Jewish News: March 3, 2025 Edition

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JEWISH

LIFE

Modern Jewish families are shaped by economic uncertainty, cultural diversity, other social trends

New study details parents’ challenges and aspirations

Today’s Jewish families are shaped by several social trends, including increased cultural diversity, economic precarity, geographic mobility, and political polarization, according to a new report from Crown Family Philanthropies, Harold Grinspoon Foundation, and the Jim Joseph Foundation. The report, Understanding the Aspirations of Jewish Families Today and the Parenting Challenges They Face, paints a rich picture of the resilience and creativity of Jewish families as they strive to build meaningful Jewish lives amid these challenges and pressures. The findings are based on 40 focus groups and 40 one-on-one interviews with select focus group participants. Jewish Families Today details key features of many families, showing that they are 1) Increasingly diverse; 2) Divided in their commitment to multiple aspirations for their children; 3) Geographically dispersed; 4) Comfortable with a DIY approach but still wanting guidance; and 5) Desperate for their children to experience a community. These features are reflected in core aspects of their lives:

Parental priorities and aspirations

• Many Jewish parents share several core priorities and aspirations in raising their children as they try to build strong, inclusive Jewish identities while fostering empathy and respect for diversity.

• Raising children with a strong sense of self, compassion, and moral responsibility is essential.

• Community is a critical component in their children’s Jewish identity and parents aim to instill a connection to something larger than the self.

• Many parents emphasize cultivating homes that are culturally rich, Jewishly meaningful and tolerant and inclusive of multiple heritages, faiths, and ethnicities.

Bumps, obstacles, and difficult contexts

• Significant barriers limit families’ ability to engage fully in Jewish life, including financial costs, such as synagogue memberships and Jewish school tuition, and geographic distance from Jewish centers or family networks.

• Political polarization, both within Jewish communities and the broader public, is a challenge. Families with marginalized identities—interfaith, LGBTQ+, or multiracial— often feel sidelined within traditional Jewish institutions.

How families make it work

• Jewish families exhibit resilience and resourcefulness in fostering Jewish life. \

• For some, informal peer networks and small, grassroots, community-led gatherings provide a supportive environment.

• Parents tailor Jewish practices to meet their family’s unique cultural mix, blending traditions and finding meaning in practices that reinforce both Jewish values and a broad sense of inclusion.

Israel: Ever more complicated

• The topic of Israel has grown more complicated for many Jewish families. While many parents want their children to appreciate Israel’s historical and cultural significance, they often feel caught between polarized viewpoints in Jewish and general communities.

• Parents desire a balanced approach to Israel, allowing for nuance and critical thought. They worry about their children encountering polarized discourse that reduces a complex reality to stark oppositions.

“Families are not rejecting Jewish institutions; synagogues and Jewish preschool still have great appeal,” the research team notes.

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all,’ Yarden Bibas tells his sons and wife at their funeral

Philissa Cramer

(JTA) — Israel was awash in orange on Wednesday, Feb. 26 as the Bibas family held a private funeral for Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir, the mother and young sons murdered in captivity in Gaza.

Israelis wearing orange lined a nearly 40-mile route that a funeral procession took on the way to the cemetery in southern Israel, near Nir Oz, the kibbutz from which the family was abducted when Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, 2023. Their bodies were released from Gaza following a grisly ceremony by the terror group and were buried together in a single coffin.

Mothers carried orange balloons during a demonstration in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square. Both Ben-Gurion Airport and the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, shone in the color on Tuesday night, as the country prepared for yet another wrenching moment in an unrelenting national trauma.

And Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and Ariel and Kfir’s father who himself was freed from Gaza last month, wore an orange kippah as he delivered a tearful eulogy that livestreamed directly to a grieving nation.

“Mi amor,” he began as he addressed his wife in the Spanish of their families’ ancestral home in Argentina. He apologized for not being able to protect their family and recalled the last decision they made together, choosing from their safe room to fight the terrorists who had attacked them rather than surrender — a choice he said he would not make again.

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“Shiri, everyone knows and loves us — you can’t imagine how surreal all this madness is,” he said, referring to the way that the family has become a national symbol. “Shiri, people tell me they’ll always be by my side, but they’re not you. So please stay close to me.” He added, “Protect me from myself. Guard me so I don’t sink into darkness.”

To his sons, whose red hair inspired the orange displays, Yarden Bibas also apologized. He also recalled the laughter they shared and imagined them playing together in the afterlife.

“I love you ‘the most in the world, always in the world,’ just as you used to tell us,” he told Ariel, who was 4 on Oct. 7. He repeated the phrase when addressing Kfir, 9 months old at the time, before concluding, “I have so many more things to tell you all, but I’ll save them for when we’re alone.”

Other members of the family spoke as well but no representative of the Israeli government was present, in accordance with the family’s wishes. On the eve of the funeral, the Bibas family released a statement saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had shared additional details about what forensic analysis had shown about Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir’s bodies in contravention of the family’s preferences.

Yarden Bibas’ sister, Ofri Bibas Levy, decried the government for letting the Oct. 7 attack happen and for not bringing her family back alive.

“They could have saved you but preferred revenge,” she said. “We lost. Our image of ‘victory’ will never happen.”

The funeral followed a ceremony Tuesday for Oded Lifshitz, who was also abducted from Nir Oz on Oct. 7 along with his wife and was murdered in captivity at age 83. His wife Yocheved, released in October 2023, eulogized him, saying that the family had been attacked by those whom they sought to help as peace activists. Israeli President Isaac Herzog also spoke at Lifshitz’s funeral, apologizing for the state’s failure on Oct. 7.

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BRIEFS

Google Calendar no longer shows Holocaust Remembrance Day and Jewish American Heritage Month

Google Calendar has removed International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Jewish American Heritage Month from its default display in the United States, part of a broader removal of cultural and ethnic observances from the app.

The removal is being noticed now as companies across the United States roll back a range of diversity, equity, and inclusion measures following the Trump administration’s directives against DEI. But Google told tech news outlets that the changes to the calendar date back to mid-2024 and have to do with workload rather than government policy.

“Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world. We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing — and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable,” the tech giant, which is valued at $2.3 trillion, told The Verge.

In addition to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Jan. 27, and Jewish American Heritage Month in May, the observances that no longer automatically appear include Pride Month and Black History Month. Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency, some official commemorations of International Holocaust Remembrance Day were canceled amid the crackdown on DEI. (JTA)

Three of the largest Jewish denominations sue Trump administration over ICE raids

Three major Jewish religious denominations are suing the Department of Homeland Security to stop immigration raids at houses of worship.

The suit, filed last month in federal court in Washington, D.C., was brought by dozens of religious groups including the governing bodies of the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements. The other groups represent a range of Christian denominations. They are challenging the Trump administration’s reversal of an order that prohibited Immigration and Customs Enforcement from operating in “sensitive locations” such as churches and synagogues.

The order means that undocumented immigrants fearing arrest can no longer seek sanctuary at houses of worship. The lawsuit hopes to restore the “sensitive locations” policy.

“The new policy thus greenlights enforcement actions that could interrupt religious services in furtherance of the Administration’s mass deportation plans,” reads a press release about the lawsuit, which was filed by Georgetown University’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection.

Through the order, the statement added, “the government is interfering with their religious activities and their ability to fulfill their religious mandate to welcome

and serve immigrants.”

During Trump’s first term, a number of synagogues sheltered immigrants at risk of deportation, and a broad range of Jewish groups spoke out or took action against his immigration restrictions. Some of those coalitions are mobilizing now, as Trump places a broad immigration crackdown at the center of his agenda.

“Throughout Jewish history, we have known the hardship and persecution of living as immigrants,” Rabbi Rick Jacobs, who helms the Union for Reform Judaism, said in a statement. “We are inspired by those experiences across the generations, as well as the repeated biblical commandment to welcome the stranger, to ensure that our congregations remain places where immigrants — including those who may be undocumented — can enter to worship, seek pastoral counsel, learn, socialize, obtain needed services and support, or to act as caregivers for those who do.”

The lawsuit comes on the heels of another suit in which HIAS, the Jewish refugee aid and advocacy group, partnered with other resettlement agencies to challenge the Trump administration’s suspension of refugee resettlement. (JTA)

Netanyahu says Israel is ‘leveling entire streets used by terrorists’ in West Bank after bus explosions near Tel Aviv

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country’s military would crack down on terrorism in the West Bank after three empty buses exploded one after another in suburbs of Tel Aviv on Thursday, Feb. 20.

The explosions, which further unsettled Israelis at a time when the country was grieving the return of the bodies of three hostages, took place in parking lots in the cities of Bat Yam and Holon. Bombs were also defused on two other buses. No one was injured in the explosions.

Israeli authorities found timers on the bombs and suspect that they were meant to explode the following day in a coordinated terror attack.

“We had a big miracle, a really big terror attack was prevented all across Gush Dan,” the Israeli term for the Tel Aviv metro area, Bat Yam’s mayor said.

In response, the Israeli military moved three battalions to the West Bank. And Netanyahu vowed to step up Israel’s fight against terror groups there, signaling a shift in focus during a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. (JTA)

After rebuke from far-right French leader, Bannon denies gesture was a Nazi salute

Steve Bannon, the former senior adviser to President Donald Trump, denied that his straight-armed, palmdown gesture at a prominent conservative gathering was a Nazi salute.

Bannon’s gesture at CPAC, which closely resembled one made by current Trump adviser Elon Musk at an inauguration rally last month, has drawn criticism from multiple Jewish groups for

“normalizing” right-wing extremism.

But it has also received a rebuke from the far right: Jordan Bardella, the president of National Rally, a French far-right party, canceled his appearance at CPAC in protest of Bannon’s gesture.

“Yesterday, while I was not present in the room, one of the speakers out of provocation allowed himself a gesture alluding to Nazi ideology,” Bardella said in a statement. “I therefore took the immediate decision to cancel my speech that had been scheduled this afternoon.”

National Rally, co-founded by a Nazi SS commander and led for decades by a man convicted of antisemitic hate speech, has worked to shed its antisemitic image and present a more approachable face to French voters as it has recently gained popularity.

Bannon lashed back at Bardella, telling a French reporter that Bardella was “unworthy to lead France. He’s a boy, not a man.” Bannon added that Bardella “wets himself like a little child.”

Bannon, who airs far-right nationalist views as the host of an influential podcast, also said that the gesture was not a Nazi salute.

“No, it was a wave, it was a wave like I did all the time,” he said. “I do it at the end of all my speeches to thank the crowd.”

Musk ignited a torrent of criticism last month when he made a similar gesture, which many but not all perceived to be a Nazi salute, following Trump’s inauguration. Ten days later, a priest and far-right political activist was kicked out of his Anglican church for making the salute at a pro-life rally.

Jewish groups criticized Bannon following his gesture, which came at the end of a speech in which he also said “The future of MAGA is Donald Trump. We want Trump in ’28,” a reference to Trump running for a third term, which would be unconstitutional.

“Last night Steve Bannon sent a clear message to white supremacists and neo-Nazis as he performed a fascist/Nazi salute and yelled at the CPAC crowd to ‘fight, fight, fight!'” read a statement from the Nexus Project, a liberal group that focuses on antisemitism. The group lamented that “the growing normalization of neo-Nazi signaling and rhetoric from figures close to the president is stunningly dangerous — particularly for American Jews.”

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the liberal Jewish Council for Public Affairs, also condemned the “Nazi-style salute” and said the gesture was “part of a broader normalization of extremism.” Earlier she criticized remarks by Vice President J.D. Vance in which he rebuked German political parties for isolating the far-right party Alternative for Germany.

On X, the Anti-Defamation League did not reference the gesture but tweeted, “Steve Bannon’s long and disturbing history of stoking antisemitism and hate, threatening violence, and empowering extremists is well known and well documented by ADL and others. We are not surprised, but are concerned about the normalization of this behavior.” (JTA)

ANTISEMITISM

Barnard College expels 2 students who disrupted Israel history class with pro-Palestinian protest

Philissa Cramer (JTA) — Barnard College has expelled two seniors who disrupted an Israeli history course last month by banging on drums, shouting “Free Palestine” and distributing fliers showing a boot stomping on a Star of David.

The incident drew widespread attention on social media when it took place on the first day of classes for the semester. Four people wearing keffiyehs as masks entered a Columbia University course titled “History of Modern Israel,” interrupting instruction, as captured on videos that circulated in the aftermath.

Columbia — whose president condemned the protest and said in a statement that “any act of antisemitism” was “unacceptable” — suspended one of the protesters who was enrolled there and referred two others for discipline at an “affiliated institution.” Columbia and Barnard are adjacent to each other in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan and share many classes.

Now, two protesters who were Barnard students have been expelled, according to reports in Jewish Insider and the Columbia Spectator student newspaper.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a pro-Palestinian student coalition that has driven protests since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, said in a statement that the punishment “marks a serious escalation in the crackdown against students advocating for divestment against the israeli war machine.”

The coalition said the expulsions had been issued on Friday, Feb. 21 and were the first in connection to protests against Israel. It called for a week of heightened protest activity on campus. “We disrupted a zionist class, and you should too,” the

group said on Instagram, where it reposted video from the initial incident.

Barnard President Laura Rosenbury said in a statement first reported by Jewish Insider that the school could not comment on students’ disciplinary records but “will always take decisive action to protect our community as a place where learning thrives.”

She continued, “When rules are broken, when there is no remorse, no reflection, and no willingness to change, we must act. Expulsion is always an extraordinary measure, but so too is our commitment to respect, inclusion, and the integrity of the academic experience.”

Students have five days to appeal punishments meted out by Barnard’s “conduct administrator,” according to the Spectator. It was unclear whether the expulsions followed an appeals process.

Brian Cohen, the director of Columbia/Barnard Hillel, praised Rosenbury’s “strong action and words” in a post on social media. “These former students disrupted a class, handed out antisemitic flyers, and harassed students who only wanted to learn,” he wrote. “These individuals don’t belong on campus — and now they won’t be.”

In entering a classroom, the protest marked a sharp departure from the proPalestinian protests that rocked Columbia and Barnard last year and resulted in dozens of arrests and suspensions, as well as the closure of Columbia’s campus to outsiders. Those demonstrations included a weeks-long encampment on the college lawn that spurred copycats at dozens of schools and the takeover of an administrative building but did not target individual classes.

ISRAEL

Buildings honor memories of Bibas boys with orange lights

Terri Denison

The Israeli Embassy called for the lighting of buildings in orange in commemoration of the Bibas children, hoping that the illuminations would serve as a powerful gesture of remembrance and solidarity.

The symbolic lightings were intended to honor the memories of Ariel and Kfi r Bibas, the two young Israeli boys who were viciously murdered by Hamas while being held captive in Gaza. (Their bodies were returned to Israel on Feb. 20. See page 7)

Israel’s Foreign Ministry chose the color orange as it came to symbolize the plight of the young family since Oct. 7, 2023, because of Ariel and Kfi r’s striking bright orange hair.

Everyone who was asked locally to display orange lights complied, including, in Virginia Beach: The Sandler Family Campus, the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront Resort, and the Summer House apartments; and in Norfolk: The Wells Fargo Building and The Main.

“We are now and always going to support our Jewish brothers and sisters in

this regard,” said Bruce Thompson, CEO of Gold Key Resorts, about responding to the request, and when referring to “a loving orange glow” for his properties.

Israeli embassy buildings around the

world were illuminated, as was the Knesset in Jerusalem.

Multiple locations across the United States were also lit orange – from San Francisco to Beverly Hills to New York.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that 14 landmarks across the state would be illuminated orange on Friday, Feb. 21.

“Our hearts are broken as we mourn Ariel and Kfi r Bibas, who were brutally murdered by Hamas in an act of callous and unthinkable cruelty,” Hochul said.

In Argentina, where the Bibas family held Argentine citizenship, many buildings were lit in the orange hue, including in Bueno Aires.

Marriott in Virginia Beach.

The Wells Fargo Building in Norfolk.

The Knesset in Israel.

ISRAEL

‘Beyond comprehension’: Leaders in Israel, US, and worldwide mourn Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas and Oded Lifshitz

(JTA) — Leaders in Israel, the United States, and worldwide expressed their sadness and horror as the bodies of four dead hostages returned to Israel from Gaza on Thursday, Feb. 20.

Many of the messages focused on Shiri Bibas and her children Ariel and Kfir, ages 4 and 9 months at the time of their abduction, who were the youngest hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, and whose bodies were said to be returned on Thursday. (Shiri’s body was actually returned on Friday, Feb. 21 after an Israeli forensic exam determined the body sent on Thursday did not belong to her. Hamas later said there could have been an “error or overlap in the bodies.”) Leaders also mourned Oded Lifshitz, 84, whose body was also returned.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed the need to defeat Hamas, while President Isaac Herzog emphasized the need to free the remaining captives. Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, posted a briefer message on social media.

Benjamin Netanyahu: “Today, every home in Israel bows its head. We bow our heads over the heavy loss of four of our hostages. We all feel pain mixed with rage. We are all outraged at the Hamas monsters. The four coffins of our dear ones require us, more than ever, to ensure, to swear, that what happened on October 7 never recurs.

“The voice of our dear ones’ blood cries out to us from the ground. It requires us to settle accounts with the depraved murderers — and we will settle accounts with them.”

Quoting a verse from Psalms, he continued, “God of vengeance, Lord God of vengeance, appear.” He added, “We will return all of our hostages. We will destroy the murderers; we will eliminate Hamas. And together, with God’s help, we will ensure our future.”

Isaac Herzog: On social media, Israel’s president wrote, “Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters. On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.”

Later, speaking to CNN, Herzog said Israel should prioritize freeing the rest of the hostages and extending the current ceasefire. “First and foremost, we want to bring all our hostages back home. There are 69 of them out and it is assumed that the majority are still alive. I’m speaking to their families

throughout these days. We have to get to the second stage of the deal and complete it and bring them back home whilst making sure that Hamas cannot reign in Gaza,” he said.

Yair Lapid: In a post above a photo of the four coffins draped in Israeli flags, he wrote, “The heart cannot contain the pain.”

In the United States, leaders condemned Hamas and expressed solidarity with Israel.

House Speaker Mike Johnson: “It is beyond comprehension that anyone could take the lives of these innocent people—a peace activist, and a young mother and her babies. This is pure evil. America stands with Israel in its fight to eliminate Hamas,” the Louisiana Republican tweeted above photos of the four victims.

Rep. Elise Stefanik: “The heinous display of Hamas terrorists parading the coffins of murdered Israeli civilians and babies Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas, Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz to the cheers of a barbaric pro-Hamas mob is an affront to all of humanity. We mourn the loss of these precious innocent lives and condemn the truly evil actions of these vicious and depraved Hamas terrorists,” tweeted Stefanik, a New York Republican who is awaiting confirmation as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Rep. Steny Hoyer: “Hamas is depraved – there is no rationalization for their violence, and these murders deserve universal condemnation,” the Maryland Democrat, a former

House majority leader, said. “We must continue our work to secure not only the remaining hostages but also Israel’s longterm security. We must never allow October 7 to be repeated or Hamas’ brutal leadership over Gaza to be restored. May the memories of Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas, Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz be a blessing.”

Sen. John Fetterman: “Hamas abducted, tortured and murdered children. Used their remains to free prisoners. This spectacle advances the frontier of utter depravity and reaffirms standing firmly on the side of Israel,” tweeted the Pennsylvania Democrat, an outspoken supporter of Israel.

Messages of mourning and support also came from leaders around the world. An Argentine official announced that the country would declare a day of mourning for Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel Bibas, who were Argentine-Israeli citizens.

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: “The parading of bodies in the manner seen this morning is abhorrent and cruel, and flies in the face of international law,” the office said, according to the Times of Israel “We urge that all returns are conducted in privacy, and with respect and care.”

French President Emmanuel Macron: “Shiri. Kfir. Ariel. Faces of innocence and love. Faces of an eternal humanity that the barbarity of Hamas will never abolish. France, mobilized for the release of all hostages, stands alongside Yarden and the Bibas family. In universal brotherhood,” he tweeted.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: “It has become a terrible certainty: Shiri Silbermann-Bibas and her sons Ariel and Kfir are dead. Hamas has brought suffering and death to countless families. I feel for everyone who has to deal with this terrible certainty,” he tweeted.

Argentine lawmaker Sabrina Ajmechet: “I hope that never again, after this, will I have to hear that what happens in Israel and Gaza is not our business, not the business of all Argentines,” Ajmechet, who also leads the country’s Human Rights Commission, wrote in one of many posts about the Bibas family. “The president [Javier Milei] will declare a day of national mourning for them. Thank you, President, for your commitment to democracy, to freedom, to Western values and to the fight against terrorism. A warm hug to the Bibas family. Today all Argentines are you.”

Ben Sales

Just

of Israel, Gallup poll finds

Ben Sales

(JTA) — Just a third of Democrats have a favorable view of Israel, a steep decline from just a few years ago, according to a Gallup poll.

That’s in contrast to 83% of Republicans who view Israel favorably — a partisan gap of 50 points. Responding to the results, Jewish Democratic leaders said they remained confident in their party’s pro-Israel bona fides — though one sounded notes of caution. Jewish Republicans celebrated the poll.

The poll, published on Monday, Feb. 24, is the latest stark sign that Democrats are losing their love for Israel. Previous polls taken during the Israel-Hamas war

have shown that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to blame Israel for the fighting and to be more sympathetic to the Palestinians than to the Israelis.

And the gap in the poll shows that, after decades during which Israel was seen as a bipartisan issue, there is now a chasm between how voters from both parties view the country. The poll’s analysis attributed the gap to the IsraelHamas war as well as polarization over President Donald Trump.

“The 50 points separating Republican and Democratic positivity toward Israel shatters the prior record of 30 points measured last year,” the Gallup poll says. “The widening partisan gap likely reflects Democrats’ opposition to Israel’s actions in the Israel-Hamas war. It could also be a reaction to Trump’s strong backing of Israel, highlighted in his meeting with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House earlier this month.”

The poll demonstrates that, in the span of three years, Democratic favorability ratings for Israel have plummeted 30 points. In 2022, 63% of Democrats viewed Israel favorably. The number dropped to 56% in 2023 and 47% in 2024 — following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and the ensuing war in Gaza — before falling to 33% this year.

The percentage of independents who view Israel favorably has also plunged in that time, from 71% in 2022 to 48% this year. The Republican numbers have remained about level during that time, going from 81% to 83%.

Sixty percent of Democrats have an unfavorable view of Israel, the first time most of a partisan group has felt that way. Among independents, the unfavorable figure was 44%. Gallup did not share unfavorable numbers for Republicans.

“There’s no question Israel’s image has suffered among both Democrats and independents over the course of the war, and that’s a fact and it’s a problem,” says Mark Mellman, president of the Democratic

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Majority for Israel advocacy group. “There’s a fight going on in the Democratic Party. It’s a hard fight.”

Asked what she makes of the declining numbers, Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, attributes the drop to negative opinions of Netanyahu, who has embraced Trump’s proposals.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s close alignment with Donald Trump has clouded the way some see Israel,” she says. “While Netanyahu is undoubtedly a polarizing figure, Jewish Democrats know that the U.S.-Israel relationship transcends any

individual leader.”

But both Soifer and Mellman point to reasons they were optimistic, mentioning the large majority of Democratic officials who are pro-Israel. Soifer also notes the Jewish vote in last year’s presidential election, which went solidly for Vice President Kamala Harris. She accuses Trump of “using and manipulating the [U.S.-Israel] relationship to further his own agenda.”

“Democratic leaders have never wavered in their support of Israel — including their initiation and support of historic levels of military aid to Israel during the Biden administration,”

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she says. “The vast majority of Jewish Americans are both Democrats and pro-Israel, and proudly support a U.S.Israel relationship that transcends any individual leader, whether they be in the U.S. or Israel.”

Mellman, who is also a pollster, cites a poll his firm conducted ahead of the Democratic convention last year, in which 62% of Democrats said the United States should support Israel, versus just 7% who opted for Hamas — numbers close to the national average.

“Jews still consider the Democratic party to be a pro-Israel party, and they’re

right — we had a pro-Israel platform, we had a pro-Israel Democratic president until this year,” he says. “There’s no question that the Democratic Party remains pro-Israel.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition begged to differ — pointing to an increasing Jewish Republican vote share, if still a minority, in the 2024 election.

“President Donald J. Trump received a historic share of the Jewish vote in 2024, as Democrats continue to hemorrhage support from the American Jewish community,” the group tweeted above a graph of the poll. “The numbers don’t lie: there is only ONE pro-Israel party, and it is the GOP.”

Andrew Lapin

(JTA) — The new banners hanging outside a public building in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, channeled the college town’s history of progressive activism.

One depicted a member of the Chapel Hill Nine, Black activists whose 1960 sit-in at a local lunch counter kicked off protests in favor of racial integration. Another showed a raised fist. A third portrayed a college graduate, clad in the trademark blue of the University of North Carolina, under the words “Good Trouble” — a reference to the famous call to action against injustice from the civil rights hero John Lewis.

For some locals, though, the most eyecatching element of the display, installed in November 2024 at Chapel Hill’s Peace and Justice Plaza, was a patch of black-andwhite squares drawn over the graduation gown. They recognized it immediately as a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian headscarf that has been adopted by protesters on the left, and they saw it as a threat.

“This banner, supporting the student protests, is essentially equating Good Trouble with support for Hamas terrorists going on a murderous rampage, torturing,

gang raping, and murdering men, women, and children in their homes in grisly fashion,” Kathy Kaufman, a member of a local Reconstructionist synagogue, wrote to the city.

To Kaufman, who chairs Kehillah Synagogue’s social action committee, and to others in town, the presence of the keffiyeh together with the UNC colors sent a clear message. The banner, and by extent the city, seemed to be endorsing the proPalestinian student protesters from the past year. According to Kaufman, some of those “vociferous” protesters began lobbying against Israel in the days after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel; some, she says, openly supported Hamas.

(A Chapel Hill native, Keith Siegel, was taken hostage on Oct. 7 and released by Hamas on Feb. 1.)

Kaufman and others in town mounted a letter-writing and advocacy campaign with a single goal.

“What we’re asking is that the banner be taken down,” Kaufman says. “It’s insulting to us.”

Chapel Hill acceded to their requests, taking all three banners down. “While I strongly feel that public art should be

KNOW THE FACTS

thought-provoking, I don’t believe it should cause harm,” Chris Blue, the town manager, said in a statement. “And right now, this piece is causing harm.”

The banner brouhaha in Chapel Hill adds to a growing number of instances where the presence of keffiyehs has elicited a sharp reaction from Jews who see them on TV, in grocery stores, and on the streets. The keffiyeh’s increasing ubiquitousness has turned up the heat on a simmering cultural debate: More than a year after Oct. 7, should Jews feel threatened by the sight of a person wearing one?

For the Anti-Defamation League — which monitors antisemitism and anti-Israel activity and maintains that opposition to Israel’s existence is antisemitic — the answer is: not necessarily. “Keffiyehs are not a hate symbol and the presence of keffiyehs has no bearing on whether something is classified as an antisemitic incident,” the group said in a statement.

But many Jews say they experience the garment as an unmistakable sign of the wearer’s antipathy toward Israel and anyone who supports it — attitudes that have accompanied a spike in antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

“It creates this sense of wariness, and for some people, the sense that they are in danger,” says Manya Marcus, a Jewish psychotherapist in Chicago and host of the podcast What Came After, about the aftermath of Oct. 7.

The clothing item itself has a long history among both Jews and Arabs, with origins in biblical times. Zionist settlers before 1948, including Chaim Weizmann, wore the keffiyeh to blend in with their new Arab neighbors, according to the National Library of Israel. The keffiyeh became explicitly associated with pro-Palestinian movements when Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, began consistently donning it in public in the 1960s and 1970s. Yet for decades following, according to Israeli fashion historian Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, many Jewish Israelis continued to wear them.

Before Oct. 7, the sight of non-Muslims wearing the keffiyeh was decried more often than it was celebrated. In 2021, CAIR lambasted the fashion designer Louis Vuitton for selling a scarf that resembled, and was named after, a keffiyeh, accusing

the company of appropriation. Before then, in 2008, Dunkin’ Donuts pulled an ad campaign that featured celebrity chef Rachel Ray after conservative pundits complained that Ray appeared to be wearing a keffiyeh.

Everything changed after Oct. 7, as pro-Palestinian protests swept the globe. Many Muslim groups now encourage allies to don the keffiyeh, and an untold number of people have done so, buying keffiyehs from Amazon and elsewhere to wear to protests and in their daily life.

“If you’d asked me two years ago, I wouldn’t have such a negative reaction,” says Kaufman in Chapel Hill. “I associate it with the Palestinian movement, but I wouldn’t have reacted, necessarily, the way I did.”

Since Oct. 7, some conservative commentators have compared progressive members of Congress to Nazis for wearing keffiyehs; three staffers at New York’s Noguchi Museum say they were fired in September for wearing keffiyehs to work; and a singer in Toronto received backlash for performing The Star-Spangled Banner at a National Hockey League game while wearing a sweater that resembled a keffiyeh. (A couple months earlier the singer, Kiana Ledé, had reportedly disinvited “Zionist” fans from her concerts.)

compare wearing a keffiyeh to wearing a swastika armband during an MSNBC appearance in April 2024.

“People who say, ‘Death to Zionists, I wish for that and worse’ — if you wouldn’t tolerate it if someone’s wearing a swastika on their arm, I’m sorry, you shouldn’t tolerate it if they’re wearing a keffiyeh,” he said on the cable news show Morning Joe.

His remarks at the time — a clip of which circulated online with the “death to Zionists” part edited out — prompted widespread anger from Muslim and Palestinian solidarity groups who accused Greenblatt of demonizing the keffiyeh. Dozens of Muslim affinity groups signed onto an open letter condemning Greenblatt’s remarks and calling for his firing.

The power of fashion is that it’s really an easy way to show support or show your politics. And it doesn’t take a lot. You just wear it like it’s a scarf.

Keffiyeh wearers, the groups insisted, were not the perpetrators of violent actions, but the victims of them.

“Hate crimes and acts of discrimination against PalestinianAmericans have risen dramatically in recent months. This includes numerous attacks sparked by the public display of the keffiyeh,” the groups, led by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, asserted.

“My Zionism compels me to mourn a Brown student shot in Burlington because he’s wearing a keffiyeh,” Greenblatt told the crowd. Protesters wearing keffiyehs staged demonstrations against his speech.

For Rabinovitch-Fox, a professor at Case Western Reserve University, the rise of the keffiyeh is testament to the ease of fast fashion protest. She recalls wearing a keffiyeh while growing up in Israel and doesn’t see it as supporting violence the way that, say, a Hamas flag at a protest would. But she also understands why American Jews would feel “triggered” by seeing keffiyehs given how widely the American left adopted it as a symbol over the last year.

“The power of fashion is that it’s really an easy way to show support or show your politics. And it doesn’t take a lot. You just wear it like it’s a scarf,” she says.

Some of the new keffiyeh-wearers include Jews seeking to challenge support for Israel in their own communities. According to a recent investigation published by the left-wing magazine In These Times, two staffers at an early education center run by Mishkan Chicago, a progressive Jewish congregation, say they were disciplined after wearing keffiyehs to work. They later resigned from their jobs.

That type of drama points to the increasingly common sight of left-wing Jewish activists adopting the garment as a show of solidarity with Palestinians.

In Georgia, a public school equity coordinator who had previously faced an investigation over his commentary on the Israel-Hamas war invited further scrutiny when he wore a keffiyeh on the one-year anniversary of the attacks.

Marcus summarizes how Jews in her circle often look askance at someone wearing a keffiyeh: “Is this a fad, or are you very well aware that this is a garment that was worn by people who raped, brutalized, beheaded, butchered people like me?”

The ADL has experienced keffiyeh whiplash of its own. CEO Jonathan Greenblatt drew fire after he seemed to

“The rhetoric that Mr. Greenblatt and other extreme supporters of the Israeli government have used to smear Palestinian human rights advocates has contributed to this ongoing surge in hate.”

“I don’t believe that the keffiyeh is a hate symbol,” Greenblatt told the Forward “Clearly, it’s a cultural symbol with tremendous resonance for people in the Middle East. It’s not a symbol of hate.” A few months earlier, during a speech at Brown University, he had expressed empathy for a Palestinian student who had been shot in Vermont while wearing the article of clothing. (The shooting targeted three students who attended different schools, two of whom were wearing keffiyehs.)

To some Jews, the symbol can feel like more than a rhetorical threat. In August, a Jewish activist group in New York tried to pressure the city’s public school system to ban keffiyehs, arguing they “are not merely cultural garments, they have been adopted as symbols in response to the slaughter of Jews on Oct. 7.”

Debates about the keffiyehs point to larger Jewish anxiety over navigating the uneasy post-Oct. 7 world of symbols and slogans. “I don’t think a keffiyeh announces that its wearer wants Jews dead. At least the rational part of my brain doesn’t think this,” Phoebe Maltz Bovy, an editor at the Canadian Jewish News, wrote last year. “That said, am I about to make social plans with someone who isn’t even Palestinian, whose reaction to this war is to buy a scarf in support of their preferred team? I think we all know the answer.”

VIRGINIA

FIRST PERSON

Advocates receive warm welcome on Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day 2025

Betsy Karotkin

My alarm went off on January 28 at 5:30 am. I was already up… It was at least 25 years since I had been a part of the Jewish Community Relations Council’s United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s team visiting our Virginia legislators to highlight the issues of importance to our Jewish community. I had a bit of trepidation. How would we be received?

Twenty-five years ago, the issue of antisemitism was not high on our agenda. Today, unfortunately, it informs almost all we do. Before 2000, our advocacy team was a small one. Today, I feel proud to say that 50 members of our Tidewater Jewish community traveled together to Richmond for the annual Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day, also referred to as Date with the State.

We received a warm welcome from both the legislators and their staff members. Eight teams were ably headed by Megan Zuckerman, Herm Shelanski, Kirk Levy, Brad Lerner, Ron Kaufman, Carol Brum, Andy Fox, and Rick Yarow.

The issues we addressed during our meetings included:

• Support for funding the Combatting Hate Crimes (Security) Grant Program

• Increasing the penalty to a felony for placing a Swastika on certain property

• Maintaining funding for the Virginia Israel Advisory Board

Approximately 250 advocates from around the Commonwealth – Tidewater, Northern Virginia, the Peninsula, and Richmond – met for a kosher lunch hosted by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to hear from the Honorable Glenn Youngkin.

The governor first touted some of Virginia’s accomplishments in the past year:

• Voted by CNBC as the top state in America for business, economic development, opportunity, and education

• First state to develop an antisemitism training program for law enforcement

• Increased budget amendments for hate crime grants.

Having recently participated in the excellent Book Club of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s writings, led by Dr. Craig Schranz, I am reminded of Rabbi Sack’s wisdom: “We can change the world, but we need partners.”

And the wisdom from Pirkei Avot, “It is not for you to

challenges we face.

Attorney General Jason Miyares, who was unable to attend, prepared a video expressing his commitment to our agenda, saying that hate on college campuses is not to be tolerated, and that the Virginia Curriculum now contains Holocaust education.

“This is a moment of common purpose, shared values, a government of the people, the future of our children, and the responsibility that we have for that future,” Attorney General Miyares concluded.

complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.”

It is true that we need good partners such as Governor Youngkin and Attorney General Miyares, but it is only our determination to be a voice for our community that will make the difference. Fifty advocates did just that on January 28 on behalf of the Tidewater Jewish community.

To learn more about how to get involved with JCRC community advocacy efforts or to be notified of next year’s date as soon as it’s available, contact Robin Mancoll, JCRC senior director, at RMancoll@ujft.org.

The governor also expressed his intention to continue his support for the Jewish community and the

Tidewater’s delegation at Virginia Advocacy Day.

Amy Weinstein, Ron Kaufman, Ellen Wagner, Senator Christie New Craig, Sara Jo Rubin, Nofar Trem, and Al Ablowich.

Carin Simon, Trish Mallek, Kelly Burroughs, Hunter Thomas, Delegate Askew, Brad Lerner, and Silver Lerner.

Elka Mednick, Noah Gross, Naomi Limor Sedek, Del. Baxter Ennis, Pati and Rabbi Ari Oliszewski, and Andy Fox.

VIRGINIA

Virginia’s Speaker of the House shares insights from Israel trip

The Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, Don Leonard Scott Jr., spent a rainy afternoon last month with members of Jewish Tidewater at the home of Laura and Fred Gross. His recent trip to Israel with AIPAC was the focus of the conversation.

Jeff Breit, a law partner of Scott’s at Breit Biniazan Trial Lawyers, introduced the Speaker to the group. “He went to Israel in December, and it was a transformative trip,” said Breit. The two men spoke on the phone daily while Scott was in Israel, and Breit said, the trip changed the Speaker.

Americans don’t know what’s happening over there.” Outraged for a moment watching the news, “we go about our day, but Israelis live it.”

After his trip, Scott said, he gained “a lot of respect for the people of Israel,” saying that he learned so much and attended his first Shabbat, ribbing Breit for not previously inviting him to one.

Scott’s ‘number one observation’ he said, is that “most

In addition, he said most Americans don’t even understand where Gaza or the West Bank are located.

“We heard sirens going off and people just kept walking,” he said. “I asked, ‘don’t you hear those sirens?’ People said they knew exactly where they were – that they were miles away. I thought, ‘miles?’ That’s close.”

Scott met with people who had had family members killed and others who had family members held hostage. He went to the Nova site, which he declared was like a war zone, sharing what he saw, including cars melted into the road.

Scott’s group went to the Knesset and met the speaker, whom he said was “very right wing, very conservative.”

Then, the speaker introduced Scott to his husband. “Oh, I thought, this is different.” Being right-wing, he learned in Israel, has more to do with security than with social issues.

In Tel Aviv, Scott saw protests every day – people wanting the war over and the hostages home.

The AIPAC group met with Israeli thought leaders, writers, IDF members, and people who had been former Palestinian Authority members.

Scott said that they met with IDF soldiers who had literally lost limbs during this war, but “that across the board, the career military – those that had given the most –thought that the best way forward to peace was a two-state solution. Not so much for the political or thought leaders. They had given up on the idea.”

Even surrounded by enemies, Scott said the Israelis still believe that Israel is the safest place for Jews. “Maybe not now, but because of the history of the world,” they believe they must keep this country as a safe haven.

“When I came back here and witness some of the misinformed about Israel and Gaza, I know we have a lot of work to do to educate folks.”

Scott’s favorite site in Israel? The Dead Sea. He really enjoyed floating in it.

Governor Glenn Youngkin addresses the statewide Jewish advocates.

Robin Mancoll, Kirk Levy, Barbara Dudley, Senator Bill DeSteph, Rabbi Ari Kravetz, Julie Kievit, and Cory Hill

Ron Kaufman, Nofar Trem, Sara Jo Rubin, Del. Michael Feggans, Ellen Wagner, Amy Weinstein, and Al Ablowich.

Rabbi Ari Oliszewski, Pati Oliszewski, Naomi Sedek, Del. Convirs-Fowler, Andy Fox, Noah Gross, and Elka Mednick.

Emily Patyuk, Ben Rosenthal, Alyson Morrissey, Rabbi Shlomo Eisenberg, Speaker Don Scott, Betty Ann Levin, Herm Shelanski, and Shikma Rubin.

Terri Denison

Jeffrey Breit, Speaker Don Scott, and Laura and Fred Gross.

David Leon, Alyssa Muhlendorf, Elijah Muhlendorf, Nicole Gamboa, Carol Brum, and Linda Ausch.

Ron Spindel rspindel@spindelagency.com

Jody Balaban jbalaban@spindelagency.com christopherlyon@friedenagency.com

JEWISH TIDEWATER

Renovations planned for Norfolk Mikvah’s Conversion/

Helen Griffin

Whether identifying as Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox, the Norfolk Mikvah enables every Jew in Tidewater to access the transformative, rejuvenating power of a mikvah.

Brides before their wedding, those in the process of converting to Judaism, married women who keep the laws of family purity, men immersing before Shabbos or the High Holidays, and people who perform the mitzvah of tevilas keilim (immersing vessels) are served throughout the year by the Norfolk Mikvah, located in Ghent.

The Norfolk Mikvah is fortunate to have three separate mikvahs, each with a specific purpose. The women’s mikvah was added to the original building and opened in 2020. The keilim mikvah (immersing vessels before use with food), opened in 2024.

The original building was constructed in 1960. This portion of the mikvah is used for conversions and Jewish male immersions. Although a few updates to the interior have been made, a complete renovation has not occurred.

This year, the Norfolk Mikvah is planning a renovation of this portion to offer a more meaningful and pleasant experience for the men and women going through conversion. Afterall, this should be as beautiful and special of a time as possible.

Updates will give the men who use the mikvah a more modern interior to enhance their immersion and likewise provide some much-needed safety updates for all.

Some of the updates include:

• Improved electrical work in and around the shower and sink areas

• Installation of a GFI outlet by the sink

• Replacement of old lighting in the shower area with LEDs

• Updates of old outlets and light switch covers

• New fixture placed above the sink with LEDs

• Safety rails installed in the bathtub/shower area, including one by the toilet

• Replacement of the current vanity with one that meets industry standards for height

• Installation of new countertop and sink with a more water-efficient faucet

• Replacement of slippery and uneven flooring with luxury vinyl plank flooring.

Across all three mikvahs, it is estimated there are 1,000 or more uses per year.

To donate to the renovation, send cash or a check to: Norfolk Mikvah, 420 Spotswood Ave., Norfolk, VA 23517 or use Zelle: mikvahnorfolk@gmail.com or go to https://secure.cardknox.com/mikvahnorfolk.

a member of The Frieden Agency

Mazel Tov

Mazel Tov

Dear Readers,

While every single anniversary is important, there’s something special about those milestone markers. . . the years that end in 0 or 5. That’s why, starting on the next page, we feature four area couples whose 20-, 45-, and 70-year-marriages are testimonies to love, friendship, and respect.

It’s also why Ohef Sholom Temple holds a service each year to celebrate, bless, and say “Mazel Tov!” to those couples who fall in those milestone categories. The service this year took place on Friday, Feb. 14.

Beyond weddings and anniversaries, many occasions and events are reasons to receive hearty Mazel Tovs! Awards are a perfect example.

Bob Zentz, a local folk music legend, recently received a Music Lifetime Achievement Award from Veer Magazine. Anyone who has had the privilege of hearing Bob perform, knows his talent. My first introduction to Bob was at Ohef Sholom Temple where he taught my Sunday School class. What a cool teacher we had. . . he’d teach and then pull out his guitar or banjo and sing us a tune. He deserves another award for getting through that rowdy bunch of eighth graders! Also earning Lifetime Achievement Awards were Brian Friedman and Michael Goldberg. Articles on pages 22 and 23.

Steve Kocen, volunteer extraordinaire and overall magnificent mensch, is one of this year’s recipients of the 61st Annual VCIC Tidewater Humanitarian Awards. Page 24.

When celebrating a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, some families are participating in TJF’s B’nai Tzedek program. Melissa and Aaron Kass’ son, Jonah, is one. Page 21.

Every teen who attended BBYO’s recent International Convention deserves a major Mazel Tov! Lainey Goldman writes about her experience on page 26.

Mazel Tov to all!

Terri Denison Editor

Milestone anniversaries celebrated at Ohef Sholom.

Mazel Tov

Milestone anniversaries worth celebrating

Stephanie Peck

“Love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage. It’s an institute you can’t disparage.”

Frank Sinatra first sang these Sammy Cahn lyrics in the 1955 television production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. Here, in Tidewater, several couples celebrating special anniversaries speak to the foundation of their marriage and the many years they have shared together. From first encounters to travels to exotic lands, these husbands and wives have stayed the course and happily share with Jewish News how they navigate married life.

Beverly and Jack Fox

70th anniversary

Best friends for more than 70 years, when Beverly and Jack Fox’s children were younger and dating, they asked their dad how they would know if someone were marriage material. He suggested imagining the person as the same sex – would that person be a best friend?

“Best friends – it’s a long-lasting relationship,” Jack Fox says.

The couple met in Washington, D.C. when Fox was in the Army, stationed in Northern Virginia, and Beverly was in a college program and working at the Hecht Company. Fox was later stationed in New Mexico, and the two married there with only one other couple attending. It was in El Paso, Texas, that their daughter was born. After his service, Fox completed his engineering degree at Lehigh University (which also awarded Beverly a “Putting Hubby Through” degree, says Fox), and the couple moved back to his native Baltimore, where their two sons were born.

Transferred for a job to Cary, N.C., after just a couple of years, Fox decided to strike out on his own and purchased Quality Baking Company, later named Fox Quality Baking Company, in Emporia, Va. At 51 years old, Fox sold the business that he had grown from six employees to 400, and he and Beverly retired to Virginia Beach.

The couple shares a love of adventure and have travelled the world. As a pilot for 60 years (Fox sold his twin-engine plane six months ago), the couple have flown to Alaska, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. “One hot summer in Virginia Beach, I told Beverly to get in the plane and we’d fly north until we hit 74 degrees,” he says.

Twice, they have flown commercial airlines to Australia, where they then picked up a plane and flew themselves across the country. Beverly, who has also taken flight training, “doesn’t like landing,” Fox laughs.

The Foxes also have participated in Angel Flight, an organization of pilots who volunteer their time, aircraft, and expenses to fly those in need (mostly cancer patients) for medical treatment. According to Fox, these recipients cannot afford the cost of

transportation; therefore, members of Angel Flight pick them up at their hometown airport and fly them to their treatment destination.

The Foxes have also flown wounded military veterans who are recovering in places such as Walter Reed Hospital, to visit their homes and families while they recuperate, since the government does not cover these costs. “Over the years, we have loved meeting and helping these folks with our wonderful Beechcraft Baron airplane,” Fox says.

When not in the air or on land, the Foxes are boating and fishing, both in Norfolk and from their home in Boca Raton, Fla., which they have owned for 35 years. By boat, they have travelled to the Bahamas and twice from Norfolk to Florida. Since moving from their home in Virginia Beach to Harbor’s Edge in Norfolk, they have joined Norfolk Yacht and Country Club, partly, they say, to dock their 32-foot boat.

The move to Norfolk has also allowed them to discover the city, the museums, and the entertainment, such as Chrysler Hall. They say that Glass Light and Norfolk Yacht are two of their favorite dining spots. Most of their family live nearby, including three children, five of their six grandchildren, and one great grandchild.

Their first 70th anniversary celebration was a cocktail dinner party held in Florida. Another with family and friends will follow once they return to Norfolk. “Beverly celebrated our actual anniversary on February 4, recovering in the hospital from her second hip replacement. She’s doing well, thankfully,” Fox adds.

Jack and Beverly cut their 70th anniversary cake in Boca Raton, Fla.

The Foxes with their Beechcraft Baron airplane.

Jack and Beverly Fox with children Steve, Jeffrey, and Linda in 1963.

Mazel Tov

Linda and Jonathan Longman

45th anniversary

Linda and Jonathan Longman met, of all places, at a Jewish singles Hanukkah party, in December 1978. If not for this chance meeting, says Linda Longman, “our paths would probably never have crossed.”

They talked, discovered that they were both originally from Portsmouth, knew of each other’s families, but did not know each other. “We talked the very next day on the phone and began dating,” says Longman. “It wasn’t long before we had a strong connection, and we married on March 29, 1980.

The couple did not have any children together, but Linda had two teenage daughters and Jonathan had one son. “We are now the proud grandparents of three girls and one boy. Hopefully we’ll get to be great grandparents one day!” she says.

They are both very active in Temple Israel, going to Shabbat services each week and participating in daily Minyans on Zoom. Jonathan served as president of Temple Israel from 2017 through 2020.

They are also involved in Brith Sholom and enjoy spending time with family and friends. “We especially love being together with family for the Jewish holidays,” says Longman.

“We are truly best friends and love being together at home reading the newspaper, watching the news and YouTube videos on TV, and watching and competing with each other on Jeopardy,” says Longman. In addition, she says they like going out and shopping together.

Their milestone anniversary falls on Shabbat, March 29. Linda will read the Torah, Jonathan will have an Aliyah, and they will sponsor the Kiddush luncheon “as we celebrate our anniversary with our Temple Israel family,” she says.

Ellen and Bill Wagner

45th anniversary

Meeting at Stonybrook University, Ellen and Bill Wagner are originally from New York. They lived in Cincinnati, Ohio for five years and then for 24 years in Chadds Ford, Pa., which is outside of Philadelphia and just north of Delaware. There, the couple raised their three children.

“We moved to Virginia Beach six years ago, when Bill retired, to be near our daughter Amy, son-in-law Eliot, and two grandchildren, Avi and Dani Weinstein,” says Ellen Wagner. “Our two sons, Greg and Michael, live in Connecticut. Greg and his wife, Deanna, have two children, Charlotte and Ryan. Greg and Michael are physicians.”

With their children’s varying schedules, they all manage to get together for Thanksgiving and at least once during the summer, according to Wagner.

Always involved in their communities, the Wagners’ move to Tidewater meant the arrival of two active volunteers. Having served on the board of directors of the Woman of Reform Judaism for many years, Ellen is now involved in the sisterhood at Ohef Sholom Temple, serves on the board of Jewish Family Service and is part of the Women’s Philanthropy Committee. “I have been a Lion of Judah for many years,” she says. Bill served as president of the Jewish Federation of Delaware. In Tidewater, he continues to serve on committees at Ohef Sholom Temple and previously was a member of the board of Beth Sholom Village.

The Wagners say they enjoy traveling and collecting art. “Our favorite destinations have been Iceland, China, England, Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands to name a few. We have future travel plans to celebrate our 45th anniversary and Bill’s 70th Birthday.”

Locally, they go to the theater and enjoy dining out together. “We might do our own thing during the day, but we have breakfast and dinner together each day,” says Wagner.

“The key to a long marriage, in our opinion,” she says, “is to always communicate and listen to one another.”

Linda and Jonathan Longman at their wedding.

Linda and Jonathan Longman with their granddaughter Sara and her husband, Jonathan, on their wedding day in 2022.

Linda and Jonathan at their granddaughter's wedding in 2022.

The Wagners with their family at a nephew’s wedding in November 2024: Greg, Deanna, Michael, Ellen, and Bill Wagner and Amy and Eliot Weinstein.

Ellen and Bill Wagner at their 1980 wedding.

Ellen and Bill Wagner in front of Stonehenge in October 2024.

Mazel Tov

Debi and Rick Yarow

20th anniversary

After getting to know each other on a popular dating app, Debi and Rick Yarow met in person. “We were both going through divorces and had two young children. We knew it would be a challenge to start over and find partners at work, and neither of us was interested in, or had any energy for, bar hopping,” says Debi Yarow. “However, we found great success matching our personalities, lifestyles, and interests with the sites that were so new to us back in the early 2000s.”

Blending families, she says, was tricky, but living in the same neighborhood made it much easier. The couple first made sure that Ben and Hannah (Rick’s kids) and Gracie and Faith (Debi’s children) were on the same visitation schedule, so that they had all four kids together every Thursday and every other weekend. “All the kids drove to Sunday school and Hebrew school together and we went to shul and celebrated Shabbat as a family at least twice a month. We made a great deal of effort to celebrate other Jewish holidays together, and we included all four children on our journey to becoming more observant,” says Yarow.

The last time the family was all together was at Ben’s wedding. “With Hannah in Israel, Gracie and Faith in Ohio, and Ben busy with his wife, Allie, and daughter, Lennon, in Arlington, getting everyone under the same roof does pose some challenges,” admits Yarow.

Backgammon enthusiasts, the Yarrows even have their own custom board. “We play almost every night and are quite competitive: while we don’t make any bets, Rick would be broke, if we did,” says Yarow. They also love to bike, hike trails, and watch good sci-fi shows or movies together. “We enjoy taking classes at Chabad on Sundays and socializing with an Israeli group of friends that meets monthly for a potluck.”

This past summer, they “took a dreamy vacation to California,” says Yarow. “We were invited to a 60th birthday party for Rick’s cousin, and I felt it was silly to go across the country and not take in a good portion of the coast. Living out one of Rick’s boyhood dreams, we rented a cherry red Mustang convertible and began our journey in San Francisco. We worked our way over to Napa, catching up with a few college friends I hadn't seen since we were in our 20s. On our way to Orange County, we visited Big Sur, saw the magnificent Redwoods, toured Carmel, drove the coast, hiked along the cliffs of the Pacific, and so much more. I kept asking Rick if we could stay! Of course, our favorite destination, other than visiting our children and granddaughter, is Israel.”

Yarow says that it’s just been several weeks since she retired, but already, “we can’t imagine a life where I go back to work. While teaching is rewarding and important, it is also the kind of job that allows time for little else. Now the two of us are able to travel, learn new things, dive into complicated recipes, and take time to volunteer for organizations and causes for which we are passionate. The world just seems full of possibilities never open to us when I was working seven days a week.”

They admit they never fully understood what people talked about when they raved about being grandparents. “When we visited Ben and Allie for the first time since they had their daughter, we spent the entire day with Lennon, staring at her tiny hands and her gorgeous face, feeding her and holding her,” says Yarow. “At the end of the day, we were walking out of their apartment towards our hotel, and I said to Rick, ‘Ah ha, this is the magic people

were talking about! We got to play with her all day, and now we get to go back to the hotel and sleep. They have to stay up all night worrying. We get to have ALL the fun!’ We both just laughed. We had arrived. Parenting is such hard work. You have to say no, be the responsible one, the one to worry about teeth, homework, and ear infections. We earned our wings to say, ‘Yes, of course you can have that. You’re with DD and Grandpa!’”

When it came to choosing a wedding date, the Yarows picked Thanksgiving weekend to make it easier for everyone to travel on a holiday weekend. “To be honest, we have regretted it since and don’t enjoy sharing our special day with a holiday the two of us do not particularly enjoy,” says Yarow. “We have joked about picking a new date, but I think we just have to stick with it. This year, our Hebrew calendar date for our anniversary is November 15, which is a Shabbat. I think we will say the Shehechianu, a blessing for allowing us to reach this milestone in our marriage and sponsor a kiddush to celebrate with our friends and family.”

Marriage, says Yarow, is hard and “loving someone for 20 years involves choosing to love that person every day. Rick and I have had many challenges and difficulties in our 20 years of marriage; blending a family and navigating co-parenting put an extra strain on a new relationship. We had no time to be newlyweds; we were immediately the parents of four young children.”

But determined and hard-working, she says they knew from their previous marriages that it comes with both compromise and sacrifice; it’s a real partnership. However, Yarow says, “marriage can also come with laughter, safety, intimacy, and love.

“Nothing worth having is easy or comes without hard work. People are human and make mistakes; they come with past traumas, baggage, fears, hopes, and stories; a spouse has to be mindful and understanding of the human, the soul they married.”

With all of the challenges, according to Yarow, “as long as you are attracted to each other, share common interests, and have goals together, you can do it. Take relationship classes together, read books, learn to communicate effectively, play games, and most of all, keep the fire going.”

Debi and Rick Yarow on their “dreamy vacation” in California last summer.

Debi and Rick Yarow in their early years together.

Mazel Tov BEGINNING WITH B’NAI TZEDEK

TJF

staff

For the Kass family, giving back is more than just a value — it’s a responsibility. When their son Jonah was preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, Melissa and Aaron Kass knew they wanted to instill the importance of community and responsibility. The B’nai Tzedek: Youth Philanthropy program through the Tidewater Jewish Foundation provided the perfect opportunity.

“The future of the Jewish community in Hampton Roads is bright because of the work of so many who have come before us,” says Aaron Kass. “We want to make sure our children see themselves not just as consumers of the community, but as contributors to its success, and this is a great way to start.”

B’nai Tzedek allows young philanthropists to start their own charitable fund with a minimum $250

donation, which TJF matches to create a $500 fund. Each year, participants can grant a portion of their fund to a Jewish charity of their choice, fostering a lifelong commitment to giving.

For Jonah, the decision was easy—he chose to support Strelitz International Academy, where he spent a decade forming lifelong friendships and values. “It was meaningful for him to give back to a place that shaped him,” says Melissa Kass. “We love that he has the ability to decide where his contributions go.”

What surprised the Kass family most was how simple the process was. “It was SO easy,” says Melissa Kass. “We just asked the folks at TJF for the paperwork, mailed a check, and that was it. It took under an hour.”

B’nai Tzedek is just one milestone in the greater

philanthropic journey. Through TJF, individuals of all ages can engage in giving, ensuring that Jewish values are passed down for generations. Naomi Limor Sedek, president and CEO of TJF, emphasizes that the foundation meets donors where they are.

“Anyone can be a philanthropist at any time,” Sedek says. “We want families to see that B’nai Tzedek is just the beginning — a steppingstone toward lifelong generosity and impact.”

The Kass family offers simple advice for families considering the program: “Just call TJF. They make it effortless, and it’s a great way to get involved in philanthropy with almost no barriers.”

Through B’nai Tzedek, Jonah Kass has taken his first step in a lifelong journey of giving — one that will continue to ripple through his family, community, and the future of Jewish life in Tidewater.

To start a child’s philanthropic journey, contact Tidewater Jewish Foundation at 757-965-6111 or visit bit.ly/TJFBnaiTzedek to learn more.

The Kass family: Aaron, Alexa, Jonah, Melissa, and Micah – on the occasion of Jonah’s Bar Mitzvah.

Bob Zentz recognized with Music Lifetime Achievement Award Mazel Tov

Stephanie Peck and Terri Denison

Local folk musician Bob Zentz was bestowed a 2025 Music Lifetime Achievement Award from Veer Magazine during a ceremony at Elevation 27 last month. With a career that includes nearly every aspect of music – as a writer, performer, retailer, manager, mentor –Zentz has been a musical staple in Tidewater, as well as around the world, for more than half a century.

His introduction to music (aside from his music-playing parents) came with piano lessons. It was at camp, though, when a counselor played guitar and banjo that a young Bob Zentz was hooked. During his senior year at Maury High School in 1962, Zentz played his first gigs, he says.

After high school, Zentz enlisted in the Coast Guard, where he continued writing music, even in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

For a while, Zentz helped manage and often played at

the Virginia Beach location of Washington, DC’s The Shadows, a folk club. There, he met Ken Fritz, the club’s DC manager, who also oversaw the Beach location.

With a little help from his parents and Fritz, who had become the Smothers Brothers’ manager, Zentz’s music reached the desk of the music director of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, who hired him. The opportunity enabled Zentz to leave the Coast Guard early, avoid service in Vietnam, and travel to Los Angeles to become one of four new writers on the Emmywinning program, joining the likes of Steve Martin.

With the television show’s abrupt ending, Zentz and his then-wife, Rosi, returned to Tidewater in 1971. Back home, Zentz taught music at Old Dominion University, and even Sunday School at Ohef Sholom Temple. At the suggestion of his ODU students – who needed guitars, picks, and other instrumental accessories – Zentz opened the first Ramblin’ Conrad’s on Hampton Boulevard near the college campus, “creating a hub for local folk enthusiasts to gather, take lessons, and hear intimate concerts from local and international folk musicians,” writes his daughter, Skylar Zentz, in a Veer Magazine article.

Ramblin’ Conrad’s moved twice and had a kiosk at The Waterside, before finally giving way to big box music stores, closing its Ghent location in 1995. Zentz, however,

continued his folk music journey, travelling to distant places such as Finland and Australia to perform.

Zentz and his wife, Jeanne, have been together for 18 years, although one of their first meetings took place in 1983 when she interviewed him for Y-96. The interview can be found on their website, bobzentz.com. They reunited in 2007 and, as Jeanne recounts, “our marriage took place on Jan. 4, 2017, in Rabbi Roz’s office at Ohef Sholom Temple.”

For two years during COVID, the couple played music for services and holidays at Beth Sholom Village and sang for the memory unit. “It was a wonderful experience,” Jeanne says. They also hosted a monthly Zoom “Havdalah Hootenanny” for Ohef Sholom members. “We did the Havdalah service first, singing the Debbie Friedman song,” recalls Jeanne. Members were encouraged to take turns performing – and plenty did. “It was a real folk-jam,” she says.

A musician, Jeanne calls herself, “Bob’s backup band.” Anyone who has heard her, of course, knows she’s being humble.

“After 60+ years, Bob is still preaching the gospel of folk,” says Jeanne. “It’s tikkun olam. . . how a song can repair the world.”

Now participants in Ohef Sholom’s weekly Torah Study, Zentz says they “enjoy listening to the different

Bob Zentz with the Veer Lifetime Achievement Award.

The family, Bob and Jeanne Zentz, Rosi Martin, Skye Zentz, and her husband, Gabriel Robinson, after the awards ceremony.

Bob Zentz at his star on the Legends of Music Walk of Fame in downtown Norfolk on his 80th birthday.

Mazel Tov

opinions that people bring.”

About the couple’s collection of instruments, Jeanne promptly says there “are too many.” Banjos, guitars, hybrids, squeeze boxes, dulcimers, autoharps, the list continues.

Still, they use most of them.

Later this year, at the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA, most call it) near

and the Virginia Beach Antiques Mall, among others.

Zentz is also passing on his passion to a new generation of musicians, teaching music at Ohef Sholom Temple, where he encourages children to write songs and sing.

Through the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Zentz’s music will be archived and available in perpetuity for future music-lovers. According to its website, “Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution… We believe that musical and cultural diversity contributes to the vitality and quality of life throughout the world.”

Boston, the couple will perform and create the “Rambin’ Conrad’s experience in a tent in the 75-year-old festival’s exhibition hall.” They’ll also perform at the Ocrafolk Festival (named by Zentz) in Ocracoke Island, North Carolina. Locally, Zentz will continue to play his regular gigs at the Waterman Museum in Yorktown

In 2017, Zentz received a bronze star on the Legends of Music Walk of Fame on Granby Street – the walk recognizes Hampton Roads natives who have made significant contributions of national or international significance to the world of music. Among his fellow honorees are Ella Fitzgerald and Bruce Hornsby. Referring to the names on the Walk of Fame, Jeanne adds, “Bob is the only folk musician and maybe the only Jew.”

From his earliest days at Maury High School to his international gigs to his very local and intimate performances, Bob Zentz has entertained and inspired countless audiences. A talent worthy of a lifetime achievement award.

Recognized for contributions to the local music scene

Stephanie Peck

Barry Friedman and Michael Goldberg, along with Bob Zentz, received Veer Magazine Lifetime Achievement Awards last month. A local publication covering arts, culture, entertainment, travel, and dining in Hampton Roads, Veer celebrated its 15th year recognizing the full spectrum of music in Hampton Roads.

Friedman offers Tidewater a wide selection of compact disc and vinyl recordings at Birdland Music, a

local store in Kempsville opened by his father, Tommy, in1969. According to Jeff Maisey, publisher and editor of Veer Magazine, Birdland has stayed relevant in the age of Spotify and other streaming services. “If a local band wants to sell music, Barry is willing to take it on consignment,” he says. As an example, Maisey says that during a recent visit to the store, he saw a new album released by local artist, Brian Grilli, on the front counter.

For the past six or seven years, Goldberg, “who has

been around a long time,” according to Maisey, has been gathering musicians to collaborate with him. Special guests play on his albums, and Goldberg gives exposure to local musicians, too. Maisey says the Veer Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes Goldberg’s history as a musician. Through these awards, Veer Magazine highlights individuals, bands, and the local music scene so that newcomers to the industry can better understand the history and culture of the area.

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The Dick Lamb Show on WTAR-TV in the mid-70s, with co-hosts Bob Zentz and Sherri Brennan (seated left and middle), Dick Lamb and Scott McKenzie (Standing).

61st Annual VCIC Tidewater Humanitarian Awards Celebration to honor Steve Kocen

Stephanie Peck

Each year, Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities awards its prestigious Humanitarian award to individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the promotion of respect and understanding among people of diverse racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds in South Hampton Roads.

Steven E. Kocen is one of this year’s honorees for VCIC’s 61st annual Tidewater Humanitarian Awards.

A native of Richmond, Va., Kocen met his wife, Sally, on a blind date for a dance that took place in Ohef Sholom Temple’s Kaufman Hall on Dec. 3, 1966; he moved to Tidewater in the 1970s. From 1981 until 1996, the Kocens lived in Lexington, Ky. In 1996, they returned to Tidewater with their daughters, Michelle and Stephanie. In Tidewater, Kocen has worked at Southern Bank for the past 19 years.

Volunteering is a major part of Kocen’s very full and active life, and it’s something he’s been doing for literally, decades. While in Lexington, for, example, Kocen served as president of his temple.

Kocen is receiving the VCIC award for his extensive work with nonprofits. In addition to professional affi liations with Downtown Norfolk Council and banking organizations, Kocen is active with United Way. “I have worked in every imaginable volunteer position for the past 27 years (at United Way),” he laughs, including serving as chair and vice chair of the community investment committee. At The Up Center in Norfolk, Kocen serves on the board of directors and chairs its governance committee. For the past four years, Kocen’s roles at Tidewater Jewish Foundation have included serving as a board member and as committee member of its audit and finance committee.

“But truly my passion is OST,” says Kocen, referring to Ohef Sholom Temple, where he is an honorary board member and active volunteer, now chairing the fi nance and development committee. “My mother and maternal grandmother were involved in the Richmond Jewish community. I grew up watching their example.”

At the Westin, Kocen will be surrounded by his family, including Sally, their two daughters, and four of their five grandchildren. Past VCIC honorees, and Kocen’s sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Linda and Ron Spindel, will also be at his table.

Under the leadership of Tony Brothers, those being honored along with Kocen include J. Thaler McCormick, Vivian M. Oden, Cynthia C. Romero, and Robert Shoup.

Steve Kocen.

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Chris 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

FIRST PERSON Tidewater BBYO goes to International Convention Mazel

Lainey Goldman

Partaking in BBYO’s International Convention 2025 was truly an experience I will never forget. The annual gathering took place this year over President’s Day Weekend in Denver, Col.

From listening to the incredible speakers to dancing and singing with my friends at the Block Party, there is no better way to engage Jewish teens with their heritage.

When I decided to attend IC, I was really enticed by the music performances. However, I gained so much more than I could have ever imagined. Being in a space where you are surrounded by more than 3,500 Jewish teenagers who all have the same thing in common is empowering.

When we all gathered in one room for Shabbat, Havdalah, or even just for dinner, pride and joy filled the room. I was able to reunite with some friends I met on my 2024 BBYO Passport trip to Italy, as well as make many, many more friends.

After returning home, whenever I was asked about my trip, the most common question was “Would you go back?” My answer: “100%, yes.” Though it may seem far away, even still, I cannot wait for next year.

BBYO’s International Convention will take place next year in Philadelphia, Pa.

Lainey Goldman is a member of Simcha BBG and a junior at First Colonial High School.

FULL BREAKFAST DAILY

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1st row: Megan Helman, Ella Goodove, Molly Mancoll, Lainey Goldman, Chloe Zuckerman, Caroline Wainger, and Erin Wainger. 2nd row: Ryan Kalfus, Sam Levin, Nate Simon, Hayden Caplan, and Logan Hoffman. (Ayla Kell is missing from the photo)

Caroline Wainger, Erin Wainger, Molly Mancoll, Ella Goodove, Megan Helman, and Ayla Kell.

Nate Simon, Ryan Kalfus, Hayden Caplan, Logan Hoffman, and Sam Levin.

Inspired and energized: Bringing Prizmah Conference insights back to Strelitz International Academy

SIA staff writer

Carin Simon, Strelitz International Academy’s director of development, and Ally St. Pierre, SIA’s admissions manager, recently attended the 2025 Prizmah Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. This gathering brought together Jewish day school leaders from across the country, providing a unique opportunity to connect, learn, and grow.

Throughout the conference, the SIA team participated in inspiring workshops and discussions on innovative strategies in education, community building, and school advancement. The team explored new approaches to strengthening its admissions process, fostering deeper

engagement with families, and enhancing development efforts to support the longterm success of the school.

One of the most powerful takeaways was the emphasis on collaboration and the sharing of best practices among Jewish day schools. SIA’s team returned energized and full of fresh ideas — from creative ways to showcase the school’s unique IB® approach to building a more vibrant and inclusive school culture.

By implementing the strategies and insights gained at Prizmah, SIA aims to further enrich the educational experience offered at the school and to deepen the partnerships with families and community.

To advertise, call 757-965-6100 or email sgoldberg@ujft.org.

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1st prize: $500 • 2nd prize: $250 • 3rd prize: $100

All winners also receive buy-in at the UJFT May 13th NADIV Poker Tournament Fundraising event $250

JEWISHVA.ORG/MADNESS

Ally St. Pierre and Carin Simon at the photo booth at the Prizmah Conference.

Young professional men’s fundraising division of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater

BBYO HOLDS SPRING KICK-OFF

Tidewater BBYO had its spring kickoff at Surge Adventure Park, a multi-adventure trampoline park, ninja course, and arcade in Virginia Beach on Saturday, Feb 8. Eighteen teens attended the event, connecting with Jewish friends over pizza and an afternoon of fun.

Ryan Kalfus, Sam Levin, and Noam Haas for the win!

Henry Ashe and his sister, Hazel, jump high.

Randall Nied, Nate Simon, Eitan Haas, Ari Simon, Sam Levin, Noam Haas, Logan Hoffman, Hayden Caplan, Ryan Kalfus, Jonah Kass, and Henry Ashe.

Logan Hoffman, Jonah Kass, Ari Simon, Noam Haas, and Shayna Lovitz take a break.

Standing: Leah Steerman, Lainey Goldman, Chloe Zuckerman, Hattie Friedman, and Amelia Portnoy. Seated: Shayna Lovitz and Hazel Ashe.

Wrapping at Temple Israel

The Temple Israel Men’s Club met on Sunday, February 9 for the annual Worldwide Wrap, a program of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Club. The 12 members who attended included a few who have never put on tefillin and a pre–Bat Mitzvah young lady. After everyone had a chance to put the tefillin on, Rabbi Michael Panitz led the Shacharit services with all participating.

Following services, the group went up to Brody Auditorium for a dairy breakfast. Jim Gordon, president of the Men’s Club, and his kitchen helpers, put on the breakfast. Everyone had a great time sitting around the table eating and talking about human interest events.

Norman Soroko is president of Temple Israel.

Super Bowl Challenge is a win for Maccabi’s Team Virginia Beach

The Square Up for Maccabi football pool fundraiser raised more than $3,500 this year for the Team Virginia Beach delegation of the JCC Maccabi program.

Using the last digit of each team’s cumulative score at the end of each quarter, winners were determined based on the corresponding square that they were randomly assigned before the start of the Super Bowl.

Two winners generously donated

back a portion of their pot to Team Virginia Beach. All proceeds will help send Tidewater teens to the 2025 JCC Maccabi Games and Access Games (for those with developmental disabilities) in Tucson, Arizona next summer.

For more information on the Games, contact Tom Edwards, athletics director for the Simon JCC and delegation head for Team Virginia Beach at the JCC Maccabi Games & Access at tedwards@ujft.org.

Norman Soroko

Front row: Shirley Confino Rehder and Nayleigh Shannon. Second row: Norman Soroko, Mark Solberg, Rabbi Michael Panitz, and Richard Yanku. Third row: Jim Gordon, Brendan Wagner, Dr. Reuven Rohn, Kerry Harte, and Bernie Quelsner.

Stephanie Peck

PURIM IN TIDEWATER

The holiday of Purim begins this year on Thursday, March 13.

Plenty of opportunities exist in Tidewater to participate in Purim festivities to commemorate Haman’s failed plot to destroy the Jews of Persia.

The reading of the Megillah, Purim Carnivals, Purim Parties, and Purimspiels are all taking place throughout the community. Gather some noisy groggers, lush Esther wigs, and evil Haman beards and get ready for some fun and some hamantaschen.

B’nai Israel Congregation

Purim Seuda

Friday, March 14

12 – 2:30 pm

Moonbounce, catered food, children’s entertainers, Divrei Torah, Leibedig Music. $18/adults, $12/child, $75/family max.

B’nai Israel Congregation

Information: Liba Eisenberg at 215-2666358. RSVP: office@bnaiisrael.org.

Congregation Beth El

Purim Carnival

Sunday, March 16

10:30 am – 12:30 pm Carnival booth games, mask making, bounce house, face painting, costume fashion show, balloon artist. Light lunch included. No charge.

Congregation Beth El RSVP by March 10: 757-625-7821

Jewish Virginia Beach

Megillah reading

Thursday, March 13

7:15 pm

Jewish Virginia Beach

Big Purim event!

Friday, March 14

5 pm

A lively celebration featuring music, food, costumes, and lots of fun. Megillah reading and the observance of all four Purim mitzvot.

Jewish Virginia Beach RSVP: office@jewishvb.org or 757-938-0625.

Kehillat Bet Hamidrash Synagogue (KBH)

Movie and Megillah reading with Temple Israel

Thursday, March 13

6 pm: One Night with the King (a retelling of the biblical story of Esther. 7 pm: Intermission and Megillah reading before continuing the movie. No charge.

Kehillat Bet Hamidrash Synagogue Information: 757-495-8510 or kbhsynagogue@gmail.com.

Ohef Sholom Temple

OSTY’s TOON-Tastic Purim Carnival

Sunday, March 9 10 am – 12 pm

Included with the purchase of a wristband: unlimited games (including all inflatables), face painting, balloon artist, crafts. One Meal Combo (hamburger, veggie burger or hot dog, chips and a drink).

All-You-Can-Play Wristbands: $30 through March 8, $35 at the door.

Ohef Sholom Temple Information: osty@ohefsholom.org or 757-625-4295.

Purimshpiel: Wicked Thursday, March 13 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Tickets: $18/adults, $10/children 2-12 years old, children under 2/no charge. Includes dinner and the Shpiel. Ohef Sholom Temple Information: ohefsholom.org or 757-625-4295.

Simon Family JCC

PJ Library in Tidewater's Operation Hamantaschen

Reserve a time slot for your family and friends to make hamantaschen together and come in costume.

Sunday, March 9

1 – 4 pm. No charge.

Sandler Family Campus. Information: contact Sarah Cooper at SCooper@ujft.org.

Temple Emanuel

Family Shabbat – Purim Friday, March 14

6 – 8 pm

No charge.

Temple Emanuel Information: 757-428-2591 or office@tevb.org.

Temple Lev Tikvah

Megillah Reading Thursday, March 13 7:30 pm

A variety of deafening noisemakers, hilarious songs, costume competition, and winning hamantaschen.

Temple Lev Tikvah Information: jzobe@aol.com or 757-617-0334.

Temple Israel

Shabbat Shenanigans

Friday, March 7

6 pm

Kid-friendly dinner, program and service.

RSVP: 757-489-4550.

Movie and Megillah reading with Kehillat Bet Hamidrash Synagogue (KBH)

Thursday, March 13

6 pm: One Night with the King (a retelling of the biblical story of Esther).

7 pm: Intermission and Megillah reading before continuing the movie. No charge.

Kehillat Bet Hamidrash Synagogue Information: 757-495-8510 or kbhsynagogue@gmail.com.

Purim morning services Friday, March 14 8 am

Zoom

Call 757-489-4550 for zoom number.

Purim Feast, Purim Spelling Bee, Shabbat Eve Services, Dessert Oneg Shabbat

Friday, March 14

5 pm

Spelling Bee is for adults and children, prizes awarded to each age group’s winner. No charge. Voluntary contributions for dinner gratefully accepted.

Temple Israel

RSVP: 757-489-4550 for dinner.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Operation Hamantaschen: A time to bake tasty cookies and perform a good deed

Sunday, March 9, 1 - 4 pm

Sandler Family Campus

PJ Library in Tidewater’s annual Purim celebration, Operation Hamantaschen – a day of baking hamantaschen and preparing a mitzvah project – offers three time slots this year (1 pm, 2 pm, and 3 pm), to make the cookies with friends and family. Last year’s Operation Hamantaschen created Mishlochei Manot (gift baskets) for its Mitzvah project. Given to local organizations and agencies that had shown the Jewish community and Israel support, the baskets were much appreciated. Since the project was such a great success, it will be done again this year.

PJ Library is collecting donations of snacks and candy for the baskets. Even those who can’t attend the event, can support it by making donations, which may be dropped off at the JCC’s front desk prior to March 9. Boxes of individually wrapped kosher snacks, such as crackers, pretzels, potato chips, popcorn, and cookies, as well as bags of individually wrapped kosher mini candies such as Hershey’s chocolate, M&M’s, Dum Dums, and Twizzlers are examples of the preferred donations.

While the cookies are baking, participants can join PJ Library in the Fleishmann Lounge to arrange the baskets.

As always, everyone is encouraged to come in costume. Spots are limited, so be sure to register at jewishva.org/oh.

For questions or more information, contact Sarah Cooper at scooper@ujft.org or 757-321-2306.

Cardo Café

Hamantaschen

Assorted fl avors include chocolate, poppy seed, apricot, prune, strawberry.

$10 per dozen, $18 for two dozen.

Pre-ordering recommended at lunch@ujft.org.

Pick-up: March 13 – 14. Sandler Family Campus

The ADVENTURE BEGINS CAMP JCC 2025!

Now hiring fun and creative staff.

Great opportunity to earn extra $$ for the summer. Excellent Career Experience for College Students: Special Ed., Education or Early Childhood majors, High School students (rising Juniors, Seniors) or graduates

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Sr. Counselors

inimum

Minimum requirement 18 years old or high school graduate.

Jr. Counselors

Minimum requirement 16 years old entering junior year of high school.

Staff Orientation

June 8 – June 12

Camp JCC Adventure

June 16 – August 8

Last Blast (Post Camp) August 11 – 22

Employment Application available on the Simon Family JCC Camp JCC "Work at Camp” tab. Activity Specialists, Camper Care Specialist, Special Needs Shadow Counselors, Camp Nurse

Mishlochei Manot (gift baskets) arranged last year.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Ice cream social planned to celebrate Golda Meir Day

Monday, March 17, 5 pm,

Danielle Hartman and Emily Patyuk, Tidewater’s Shinshinim

Golda Meir is remembered for many accomplishments – from playing a pivotal role in the founding of the State of Israel to becoming its first, and only, female Prime Minister.

In Israel, her legacy now extends to a popular ice cream chain named in her honor.

In celebration of Golda Meir Day, a one-night-only Golda ice cream pop-up shop will take place at the Simon Family JCC. Enjoy delicious ice cream, play fun games, learn more about Golda’s remarkable story, and even snap a photo with ‘her!’

The free event requires advanced registration at JewishVA.org/Golda. For more information, contact Nofar Trem at NTrem@UJFT.org.

Simon Family JCC

Test your Golda knowledge.

1. Golda Meir was known as the “Iron Lady” of which country?

A. Egypt

B. Israel

C. The United States

2. Where was Golda Meir born?

A. Russia

B. The United States

C. Israel

3. In which year did Golda Meir become Israel’s Prime Minister?

A. 1967

B. 1975

C. 1969

4. Golda Meir was one of the signatories of which document in 1948?

A. The UN Partition Plan

B. The Israeli Declaration of Independence

C. The Balfour Declaration

5. Before becoming Prime Minister, Golda Meir held which position in the Israeli government?

A. Minister of Foreign Affairs

B. Minister of Defense

C. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs

D. Minister of Education

6. What major event occurred during Golda Meir’s tenure as Prime Minister in 1973?

A. The Camp David Accords

B. The Six-Day War

C. The Yom Kippur War

D. The signing of the Oslo Accords

Tidewater’s Shinshinim look forward to reintroducing and educating the next generation about one of Israel’s national legends.

Answers:1B, 2A, 3C, 4B, 5C, 6C

Kids Night Out: Supreme Pool Party

Saturday, April 26, 5 – 9 pm Sandler Family Campus Sandler

Sarah Cooper

The last Kids Night Out of the school year will be a special Supreme Pool Party Edition.

With lots of beach balls, noodles, and dive toys, this Kids Night Out is sure to end the year with a splash! Kids will hang out with campers and counselors from Camp JCC, their Strelitz schoolmates, and friends from the community.

Parents can drop off their 4- to 12-year-old children to enjoy a night filled with crafts, games, snacks, and lifeguard-supervised swimming (for those who can swim without a fl otation device). Send children with a kosher-style dinner as they will eat within the first hour. Note that Kids Night Out has new hours this year: 5 - 9 pm.

Register at https://jcc.jewishva.org/kids by 4 pm on Friday, April 25 or before it sells out. For more information or to share suggestions for future events, contact Sarah Cooper at scooper@ujft.org or call 757-321-2306.

Levi Cohen, Henry Rhone III, Noah Bernstein, and Jan Hodicky always enjoy swimming at Kids Night Out.

Glow party: Sisters Emelia and Scarlett St. Pierre and friend Noa Glaser at the Glow Party in December.

John Feigenbaum at the center of the U.S. coin industry

Jay Klebanoff

From a tidy and unassuming office on the second floor of his office building in Virginia Beach, John Feigenbaum, a local Jewish community member, sits on a raised chair before his elevated computer screen and sets the pricing used by coin dealers throughout the United States for their trading of domestic collector coins.

Feigenbaum, who ironically has no collection of his own, has become a central figure in the world of U.S. numismatics –aka, coin collecting. He has reached his lofty perch following three separate times in his life when he planned to pursue avenues outside the industry.

Now, far from leaving the business, Feigenbaum has endeavored to almost single-handedly bring the U.S. coin industry into the modern and digital age. Partnering with an investing group, he has doubled down on the industry by purchasing two of the longest standing, most respected pricing publications –The Grey Sheet and The Official Red Book; guides Feigenbaum has relied on since his very early days of coin collecting and coin dealing with his father, David Lawrence Feigenbaum, of blessed memory.

Feigenbaum recalls that, “at the age of five or six I was tagging along with my father at coin shows in South Florida, where my dad was studying for his PhD in marine biology and building his coin collection. By seven and eight I was sitting behind a folding table with my dad at coin shows, interacting with adults who were trying to take advantage of a young kid.”

The father-son informal partnership continued into the 1980’s as Feigenbaum’s father assumed a professorship at Old Dominion University and transitioned from coin collecting to coin dealing. Feigenbaum continued to accompany his father at coin shows around the country and used his precocious insight and instincts to help his father build his business.

“My father enjoyed setting up our

table and interacting with people as they stopped by. I immediately headed out into the room to hunt for deals – what we call cherry-picking. I loved working the floor.”

But despite gaining extensive knowledge of coins and keen trading skills, the younger Feigenbaum did not plan on joining his father in business after he graduated from Virgina Tech in 1991 with a marketing degree and a “fascination for desktop publishing.”

“My heroes were Steve Jobs and Bill Gates,” Feigenbaum recalls. “I wanted to develop a marketing and computer graphics business – which was really catching on in the early 90’s – and then head to Colorado. I had no interest in joining the coin business.”

Feigenbaum gave up his quest for the Rockies, though, when a friendship with a fellow Hokie, Rachael Scott, grew into something more; leading to the couple settling in Virginia Beach and marrying in 1993. “Once Rachael and I started dating,” Feigenbaum recalls, “I didn’t want to leave.”

families. But Feigenbaum, who always envisioned being his own boss, began to bristle at his father’s more academic approach to the business. “By 1996 I was ready to leave, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do,” Feigenbaum says. “I was probably six months away from leaving when, out of the blue, my father was diagnosed with ALS. I knew he needed me then and I took on more of the load as his health declined.” (David Feigenbaum passed away in 2002 after a six-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS).

Feigenbaum ran David Lawrence Rare Coins until 2017, years during which he gained the trust of some of the foremost coin collectors in the United States and abroad. He experienced sourcing and ultimately purchasing the rare 1894-S Barber dime – worth more than $1 million – and also led the auction of a prized coin collection worth more than $24 million.

out a deal with some key players in the coin industry to purchase CDN Publishing – publishers of the Grey Sheet, and brought his computer graphics skills to bear in updating and improving the product while maintaining the Grey Sheet pricing integrity.

In 2017, Feigenbaum sold David Lawrence Rare Coins and began eyeing other publications to bring into the fold. Through consistent conversations over a number of years with Mary Burleson, president of the long standing and highly respected Whitman Publishing, Feigenbaum gained an inside track when Burleson intimated in 2023 that the owners of Whitman, following the death of one of the owners, might be willing to sell.

In short order Feigenbaum and his partners were able to purchase Whitman, publishers of a number of publications, including The Official Red Book, the most comprehensive guide to U.S. coins in the industry. As he did with Grey Sheet, Feigenbaum boldly revamped Red Book, making it more lively and user friendly.

Feigenbaum began building an advertising graphics company and continued assisting his father at coin shows. “I was burning the candle at both ends and it got to be too much,” Feigenbaum says. “I also realized I could achieve quicker success in the coin world, so in 1992 I joined my father full time, not knowing if the business could support both of us.”

Over the next four years the Feigenbaum duo did build David Lawrence Rare Coins into a successful dealership that amply supported both

Yet, despite building a successful business and reputation in numismatics, Feigenbaum was ready for a change by 2015. He wanted to sell the business and pursue other ventures – and not necessarily in the coin industry. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” Feigenbaum says.

But as fate would have it, Feigenbaum learned during a casual conversation with a business friend that the venerable Grey Sheet, the monthly pricing guide used by Feigenbaum and his father throughout their coin careers, was for sale. Feigenbaum quickly worked

Now Feigenbaum, who planned on three occasions to leave the coin industry, is the owner and publisher of the premier monthly and premier annual publication in the world of U.S. numismatics, an empire he runs from his unassuming perch on Laskin Road – with accounting assistance from his favorite CPA, wife, Rachael.

And while the couple is immersed in the world of coins, they also participate in the Tidewater Jewish community, with Rachael having served as chair of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission and John supporting a host of Jewish causes. When asked why he feels strongly about participating, Feigenbaum says, “Taking care of people in need is a very important part of our society and I don’t know a better way to insert myself into society than through Jewish causes.”

John Feigenbaum.

CALENDAR

MARCH 3, MONDAY

The New Christian Zionism: Conversations in a World after October 7. Panelists discuss their experiences as Christian Zionists in a post-October 7 world. Sponsored by Old Dominion University’s Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding and The Israel Institute at Regent University. 6 – 7:30 pm. ODU Webb Center. Information: Amy Milligan at amilliga@odu.edu.

MARCH 4, TUESDAY

Moon Circle celebrates the monthly holiday known as Rosh Chodesh. Presented by UJFT’s Konikoff Center for Learning. 6:30 pm. Sandler Family Campus. Free. Information and registration: JewishVA.org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman at SLautman@UJFT.org.

MARCH 6, THURSDAY

RoundTable Conversation: What’s Your Take? Agree to Disagree. Discuss, Don’t Dismiss. Gather to discuss timely topics. 1 pm. Sandler Family Campus. Free. Information or to RSVP: www.Jewishva.org/RoundTable or contact Mia Klein at MKlein@UJFT.org.

MARCH 9, SUNDAY

PJ Library in Tidewater’s Operation Hamantaschen. Reserve a time slot to make hamantaschen and come in costume. 1 – 4 pm. Sandler Family Campus. Free. Information and registration: Sarah Cooper at SCooper@ujft.org. See page 31.

MARCH 10, MONDAY

It Takes Two to Torah with Rabbi Dov Linzer and Abigail Pogrebin. Orthodox Rabbi Linzer and Reform journalist Pogrebin engage in spirited discussions that bring fresh perspectives to ancient texts, illuminating how the Torah remains relevant. 7:30 pm. Sandler Family Campus. Free. Information and registration: JewishVA.org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman at SLautman@UJFT.org.

MARCH 11, TUESDAY

The Lunar Eclipse & Purim with guest teacher Rabbi Shira Milgrom. Rabbis once debated: should the Book of Esther be included at all in the canon of the Hebrew Bible? They then determined that the Book of Esther was equivalent in holiness to the Torah. Class includes a light lunch. 12 pm. Sandler Family Campus. Free. Information and registration: JewishVA.org/KCL or contact Sierra Lautman at SLautman@UJFT.org.

MARCH 15, SATURDAY

Kids Night Out. Children enjoy a night filled with crafts, games, snacks, and swimming (if able to swim without a floatation device). Four to 12 years old. 5 pm. Sandler Family Campus. Register: https://jcc.jewishva.org/kids by 4 pm on March 14. See page 33.

MARCH 16, SUNDAY

Shaping the Sound of Broadway: The Influence of Jewish Composers on American Theater. Join Virginia Stage Company and UJFT’s Arts and Ideas for a conversation exploring the rich legacy of Jewish composers on Broadway following a matinee performance of the musical Little Shop of Horrors. Tickets to Little Shop of Horrors available at VAstage.org. Use discount code “UJFT” for 20% off. 2 pm. Wells Theatre. Information: Virginia Stage Company at 757-627-1234. See page 32.

Flags Do Not Wave in a Vacuum: National Victories and Individual Dilemmas – An Exploration of Modern Jewish Identities. Dr. Vered Sakal, the Bertram and Gladys Aaron Professor of Jewish Studies at Christopher Newport University, addresses contemporary questions about unity, diversity, and identity through the artwork of Israeli photographer Adi Ness. 2 pm. Jewish Museum and Cultural Center. $20. Student tickets with school ID $10. Information: JMCC at 757-391-9266.

BBYO Tidewater pickleball. Join AZA and BBG chapters for an afternoon of pickleball. 1 – 3 pm. Lynnhaven Middle School courts. Information: BBYO City Director Courtney Krutoy at 757-374-2602.

MARCH 17, MONDAY

JCC Book Club discusses Within Arms Reach by Ann Napolitano. Club meets the third Monday of each month. 1:30 pm. Join in person or via Zoom. Sandler Family Campus. Free. Information: Mia Klein at Mklein@ujft.org.

BEGINNING MARCH 18, TUESDAYS

A History of Hatred: The Ever-Present Threat of Antisemitism, a 6-week Melton course. Taught by Dr. Amy K. Milligan, learners will develop an understanding of the processes that have given rise to today’s antisemitism. 6:45 pm. Online. Thanks to special funding, course cost is $50. Use code ISRAEL50 at checkout. Information and registration: JewishVA.org/Melton or contact Sierra Lautman at SLautman@UJFT.org.

MARCH 19, WEDNESDAY

Seniors Club – Israeli Heritage Month with the ShinShinim. Music, art, storytelling, and fl avors of a timeless heritage. Club is for adults 55+. 12 pm. Sandler Family Campus. Free. Information: Mia Klein at MKlein@UJFT.org.

MARCH 20, THURSDAY

YAD Ax-Throwing. 6:30 pm. APEX Entertainment in Virginia Beach. $15 includes ax and appetizers. Limited space. Registration: https://ujft.salsalabs.org/YADAxe32025.

MARCH 27, THURSDAY

The Nosh: Taking a Bite Out of Hard Conversations. Led by Dr. Amy K. Milligan from Old Dominion University’s Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding, the conversation will explore Dara Horn’s piece, October 7 Created a Permission Structure for Anti-Semitism. Discussion co-facilitated by Dr. Keith Darden of American University. 6:45 pm. Online. Presented by JCRC and Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Additional session details and registration: www.JewishVA.org/Nosh.

Ben Kothe / The Atlantic

Abby Jane Buchberg

VIRGINIA BEACH - Abby Jane Buchberg, 74, passed away peacefully on February 22, 2025.

Born to Benjamin and Alma Wilgard on January 21, 1951, in Norfolk, Va., Abby grew up in Portsmouth before moving to Atlanta, Ga. There she met the love of her life, Stephan Andrew Buchberg, and the couple married on June 8, 1975, beginning a partnership that would span nearly five decades.

After marrying, Abby and Stephan moved back to Virginia Beach, where they raised their three children—Brian, Jason, and Lindsay. In 1984, they opened Colley Discount Pharmacy in Norfolk, Va., a business that became a beloved part of the Hampton Roads community for nearly four decades. Abby was an integral part of the pharmacy, serving as Stephan’s bookkeeper and unofficial head of customer relations, ensuring the pharmacy’s success until their retirement in 2023.

Abby’s greatest joy in life was her family. She took immense pride in watching her children grow and become successful individuals.

A devoted mother, Abby instilled in each of them the values of compassion, generosity, and the importance of family. She was endlessly proud of who they had become and shared that pride with anyone she met.

As a grandmother, Abby’s love expanded even further. With eight grandchildren and a ninth on the way later this year, Abby delighted in spoiling them and creating memories that would last a lifetime.

As a wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, Abby’s kindness, compassion, and selflessness radiated to all those around her. Abby was the kind of person who never met a stranger. Her warm, welcoming nature and genuine interest in others made her a devoted friend to many. Whether it was offering a listening ear, lending a helping hand, or simply sharing a laugh, Abby made everyone feel like they belonged. Her generosity and compassion were boundless, and her ability to make others feel seen, valued, and loved is a gift that will not be forgotten.

Abby is survived by her loving husband, Stephan; their three children, Brian (Melissa),

Jason (Brielle), and Lindsay (Ross); eight grandchildren, Sloane (12), Aiden (12), Ascher (11), Harper (10), Benji (9), Stella (8), Sonny (6) Ozzie (4); and many friends and extended family members whose lives she touched with her kindness and warmth. She will be deeply missed but forever remembered for the love and light she brought to everyone around her.

A celebration of Abby’s life was held at Princess Anne Memorial Park. The family requests donations be made to the Sarcoma Foundation of America. H. D. Oliver.

Leonard S. Frieden

NORFOLK - Leonard S. (Lenny) Frieden, born in Norfolk, Virginia, on March 31, 1927, passed away peacefully on February 24, 2025, at the age of 97.

He was predeceased by his parents, Anna and Samuel Frieden; his sister, Yetta Bornstein; and his two brothers, Joseph Frieden and David Frieden. He was a member of Ohef Sholom Temple for over 70 years and served as president of the Ohef Sholom Temple Men’s Club.

Lenny was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, uncle, and friend. He is survived by his high school sweetheart and the love of his life, his wife of 75 years, Jane Leterman Frieden, and his loving and devoted children, Jack Frieden (Jodie), Bruce Frieden (Jeannie), and Cat Frieden Lineberry (Charlie).

He also leaves behind eight grandchildren who deeply loved him: Jessica Frieden Shultz (Brian), Laura Frieden Gibbons (Jonathan), Katie Frieden Moss (Joe), Anna Frieden Schabacker (Brandon), Chris Lineberry (Lynne), Cate Lineberry (Tim), David Lineberry (Alyson), and Jeff Lineberry (Elizabeth). Lenny was also blessed with nine great-grandchildren who adored their PopPop. He was equally cherished by his many nieces and nephews, and for many of those, he was also a much-loved father figure.

A native of Norfolk, Lenny grew up in the Great Depression years and graduated from Maury High School in 1945. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in industrial management from Georgia Tech in 1950. During World War II, he served his country with distinction as a radio operator aboard the U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Speedwell.

He was associated with John Hancock

Financial Services since 1951 and served as John Hancock’s General Agent for Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina from 1965 until his retirement from management in 1990. His hard work and dedication played a pivotal role in establishing the foundation of what became The Frieden Agency, one of the largest and most successful insurance agencies in the state of Virginia. He continued to represent The Frieden Agency, John Hancock, and its affiliates until his death.

In 1972, he was honored as the Life Insurance Man of the Year by the Norfolk Life Underwriters Association.

Through his unwavering dedication to his agency associates and clients over a remarkable 74-year career, Lenny made a lasting impact on countless lives. His commitment ensured that millions of dollars in insurance benefits have been—and will continue to be—paid, providing security and support to the families and businesses he served.

Active in a number of civic and professional organizations throughout his lifetime, Lenny served as president of the Norfolk Jaycees, president of the Inter-Club Council of Metropolitan Norfolk, president of the Norfolk Life Underwriters Association, president of the Norfolk-Tidewater Chapter of Chartered Life Underwriters, president of the John Hancock General Agents’ Association, and president of the Corolla Light Community Association in North Carolina.

Lenny had a lifelong passion and talent for writing, which he first pursued as sports editor of the Maury News and later as both sports editor and editor of The Technique, Georgia Tech’s weekly campus newspaper. His love for journalism continued throughout his life, serving as the longtime Newsletter editor for the Corolla Light Community Association—a role he held for 35 years, publishing his final issue just a week before his passing. He also served as a past Newsletter editor for the Harbor Heights Owners’ Association.

Lenny’s optimism and outgoing nature made him a beloved presence in the lives of so many. Even well into his 90s, family and friends marveled at his sharp memory and his ability to recall the rich history of places across the Tidewater area—always ready with a story or the most precise set of

OBITUARIES

directions. His warm smile, quick wit, and sense of humor made him a natural storyteller, delighting those around him with his endless “tapes” of experiences from a lifetime well lived.

A memorial service led by Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg took place at Ohef Sholom Temple. A private burial was held prior to the service.

The family requests donations be made to one of the following organizations: Ohef Sholom Temple, Duke University Cancer Center, Corolla Fire and Rescue, or the Corolla Wild Horse Fund. Online condolences may be offered to the family at hdoliver.com.

Joseph Henry Hecht

NORFOLK - Joseph Henry Hecht died peacefully on Friday, February 14, 2025, at Lake Taylor Transitional Hospital in Norfolk, at age 99.

Joseph was a native and lifelong resident of Norfolk, having been born on July 21, 1925, to Irving and Yetta Leibowitz Hecht. Joseph was educated in the Norfolk Public School system, graduating from Maury High School before entering the Navy in 1943. He served as an aircraft maintenance technician in Florida until the end of the war.

Upon his discharge, he returned to Norfolk, enrolling in the Norfolk Division of William and Mary and completing his studies at the University of Virginia, from which he graduated in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce degree. He was a member of Ohef Sholom Temple.

It was during this period that he met the love of his life, Evelyn Babette Schwan. Evelyn was on a double-blind date with a friend of Joseph’s. Family history states that upon her return home, she declared that she was smitten with Joseph. They married on September 10, 1949.

After spending their first year of married life in Charlottesville, they returned to Norfolk where they spent the remainder of their very happy 49 years together until Evelyn’s death on August 24, 1997.

After returning to Norfolk, Joseph entered the family business, Irving Hecht and Company Jewelers. He later changed direction and became a homebuilder.

Hecht Construction Company built many homes throughout the area during its

almost 30 years in business.

Among Joseph’s greatest joys were his children and grandchildren. He is survived by his daughter Linda Hecht Schwartz, his son Mark Henry Hecht, and his grandchildren Lorin Henry Schwartz and Louis Andrew Schwartz. He is also survived by two first cousins, Janice Leibowitz Gimpleson and Norman Hecht (Sherry) who was like a brother to him, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents and wife, Evelyn, Joseph was predeceased by his brothers and sisters-in-law, Robert D. Hecht and Bertha F. Hecht and Leon J. Hecht, DDS and Monie S. Hecht, as well as his brother-in-law, Henry M. Schwan, and sister-in-law, Marcia S. Schwan. He was also predeceased by his son-in-law, Arnold J. Schwartz, MD.

A memorial service conducted by Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg was held at H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments. A private burial preceded the service.

Donations in Joseph’s memory may be made to Ohef Sholom Temple or a charity of one’s choice.

Catalina Carmen Mantel

VIRGINIA BEACH - Catalina Carmen Mantel passed peacefully on February 14, 2025, just shy of 91.

She was a kind, sweet, and elegant soul who loved people and chocolate. So, passing on Valentine’s Day was bittersweet and apropos.

Catalina was born in Montevideo, Uruguay to parents who emigrated from Hungary after the war. She had a lifelong love of languages. She studied at the Lycée Francais, and the Consejo Nacional de Ensenanza Secundaria.

Catalina mastered six languages fluently: Spanish, Hungarian, French, Italian, Portuguese, and English. She studied hard and passed the challenging exam to become a certified Federal Interpreter, and then worked for the Department of Justice in N.Y., Calif., and Va.

She was known as “Kathy” to her friends, and she was nicknamed “El Cuerpo” in her 20s. A natural beauty, she met the love of her life, Mike Mantel, in Santiago, Chile in 1958. They married after a short courtship, and had two children, Andrea and Charles.

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Celebrating life’s treasured memories.

Catalina loved to shop. She was a clothes horse, with a sophisticated and elegant style. She read the New York Times daily and clipped articles for her friends that she thought they would enjoy. She was also a garden club member, bridge player, and ballet dancer.

Above all, Catalina was very social and valued the many, many friends and colleagues that she had throughout the years. Everyone loved Kathy!

Catalina “Kathy” is survived by her daughter, Andrea Mantel of Virginia Beach. She is also survived by her niece

and nephews and their families, Elyse Salend and Jon Pynoos of Beverly Hills, Calif., Spencer and Suzanne Salend of New Paltz, N.Y., and Howard Salend and Laurel Waldman of Needham, Mass. She was predeceased by her husband, Mike Mantel, and her son, Charles Mantel. A graveside service took place at B’nai Israel Cemetery. www.hdoliver.com.

Edward Benjamin Ostroff

VIRGINIA BEACH - Edward Benjamin Ostroff passed away on February 15, 2025, at the age of 82.

Chris 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

He was the son of Dr. Jacob J. Ostroff and Mary Ostroff of Baltimore, Maryland. Ed prepared for a life of caregiving and service at Baltimore City College High School (’59), Washington & Lee University (’63), and the University of Maryland School of Medicine (’67).

Ed met and married the love of his life, Frankie Marshburn of Clinton, North Carolina, in 1968 during his internship at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. The couple enjoyed more than 56 years together, including a winter in Rochester, Minnesota, while Ed was training at the Mayo Clinic, two years of service in the U.S. Air Force on Crete and in England, and more than 50 years in Hampton Roads.

Together, they raised two boys, David and Ethan. Ed was a constant presence in his sons’ lives, from coaching youth sports in Western Branch to traveling across the Commonwealth and the country to watch them play baseball. Riding along with Ed meant enduring his eclectic musical tastes, which spanned from classical concertos and opera to straight-ahead jazz, classic rock, and Delta blues.

Ed practiced medicine in Portsmouth for more than 35 years, including as the Chief of Surgery at Portsmouth General Hospital and Maryview Hospital. Through his decades of service, Ed built meaningful relationships with colleagues and touched the lives of thousands of patients. He charmed them with his sense of humor (a vital tool for a urologist) and brought a scalpel tempered with kindness and compassion to his role as their surgeon.

Even as he worked to establish his practice, Ed balanced evenings and weekends on-call with his deep commitment to family. He got up early every morning to make breakfast for his sons and drive them to meet the school bus, and he ensured the family was together for dinner every evening.

Ed was a proud Poppa. He adored his grandchildren, Andrew, Cecelia, and Gerald. Ed’s last big trip was to Dallas for Andrew’s Bar Mitzvah, a moment he recalled with joy. He loved picking up Cece and Gerry from school, taking them to afternoon Norfolk Tides’ games, exploring local bookstores, and spoiling them

f

May the Source of Peace send peace to all who mourn, and comfort to all who are bereaved.

fwith treats from his favorite bakeries and ice cream parlors.

In addition to his family and patients, Ed made time to serve the community. He was very active with Temple Sinai in Portsmouth, including serving as Temple president, and spent years volunteering in the soup kitchen at Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk.

Ed never met a stranger. Everywhere he went, he found ways to connect with people he encountered. When Ed and Frankie retired to Virginia Beach, their North End community discovered how open he was to forging new friendships, what a great storyteller he was, and how quickly he would swap books and offer restaurant recommendations (along with turn-by-turn driving directions for getting there).

Ed was an avid traveler. Many family trips involved visiting baseball stadiums all over the country timed perfectly for when the Orioles were in town. Over his life, he visited six continents (Antarctica never tickled his fancy) and enjoyed experiencing cultures, foods, and people from all over the world. He encouraged his boys to explore the world and to be open to new experiences.

Ed was a life-long lover of sports: lacrosse, wrestling, baseball, golf, football, racquetball, ACC basketball, Premier League soccer, and Formula One racing. Growing up in Baltimore, lacrosse was a passion. He learned the game at The Mount Washington Lacrosse Club. He was a defenseman at City College, where his teams won back-to-back Baltimore City titles, and on the varsity team at

Washington & Lee for all four years. The Orioles were his favorite talking point, and Johnny Unitas will always be the greatest quarterback in the history of the Colts’ franchise.

One of Ed’s favorite spots was in the saddle of his bicycle – usually pedaling toward a bakery or scouting a delicious meal. Recently, Ed swapped his bicycle for an electric trike, which allowed him to continue experiencing his passion for the bike lane and re-taught him the lessons of a skinned knee. Even up to a few weeks before his passing, he could be seen on his trusty trike heading to the library. He was a voracious reader who loved to be outside with a good book in his hands and good tunes in the air.

Ed is survived by his beloved wife, Frankie, his brother Robert (Eileen), his children David (Jen) and Ethan (Gretchen), and his three beautiful grandchildren –Andrew (14), Cecelia (11), and Gerald (9).

A graveside service was held at Portsmouth’s Olive Branch Cemetery.

To amplify Ed’s dedication to service and love of reading, contributions in his honor may be made to the Ohef Sholom Soup Kitchen or the Virginia Beach Public Library.

Gideon Riess

VIRGINIA BEACH - Gideon Riess, a man whose warmth and wit enriched the lives of all who knew him, passed away peacefully on Sunday, February 16, 2025, at the age of 86.

Born on September 10, 1938, in Ramat Gan, Israel, he spent his final days in Virginia Beach, Virginia, surrounded

by his loving family.

A devoted husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Gideon’s generosity and kindness touched many. His career in hotel and restaurant management, informed by his associate’s degree in hospitality and business management, provided him with numerous opportunities to cultivate memorable experiences for others. He approached life with a passion that extended beyond his professional endeavors, encompassing his deep love for family and friends, a keen interest in exploring the world, and a remarkable entrepreneurial spirit.

Gideon possessed a rare ability to connect with people from all walks of life. Fluent in multiple languages, he engaged effortlessly in conversation, always ready to offer assistance, share a meal, or enter into lively discussion. Whether preparing Thai food for his family, enjoying “fine” dining experiences, or sharing a lighthearted joke, he exuded genuine joy and enthusiasm for life.

His professional acumen was highly regarded, culminating in his bold venture of opening his own establishment, Mandy’s, in Heidelberg, Germany. This iconic Americaninspired restaurant stands today as a testament to his vision and dedication – a lasting legacy of his business expertise.

His humor was gentle and always intended to bring laughter. He believed in living life with an open heart and an open mind, earning the admiration and respect of all who had the privilege of knowing him. His sincerity resonated with those he encountered, and his integrity was beyond reproach.

Gideon was predeceased by his

OBITUARIES

beloved first wife, Malka, whose memory he cherished. While in Israel, their loving marriage was blessed with three children. Following Malka’s passing, Gideon found love again with Edna who provided invaluable support during a difficult time. Their marriage in Tel Aviv marked the beginning of a new chapter in Gideon’s life. After 13 years in Israel, during which they welcomed a daughter, the family relocated to Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Gideon was also predeceased by his parents, Werner and Tova Riess. He leaves behind his cherished and devoted wife, Edna; his children, Shlomo, Amir, Anat, Amalia (Jenna), and Marie Diaz. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Malka, Adan, Yuval, Oren, Shira, and Ido, and a great-grandchild, Reef.

Even as Gideon faced the challenges of dementia in his later years, diagnosed in 2019, his spirit remained strong. He continued to fi nd joy in the love of his family and the simple pleasures of life, reminding us all of the importance of

cherishing every moment.

The world has lost a true mensch, storyteller, and compassionate soul. A graveside service to celebrate Gideon’s remarkable life was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery, with Rabbi Dr. Michael Panitz officiating.

While we mourn Gideon’s passing, we fi nd comfort in our memories of his professional achievements, his courageous battle with illness, and his unwavering dedication to family and friends.

www.altmeyerfh.com.

Susan Waters

VIRGINIA BEACH - Susan B. Waters, a vibrant and cherished soul, passed away peacefully on February 19, 2025, in Virginia Beach, Va., at the age of 70.

Born on June 10, 1954, in Newport News, Va., Susan lived a life full of passion, drive, and love that left an indelible mark on everyone who had the pleasure of knowing her.

With a dynamic career as a marketing director, Susan contributed her

Ice Cream Social with the ShinShinim

in honor of Female Prime Minister!

talents to The Tower Mall in Portsmouth and Janaf Shopping Center in Norfolk. Her creativity and dedication also shone brightly during her time as a promotions director at WHRO. She was a true professional who inspired those around her with her innovative ideas and relentless spirit.

Beyond her professional achievements, Susan was an adventurer at heart. She had a deep-seated love for travel, exploring the wonders of Europe like Venice, Rome, London, with a particular fondness for Paris, which captured her awe time and again. Stateside, she found solace and joy in the serene beauty of the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Susan’s love extended beyond her travels; she was an avid gardener, fi nding peace and fulfi llment in nurturing her plants. An enthusiastic reader, she delved into books several times a week, losing herself in the worlds contained within their pages. Her compassion and warmth were most evident in her affection for her

beloved cats and dogs, who were constant companions in her life’s journey.

As a member of Rodef Sholom Temple in Newport News, Susan valued her faith and community, drawing strength and guidance from her spiritual home.

Preceded in death by her parents, Susan is survived by her devoted husband, William C. Simmons, who stood by her side through life’s many adventures and challenges. Together, they created a life fi lled with love and memories that will endure forever.

Services to honor and celebrate Susan's remarkable life were held at the Hebrew Cemetery in Hampton, Rosenbaum Memorial Park.

Though she will be deeply missed, Susan B. Waters leaves behind a legacy of love, inspiration, and cherished memories that will continue to uplift those who knew her. May her spirit continue to guide and inspire us all.

Altmeyer Funeral Home.

Children and families, join

Danielle and Emily for a delicious afternoon filled with games, crafts, and ice cream as we celebrate Israel’s First Female Prime Minister!

Free to attend, space is limited. Register Today!

Liel Leibovitz Liel Leibovitz

THURSDAY, APRIL 3

7:30 PM SIMON FAMILY JCC

Senior writer for Tablet Magazine, the Tablet‘s guide to Zionism, fellow at Hudson Institute. FREE TO ATTEND • OPEN TO

Liel Leibovitz brings the Talmud to life with humor, insight, and passion, revealing it as humanity’s first self-help book. editor of and senior

In this engaging talk, he’ll explore how this ancient text offers wisdom on love, friendship, grief, and community—making it as relevant today as ever. With stories that connect the Talmud to everything from Billie Holiday to the Dewey Decimal System, he’ll challenge and inspire you to see the world—and yourself— differently.

THE HISTORIC CAVALIER HOTEL | MARRIOTT VIRGINIA BEACH