Jewish News Supplement - Mazel Tov 02.28.22 by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater

! v o T l e z a M Supplement to Jewish News February 28, 2022 jewishnewsva.org | February 28, 2022 | Mazel Tov | JEWISH NEWS | 13

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Mazel Tov 58th Annual VCIC Tidewater Humanitarian Awards Dinner to honor

Charlie Nusbaum

Thursday, March 24, 6 pm, Westin Virginia Beach Town Center Terri Denison

he fifth Nusbaum to receive the Virginia Center for Inclusive Community’s prestigious Humanitarian Award, Charles (Charlie) S. Nusbaum is a natural recipient. Previous Nusbaum winners include Justine, V. H. (Pooch), Robert (Bob) and William (Bill). Adding to that impressive family line-up is Nusbaum’s late father-in-law, Charles Horton, MD. “So many of these people have been my mentors,” says Nusbaum. In fact, he says that people such as Horton told him “you do things for the community because you want to help, not to get an award.” A quick glance at Nusbaum’s community involvement and it’s clear that he takes seriously his commitment to the community where his roots are long and established. “I try to help the community whenever I can,” he says. “It all comes down to what I learned in Confirmation,” says Nusbaum. “’Do not separate thyself from the Jewish community, so our Sages said. It is the body which gives sustenance to each and every living soul.’ Yes, this was part of my Confirmation speech. Every few years I pull it out and read it again. These words keep me grounded and I try to help our community and world by trying to have everyone work together, laugh, smile, and enjoy what we have been given.” Known for making people laugh, Nusbaum is also known for his myriad commitments to the community and belief in the benefit of a TEAM—Together Everyone Achieves More. “This is a slogan I try to approach and live with on a daily basis,” he says. Nusbaum is the past president of Ohef Sholom Temple, Norfolk Yacht and Country Club, Norfolk Academy Alumni Association, Tidewater Red Cross Chapter, and Norfolk Crime Line. He currently serves as Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s vice chair, among many other board

positions throughout both the Jewish and wider communities. “Through our work together, I have come to realize that Charlie is one of the most welcoming individuals I have ever met,” says Naomi Limor Sedek, Tidewater Jewish Foundation president and CEO. “Not only is he a passionate leader at TJF and in the community, he has opened both his home and his heart to everyone as if they were family. He has exemplified the values of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities by making Tidewater and the world a better place. I can not think of a more deserving individual for this award.” Married to Nancy Horton Nusbaum, they have three children: Michael A. Nusbaum (Rachael), Amy C. Nusbaum

(Phillip DeLage), and Stephen Nusbaum. Nusbaum has served as president of S.L. Nusbaum Insurance Agency, Inc. since 1980. Charles (Charlie) This year’s VCIC S. Nusbaum. Tidewater Humanitarian Awards Dinner will include an in-person reception and watch party with limited attendance, as well as a virtual presentation option. United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is gathering reservations of those who would like to purchase a ticket for $175 to represent UJFT and TJF. To participate, contact Bobbie Wilcox at bwilcox@ujft.org.

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Mazel Tov

2022 Genesis Prize winner

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, son of Holocaust survivors, is working to preserve Jewish history Jacob Gurvis

(JTA)—From the halls of the United States Capitol to the streets of Europe, politicians and activists protesting against vaccine requirements have increasingly invoked the Holocaust. Some are wearing yellow stars, while others are sharing Nazi-era medical documents and comparing themselves to Anne Frank. The comparisons often draw sharp rebukes from Jewish groups and Holocaust museums and educational organizations. Dr. Albert Bourla is also troubled by this trend—and few people are more personally connected to the topic. Bourla is the son of two Holocaust survivors, and he is the CEO and chairman of American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was the first to be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, first for emergency use in December 2020 and then for full approval in August 2021. It’s also the vaccine that Israel has given to its citizens, some now for the fourth time. Bourla’s family history—paired with his work—give him a unique perspective. It’s personal. “They are stupid people, those that make these comparisons,” Bourla says. “It’s disgusting to say that a request to protect the health of others by wearing masks or protect the health of yours and others by getting vaccinated, can compare with if you are Jewish, gypsy or homosexual, you are sent in a concentration camp. This is ridiculous to even make those accusations.” Bourla understands those who are afraid of the vaccines—fear is human, he says. He suggests that a more comprehensive educational campaign is needed to address the spread of vaccine misinformation. But to compare public health guidelines to the Holocaust, he says, is an

insult to the victims. Last month, Bourla was named the winner of the 2022 Genesis Prize, the “Jewish Nobel” that “honors extraordinary individuals for their outstanding professional achievement, contribution to humanity, and commitment to Jewish values.” “It’s an incredible honor to me,” Bourla says. “I was really surprised when I saw my name nominated, particularly when I saw the list of people who either had received it or in this case were nominated together with me.” The award includes a $1 million prize, which Bourla is dedicating to Holocaust memorial initiatives. Bourla is the ninth winner of the annual award given by the Genesis Prize Foundation; each winner has donated the money or had it distributed in their name. The prize money is awarded from an endowment created by a number of Russian-Jewish philanthropists. Bourla received the most votes in a global digital campaign conducted by the foundation, during which 200,000 people in 71 countries voted, according to the award announcement. Bourla was then unanimously endorsed by the award’s selection committee. The award will be formally presented to him by Israeli President Isaac Herzog at a ceremony in Jerusalem in June. “It’s a great, great honor, which I accept on behalf of everyone at Pfizer,” says Bourla. In its announcement, the Foundation highlighted Bourla’s leadership, determination, and “his willingness to assume great risks.” Reflecting on the past two years, Bourla says that taking risks was the only option in developing the vaccine. “Everything, the world, the way we knew it, was collapsing,” he says. “The only way that we would be able

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to do something so challenging, so v isionar y, so unprecedented, was if you take a lot of risks.” Chief among them, Bourla says, was selecting the mRNA technology that the Pfizer (and Moderna) vaccines utilize. A then unproven © World Economic Forum/Sikarin Thanachaiary technology, Bourla Albert Bourla, Chief Operating Officer, Pfizer, says mRNA—using World Economic Forum in Davos, January 24, 2018. the information in genes to create a vaccine blueprint—was not the obvious parents both survived the Nazi occuchoice. But it worked. pation of Thessaloniki, each with a “That was a clear indication of willingremarkable story. ness to take risks,” Bourla adds. Bourla’s father and uncle happened Bourla has worked for Pfizer since to be out of the ghetto on the day the 1993, when he was first recruited from Nazi forces surrounded it. When they Greece to join the company’s animal returned to the ghetto, they asked their health division. In the three decades father, Bourla’s grandfather, what was since, Bourla has lived in nine cities in happening. “Just disappear, go,” he told five different countries, working across them, Bourla recounts. That afternoon, departments at Pfizer and moving up the whole ghetto was marched to a train the ranks, finally ascending to CEO on station—on their way to Auschwitz. Jan. 1, 2019—less than a year before a “Once the war was over they came potent new coronavirus was documented back, they found nothing,” Bourla says in China. about his father and brother. “They started As the leader of a global health building [their lives] from scratch.” company whose stated purpose is the Bourla’s mother has an even more dra“relentless pursuit of breakthroughs that matic story. change patients’ lives,” Bourla notes the First, much of her family was sent to overlap between his work and his Jewish Poland, where they would all be murdered values. He references the Talmudic teachby the Nazis. She stayed in Greece with ing that one who saves a life has saved an her sister and brother-in-law, spending entire world. most of the occupation in hiding. Toward “That’s a big essence of Jewish values, the end of the war, she was found out and and it is embedded into what Pfizer is arrested—but at that point, Bourla says, doing,” Bourla says. captured Jews were no longer being transBourla is a native of Thessaloniki, ported to camps, but rather executed. Greece, formerly home to one of Europe’s Her brother-in-law, who was Christian, most vibrant Jewish communities. His bribed a Nazi commander to spare Bourla’s

Mazel Tov mother’s life—to keep her in prison, but not to execute her. Her sister would wait outside the prison each day to watch the prisoners being taken to execution. When she saw her sister being moved, her husband called the Nazi he had bribed and explained the mistake. “My mother was lined up in front of a firing squad, and then a BMW arrived with German soldiers,” Bourla says. “They handed the head of the squad a paper, and then they removed my mother and someone else and the rest were executed.” More than 50,000 Jews from Thessaloniki were murdered during the Holocaust. Bourla’s parents were among the few who survived. With such a powerful communal and personal story, Bourla says he is committed to helping preserve the Jewish history of his hometown. “In this city, there is nothing left to remind of the great history of Jews, because of the Holocaust,” he says. That’s where the Genesis Prize comes in. Bourla is donating his $1 million prize toward Holocaust memory initiatives, primarily in Greece. He said it is “unacceptable” that there isn’t a Holocaust museum in Thessaloniki—and he is working to change that. Throughout the pandemic, Bourla was faced with what seemed like insurmountable challenges. But he remembers his mother telling him time and again that nothing is impossible. “Every time I had a challenge in my life and I would tell her, ‘I have this problem in school,’ I still remember her waving her finger in front of my face and telling me, ‘Don’t tell me this is impossible to do. I was in front of a firing squad and I survived. Nothing is impossible,’” Bourla recalls. “I still remember her saying, ‘There is no ‘I cannot,’ there is only ‘I don’t want.’’” Bourla says his parents’ stories played a critical role in shaping his Jewish identity. “That created a very strong sense of belonging to me,” he says. “I had a very strong Jewish identity, and a sense that I want to work with others to make sure that those things never happen again, to us or to others.”

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WASHINGTON (JTA) — Julie Platt is a one-time banker who has become a leader in promoting Jewish education and helping to rescue Jewish camping from the ravages of the pandemic. Now, she’s about to make history as the second woman to chair one of the largest Jewish fundraising powerhouses in the United States, the Jewish Federations of North America. She’s also musical star Ben Platt’s mom. The JFNA on Tuesday, Feb. 15 said that Platt would assume the leadership of the umbrella body for Jewish federations, which in 2019 brought in $270 million. The release noted that Platt has chaired the Los Angeles Jewish Federation and is currently the chairwoman of JFNA’s fundraising campaign and of its effort to enhance security protection at every federation. She also chairs a foundation named for her and her husband, Hollywood producer Marc Platt, and has been involved in an array of Jewish educational initiatives. As

chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, Platt, the release says, was “instrumental” in saving the Jewish camp movement during the pandemic, when an entire summer session was canceled abruptly. Her son, Ben, starred in the Pitch Perfect film series and debuted the eponymous role of Dear Evan Hansen. (His brother, Jonah, one of five siblings, recently joined the board of 70 Faces Media, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s parent company.) Ben Platt has thanked the Jewish camping movement for nurturing him. Julie Platt referred to her family in the JFNA release. “One of the greatest lessons I have taught my five children is to take responsibility for their community, and I promise to carry out this mission every day in my new role with the Jewish Federations,” she said. Platt will formally succeed the current chairman, Mark Wilf, this summer. The only other woman to chair the body, Kathy Manning, is now a North Carolina congresswoman.

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New Jewish record label Borscht Beat announces first release

orscht Beat, a new Jewish record label founded by Aaron Bendich, will launch with a CD release of forshpil:tsvey, a Yiddish psychedelic rock fusion album. Bendich, the label’s founder, hosts a weekly radio program of Jewish music on WJFF Radio Catskill. On the program, which is also called Borscht Beat, he shares gems from his sizable collection of Jewish records, CDs, and tapes. With this new project, Bendich will bring even more Jewish music to the world.

forshpil:tsvey, the second album by LatvianGerman-American band Forshpil, is an exploration of Yiddish song through the lens of psychedelic rock. Through virtuosic musicianship on the part of the instrumental leader Ilya Shneyveys and the immense talent of vocalist Sasha Lurje, Forshpil seamlessly blends the oldworld shtetl song with new-world genre stylings. The album was digitally released in 2020, but Borscht Beat will give it a proper physical run, including a 24-page full-color booklet with an

18 | JEWISH NEWS | Mazel Tov | February 28, 2022 | jewishnewsva.org

introductory essay by Michael Wex, the New York Times bestselling author of Born To Kvetch, photographs of the band, explanatory notes about each song, and lyrics in Yiddish (both Hebrew letters and transliteration) and English. “I’m so excited to enable access to and preservation of new Jewish music. This first release is just the start,” says Bendich. Preorders of forshpil:tsvey launched on Friday, Feb. 4, and the album will be released on March 1.Preorder at borschtbeat.bandcamp.com.

Mazel Tov

Local Jewish New American and WWII Veteran celebrates 100th birthday

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ocal Holocaust survivors, New Americans, Jewish Family Service Senior Acculturation Case Manager Alla Gean, and volunteers living at Granby and Suburban Houses gathered at the home of Semen Shilman to honor him and his family to celebrate Shilman’s 100th birthday on Friday, Feb 4. A Veteran of WWII, Shilman received a Certificate of Recognition, a bouquet of roses, and $100 in gift cards from JFS. Described as a strong and brave man, Shilman fought for freedom during WWII. At this gathering, Shilman shared his memories about how and when he started his military career in 1941 in the 14th Cavalry Division on the 2nd Ukrainian Front. Shilman fought an epic battle at Stalingrad. He was wounded five times in combat, yet after his recovery, continued to fight on the Eastern and Western Fronts. Shilman participated in the liberation of Poland and Czechoslovakia,

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THE TRADITION THE TRADITIONS CONTINUE CONTINUES

She loves Jewish literature. He loves her. So he proposed in a Yiddish library. Julia Gergely

At The Oceanfront (New York Jewish Week via JTA)—David October–April Frisch, 24, had the perfect plan to propose “Local’s Throughspecials” April 2019 to his girlfriend, Pammy Brenner, while Monday–Friday Daily Specials

the two were in New York visiting her family. He would get down on one knee Happy hour in the reading room at the Center for in the bar 5–7 pm Jewish History, where Brenner had been a research fellow at the YIVO Institute for ½ price select drinks and appetizers We are giving 10% of our totalJewish Research from 2018 to 2020. He just needed to get her to go along sales to a different non proﬁt with it. causeDine eachfor Monday a causethru April Though Brenner had spent hours upon hours in the center’s Lillian Goldman A local non-profit receives Reading Room, getting Brenner, 24, to 10% ofHour all sales Happy 5-9 P.M. the library wasn’t as easy as Frisch had expected. He enlisted the help of one of Brenner’s favorite undergraduate profesHour5–9 5-7p.m. P.M. HalfHappy price wine sors at Barnard College, Agi Legutko, who teaches Yiddish literature. Legutko was going to lure Brenner ½ Price Date Wine night 5-9P.M. to YIVO’s archives under the guise that In House 3 course dinnerOnly for 2 new materials had been discovered from Shomer (the pen name of Nahum Meïr and a bottle of wine 55.00 Schaikewitz), the obscure Yiddish writer 3 Course Dinner for 30.00 and bitter rival of Sholem Aleichem whom Brenner had been researching. Parmigiana night 25.00 But Brenner already suspected she Eggplant, chicken or would be getting engaged that day, so she veal parmigiana, pasta, Dinner for 2 Including kept asking the professor to reschedule. As salad and a glass of banfi Appetizer, Salads, Entrees much as she loved her Yiddish research, she loved Frisch more, she told The New centine (super-tuscan) and a Bottle of Wine York Jewish Week, and she didn’t want to miss the date they had at Washington Square Park. Two for one Free Focaccia “I was sending my professor emails Buy one entrée and saying ‘I’m 99% sure I’m on my way to get receive another of equal engaged. Can we please meet up literally Early Bird Specials or lesser value free. any other day?’” she says. “And she was 5-6:30 First come, firstP.M. serve. forwarding them to David, saying ‘Things are not going to plan.’” All special are in house only Eventually, Brenner’s sister just put On and off premises catering her in an Uber. When Brenner realized Buy one Entrée and she was headed for the Center for Jewish Live entertainment History on West 16th Street—where the Receive Another of 910 Atlantic Avenue Equal or Lesser Value Free YIVO archives are housed—instead of Virginia Beach, VA 23451 Washington Square Park, Brenner figured ilgiardino.com Frisch was rearranging the plan so she could check out the documents, and then

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he would propose later in the day. When she arrived at the archives, Brenner was told that there was a book waiting for her. “At first I thought it was the manuscript that I had come there for—but it was actually a scrapbook of the whole history of our relationship,” she says. It was filled with photographs and mementos from their one-year courtship, including their first Hanukkah together, as well as their first trip to London. And there was Frisch, waiting in the reading room with an engagement ring, along with their families. He had convinced the Center for Jewish History to open for the day so they could get engaged. Frisch’s proposal also had a Yiddish flair. “I could not do the whole thing in Yiddish,” he says, “but I learned a couple words I needed to say.” One of Brenner’s goals in her research is to introduce (or reintroduce) Yiddish culture and language to more people, so Frisch wanted to acknowledge that in his proposal to Brenner. “Yiddish is something that’s been both so important for Jewish history and also within my own family, knowing that my grandparents spoke Yiddish, and that I went to the Yiddish theater as a child and worked as a research fellow at the center,” Brenner says. “I have very fond memories of Yiddish and fond memories of being there. “I care about the future of Yiddish,” she adds. “I care about Yiddish literature and Yiddish cooking and dancing and all of that. So YIVO and Yiddish institutions in general are a very big part of my life.” That’s exactly why Frisch decided to propose at YIVO, he says. “I’m not originally from New York, but it’s really important to us that we get engaged in a place that has so many friends and family and a place that would be meaningful for Pammy,” he says. “We both grew up Jewish and want to have Jewish families, so I love the idea of

positioning our relationship in all of this context, community, and tradition.” Brenner grew up on the Upper West Side and graduated from Maayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, an Orthodox school in New Jersey, before studying in Israel and at Barnard. Frisch, who is from Pittsburgh, graduated in 2020 from Duke University. The couple met last year while pursuing graduate degrees at the University of Oxford in England. Brenner completed a master’s degree in Yiddish studies there last year, then stayed in Oxford with Frisch while he completed the last semester of his own master’s degree, in political theory. The two are hoping to make their way back to New York when Frisch completes his studies. He plans to pursue a law degree, while Brenner intends to apply for PhD programs in Yiddish. Doctoral students in Yiddish often spend time at YIVO, one of five archives housed in the Center for Jewish History— the others are the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, the Leo Baeck Institute New York and the Yeshiva University Museum. YIVO’s archives, per its web site, focuses on Jewish life and history in Europe; Yiddish language, literature, and folklore; the Holocaust; and the American Jewish immigrant experience. Jonathan Brent, YIVO’s CEO and executive director, says he was “delighted” by the news that Brenner, who was an Irene Kronhill Pletka YIVO Research Fellow as an undergraduate, had gotten engaged in the building. “David’s proposal at YIVO shows that YIVO is not just a place for researching the past but a vibrant institution for the next generation, a place for connecting, for discovery and for new life,” Brent says. “Mazal tov!” As for the scrapbook, Frisch left many extra blank pages at the end. “Hopefully, we will keep adding to it and have it as our own little piece of Jewish history,” Brenner says.