Jewish News - May 22, 2023

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Jewish American Heritage Month observed at the White House

Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In songs and in speeches, an event at the White House marking Jewish American Heritage Month celebrated the presence of Jews in America since colonial times — and fretted about threats to American Jewry today.

“For some reason it’s come roaring back in the last several years,” President Biden told a crowd of Jewish supporters in the White House’s East Room on Tuesday, May 16. “Reports have shown that antisemitic incidents are at a record high in our history — a record high in the United States.”

The emphasis on antisemitism was evident even in the entertainment — which featured a selection of songs from Parade, a Broadway musical about the 1915 lynching of a Jewish man. That theme was a departure from past White House Jewish American Heritage Month events, which focused on Jewish accomplishments and spotlighted legendary Jewish athletes, scientists, artists and performers.

Biden says he was shaped as a child by his father’s fury with the United States for not doing enough to stop the Holocaust. He spoke again of how he was spurred to run for president in 2020 after the deadly Neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia three years earlier — and former President Donald Trump’s equivocation when he was asked to condemn the marchers.

“That’s when I knew… our work was not done,” he said, turning to address a delegation of Jewish Democratic lawmakers who were attending the event, and who have pressed for a more aggressive response to antisemitism. “Hate never goes away.”

This was the first Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House since 2016. Trump’s administration paid less attention to the commemoration, which was enshrined in a law passed with bipartisan support in 2006. Biden’s hopes of staging an event were delayed in the past couple of years by the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden’s emphasis on a broader understanding of antisemitism,

beyond the far right, came after a number of Jewish groups met in December with Doug Emhoff, the Jewish Second Gentleman, and asked him and other top officials to consider a more holistic approach to the problem.

Biden, in his remarks, said the strategy “includes over 100 meaningful actions that government agencies are going to take to counter antisemitism.” He did not detail any of those actions, except to say that the strategy would increase understanding of antisemitism and Jewish heritage, provide security for Jewish communities, reverse the normalization of antisemitism and build coalitions.

A backgrounder to the event sent to reporters focused entirely on antisemitism, listing five actions Biden had taken to combat the phenomenon, including signing a bill to combat hate crimes and increasing funding for security at vulnerable institutions.

There were lighter elements to the event, including recognition of the services Jews have provided to the United States over the centuries, and a rendition of Hava Nagila by the Marine Band. Israeli-American chef Michael Solomonov, whom Biden recognized, prepared Moroccan cigars, smoked sable on challah and something called “fairy tale eggplant,” a variety of the nightshade vegetable.

“Our special guest shall ensure that today is both delicious and glatt kosher,” Biden said, to surprised laughter, as Solomonov took a bow.

Still, even the entertainment referred to what Biden called the “stain” of antisemitism threading through American history. Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond performed songs from Parade, which they are starring in. Its subject matter is the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, a Jew in Georgia falsely accused of murder.

Platt and Diamond had to rush back to New York in time for an 8 pm show, but beforehand, Platt praised the musical’s composer, Jason Robert Brown, who accompanied them on piano. Brown, Platt said, “is really telling you an important Jewish story.”

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– page 7

We know that a definition alone will not erase antisemitism, but it is an important step affirming that the Commonwealth will not tolerate anti-Jewish hate.

BRIEFS

Adidas says it will sell off Yeezy shoes and donate proceeds to those ‘hurt by Kanye’s statements’

The sportswear giant Adidas has decided to sell off its remaining inventory of sneakers from Kanye West’s Yeezy brand and donate the proceeds to charity.

The decision comes roughly seven months after Adidas cut ties with West in the face of mounting pressure due to his stream of antisemitic comments. Adidas’ sales of the rapper’s sneakers had accounted for 10% of the company’s annual revenue last year, or roughly $2 billion. That decision left Adidas with $1.3 billion of unsold Yeezy inventory in its possession.

During the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Germany, where Adidas is based, CEO Bjørn Gulden pledged that the money would go “to the organizations that are helping us and that were also hurt by Kanye’s statements.”

Gulden did not elaborate on which organizations the proceeds would be directed to, nor if any of them would go to Jewish or anti-hate groups.

Jews were the target of West’s comments last fall. West, who now goes by Ye, promised to “go death con 3 on Jewish people,” professed admiration for Hitler and bragged that he could say antisemitic comments and Adidas would not drop him. In November, the rapper dined with former President Donald Trump and Nick Fuentes, a prominent antisemite, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Following his comments, statements such as “Kanye Was Right” became a rallying cry for antisemites. According to the Anti-Defamation League, 59 antisemitic incidents that took place from October 11 through the end of 2022 directly referenced West.

Shortly after dropping West, Adidas — which was founded by Nazi Party members — announced a $1 million, four-year partnership with the ADL designed to educate athletes about antisemitism and other forms of bigotry.

The ADL praised Adidas’ plans but told JTA that the company hasn’t said if the ADL will receive a donation from the Yeezy sales. The organization added that it was not advising Adidas on where to direct the sale proceeds.

“This is a thoughtful and caring resolution for the unsold merchandise,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said. “Ye’s antisemitic remarks and abhorrent behavior have resulted in real-world acts of antisemitic hate. Any attempt to turn the consequences of his actions into something that ultimately benefits

Adidas had agonized for months over how to deal with the Yeezy merchandise, at one point considering simply burning it.

But the company’s Yeezy woes aren’t over yet. Adidas still faces a lawsuit from investors who allege executives knew about West’s “extreme behavior” for years and didn’t end their partnership quickly enough. (JTA)

Former Jewish first lady of Peru flees to Israel after extradition request

Eliane Karp, Peru’s former Jewish first lady, has flown from the United States to Israel to avoid extradition to Peru in a money laundering case.

Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otárola announced the news Wednesday, May 10 in Lima.

“The United States Department of Justice has informed the Peruvian embassy in the U.S. that Mrs. Eliane Karp has taken a flight to Israel using her Israeli passport,” he said.

Peru does not have an extradition treaty with Israel.

Karp was first lady of Peru from 2001 to 2006. Born to Jewish parents in France, she is an anthropologist who met her husband, former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, while the two were students at Stanford University. Before getting her PhD from the California university, Karp got her bachelor’s degree at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

In April, Toledo was extradited from the United States to Lima, where he is now in prison. He is accused of accepting tens of millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for public works contracts. Toledo denies all wrongdoing.

Peruvian authorities also attempted to extradite Karp from the United States for a separate embezzlement case involving Karp, her mother, and her husband.

In 2013, a Peruvian prosecutor discovered that Ecoteva Consulting Group, an offshore company in Costa Rica founded by Toledo, was used to pay the mortgages of expensive real estate for Karp’s mother, Eva Fernenburg. Initially, Toledo claimed the money from this company came from reparations paid by Germany to Fernenburg, a Holocaust survivor. Later he said that the money came from Israeli businessman Yossi Maiman.

Prosecutors believe that money used to create Ecoteva came from bribes and are therefore seeking a sentence of 16 years and 8 months for both Toledo and Karp. On April 20, a California judge ordered the return of Karp’s passport.

While first lady, Karp was known for her ability to speak Quechua, one of the indigenous languages of Peru, and for her tendency to explosively call out those who disagreed with her. In 2004, at an event at the Israeli embassy in Lima, Karp began yelling at an Israeli-Peruvian media tycoon (in Hebrew and Spanish) whose TV channel had criticized her. She later apologized to the Israeli ambassador. (JTA)

US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides is resigning

Tom Nides, the gregarious U.S. ambassador to Israel, is resigning this summer, at a time of unresolved tensions in the U.S.-Israel relationship he strove to uphold.

The report first appeared in Axios on Tuesday, May 9. Axios quoted Secretary of State Antony Blinken as saying that Nides wanted to spend more time with his family.

“Tom has worked with characteristic energy and skill to further strengthen the special bond between the United States and Israel, and to advance U.S. diplomatic, economic, and security interests,” Blinken told the online political news site. “We will all miss having him represent us in Israel, but I know he is looking forward to some well-deserved time with his family.”

Nides, a former executive at Morgan Stanley who was a senior State Department official in the Obama administration and who had deep Democratic Party ties, brought an easygoing sensibility to the role, especially to ties between Israel and the U.S. Jewish community.

Nides’ efforts to advance an impression of a conflict-free relationship were undercut by tensions stoked after the election last year of the most far-right government in Israel’s history, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The ambassador was at the center of one expression of the tensions when he said in March that he expected President Joe Biden to invite Netanyahu to the White House sometime after Passover. Biden, who sees Netanyahu’s planned weakening of Israel’s judiciary as a threat to Israel’s democracy, immediately poured cold water on that prediction.

“No,” Biden said when asked about a potential invitation to Netanyahu, although Israeli prime ministers routinely visit Washington within months of their election. “Not in the near term.”

In addition to concerns about Netanyahu’s commitment to democracy, the Biden administration is also chafing at the makeup of Israel’s coalition, which includes ministers with a record of anti-Palestinian activism, and at proposals to advance settlement in the West Bank.

Nides endeavored to keep his public communications positive. A native of the tiny Jewish community in Duluth, Minnesota, he routinely posted short videos and photos on his feed of his meetings with U.S. Jewish delegations on his Twitter feed.

“No way I could pass up the chance yesterday to hang out with some fellow ‘frozen chosen’ from Minnesota,” read a typical tweet last month. “It was great to connect with the Minneapolis Jewish Federation on their visit to Israel, love you guys!”

He also strove to remain above the political fray, posting friendly encounters with his Trump administration predecessor, David Friedman, on social media. The two ambassadors joined last month to lead the annual March of the Living at Auschwitz, commemorating the Holocaust. (JTA)

society and the people he has hurt is most welcome.”

Forever Helping Others

Lawsuit claims Rudy Giuliani said, “Get over the Passover. It was like 3,000 years ago.”

Ron Kampeas

(JTA) — Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became an aide to former President Donald Trump, mocked Jews for observing Passover, according to a lawsuit fi led Monday, May 15 by a former assistant who is accusing him of sexual assault and harassment.

“Jews want to go through their freaking Passover all the time, man oh man,” Guiliani once said, according to the complaint, which was filed in New York Supreme Court and indicates that the comments were recorded. “Get over the Passover. It was like 3,000 years ago. The red sea parted, big deal. It’s not the first time that happened.”

The statement that Jews regularly observe Passover is accurate. Retelling the story of the Israelite slaves’ exodus from Egypt each spring is one of the most widely observed Jewish practices and is frequently cited as an inspiration by politicians (including the person who holds Giuliani’s old job, New York City Mayor Eric Adams).

Meanwhile, there is no historical record of the Red Sea ever parting. The Torah says that God was able to make the miracle happen

with the help of Moses, who led the Israelites to freedom — but there is no evidence that such a phenomenon has happened before or since. Some have sought to offer scientific explanations for such an event. The vast majority of the $10 million suit focuses on allegations by Nicole Dunphy, a former Giuliani associate, that he pressed her into sexual activity without her consent and harassed her continually almost as soon as she began working for him in January 2019.

The Jewish elements of the lawsuit were first reported by the Forward. In addition to mocking Jewish observance of Passover, Giuliani is also accused in the complaint of disparaging Jewish men’s penis sizes and commenting about the “‘freaking Arabs’ and Jews.” He also made racist comments about other groups, according to the suit.

Giuliani, who was New York City mayor from 1994 to 2001, in 2021 was barred from practicing law in New York state due to his repeated false claims about the 2020 election. Through a spokesperson, he “vehemently” denied the allegations to the Associated Press.

Elon Musk says George Soros ‘hates humanity’ and likens him to a comic book villain Holocaust survivor

Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Elon Musk tweeted that George Soros “hates humanity,” and wrote that the billionaire and progressive megadonor “reminds me of Magneto,” a comic book villain who features in Marvel’s X-Men series.

The attacks on Soros come as Twitter has faced criticism over its lax hate speech policies in the months since Musk, one of the world’s richest people, bought the platform last year. Soros, the billionaire and progressive megadonor, is at the center of multiple antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Like Soros, the character of Magneto is a Holocaust survivor. Brian Krassenstein, a liberal Jewish journalist, noted that parallel in a reply to Musk’s tweet, writing, “Magneto’s experiences during the Holocaust as a survivor shaped his perspective as well as his depth and empathy,” and that

Soros “gets attacked nonstop for his good intentions which some Americans think are bad merely because they disagree with [his] political affiliations.”

Musk responded, “You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.”

While Musk has railed against progressive policies, what prompted his attack on Soros isn’t clear. On the same day as the tweets, however, Soros’ family investment office cashed out its investment in Tesla, Musk’s electric car company.

Soros, 92, has long been a target of conservatives for backing progressive causes and politicians in the United States and worldwide. In the last decade or so, some of the attacks have echoed antisemitic conspiracy theories, depicting Soros as satanic, accusing him of seeking world

control and falsely accusing him of helping perpetrate the Holocaust rather than surviving it as a child.

These conspiracy theories accelerated after the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, who made Soros a focus of his final campaign ad that year and who has relentlessly portrayed Soros as a villain as he runs for the 2024 election.

Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist, has reinstated the Twitter accounts of right wing extremists who had previously been banned, a move that alarmed Jewish anti-bigotry groups. He suspended some of the extremists again after they returned to posting hateful tweets. Extremists have lauded him, and he has returned the affection, encouraging some of their theories. In December, Musk disbanded an advisory group focused on “Trust and Safety” on Twitter, and in March, a study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think tank found that antisemitism more than doubled on the platform in the months since Musk took it over.

Jewish

Governor Glenn Youngkin signed into law HB 1606, which adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism on Monday, May 8. Following the signing, Virginia’s Jewish Communities issued the following joint statement:

With today’s ceremonial bill signing, Virginia joins 29 other states and the District of Columbia in adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism as an educational tool to identify and combat antisemitism. The Virginia Jewish Communities of Northern Virginia, the Peninsula, Richmond, and Tidewater are grateful for the partnerships that unified our communities as we educated our elected representatives about Jewish identity, antisemitism, and the value of the IHRA definition as a tool for combating the hatred of Jews. These partnerships will continue to benefit our communities for years.

We especially appreciate our elected representatives in the Executive Branch and the General Assembly learning about the IHRA definition and engaging with our communities about the rising problem of antisemitism. We know that a definition alone will not erase antisemitism, but it is an important step affirming that the Commonwealth will not tolerate anti-Jewish hate.

We also appreciate the proclamations by the Governor and the General Assembly recognizing May as Jewish American Heritage Month, which celebrates the contributions of American Jews to our nation’s history and our present-day influences.

As the Virginia Communities, we are committed to building bipartisan partnerships concerning issues critical to the well-being and safety of the 150-plus Jewish organizations, agencies and synagogues that we represent. Moving forward, we urge elected officials from both sides of the aisle to join us in this bipartisan approach, as antisemitism can never be an issue that divides us along political lines.

To learn more about the bill or how to get involved, contact Joel Bond, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Jewish Community Relations Council director, at JBond@ujft.org.

Amy Melnick-Scharf, Daniel Staffenberg, Barbara Dudley, Jeff Luckman, First Lady Suzanne Youngkin, Governor Glenn Youngkin, Eric Maurer, Vicki Fishman, and Joel Bond.

Israel to invest $40 million in North American Jewish day schools

Jackie Hajdenberg, Philissa Cramer (JTA) — Citing “a major crisis in Jewish education,” Israel’s Diaspora ministry plans to pour about $40 million into training educators at Jewish schools in the United States and Canada.

Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of Diaspora affairs, announced the initiative, called “Aleph Bet” after the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, on Monday, May 15. He hopes enrollment will increase at Jewish day schools, fearing that “we are losing large parts of the Jewish people,” and said the initiative would “focus on training teachers for Jewish education and Israel studies as well as principals for Jewish day schools,” according to the Jerusalem Post.

Chikli did not elaborate on how his ministry would spend the allocation of NIS 150 million, nor did he detail when funds could start making their way into North American Jewish schools. His office did not respond to a request for comment. Israel’s governing coalition plans to approve a state budget this week, ahead of a May 29 deadline.

North American Jewish schools have received varying levels of Israeli government support for years, according to Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah, a nonprofit supporting Jewish day schools. He says staff members of day schools were optimistic about the additional funding despite lacking details about where it would go.

“There’s quite a lot of chatter. People are excited by the fact that the State of Israel really sees the importance of Diaspora education and is recognizing that the strength of the Diaspora is integral to [a] strong Israel and strong relationships,” Bernstein says. “Irrespective of all that’s going on in the

world, that is a very positive and important long-term development.”

The announcement comes at a time of tension between Israel’s right-wing governing coalition and North American Jewish communities. A chorus of U.S. Jewish leaders has criticized the government’s proposed overhaul of Israel’s judiciary, and last month, Israeli Prime

funding announcement.

Early in his tenure, Chikli floated the idea of working with philanthropists to subsidize day school tuition in the Diaspora. More recently, he has signaled that covering tuition — which can range from several thousand dollars at haredi Orthodox yeshivas to more than $40,000 a year — is less of a priority.

growth of Orthodox communities, where the vast majority of children attend private Jewish schools.

Outside of those communities, most North American Jewish children do not attend Jewish day schools. But the pandemic saw Conservative, Reform, and nondenominational day schools grow as well, according to a survey by Prizmah, following more than a decade of decline. The survey found that schools have maintained those enrollment gains even as the pandemic has ended.

Meanwhile, Hebrew schools and other supplemental Jewish schools have shrunk by nearly half since 2006, according to a recent report by the Jewish Education Project. Chikli did not specify whether any of the new funding could go to such schools.

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a speech at a signature conference of North American Jews (Jewish Federations of North America) in Tel Aviv in the face of anti-government protests. Chikli, who assumed his role in January, has defended the judicial overhaul while acting as an ambassador of sorts to an often-skeptical audience of Diaspora Jews.

Chikli, whose father is a Jewish educator in Mexico, had previously indicated that he sees Jewish day schools abroad as an important destination for Israeli aid. He has said repeatedly that children who do not attend Jewish day schools are at risk of being lost to the Jewish people.

“We are in the midst of a crisis where it is possible to lose an entire generation of Jews,” he said during the

“Jewish education in private schools is very expensive, and at times out of range for the average family,” he told Hamodia, a haredi publication, in April. “This is where we step up to the plate. This isn’t to say we’re giving out free scholarships … but we invest, as noted earlier, in the teachers, in the school systems, to ensure Jewish education, and continuity of Jewish generations. We want to raise the pride of Jewish studies teachers.”

Attending a Jewish school is widely considered a strong predictor of lasting Jewish identity, although that may be because parents who prioritize Jewish identity are more likely to send their children to Jewish day school. Enrollment in Jewish schools in North American Jewish schools is growing, largely because of the

Chikli’s father, Eitan Chikli, is the rector of the Hebraic University in Mexico City, which receives some funding from his son’s ministry. Previously, he was the longtime director general of Israel’s TALI Education Fund, which promotes pluralistic Jewish education in Israeli schools and produces materials for use in Jewish schools abroad.

The elder Chikli told the Jerusalem Post in January that he would not discuss the funding his university receives with his son, who he said is fastidious about avoiding conflicts of interest. But he said that teacher training was an urgent problem for Jewish schools.

“The biggest problem Jewish people in the Diaspora face today is Jewish education and lack of a high level of teachers for Judaic studies,” Eitan Chikli said in January. “The most difficult problem is that there is no new generation of proper teachers for Hebrew and Judaism.”

Changes and growth for Jewish Family Service

Jewish Family Service report

Jewish Family Service of Tidewater was incorporated in 1948, after having spent decades under various names. Like its name, the agency has continuously evolved to meet the ever-changing needs of the community. Through a process of strategic planning and from information gleaned from United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Community Needs Assessment published in 2020, JFS continues to respond to the changing needs of the community.

“Strategic planning has been in process for a while, including input from our executive leadership team as well as from our board members and many community stakeholders,” says Anne Kramer, JFS board president. “We are forever grateful for the hours and hours of input, as we develop a plan for the future.”

Kramer was installed as president of JFS’s board in June 2021 for a term of two years. During most of her time as president, JFS was under strict COVID protocols which prevented the agency from realizing part of its planned expansion to provide more mental health services to the community. The overall slowdown of the planning process during COVID, however, allowed JFS to further evaluate the strengths and needs of the agency and the community.

“As social service and healthcare agencies continue to change in our post-COVID world, it is our responsibility to continuously evaluate our programs to ensure we are providing superior services with the greatest impact to those who need us,” says Scott Flax, incoming board president. “Our continued mission is to provide a full spectrum of human services to meet the health, education, and welfare needs of Jewish families and individuals in Hampton Roads. As we continue to evolve, we need to be able to do that in the most effective way possible.”

Many aspects must be considered in the strategic planning process, including the financial viability of existing programs and the long-term stability of the agency. Healthcare costs continue to rise, compliance requirements have become more complicated and costly to meet, and recruitment and retention of experienced

staff becomes more challenging every day. Competition in the market has made it increasingly difficult for an agency the size of JFS to compete effectively. To make matters worse, funding for low-income older adults from Senior Services has been cut.

collaboration overflows like a bountiful Kiddish cup,” says Rachelle Karp, owner and founder of Changing Tides. “I am excited to provide the highest care to those in need within our community.”

New JFS program for older and disabled adults

JFS will continue its support for older and disabled adults through one of its newest initiatives: Embrace Care Management Program. Care Management provides support to help coordinate the many, and often complex, challenges that occur as people age.

One of the areas of significant growth for JFS is in its clinical counseling department. “The need is overwhelming,” says Debbie Mayer, clinical director for JFS. “We are providing more hours of service than ever before and have recently hired another licensed clinician to help us keep up.”

As part of its planned expansion, the JFS counseling program, now called Embrace Counseling is moving off the Sandler Family Campus, and back to its former location on Grayson Road.

“Last year we provided nearly 3,000 hours of counseling by our team of LCSWs. With the additional space, we can hire more clinicians and see more people to help fill the need of mental health services in our community,” says Mayer.

In the past year, the program also began providing internship opportunities for students from VCU and Norfolk State to help mentor and train the next generation of social workers.

All these factors combined resulted in JFS making the difficult decision to discontinue providing direct private duty services to people in its home care program.

JFS understands that this decision will impact families that rely on it to provide private duty services, as well as the administrative and professional staff who have loyally served the agency. Fortunately, multiple excellent resources exist in the community that provide these services. JFS has identified Changing Tides Home Care to help direct private duty care for its clients. JFS is also working to assist families and JFS staff who wish to explore transition

“We are committed to working with each of our clients and staff to support a smooth transition of direct care to another provider over the next several weeks, with the potential that current caregivers may have the choice to transition with

As Jewish Family Service evolves, the agency plans to continue its long-standing tradition of caring and concern for the community it serves. In 2022, for example, JFS:

• Delivered nearly 8,000 meals to homebound seniors in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

• Provided food to more than 500 people experiencing food-insecurity from JFS’ pantries.

• Provided food and/or financial assistance to more than 300 impoverished Jewish individuals.

• Provided nearly 400 trips for seniors to medical appointments.

• Provided Guardian and/or Conservator services to more than 1,600 incapacitated adults.

to Changing Tides. Changing Tides Home Care has been awarded “Top Home Care Provider” by Readers Choice via Coastal Virginia Magazine in 2022 and 2023.

“Given the synonymous Jewish values of JFS and Changing Tides, as well as the community expectations of excellence in providing care by both agencies, the optimism regarding this transition and future

the clients in this process,” says Kelly Burroughs, JFS CEO. “For clients who may not want to make this transition, our Care Management team will work with them to find alternatives.”

“We continue to grow multiple programs at JFS as we pivot to provide the services that are needed most and that we can effectively deliver,” says Burroughs.

“We look forward to continuing these critical initiatives and believe that together,” says Burroughs, “we can build a stronger, healthier community where everyone can thrive.”

JFS is not affiliated in any way with Changing Tides Home Care and has not independently verified this statement or the credentials of Changing Tides. All consumers of home health services are encouraged to perform their own research to verify the qualifications, suitability, and credentials of any provider selected.

Anne Kramer

Kelly Burroughs

We continue to grow multiple programs at JFS as we pivot to provide the services that are needed most and that we can effectively deliver.

Jewish institutions awaken to climate crisis, with hundreds pledging action

Asaf Elia-Shalev (JTA) — For a decade starting in 2002, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi devoted herself to pro-Israel advocacy. After that, the Jewish philanthropist and activist from Annapolis, Maryland, went all in to fight for disability rights, working in the field for the next decade. Now, Mizrahi is focused on climate change.

“Let me put it this way: In 2021, we donated to one climate organization, and in 2022, we donated to 17 of them,” Mizrahi says, referring to the small charity fund she runs with her husband, tech entrepreneur Victor Mizrahi. This year, the couple made their largest climate-related donation yet, sending a group of nine climate reporters to Israel to meet tech startups working on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mizrahi and her husband have also begun commercially investing in such startups.

“I was hoping other people would solve it,” she says. “But the pace of the change is not nearly meeting the demand at the moment. I felt that even though I don’t know the subject, I’m just going to have to do it because I have kids and I don’t want this world to fall apart.”

Climate change has long ranked at or near the top of a list of issues concerning Jews in the United States, according to multiple surveys, and Jews have been heavily involved in the wider climate movement. But until recently, the issue had a marginal place on the agendas of Jewish communal organizations, which neglected climate even as the subject took on importance in the activism and policies of other religious communities and in the larger philanthropic world.

Mizrahi’s newfound emphasis on climate is an early example of a larger shift that is underway in Jewish philanthropy, a multibillion-dollar world made up of thousands of individual donors, charitable foundations, and nonprofit organizations.

“It’s the beginning of what will become a more widespread focus among Jewish groups,” says Rabbi Jennie Rosenn,

the founder and CEO of the Jewish climate group Dayenu. “We’re seeing an awakening to this as a profoundly Jewish issue and awakening to the role that the Jewish community has to play in addressing the climate crisis.”

Scientists say that decisions regarding carbon emissions made in the next few years will affect life on Earth for thousands of years to come. The most recent warning came in March, when leading global experts with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a new report, stating that “there is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.”

The large Jewish populations living in the coastal United States are vulnerable to extreme storms, sea-level rise, severe heat, and other weather disruptions — a situation dramatized in the recent Apple television series Extrapolations, in which a rabbi contends with rising sea waters infiltrating his Florida synagogue. Meanwhile, Israel is experiencing a slew of impacts from drought and floods to security threats tied regional climate-related instability.

The last few months have seen a flurry of new initiatives aimed at both greening Jewish institutions and directing collective action on climate.

In December, for example, Rosenn’s group published a report calculating that endowments of Jewish organizations, from family foundations to local federations, are invested in the fossil fuel industry to the tune of at least $3 billion. The report launched an ongoing campaign called All Our Might that urges Jewish leaders to withdraw these investments and put the money toward clean energy instead.

Meanwhile, many of the most prominent Jewish organizations in the country — representing local federations, Hillel chapters, summer camps, community centers, day schools and nearly every religious denomination — had already joined a new green coalition organized by another Jewish environmental group and were preparing to unveil pledges to do more in the fight

against climate change.

The unveiling of the climate pledges happened in March, under the leadership of Adamah, a nonprofit created through the

merger of two stalwarts of Jewish environmentalism, Hazon and the Pearlstone Center.

“Climate and sustainability have not

Local Relationships Matter

As the Chief Executive Officer at the Peninsula Foodbank, she believes the Foodbank not only distributes food but is also the spokesperson for those who otherwise don’t have a voice.

“There are so many low income individuals who haven’t received any benefit from the recovering economy and those who because of their life circumstances need help every now and then. We are there to help ensure their voices are heard.”

“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.”

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- Dr. Herman

been on the list of priorities for the vast majority of Jewish organizations; this coalition and these climate action plans reflect a deep paradigm shift and culture change moving forward,” Adamah CEO Jakir Manela said at the time.

The commitments made by members of Adamah’s Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition include sending youth leaders to global climate summits, reducing

emissions of buildings and vehicles, and lobbying the federal government to pass climate policies.

More than 300 congregations and nonprofits have joined. For Earth Day, Adamah announced a million-dollar fund offering interest-free loans and matching grants to Jewish groups for projects to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

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Hauptman and Stephen Bronfman, children of Birthright founder Charles Bronfman, said their $9 million gift is meant to honor their father on the occasion of his 90th birthday, while also bringing Birthright more in line with the values of a new generation that is environmentally-minded.

Birthright organizers will use the funding to develop programming focused on climate that could, for example, expose participants to Israel’s clean tech scene. The money is also intended to help Birthright lower its own carbon footprint, potentially by switching to electric buses or adding more vegetarian meals.

The Jewish world is, in many ways, still lagging behind the larger climate movement. Divesting endowment funds from the fossil fuel industry, for example, is seen as a bold step among Jewish groups even though at least 1,590 institutions representing nearly $41 trillion in assets have already publicly committed to doing so, according to a website tracking such pledges. About a third of the groups on the list are defi ned as faith-based organizations, but only three are Jewish: Kolot Chayeinu, a congregation in Park Slope, Brooklyn; the Reform movement’s pension system; and the American Jewish World Service, a global justice group.

Adamah’s own climate plan doesn’t include a pledge to divest but only a promise that it will investigate the option of doing so for its endowment and employee retirement funds. Instead, the plan touts the group’s education and advocacy efforts, and focuses on reducing emissions at its retreat centers.

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Risa Cooper, chief climate officer, says the Jewish community hit a milestone when 12 of the 20 founding members of Adamah’s climate coalition said in their climate plans that they would consider amending their fi nancial practices. That was significant, she says, in light of the organizations’ complex and deliberate governing structures, which can make executing such changes onerous.

The Jewish community, meanwhile, has tended to act primarily through charitable donations. One of the reasons for the difference, she says, is that the Jewish community is much less centralized with communal assets spread across many endowments, making the actions of any single group relatively less impactful.

Throughout my life, I have always been involved in Jewish organizations and stayed connected to Israel. Over the years I have learned that synagogues change, leaders change, and people change and that without our Jewish identity we have nothing.

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Robin Mancoll honored by FBI with national award

On Friday, May 5, 2023, FBI Director Christopher Wray presented Robin Mancoll, chief program officer and Jewish Community Relations Council director for United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) for her service to the people of Hampton Roads.

Mancoll, through her role at UJFT, is a leader and facilitator of collective action, developing human and fi nancial resources to meet the evolving and vital issues of the worldwide community, partnering with local, national, and global organizations. She also works to bridge the gap between law enforcement and community members, ultimately helping to keep Tidewater’s neighborhoods safer.

The FBI established the DCLA in 1990 to publicly acknowledge the

achievements of those working to make a difference in their communities through the promotion of education and the prevention of crime and violence. The FBI’s 56 field offices select the recipients annually for this honor.

“Like the 38,000 employees of the FBI, you don’t do what you do for fame –and certainly not for fortune. You do it out of kindness, out of compassion for others, out of a hope and dream for safer communities … to leave your towns and cities better places than when you got there,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “And that’s how I’ve defi ned success here within our organization, too. Success to me is if everyone leaves the FBI a better place than they found it.”

As a graduate of FBI Norfolk’s Citizens Academy, Mancoll has a unique understanding of law enforcement and its policies. She has used much of that knowledge to help relay critical information to communities in times of need, and shares threat-related information to law enforcement those communities might not otherwise share.

“FBI Norfolk is better able to protect the community and the American people when its members have a clear understanding of what we do and the types of resources we offer. Ms. Mancoll acts as that critical liaison,” said Brian Dugan, special agent in charge of the FBI Norfolk Field Office. “She has taken the time to

learn about law enforcement and host multi-community outreach events, which has enhanced FBI Norfolk’s efforts to bridge transparency and trust to all communities. We are honored to present this award to her today.”

munities. We are honored to present

this, and through their exceptional professionals, they inspire community leaders to continue showing up, building those authentic relationships, and strengthening the community.”

strengthening the community.”

ships for the betterment

“Building relationships for the betterment of our community is part of my job description, but it has never been ‘just’ a job for me,” says Mancoll. “Genuine relationships take time, years of honest conversations, real listening, and showing up for each other in various ways. When done well, the benefits are transformative, mutually empowering, and are meant to be shared with others. The FBI knows

Director Wray hosted the 2022 DCLA winners in a special ceremony at FBI Headquarters, emphasizing the importance of partnerships in keeping communities safe. These partnerships – as exemplified by the breadth of the work by the DCLA recipients – have led to a host of crime prevention programs that protect the most vulnerable, educate families and businesses about cyber threats, and work to reduce violent crime in neighborhoods.

2022 DCLA winners in a special ceremony at FBI

FBI Director Christopher Wray presents award to Robin Mancoll.

THE HUMUSIYA: Feeding your roots

Eitan Altschuler

They say, “we are what we eat.” Maybe this is because food is more than just the building blocks of our physical body. . .it is also feeds our spirit. It reflects our emotions, “I need something fried today!” our attitude, “I am feeling bold and spicy!” and our joy, “We have to celebrate with something sweet!” What would Jewish holidays be without food?!?

It just has this unmatched ability to transport us to a place within ourselves.

We are also “who we eat with.” In addition to the aromas and fl avors of food, the company and conversation associated with meals can be just as important. Jews are a people, not only a religion, so just as we pray within a minyan, shouldn’t we also eat together?

The Humusiya is bringing the culinary soul of Israel to Hampton Roads. Its website, www.humusiya.com, is live,

and its daily menu is posted at the Cardo Cafe’ at the Sandler Family Campus. Monday through Friday, 9 am until 2 pm, The Humusiya is open with sit-down or take away service, along with DoorDash delivery. In addition to the daily menu, requests for special catering are possible via the website.

It is hoped that this food will bring people together from all walks of life: secular, religious, Jewish, and non-Jewish. The unaffiliated will have a chance to connect to their heritage as well as increase their exposure to Jewish culture. Plus, it could be a unique bonus for visiting the JCC or becoming a member.

Recently, my non-Jewish best friend, a good southern boy, told me he would like to get to know the Jewish community

better. He asked if I would take him to synagogue, but “not for the service, only for the food afterwards.”

A Humusiya, in this case, is exactly what my friend is looking for. Perhaps, in these times, when so much about Jews and Israel are misunderstood, it could raise greater familiarity with the community and awareness of its perspective.

If I learned anything from my time in Israel, it is that our Jewish experience is so much more natural and meaningful when it is blended into our everyday life. If we do this right, maybe we can foster a new way of connecting to and sharing our Jewish identities while being a model for other Jewish communities in the diaspora. Looking forward to serving you soon!

Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet

(JTA) — Perhaps the strangest part was sitting through a Sunday service in the 1,000-year-old nave of St. Albans Cathedral (the longest nave in England!) and hearing the Hebrew Bible (specifically I Kings 1:32-40) read aloud in English. Maybe stranger yet was hearing part of that passage set to the music of 17th-century maestro George Friedrich Handel! These, and many other oddities, were only a fraction of the wonderful and unusual experiences of being an American-born British rabbi during the first coronation this country has seen in 70 years.

As with the funeral last year of the late Queen Elizabeth, the scale of organization and competence required to pull off such an event is astounding. For a country where it often feels that smallscale bureaucracy can get in the way of day-to-day life, the coronation was, by all accounts, seamless. This of course makes it the exception rather than the rule, as coronations past were often marred by logistical issues, bad luck, and sometimes straight-up violence.

It was the coronation of Richard I in 1189 that unleashed anti-Jewish massacres and pogroms across the country and led to the York Massacre in 1190, in which more than 150 local Jews killed themselves after being trapped in Clifford’s Tower, which was set ablaze by an angry mob. During that year there were attacks in London, Lynn, Bury St. Edmunds, Stamford, Lincoln, Colchester, and others. It was exactly 100 years later, in 1290, that Edward I would expel Jews from England altogether. They wouldn’t return (officially) for 400 years — or get an official apology from the church for 800.

The recent coronation’s weekend’s festivities, thankfully, were of a very different caliber. Not only were Jewish communities front and center, but Jews, religious and not, were active and welcome participants in the ceremony in Westminster Abbey. Indeed, despite the ceremony taking place

on Shabbat, the United Synagogue (a mainstream Orthodox denomination that accounts for 40-45% of British Jewish synagogue membership) was represented

by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who, together with other faith leaders, played a role in greeting the king as he left the church. This was especially unusual as it has long been

the position of the United Synagogue that their rabbis and members should not go into churches (much less on Shabbat). In Continued on page 16

Continued from page 15 many ways, this demonstrates one of the consistent themes of the coronation: the interruption of normal routine and the continued exceptionalism of the royal family.

Judaism is agnostic, at best, about kings. Our own monarchy came about because the people insisted on it, but against the will of the prophet Samuel against the desire of God. Once it was established — a process

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which involved several civil wars, a lot of bloodshed, and the degradation of many historical elements of Israelite society — it did, for a brief time, bring some stability to the fragile confederacy of Israelite tribes. But it was really only the half-century golden era under King Solomon that managed this feat. After him, and ever since, the monarchy has been a source of confl ict and violence. While we still hope that a righteous heir

of the Davidic monarchy will reappear and take their place as king of Israel, we, famously, are not holding our breath.

Our approach to non-Jewish monarchs is even more complex. Whilst King Charles III was being coronated to the words of our holy texts and being anointed in oil (the ceremony for our monarchs) from the Mount of Olives (in our holy land), we were at the same time reciting a litany of prayers, as we do daily, to remind us (in the words of our prayers): “We have no king but You” (Avinu Malkeinu); “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom” (Ashrei); “God is King, God has ruled, God will rule forever (Y’hi Khavod); “God’s kingship is true there is none else” (Aleinu).

These words were chosen by our sages for our prayers in part because they shared the biblical anxiety about monarchs. Halacha, Jewish law, does retain the notion of a king over Israel, but that king is so heavily bound by legislation, it is far from the absolutist monarchies of most of Europe.

being a Yankee, I’m not also a republican (an anti-monarchist, in the British context). Indeed, while I have my doubts about the idea of monarchy and while, religiously, there is a strong argument against human authority, the monarchy as it operates in modern Britain is fairly compatible with the idea of kingship as established by halacha — restrained, limited, and primarily occupied with being a moral exemplar rather than an authoritarian ruler. Maybe then it shouldn’t be so strange that so much of the ceremonies were drawn from our texts, and so much of the symbolism referential to our tradition. We can be grateful that King Charles’s coronation, the first in a generation, went off without a hitch and without bloodshed, and with the support and involvement of a diverse representation of Britain’s peoples and faiths.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

However, since 1688 at least, after the brief (and failed) experiment with the notion of divine right of kings, England (and now the United Kingdom) has endorsed the notion of a constitutional monarch — a king or queen who is esteemed, but also bound by the law and by restrictions imposed by the people. In practice, this makes today’s monarchy an awful lot like that of ancient Israel, and very different from historic European monarchies, as well as very different from how Americans and others often see it. After nearly six years living and working on these green isles, I’ve come to appreciate the complexities and absurdities of the British monarchy, and to value the role that the ceremonies play in the collective life of Britons.

Many here are surprised to fi nd that,

To the outside, the coronation weekend has likely appeared to be just a lot of pomp and pageantry. No doubt, it is often Americans who are camping out on the Mall in see-through tents or wearing the royal family’s faces as masks in coronation parties — but this American, after more than half a decade here in Britain, can appreciate the depth of the monarchy in ways I couldn’t before. I see both its deep significance and history, its connection to our own tradition (sometimes through appropriation), and its negatives. As a rabbi and a Jew, I will always be of the opinion that there is only one Sovereign who truly rules, but there is something to be said for having a king as well as a King.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

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Legacy of leading by example: Charlie Nusbaum, Tidewater Jewish Foundation board chair

TJF staff report

As board chair of Tidewater Jewish Foundation, Charlie Nusbaum is a true follower of the phrase “lead by example.”

Since 1866, the Nusbaum family has served the Jewish community through Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk. Seven generations of Nusbaums have been actively involved in the temple’s growth and vitality, with Charlie Nusbaum being the fifth generation to serve as Ohef Sholom Temple president.

Nusbaum’s passion and life’s work is dedicated to the sustainability of community, with his servant-leader style approach allowing him to influence many organizations throughout Hampton Roads.

Initially, for Nusbaum, being involved with TJF was the “right thing” to do. Through the many programs and organizations that benefited from TJF, Nusbaum

saw it as a way he could make an impact in the Jewish community at a greater level. Growing up, he witnessed a high level of involvement at the community leadership level from his parents and other community elders. Serving on TJF’s board fulfilled a social responsibility and a heart’s desire.

“Charity begins in the heart,” says Nusbaum. “You need heart and passion to serve and preserve for the next generation.”

Now with years of volunteering with TJF, Nusbaum is on a mission to educate the community about the importance of legacy gifting through planned giving and endowments.

TJF, he says, is the bridge for the Jewish community – committed to creating permanent resources to meet the community’s challenges and needs. TJF educates about the rewards of philanthropy, facilitates the process for donors, offers flexibility to fund non-budget expenses that temples or other

agencies may incur, and provides guidance on best practices for endowments. “Whether Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform, preserving our history, legacy, and heritage depends on donor legacy assets gifted to TJF,” says Nusbaum.

“TJF covers all of us. There is no you and me. It is us. We are in this together,” says Nusbaum. “Whether you are a family donating $100,000 a year, or an individual gifting $100 a month, both are gifts that can perpetuate ongoing support of needs, both great and small, in our community.”

Looking forward, Nusbaum is committed to growing and sustaining TJF. “As a former board member commented, TJF is one of the most critical organizations in the Jewish community, as it preserves what we hold dear as legacies to strengthen and sustain Jewish Tidewater far beyond our individual lives,” he says.

Jewish Yankee Harrison Bader talks baseball over matzah ball soup and pastrami at Liebman’s Deli

Jacob Gurvis

(New York Jewish Week) — What better way to recover from an injury than some Jewish penicillin?

New York Yankees Jewish outfi elder Harrison Bader, who is missing the beginning of the 2023 MLB season due to an oblique muscle injury, starred in a recent episode of Home Plate: New York, a program hosted by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson. In each installment of the show, which is available on the YES App, Samuelsson and a New York sports star visit an iconic New York eatery to discuss food, heritage and, of course, sports.

In the show’s most recent episode, Bader and Samuelsson visit Liebman’s Deli — a kosher spot that’s the last Jewish deli in the Bronx — which is just a short drive from where Bader grew up in Bronxville. Bader attended the Horace Mann School in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Riverdale.

“I wanted to give a shoutout to Liebman’s Kosher Delicatessen, an absolute classic Jewish deli here in the Bronx,” Samuelsson wrote on Facebook.

While at Liebman’s, Bader and Samuelsson met owner Yuval Dekel, who has led the popular Bronx deli for 20 years, after taking over for his father, who

himself ran the restaurant for 20 years.

Dekel walked them through the deli’s process for preparing its beloved pastrami — even letting Bader apply the spice rub to pre-brined brisket. Bader, who called himself “a mustard guy,” said he grew up eating a lot of pastrami.

Once the briskets were ready to go into the oven, Bader and Samuelsson enjoyed some matzah ball soup, before sitting down to a full meal of pastrami sandwiches, stuffed cabbage, pickles, and other classic Jewish delicacies.

Bader, 28, played the fi rst fi ve and a half seasons of his career in St. Louis before being traded to the Yankees last season. Bader’s father, who is Jewish, told the Forward that his son is considering formally converting to Judaism (Bader would not be considered Jewish under matrilineal descent, which says only a child born to a Jewish mother or a person who formally converts to Judaism is Jewish.)

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Bader had initially planned to play for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic that was held in March, but ultimately dropped out due to his injuries. He said he would “absolutely consider” playing for the team in the future. (Bader’s fellow Jewish teammate Scott Effross, whom the Yankees acquired one day before Bader, also missed the WBC because of an injury.)

During his meal with Samuelsson, Bader talked about growing up in New York and playing baseball — and he credited his parents with helping to launch his career. “Obviously my father was my fi rst coach,” Bader said. “Without my dad pitching to me every day, since I was five years old, I would be nowhere.”

Bader said his father likes to visit every stadium he plays in, and often travels to see Bader’s games when he plays at a new stadium for the fi rst time.

He said his mother’s cooking has played a key role in his success, too.

After joining the Yankees last year, Bader lived at home with his parents during the playoffs, during which Bader enjoyed a breakout performance. “I was just in my little bubble — mother’s cooking me breakfast, grabbing coffee with my dad in the morning, then we’re going to play some ball at Yankee Stadium,” Bader recalled. “It’s so cool. It was so fun for all of us.”

Perhaps his postseason success was no coincidence? “Something in my mom’s eggs, I don’t know,” he said.

For more Jewish sports coverage, check out the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s Jewish Sport Report newsletter.

Outdoor Aquatic Center opens for Summer at Simon Family JCC and Sandler Family Campus for Memorial Day weekend

MAY 27-29, 11:30 am – 5:30 pm

With temperatures climbing this Spring, the opening of the Metzger Outdoor Aquatic Center is planned for Memorial Day weekend. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, members and guests are will be able to enjoy all of the fun the outdoor pools and water park offer.

The same hours will be in effect for the following weekend, June 3-4.

June 10 - August 20, outdoor pool hours will be extended to 7 pm on weekdays (MondayThursday), with the pool continuing to close at 5:30 pm on Fridays through Sundays.

August 21 - September 4, the pool will close at 6 pm on weekdays, and 5:30 pm, Friday - Sunday, including Labor Day on Sept. 4.

June 20 - August 11, outdoor lap swimmers can swim outdoor in the lap lane after 12 pm, to accommodate the camp schedule.

The JCC Summer Swordfi sh swim team is an excellent way for children to improve swimming skills with great coaches, make new friends, and stay fit over summer. Go to SimonFamilyJCC.org for more information.

Mission returns from Israel with new appreciation for the work of Federation and partners

Amy Zelenka

DAY 6

Rise and Shine on Day six of our mission

– Tuesday Morning. (Each day already feels like six!) Time to grab breakfast and check out of the hotel. We are heading to Tel Aviv!

Arriving a little early for our reservation at the Palmach Museum, the group had the extraordinary opportunity to visit the archives, which sit behind the museum,

in a separate, but adjacent building. The archivist explained how the albums (created by Palmachniks over the years) were catalogued and displayed – by unit, by location, by area of operation, etc. We had the chance to look through some of the albums and see the very young men and women who literally fought, died, and lived for the founding of the State of Israel. Throughout the museum (housed on the campus of Tel Aviv University), we caught glances of some very famous faces, including a very young,

very handsome Yitzhak Rabin.

The museum is a memorial to the Palmach soldiers – mostly young men and women – who gave their lives so that we (the Jewish People) would never again find ourselves stateless or vulnerable to forces seeking our destruction. Their names are inscribed in stone in the first room of the tour. And we see them again as we exit. The State of Israel, the story goes, was delivered to the Jewish People on a Silver Platter (referring to the poem by Natan Alterman), and the young men and women of the Palmach (and those serving in other units which would eventually coalesce to become the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were that Silver Platter.

From the Palmach Museum we drove south to Shuk Ha-Carmel (Carmel Market) for lunch, browsing, and last-minute shopping in the Nachalat Binyamin artists’ fair. The artists’ fair at Nachalat Binyamin pedestrian mall is the largest and oldest of its kind in Israel and is among the most beautiful and appreciated in the world. The fair started in 1988 and operates on Tuesdays and Fridays only, throughout the year.

If you are suffering from allergies or asthma, please contact us. We can help.

After a festive dinner at 2-C restaurant on the 49th floor of the Azrieli Center (the highest restaurant in Tel Aviv), we found ourselves once more completely exhausted and ready to rest and start our final day tomorrow with fresh eyes and full hearts.

DAY 7

Ican’t believe it’s our last day in Israel!” But what a day it promises to be. After breakfast

in the beautiful David Intercontinental Breakfast Room, we hopped on the bus for a very unique and fascinating stop at the PhotoHouse in the very heart of Tel Aviv. The world renowned PhotoHouse (also known as Pri-Or), is one of Israel’s most valuable and monumental private archives of historical photographs. From 1936 until today, it has been family owned and operated for three generations. We were very graciously met by third generation owner Ben Peter (grandson of the founder), who talked about his family legacy and the challenges presented to small business owners in Israel. We enjoyed browsing the prints lining the walls of the shop – some very famous and well-known. And we enjoyed learning from Peter about his parents and grandparents, but also about the new ideas he has for taking the classic black and white prints and displaying them in a modern, new way.

The Photohouse is considered to be a landmark for both Israelis and visitors from around the world. Having won numerous awards and exhibited throughout Europe and the United States (including the exhibit on display at the Sandler Family Campus), the PhotoHouse continues to preserve and

Deafenbaugh PA-C Kim Pham NP-C

Dr. Gary Moss Dr. Greg Pendell Dr. Craig Koenig Dr. Marguerite Lengkeek

A small but mighty group of Federation donors participated in the 2023 UJFT Community Mission to Israel, February 28 through March 9. During the week-long journey, they wandered through history, culture, and time. . . soaking in all there was to see, hear, taste, feel, and do.

This is the third and final installment of the story of their trip.

Group in front of the Photo House.

curate more than one million negatives, all taken by photographer and founder, Rudi Weissenstein.

From the soft-spoken stylings of Peter, we headed to our next visit at ANU – the Museum of the Jewish People, where we were met by the fiery passion of Avraham Infeld (who might be considered the “coiner” of the phrase Jewish Peoplehood). So, what better place to meet with Infeld than in “our” Museum. Departing from his traditional message, Infeld talked about the “elephant in the country…” the current political divisiveness and protests taking place around the country as a result. And he expressed his concern about the loss of unity in Israeli society and the hope that a compromise solution can be found which will allow Israelis (and, by extension, Jews around the world) to remain united behind a democratic Israel. The protests that we witnessed throughout the mission intensified significantly in the days and weeks following our departure. And after listening to Infeld and others, we were not terribly surprised to see that.

After hearing from Infeld, the group

toured the museum, and what a museum it is! Absolutely magnificent in telling the story of the Jewish People – historic and contemporary. From Jewish music to Jewish art to Jewish poetry, writing, acting, and political leadership. Through interactive, multimedia exhibits, the museum tells the story of all Jews… Jews from Europe, Asia, North Africa, the Americas, and truly everywhere on earth. We could have spent hours and hours moving through the various exhibit halls. Each one brought us to new ways of thinking about our place in the world.

Heading south from the museum, we got off the bus near Dizengoff Street (home of the currently closed-for-renovation Independence Hall, and one of the most beautiful streets in Tel Aviv). Zalman led the group through the area (including Bialik Square and Rothschild Blvd.), pointing out the buildings’ unique architecture. This area is known as “The White City” for its number and density of Bauhaus buildings. Bauhaus is a style of architecture that came out of Germany in the 1930s. Much of today’s modern design is derived from the Bauhaus. There are around 4,000 Bauhaus or International-style buildings in Tel Aviv. Some of these buildings also feature elements that are typical of Modernism, but are defined separately, as they follow more rigorous rules of volume expression, visual balance, and non-ornamentation. On

a beautiful, sunny afternoon, it was a real pleasure to learn about and experience the White City.

As the sun moved across the sky, we all knew that our time in Israel would soon be coming to an end. So, we were determined to enjoy the few hours we had left, and those included a wonderful farewell dinner at the studio of our friend, Israeli artist, Shony Rivnay. When Shony visited Tidewater last fall, we asked if we could visit him when our mission was in Tel Aviv. Not only did he encourage our visit, but he also offered to host our dinner and provided the wine from his very own private collection. It

was fascinating to see the artist’s studio and begin to understand his process and where he develops his ideas as well as the space he needs to create. Joined by Aya Sever, one of our amazing Tidewater Shinshin (and her mom), the dinner was festive, lively, and delicious – this despite the long days spent learning and soaking up the land and feeling of being in Israel.

As the sun began to set (literally and figuratively) on our trip, we made our way back to Ben Gurion airport – surprised to realize that we’d been in Israel for a week –and then onward back home.

In case you missed the first two installments of the 2023 UJFT Community Mission to Israel, go to JewishNewsVa.org and search Community Mission.

Listening along to the multimedia presentation at the Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv.

Farewell Dinner in the Tel Aviv Studio of artist Shony Rivnay.

Artist Shony Rivnay showing several of his recent art.

Tidewater celebrates Israel@75 with high spirits

UJFT Programs Department

Tidewater’s annual Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration took place on the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community on Sunday, April 30. This year’s event

celebrated 75 years since the establishment of the modern state of Israel. Despite the rainy weather, close to 2,000 people gathered to celebrate Israel@75, making it a resounding success. The day was hosted by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater

and Simon Family JCC.

While the weather forced the event to move inside, it did not dampen anyone’s spirits. The Simon Family JCC was buzzing with energy and excitement as all ages gathered to take part in myriad activities.

Children enjoyed face painting, balloon art, giant inflatables, and Israel trivia, while adults consumed falafel and shawarma, shared drinks in the Nadiv Beer Garden, and indulged in faux henna tattoos in a Bedouin tent. The Israel photo booth and a

Isabella Leon, Senator Tim Kaine, Leyla Abrams, and David Leon

Stella Dunlap

Rabbi Yedidya Koven with daughter, Tamar, selling Israeli Salad at B’nai Israel’s table

Barbara Dudley (center) with Delegate Clint Jenkins (left) and his wife, Karen Jenkins

Councilman Joash Schulman and Sandi Advocat

Hunter Thomas, UJFT’s Director of Art and Ideas with Ben Peter. The PhotoHouse exhibit on display in the Leon Family Gallery through June

Andy Fox with Delegate Karen Greenhalgh

JEWISH TIDEWATER

green screen loaded with photos from Israel provided the perfect opportunity for everyone to capture their memories of the day.

One of the event’s highlights was the participation of all area synagogues, Jewish organizations, and agencies – each bringing their unique activities, Judaica, and food to sell. This created a sense of community and solidarity.

Through a partnership with the Portsmouth Jewish Museum and Cultural Center, a timeline outlined the past 150 years of Jewish history in Tidewater, juxtaposed with the historical events in Israel. The display provided an excellent opportunity for viewers of the timeline to learn more about the rich history of Jewish Tidewater.

In addition, Ben Peter of The PhotoHouse, shared his grandfather Rudi Weissenstein’s life work. Weissenstein was a prominent Israeli photographer who documented Israel’s early years. His work has been internationally recognized. Surrounded by his grandfather’s photographs, Peter engaged community members, lay leaders, and elected officials

in conversations about the importance of preserving Israel’s story.

As Tidewater celebrated Israel’s 75th birthday, the diversity that makes Israel so beautiful was reflected on the Sandler Family Campus with people from all backgrounds, faiths, and ethnicities gathered to celebrate Israel’s independence and culture.

Jody Wagner, David Brand, Herm Shelanski, Diane Kaufman (Regional Director for Senator Kaine’s office), and Norman Goldin

President of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Laura Gross

Danny Rubin and Troy Ingram volunteering in the Nadiv Beer Garden

Larry Siegel, Congressman Bobby Scott, and Alan Wagner

Rabbi Israel Zoberman and Drew Lumpkin, Regional Director for Senator Warner’s office with Barbara Rossen of the PJMCC

Joseph Jehlen, Adelae McGuinness, Irina Abramova, and Tommy McGuinness at the Temple Emanuel Smoothie Stand

Bernie Grablowski, Ronnie Cohen, Pam Gladstone, Sharon Serbin, and Erinn Portnoy at the Beth El activity table

Yom Hashoah: A time to remember and honor

Elka Mednick

This year’s Yom Hashoah Commemoration, honoring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, as well as liberators and righteous gentiles, brought the community together around awareness, sadness, honor, hope, and the understanding that the ordinary can be extraordinary.

Temple Israel hosted the annual event on the evening of Sunday, April 16. Anne Fleder, Holocaust Commission member, welcomed the guests as she reflected upon the work of the Holocaust Commission in the past and its roots as an organization driven by survivors who made their homes in Hampton Roads and then succeeded as professionals and lay leaders committed to contemporizing the lessons of the Holocaust for future generations.

Chloe Zuckerman sang the American and Israeli national anthems and Rabbi Michael Panitz of Temple Israel gave the D’var Torah, exploring the idea of the importance of knowing how to adjust one’s behavior and words depending on the situation.

The Commission honored the 2023 Elie Wiesel Writing and Visual Arts Competitions’ winners who have accepted the challenge to speak up to support vulnerable populations. Winners came from multiple schools and states; and senior poetry winner Rebecca McGuire, from Herriman High School in Utah, read her winning poem, Shoes, on video during the ceremony.

Two recipients of the commission’s Awards for Excellence in Holocaust Education were recognized for their years of dedication to helping students understand the relevance and critical lessons of the Holocaust. Lauren Goldman Barkan, co-chair of the Educator Awards,

presented the honors to master teacher Jennifer Goss and middle school English teacher Laura Murphy.

The speaker, Michel (Mike) Ashe, shared his remarkable story of survival in France. Ashe told of the ordinary people in Arthes who protected him and his family. While Ashe told of the details of his life in hiding, he also shared the extraordinary steps he took to honor his protectors. With great work and tenacity, Ashe searched for documents that he submitted to Yad Vashem and was able to have those who saved his life honored as Righteous Among the Nations. All parts of Ashe’s story demonstrate each person’s ability to be a hero, large and small, and the importance of fighting against bigotry and discrimination, while working to promote human dignity.

Six memorial candles were lit to represent not only the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, but also several other groups: 1.5 million murdered children; liberators; survivors who came to call Tidewater home; and educators who dedicate themselves to teach the era’s lessons. After the lighting led by Fay Silverman and June Prager, the names of the community’s survivors were scrolled across the screen while Lei Lei Berz played the cello, which held the contemplative mood of the sanctuary.

Cantor David Proser of Kehillat Bet Hamidrash sang the K’El Malei Rachamim memorial prayer, and Rabbi Adam Ruditsky of Beth Sholom Village led the Kaddish for Shoah victims, followed by a prayer offered by Laura Gross, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater president.

At the end of the night, it was clear that it is important for the community and for individuals to learn from the Holocaust to build a better future for all.

For more information about UJFT’s Holocaust Commission, visit www.holocaustcommission.org, or contact Elka Mednick at emednick@ujft.org.

The Pasta-bilities are endless in kindergarten at Strelitz

Ally St. Pierre

Setting goals and acquiring new skills are at the heart of kindergarten at Strelitz International Academy. This year, each student in Jamie Baker’s kindergarten class set a goal to accomplish with their classmates’ help. Goals included baking a Barbie cake, making and launching rockets, and doing bike tricks on a ramp. Students thought about the process of completing their goals – including how and what they needed from start to finish.

On Friday, May 5, students in Baker’s class helped their classmate, Meirav Warren accomplish her goal of making homemade tortellini.

The students began by taking turns rolling dough. They then shared what they thought the rolled dough resembled. “It looks like a stretchy lemon!” one student said.

Cutting the dough was next. The students used cups to make circle-shaped tortellinis, and knives to make square ones.

Once finished, Baker gave each student a fork with ricotta cheese. One student said he did not like cheese and was hesitant to try it in his pasta. Baker challenged him to be a ‘risk taker,’ an important value in the IB® approach. The student accepted the challenge and used cheese in his tortellini.

The students also related the activity to their Judaic studies as Baker explained that when she purchased the ingredients, she verified everything was kosher.

She noted that the ricotta cheese had the letter U in a circle, meaning it was kosher. After all the hard work, it was finally time to eat the homemade tortellini. The students were so proud of what they had made, but the best part was that they all collaborated to help Meirav accomplish her goal. It was tortelly awesome!

The Strelitz International Academy is the community’s Jewish Day School and International Baccalaureate® World School for infants through grade 5. For more information, contact Ally St. Pierre, admissions and marketing manager, at 757-424-4327, ext. 4188 or astpierre@strelitzacademy.org.

Elie Wiesel student winners.

Michel (Mike) and Marilyn Ashe.

Meirav Warren with her homemade tortellini.

IT’S A WRAP

Leah Steerman wins Southern Jewish essay contest

The Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience’s 2023 Middle School Essay contest’s first place winner is Leah Steerman of Virginia Beach.

With the prompt, “If you were building a Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, which 3 things would you put in it?” MSJE, based in New Orleans, La., launched a contest that was open to all students (in fifth through eighth grades) in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Leah heard about the contest through Congregation Beth El, entered, and was notifi ed of her win last month with a check and a certifi cate. Her essay is posted on the museum’s website.

An honor student at Great Neck Middle School and a member of the National Junior Honor Society, Leah is a Strelitz International Academy alumnus. In the summer, she attends Capitol Camps.

Leah’s family is from Philadelphia, Pa., making her a ‘first-generation Southerner.’ She is the daughter of Stephanie and Sam Steerman and the big sister to Alexa and Sam. Leah will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah on June 17 at Congregation Beth El.

Mazel Tov to Leah and her family!

My Southern Jewish Experience

In my family, I am the first generation to grow up with a Southern Jewish Experience. Here in Virginia Beach, the Jewish community is pretty small. My Hebrew school class has less than 10 kids and there are very few Jewish kids in my middle school. While being Jewish in a small southern community can be hard at times, I think it also means that we are like one big family.

If I were to build a Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, the first thing I would put in it would be a model of The Simon Family JCC. My mom likes to call it the “gateway to the Jewish community” because when we first moved here, we got involved and that’s where we met other Jewish families like ours. For many Jewish families that move to Virginia Beach, the JCC is their first stop to learn about Jewish life here. The JCC provides us and others with fun Jewish programming so we can connect with other Jewish families even if we live further apart.

The second thing I would put in my museum would be a t-shirt, pennant, and pictures from my Jewish overnight camp. Because my community is so small, I have to travel 5-6 hours to get to camp while other campers travel

much shorter distances. Camp is the highlight of my summer. I met such amazing people there and immediately made life-long friendships. Camp is so incredibly special to my southern Jewish experience because I got to be with so many other Jewish kids my age and be surrounded by people with similar beliefs. Even though I live in a small southern Jewish community, when we pray together on Shabbat, we all know the same prayers and it unifies us. I think the best part of camp are the Israeli dances that we learn and do on Shabbat!

The last thing I would put in my museum would be newspaper clippings from 2021 when the Virginia Beach Public Schools were going to start the school year on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. My mom was one of the people helping to get the district to start after the holiday. We educated the school board and made them understand that we shouldn’t have to choose between religion and education. We weren’t helping just the Jewish community, but all religions whose holidays are often not taken into consideration. Thankfully, we were able to have the first day of school after Rosh Hashanah. Our little community was making history. This story was published in many Jewish newspapers, The Times of Israel, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. It taught me that people should stand up for what they think is right.

The JCC model, the Jewish camp memorabilia, and the newspaper clippings from 2021 are my submission to the Southern Jewish Experience because they represent the place, the people, and the pride of my community.

Thelma Carroll: Education trailblazer in the Be A Reader (BeAR) Program

Robin Ford

Atrailblazer and an active Be A Reader (BeAR) mentor, Thelma Carroll has impacted many lives.

In 1960, Carroll applied to and was accepted at Lincoln University, a historically black university in Pennsylvania. She majored in English and graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts degree – among the first women to graduate from the school, breaking barriers and paving the way for generations of women. She later received her master’s degree in public administration from Temple University and became a civil servant, working with the housing and urban development department.

One of only a few women on campus at Lincoln University, Carroll faced discrimination and adversity. The women did not have dormitories or other amenities, but, as Carroll proudly states, “What we had was the desire to stick together as the women of Lincoln U!” Despite many obstacles, she persevered and became an accomplished student and leader. She was also involved in community service projects and helped organize

protests against segregation and discrimination.

Carroll has been with the BeAR program as a reading mentor for many years, starting at College Park Elementary and transferring this year to Chesterfi eld Academy, where she helps struggling students improve their reading skills. Her passion for reading is contagious; many of her students have become avid readers.

Carroll’s legacy as a trailblazer and BeAR mentor is a testament to her strength, resilience, and compassion. She has inspired countless individuals to overcome obstacles and pursue their dreams and has helped generations of students develop a love for reading and a thirst for knowledge.

Among Carroll’s numerous awards and honors for her educational contributions and commitment to social justice, in 2019, she was inducted into the Lincoln University of Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, joining a select group of individuals who have significantly impacted the university and the world.

The United Jewish Federation is fortunate to have Carroll as a dedicated and beloved BeAR mentor.

Thelma Carroll with her student reader learning about Charles Atlas.

Attorney General Miyares to speak about his recent trip to Poland and Israel

Thursday, June 1, 12:30 pm, Online, Free

Art from Elie Wiesel competition on display at the Sandler Family Campus Through May

Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission, the Elie Wiesel Visual Arts competition provides middle and high school students with questions to learn about the Holocaust while applying the lessons to create artwork.

The competition is named in honor of Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie

Wiesel, who dedicated his life to promoting peace and understanding.

Paintings, sculptures, and collages that creatively explore the lessons of the Holocaust are highlighted in the exhibit, which provides an opportunity for visitors to see the beautiful and thought-provoking pieces created by the featured students.

The exhibit at the Sandler Family Campus runs through the end of May.

The Honorable Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General of Virginia, will share takeaways from his March trip to Poland and Israel in a statewide online conversation.

The bipartisan trip spearheaded by Attorney General Miyares, co-led by North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, included 14 attorneys general from across the country.

The delegation visited Auschwitz with one of the foremost Holocaust scholars in the United States where they discussed the historical rise of antisemitism in the 1930s and 1940s, and how it was able to thrive in progressive European cities. During their visit to Israel, they met with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where they learned about the background and impact of the global boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, and visited with Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog and senior advisor to the Prime Minister, Ambassador Ron Dermer.

The Attorney General returned to the Commonwealth with renewed determination to combat the scourge of antisemitism through his newly created Antisemitism Task Force. Learn more about Attorney General Miyares’ trip and how his experience will impact the fight against hate in the Commonwealth during this online event, which is open to the entire community. Pre-registration is required by May 26. A link to join the conversation will be provided to those who register.

Contact David Brand, special assistant for outreach, Office of the Attorney General of Virginia, at dbrand@oag.state.va.us.

Memorial Day Commemoration

Thursday, May 25, 8:30 am

Jewish War Veterans Flagpole, Sandler Family Campus

The Board of Rabbis and Cantors of Hampton Roads and the Jewish War Veterans (Post 158) will host a community Memorial Day Weekend observance to start the weekend in appreciation of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for America’s freedom.

The weekend that will be marked by the celebration of Shavuot, and Memorial Day (for many, a secular barbecue fest), will also offer an opportunity to join together to pause and value the many brave men and women who have given their lives in support of a nation where “we can go to shul on Friday and Saturday and go to the beach on Sunday,” says Rabbi Yonatan M. Warren, BCC, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps.

Hosted by the local Navy Jewish Chaplains, Rabbi Yoni Warren (Navy Medical Center Portsmouth) and Rabbi Aaron Kleinman (Marine Forces Command), this event is open to all.

Rain location will be inside the Sandler Family Campus.

For information contact Joel Bond at JBond@ujft.org

Elka Mednick

CALENDAR

MAY 25, THURSDAY

Memorial Day Commemoration: A Tribute to Jewish Veterans Who Sacrificed for Freedom and Democracy. 8:30 - 9:15 am at the Jewish War Veterans Flagpole at the JCC. Gather in front of Lake Sandler to memorialize the Jewish heroes who sacrificed in the name of freedom. Sponsored by Norfolk Military Jewish Community, Jewish Community Resource Council, Board of Rabbis and Cantors of Hampton Roads, all are invited to participate in this short ceremony. For more information, contact Rabbi Yoni Warren (LCDR, CHC, USN): 757-953-1952.

Monthly Moon Circle. The Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater hosts a tradition that spans thousands of years: a monthly holiday known as Rosh Chodesh, meaning “head of the month.” Breathing new life into one of Judaism’s best-kept secrets, come together for self-refl ection and rituals to help connect with this ancient legacy, learn from Jewish wisdom, and embrace the unique spiritual energy of each month. 6:45 pm. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman at SLautman@UJFT.org.

MAY 31, WEDNESDAY

National Senior Health and Fitness

Day. Join this twice-annual celebration at the Simon Family JCC with group fitness classes, games, vendors, prize raffles, and so much more. 9 am -2 pm. Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Robin Ford at rford@ujft.org.

JUNE 4, SUNDAY

Summer Sunday Fun Day at the Pool. Pack the family into the car and head to the Sandler Family Campus for a fun-filled afternoon of music, swimming, and a sweet treat. Sunday Fun Days are free and open to Simon Family JCC members, synagogue members, PJ Library families, SIA families, YAD members, and Camp JCC families. 1 – 4 pm. For more information or to register, visit JewishVA.org/PJLibrary or contact Nofar Trem at NTrem@UJFT.org.

JUNE 6, TUESDAY

The Postmistress of Paris with Meg Waite Clayton. Online – Watch from Home. This haunting novel revisits the dark early days of the German occupation of France, both a love story and a tale of high-stakes danger and incomparable courage. A young American heiress from Chicago helps artists hunted by the Nazis escape from war-torn Europe. Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with UJFT’s Holocaust Commission. 12 pm. Online, free, and open to the community, registration is required. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA. org/BookFest or contact Hunter Thomas at HThomas@UJFT.org.

THURSDAY, JUNE 15

Monthly Moon Circle. The Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater hosts a tradition that spans thousands of years: a monthly holiday known as Rosh Chodesh, meaning “head of the month.” Breathing new life into one of Judaism’s best-kept secrets, come together for self-refl ection and rituals to help connect with this ancient legacy, learn from Jewish wisdom, and embrace the unique spiritual energy of each month. 6:45 pm. For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman at SLautman@UJFT.org.

MEMBERSHIP AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Introducing our new JCC Membership Portal and MyJ scheduling app!

2023: Simon Family JCC Day Camp Employment

Looking for wonderful place to work? Try Camp JCC !

At Camp JCC, energetic and passionate staff provide a safe and positive learning environment for campers. Previous summer day camp work expe-rience and/or experience working with children helpful.

Excellent Career Experience for

College students, high school students (rising Juniors, Seniors) or graduates, or for those looking to work in recreation, education, or social work. All positions serve as role models for campers and each other.

Now Hiring… for the following positions:

Sr. Counselors (High School Graduates or 18 years old)

Junior Counselor (High School Rising Junior and 16 years old)

Specialists ( Activities: Sports, Music, Arts, etc.)

Special Needs Shadow Counselors •Administrative Assistant Camp Nurse ( RN or LPN)

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience

For more information, contact:

Taftaleen Hunter, Human Resources Director

Applications available at www.simonfamilyjcc.org

Submit completed application to: resumes@ujft.org or by mail

UJFT/Simon Family JCC

Attention: Confidential: Human Resources

5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Suite 200 • Virginia Beach, VA 23462

Staff Orientation: June 11-17; Camper/Counselor Meet & Greet: June 19 Last Blast Camp (Post Camp) August 14 - 25

Jonathan Omer-Man, leader in Jewish meditation who met with the Dalai Lama

Jackie Hajdenberg

(JTA) — Jonathan Omer-Man, a rabbi and pioneer in Jewish meditation whose meeting with the Dalai Lama in 1990 was described in Rodger Kamenetz’s best-selling book The Jew in the Lotus, died on Tuesday, May 2. He was 89.

Omer-Man was part of a delegation of Jews, including rabbis of various denominations, who went to Dharamshala, India as part of an interfaith dialogue with the exiled leader of Tibetan Buddhism. Kamenetz’s 1994 book focused in large part on rabbis and Jewish thinkers like OmerMan who were looking to infuse Jewish practice with techniques and insights drawn from Eastern religions, and perhaps understand why many young Jews were drawn to traditions other than their own.

To that end, Omer-Man was also the founder of Metivta, an egalitarian, nondenominational Jewish community based in Los Angeles that emphasizes learning Jewish texts and meditation. Omer-Man rooted his lessons and techniques in Jewish mystical traditions, including the Kabbalah and the teachings of Hasidic masters.

“There have always been Jews who followed a traditional mystical path, and there’s never been a rabbinic consensus,” he told an interviewer in 2004. “All there has been is ‘our group versus their group.’”

Born Derek Orlans in Portsmouth, England in 1934, Omer-Man spent years working on a kibbutz in Israel before his legs were paralyzed by polio. He moved to Jerusalem where he found various jobs as an electrician, a teacher, and in the publishing industry before he was captivated

by the study of Jewish mysticism in his mid-30s.

He received a private rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Zalman SchachterShalomi, the founder of the Jewish Renewal movement, and in 1981 he moved to Los Angeles, where he was invited by the Los Angeles Hillel council to set up an outreach program for “religiously alienated Jews” — specifically those interested in faiths like Hinduism and Buddhism.

“He worked for a number of years on a one-on-one basis,” Kamenetz wrote in The Jew and the Lotus. “Jonathan had struck up a conversation with some Jewish kids from Los Angeles. When they heard that Jonathan would soon be opening a school of Jewish meditation, they immediately signed up to study with him.”

Omer-Man was one of the

founding teachers of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, an organization founded in 1999 that develops and teaches Jewish spiritual practices including meditation, yoga, Torah study, song and niggunim, or the singing of wordless melody. He was the author of multiple essays, short fiction and verse, and taught and lectured widely.

Omer-Man, who resided in Berkeley, California, was married to Nan Gefen, a fiction and nonfiction writer. Their blended family has seven children and 10 grandchildren. The family recently welcomed a great-grandson.

“People are very much into bringing more fun into Judaism,” Omer-Man told Kamenetz. “But fun is not joy. Joy is ecstatic knowledge with all parts of one’s being, an integrated way of knowing. It’s truly a quest.”

Meir Shalev and Yehonatan Geffen were Israeli cultural royalty. Their deaths leave a hole on the left.

Gilad Halpern

(JTA) — Over the last few months, since the far-right government announced its plans for an overarching constitutional overhaul, Israel’s embattled liberal camp has experienced a renaissance. Unprecedented mobilization on the part of protesting masses, business leaders, and the IDF vanguard has left the government in disarray and, in the wake of a seemingly endless string of electoral defeats, invigorated the left to an extent that it had not seen since the 1990s. The left may be dead, but it is not quite buried yet.

But amid this process of rejuvenation and weeks before Israel celebrated its 75th anniversary, the Israeli left experienced two symbolic blows in ironic proximity when two cultural titans died within days of each other.

Meir Shalev, an eminent novelist, and Yehonatan Geffen, an incredibly prolific

journalist, author and songwriter, were also prominent public intellectuals. Both had spent decades dabbling in current affairs as columnists for the mass-circulation dailies Yedioth Aharonoth and Maariv, respectively.

Shalev was 74 when he died on April 11. Geffen, who died on April 19, was 76.

The symbolism did not stop at their premature and almost simultaneous passing. It was, rather, the final chapter of two lives that also began in great proximity: Shalev and Geffen were born a little over a year apart in the agricultural community of Nahalal, the Camelot of the Labor Zionism movement. Both were descendants of Zionist aristocracy: Shalev’s father was the Jerusalemite author and educator Yithzak Shalev, and Geffen’s maternal uncle the legendary general-turned-politician Moshe Dayan. Like many of their cohort, they were groomed for the driving seat of the newborn State of Israel.

Their formidable life’s work, thus, was

largely an ongoing attempt to deal with the burden bestowed upon them by their pedigrees. And this is where they differ, despite the eerie similarities in their biographies.

Many of Shalev’s novels, especially the earlier ones, were loving tributes to his lineage. They included A Pigeon and A Boy, which is set during the War of Independence and won the National Jewish Book Award in 2006, and The Blue Mountain, set on a moshav (an agricultural cooperative) shortly before the founding of Israel. Though never overly sentimental and always strewn with a heavy dose of irony, Shalev’s writings were adoring accounts of a bygone generation, complete with their shtick and quirks and foibles.

But while Shalev looked up to his parents’ generation, Geffen blew a raspberry in their faces. He was part of a tight cohort of musicians and artists who grew up in Israel post-independence — a tribe that included David Broza, Arik Einstein, Gidi

Gov, Shalom Hanoch and Yehudit Ravitz, all household names in Israel. Geffen’s song Could It Be Over?, featured on Arik Einstein’s 1973 album sporting the deliberately ironic title Good Old Israel, exemplifies the challenging relationship. From the opening line (“They say it was fun before I was born, and everything was just splendid until I arrived”), the song is a mischievous and self-deprecating take on Israel’s founding myths. Enumerating them one by one — the draining of the swamps, the heroic battles for Jewish sovereignty, the nascent Hebrew culture in the pre-state Yishuv — Geffen sarcastically concludes: “They had a reason to get up in the morning.”

More broadly, Geffen was bent on smashing every aspect of the Zionist ethos. In defiance of the image of the Hebrew warrior, of which his uncle Moshe was the poster boy, Geffen was an adamant pacifist as well as, famously, a very bad soldier himself.

Geffen’s counterculture instincts were informed by his great American heroes — notably the Jewish iconoclasts Bob Dylan and Lenny Bruce — and this admiration was a jab at his upbringing, characterized by vain parochialism masquerading as self-sufficiency. Geffen felt more at home in New York (where he spent several years) and Tel Aviv than in the fields of the Jezreel Valley; his tools were not a sickle and a plow, but rather a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of whisky.

Shalev, in his political writing, also advocated for left-of-center politics that is sometimes derisively described as “Ashkenazi”: moderate, civil, Western in its orientation, calling to rally around a common good — a type of political discourse that, as recent events show, speaks to fewer and fewer Israelis. “The Israeli public is moving more and more to the right. The war in 1967 may have destroyed Israel,” he told an interviewer in 2017.

Shalev and Geffen were representatives of two distinct streams within the traditionally fragmented Israeli left; the

very same left that, despite the current resurgence, seems too often to have more streams than members.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

Gerald Reuben Adelman

VIRGINIA BEACH – Gerald Reuben Adelman, 93, died on May 12, 2023 at Beth Sholom Village. He is predeceased by his wife of 61 years, Evelyn Adelman (of blessed memory).

He is survived by his son, David Adelman and wife Connie SpruillAdelman; his daughter, Deborah Adelman; a brother, Ralph Adelman and wife Marla; five grandchildren, Jon Proesel, Joseph Adelman, Matthew Adelman, Stephanie Baines, and Jason Spruill; and six great-grandchildren.

Gerald was born in Greenwood, Mississippi in 1929; and was the son of Gus

and Bessie Adelman (of blessed memory). He was a retail manager (Sears, GEX, T G & Y Stores, and Tons of Toys) until his retirement. During his entire life, he was extremely active in model train building and was considered a subject matter expert. While living in North Carolina, he was a founding member of the Concord Area Model Railroaders Club. Additional hobbies of interest were coin and stamp collecting.

The family would like to express their gratitude to the staff of Bon Secours Province Place of Maryview and Beth Sholom Home of Eastern Virginia for their care of Gerald for the past eight years.

A private graveside service was held at Olive Branch Cemetery. Donations may be made to Ohef Sholom Temple, American Kidney Foundation, or charity of choice.

Sisler, Vice President, Member of Ohef Sholom Temple, Board member of the Berger-Goldrich Home at Beth Sholom Village, James E. Altmeyer, Jr., President, James E. Altmeyer, Sr., Owner

Jason Schwartzman is a cantor and Carol Kane is his bat mitzvah student in comedy Between the Temples

Gabe Friedman

(JTA) — Jason Schwartzman is starring as a cantor who takes on an adult bat mitzvah student played by veteran actress Carol Kane in an upcoming comedy film. Shooting for Between the Temples, a self-described “anxious comedy,” has already wrapped, Variety reported this month, but no release date was given. The film was written and directed by Jewish filmmaker Nathan Silver, whose past films include the well-received indie comedies Thirst Street and The Great Pretender.

“It’s the story of a cantor who is locked in a crisis of faith and fi nds his

world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher re-enters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student,” Variety reported.

The news came two weeks after Netflix announced that another Jewish actor, Adam Brody, would play a “charming rabbi” in a comedy series that co-stars Kristen Bell. Netflix also debuted its Jewish Matchmaking dating series earlier this month to acclaim.

Schwartzman — the son of Jewish film producer Jack Schwartzman and actress Talia Shire, and nephew of famed director Francis Ford Coppola — is

well known as a recurring face in Wes Anderson films and other indie movies and shows. He has played Jewish characters before, including one loosely inspired by Philip Roth in the 2014 comedy-drama Listen Up Philip.

Kane, who is also Jewish, has had a long career on stage and screen that ranges from 1975’s Hester Street, about Jewish immigrants in New York City’s Lower East Side — for which she was nominated for an Academy Award — to Hunters, the Amazon series about post-war Nazi hunters that debuted in 2020.

Other Between the Temples cast members include Caroline Aaron, the Jewish

actress who has played the protagonist’s mother-in-law on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; the Jewish former Saturday Night Live writer and Adam Sandler collaborator Robert Smigel; and Dolly de Leon, who is gaining late-career acclaim for her recent performance in the Oscar-nominated fi lm Triangle of Sadness.

Variety noted that the fi lm is produced and fi nanced by Ley Line Entertainment, which co-produced this year’s Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once and a few other acclaimed indie fi lms since its founding in 2018

"Recently my mother required 12 hour per day personal care assistance. On short notice, Changing Tides Home Care provided the necessary assistance. They have been responsive to my mother's needs and have kept the family informed by telephone, text and portal. I am very pleased with their services.”

-Andrew H. Hook, President of Hook Law Center