CALENDAR THROUGH MAY 27, THURSDAYS The Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning presents OMG, Can You Believe?! In this 6-week course, taught by Rabbi Marc Kraus of Temple Emanuel, students will seek answers to the BIG questions around G-d and G-d’s relationship to humankind. This course will offer the tools to continue asking deep questions, probing personal beliefs, and rethinking the “G-d-question” that confronts everyone. Course cost: $179, scholarships are available. The Melton School of Tidewater is a part of the Konikoff Center for Learning at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. 9–10:30 am. For more information about the Konikoff Center of Learning or to register, visit www.jewishVA.org/ KCL or contact Sierra Lautman, director of Jewish Innovation, at slautman@ujft.org or 757-965-6107. APRIL 26, MONDAY Camp JCC Virtual Open House. Camp JCC is returning to in-person programming this summer. Join this informational session to learn about Camp JCC 2021 and the plans to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Dave Flagler, director of Camp and Teen Engagement, will present and answer questions about what is in store for an amazing upcoming summer at the Simon Family JCC. 8 pm. Contact Dave Flagler, at dflagler@ujft.org. APRIL 26, MONDAY–APRIL 28, WEDNESDAY Virtual Cinema: Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles. In collaboration with the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Patricia & Avraham Ashkenazi and Alma & Howard Laderberg Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, present a virtual screening of Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles. Join a conversation about food and film with Deborah Krohn, Ottolenghi’s academic guide, Bard Graduate Center associate professor, chair of Academic Programs, and coordinator for History and Theory of Museums, and Betsy DiJulio, nourish exhibiting artist, accomplished writer, and master educator on Wednesday, April 28 at 8 pm. Tickets are $12 per household for virtual cinema with pre-registration required. If purchased by April 23, ticket includes sweet treats and tickets to see Nourish exhibit at MOCA. For more information on the 28th Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, and to register, go to JewishVA.org/Film Festival or contact Jill Grossman, director, Arts + Ideas, at jgrossman@ujft.org or 757-965-6137. See page 25. MAY 3, MONDAY My Year of Kaddish: Mourning, Memory, and Meaning. Dr. Naomi Baum draws on her personal and professional experience as an expert in trauma and resilience building, inviting readers to journey with her as she says Kaddish. Presented by the Konikoff Center for Learning as a part of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival.12 pm. Free with pre-registration required. For more information and to register go to JewishVA.org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman at slautman@ujft.org or 757-965-6107.
MAY 4, TUESDAY–MAY 6, THURSDAY The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Patricia & Avraham Ashkenazi and Alma & Howard Laderberg Virginia Festival of Jewish Film recognizes Carl Reiner’s remarkable seven-decade career with the virtual screening of If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast. Carl Reiner tracks down several nonagenarians, and a few others over 100, to show how the twilight years can truly be the happiest and most rewarding. Join a community Zoom conversation with Director, Danny Gold, on Thursday, May 6, at 12 pm, and hear from local community leaders, area octogenarians-and-up! Tickets are $12 per household for virtual cinema with pre-registration required. For more information on the 28th Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, and to register, go to JewishVA. org/FilmFest or contact Jill Grossman, director, Arts + Ideas, at jgrossman@ujft.org or 757-965-6137. MAY 12, WEDNESDAY What We Will Become: A Mother, A Son, and a Journey of Transformation by Mimi Lemay. Presented by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with Jewish Family Service of Tidewater.12 pm. Free a with pre-registration required. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/ BookFest, or contact Jill Grossman, director, Arts + Ideas, at jgrossman@ujft.org or 757-965-6137. MAY 13, THURSDAY As part of the Simon Family JCC’s Book Club Series, join New York Times best-selling author and award-winning book reviewer for the Boston Globe Hallie Ephron for a conversation on her book Careful What You Wish For. Presented by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. 7:30 pm. FREE with pre-registration required. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest or contact Jill Grossman, director, Arts + Ideas, at jgrossman@ujft.org or 757-965-6137. MAY 20, THURSDAY For the longest time, Jewish community avoided talking about the issues related to mental health. #Quieting the Silence: Personal Stories with The Blue Dove Foundation offers people a chance to share stories and perspectives related to their own life-changing experiences involving mental illness and addiction. Presented by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with Jewish Family Service of Tidewater. 7:30 pm Free with pre-registration required. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/BookFest, or contact Jill Grossman, director, Arts + Ideas, at jgrossman@ujft.org or 757-965-6137. 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.
WHO KNEW? KARLIE KLOSS’ BABY’S NAME WAS LEAKED—BY JOSH KUSHNER’S FORMER ISRAELI YESHIVA Shira Hanau
(JTA)—It’s common practice in Jewish circles to wait until eight days after a baby boy is born before publicly sharing the baby’s name at the time of circumcision. Josh Kushner and Karlie Kloss, the brother and sisterin-law of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, wanted to wait even longer than that to make the baby’s name, Levi Joseph, public. But Kushner’s Israeli yeshiva had other plans. Yeshivat Reishit, where Kushner was a student in 2003, congratulated the couple in an alumni email, announcing the baby’s name in the process. The yeshiva, located in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, runs a Modern Orthodox post-high school gap year program for American boys. When the New York Post, which first reported on the leak, asked Kushner and Kloss for comment, Kloss posted the name to Instagram herself.
Born in March, the baby may be named for Kushner’s grandfather, real estate scion and philanthropist Joseph Kushner, who died in 1985. The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston, New Jersey, is named for him. Kushner, who founded the Oscar Health insurance company, and Kloss, a supermodel and TV star, married in 2018. Kloss is a convert to Judaism.
STEVEN SPIELBERG LAUNCHES FOUNDATION TO FUND JEWISHTHEMED DOCUMENTARIES Gabe Friedman
(JTA)—Steven Spielberg has launched a film foundation called Jewish Story Partners to fund documentaries that “tell stories about a diverse spectrum of Jewish experiences, histories, and cultures.” It’s funded by the Righteous Persons Foundation, which Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw founded after Spielberg’s experience making Schindler’s List in 1993. Two Jewish philanthropies—the Maimonides
Fund and the Jim Joseph Foundation—also contributed funds. (Both organizations also help fund 70 Faces Media, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s parent company.) “We are especially proud to help establish this initiative—which will make visible a fuller range of Jewish voices, identities, experiences, and perspectives—at a time when social divisions run painfully deep and mainstream depictions too often fail to reflect the Jewish community in all its complexity,” Spielberg and Capshaw said in a statement announcing the foundation. The organization, which starts with $2 million, will soon announce its first round of grantees, who will receive $500,000 in total this year. It is already taking applications for a second round of grants and says it hopes to ramp up its funding over time. The project’s director is Roberta Grossman, a filmmaker who has specialized in Jewish-themed documentaries. Caroline Libresco, a longtime Sundance Film Festival programmer, will be its artistic director. And Friends creator Marta Kauffman is a board member. jewishnewsva.org | April 26, 2021 | JEWISH NEWS | 27
