Jewish News - January 23, 2023

Debby Applegate: Biography of Polly Adler Tuesday, February 7

UPFRONT

JEWISH

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Published 20 times a year by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

Ron Kampeas

(JTA)—A conference of Jewish educators became first responders of sorts when Colorado Gov. Jared Polis had an emergency: The Jewish Democrat was about to be sworn in for a second term and he couldn’t find his Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible.

It ended well—“when looking for a Tanakh, there’s never one too far away,” a Polis spokeswoman said later—but for a while it was fraught. With 30 minutes to swearing-in, folks attending the inauguration for Polis, Colorado’s first Jewish governor, put out frantic calls to Denver’s Jewish community.

David Foster, a politically involved lawyer attending the swearing-in, texted Emily Hyatt, the associate rabbi at the city’s Temple Emanuel, where Foster’s father, Steven, is rabbi emeritus. Hyatt was lunching at a Jewish deli, Zaidy’s, with the Temple’s cantor, Elizabeth Sacks.

It occurred to Hyatt that there was a hotel packed with Tanakh-toting folks just two blocks from the Capitol, where Polis was to be sworn in. She texted Avi Halzel, who heads the Denver Jewish Day School and who was attending the annual national conference of Prizmah, a network of Jewish day schools.

Halzel approached Paul Bernstein, the Prizmah CEO, who immediately went into process-of-elimination calculations:

Who at the conference was present at the hotel over Shabbat? (Those conference-goers were likelier to have the entire Hebrew Bible, which is necessary for Shabbat services, than those who attended only on weekdays.)

“We quietly went around some of the participants who might have a Tanakh,” Bernstein recalled.

Halzel realized a more obvious answer lay in the vendor at the Mesorah Publications booth. Halzel secured a Tanakh (the Stone edition) from the vendor.

“I figured, what is the fastest way I can get a hold of a Tanakh?” Halzel said. Walking over to the booth, Halzel wondered if he could adequately explain the dilemma to the vendor in time to get the bible to the governor. “He immediately just smiled at me,” Halzel said. “I mean, it’s the kind of story that’s too crazy to not be true. And so, he just turned around, grabbed a Tanakh, and handed it to me.”

“I dashed to my car, drove to the Capitol building, got clearance from security, and finally delivered the Tanakh to a member of the Governor’s staff—just seconds before he was sworn into office,” Halzel said in a post on the Denver Jewish Day School Instagram feed.

“We are so grateful that Avi was able to get hold of a copy of the Tanakh from Mesorah Publications, which was among

the exhibitors at the Prizmah Conference, and deliver it quickly to the Capitol,” Bernstein said.

In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Polis invoked the ancient Jewish encomium about Jews coming together for one another.

“In the excitement of this important day, it became clear that when looking for a Tanakh, there’s never one too far away,” a spokeswoman said. “Gov. Polis was honored to be sworn in with a Tanach that truly represented the Jewish value of Klal Yisrael Aravim Ze La Ze, each person is responsible for one another—the Jewish community lent a helping hand at this historic moment.”

The swearing-in reflected the firsts Polis brought to his home state: In addition to being its first Jewish governor, he is also its first openly gay governor. His Jewish husband, Marlon Reis, stood by his side, holding the Tanakh; Polis’s mother, a poet, Susan Polis Schutz, read poetry. Two local gay men’s choruses provided music, and Rabbi Tirzah Firestone of Congregation Neveh Kodesh delivered the benediction.

Also being sworn in were two Jewish Democrats who won reelection to statewide office: Phil Weiser, the attorney general, and Jena Griswold, the secretary of state.

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CONTENTS CANDLE LIGHTING QUOTABLE

“The range of contexts in the book helped spur lively engagement on the part of participants, who became increasingly comfortable over the course of the series in sharing their professional and personal experiences.”

—page 8

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jewishnewsva.org | January 23, 2023

JewishNewsVA

A Jewish governor needed a Hebrew Bible to be sworn in. Jewish educators came to his rescue.

BRIEFS

HOW LONG BEFORE NEW TIKTOKERS SEE NAZI CONTENT? 75 MINUTES.

The committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol wanted to test how fast it took social media to get to radical content. The answer, when it came to TikTok and Nazis, was just over an hour.

It took TikTok 75 minutes to deliver Nazi content to a new user who did not seek it, the committee found, according to a report in Rolling Stone. The magazine is one of a number of publications reviewing the committee’s final release of documents as the U.S. House of Representatives transitions from Democratic to Republican control.

Committee staffers were testing a theory that social media giants were reluctant to police right-wing extremist content in part because of pushback from then-President Donald Trump and his supporters who argue that such controls inhibit conservative speech.

The Jan. 6 riot, which resulted in multiple deaths, was carried out by supporters of Trump who believed his false claim that he had won the 2020 election. That lie spread on social media, where right-wing accounts were some of the most seen during the period between the election and Jan. 6, after which several social media giants, including Twitter, banned Trump.

The staffers on the committee’s social media team invented Alice, a 41-year-old woman from Acton, Massachusetts. It took “Alice” 75 minutes of scrolling without prompts or interactions to get to Nazi content, the staffers reported.

The social media team said in a draft summary that “Alice” was “just one of the Committee’s experiments that further evidenced the power of TikTok’s recommendation algorithm in creating rabbit holes toward potentially harmful content.”

The Republican majority in the House, which includes a substantial portion of Trump backers, has indicated that it will seek to bury as much of the findings of the Jan. 6 committee as it can. Meanwhile, legislators on both sides of the aisle have said they plan to scrutinize TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, because of its presentation of harmful content and

its potential security risks. (JTA)

ISRAEL’S NEW FOREIGN MINISTER SIGNALS A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP WITH RUSSIA

In his first speech, Eli Cohen, Israel’s new foreign minister under Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, has signaled that he will be pursuing less fractious ties with Russia, despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Cohen also said, “On the issue of Russia and Ukraine we will do one thing for sure—speak less in public.”

During his term as foreign minister and very short stint as prime minister, Lapid publicly condemned Russian attacks on civilians in Kyiv and refused to engage with Lavrov or Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I strongly condemn the Russian attacks on the civilian population in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine,” Lapid wrote in October. “I send our sincere condolences to the families of the victims and the Ukrainian people.”

Cohen said that after speaking with Lavrov he will draft a “responsible” new policy on the war and brief security officials about it. He added that Israel’s humanitarian aid to Ukraine—reportedly in the millions of dollars—will continue.

Israel’s geopolitical position puts it in a difficult position in terms of openly challenging Russia, which has a large military presence in Syria and has so far turned a blind eye to Israel’s military targeting of Hezbollah positions and Iranian weapon shipments there. Were Russia to change its mind on that policy, Hezbollah—a Lebanese militant group and an avowed enemy of Israel—would operate more freely on Israel’s northern border.

Ukraine’s Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has repeatedly called out Israel for not providing more aid and weaponry, and for not joining Western nations in placing heavy sanctions on Russia.

Israel eventually sent “strategic materials,” Haaretz reported, after urging from the United States. Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz also offered Ukraine air missile alert systems, to warn citizens about attacks, but Kyiv balked at the move, saying the technology was “not relevant any more.”

Cohen also noted that he will attend a summit in Morocco in March focused on the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements signed between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors since 2020. (JTA)

IN TEL AVIV, 80,000 ISRAELIS PROTEST PLAN TO WEAKEN SUPREME COURT

Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square on Saturday, Jan. 14 to protest the new government’s plans to significantly decrease the power of the country’s Supreme Court.

As many as 80,000 protesters braved a rainstorm in Tel Aviv, while smaller protests took place in other cities across the country, including outside of the president’s residence in Jerusalem.

In their first weeks in the Knesset, or parliament, members of Israel’s far-right governing coalition have already advanced pieces of legislation that would allow a majority of lawmakers to override Supreme Court decisions. Supporters say the proposals amount to an overdue check on a Court that has drifted leftward over time and struck down too many proposals from the Knesset’s conservative and right-wing flanks. Critics are calling the proposed changes a blow to Israel’s record as a fullfledged democracy.

“I feel like we are living in the beginnings of a dystopian state,” one Tel Aviv resident at the protest told the Times of Israel “I am seeing the end of democracy and I feel personally threatened.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who partnered with controversial far-right figures such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to form his ruling coalition, supports the proposed legislation. He has for years been dogged by multiple corruption cases and in 2019 became the first sitting Israeli prime minister to be indicted.

Chief Justice Esther Hayut called the proposed laws “an unbridled attack on the judicial system.”

The swelling protest movement has been driven by left-wing activists, according to reports, but centrist figures—including former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who previously sat in a coalition with Netanyahu—also called for mass protests and made appearances at rallies to show their support.

“If you continue the way you are going, the responsibility for the civil war brewing in Israeli society will be on you,” Gantz said in a televised interview.

The rhetoric on both sides intensified as Ben-Gvir ordered police to use water cannons to disperse protesters and banned the display of Palestinian flags at protests, equating them to terrorist symbols. Zvika Fogel, a member of Ben-Gvir’s party, said that Gantz, previous Prime Minister Yair Lapid and two other centrist opposition leaders “should be arrested and put in handcuffs” for encouraging the protests. (JTA)

NUMBER OF RUSSIAN JEWS DOWN SHARPLY IN LAST DECADE

An exodus of Jews from Russia since President Vladimir Putin invaded neighboring Ukraine has drawn widespread attention over the last year. But according to statistics released recently by Russia’s official statistics bureau, the country’s Jewish population had fallen sharply long before the tanks began rolling.

The statistics, published last month by Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service, showed that just 82,644 people identified themselves as Jews on the national census, conducted in 2021.

Russia’s previous census, conducted in 2010, showed nearly 160,000 people who identified as Jews or belonging to the related groups—suggesting a decline by more than half over the last decade. During the same period, Russia’s total population grew by 3.5%.

The numbers do not account for the mass exodus of Russian Jews since the onset of the war in Ukraine, estimated to be more than 20,000 in the first six months after the invasion. The exodus suggests that Russia’s Jewish population could total fewer than 60,000 people.

A majority of the Russian Jews who left appear to have emigrated to Israel. According to the Jewish Agency, which facilitates immigration to Israel, some 66,800 Russians made aliyah between 2010 and 2019. The group is facing sanctions over its work in the country, as part of Putin’s crackdown on foreigners in retaliation for Russia’s isolation on the world stage since initiating the unprovoked war. (JTA)

ISRAEL

Weapons have been heading from Israel to Ukraine—out of an American stockpile

Philissa Cramer

(JTA)—A significant portion of the weaponry that the United States has sent Ukraine for use in its defensive war against Russia has come from a stockpile in Israel, according to a new report in the New York Times

The location of the stockpile is significant because Israel has declined to supply Ukraine with weapons out of concern over inflaming Russia, which controls the airspace in neighboring Syria. Israel maintained that stance even as Russia scaled back its position in Syria, where it is seen as constraining the use of weapons aimed at Israel.

The right-wing government inaugurated last month in Israel has signaled that it is open to closer ties with Russia than its predecessor, which had not met with Russian officials since the invasion. Under the previous government, Israel condemned Russia’s invasion despite declining to send weapons, in a stance that has drew specific criticism from

Ukrainian officials.

The transfer of the American weapons to Ukraine should not be interpreted as a change in Israel’s stance, unnamed Israeli and American officials told the New York Times, which reported that Israel initially balked at the request.

The Israeli stockpile is one of two that the U.S. military is accessing in countries where it has strategic interests, according to the report, which called the stockpile “vast but little-known.” The other is in South Korea.

The Israeli stockpile dates back to 1973, when the U.S. Department of Defense built in to avoid a situation like the one that unfolded during the Yom Kippur War, when the Americans had to send in supplies from abroad to help the Israelis. While the weapons are intended mainly for use by U.S. forces, the Israeli army was permitted to draw from the stockpile during two conflicts, with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 and Hamas in Gaza in 2014.

Ron Kampeas

(JTA)—Five countries stood out on a statement signed by more than 90 countries calling on Israel to end punitive measures it imposed on the Palestinians in retaliation for a United Nations vote that referred Israel to the International Court of Justice.

Those five countries—Estonia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and Romania— were among the minority of 26 who voted against the resolution last month that prompted Israel to sanction the Palestinians. Their decision to join the statement released Jan. 16 is a harbinger of the diplomatic landmines Israel’s new extremist government faces even among the country’s traditional allies.

“We express our deep concern regarding the Israeli government’s decision to impose punitive measures against the Palestinian people, leadership, and civil

society,” said the statement.

The U.N. General Assembly resolution, which passed in December with 87 in favor and 26 against, with 53 abstentions, called on the U.N.-aligned International Court of Justice to assess “the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement, and annexation of territories seized in 1967.”

The Palestinian Authority and its affiliated Palestine Liberation Organization have for years been pressing international judicial bodies to establish cases against Israel and Israeli officials for what the Palestinians say are war crimes. The Palestinian mission to the United Nations had pressed for last month’s vote.

Israel has warned that it would retaliate should any of those measures achieve success.

Over 90 countries, including allies, express ‘deep concern’ over Israel’s retaliation against Palestinians

Forever Helping Others

ISRAEL

This year’s ‘Jewish Nobel’ is a group prize, going to Jewish activists supporting Ukraine

Philissa Cramer

(JTA)—A prize established to honor a single inspiring Jew with a lifetime of achievements has been awarded this year to a nameless group whose work is ongoing: Jewish activists in war-ravaged Ukraine.

The Genesis Prize Foundation said the war in Ukraine required a change in the approach it has taken since creating the prize, known by some as the “Jewish Nobel,” a decade ago.

“Recognizing the extraordinary nature of events dominating the past 11 months, The Genesis Prize Selection Committee has decided to depart from the usual custom of awarding the prize to a single Jewish individual,” the group said in a statement.

about Ukraine. “We think that the Jewish community worldwide needs to be supportive to the extent it can.”

In going with the group prize, Genesis circumvented the potential pitfalls of honoring Zelensky himself. The Genesis Prize Foundation held Zelensky up as a Jewish hero last October, when its cofounder and board member Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident and 2020 honoree, visited him in Kyiv. Sharansky, who lives in Israel, has been a leading advocate for Israel to dedicate more resources to Ukraine.

Architect Bernard Spigel died in 1968, leaving a legacy of homes, schools, and other buildings he designed.

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.

It added, “Instead, the Committee has elected to announce a collective award to Jewish activists and NGOs who were inspired by the brave citizens of Ukraine and their courageous president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and chose to act on their Jewish values by standing up for freedom, human dignity, and justice.”

The group is also not awarding the traditional $1 million prize that recipients have donated to charity; instead, it says it plans to “continue to make grants to NGOs to alleviate the suffering in Ukraine, as we have done since the beginning of the war.” Those groups have included the JDC, which has distributed emergency aid across the country; United Hatazalah of Israel, which trained Ukrainians in emergency first aid; and Natal, an Israeli trauma response group, according to its Facebook page.

The goal of the prize, its co-founder and board chair Stan Polovets told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, remains to stimulate Jewish giving by raising awareness of particular needs.

But honoring Zelensky, Ukraine’s most prominent Jew, could have made for an uncomfortable situation at the Genesis Prize’s glitzy awards ceremony: In his efforts to secure more resources for Ukraine’s armed forces, Zelensky has also openly criticized Israel for not being as forthcoming as he would like. (Israel’s particular geopolitical interests have confounded the country’s response to the war since its start Feb. 24, 2022.)

“Freedom is one of the most important values of the Jewish people. And this is a country that’s fighting for its freedom. It has a president who has shocked everyone by his resilience and courage.”

And while some have called Zelensky a “modern Maccabee,” he has not always signaled pride about being Jewish, which prize recipients are expected to show, saying in 2019, “The fact that I am Jewish barely makes 20 in my long list of faults.”

regular approach extended beyond who was chosen as the recipient. The group opened nominations publicly but then did not release a shortlist for a public advisory vote as it has in recent years. It also decided not to hold its traditional awards ceremony in Jerusalem that has in the past been an unusual convening of Diaspora Jewish leaders, Israeli government officials and celebrities. (Last year, the Knesset dissolved itself the night of the ceremony, when Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was being honored; the politicians did not attend.)

While the changes made sense for the unusual moment, Polovets acknowledged potential downsides, including confusion about the Genesis Prize brand and the lack of a celebrity spokesperson for the year’s cause. He also said he anticipated that without a single awardee to guide where donations go, his organization could receive an unusual number of unsolicited applications for aid.

The group will begin discussions about where to direct its giving in about a month, according to foundation officials. That will also be the first anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Visit LeaveABequest.org

“Freedom is one of the most important values of the Jewish people. And this is a country that’s fighting for its freedom. It has a president who has shocked everyone by his resilience and courage,” he said

Polovets declined to comment on the selection process. The Genesis Prize has never gone to a current political officeholder; politician and businessman Mike Bloomberg was honored after he left the New York City mayor’s office.

The temporary departure from the Genesis Prize Foundation’s

The tweaks to the selection process are not the first changes at Genesis induced by the war: The three Russian billionaires who helped start the prize stepped down from the board of the related Genesis Philanthropy Group last March, after being targeted by Western sanctions in response to the invasion.

Make your voice heard in Richmond Date with the State 2023

Wednesday, February 8, 7 am–4 pm

Elka Mednick

Anyone who has ever wondered if their vote impacted the outcome of an election or how their voice may influence the actions of legislators, should consider the special election on Jan. 10, 2023 between Aaron Rouse and Kevin Adams in the seventh district in Virginia Beach. The difference between the newly elected state senator Rouse and Adams was only 348 votes. It took only a handful of people who may not have previously voted to decide who would represent them in the Virginia General Assembly. In other words, everyone’s voice matters.

In America and Virginia—your voice

matters. You have the right to vote and advocate for the issues important to you and the communities you inhabit. The Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater offers an opportunity with Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day, or Date with the State, to advocate on those important issues. This annual event allows community members of all ages to spend the day in Richmond with Jewish Virginians from throughout the Commonwealth, interacting with and educating delegates and senators about issues of importance currently impacting the Jewish community.

During Date with the State, participants will sit with their state delegate and senator to tell them about salient topics for the Jewish community—topics the legislators will vote on during the current legislative session. Some topics that are on the agenda for the 2023 regular session are issues pertaining to antisemitism and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, outcomes of the Governor’s Commission on Antisemitism, anti-BDS legislation, and more.

Following the lobbying efforts, participants in Jewish Advocacy Day from across the state will reconvene for lunch and to hear from the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General.

People are already signing up for Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day. As Rabbi Ron Koas, a first-time participant says, “I believe not just in teaching but in doing and in leading the community by example. I want to go to Richmond and make the needs of my community heard, to talk about what the community needs from elected officials, especially the issues surrounding the rise in antisemitism.

“I also believe that as American Jews it’s our duty to be a part of civic life in our country and participate in the democratic process,” says Koas. “I always have a picture in my head of Dr. Martin

Local Relationships Matter

MEET: Karen Joyner

“Since 2004, when I started with the Foodbank and got to know Payday Payroll, I have always felt that Payday has been involved and helped to build it’s business through positive support for others in the community, both non-profits and start up businesses. I particularly appreciate the generosity that Payday has shown to the nonprofits in our community.”

Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marching arm-in-arm in Selma, Alabama, and I would like to implement Rabbi Heschel’s statement ‘When I marched in Selma, I felt that my legs were praying.’”

Virginia Jewish Advocacy offers the opportunity to proactively advocate on behalf of the Jewish community and demonstrate mutual support for consensus issues facing the Commonwealth. These face-to-face meetings foster personal relationships with elected officials that will serve the community into the

future.

Take advantage of this opportunity as Date with the State returns to Richmond for the first time since 2020. The bus leaves the Sandler Family Campus at 7 am. To reserve a seat on the bus (required by February 1), register at Jewishva.org/dwts. The cost of the day is $36, which includes a kosher lunch and helps defray the cost of transportation.

For more information, contact Elka Mednick, assistant director, JCRC of UJFT, at emednick@ujft.org or call 757-965-6112.

Andrew Fox (right) shares issues of importance with Delegate Glenn Davis, 2017.

Jeff Cooper, Craig Schranz, Bill Nusbaum, and Elka Mednick at the Capitol, Advocacy Day 2013.

JEWISH TIDEWATER

Locals delve into bias through book discussions

Esther Diskin

For many people, discussions about a book conjure notions of a Book Club—a social gathering of friends to converse amiably about a creative, enjoyable read, possibly one that offers an escape from the daily round of life.

A group of intrepid readers gathered at the Sandler Family Campus for a trio of community discussions this fall with a decidedly different approach. They came from a range of professions across Hampton Roads, and most were not well acquainted with each other. And the book under discussion over three intense sessions was anything but escapist reading.

The End of Bias: A Beginning, by Jessica Nordell, takes a scientific approach to exploring ways to eradicate unintentional bias and discrimination that, as the book demonstrates, permeates the fundamental institutions of our society—schools, hospitals, government, and law enforcement. The author is a science writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the New Republic, and she immersed herself in the topic for a decade in order to write the book, which includes more than 50 pages of notes at the back.

The local discussion offered a probing investigation of the book’s evidence, arguments, and proposed solutions, all with a local lens: How and where does bias show up in Hampton Roads institutions? Are the book’s approaches useful for this region?

The discussions were organized as a joint initiative of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival; the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater; and the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (VCIC). The moderator was Jonathan Zur, president and CEO of the VCIC, a nonprofit that organizes workshops, retreats, and customized programs to help organizations build more inclusive cultures. VCIC has chapters and offices across Virginia, including one in Hampton Roads based at Virginia Wesleyan University.

While many books have been published on the topic of societal bias, Zur

says that Nordell’s depth of inquiry made it stand out. “I found the emphasis on well-researched and evidence-based practices to be especially valuable in The End of Bias,” he says. “There are not a lot of books about bias that have the level of rigor, while also being conversational and accessible in tone. Another helpful aspect of the book was the range of contexts offered. It was interesting to explore how to combat bias in education, healthcare, law enforcement, business, and so many other sectors.”

The range of contexts in the book helped spur lively engagement on the part of participants, who became increasingly comfortable over the course of the series in sharing their professional and personal experiences. Some of the stories elicited emotional responses from those who shared their own or family members’ painful experiences of bias or prejudice.

“Because the book considered so many sectors, it seemed like everyone present had an entry point into the discussion,” Zur says. “I especially appreciated our

discussion about interpersonal and institutional responses, as well as hearing the ways that our own lived experiences shape our understanding of and responses to bias.”

Nordell attended the final session on Thursday, December 8, which she noted was a rare interactive experience with readers of the book. She then participated in a public conversation with Zur as part of the book festival, which delved into the intensity of her research and her level of personal involvement with the topic, including surprising moments when she had to acknowledge her own unconscious bias.

Esther Diskin is a member of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and a member of the Tidewater Chapter of the VCIC.

To learn more about the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, visit JewishVA.org/ JCRC.

Participants in the final community discussion on The End of Bias on Dec. 8: John Sutton, Taffy Hunter, Chris Brindisi, Elsie Harold Lans, Jessica Aber, Mekbib Gemeda, Ted Roese, Nefertiti Makela, Chris Garran, Jessica Nordell, Kelly Burroughs, Esther Diskin, Kelly Jackson, Jonathan Zur, Cathy Pate, Bobby Mathieson, and Robin Mancoll.

“Another helpful aspect of the book was the range of contexts offered. It was interesting to explore how to combat bias in education, healthcare, law enforcement, business, and so many other sectors.”

Working to end bias in Tidewater and beyond

Elka Mednick

Jessica Nordell, author of End of Bias, A Beginning: How We Eliminate Unconscious Bias and Create a More Just World, visited Tidewater on Thursday, December 8, 2022. She was hosted by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival and UJFT’s Jewish Community Relations Council. Nordell’s message of understanding and overcoming unconscious bias drew a diverse group of people eager to learn.

Nordell and Jonathan Zur, president and CEO of Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, discussed the finer points of what constitutes bias and how it can undermine personal goals, relationships, and society. Audience members learned strategies and tools to minimize the unconscious bias people engage in and how to make positive changes.

To learn more about Nordell, her work and teaching notes and guides for The End of Bias, visit JessicaNordell. com/resources. To recieve Nordell’s newsletter, where she shares insights about her work in the field, register at the bottom of the resources page on her website.

To learn more about the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, contact Elka Mednick, JCRC assistant director at emednick@ujft.org, or visit JewishVA.org/ JCRC.

Jonathan Zur, president and CEO of Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, with Jessica Nordell.

Michelle Ford and Andrew Dozier chat with Jessica Nordell.

FIRST PERSON

In Hungary, JDC provides warm respite for Jews from Ukraine

Sandy Katz

very week on Shabbat, we pray for peace—for our loved ones, for our world, and especially our extended Jewish family in Ukraine.

Beginning this month through April, we’re ensuring 700 to 800 Jews from various cities in Ukraine will share in the peace of a 12-day respite from the frigid cold and ongoing conflict as they visit Szarvas, our flagship JDC-Lauder International Jewish Summer Camp in Hungary.

This effort—a crucial expansion of our current winter survival initiative— will provide a warm and safe space for Ukrainian Jews who’ve been braving daily and widespread outages of power, heat, and internet. Over six sessions, participants will enjoy the newly renovated and winterized Szarvas facility while engaging in programs to heal body and soul.

They will be treated to delicious kosher food and a range of activities, including dance and yoga, movies and music, Jewish educational and cultural activities, and psychological support. They will have weekly Shabbat experiences and excursions to a zoo, arboretum, and cities like Budapest. These efforts will be supported by our wonderful Europe and FSU professionals as well as volunteers from the Hungarian Jewish community.

The first cohort joyously participated in one of many recreational activities offered, which helps restore a sense of normalcy, every day.

We could not be prouder that Szarvas—a transformative incubator of Jewish identity, leadership, and community life for the last 30 years—is now providing a refuge for Ukrainian Jews who’ve faced unimaginable circumstances. We were able to move nimbly to deploy this effort thanks to our longstanding partnership with the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation and the many committed JDC leaders and generous philanthropists

who invested in the future of Szarvas, supported its renovation, and guided the project.

This development is a testament to our organization’s ability to quickly and creatively adapt to changing circumstances. We have the networks and connections to move people desperately in need from Ukraine, across the border to Szarvas, and back again where their JDC care will continue. This unbreakable chain, strengthened by our heroic staff and local community partnerships, has been the hallmark of our lifesaving and life-affirming efforts aiding tens of thousands of Ukrainian Jews at their darkest moments.

JDC is able to do this work today, and for nearly one year, because of the unprecedented outpouring of support throughout this crisis from this Board, as well as the Jewish Federations of North America and local Jewish Federations such as United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, the Claims Conference, International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, individuals, families, corporations, and foundations.

We hope you will be inspired by this story and take pride in how we bestow the blessings of care, community, and peace on our fellow Jews when they need it most. It is how we fulfill our timeless responsibility to one another.

Sandy Katz is JDC senior director, strategic relations.

JDC is a recipient of funds from United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

Shabbat at JDC-Lauder International Jewish Summer Camp,

JELF loans $39,043 in Tidewater’s Jewish community Financial aid applications for the 2023–24 academic year are now open

I n 2022, JELF (Jewish Education Loan Fund) assisted a total of 396 students with $1,931,235 in interest-free loans. Of this total, eight Jewish students from Tidewater were provided $39,043 towards furthering their degree.

For the 2023–24 year, applications for JELF’s interest-free loans for higher education (college, graduate school, and vocational programs) are open to Jewish students through April 30, 2023.

JELF works in partnership with Michelle Walter at Jewish Family Service of Tidewater to help local Jewish students reach their academic goals.

All qualifying applicants must be:

• A permanent resident of Fla., Ga., S.C., N.C., and Va.(excluding metro DC) (they can, however, attend any U.S. accredited school).

• Enrolled full-time in a program leading to a degree or certificate.

• In good academic standing.

• A U.S. citizen, or have lawful immigration status.

• Able to provide a designated co-signer.

With 45 million Americans in some form of outstanding interest-bearing student loan debt, this savings is a significant benefit to the Jewish students that JELF serves annually. The strength of the longstanding “free loan” model is based of funds lent to those in need, and then paid back to serve the next student—and so on. The organization’s built-in sustainability allows it to always help future students in need as funds are infinitely recycled. However, just as hundreds of former JELF recipients continue donating to JELF each year after completing repayment, JELF continues to rely on the

$1,931,235 in interest-free loans were awarded to 396 students in 2022.

• Planning to accept federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans (2022 FAFSA application required).

JELF loans are intentionally designed to help cover costs associated with the educational and living expenses that other financial aid often does not cover, such as travel, rent, food, and books. JELF’s 0% interest loans help save borrowers thousands of dollars in high interest-bearing debt each year.

help of community donors to keep up with tuition increases and inflation.

JELF loans are a gift from the Jewish community—which historically values higher education. While many organizations across the U.S. provide interest-free loans, JELF is distinct in that it is the only Jewish organization exclusively focused on college financial aid.

For more information about JELF, visit jelf. org, email info@jelf.org or 770-396-3080

JEWISH TIDEWATER

Rabbi Ari Olisewski arrives at Temple Emanuel

Sarah Davis

With his four-year-old daughter Lea nestled on one side and his two-year-old son Ben snuggling the other, Rabbi Ari Oliszewski leans back in his office chair and smiles. A smile is a simple thing, but to Rabbi Ari, it’s everything. His smile is how he introduced himself to Temple Emanuel—smiling was the subject of his first Shabbat sermon, and it’s how he lives his life—wrapping his calling into his intentions.

“It’s not my job, being a rabbi. I live as a rabbi,” says Rabbi Oliszewski. Everything he does, he does as a rabbi.

Oliszewski was ordained in 2008 in Israel and at the Seminario Rabinico Latino Americano. He has 14 years of experience as a rabbi in Brazil, and before that, he served as an apprentice in Buenos Aires.

As one gets to know Rabbi Ari, it is quickly apparent that although his knowledge of Judaism is vast and broad, he’s also truly a people person. “I like to be with the people,” he says. “I want to help people in everything I can—to be their friend.”

Rabbi Ari learns details about each congregant he meets, remembering those details for the next conversation.

His positive outlook, playful nature, and imagination is part of what made Temple Emmanuel fall in love with him over Zoom almost two years ago. At that point, the committee had searched for the perfect fit for almost a year, and finally came upon a connection through Nashville Rabbi Josh Kullock, who was also from Argentina. Rabbi Ari’s joyous spirit and energy sparkled—even through Zoom.

Once hired, the visa paperwork was submitted. And then, Temple Emanuel waited. And waited. And waited. And now, finally, more than one year later, Rabbi Ari and his family have arrived.

It was a big move and a long trip, but Rabbi Ari, his wife Pati, and their kids are excited to finally be here.

Plus, they are delighted that Ben and Lea are attending Strelitz International Academy.

“I want to offer service and knowledge to the community,” he says. This was already evident in his High Holiday programming, which included kid-centric songs and activities in the Sukkah, an interactive celebratory Simchat Torah service, and thought-provoking sermons on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rabbi Ari knows that his job is far reaching and important, but along with prayer and tradition, he welcomes fun, community, and celebration.

Wondering what’s coming next for Temple Emanuel? “I want to offer the things that the Jewish people are looking for,” Rabbi Ari says. “Everything from beach events to cooking classes to studying Talmud—the limit is the heavens.”

Join Rabbi Ari and Temple Emmanuel for Shabbat on Friday evenings at 6 pm and Saturdays at 10 am. Shabbat morning services on Saturday, Jan. 28 will be followed by a special community Kiddush.

Rabbi Ari and Pati Oliszewski with Lea and Ben at Temple Emanuel. Pati and Rabbi Ari Oliszewski arrive at Norfolk International Airport with their children Ben and Lea…and their luggage.

Temple Emanuel congregants greet Rabbi Ari Olisweski and his family at Norfolk International Airport.

Steven Spielberg on Fabelmans Golden Globe: My mom is ‘up there kvelling’

Philissa Cramer

(JTA)—Steven Spielberg said he was the sixth-happiest person in the world after he won best director at this year’s Golden Globes awards for The Fabelmans, his autobiographical film about his Jewish family.

“I think…there’s five people happier than I am,” he said in his acceptance speech, which he said he had not prepared in advance out of superstition. “There’s my sister Anne, my sister Sue, my sister Nancy, my dad Arnold, and my mom. She is up there kvelling about this right now.”

2017. His father Arnold, who helped him make his first movie, died in 2020 at 103.

The Fabelmans, which also won best picture among dramas, tells the story of a child who falls in love with filmmaking and laces his family’s Jewish identity into the storytelling. The character based on Adler is played by Michele Williams, a non-Jewish actor who is raising her children Jewish, while Paul Dano plays the character based on Arnold Spielberg.

During the awards ceremony, host Jerrod Carmichael joked that he watched The Fabelmans with Kanye West “and it changed everything for him”—alluding to the rapper’s months-long antisemitic tirade that has cost him millions in sponsorships and led to him becoming a show-business pariah. Addressing Spielberg, Carmichael said, “That’s how good you are. You changed Kanye West’s mind.” (In response, Spielberg clasped his hands in mock prayer.)

Elsewhere, Spielberg was thanked from the stage even by actors who did not appear in his film: Everything Everywhere All At Once star Ke Huy Quan, who won best supporting actor in a comedy, thanked the director for giving him his first big break in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at the age of 12.

“I like very much the sort of easy way that Jewishness lives in this movie. It’s a very profound part of Steven’s identity, and of the Fablemans’ identity,” Spielberg’s collaborator, the Jewish writer Tony Kushner, said at a September film festival before the movie’s wide release.

“But it’s a movie that’s about Jewish people, rather than entirely or exclusively about Jewishness or antisemitism or something. So, it’s not a problem, it’s who they are.”

movies at home.)

Spielberg’s attendance at the ceremony was notable because many actors and directors boycotted last year’s pareddown event over years of scandal at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the awards. The group was criticized over conflicts of interest by its members and for including few Black members; it says it has addressed both issues.

Also winning at this year’s Golden Globes was Jewish actress Julia Garner for her Netflix show Ozark and Justin Hurwitz, who was named best original score for Babylon. The Jewish songwriter has won all four of the Golden Globes for which he has been nominated, all for work with the filmmaker Damien Chazelle, his college roommate. Chazelle attended Hebrew school at a New Jersey synagogue and traveled to Israel with his classmates despite being raised by Catholic parents.

Andrew Silow-Carroll

(JTA)—Koshersoul, chef Michael W. Twitty’s memoir about his career fusing Jewish and African-American culinary histories, was named the Jewish book of 2022 by the Jewish Book Council.

Subtitled The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew, Twitty’s book provides “deep dives into theology, identity, and, of course, food—giving readers the impetus to reflect on their heritage and religion in a new way,” the council said in naming Koshersoul the Everett Family Foundation Book of the Year.

The winners of the 72nd National Jewish Book Awards were announced Wednesday, Jan. 18 at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan as part of its inaugural Books That Changed My Life festival.

Dani Shapiro won her second National Jewish Book Award, and her first JJ Greenberg Memorial Award for Fiction, for her novel Signal Fires. Her first novel in 15 years traces the effects of a fatal car crash on a family over a 50-year time span.

Ashley Goldberg won the Goldberg Prize for Debut Fiction with his novel Abomination, about a scandal at a Jewish day school and the paths taken in its aftermath by two of its students, one secular and one religious. Miriam Ruth Black won The Miller Family Book Club Award for her novel Shayna, a novel of early 20th-century immigrants set in a shtetl and New York’s Lower East Side.

“Kvell” is the Yiddish word meaning to feel quiet pride in the accomplishment of others—and it’s closely associated with Jewish mothers who are proud of their children. Spielberg’s mother, Leah Adler, was the owner of a popular kosher restaurant in Los Angeles who died in

The film has been a critical darling, but Spielberg’s worst-ever performance at the box office, where it is unlikely to bring in anywhere close to the $40 million spent to make it. (Many theater releases are struggling in a climate where audiences are accustomed to watching

Ukraine’s Jewish president Volodymyr Zelensky also made a special pre-taped appearance at the Globes, thanking Hollywood for supporting Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia and making a reference to the awards ceremony’s origins in 1943 in the waning years of World War II.

In other nonfiction categories, Michael Frank was the winner in both the new Holocaust Memoir category and the Sephardic Culture category for his book One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World. The book is based on his conversations with Levi, a Holocaust survivor who remembers the once-vibrant Sephardic Jewish community that had thrived on Rhodes, an island in the Aegean Sea.

Steven Spielberg.

“I like very much the sort of easy way that Jewishness lives in this movie. It’s a very profound part of Steven’s identity, and of the Fablemans’ identity.”

Michael Twitty’s Koshersoul, a memoir of food and identity, named Jewish book of the year

Need money for college? The Stein Family College Scholarship is now offering up to $20,000 a year for four years! The largest scholarship in Jewish Tidewater, this annual college scholarship is awarded to Hampton Roads Jewish students entering college. Applicants are evaluated on financial need, Jewish/community engagement, and academic potential. Scholarship applicants must:

• Identify as Jewish

• Maintain residency in the Tidewater region

• Demonstrate academic ability

• Demonstrate a history of service and engagement in their academic, Jewish, and broader communities through extracurricular and volunteer activities

Application is open until March 1, 2023. To apply or for more information, visit:

The Stein Family College Scholarship is dedicated in loving memory of Arlene Shea Stein who was unable to finish college due to financial hardship.

Food & Romance

Food & Romance

Dear Readers,

Food, drink, and romance seem to be as linked as love and hugs.

Think about it…do you recall many first dates that didn’t involve a drink or a meal? I don’t.

Or can you name many meetups with friends and relatives that don’t feature some sort of food consumption? Not me.

Beyond nutrition, food often serves as the prime ingredient, if not the spice, of our personal relationships.

And, so it is with this section.

In his article on The Humusiya, Eitan Altshuler describes the community he found around eating hummus in Israel. Now, he’s preparing it at the Sandler Family Campus for the community. I’ve tried some and can vouch that it’s a tasty treat for Tidewater. Page 18.

According to Ted Kaufman, even a little knowledge is extremely helpful when choosing a wine. His article, A bluffer’s guide to the wine list (or how to look good to your table guests and/or date) is as informative as it is fun to read. Find it on page 20.

Romance leading to love was in the air for a couple of Ugly Hanukkah Sweater wearers in Washington, DC. Their story (which also began with food and drink) is on page 26.

Did you know Virginia Beach is the 17th best location to move to to fall in love? Who knew? The article on page 25 provides the statistics.

Not all love is necessarily romantic, of course, which brings us to the photographs of the women who participated in the most recent Great Big Challah Bake. Making challah has long been an expression of love, and it proved so again at B’nai Israel in November.

To all of you who consider yourself romantics, foodies, or wine connoisseurs, I hope you embrace and enjoy it all!

Terri Denison Editor

A Taste of Jewish Soul… The Humusiya

Eitan Altshuler

the United States. Truly, in the last few decades, the amount and quality of the music coming out of there reminds me of something akin to San Francisco in the 60s or Seattle in the 90s.

around them that are really the catalyst of it all. Hummus is Israel’s main dish, and even more than the cherry tomato and cellular phones, I think it is still its most proud product.

Ithink my parents did a very smart thing in giving me a very uniquely JewishIsraeli name. They made it so that my Jewish identity would be inescapable and ever present, although I also think they didn’t realize how much more challenging they would be making my life.

Despite having a rabbi for a father, I grew up pretty much secular. Once I left the house, I even stopped keeping kosher. Instead, I kept what I jokingly refer to as “kosher conscious”—that whenever I ate non-kosher food, I would always feel really bad about it. Ultimately, what I craved, though, was just the convenience and enjoyment of being able to go out to eat—you know?—to live like a normal person.

When I made aliyah to Israel, it was nice to feel like being secular and being Jewish wasn’t some kind of trade-off. I didn’t have to forsake my taste for Western culture nor really curb my lifestyle. Just culturally speaking, I eventually came to feel that Israel was accelerating past

But it’s the food scene in Israel—the vibrant shuks, the bustling cafes, and most importantly, the social gatherings

Hummus goes to the heart and soul of the country, and my personal theory is that this is because it is the perfect food for the immigrant on a lean budget. When I was living in the immigration center in Jerusalem, we all had refrigerators full of hummus. We lived off of it because it could fill us up on the cheap. And, although hummus is not an Israeli food, per se, Israelis uniquely convert it from a side dish into a main meal topped with just chickpeas and a hardboiled egg or with a burger, schnitzel, shawarma, or mushrooms, etc.

A “humusiya” (hoo-moo-siya) is like a hummus café. They dot every nearly every

corner in Israel, and each one boasts to being “the best hummus in the world” as Jews will naturally do.

Back when I was living in Tel Aviv, I would meet up with friends at a certain humusiya (Hummus HaCarmel) tucked away behind some vegetable carts at the shuk. It was often a scene inside with people pushing forward in line, the “barista” hurrying people along, friends chatting, businessmen discussing a project, or individuals in deep personal contemplation. But on a Friday afternoon, we wouldn’t even try to get in because the line would be out the door and wrapped around the block.

This particular humusiya looked like it had once been a synagogue, though I would learn later it had just been themed that way by the owner. As a result, eating hummus almost felt like some kind of holy act there. In a way, it kind of encapsulated my experience living in Israel, where being Jewish and living my everyday life were blended—where people knew how to say and spell my name right, and I could be just a regular guy.

In the coming weeks, together with

Eitan Altshuler.

Hummus goes to the heart and soul of the country, and my personal theory is that this is because it is the perfect food for the immigrant on a lean budget.

the help of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, we will launch this area’s own humusiya, called appropriately, The Humusiya. We are now offering weekly specials. When our initial full menu is available, it will consist of hummus bowls, shakshuka, and other classics, along with a pre-packaged “take home” menu (pareve). Ordering will be possible from

Mazel Tov!

the JCC website or by visiting The Cardo Café for breakfast or lunch during its regular hours of 9 am–2 pm. In time, perhaps the menu and our operations will expand.

In Israel, I learned that the environment is critical to Jewish identity. The holidays there sync perfectly with the seasons, and its vegetable/dairy-based middle eastern cuisine is more conducive to adopting a kosher diet than a meat-centered European one. In this way, I hope that our food will foster a greater (but not necessarily perfect) level of kosher observance in the community here. Even a simple humusiya might possibly give even the unaffiliated the opportunity to touch base with their roots and entice an untapped market through the doors of the Sandler Family Campus.

I hope that The Humusiya will provide a greater sense of normalcy to the Orthodox community.

Please, come and try our food. We look forward to serving you!

Visit The Humusiya’s website at www.humusiya.com and join the Facebook group at www.facebook.com/ thehumusiya.

Eitan Altshuler is with the Cardo Café at the Sandler Family Campus. He may be reached at ealtshuler@ujft.org.

SHARE YOUR MILESTONE WITH US

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.

A “humusiya” (hoomoo-siya) is like a hummus café. Each one boasts to being “the best hummus in the world.”

Ted Kaufman

We have all been there. You are in a fine restaurant with a

A Bluffer’s guide to the wine list

how to look good while doing it. Ready? Here we go.

to pick the most or least expensive wines on the list. Those two items are there for exactly that purpose: to have a cheap and an expensive wine to present to their customers. You are looking somewhere in the middle for something you might like.

how the consistency of the wine remains on the glass. A buttery Chardonnay will leave a slight film. A more acidic Sauvignon Blanc will fall back to the bottom. This looks good, but what it has to do with enjoying your wine has more to do with showmanship than the taste. Relish it. It’s part of your job as a wine connoisseur. Besides, it’s fun.

B) “A Mellifluous Experience.” This should be made with a big smile on your face as if to say that you know something they do not. Use it to your advantage and have fun having them guess. They will want to try the wine now.

C) “I wouldn’t be embalmed in It.” This was overheard at a DC rooftop restaurant some years ago from a woman tasting a wine for an upcoming wedding. I have never forgotten it. Expect that the wine in question was highly acidic and/ or tasted like one would imagine formaldehyde. Don’t think they served that wine at that particular wedding.

Which brings up the final tip:

Sniffing the aroma.

Don’t drink yet. Now, look down at the glass of wine and take a sniff at the “nose” of the wine. No need to stick your nose into the glass. It’s not an inhaler. Just sniff gently. What does it smell like? Can you denote hints of cherries or oak? Enjoy the experience. Keep the suspense going.

Tasting the sample.

Ok. Now. Swill the wine around a few times in the glass, put it up to your mouth and take a sip. Slurp a little to help the wine mix with air. This will help change the taste, because freshly opened wine has not yet had time to breath with air and can feel very acidic in your mouth. That will change over time within the glass.

The opinion.

You have squeezed the cork, swirled the glass, held it up to the light, and now slurped. Everyone is looking at you for your opinion. It you like it, tell your server so. Give them The Head Nod to signal it is okay to serve the rest of the table. If you don’t like it, and it tastes awful, don’t be afraid to send it back. Bad bottles happen as do good ones. Here are some favorite wine opinions overheard from recent years.

A) “It’s Approachable.” I have no idea what this means and neither does anyone else. But makes you appear very smart. A smart aleck may respond with “Yes, but from which direction?” (per Groucho Marx).

Don’t be afraid to send it back. The wine may be bad, but you are afraid to admit that you don’t know good wine from bad wine. You do! You also know whether it tastes good to you or not. Here is what often happens. Months ago, some friends and my date were having fish at a top Virginia Beach restaurant. I was asked to pick a wine. Cheese featured in three first courses, and so I ordered a bottle of Muscadet, a crisp, tart French wine that pairs well with fish and cheese. Or so I thought. After going through all the motions from examining the bottle to The Head Nod and pour out, it was apparent by the end of dinner that no one had chosen a second glass. It was only after dinner on the way out that the guests all admitted they didn’t like the taste but didn’t want to say anything for fear of being thought unsophisticated. As a result, they suffered through a bad wine experience. If you don’t like it, send it back.

HAVE FUN.

Drinking wine is about enjoyment. It is a beverage to be sipped, and paired with other tastes, all for the experience of the diners. There is no reason to drink anything you don’t like, so don’t stand on ceremony. If you like the wine, make a note (or take a pic) of the label. Order it again. Share it with friends. Experiment with wines you don’t know. Above all have fun, enjoying the theatre and bravado that is wine tasting.

Bon appetite!

Food & Romance

Tidewater’s seventh annual Great Big Challah Bake serves up lessons and fun

Womenof all ages spent an evening in November at B’nai Israel Congregation celebrating the Jewish tradition of preparing for Shabbat and the spiritual joys of making challah.

A partnership between B’nai Israel and the Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, it was just one of thousands of similar events taking place around the globe— part of The Shabbos Project.

All ingredients and recipes were

provided and each participant left with two challahs ready to make and enjoy for Shabbat.

“A good time was had by all,” says Stephanie Adler Calliott. “Girls and women of all ages across the country got their hands doughy and shared stories of their challah memories. Kudos to UJFT and B’nai Israel for their partnership and many thanks to the B’nai women who hosted everyone.”

Darcy Bloch and Marcy Mostofsky.

Alma Ben Chorin, Anne Adler Abraham, Dana Adler Rosen, Stephanie Adler Calliott, and Leora Drory.

Stephanie Calliott with Amy Lefcoe.

Best cities to move to if folks want to fall in love

For people in the dating market, the years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit have been tough.

Many of the places where people usually socialize and meet partners, like entertainment venues, bars and restaurants, or even get-togethers with friends, were unavailable or limited during the pandemic. Figuring out where and how to meet up safely with a date posed logistical challenges, with many people turning to video calls as a substitute. And while online dating and apps have been common for years, usage and engagement skyrocketed on these platforms during the pandemic with few alternatives available.

Today, nearly two-thirds of people who are single and looking for a partner report that dating has become harder since the COVID-19 pandemic began. And while the share of adults looking for a relationship has not changed significantly in that time, nearly one-third of those who have stopped dating recently cite COVIDrelated concerns as a reason why. At a time when loneliness and isolation were high, romantic companionship became harder to come by.

COVID-related challenges in the dating scene have come in an era when more people are delaying or forgoing marriage. The percentage of people who have never been married rose steadily over the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st. In 1950, 20% of women and 26.4% of men had never been married, and today those figures are 30.6% and 36.6%, respectively. Over time, increases in women’s educational attainment and labor force participation rates have made

marriage less of an economic imperative, while liberalizing social attitudes have made other romantic and family arrangements more acceptable.

Marriage and long-term commitments remain a goal for many single adults, however. For these individuals, the difficulties in finding a partner extend beyond the disruptions to dating in COVID and the long-term changes in attitudes toward marriage. For people in many parts of the country, the pool of available mates is limited by demographic factors.

For example, different states have wide variation in the share of adults who are single, defined here as neither married nor living with an unmarried partner. Utah has the lowest percentage of single adults in the U.S. at 25.2%, while Southern states like Mississippi (40.1%), Louisiana (39.1%), and Alabama (37.1%) have the highest. Some states are also imbalanced by gender. The Northeast and Southeast have a higher share of female residents, while states in the Upper Plains and Mountain West tend to skew more male. In states where the single population is low and gender is unevenly distributed, many singles will find a shallower dating pool.

People seeking the best locations to meet a romantic match should seek out high numbers of singles and a balance in gender. Singles may also want to look for a high concentration of food and entertainment businesses to meet others and go on dates and low divorce rates may signal good prospects for a successful relationship.

On these combined measures, California and New York offer many of the

best big cities to fall in love. The two states together have seven of the top 10 cities for falling in love, with California being home to each of the top four.

The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureau. To determine the best locations to move to if you want to fall in love, researchers at Porch calculated a composite score based on the percentage of adults that are single, the gender balance of single adults, the divorce rate, and the number of food and entertainment businesses per capita.

Here is a summary of the data for the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC metro area, which ranks 17th in the study among all large metros.

Composite score: 60.9

Percentage of adults that are single: 35.7%

Male share of the adult single population: 44.6%

Divorce rate: 11.1%

Food and entertainment businesses per 10k: 26.4

For reference, here are the statistics for the entire United States:

Composite score: N/A

Percentage of adults that are single: 33.2%

Male share of the adult single population: 44.8%

Divorce rate: 11.1%

Food and entertainment businesses per 10k: 53.4

For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, find the original report on Porch’s website: https://porch.com/ advice/best-cities-to-fall-in-love/.

UNCENSORED VISIONS

Food & Romance

Jewish food predictions for 2023

Shannon Sarna

(The Nosher)—2022 was a delicious year, with many people returning to restaurants, travel, and in-person holiday meals.

Jewish food continues to reinvent itself—bagels, pita, street food, and just Jewish home cooking—and its reach is expanding all around the world, from Vermont to Berlin. One question for 2023: Will the rest of the world catch up with Israel’s elevated street food trend (hello, gourmet shawarma)?

7 Jewish food trends to watch in 2023

This year, The Nosher associate editor, Rachel Myerson, scoured the internet, the news, social media, and the Israeli food scene to create her Jewish food forecast for 2023. She predicts that nostalgic dishes—be it speedy, deliciously salty salami and eggs or slow-cooked, hearty mafrum—will continue to comfort us through tough times. Plus, nutritious-delicious dates will finally get the recognition they deserve.

All signs, says Myerson, point to a flavorful, nourishing year—take a look:

1. DIG INTO DATES

TikTok, the driving force behind many 2022—and, she predicts, 2023—food trends, is obsessed with dates. Videos showing users stuffing, coating, and sprinkling this antioxidant-rich, pocket-sized superfruit have millions of views. But stuffing dates isn’t new: Moroccan Jews are longtime masters of the art, proving this trend is not just for Gen Z.

In fact, dates have been staples of the global Jewish pantry since biblical times. When the bible describes Israel as the “land of milk and honey,” it’s referring to silan (date honey). This natural, vegan (bonus: another culinary trend set to continue into 2023) sweetener snuck into the collective consciousness last year when it made its Trader Joe’s debut. Mix it with raw tahini for a Middle Eastern take on PB&J, drizzle it onto ice cream, or pass over your classic applesand-Manischewitz haroset recipe for this treacly (arguably tastier) Iraqi version.

2. BUBBE KNOWS BEST

The Food Network predicts that nostalgic food will be a key trend for 2023. The Nosher has certainly noticed that the hardships of the last couple of years have led to an increased interest in classic Jewish dishes. While hoping and praying for a healthy, peaceful, abundant 2023, should times get tough, there’s no shortage of oldschool Jewish comfort foods to seek solace in. Be it a no-frills, deliciously salty dinner of salami and eggs; slow-cooked, hearty mafrum; or a quick, one-bowl Russian apple cake.

3. GET ON BOARD(S)

Another TikTok-driven trend set to continue in 2023 is cramming an entire meal— or course—onto a cutting board. It sounds simple, but results vary wildly. Consider hummus loaded with all sorts of colorful, crunchy toppings with a side of pita chips.

McLaren Vision Shaped by the Spirit of Luxury Performance

4. LEAN INTO THE TIN

Speaking of Jews and fish, we’re once again leading the pack with our deep-rooted love for tinned, preserved swimmers. The Nosher covered this trend back in 2021, exploring the Jewish history, ritual, and attraction of this pantry staple after delving into our collective obsession with canned tuna earlier. But TikTok (#tinned fish has over eight million views) and inflation have ensured that interest in this cheap, long-lasting ingredient remains strong.

Making tasty food in hard times with small budgets is not new to Jewish communities. Just stock up on gefilte fish now, before it goes viral.

5. STREET FOOD— BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

Living next door to Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market, Myerson says she’s observed a street food renaissance, spearheaded by tattooed millennials (not your average shuk vendors). Like pop-up stalls selling shawarma made with high-quality lamb and carefully selected toppings (bitter tahini but not hummus, pico de gallo instead of chopped salad, no greasy fries). Or the rise of the schnitzel sandwich: fried to order and served inside a sweet challah roll with house sauces, such preserved lemon paste and matbucha, or amba aioli.

Now that tourists are flocking back to Israel’s restaurants and food markets, expect to see this upgraded street food appear at local Israeli restaurants in 2023.

6. TRENDING TAMARIND

Numerous food publications and industry leaders have predicted that tamarind will be a key ingredient in 2023. Myerson says she’s long been frustrated by the lack of appreciation for this sweet-sour flavor bomb.

The Jewish history of this tangy fruit is extensive: Jewish merchants in the seventh or eighth centuries are believed to have introduced tamarind to the Middle East via the Silk Road. So, while the rest of the world plays catch-up, dig into the archives of Jewish Syrian, Indian, Georgian, and Iraqi cuisine to understand the allure of tamarind.

7. I BELIEVE I CAN FRY

It’s safe to say that after #airfryerrecipes amassed nearly 2 billion views on TikTok in 2022, The Reign of the Air Fryer will continue into the new year. From schnitzel to latkes, this small-but-mighty kitchen tool is a great way to whip up some of favorite fried Jewish dishes—with much less oil and much less mess.

Ugly Hanukkah sweaters brought this Washington power couple together

Alix Wall

(JTA)—Years before they were a couple, Shelley Greenspan and Reuben SmithVaughan were just two Amazon employees wearing ugly Hanukkah sweaters to a company holiday party.

Both were working in Amazon’s Washington, D.C., office in 2017 when they each donned their sweaters Greenspan in a hot pink number with a sparkly blue and gold dreidel; Smith-Vaughan with a blue and neon green Star of David emblazoned across his chest—for the annual holiday party. As they remember it, they were the only two attendees in Hanukkah sweaters.

But while they shared their amusement with each other, any sparks remained confined to Greenspan’s sweater.

“It did give her the knowledge that I was Jewish,” Smith-Vaughan says, noting that his ethnicity is not obvious from his name.

2020, when, isolated at home at the start of the pandemic, the pair matched on the dating app Bumble.

For their first date, which happened over Zoom, Smith-Vaughan asked about her cocktail preference in advance, then dropped two small bottles of gin and tonic at her building’s lobby by bike. Back at home, he poured himself a bourbon, and they video-chatted over drinks.

There was an immediate connection, despite their very different Jewish upbringings.

Greenspan, 32, is originally from Miami Beach. She attended a Reform synagogue, a Conservative overnight camp and an Orthodox day school growing up before spending the year after high school in Israel, through Young Judaea’s gap year program. After graduating from the University of Florida, she entered the corporate world and then politics, working on both Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and “Jewish Women for Joe” in the Biden campaign.

Smith-Vaughan, 34, grew up on a coffee farm in Nicaragua, in a Jewish community so tiny “we were taken out of school when someone passed away to make a minyan,” or prayer quorum required for mourners, he recalls.

His bar mitzvah was held at the nearest functioning synagogue, 250 miles away in San Jose, Costa Rica. His father, Arturo Vaughan, serves as the Israeli honorary consulate in Managua, Nicaragua.

A graduate of American University, he is still at Amazon, now the director of Latin America public policy.

COVID, there was this ‘let’s all figure it out together,’” Greenspan recalls. She adds, “There was never any ‘What are you doing tonight?’ because no one ever had any plans then.”

Road trips became a favorite way to spend time. It was after a jaunt to Bar Harbor, Maine, that Greenspan realized she didn’t want to see Smith-Vaughan go home. Meanwhile, he says he knew she was the one when he found out that she always carries a Washington Nationals baseball cap in her bag—he is a major fan.

“Shelley is the most caring, loving, kind, and elegant human being I’ve ever met,” Smith-Vaughan says. “She is kind to a fault, always wanting to help people.”

“Reuben is the most honorable person I know,” says Greenspan. “His presence feels like home to me. He’s so optimistic and joyous and positive, his energy is infectious.”

In November 2021, during a Thanksgiving trip to North Carolina, where Smith-Vaughan’s mother lives, he proposed on the tennis court.

While wedding planning can be all-consuming, Greenspan says she had a particularly “absurd” few months when it overlapped with her new job. The position requires someone knowledgeable about Jewish communal life and able to represent the disparate viewpoints held by American Jews to the White House, as well as represent the administration to American Jews.

“I’d be calling rental companies while going into briefings in the White House,” she says.

Marlins, the bride’s hometown team. The group was allowed onto the field before the game.

Their custom kippot featured a print of the D.C. skyline in the lining, and the groom and men in the wedding party all wore White House cufflinks with Biden’s signature (available at the White House gift shop). Their custom ketubah features coffee beans, the D.C. skyline and barbed wire, to honor the bride’s Holocaust survivor grandparents.

“And not someone just Jewish, but proud enough about it to wear a sweater to a holiday party,” Greenspan adds.

Five years later, Greenspan helped to plan Hanukkah gatherings of her own, as the White House liaison to the Jewish community. And she and Smith-Vaughan are married. But the path to both roles was hardly straightforward.

The year after the Amazon Hanukkah party, Greenspan took a job with the State Department and lost touch with her sweater buddy. That lasted until April

Their courtship followed the early-pandemic playbook, which SmithVaughan says, “speeded things up really aggressively.” On their second date, they played tennis outdoors. On their third, he cooked dinner at her apartment, but they remained far away from each other.

By the fourth date, at her apartment, they broached the conversation about whether to date exclusively—or, in the lingo of the moment, whether to “pod” together.

“No one knew how to date during

The couple were married Sept. 18 by Rabbi Aderet Drucker, executive director and community rabbi of the D.C.-based Den Collective, a nondenominational spiritual community organization, at the District’s Salamander Hotel.

Their wedding weekend began with a Shabbat dinner at Compass Coffee’s roastery, which is co-owned by a Jewish veteran, and honored the groom’s coffee-farm upbringing.

On Saturday, guests could attend a Nationals game—against the Miami

The reception didn’t only feature toasts and dancing; the bride offered a d’var Torah, and when the groom joined her to thank everyone for coming, he surprised her by singing Eshet Chayil, A Woman of Valor, that some Jewish men sing to their wives on Shabbat.

“Reuben has a beautiful voice and doesn’t really sing in public very much,” Greenspan says. “I wasn’t expecting it and it was so meaningful to me, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”

Then she adds, “He still sings it to me every Friday.”

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 couple’s custom kippot featured a print of the D.C. skyline in the lining.

Isolated at home at the start of the pandemic, the pair matched on the dating app Bumble.

Jewish Book Festival wraps up First Half of Season

Four engaging authors presenting on a variety of topics were featured in the first half of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in November and December.

Italian cookbook author Benedetta Jasmine Guetta spoke of the surprising Jewish history behind some of Italy’s most cherished dishes and ingredients and taught online viewers how to cook two of the recipes from her cookbook, Cooking Alla Guidia

The first recipe, hraimi, is a stewed fish dish first brought to Rome by LibyanJewish immigrants in the 1960s. The spicy tomato-sauce-based meal is now a mainstay of Shabbat tables, both in the houses of Libyan Jews and those of Italian-born Jewish families.

Guetta’s second recipe was amaretti, a soft, merengue-based almond cookie traditionally made by Sephardic families for Passover. A couple of Tidewater households hosted watch parties and cook-alongs for Guetta’s program, including Patty Shelanski, who hosted members of Congregation Beth-El’s Sisterhood, and Judy Rosenblatt, who invited members of UJFT’s Women’s Cabinet.

Novelist Lynda Cohen Loigman spoke about the research and writing process behind her book, The Matchmaker’s Gift Loigman was the second author to be featured in the Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival’s Arts + Ideas Book of the Month series. Attendees of the online program were able to ask Loigman questions about her characters, the extensive historical research behind her novel, and more.

Researcher, journalist, and author Jessica Nordell visited the Sandler Family Campus to discuss her book, The End of Bias: A Beginning, (page 8), with Jonathan

Zur, president of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.

Former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies spoke to a lunch crowd about her experience becoming a mother many times over, and shared stories of her Jewish background, her work as a congressional representative, and her son’s marriage to Chelsea Clinton.

“Interviewing Marjorie was like curling up on the couch with a great book, sipping hot chocolate by the fire,” says Anne Fleder. “She was so refreshingly honest, funny, relaxed, engaging, and, most importantly, relatable. I now understand the kind of superwoman it takes to adopt two children as a single mom in the 1960s, marry a man with four daughters and still have two more children together, all while running for and serving in Congress. I hope she writes another book just so we can invite her back!”

The festival continues with many more events in 2023. Register at JewishVA.org/ BookFest. For more information, contact Hunter Thomas, director of Arts + Ideas, at HThomas@UJFT.org.

The Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival is held in coordination with the Jewish Book Council, the longest-running organization devoted exclusively to the support and celebration of Jewish literature.

FOUNDATIONS OF JEWISH FAMILY LIVING

This eye-opening journey will give you the tools to impart the beliefs, richness, and beauty of our tradition to your loved ones, from one generation to the next.

This engaging series is FREE + open to all parents in the community. Registration Required.

JewishVA.org/FOJL

Classes are held at Ohef Sholom Temple at 10:30 on Sunday Mornings.

February 26: Creating Jewish Space

March 26: Living Beyond the Day-to-Day

January 29: Stories and Values April 23: Birth of a Nation

In partnership with

Hunter Thomas

Mark Robbins

Marjorie Margolies and Anne Fleder.

Temple Israel honors police officers at Law Enforcement Appreciation Shabbat

Mark Solberg

It wasn’t long ago that no one could have imagined needing armed guards to conduct Shabbat services. Accustomed to hearing about that kind of thing in Europe, it wasn’t thought possible here—not in the U.S.A.

That thinking was wrong.

For Temple Israel, the “it can’t happen here” illusion started to crack around 2011, when the congregation began having a security guard at Shabbat services and other synagogue events. At first it was an unarmed civilian security contractor. In the spring of 2016, as antisemitic incidents and attacks became more frequent and more violent, Temple Israel replaced the unarmed civilian contractor with a uniformed, off-duty Norfolk police officer.

If anyone was still under the illusion that “it can’t happen here,” it was shattered completely on October 27, 2018, at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa., when a hate-crazed gunman murdered 11 Shabbat worshipers and wounded six more. Very shortly thereafter, Temple Israel increased the Shabbat security detail to two uniformed Norfolk police officers. They’re at Temple Israel every Shabbat, rain or shine. They’re the congregation’s Shomrei ha Shabbat, the Guardians of its Sabbath. They give up Saturday mornings with their families to guard congregants while they pray. And they’re not just Temple Israel’s Shomrei ha Shabbat They’re also Shomrei ha-Ir, guardians of the city.

According to the National Day Calendar, January 9 of each year is National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. How is it possible to express appreciation for what these Shomrei ha Shabbat do? First, the congregants thank God that there are people with the courage, fortitude, integrity, and patience to do the job. Next, Temple Israel let their Shomrei ha Shabbat know that they know and appreciate what they do for them. And finally, the congregation keeps their Shomrei ha Shabbat in their prayers, wherever they are, on duty and off.

In addition to prayers, the National Day Calendar says it’s appropriate to offer a token of respect. (The Norfolk Police Department also says it’s appropriate.) But what kind of token? Temple Israel wanted it to include the families of their Shomrei ha Shabbat. Like the military, the families of police officers serve, too.

On Saturday, January 7, 2023, Temple Israel celebrated a Law Enforcement Appreciation Shabbat to express gratitude. At the end of the regular service, the outer doors were locked and the Shomrei ha Shabbat took a seat in the front of the sanctuary.

Rabbi Michael Panitz delivered a d’var torah on the concept of the Shomer. Mark Solberg expressed thanks on behalf of the congregation and presented them with gift certificates for dinner at a restaurant with good food and a family-friendly atmosphere. The program concluded with the congregation singing Shomer Yisrael, led by Beverlee and Cantor Larry Tiger.

Camp JCC Winter Camp wraps with happy campers

Dave Flagler

JCC wrapped up a successful Winter Break Camp with diverse days, fun, and plenty of good spirit. Activities included gym games, free swim, winter crafts, indoor gaga, Israeli culture with the community ShinShiniot, Alma Ben Chorin and Aya Sever, and a daily “camper’s choice” elective.

Camp

Special activities, which were facilitated by beloved summer camp counselors enjoying their winter breaks by working at the JCC, included roasting marshmallows and s’mores, hot chocolate, an epic “snowball fight” against the counselors, and a talent show. The first week of Winter Break Camp coincided with Hanukkah and each day ended with candle lighting, Hanukkah songs, and chocolate gelt.

After providing limited service in recent years due to COVID-19, Camp JCC Winter Break Camp was again open and available to everyone in the community. Campers attended Virginia Beach Public Schools, Norfolk Public Schools, Chesapeake Public Schools, Strelitz International Academy, and other

private schools. Families could select a package that matched their district calendar or individual days that fit their schedules.

Building off the success of Winter Break Camp, Spring Break Camp will be offered April 10–14, 2023. Information, pricing, and registration may be found at www.campjcc.org.

To learn more about Camp JCC, or to hear about yearround opportunities for teens in the community, contact Dave Flagler, director of Camp and Teen Engagement, at DFlagler@UJFT.org or 757-452-3182.

On Assignment with Lahav Harkov in 2023 Thursday, February 2, 12 pm

Want

Elka Mednick

to be better informed about the world?

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Jewish Community Relations Council offers one solution to learning: Israel Today’s On Assignment with Lahav Harkov.

Jerusalem Post ’s senior contributing editor and diplomatic correspondent, Harkov shares her wealth of knowledge about Israeli current affairs—both domestically and internationally. One of her gifts is knowing how to break down potentially complicated figures and topics.

During the January 5 session with Harkov, participants discussed various topics, including Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount complex, the international responses, and insight into the history and current status quo there. Harkov clarified the details regarding the different parties involved and explained that visitors of all backgrounds may go there, though there are specific guidelines to follow.

Participants asked questions during this

off-the-record briefing. Future conversations on other current events are sure to be just as thought-provoking.

The Israel Today series is presented by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, and Community Partners, including all local synagogues and Jewish agencies.

Lahav Harkov.

Register for the next On Assignment with Lahav Harkov to join the conversation.

To sign up, visit Jewishva.org/IsraelToday. For more information, contact Elka Mednick at emednick@ujft.org.

Gym games during JCC winter camp.

IT’S A WRAP

Beyond the Bible course

Lautman

explores

history not often studied

In Sunday School, it is typical to learn the highlights of the sacred memories of the Jewish people of the Biblical period. Then, it gets a bit fuzzy.

After the Bible, what was there? Some rabbis, perhaps? It gets clear again with the modern era, the past quarter millennium of Judaism’s long history.

The Jewish learning experienced as young students often skips over the most formative period in Jewish history after the Bible—the millennium in which the traditional Judaism that still influences Jewish lives first took shape.

A collaboration between Dr. Bill Feldman, president of the Tidewater Chavurah, Rabbi Michael Panitz of Temple Israel, and Sierra Lautman,

director of Jewish Innovation at United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, resulted in a four-session course to explore this history. Over the four weeks, 25 students met at the Sandler Family Campus to explore the history of the Jewish people in the centuries beyond the conclusion of the Biblical era. They explored how today’s Judaism and Jewish community arose out of the specific historical challenges that were faced in the millennium-plus bracketing the beginning of the Common Era.

The Holocaust as reflected in diaries and memoirs, offers a collaborative learning experience

A10-sessionintensive course on the Holocaust, The Holocaust as Reflected in Diaries and Memoirs, invited students to dig into the first-person accounts of living through the Holocaust. Diaries and memoirs served as a looking glass into these individuals’ daily experiences, lending a remarkable insight into this devastating time in history.

Taught by Wendy Juren Auerbach, the Melton course was offered by the Konikoff Center for Learning of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater in partnership with UJFT’s Holocaust Commission and the Virginia Holocaust Museum.

As a part of course, the students took a trip to Richmond to visit the Virginia

Holocaust Museum. The museum tour added depth and complexity to the learning experience.

To learn more about future Melton courses or other learning experiences, visit JewishVA. org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman, senior director of Jewish Innovation at SLautman@ UJFT.org or 757-965-6107.

A workshop through the Journey of Your Name

Lautman

In a hands-on workshop offered by the Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater,

community members explored the meaning of their name through a mystical interpretation of the aleph bet.

Josh Baum, illustrator of Malka’s Notebook: A Journey into the Mystical Aleph Bet , streamed his way into the room from Israel to share his experience creating the art featured in the book.

Filled with inspiration, workshop participants utilized a curriculum developed by the book’s author, Mira Z. Amiras, to take a deep

dive into the kabbalistic interpretation of their name, then worked with local

artist, Sharon Serbin, to illustrate their name in a meaningful way.

Sierra

Sierra

Sierra Lautman

Beyond the Bible class at The Sandler Family Center.

Class participants at the Virginia Holocaust Museum.

Beatriz Aberman, Melanie Kordis, Sharon Serbin, and George Aberman.

Boglarka Edouard.

Alene Kaufman.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Evolve: A Children’s Book for Adults with Jean-Pierre Weill

Tuesday, January 31, 12 pm

Virtual, Watch from Home, Free

Sierra Lautman

Who am I?

Using this question as a guide, artist and author Jean-Pierre Weill takes readers on a philosophical and pictorial adventure into the nature of the self in his new book, Evolve: A Children’s Book for Adults

Through the artistic exploration of three foundational biblical stories, Evolve becomes a modern Midrash (commentary on biblical text), interlacing words with pictures that delve deep into the emotional core.

Weill was born in Paris and grew up in New York. He is a painter and author of picture books for adults that explore philosophical and spiritual ideas. His work has been shown in galleries and museums

throughout the world.

Illustrations from Evolve are on exhibit in the Leon Family Gallery at the Simon Family JCC through February.

This event is presented by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, and Community Partners’ Israel Today Series as a part of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. For more information or to register, visit JewishVA.org/IsraelToday.

Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age with Debby Applegate Tuesday,

February 7, 12 pm

Virtual, Watch from Home, Free

Sierra Lautman

Polly Adler’s life as a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe is a classic American story of success and assimilation. In the 1920s, Adler became Manhattan’s most notorious madam, playing hostess to every gangster, politician, writer, sports star, and Cafe Society worth knowing. As much as any historical figure, she helped make the 1920s roar.

American historian and biographer Debby Applegate shares the stories of Adler’s

decadent parties, unpacking the appallingly corrupt, yet glamorous and transformational era of the 1920s.

Presented as a part of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival’s Arts + Ideas Book of the Month series: Book-club-style conversations with authors. Pre-registration required. For more details or to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest.

See Skip Sacks’ review of Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age in the Dec. 19, 2022 issue of Jewish News

The Whole Body Reset with Heidi Skolnik Wednesday, January 25, 12 pm Sandler Family Campus

$12 (lunch included) • $6 for 55+

Gaining

weight as one ages is not inevitable. 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 is considered a thought leader in nutrition. She has overseen performance nutrition at the School of American Ballet, at The Juilliard School, and has served as team nutritionist for multiple major league sports teams, including the New York Giants, New York Nicks, and the New York Mets. She will present a science-based, tested, and proven weight-management plan explicitly designed for people at midlife and beyond.

Developed by AARP, the plan explains the real reason people gain weight at midlife and lays out a simple, 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!

This event is presented as a part of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s and Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival, in partnership with Simon Family JCC’s JFit. Pre-registration is required. For more details or to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest.

The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code to Be Younger Today and Even Younger Tomorrow with Michael F. Roizen, MD Wednesday,

February 15, 12 pm

Virtual, Watch from Home, Free

Sierra Lautman

Michael Roizen is back (online) by popular demand. This time, he is ready to provide concrete steps to take to prepare for the changes of tomorrow—to stay younger longer by extending those best years.

Dr.

Thanks to new medical innovations, living longer will also mean living younger—both physically and mentally— allowing everyone to extend their best years and live their best life.

Michael F. Roizen, M.D., is the emeritus chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic, a professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve

University, chief medical consultant on The Dr. Oz Show, and author of four #1  New York Times bestselling books.

This event is part of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival, in partnership with Simon Family JCC’s JFit. Pre-registration is required. For more details or to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest.

Jean-Pierre Weill.

Debby Applegate

Heidi Skolnik.

Michael F. Roizen, MD.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Every Brilliant Thing : a performance that includes the audience Thursday, February 9

Reception: 6:30 pm

Performance: 7 pm Sandler Family Campus, Free

Astory told by a single performer, Every Brilliant Thing sented in collaboration with Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, YWCA of South Hampton Roads, Virginia Stage Company, Sentara Healthcare, and with special thanks to the event’s sponsor, the Helen G. Gifford Foundation.

Every Brilliant Thing is an immersive storytelling experience performed in the round that blends comedy, improv, and audience interaction to tell the story of someone growing up in the shadow of their mother’s struggle with suicidal depression while learning to grapple with their journey. Surprisingly charming and delightful, Every Brilliant Thing provides a life-affirming jolt of humanism, reminding the audience that hope comes from the miracles of life.

As a part of JFS’s Spring into Healthy Living campaign centered around Resilience, Every Brilliant Thing aims to destigmatize the conversation around mental health and encourages the audience to see the many ways it’s possible to experience joy and hardship.

After the play concludes, a panel discussion will take place with mental health professionals from Sentara, YWCA, and NAMI on the impact of mental health. They will discuss available local resources.

Register at www.vastage.org/ebtour.

Brooke Rush

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Beyond the headlines with Gil Hoffman

Sunday, February 12, 4 pm, Temple Israel Free, RSVP required

Gil Hoffman was recently listed as one of "The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2022" by The Algemeiner, a global news destination published online and in print. The former chief political correspondent of  The Jerusalem Post, Hoffman was appointed as executive director of Honest Reporting—an Israel-based NGO combating media disinformation about Israel and Zionism in May 2022.

Born and educated in the U.S., Hoffman graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern's

Medill School of Journalism before moving to Israel where he spent 25 years as the leading English language political journalist.

"Strong democracies rely upon a sound press, and I believe my experience will help Honest Reporting assist journalists, as well as help people to better understand how to critically read the news as it relates to Israel," Hoffman said upon taking up his latest post.

Join Hoffman at Temple Israel as he shares his thoughts and experiences of going beyond

the headlines daily.

Presented by Temple Israel Endowment Fund and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, and Community Partners' 12th Annual Israel Today series.

Free and open to the community with RSVP required.

For more information, or to register, visit JewishVa.org/israeltoday or contact Elka Mednick at emednick@ujft. org or 757-965-6112.

Virginia Festival of Jewish Film reaches milestone 30th year

Hunter Thomas

The Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma and Howard Laderberg, is marking its 30th Anniversary in February. One of the longest-running Jewish film festivals in the nation, the festival entertains, educates, and engages the Tidewater community by presenting world-class film premieres, repertory cinema, and associated programs that are inspired by Jewish or Israeli history, heritage, and values.

The milestone 30th year of the festival includes five exciting films, with topics including showcasing modern Israeli friendships, finding the joy in getting older, a story of hiding during the Holocaust, the Jewish history of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and family relationships.

Registration for all five films and the festival season pass is available now at JewishVA. org/FilmFest. For more information, contact Hunter Thomas, director of Arts + Ideas, at HThomas@UJFT.org.

Karaoke

Thursday, February 23, 7:30 pm

Cinema Café Kemps River, Virginia Beach Meir and Tova are a retired couple living in an upscale Tel Aviv apartment complex. The couple meets Itzik, their confident, flashy bachelor neighbor in the penthouse upstairs. When Meir and Tova visit Itzik for karaoke night, things begin to change. His influence is invigorating: Almost immediately, the couple finds themselves more

attentive to their looks, more adventurous, and eager for their neighbor’s flattering attentions.

The BIG Saturday Night Celebration of Jewish film iMordecai

Saturday, February 25, 7:30 pm

Includes a conversation with a star of the film, followed by a champagne and dessert reception with klezmer music by Bagels & Fraylox

Zeiders American Dream Theater, Virginia Beach

A heart-warming movie based on a true story, iMordecai stars Academy Awardnominated and two-time Emmy-winning actor Judd Hirsch as Mordecai Samels and Academy Award-nominated actress Carol Kane as his wife, Fela, both Polish Holocaust survivors now living in Miami.

When Mordecai’s ancient flip phone breaks, he starts to take lessons from Nina, a young employee of Ultratech. She tutors Mordecai on his new iPhone, opening him up to all kinds of novel experiences and adventures, which makes him feel like a kid again. An uplifting comedy and a love letter to the city of Miami, iMordecai urges us all to live the one life we have to the fullest.

The Levys of Monticello

Sunday, February 26, 2:30 pm Norfolk Academy, Norfolk

When President Thomas Jefferson died in 1826, he left behind a mountain of

personal debt, forcing his heirs to auction off most of his possessions and sell off his iconic home, Monticello. In 1834, Monticello was purchased by Captain Uriah P. Levy, the first Jewish commodore to serve in the U.S. Navy. A deep admirer of Jefferson’s scholarship and dedication to religious liberty, Levy and his family would go on to own Monticello for nearly a century—far longer than Jefferson and his descendants.

This remarkable documentary uncovers the incredible legacy of the Levy Family while confronting the racism and antisemitism that remain part of the narrative surrounding the national landmark.

Next Stop, Greenwich Village Monday, February 27, 7:15 pm Naro Expanded Cinema, Norfolk Fresh out of college, Larry Lapinsky leaves Brooklyn and moves to Greenwich Village. Larry comes from a traditional Jewish home, and though his mother, Faye, wants him to get a steady job, he tries to make it as an actor. He quickly takes his place among some young creative types, including girlfriend Sarah and writer Robert. Soon Larry is on the verge of a career breakthrough, but his mother finds it hard to let go.

Farewell, Mr. Haffmann Adieu, Monsieur Haffmann Wednesday, March 1, 7:30 pm Beach Cinema Alehouse, Virginia Beach In Nazi-Occupied Paris in 1941, all members of the Jewish community are instructed

Ticket Information

Full Festival passes are available for $60 and include entry to all five films. Festival Passes must be purchased by Wednesday, February 1, 2023.

The BIG Saturday Night Film and Celebration: $25

Individual tickets for other films: $12

Kids Night Out Babysitting is available at the Simon Family JCC for the BIG Saturday Night Celebration of Jewish Film. Registration is required in advance. Space is limited. Register at JewishVA.org/KNO-FF.

to come forward and identify themselves to authorities. Dedicated jeweler Joseph Haffmann, fearing the worst, arranges for his family to flee the city and offers his employee François Mercier the chance to take over his store until the conflict subsides. But his own attempts to escape are thwarted, and Haffmann is forced to seek his assistant’s protection. It’s a risky proposition for both men, and one that Mercier’s wife Blanche is skeptical of. Tensions rise as the three live in fear of being discovered by the Nazi occupiers. This gripping, morally complex thriller about greed, survival, and courage is replete with Faustian bargains and surprisingly dramatic plot turns.

Gil Hoffman.

CALENDAR

THROUGH MARCH 29, WEDNESDAYS

Jews in America: Insiders and Outsiders (online), A 10-Week Melton Course. Led by Dr. Amy K. Milligan, Old Dominion University’s director of the Institute of Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding, students will discuss seminal developments in American life, through the lens of Jews straddling their status as both insiders and outsiders. Registration $295. 6:45 pm. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman at slautman@ujft.org or 757-965-6107.

THROUGH MARCH 30, THURSDAYS

Exploring a Forgotten World: A Social History of Medieval Jewry, A 10-Week Melton Course. Rabbi Michael Panitz brings to life an exotic era in Jewish history, revealing the inner thoughts of reallife characters through the Cairo Genizah, a collection of 400,000 worn-out scraps, text fragments, and documents buried for centuries. 6:45 pm. Registration $295. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman at slautman@ujft.org or 757-965-6107.

JANUARY 22–FEBRUARY 26

Book Smart, A six-week course taught by Rabbi Margolin and Rabbi Brasheveitzky of Chabad of Tidewater in partnership with the Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

Uncover the magic of Jewish books through an immersive tour of its central titles and influential authors. Attend classes in person at the Chabad House on Sunday mornings, or at the Sandler Family Campus on Thursday evenings. An option to join by Zoom will also be made available. For more information or to register, visit myjli.com/learn/tidewater or call 757-616-0770.

JANUARY 25, WEDNESDAY

The Whole Body Reset: Your Weight-Loss Plan for a Flat Belly, Optimum Health & a Body You’ll Love—at Midlife and Beyond with Heidi Skolnik . Gaining weight when aging is not inevitable. It’s avoidable and even reversible.

Presented by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with Simon Family JCC’s JFit. At the Sandler Family Campus. 12 pm. $12 admission, $6 ages 55+ (lunch included). For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/ BookFest or contact Hunter Thomas at HThomas@UJFT.org. See page 30.

JANUARY 31, TUESDAY

Evolve: A Children’s Book for Adults with Jean-Pierre Weill, watch from Home, 12 pm.

Who am I? With this question as its guide, Evolve takes readers on a philosophical and pictorial adventure into the nature of the self through the artistic exploration of three foundational biblical stories. On exhibit in the Leon Family Gallery through February 2023. Presented by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, and Community Partners’ 12th annual Israel Today series.

Free. Registration required to receive the link to join online. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest or contact Hunter Thomas at HThomas@UJFT.org. See page 30.

FEBRUARY 2, THURSDAY

Israel Today’s On Assignment with Lahav Harkov, 12 pm.

Join Jerusalem Post senior diplomatic correspondent Lahav Harkov to get the inside scoop on Israeli news, politics, and more. Grab your lunch and join this online briefing from anywhere in the world as Lahav chimes in from wherever she’s on assignment. Presented by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, and Community Partners’ 12th Annual Israel Today series. Pre-registration is required. For more information and to register, visit JewishVa.org/israeltoday or contact Elka Mednick at EMednick@UJFT.orgor 757-965-6112. See page 28.

FEBRUARY 7, TUESDAY

Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age with Debby Applegate Watch from Home, 12 pm.

Madam is the biography of Polly Adler (1900- 1962), the most infamous and influential madam in Jazz Age New York. This colorful and unusual history of Jewish life is told through the perspective of a “good Jewish girl” from a Russian shtetl who immigrated to Brooklyn and rose to become “the Female Al Capone” and one of the most renowned Jewish-American women in the 20th century. Presented by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. Free, registration required to receive the link to join online. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA. org/BookFest or contact Hunter Thomas at HThomas@UJFT.org. See page 30.

FEBRUARY 8, WEDNESDAY

Date With The State 2023. Join the Jewish Community Relations Council and Jewish community members from across the Commonwealth for Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day in Richmond. Lobby members of the Virginia Legislature on issues important to am. the statewide Jewish community. Bus leaves from the Sandler Family Campus at 7 am. $36 helps defray the cost of transportation and kosher lunch. For information or to register for the day (pre-registration is required by Feb. 1), visit JewishVA.org/DWTS or contact Elka Mednick, JCRC assistant director, at emednick@ujft.org or 757-965-6112. See page 7.

FEBRUARY 12, SUNDAY

Temple Israel Endowment Fund and Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, & Community Partners’ 12th Annual Israel Today presents Beyond the Headlines with Gil Hoffman at 4 pm at Temple Israel. Hoffman, executive director of Honest Reporting, an Israeli NGO dedicated to combatting disinformation about Israel in the media, will share his thoughts and experiences of going beyond the headlines daily. Free and open to the community. For more information, or to register, visit JewishVa.org/israeltoday or contact Elka Mednick at emednick@ujft.org or 757-965-6112. See page 32.

FEBRUARY 15, WEDNESDAY

The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code to Be Younger Today and Even Younger Tomorrow with Dr. Michael Roizen . Watch from Home, 12 pm.

Thanks to new medical innovations, living longer will also mean living younger—both physically and mentally—allowing you to extend your best years and live your best life. Dr. Michael Roizen, M.D. will outline concrete steps to take to stay younger longer. Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with Simon Family JCC’s JFit. Free. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest or contact Hunter Thomas at HThomas@UJFT.org. See page 30.

FEBRUARY 23, THURSDAY

A retired couple living in an upscale Tel Aviv apartment complex find themselves invigorated after a karaoke night with their new confident, flashy bachelor neighbor in his penthouse upstairs. The 2022 film  Karaoke kicks off the 30th season of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Virginia Festival of Jewish Film presented by Alma and Howard Laderberg. 7:30 pm. Cinema Café Kemps River. Tickets $12. Limited seating, pre-purchase strongly suggested. Visit JewishVA. org/filmfestival for more information or to purchase tickets.

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.

Employment Opportunity

Director, Women’s Philanthropy & Affinities

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater seeks a creative, articulate, and well-organized individual to work within Women's Division and other targeted (small affinity) areas of the general Campaign. The primary role is to engage new donors, cultivate relationships, and solicit donations to advance Federation’s mission.

The Women’s Campaign Director will organize and facilitate the activities of Women’s Philanthropy Committee, which can include lay leadership development and succession planning; women’s ratings and assignments; outreach to new donors; stewardship of existing donors; and serving in a key senior professional role on the development team. The position requires a Bachelor’s degree with (3) three or more years’ experience in fundraising or equivalent combination of relevant education, experience and skills required; excellent customer service skills, and experience in volunteer management. Strong knowledge of basic office computing, including MS Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams), Zoom and basic database management skills required. (Proficiency in Power BI and Abila Millennium products a PLUS). Must be able to work off-shift hours including nights and weekends, as needed.

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.

Complete job description at www.federation.jewishva.org

Submit cover letter, resume and salary requirements to: resumes@ujft.org

Attention: Taftaleen T. Hunter, Director of Human Resources – Confidential

Equal Opportunity Employment

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STUART HAROLD BUXBAUM

VIRGINIA BEACH —Stuart Harold Buxbaum, age 87, died peacefully at his home on January 12, 2023.

On March 26, 1935, Stuart was born in Jamaica, N.Y., to the late Julius and Margie Buxbaum. He is predeceased by his sister, Carol Waranch.

In the 1940s, Julius moved his family to Tidewater, settling in Norfolk to pursue an opportunity in the home-building business. During this time, Julius and Margie became founding members of Temple Israel. Stuart attended Granby High School and graduated in 1953. While he was never large enough to play football, Coach Johnny Brown appreciated his organizing skills and made him Team Manager. Stuart remained close with many of his high school friends for more than 60 years. He joined the Army Reserve, receiving an honorable discharge in 1963. He attended Virginia Tech and returned home to work in his

family’s business, Buxbaum & Waranch, a land development and home building company. In the late 1980s, Stuart started another business with his eldest son, Ed. Together, S&E Builders continued to build custom homes for another 30 years throughout Hampton Roads.

In 1963, Stuart and his former wife, Alice Epstein Buxbaum, moved their young family to Carolanne Farms in Kempsville. Stuart didn’t take long to discover his passion and need to serve his community. He joined the Kempsville Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad that same year. During his 21-year commitment, Stuart rose to the rank of Volunteer Fire Chief. In 1968, he was involved in the purchase of state-of-the-art fire and rescue equipment. As a building boom began in Virginia Beach, so was the need for a new fire station. Stuart was able to procure land and oversaw the development of Station 10 Woodstock. In 1975, the building was completed

and opened with nine firefighters. Stuart served as a role model and had the honor of becoming a surrogate Dad to many of the young volunteers at the station. He always believed that what happened at the station stayed at the station, even when the principal at Kempsville High School would call looking for some of his students. Stuart always welcomed new members and passionately shared his love for serving others in need.

In 1984, the Kempsville Ruritans recognized Stuart’s dedication to the community and named him “Citizen of the Year.” Stuart always had a passion for water. If he wasn’t fighting fires, and building homes, he would be racing his mini hydroplane boat, “Little Bux,” along the mid-Atlantic.

In 1986, Stuart began another chapter of his life with his wife, Marilyn Dozoretz Buxbaum. They have been happily married for more than 36 beautiful years. Together they shared their love of the Washington Redskins, Old Dominion football, Doumar’s vanilla ice cream, parades, many Virginia Arts Festivals, and Military Tattoo performances. While Stuart never had much of an ear for rhythm and music, he began playing the tambourine in Marilyn’s Klezmer band. He proudly dressed in European attire, sharing Marilyn’s love of music with her and the band.

Stuart and Marilyn loved to spend their winter months in Naples, Fla. Naturally, they made friends wherever they traveled. It was a visit to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida when Stuart found a renewed way to serve. He began training as a Dock Master, which became his latest love. Stuart always made sure the scheduler had his availability, often stepping up and filling vacant spots. There was always something to learn; in turn, he loved sharing his stories.

Stuart will be missed by the many lives he touched and the lifelong friendships he made along the way.

He is survived by his loving and devoted wife, Marilyn Buxbaum. His children Ed (Jackie) of Virginia Beach, Susan (Jorge) of Tucson, Ariz., Margie of Virginia Beach, and Jon (Mara) of

Raleigh, N.C. Papa to Brian, Kevin, Emma, Jacob, Ben, Drew, and Nate. He is also survived by Marilyn’s daughters, Shari (Andrew) and Renee (John) of Virginia Beach and grandchildren Erica (Andrew), Craig (Sophia), Jason, Julia (Matt), Jacqueline, and Joseph.

The family would like to thank the compassionate caregivers provided by Seniorcorps/The Key, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, and Westminster Canterbury Hospice.

Funeral services were graveside at Forest Lawn Cemetery, officiated by Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg. Please consider a donation to Kempsville Volunteer Rescue Squad, Ohef Sholom Temple, Alzheimer’s Association, or a charity of your choice. Online condolences may be offered to the family at hdoliver.com.

ABRAHAM ELLIOT FRANK

AUBURN, WASH .—Abraham Elliot Frank passed away on December 19, 2022, in a hospital in Auburn, Washington of heart failure. His wife, Anita, and his mother, Rita, were with him at the time of his death.

Abe was born on May 2, 1968, in Philadelphia, Pa. Most of his childhood was spent in Olney, Maryland where he was surrounded by a large and loving extended family. After graduating from Barrie Day School in 1986, he attended Montgomery College, graduating with a degree in Criminal Justice in 1988. He completed his undergraduate work at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, graduating with a degree in history in 1993.

Before moving to the Pacific Northwest, Abe lived in Virginia Beach, Va. Earning certificates in computer technology and in legal studies from Tidewater Community College, he worked for both Gateway Computers and the local legal aid society. In the early 2000s, he decided to venture West. In Seattle, he found a forever home and his best life. He began working for the Internal Revenue Service of the Federal Government soon after arriving in Seattle. Most recently, he became a teacher of new hires at the IRS, a challenge that he enjoyed immensely. In

2015, he married his beloved wife, Anita, and they had a good and happy life together in Auburn, Washington, sharing their love of animals and of role-playing adventures.

Abe is survived by his wife, Anita; his mother, Rita Frank of Virginia Beach; his sister, Ilene Topper, her husband, Larry and her son, LT of Crozet, Va; and his many cousins and their families. He was predeceased by his father, Daniel E. Frank, of blessed memory.

A funeral service and burial were held at Evergreen Washelli Cemetery, Seattle, Wash., with Rabbi Bob Maslan officiating.

Contributions in Abe’s honor may be made to the ASPCA or a local SPCA of your choosing. Abe would also be best remembered by any kind act you could perform for anyone in need. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.LifetimeCelebrationsByWashelli. com for the Frank family.

SONIA GOLDSTEIN LAND

VIRGINIA BEACH —Sonia Goldstein Land, 97, passed away on January 14, 2023.

She was born in Portsmouth, Va. on July 27, 1925 to Clara and Jack Goldstein. She was predeceased by Edward R. Land, her husband of 50 years. She leaves behind cousins William, Harry, Linda and Leigh, Romney, Rosanne, and Jennie.

She graduated from Maury High School, and attended Beaver College/ Arcadia University and ODU. She was an insurance agent with Aflac for 40 years and a longtime member of Congregation Beth El.

Sonia enjoyed being at Beth Sholom Village where the staff took such good care of her.

Memorial donations may be made to Beth Sholom Village or Congregation Beth El.

A graveside funeral service was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery.

JOAN H. GOODSTEIN

RICHMOND, VA.—It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Joan H. Goodstein (Richmond, Virginia), born in Baltimore, Maryland, who passed away

on December 22, 2022, at the age of 88, leaving to mourn family and friends.

A funeral service was held at the Bliley’s Funeral Home in Richmond, followed by the burial at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Richmond.

The family asks that donations be made to the charity of your choice.

SHIRLEY KATZ HOFFMAN

MIDLOTHIAN, VA .—Shirley Katz Hoffman, 94 of Midlothian, Va., passed away Wednesday, December 21, 2022.

She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, Stanley J. Hoffman; parents, Fred and Anna Katz; and sister, Lucille Hill.

Born in Baltimore, Md. and moved to Virginia Beach. She then moved to Richmond to be closer to her family. She was very active in the Tideland Poodle Club and Tidewater Kennel Club. Bred and owner handled over 25 miniature poodles American Champion.

Shirley was a member of Congregation Beth Ahabah.

She is survived by her daughter, Judy Malloy (Edward) and Ann Winer; grandchildren, Randall Winer, Sean Malloy, Rebecca Warden (Bob).

A graveside service was held at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens in Norfolk. Memorial contributions may be made to your favorite charity.

MORTON “MORTY” IRA HOFSTEIN

VESTAL , N.Y.—Morton Ira Hofstein, of Vestal, N.Y., died peacefully on Saturday, December 17 at the age of 77.

He was predeceased by his parents, Frances and David Hofstein, and his first wife, Cheryl.

Morty is survived by his wife Marcia; his children: Rachel (Jason) Sanders, Jason Hofstein, Wendy (Brett) Green, and Jodi (Oren) Shapiro, and the many grandchildren he adored. He is also survived by his sister Paula (James) Gordon and nephews Alex (Marie), Sam, and Ben, and Greg.

Morty was a retired Lieutenant in the NYC Police Department and president emeritus of the NYPD Shomrim society. He was an avid lover of all things opera.

A memorial service was conducted

at Temple Israel in Vestal, N.Y. Funeral arrangements by Hopler & Eschbach Funeral Home. Dnations in Morty’s memory may be made to Temple Israel.

LEE NORMAN KASTNER

CHESAPEAKE —Lee N. Kastner, M.D., of Chesapeake, passed away December 9, 2022.

He was born in 1924 in Baltimore, Md., and was the son of Clara and Ferdinand Kastner.

Lee attended the University of Maryland, the University of Pennsylvania for pre-med, and received his medical degree from the University of Maryland. His pediatric internship and residency

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were at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. Lee served in World War II and was a Captain in the Korean War. He practiced pediatrics in Portsmouth for 33 years.

Lee is survived by his wife, Arliss Kastner. He was also the former husband of Marilyn Kastner (deceased). Lee and Marilyn had six children, 12 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren. He leaves a proud legacy of 55 immediate family.

Lee was a past president of the Tidewater Pediatric Society, past chairman of the Pediatric Departments at Maryview and Portsmouth General Hospitals, past president of Temple Sinai, and co-founder of the Tidewater Bicycle Association.

Virtually every day, Lee enjoyed and exulted in his cycling, skiing, running, swimming, dancing, canoeing, and traveling in 44 countries,—many times by bicycle. “He was a man for all seasons.”

A graveside service was held at Olive Branch Cemetery in Portsmouth with Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg officiating. Memorial donations may be made to Maryview Hospital or Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk. Condolences may be registered at BWFosterFuneralHome.com.

STEVEN F. KAUDER

PORTSMOUTH —On January 4, 2023, the world lost Steven F. Kauder—an immeasurably kind, selfless soul and always the tallest man in the room. A true mensch with an irrepressible optimism, a deep, booming voice, and a heart far too big for this earth.

Steve lived a life of many passions. An avid sports enthusiast, he was always tuned into his New York professional teams and the games of his beloved alma mater, ODU. A music lover, he spent hours jamming to the sounds of Little Feat and The Grateful Dead. A skilled woodworker, he partnered with his brother-in-crime, Don, to carve works of art out of wood he foraged with his brother Neal. Steve was a lover of fresh and saltwater fishing, bass fishing with his brother Neal and boating the Chesapeake Bay. When he wasn’t on the water, Steve was bagging birdies on the

golf course or visiting with his family and network of lifelong friends (Barry Dixon, Weston Spivey, Jimmy Black, Blair Arbogast, and Gill Cahill). But his greatest joys in life were his family. Steve and his wife Janet remain endlessly proud of their two wonderful children, Sarah and Aaron, whom Steve loved with his whole heart.

A 1980 graduate of Old Dominion University, he went on to a successful 35-year career in IT management, retiring from Merck in 2015. Steve was 64 years old when he finally rested in his fight with ALS, a fight defined by his characteristic grace, courage, dignity, and humor.

He is survived by his wife, Janet Marie Kauder; his children Sarah Marie Kauder and Aaron David Kauder; his daughter-in-law, Regina Putri Kauder (Aaron); his mother, Violet Kauder; his brothers, Don (Tamara) and Neal (Jane); his cousins Kenneth (Tenna), Karen, and Steven; his seven nieces and nephews and their children—all of whom he loved like his own.

He was preceded by his father, CDR Robert Kauder; brother, Bruce Kauder MD; one Aunt, Sandy; two uncles, Nessim and Marty; and his sister-in-law, Andrea Kauder (Neal).

Sturtevant Funeral Home in Portsmouth handled burial arrangements, which were private. Memorial donations to The ALS Association.

ELEANOR “ELLIE” LEON LIPKIN

NORFOLK—Eleanor “Ellie” Leon Lipkin, passed away at home on December 22, 2022.

Proud to have been raised in Berkeley, she then became a lifelong resident of Norfolk. She was the daughter of the late Benjamin and Helen Goodman Leon.

She was preceded in death by her husband Paul M. Lipkin and sister Phyllis Green. Ellie was a graduate of Maury High and attended Carnegie Mellon University. She was a founding member of Temple Israel and a faithful “Minyonaire.”

The consummate volunteer, Ellie was involved with and led innumerable organizations. In the Jewish community, she

was the first woman president of the JCC, regional president of B’nai B’rith Women, headed the women’s division of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, and was active on the boards of Temple Israel, Beth Sholom Home, the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center in Portsmouth, and many others. Her energy extended to the broader world and she was active with the Friends of the Juvenile Court, Dwelling Place, Food Bank, Volunteer Hampton Roads, Virginia Interfaith Council. In her 80’s she became an enthusiastic Reading Buddy and weekly made and served sandwiches to chemotherapy patients through Cancer Care’s Acts of Kindness program.

Ellie and Paul loved traveling with friends. Her most memorable trip, however, was a four-person mission to the Soviet Union in 1989 to assist Jewish Refuseniks.

Ellie’s active community service didn’t lessen her commitment to her family. She provided her children, nephews; and grandchildren with summers at Sandbridge and all eagerly anticipated holiday gatherings with extended family and friends.

Ellie is survived by her children Laura (Bill), Matt (Donna), and Rhonda (Michele), grandchildren Tova, Jenna, Edwin, Barrett, Devin, Sarah, India, Randy, and great-grandchildren Eliot, Ryleigh, Jace, and Arianna, as well as other extended family members and dear friends.

Funeral services were held at Temple Israel. Memorial donations may be made to Hope House Foundation, Temple Israel, or Beth Sholom Home. Online condolences may be offered to the family at hdoliver.com.

BETH DONN MANCOLL

VIRGINIA BEACH —Beth Donn Mancoll, 81, passed away peacefully at home on December 22, 2022, surrounded by her loving family, when her fourth bout with cancer overcame her.

Beth was born to Milton and Freda Fleder Donn in Norfolk, Virginia. Beth was preceded in death by her parents and brother, Ronald Donn.

Beth attended Norfolk Public Schools and graduated from Maury High School.

She attended the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and Endicott College before marrying and moving to West Hartford, Conn., where they raised their family for 20 years.

Beth honed her entrepreneurial skills managing her husband’s optometric practice and as a volunteer running the Mt. Sinai Hospital Gift Shop in Connecticut. Beth spent most summers with family in Virginia Beach, and eventually moved home in 1981 to the Oceans Condominium, which was a constant gathering place for family and friends. Beth started her own business, Items Unlimited, Inc., which she successfully operated for more than 30 years. Items Unlimited was as varied as its name, evolving over the years with her keen business insights.

Left to cherish her memory are her children, Deborah Casey (Dr. Steven Waranch), Dr. John Mancoll (Joanna), Susan Albert (Bret), and Matthew Mancoll (Robin); grandchildren in order of appearance, Caroline, Maggie (Taylor), Joe, Emily, Alex, Mark (Makayla), Ben, Ryan, Hannah, and Molly; and siblings, Allan Donn (Susan) and Cyndi Tessler (Jacob).

Beth’s graveside service took place at Forest Lawn Cemetery with Cantor Jennifer Rueben officiating. Condolences may be left online at www.altmeyerfh.com. Donations may be made to Virginia Beach Rescue Squad.

ALAN SWERSKY

ATLANTA, GA.—On January 2, 2023, we lost our beloved Alan, at the age of 88 years, after a life well lived. He passed away at home due to complications from Multiple Myeloma. He was keenly aware of the love of his family and friends.

Alan was born to Harry and Anna Gordan Swersky on February 23, 1934. He was raised in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia, where his love of sun, sand, and fishing was developed. He was a wonderful athlete and whatever the game, if a ball was used, he was in. At a young age he was an avid duckpin bowler and set a world record for the highest single game by a 13-year-old. Alan graduated from Maury High School and went on to attend the University of

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North Carolina. He was a member of Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity and his time spent in Chapel Hill made him a lifelong Tar Heels fan. He also attended the Medical College of Virginia where, in 1956, he earned his degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Upon graduation, Alan was drafted into the Army and served in medical units in the United States and Europe. After his honorable discharge, Alan felt he needed a vacation, so he and a friend took a trip to the Pocono Mountains for a few days of R&R. On the second day he met the love of his life, Lennie Berman. They married five months later, in January 1960 and they settled in Norfolk.

Alan opened Midtown Pharmacy on the corner of a busy neighborhood of residences and professional offices. The pharmacy had a lunch counter and a good cook, and soon became a popular meeting place for all. Alan served on the board of Temple Israel. He was a Mason and belonged to the Masonic Lodge #1 in Norfolk. He was also a member of the Lions Club and numerous professional pharmaceutical organizations. Alan’s love of sports continued throughout his life, and when time allowed, he played tennis, golf, and went fishing.

Later in his career, Alan moved from retail pharmacy to nursing home pharmacy, servicing many of the nursing homes in Tidewater. He was instrumental in transforming the pharmaceutical care in the nursing home industry to a unit dosing system. This system helped prevent the misuse and over delivery of medication to the patients, and is still being used to this day.

He loved to travel, and he and his wife traveled all over the world for many

years. As many interests as Alan had, there was nothing he loved more than his family. He therefore, happily, left his lifelong home, of 60 years, and moved to the Atlanta area to be near his daughters and two young grandsons.

Alan spent his 23 years in Atlanta being a part of his grandsons’ lives— taking them to movies, the theater, watching them play tennis and grow into wonderful young men. He made cherished new friends, with whom he enjoyed weekly lunches and monthly poker games.

Alan was a man of character, strength, and humor. He was a devoted, generous, and beloved husband, father, and grandfather who will be missed by all who knew him. He is survived by his loving wife, Lennie; his two daughters, Sheri Sterling (Marc) and Jodi Franco (Harold); and his two grandsons, Ethan and Jared Sterling.

Donations may be made to the Leukemia Society or the Multiple Myeloma Society.

MIRIAM YOUNG

VIRGINIA BEACH —Miriam Young, age 98, of Virginia Beach, Virginia passed away on Wednesday, September 21, 2022.

Miriam was born December 9, 1923.

A funeral service for Miriam was held at Star of David Chapel, North Lauderdale, Fla. Following the funeral service, a committal service was held at Star of David Garden of Solomon.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.starofdavidfuneralchapel.com for the Young family.

Employment Opportunity

Marketing and Communications Coordinator

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. EOE

Employment Opportunity

Development Strategist

Virginia-based or remote considered

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

IN MEMORIAM

Barbara Walters, groundbreaking Jewish TV host

Gabe Friedman

(JTA)—Barbara Walters, the iconic newswoman and celebrity interviewer who made history for women and Jewish anchors on mainstream American news television, died at 93 on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022.

ABC News, where Walters regularly appeared on shows such as 20/20 and The View, shared the news without giving a cause of death.

Before becoming one of the most enduring and talked about news hosts in the world from the 1970s through the 2000s, Walters was raised by parents descended from Jewish immigrants who fled antisemitism in Eastern Europe. Her father Lou founded a chain of nightclubs and moved the family from Boston to Miami to New York, earning and losing fortunes along the way.

In 2006, Walters told the Washington Post that her parents were not religious, and she never celebrated Jewish holidays while growing up. But she noted that her father would always come home from his Latin Quarter clubs on Friday nights, which she saw as a nod to a family Shabbat tradition. As an adult, she began buying Christmas trees each year, proclaiming she loved the holiday.

Walters was married four times, to three different Jewish men. She had one child, with theater impresario Lee Guber, who demanded that their daughter attend Hebrew school. While married to producer Merv Adelson—from 1981-84 and then from 1986–92—they celebrated Jewish holidays “because it was important to him,” she told the Post

Walters worked her way up through the ranks at NBC in the early 1970s, becoming the first female co-host of The Today Show in 1974. In 1976, she moved to co-host what was then the ABC Evening News. She became a longtime contributor to 20/20, ABC’s primetime TV news magazine show that competed with CBS’ 60 Minutes, and co-founded and co-hosted The View, starting in 1997.

Walters was known for her candid interviewing style—“She invented intimacy on television,” an ABC producer once said—but also hit her subjects with blunt, cutting questions. Some of her most famous interviews included Jewish figures, including Monica Lewinsky, who Walters called her biggest “get.” She asked Lewinsky if she would tell any future children about her affair with President Bill Clinton, which rattled Washington in a way few other scandals have.

“Mommy made a big mistake,” Lewinsky replied.

“And that,” Walters said in an oftenquoted response, “is the understatement of the year.”

Walters also scored the first joint interview with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, before they finished negotiating a historic peace agreement in 1979. In 1977, she had also interviewed Sadat on his flight to meet with Begin in Israel.

Her style was often debated, including by some critics who thought she ushered in the era of news as entertainment, and parodied by the likes of Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live. In 2014, she appeared on SNL,”proclaiming that it was an honor “to see my groundbreaking career in journalism be reduced to a cartoon character with a ridiculous voice.”

Legendary Jewish tennis champion Dick Savitt dies at 95

Jacob Gurvis

(JTA)—Dick Savitt, the Jewish tennis champion who won both the Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships in 1951, died Jan. 6 at 95 at his home in New York. He was the first Jewish athlete to win either tournament.

A native of Bayonne, New Jersey, Savitt never took a tennis lesson—his primary sport was basketball. But he taught himself to play tennis as a teenager and would go on to play at Cornell University. After army service and college, his national profile skyrocketed.

Savitt won both the Wimbledon and Australian Open championships in 1951 when he was only 24. He was the second American man to win both competitions in the same year. The New York Times ranked him the No. 1 player in the world.

That same year, the 6-foot-3 righty also reached the semifinals of the U.S. National Championships and the quarterfinals of the French Championships, now called the U.S. Open and French Open, respectively.

But despite Savitt’s international success in 1951, he was removed from the U.S. team for that year’s Davis Cup tournament. Arthur Ashe, the trailblazing Black tennis champion, and a mentee of Savitt, questioned the decision to remove the U.S. team’s top player from the tournament.

“In those days, to be Jewish in the top ranks of tennis was to encounter a certain amount of prejudice,” Ashe wrote in his memoir, Days of Grace. “When Dick Savitt won Wimbledon, his right to a place on the Davis Cup team was challenged in some circles because he was Jewish.”

Savitt, however, insisted that antisemitism did not play a part in the decision, according to the Jerusalem Post Davis Cup snub aside, Savitt remained at the top of the sport. He became the first Jewish athlete to appear on the cover of Time Magazine on Aug. 27, 1951.

Savitt’s ascension was significant during a time when tennis remained primarily an amateur, country club-based sport. Many American country clubs during the early- and mid-20th century had a track record of excluding Jews and Blacks from membership and from using their facilities.

In 1952, Savitt retired from tennis at only 25 years old. He would return parttime to competitive tennis a few years later, and in 1961 won gold medals in men’s singles and doubles at the Maccabiah Games in Israel.

After his playing career, Savitt supported the Israel Tennis Centers, and in 1998 served as its overseas director.

Savitt is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Barbara Walters, May 8, 2004.

PJ Library in Tidewater’s January Sunday Fun Day

Nofar Trem

The Simon Family JCC was filled to the brim with children and their families during the January Sunday Fun Day on Jan. 8. Some made winter-themed crafts, others played interactive inflatable sports games, and all

enjoyed spending time with friends, new and old, from all around the community.

Middle schoolers embraced an exclusive piece of the fun Sunday afternoon—a painting class with Heather Donis, owner of Mobile Paint Party. Donis led the students through painting the northern lights step-by-step.

“Jewish education and community are very important to us,” says Abby Rothschild, who grew up going to the Tidewater JCC and now brings her two young sons to the Simon Family JCC. “My kids are always excited to go to events at the JCC because they always have fun and love seeing their friends, teachers, and the great people the know from this community.”

To learn more about PJ Library in Tidewater and to register for upcoming events, visit JewishVA.org/PJ or Contact Nofar Trem, youth and family program coordinator, at ntrem@ujft.org.

Middle schoolers paint the northern lights with Heather Donis.

Rabbi Ari Oliszewski attends his first community-wide event since moving to Tidewater.

Kids enjoy the inflatable sports games.

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