to PJ Library for a treasure trove of free resources cre ated to ensure Hanukkah 2022 is memorable.
What could be a better Hanukkah gift than to receive a beautifully illustrated book arriving in the mailbox each month? This year, for example, younger readers (ages 3–5) will receive Varda Livney’s delightful picture book Hanukkah at Monica’s, a new and original release from PJ Publishing, the program’s in-house imprint.
PJ Library will also update their resource-packed Hanukkah Hub, which offers child-friendly versions of the Hanukkah story along with numerous unique craft ideas, delectable holiday rec ipes, and printable activities. One new offering is a lively Hanukkah-themed lava lamp activity, where children will test the density of different types of oil while creating calming faux “lava lamps” with recycled materials. This funky craft is a great addition to a night of enjoying foods fried in oil while embracing the Jewish values of curiosity and learning. In addi tion, families can turn to Hub activities and resources such as The Ultimate List of Books about Hanukkah offering up holiday page-turners, as well as 10 Easy (and Kid-Approved) Hanukkah Recipes, or The Easy Hanukkah Guide: Recipes, Gifts and Activities For Each Night. And, on the award-winning podcast front, a new Afternoons with Mimi episode is just
in time for the holiday. Perfect for chil dren ages 2–5, Kiddo Lights the Hanukkah Candles has wise Grandma Mimi detailing the all-important lighting of the menorah, what it means, and how to do it.
PJ Library also offers guidance this year for interfaith families, including their list of Hanukkah Books for Interfaith Families. Interfaith families who choose to celebrate Hanukkah can turn to Jessica Keith’s help ful blog post No, We Don’t Celebrate Both
And, for those seeking creative gift-giving options, PJ Library has set up shop at amazon.com/pjlibrary where families can find colorful aprons for cook ing and crafting and books from the PJ Library imprint, PJ Publishing, including recent additions My Hands Make the World, Havdalah Sky, and Laila Tov, Moon. The PJ Library Amazon store also offers a perpetual Jewish calendar kit, making it simple for families to personalize and track Jewish holidays month after month.
A free program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, PJ Library sends engaging story books and activities that provide fun and easy ways for families to connect with Jewish life. Now in its 17th year, PJ Library’s high-quality books have become everyday favorites of kids
from birth through age 12, whether the stories serve as first introductions to Jewish values and culture or inspire families to create new Jewish traditions at home. Jewish families of all backgrounds at all levels of Jewish knowledge and observance—including interfaith house holds—may subscribe every child in their home to receive a new, age-appropriate book each month. More than 670,000 books are delivered to families worldwide each month. To find out more, visit pjlibrary.org.
For information about PJ Library in Tidewater, contact Nofar Trem at ntrem@ujft.org.
offers everything for a lively, entertaining, and enriching
Whether you’re walking down the aisle or gathering with family and friends to celebrate a mitzvah, our downtown Norfolk waterfront venue is the perfect place for your celebration. Our event specialists will work with you closely to transform your vision into a unforgettable celebration, incorporating stunning decor and exquisite cuisine.
The next Bezalel may have been on the bimah at Temple Lev Tikvah delivering his bar mitzvah speech ear lier this year.
Like Moses’ choice to do the “design build” of the Tabernacle in the desert, Elijah Mallenbaum of Virginia Beach is interested in archi tecture. The son of Irene and Joshua Mallenbaum and grandson of Rita and Sidney Mallenbaum devoted his d’var to more than just his career ambi tions. “Affordable housing is a big problem in the United States, and it is getting more challenging every day,” he told the congregation, as he quoted a Harvard study that said the “average American can’t afford to buy a home in 71% of the country.”
So, Elijah pledged a por tion of his Bar Mitzvah gifts to Habitat for Humanity, choosing that non-profit in part because “the application process requires recipients to help build their own homes.”
Habitat for Humanity of South Hampton Roads’ Executive Director Frank Hruska was so moved by Elijah’s gift that he invited him and the rest of his family, plus Rabbi Israel Zoberman, who trained the teen for his big day, to a home under construction in the Deep Creek section of Chesapeake. There, they met Kimberly Waters and one of her two daughters, 20-year-old Ladasha, who were busy painting one of the bedrooms of the house they would soon occupy.
Per Habitat’s requirements, Kimberly has invested her sweat equity, noting she has learned “siding, carpentry, and installing light fixtures” during the con struction process.
As for Elijah, who hopes other bar and Bat Mitzvah students will follow his lead, he now has a deeper understanding of the challenge of affordable housing. The experience has given him even more motivation to use his talents on a host of projects, including, as he said at his bar mitzvah, to someday “design interesting structures, like synagogues.”
After all, there’s always room for another Bezalel
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Tidewater Jewish Foundation (TJF) seeks an experienced candidate for the full-time position of Marketing and Communications Coordinator. Under the direction and in collaboration with the President and CEO, the Marketing and Communications Coordinator plays an integral role in the advancement of the Foundation’s mission – to support/promote charitable giving and ensure the future of the Tidewater Jewish community through philanthropic fund development.
The Marketing and Communications Coordinatior is the primary communications staff person for TJF, and is expected to provide the expertise needed to drive the planning and execution of a broad, multi-faceted marketing and outreach strategy.
Requirements: Bachelor's Degree in Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, or other related study path. Minimum 3 years of experience in direct marketing, such as leading strategy development and implementation, writing, and editing copy for print and digital viewership, and assessing effectiveness of marketing and communications efforts.
Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.
Complete job description at www.jewishva.org/TJF
Submit cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to: resumes@ujft.org Attn: Taffy Hunter, Human Resources director.
(JTA)—Tamar Caplan knew Alex Zeldin was the one when, a few months into dating, he asked if she knew why pigeons bob their heads.
“He had looked up the reason,” Caplan recalls. “I thought to myself, ‘I love that this is someone who is always wanting to learn about things he doesn’t know and share them with me.’”
Pigeons don’t actually bob their heads; instead, their heads stop while their bodies catch up—something of a metaphor for Zeldin and Caplan’s early relationship, when their friendship raced ahead of their romantic involvement.
The two first met through a web of mutual friends on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and Zeldin had even attended a Shabbat dinner at Caplan’s apartment. But when, inspired by a shared conversation about ethical repre sentation in science fiction, he proposed a date, Caplan turned him down.
“I believe I said, ‘I’m not emotionally prepared for that,’” Caplan recalls. She had recently ended a long-term rela tionship, and was dealing with a bout of depression; the timing felt wrong.
Then the pair reconnected at a Simchat Torah event at B’nai Jeshurun, a nondenominational synagogue in their neighborhood that celebrated the com pletion of a year’s Torah reading with a massive celebration.
“We started having these really remarkably in-depth conversations for people who weren’t dating,” Caplan says. Still, she continued to turn down his invitations to go out.
Finally, Zeldin told her he was going to start seeing other people, and he set up a date with someone else. That was enough for Caplan to give him a chance.
“I knew from the beginning” this would be the relationship worth wait ing for, Zeldin says. “That’s why I was remarkably patient.”
In addition to their shared inter est in sci-fi and other cultural issues, Caplan and Zeldin shared a commitment to Jewish life. Both keep kosher and observe Shabbat, and were active in the Upper West Side’s community of young religious Jews.
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The other date never happened. Instead, in June 2017, he and Caplan went on their first date.
Zeldin, 31, had become more obser vant while a student at Rutgers University and developed his religious practice par ticularly while studying in Israel during college. He is now a contributing colum nist for the Forward and a public speaker on Jewish identity and American foreign policy. Caplan, also 31 and an engineer who studied at Columbia University, grew up in the heart of the Conservative movement of Judaism, where her father is a cantor.
As they began dating more seriously, the one sticking point was finding a syn agogue where they both wanted to pray.
Their religious differences began to feel more like preferences and less about an actual difference in values.
Caplan, who grew up in New Jersey, where she was involved in a variety of Conservative Jewish institutions, pre fers to pray in “traditional egalitarian” congregations such as Kehilat Hadar on the Upper West Side, where both men and women lead prayer and there is no mechitzah, or divider, separating the sexes.
But Zeldin finds it hard to follow along at places like Hadar, which assume a high level of Hebrew and ritual fluency. He prefers synagogues like the ones that embraced his family upon their arrival in the United States from Belarus when he was a toddler. Growing up in New Jersey, he attended Orthodox synagogues, many of them led by Chabad rabbis that spe cifically welcomed an influx of Russian Jews whose knowledge of Jewish practice had been weakened by decades under Soviet rule.
“Coming from a Soviet background, many shuls are not intended to be a space for us,” Zeldin says. “Often, when Russian Jews do go [to synagogue], we’re watching other people, and we’re not actively involved with it. It’s not a thing we often feel welcome into.”
Though Zeldin appreciates how com munities such as Hadar include full participation for women while Orthodox synagogues do not, he sees gender
restrictions as just one of several barriers to synagogue inclusivity.
“This is my male privilege, but I don’t think of it in denominational lines,” he says. “I think of it as ‘where are Russian Jews welcome’ kind of lines. And very often, that’s in Orthodox spaces because they do more targeted outreach.”
As they navigated these different cultural vantage points, they began to realize their Jewish values overlapped far more than they diverged. In September 2021, Zeldin asked Caplan’s boss to ask her to do a site visit at B’nai Jeshurun, the synagogue where they first connected. When she arrived, he was waiting for her in the sanctuary, where he proposed.
Their religious differences began to feel more like preferences and less about an actual difference in values. “It is more about logistics than actually finding a middle ground,” Caplan says.
Those logistics helped set the stage for their Aug. 21 wedding at The Marigold, a venue in Somerset, New Jersey. Caplan’s father, Joel Caplan, who is the cantor at Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell, New Jersey, participated, but the offi ciating rabbi was Orthodox. The pair selected Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt, founder of the Altneu congregation, which serves, among others, a Russianspeaking community in New York City.
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Goldschmidt was ideal, Zeldin says, because he could communicate with the Russian-speaking guests, and because as an Orthodox rabbi, his oversight would reliably be respected by religious author ities in Israel. During his time studying in Israel, Zeldin says he saw firsthand how hard it was for some family mem bers and friends from the former Soviet Union to prove their Jewish identity to the Israeli rabbinate, and he wanted to avoid any openings for future doubt.
The wedding reflected the Jewish values they have developed together, and
the communities they hope to include in their lives.
“[The rabbi] spoke in Russian at the tisch and chuppah and explained to my family why we were doing what we were doing, and how wonderful it is for FSU Jews to be able to reclaim our heritage,” Zeldin says. “It brought my family to tears.”
This story is part of JTA’s Mazels series, which profiles unique and noteworthy Jewish life events from births to b’nai mitzvah to weddings and everything in between.
The food Pantry, operated by Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, was recently expanded by about one-third its size. Prior to its expansion, JFS had two smaller pantries: one for the general community, and the “Milk and Honey” program for Jewish individuals. These two small programs were recently combined into one larger space near the receiving
area at the Sandler Family Campus.
During the beginning of the COVID crisis, the pantry was limited in its ability to allow people to “shop” for food. Instead, bags of food were prepackaged with avail able items, and families would pick up the bags, unable to enter the space. Now, with the expansion of space and availability of food, they can enter the pantry and select what they and their families would like.
“This is much more affirming and allows them to make their own selections,” says Kelly Burroughs, CEO of JFS.
During Thanksgiving, long lines traditionally form as families line up to receive food from JFS. Volunteers help hand out turkeys, pies, and all the trimmings so that families can have a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Funding for these pro grams comes from a variety of sources, such as the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, and private cash donations. Other ways to sup port the pantry are to collect food as part of a mitzvah proj ect or bring it to the Sandler Family Campus and leave non-perishable items in the box at the entrance.
Perishable items can be given to the security officer who will make sure they get refrigerated.
During the High Holidays, the extra space was a double blessing, as JFS received tons of non-perishable food from area congregations.
“The generosity of our community at Rosh Hashanah was amazing!” says Jody Laibstain, JFS
volunteer coordinator, who oversees the pantry projects. “We received food from KBH, Beth El, Temple Israel, and Ohef Sholom.” The agency also received many individual contributions, both for the High Holidays and in preparation for Thanksgiving.
The need for food is always present, and all contributions of non-expired food are appreciated. “Although our shelves are stocked now,” says Laibstain, “these shelves have been emptying quickly. The
number of people visiting our pantry is steadily increasing. We have added an additional distribution day, and are now open on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and by appointment.”
Individuals in need of food assistance can make a confidential call to 321-2227.
In addition to food, families are also in need of laundry detergent, dish soap, toilet paper, paper towels, feminine hygiene products, shampoo, soap, and toothpaste.
Blowe recently joined the Simon Family JCC as its new swim lesson coordinator.
Blowe joins the JCC with a wealth of experience as a lifeguard and swim instructor for kids and adults at various YMCAs in Virginia and North Carolina.
Swim lessons at the JCC are available for adults and kids.
Private lessons (6 for 30 minutes each) are $165 for members/$190 non-mem bers; Semi-private (30 minutes) are $115 for members/$140 for non-members.
Private lessons (6 x 45 min each) are $220 for members/$250 non-mem bers. Group lessons are $60 per month for
members, $78 for non-members.
To schedule swim lessons, contact Mycala Blowe at MBlowe@SimonFamilyJCC.org or call 757-321-2316.
Jewish Book Festival welcomes author Marjorie Margolies who waxes eloquent on motherhood, career, and staying realistic Wednesday, December 14, 12 pm, Sandler Family Campus
Debbie Burke
And How Are the Children?
Timeless Lessons from the Frontlines of Motherhood After Raising a Family of Adopted, Homegrown, Step, and Sponsored Kids
Marjorie Margolies
Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing 260 pages, 2022
The 2022–23 Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival continues with author Marjorie Margolies who will discuss her book And How are the Children?
Timeless Lessons from the Front Lines of Motherhood
Chronicling the arc of a full career and intertwining her experiences in rais ing a large family, former congresswoman Marjorie Margolies serves up a wonder fully rich new release, And How Are the Children? In the book, she discusses her family background, her career path (serv ing as a member of Congress, 1992–1993 in Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District, chairing the National Women’s Business Council, and serving as founder and the current president of the Women’s Campaign International, among many other roles in activism), and the decision through the years to grow her family through several international adoptions.
Written with candor (check out the chapter Politics is a Blood Sport) and in a generous spirit (You’re Already Mother of the Year), the book is an engaging and swift read.
Margolies is also the author of A Woman’s Place, The Girls in the Newsroom, Finding Someone to Love, and They Came to Stay.
Jewish News: What were some of your own experiences growing up that inspired you into social justice, activism, human rights, and helping others?
Marjorie Margolies: My folks were amaz ing. My dad always said if you can help one person and really make a difference, that’s what it’s all about. I brought exchange students home in college, and we always sponsored them. When I was at Penn [University of Pennsylvania] and I brought somebody from Bolivia, my dad made sure they got the support they really needed. I really liked figuring out how we could help refugee families. That was the vibration in my house.
In the book, I talk about when we [Marjorie and her husband] were in Washington, D.C., and then moved back to Philadelphia, and we were asked to sponsor a little boy and his mother from Vietnam. He was four years old at the time. Five members of their family came to live with us for 25 years. That little boy [her son Vu Phan] is now an anesthesiologist.
JN: How would you summarize the most important aspects of being a great parent; what does that mean to you?
MM: I adopted two kids before I got married, from Korea and Vietnam, then married somebody with four girls, so we had six girls when we got married. Then we had two boys, and then we sponsored the refugee family. We had 11 kids all told.
I think I did drive my kids crazy, frankly, and I didn’t care. It’s about patience, having a long fuse. Some of my kids did think I was crazy! They were wonderful with each other growing up. My oldest is in her mid50s, the youngest is in his 40s. There was a lot of sharing. They all chipped in and they were great. When I went to Congress and knew my time had to be shared with them, they were terrific.
I have 21 grandchildren. They’re great and lovely to one another.
JN: In what way would you say that raising a family “takes a village” or community?
MM: I think it was more that we so appre ciated our differences, and we also knew that with understanding each other, our vision just expanded. The kids keep in touch with one another and respect each other. It didn’t always work out, but it was more that I said to the kids, “Look, you can’t win if you’re not prepared to lose. You have to get on the playing field. Maybe you’ll be successful and maybe you won’t, but just do it. Roll up your sleeves and do it to make it work.”
JN: What were the biggest challenges in raising children with the very demanding career that you’ve had?
MM: My thing was always you can’t feel guilty when you are at work and not with the kids and vice versa. You just have to juggle and see how you can do the best you can and have the kids respect that you’re trying to make a family work.
It was important for a woman to buck the trends. We do have a tendency to try to make the world a bit safer for the girls. It used to be “go to college, meet your husband, have your children,” but a lot of women realized that may work for a period of time, but sometimes you are fired, you get divorced, your kids are gone.
When I was asked to run for Congress, I was a reporter. I loved that job. The pres ident of NBC called me and said, “You’re never going to win.” But I always tell my kids you can’t win if you’re not prepared to lose. I never thought I would win! I went into Election Day with a concession speech! But I’m glad that I did it. I did it because I really was listening to what I’d said all along: you’ve got to roll the dice.
JN: How do you think your many roles have inspired your children?
MM: I think with Women’s Campaign International, they see that it’s a natural fit for me, working for women and children all over the world. We’ll go into a village and see a kind of beautiful picture of a woman and her two little girls walking down an unpaved road to try to get water.
But what does that mean? The girls are not in school, the woman is spending four to five hours just getting water. We drill the well at Women’s International. We give this community thousands of hours. That’s what we have to do as carbon-based custo dians of the planet.
We have a program for young girls who are marginalized in a Philadelphia commu nity and it’s fascinating to watch them ask the questions that make sense and share ideas and opinions. That’s what I’m trying to do with our program.
We’ve always included others in our orbit and my kids can get along most any place and with most anybody.
Just promoting this book in one of the Philadelphia suburbs, a woman with the Jewish Book Council asked me, “Do you think your kids will run for office?” I have zero idea. So far none of them are particu larly interested. Right now, there’s so much meanness out there, so many people are not willing to find the moderate middle. And the commercials are so nasty. It’s just what I don’t want our lives to be and for our kids to think that this is normal.
JN: What should parents who wish to adopt a child from another country know and understand to have a successful and loving experience with their child?
MM: I was a reporter doing stories on placing kids and then I thought this would be such an interesting thing to do. The kids who were harder to place in the late ’60s and early ’70s were African American and agencies were not putting these kids in white homes, especially white single homes. I’d been doing a series of sto ries, one of which was about the Korean orphans landing in the Philly area. I got in touch with the agency that brought these kids over. They’d never worked with a single woman. I followed up the story and went to Korea with papers that I passed all the adoption tests. I met my first child who was seven. She is now in her 50s. Then, I asked if I could go to Vietnam. I ran into the same people who helped me with my
first adoption, and my second kid was from there.
My parents were always terrific about this, and they couldn’t have been more supportive.
JN: How did you balance any of the impa tience or frustration that all parents feel while encouraging productive behaviors in your children?
MM: It’s quite different with each kid. My feeling is to always “walk it off, for crying out loud.” There are very few things that are always that important to be so upset about. The kids are very helpful in modu lating this. But you kind of make it work.
I look back on it and, oh gosh, it was quite a juggle. The kids are wonderfully malleable. We were very lucky because all of them were very academic, so when they applied for schools and things like that, they were helpful to one another. I don’t
think there’s any one rule. Just roll with the punches. Some of our kids are really funny and they knew that surviving in our household if you were funny really works.
JN: What do you think your legacy will be in the eyes of your children?
MM: I don’t know. I hope it’s that “she listened, she was kind, she made us think outside of whatever box there was.”
The event, which includes lunch, is $12 or $6 for those 55 and over. $29 includes lunch and a signed book. Special pricing for lunch and book ends December 7. Register at JewishVa. org/BookFest.
For information about the Lee & Bernard Jaffe
Family Jewish Book Festival, contact Hunter Thomas, director of Arts + Ideas, at hthomas@ ujft.org or call 757-965-6137.
Workshop: Monday December 12, 12 pm Sandler Family Campus
“What if we believed ‘In-the-beginning’ was the begin ning—until one day we asked a different question, and the sacred words sat up and told a different story? What then? What would we do with that?… Come and see—“
This introduction to Malkah’s Notebook: A Journey Into the Mystical Aleph-Bet sets up the story of a young girl, Malkah, hungry for answers to questions she thinks of as she reads Torah with her father.
As she discovers a mystical creation story within the Hebrew Aleph-Bet letters
in the first line of Genesis, a door opens. This discovery soon takes her on a lifelong journey in search of her beginnings—into the lives of sages and mystical texts, to Jerusalem, Paris, and Canaan, to the realms of mythical beings, and the experience of motherhood.
Part bedtime story, part poem, and part journal, Malkah’s Notebook is a love letter to the Hebrew alphabet that unlocks life’s greatest mysteries.
Forty-three illustrations from Malkah’s Notebook are on display in the Leon Family Gallery on the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. The illustrations by Israeli artist and sofer (Hebrew scribe) Josh Baum are paired with text from the book, personally selected by author, educator, and scholar Mira Z. Amiras. As visitors walk through the gallery, they are led through Malkah’s journey, each image specifically curated by Amiras and Baum to tell Malkah’s story.
Those who feel inspired by the exhibit can create their own work of art at a hands-on workshop, offered by the
Konikoff Center for Learning on Monday, December 12. For details, see page 34.
For more information about the Leon Family Gallery, the Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival, or other arts-related events, contact Hunter Thomas, director of Arts + Ideas, at HThomas@UJFT.org.
Jessica Nordell: Thursday, December 8, 7:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus
Jonathan C. ZurSeveral years ago, a Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities’ board member said that he hoped our orga nization would one day work ourselves out of business. The notion stuck with me—that our work should be so successful that we no longer need an organization like VCIC in our Commonwealth. Unfortunately, the last few years have seen a very differ ent reality, with a documented rise in bias resulting in significantly increased demand for VCIC’s programs and services. While dedicated individuals and organizations are steadfastly working to combat bias, the problem can feel overwhelming to address. From antisemitic leaflets left in yards, to a rise in racist slurs on social media, to policies that target the transgender community, we hear about bias more and more.
In this critical moment, a recently pub lished book provides instructive examples and a roadmap for all of us to more effectively understand, address, and ulti mately prevent bias. The End of Bias: A Beginning: The Science and Practice of Overcoming Unconscious Bias is a thought ful, research-based, and highly practical text. Author Jessica Nordell shares clear examples to help the reader understand
how bias manifests and what we can do about it. She draws on over 1,000 studies and hundreds of interviews in the book. Nordell’s professional background as a science and culture journalist brings rigor to her exploration of bias, and her degree in poetry comes through in the accessible tone of her writing.
Early on in The End of Bias, the author makes an important distinction, refram ing what has become widely known as “unconscious bias” with the label “unex amined bias.” She also contextualizes bias, making it clear that what are often seen as individual, isolated acts are really reflec tions of broader patterns within institutions and throughout society. The research she shares reveals that even well-intentioned people—and people who do not think they have bias—can act based on biases. These distinctions are important in helping the reader understand the problem of bias, and then consider key interventions. Nordell shares a wide range of evidence-based solutions to help individuals and organiza tions “de-bias.”
In anticipation of Nordell’s visit for the Jewish Book Festival, a group of com munity leaders have come together for a three-part book discussion. With diverse representation from education, business, religion, healthcare, government, law enforcement, and nonprofit organiza tions, the conversations are enriching and challenging. Participants have said how helpful the book is, with understandable
and practical tips that can be immediately put to use.
The broader community also has the wonderful opportunity to hear from Jennifer Nordell on December 8 at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. The conversation is sure to be educational and empowering. If you are wondering what you can do to make a difference, be sure to attend, and then let’s work together to make it so.
While there is still so much to do to address bias, Nordell’s work helps us understand what it will take to achieve that aspiration of a society that no longer needs organizations like the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.
Pre-registration is required for this free and open to the community event, as part of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival, in partnership with UJFT’s Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, and Virginia Wesleyan University’s Robert Nusbaum Center.
To register, visit JewishVA.org/bookfest or contact JCRC assistant director, EMednick@ ujft.org.
Jonathan C. Zur is president and CEO of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.
PJ Library in Tidewater will present Sunday Fun Day Festival of Lights, a special Hanukkah extravaganza, one week before the start of the holiday. The after noon will include a Hanukkah Glow in the Dark party and obstacle course, Hanukkah themed crafts, games, music, sufganiyot (jelly filled donuts) and more. Children in grades 6–8 will join Aya and Alma, Tidewater’s ShinShinim, to make their own sufganyiot.
Come at any time during the event to take part in the Hanukkah fun.
Sunday Fun Days are free and open to Simon Family JCC members, synagogue members, PJ Library families, SIA families, YAD members, and Camp JCC families.
For more information about PJ Library in Tidewater, visit JewishVA.org/PJ or contact Nofar Trem at ntrem@ujft.org.
Adding an event to Jewish Tidewater’s online community calendar is as easy as 1-2-3.
The calendar is useful for seeing what’s going on within Tidewater that you might want to attend, as well as for planning events and keeping in mind what else is happening that day. These events are for community organizations, businesses, and individuals.
Start by visiting federation.jewishva.org/community-calendar. Near the top of the
page, there is a red oval button that says, “Suggest an Event.” Click on that and follow the prompts. You will be asked to input the event title, start date and time, end date and time, details and summary (free text), sponsors (if any), your contact information, the price of the event, and a registration page link. All events are subject to approval and are typically posted within 24–48 hours.
United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s marketing team looks forward to helping every one get the word out about upcoming events. For more information, call 757-965-6100.
Tuesday, December 6, 12 pm
Watch from Home—Virtual
Is finding true love a calling or a curse?
In Lynda Cohen Loigman’s The Matchmaker’s Gift, Sara Glikman knows her gift as a child in 1910: she is a seeker of soulmates and a maker of matches. But among the push cart-crowded streets of New York’s Lower East Side, Sara’s vocation is dominated by devout older men. After working in secret for more than a decade, Sara must fight to gain recognition for her talents.
Two generations later, Sara has passed away and bequeathed her journals to her granddaughter, Abby, a successful Manhattan divorce attorney. Among the faded vol umes, Abby finds more questions than answers.
Author of the bestselling historical
novels The Two-Family House and The Wartime Sisters, Loigman’s latest is a heartfelt and magical story of two extraordinary women from two differ ent eras who defy societal expectations.
Part of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival, this event is part of the Festival’s Arts + Ideas Book of the Month series’ Bookclub-style conversations that allow participants to personally engage with authors. This event is free and open to the community, with pre-registration required. For more details and to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest.
In partnership with Simon Family JCC’s JFit Wednesday, January 25, 12 pm
Jai Chakrabarti’s A Play for the End of the World, Jaryk Smith, a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, and Lucy Gardner, a southerner, newly arrived in New York City in 1972, are in the first bloom of love when they receive word that Jaryk’s oldest friend has died under mysterious circum stances in a rural village in eastern India. Traveling there alone to collect his friend’s ashes, Jaryk soon finds himself enmeshed in the chaos of local politics and efforts to stage a play in protest against the gov ernment—the same play that he performed as a child in Warsaw as an act of resistance against the Nazis.
Torn between the sur vivor’s guilt he has carried for decades and his feelings for Lucy, Jaryk must decide how to honor both the past and the present, and how to accept a hap piness he is not sure he deserves.
A Play for the End of the World won the
National Jewish Book Award for debut fiction and is longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Chakrabarti is also the author of the forthcoming story collec tion, A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness
Part of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival, this event is part of the Festival’s Arts + Ideas Book of the Month series: Bookclub-style conversations that allow participants to personally engage with authors. This event is free with pre-regis tration required. For more details and to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest.
The Whole Body Reset: Your Weight-Loss Plan for a Flat Belly, Optimum Health and a Body You’ll Love—at Midlife and Beyond Stephen Perrine and Heidi Skolnik $12 (lunch included) • $6 for 55+ • $38 for lunch and signed book.
Special pricing for lunch and book ends January 18
weight as you age is not inevita ble. It’s avoidable and even reversible. In fact, it’s possible to help stop—and even reverse—age-related weight gain and muscle loss.
Heidi Skolnik, co-author of The Whole Body Reset with Stephen Perrine, will present the science-based, tested, and proven weight-management plan designed
specifically for people at mid life and beyond. Developed by AARP, the plan explains the real reason people gain weight at midlife and lays
out a simple and surprisingly satisfying and delicious plan for reversing that trend, including a diet and exercise program that will allow a 60-year-old body to respond as though it were decades younger.
Skolnik oversees Performance Nutrition at the School of American Ballet and The Julliard School and previously served as team nutritionist for the New York Giants, New York Knicks, and New York Mets.
Tidewater Jewish Foundation (TJF) is a $125 million regional community foundation which supports the Jewish communities of Southeastern Virginia. TJF supports the development, investment, and management of endowment funds for numerous area agencies and synagogues including two Jewish day schools, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Beth Sholom Village, and Jewish Family Service.
The Development Strategist should integrate presentation delivery, have active listening skills, and probing techniques to cultivate relatedness through dialogue. In concert with and trained by the CEO, the Development Strategist will shape TJF’s multi-generational endowment development plan including teen philanthropy, LIFE & LEGACY, and Jewish Future Pledge Programs.
Requirements: Bachelor’s Degree with at least two (2) years’ experience in one or more of the following: marketing, financial planning, sales, community relations, development/fundraising, foundations and/or grant making. Non-profit experience not required; however, is a plus. Proficient use of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Adobe Acrobat, required. Salesforce experience a plus; ability to work within and understand customized database to include becoming proficient.
Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.
Complete job description at www.jewishva.org/TJF
Submit cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to: resumes@ujft.org Attn: Taffy Hunter, Human Resources director.
EOE
Inspired by the book, Malkah’s Notebook: A Journey into the Mystical Aleph Bet, this hands-on workshop will take par ticipants on a mystical journey through the let ters of their name when spelled in Hebrew. The workshop is offered by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Konikoff Center for Learning.
After a short introduc tion by Mira Z. Amiras, author of Malka’s Notebook, participants will investigate the Kabbalistic approach to the letters that make up their name when written in Hebrew. Then, they will work with local artist, Sharon Serbin, to illustrate their name in a meaningful way.
Amiras was raised on her father’s tales
of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet letters and their role in the creation of the universe. She has taught Jewish mysticism, magic, and folklore, along with many other topics in Jewish and Islamic Studies and the anthropology of religion.
Registration, which is required, is free. To register or learn more, visit JewishVA. org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman at SLautman@UJFT.org.
Illustrations from Malkah’s Notebook will be on exhibit in the Leon Family Gallery at the Simon Family JCC, through December. The workshop will begin with a tour of the gallery exhibit.
Cooking alla Giudia: A Celebration of the Jewish Food of Italy with Benedetta Jasmine Guetta. Watch from home. Join Milan-born food writer and photographer Benedetta Jasmine Guetta on her mission to tell how Jews have impacted Italian food. Presented by the Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. Free. 7:30 pm. For information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest or contact Hunter Thomas at HThomas@UJFT.org.
The Matchmaker’s Gift with Lynda Cohen Loigman . Watch from home. This heartfelt and mag ical story explores two extraordinary women from two different eras who defy societal expectations. Presented by the Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. 12 pm. Free. For information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest or contact Hunter Thomas at HThomas@UJFT.org. See page 33.
The End of Bias, A Beginning: How We Eliminate Unconscious Bias and Create a More Just World with Jessica Nordell. Unconscious bias exists everywhere, and when it comes to uprooting our prejudices, we still have a long way to go. Presented by the Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with UJFT’s Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, and Virginia Wesleyan University’s Robert Nusbaum Center. 7:30 pm. Free. Sandler Family Campus. For information and to register, visit JewishVA. org/BookFest or contact Hunter Thomas at HThomas@UJFT.org. See page 32.
Beyond the Bible—The People Israel in Ancient Empires, a 4-week course (started Dec. 1) offered by UJFT’s Konikoff Center for Learning and taught by Rabbi Michael Panitz. The fathers and mothers of the Jewish people came from Mesopotamia, a real place, during the Bronze age, a real time. How does the history of that time and place correlate with what we know from the Bible? In this course, the task is to build up a picture of actual Jewish history, based on both personal sources and on what can be gleaned from the knowledge of the entire Mediterranean and Persian Gulf region. 12 pm. Course cost is $60 for 4 weeks, offers both in-person and online attendance options. For more information and to register, visit Jewishva.org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman at slautman@ujft.org or 757-965-6107.
A Festival of Lights—Sunday Fun Day. Start the Hanukkah festivities early at the Simon Family JCC with an afternoon filled with Hanukkah games, crafts, trivia, and more. This event is most enjoyed by children through 8th grade and is free to JCC members, Strelitz International Academy and Camp JCC families, YAD, and Tidewater synagogue members. 1–4 pm. For information, or register, visit JewishVA. org/PJLibrary of contact Nofar Trem at nmtrem@ujft.org. See page 32.
And How are the Children? Timeless Lessons from the Frontlines of Motherhood with Marjorie Margolies. Prior to serving in Congress, Marjorie Margolies adopted two girls from Vietnam and Korea. She married Congressman Ed Mezvinsky, who had four daughters. Together, they had two sons, and sponsored a Catholic refugee family from Vietnam, bringing the number of kids under their 11. Presented by the Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. $12; $6 ages 55+ (lunch included). $29 for lunch and signed book if purchased by December 7. Sandler Family Campus. For information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest or contact Hunter Thomas at HThomas@UJFT.org. See page 30.
Israel Today’s On Assignment with Lahav Harkov. Join Jerusalem Post senior diplomatic cor respondent Lahav Harkov to get the inside on all things Israel—news, politics, and more. Presented by UJFT’s Jewish Community Relations Council, Simon Family JCC, & Community Partners. 12 pm. For information and to register, visit JewishVa.org/israeltoday or contact Elka Mednick at EMednick@UJFT. org or 757-965-6112.
A Play for the End of the World with Jai Chakrabarti. Watch from home. Torn between guilt and love, a Holocaust survivor must decide how to honor both the past and the present, and how to accept a happiness he is not sure he deserves. Free. 12 pm. For information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/ BookFest or contact Hunter Thomas at HThomas@UJFT.org. See page 33.
Send submissions for calendar to news@ujft.org. Be sure to note “calendar” in the subject. Include date, event name, sponsor, address, time, cost, and phone.
The summer Camp JCC pro gram, for children from rising pre-K through eighth graders, takes place June 20 to August 11, with a “last blast” program that follows. Special early bird pricing is available through Saturday, December 31.
After such a successful summer in 2022, many groups are expected to reach full capac ity by early spring. Register today to ensure a spot in what will surely be an unforgettable summer.
To learn more about Camp JCC, or to hear about year-round opportunities for teens in the community, contact Dave Flagler,
director of Camp and Teen Engagement, at DFlagler@UJFT.org or 757-452-3182.
VIRGINIA BEACH —Michael Leon Brodsky, son of the late Leon and Katherine Brodsky, was born December 19, 1947 in Yedrovo, Russia. When he was eight months old, his family moved to Odessa, Ukraine, where he lived until 1989. He served in the Soviet Army as a meteorologist, stationed in Siberia for most of his service. His life was filled with many challenges, including three bouts of cancer, but he faced them with admirable strength and courage.
Misha, as he was lovingly known by friends and family, married his devoted wife, Inna, on August 1, 1979 and lov ingly raised two children with her in Odessa, Ukraine. In 1986, only three weeks after his youngest daughter was born, Misha was sent to Chernobyl, where he bravely assisted in the clean-up efforts of the nuclear disaster.
Misha was a very learned and talented man and was self-taught; a
jack-of-all-trades with many passions, some turned into hobbies and some into careers. He worked as an electri cian for the police department, and as a photographer in restaurants and on movie sets. His passion for and knowl edge of astronomy led him to lead a workshop for children in an observa tory in Odessa. He was a gifted artist who created beautiful pieces, mostly oil paintings; he had a beautiful singing voice and took part in many events and ceremonies. He wrote beautiful poetry that brought tears to our eyes. He was a talented carpenter and handyman who turned homes into works of art. He was an avid reader, his homes filled with books, and he loved to share his vast knowledge with others.
Misha immigrated to the United States in 1990 with his wife, chil dren, and mother-in-law and settled in Tidewater. He reunited with his mother and his brother’s family a year later
when they also immigrated to the same area. Misha loyally worked at Hodges Ferry Townhomes for 29 years up until his death. Retirement was not an option for him. He was a hardworking and loyal man, and his influence will for ever be felt in the lives of all who knew him. He was loved by many because of his witty sense of humor, his generous spirit, and his loyal nature.
Misha was a man of strong faith, and he taught us the importance of family, hard work and doing what is right. He was a force of nature, determined to pro vide for his family and give them the life he felt they deserved, even if it meant working seven days a week. His family meant more to him than anything else in the world and he mentioned this to everyone he knew.
Misha passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, November 17, 2022 at his home in Virginia Beach at the age of 74, just shy of his 75th birthday.
he worked as a computer technician, and the family moved often, living in Illinois, Colorado, Iowa and New Jersey before finally settling down in Virginia Beach, Virginia. In Virginia, Norman worked in retail sales, which included a long stint as a jeweler for DP Paul’s Jewelry, before retiring. He was active in his synagogue and at the JCC, and he particularly enjoyed leading a weekly political discussion group at the JCC.
Bernice passed in 2019, after 66 years of marriage.
Established 1865
NORFOLK CHAPEL
1501 Colonial Avenue Norfolk 622-7353
LASKIN ROAD CHAPEL 2002 Laskin Road Virginia Beach 428-7880
CHESAPEAKE CHAPEL 1416 Cedar Road Chesapeake 548-2200 www.hdoliver.com
Misha’s memory will forever be cher ished in the lives of his wife, Inna; his children Alina Brodsky Vaisman (Daniel) of Rosh HaAyin, Israel and Irina Brodsky Blankenship (Kyle) of Virginia Beach; his loving grandchil dren Noya, Miya and Matan; his favorite aunt Ludmilla Romkina of Khahovka, Ukraine and a host of nieces, neph ews, cousins, and friends from around the world, including the U.S., Israel, Australia, Ukraine, and Canada. He will be dearly missed by them all.
A graveside service was held at Hebrew Cemetery. Condolences may be offered to the family at www.hollo mon-brown.com.
VIRGINIA BEACH—Norman was born July 5, 1930 to Joseph and Bessie Greenberg in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Crane Vocational School.
Norman met the love of his life, Bernice Ullmann, while attending a synagogue dance. They were instantly smitten and married soon after. After they were married, Norman served in the army during the Korean War, working as an electronics specialist in Alaska. After he was discharged,
Norman is survived by three chil dren, Larry Greenberg, Debbie Shahvar, and Michael Greenberg. In addition to his children, Norman had nine grand children: Jacob, Hannah, Sarah, Daniel, and Samuel Greenberg, Jonathan, Benjamin and Jessica Shahvar, and Myka Greenberg. He also leaves four great grandchildren, Lior, Elan, Celeste, and Stella Shahvar. In addition he leaves his daughter-in-laws, Eva Bergman and LaSandra Greenberg, and his son-in-law, David Shahvar, along with his beloved niece and friend Tami Greenberg Van Gorder and nephew David Greenberg and a host of relatives and close friends.
A graveside service will be held Monday, December 5, at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Condolences can be left for the family at www.altmeyerfh.com.
PORTSMOUTH—Michael Alan Lipman, a longtime resident of Portsmouth, Virginia, died on November 15, 2022, while living in New York City.
He was born to his late parents, Ansel Lipman and Blanche Dubins Lipman, on July 15, 1953. Michael was a graduate of Churchland High School and a longtime member of Gomley Chesed Synagogue.
He was a huge fan of family and family celebrations, always eager to con nect with relatives and friends, and ready to entertain with a story or joke. Michael was generous with his time and often brought food to those in need while working for various food banks. He was the main caretaker for his mother as her health declined with age.
Michael was well known in the com munity. He would make daily visits
to local restaurants, often just getting a drink and chatting with residents he knew from his visits. He will be missed by his family, friends, and acquaintances.
Michael is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Matthew and Elissa Lipman, and his sister Marylyn Lipman, along with his many cousins.
A graveside service was held at Gomley Chesed Cemetery and was offi ciated by Cantor Elihu Flax.
Donations may be made to Meals on Wheels of Portsmouth or to the char ity of your choice. Condolences may be made to the family online at www. SturtevantFuneralHome.com.
HENRICO, VA. —David Richard Oser, 71, of Henrico, passed away November 11, 2022.
David was preceded in death by his father, Beryl Julian Oser. He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Nancy Nachman Oser; his three children, Jeffrey Lee Oser, Courtney Oser McGrade (Patrick), and Jennifer Oser Si!verman (Zalmo); his four amazing grandchildren, Baila Mafka, Dov Yaakov, Chaya Mushka, and Miriam Rose; his mother, Thelma Fine Oser; and his younger brothers, Steven Oser (Roberta), and Kenneth Oser (Barby); as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
Born May 27, 1951, David grew up in Newport News. He ran cross coun try in high school and in college at the University of Richmond. After college, he met his bride, who he lovingly called “Nancy Anne” and “Mrs. O,” and they had three children.
He worked for 14 years at Jefferson
Clothing, earned a master’s degree in Humanities, and eventually, he and Mrs. O opened their own shoe store, Just For Comfort, which they ran for 20 years. The master’s degree was earned while he had three young children, an incredible achievement that epitomized his life long curiosity and love of learning. He loved to teach as well, teaching Sunday school for nearly two decades of seventh graders at Beth Ahabah. Even after he retired, he became a substitute teacher for Henrico County and was a wellness coach at the YMCA.
He loved fitness and nature, espe cially long brisk walks at Deep Run Park and around the lake at University of Richmond. Most of all, David will be remembered by all who knew him as a kind and gentle human who loved and cared for his family and took great pride in all of their personal and professional accomplishments.
Funeral services were held at the Cannon Memorial Chapel at the University of Richmond.
Memorial contributions may be made to Congregation Beth Ahabah, the Alzheimer’s Association, or any charity of your choice in his memory.
VIRGINIA BEACH —Mikhail (Misha) Solomonik, 55, died on November 2, 2022 at the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center from complications of stroke.
He was born on October 24, 1967, in Moscow, Soviet Union, the only child of Tamara Solomonik (of blessed memory).
Misha and his mother immigrated to the United States in 1990 and ini tially resettled in Norfolk. For several
decades, Misha worked at Lombart Instrument, and most recently until his death, as a telemetry technician for Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.
Misha was the most dedicated husband and father who would do anything to take care of his family.
Misha is survived by his loving wife Irina and their son Stefan. He
is also survived by his devoted Aunt Marina Ponizovskaya, his cousin Yuliya Dobrydneva (Boris), and his nephew Ilya Dobrydnev (Casey).
A memorial service was held at Temple Israel with Rabbi Michael Panitz officiating.
The 2022–2023 Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival began last month with three authors, each with unique stories for the Tidewater community.
Dan Grunfeld, author of By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream, kickstarted the festival discussing his family’s story with Joel Rubin. Many recognized Grunfeld’s name in relation to his father, NBA star Ernie Grunfeld, and it was apparent that many basketball fans were in the audience. Grunfeld’s message was particularly meaningful to a group of Norfolk Academy basketball players that came to hear him speak.
“Leading up to the event, my seniors were skeptical about having to come out on a school night,” says Eric Acra, a Norfolk Academy history teacher and varsity boys’ basketball coach. “But in talking with them afterward, they were extremely glad they came. The themes of determination, overcoming adversity, and kindness really struck a chord with them and provided a strong and positive message to use as we start our season.”
The following day, Grunfeld spoke to a group of more than 400 8th–12th graders at Cape Henry Collegiate. After a presen tation on his grandparents’ experience during the Holocaust, Grunfeld engaged students in a Q+A session, taking many thoughtful questions on why Holocaust education is important, what his family thought of his book, and the state of antisemitism in the United States.
The festival continued with the first of many lunch conversations that are planned with authors. Dr. Alla Shapiro, a first responder to the 1986 Chernobyl disas ter, spoke with Valerie Brodsky White about her experience responding to one of humanity’s largest nuclear accidents. Her book, Doctor On Call, details her family’s immigration from the former Soviet Union and her career in the United States, which has made her one of the country’s fore most experts in effective countermeasures against radiation exposure.
Rounding out the festival’s first three events was co-founder of Ms. magazine Letty Cottin Pogrebin, who spoke of her family’s secrets with Carol Jason, sharing stories from her latest book, Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy
“Just when I thought Letty had revealed the most fantastic secret from her family,” Jason says, “she unveiled another and then another.”
Pogrebin took questions from the
audience and listened as they shared sto ries from their own families. Signing books following the event, Pogrebin wrote in each copy, “Wishing you a secret-free life,” a message Jason also took from the book. “It is Letty’s family’s secret-keeping that finally convinces her—no more secrets, no more shanda,” says Jason.
The Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival continues through June 2023. Events are taking place in person, online, during the day, and in the evening. For more information
or to register for upcoming festival events, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest. For additional questions, contact Hunter Thomas, director of Arts + Ideas, at HThomas@UJFT.org.
The Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival is held in coordination with the Jewish Book Council, the longest-running organization devoted exclusively to the sup port and celebration of Jewish literature.
