15 minute read
HADASSAH
The Richmond Jewish Coalition for Literacy launched a school supply drive to support the students at Swansboro and Laburnum Elementary schools as they returned to a virtual school program. Over $1,600 was raised to purchase muchneeded supplies for the students to bring home. Unfortunately, all mentor programs have been postponed by the schools until at least January. We will continue to be in touch with the schools regularly to offer other support. For more information about RJCL, contact Sara Rosenbaum at srosenbaum@jewishrichmond.org. Back to School supplies are stacked on tables at Swansboro Elementary
.Hadassah Happenings School for parents to pick up. More than $1,600 was raised for the effort, helped by mentors from Richmond Jewish Coalition for Literacy.
#HadassahVotes 2020
Parents pick up school supplies for their children at Swansboro
Elementary School in Richmond. Contributed Photos
With #HadassahVotes, Hadassah is mobilizing our members around all phases of voter engagement — online and in our communities. Join us and help us mark the 100th anniversary of women securing the vote by making this the largest turnout of women voters.
“At this moment in American history, two things are clear: with freedoms and rights come responsibilities, and women’s voices are needed more than ever,” writes Hadassah National President Rhoda Smolow. Civic engagement is central to Hadassah’s promise to e ect change – from promoting voting and an informed citizenry, to writing and meeting directly with elected offi cials on issues that matter.
Join the Hadassah Voting Team
Hadassah is participating in Vision2020Votes, a national, nonpartisan e ort to get more women than ever registered and voting in the 2020 elections. Via the online platform, Motivote, anyone can join Hadassah’s Voting Team and regional teams. Request an absentee ballot, add Election Day to your calendar, help someone else register, visit the Hadassah National Action Center and more.
Let’s Break the Record for Women Voting!
Vision2020Votes is a national, nonpartisan e ort to get more women than ever registered and voting in the 2020 elections.
There’s no better way to increase the power of women’s voices in decisions that a ect society, and to honor the su ragists who won the fi ght for women’s right to vote 100 years ago.
Why do so many people who have registered, signaling their intention to vote, not carry through? In too many cases, life gets in the way. They’re busy, miss the mail-in deadline, don’t know where to go, don’t have transportation, don’t have a babysitter, etc.
People who intend to vote are far more likely to overcome these barriers if they join a team of people they know who all commit to voting, make a plan to vote, and are encouraged, rewarded and reminded at key points along the way.
That’s what happens when you sign up with Vision2020Votes and invite others to join your team. Anyone can sign up and join the Hadassah team- locally, join the Southern Seaboard Region team.
For more information and to sign up, go to:
Hadassah.org/Vote2020.
What’s new from Hadassah Hospitals
Cause for Optimism: First “Passive
Immunization” Patients Return Home
In the spring of 2020, Dr. Dana Wolf, the longtime head of Hadassah’s Virology Unit, took the helm of the Clinical Virology Laboratory, beginning a highspeed race to create a serum of COVID-19 antibodies.
At the same time, in an initiative spearheaded by Director General Prof. Zeev Rotstein, Hadassah’s Blood Bank began collecting antibody-rich plasma from volunteer donors. Since then, the Israeli biopharmaceutical fi rm Kamada, working with Hadassah Medical Organization, has produced a passive vaccine: the antiSARS-CoV-2 plasma-derived immunoglobulin (IgG) that is showing promising therapeutic results in patients with COVID-19.
The fi rst patients treated have already been released from the hospital and have returned home. As The Times of Israel reports: “The world’s fi rst clinical trial for a coronavirus drug made from antibodies got o to a promising start in Jerusalem, with all three patients involved released.”
These early results are enough to “raise hope in Israel and around the world,” says Director General Prof. Zeev Rotstein of the Hadassah Medical Organization.
Patients with any viral disease develop antibodies in their plasma that help fi ght o the disease. Hadassah’s Blood Bank collected plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients and transferred that plasma to Kamada, which used it to produce the appropriate antibodies, what it calls its “anti-SARS-CoV-2 plasma-derived immunoglobulin (IgG) product.”
According to HMO Director General Prof. Zeev Rotstein, the treatment is being given to seriously ill COVID-19 patients. Potentially, it could also stop the progression of disease in high-risk patients who contract the virus.
What makes passive immunization di erent from an active vaccine is that a passive vaccine uses antibodies from recovered patients while an active vaccine contains a dead or weakened version of an actual virus.
Hadassah believes each of us has the power to help heal our world. To learn more about Hadassah and our Richmond chapter or to donate to this amazing organization, contact Leslie Baron, president at bubbielou57@gmail.com.
.Jewish Community Happenings
Hortense Wolf: The Golda Meir of Richmond
(Editor’s note) Hortense Wolf (OBM) was the fi rst woman president of the JCFR in 1977-78. As the Federation prepares to celebrate 85 years of service in Richmond, we want to share stories with Refl ector readers on some of the families, individuals and institutions that were and are the soul and legacy of our Jewish community. This is the fi rst in our series to Honor Our Past. We appreciate Robin Jackson coordinating the series with the Refl ector and writing the fi rst article about this truly remarkable leader who impacted so many people.
By Robin Jackson
For her diminutive size, Hortense Wolf stood tall in the Richmond community.
“Next to family, the Richmond Community, both Jewish and non-Jewish, was the love of my mother’s life,” said her son Franklin in her eulogy in 2009.
He continued, “she believed it was better to give than to receive, and she truly felt God put us all on this earth for a purpose and hers was to make this community a better place to live.”
She spent most of her 94 years living that purpose.
Brought up in depression years in Portsmouth, her parents and their siblings were involved in public affairs in both the Jewish and general community.
In her Woman of Valor speech in 1998, she recalled early memories of. “me and the Sunday school kids going door-to-door collecting funds for Hadassah and standing on a downtown street with my mother collecting nickels and dimes for fl ood relief along the Mississippi River. My parents were always involved in community, schools and Synagogues. My four siblings and I along with young cousins were inculcated early on with the practice of sharing, Tzedakah and participation in community.” Her mother died when she was a freshman in college and her father felt the money was needed for her three brothers’ education. As Franklin noted, “my grandfather was a strict disciplinarian and his rule was law. So, she did not fi nish college.”
In 1936 while attending a cousin’s wedding in Richmond she met the dapper Benjamin Wolf. They fell in love and soon were married. She immediately plunged into Richmond Jewish community life, becoming part of the newly organized Richmond Jewish Community Council, the forerunner to the Federation.
As Hortense told it later, “The clouds of war were already forming in Europe. Families from Germany with the foresight to leave were beginning to trickle into our community. While those families were mainly sponsored by relatives, the work of the Council began to go into high gear.”
She continued, “Many military installations were in Virginia. Weekends saw hundreds of soldiers and
Facing the Future ~ Honoring the Past
1935 - 2020
sailors pouring into Richmond. Among them were Jewish personnel from all over the country. Richmond Jewry opened its heart and homes to o er hospitality to those who little knew what was in store for them.”
Ben and Hortense and their two small sons, Marshall and Franklin, had moved into a home with a large yard. She recalled how, “each weekend saw groups of Jewish military mingling with Richmond Jewish girls under the sponsorship of the Council in the back yard of our home. Singing, dancing, cooking hot dogs and eating corn grown in our victory garden was Richmond’s way of saying good luck to you!”
She added that as the war continued and then came to an end, American Jewry were galvanized into action, raising tremendous sums of money to salvage the remnants of European Jewry and establish the new State
In this 1952 photo, (center) Hortense Wolf is with (left) Libby Meyers and Libby’s daughter (right) Dor
othy (now Dorothy Wizer.) Family Photo of Israel. She was proud that Richmond responded and the Richmond Jewish Community Council was in the heart of the action.
Son Marshall said recently, “My parents exemplifi ed what it means to live lives of Jewish values. Growing up, I had no idea that their models infl uenced me as well as my brother, Franklin. Both of us, in our own ways, have been dedicated to the Jewish community, Temple Beth-El and in my case, welcoming the stranger, Hachnasat Orchim (welcoming guests/being kind to strangers),” specifi cally, by becoming a foster parent and then later an adoptive parent.
Eleven years into her marriage, Ben su ered a debilitating stroke. Six months earlier, in their kitchen, they had started a retail heating oil distribution business as a side investment. When it became apparent he wasn’t going to recover from his stroke, Hortense stepped into a “man’s world” with no college degree or prior business experience. She knew she had to support her family and recognized the great potential for growth in the fuel oil delivery business, becoming president of Eveready Oil Company.
“What she brought into the business world was a fi erce determination to provide for her family, an extraordinary work ethic and courageous zeal to serve her customers at all cost,” Franklin said recently.
He continued, “This phenomenal dedication kindled unbelievable support from the community that caused her business to grow and prosper.” She was named the 1984 Small Businesswoman of the Year by the Retail Merchants Association and soon became
(From left) Hortense Wolf poses with a community member
during a Federation Mission to Israel. Family Photo
Hortense Wolf
Continued from page 12 the area’s first recipient of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Businesswoman of the Year.
Longtime community leader Neil November (OBM) who knew Hortense for decades once said, “Those early years really were so hard on her. But she kept it together - her business and her family. She’s a very brave gal.”
He described her as a “dedicated member of the Jewish Community and a straight business lady. She can slug it out in a macho-dominated field and yet she’s always managed to retain her femininity and grace.”
Hortense was a friend and mentor to many. She was a warm and nurturing individual, which made her a great community leader. She had unique abilities, which she fostered with her numerous community responsibilities. She accepted challenges and tasks with zeal.
In 2000, Hortense said in letter to the Federation, “My greatest contribution during the years of my Jewish communal participation was to bring women to the forefront. It started in the 1970s when I chaired the Campaign and culminated with my becoming the first woman President of the Federation. Women were encouraged to become full participants and assume leadership roles. That was a major change. The 70s were years of growth for us. Subsequent events and participants confirmed my convictions.”
As the first female president of the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond, she helped transform the Federation and its Campaign forever with improvements to the Jewish community that are still felt today. She improved Campaign techniques, helped form the Women’s Cabinet and encouraged the Federation to become active in national organizations. She was a powerful force in the creation of Richmond Jewish Foundation.
In remarks at her funeral in 2009, long-time community leader Helen Horwitz said, “Her election as president of the Jewish Federation broke the glass ceiling and made it possible for Jewish women to attain the highest positions of leadership in the community. Hortense was a model for a generation of
Son Marshall Wolf’s life took an unanticipated turn in 1989 when he became a foster parent and later an adoptive parent to a 12-year-old, orphaned, Cambodian refugee, Kosal.
Kosal arrived in this country with two older sisters who have enriched his life and together they slowly became a large extended family. Kosal graduated college to become a talented graphic designer and works in real estate. His married oldest sister, Sokly, has her own alteration shop and 2 married children. Both children are college graduates and her daughter has two young children. His middle sister, Phavy, is a dental assistant and is married with 5 children, all with higher education goals.
This brings Marshall’s extended family to a total of 21!
“Only in later years have I realized my commitment to helping others was rooted in my parents’ model. Helping these orphaned new immigrants acculturate to life in the United States has reaped multiple rewards in my life. The legacy of my parents for living lives of dedication to the Jewish community and to Tikkun Olam has been passed forward,” Marshall reminiscences.
Franklin has served the Richmond and Jewish community following closely in his mother’s footsteps. His service includes becoming an Eagle Scout, president of his AEPi Fraternity chapter, and founder/president of the 20-30 Club, a JCC- sponsored social group for Jewish adult singles.
He has been incredibly involved with Temple BethEl, serving as president and instrumental in starting its “Friday night dinners were not to be missed! It didn’t Shoe Ministry Program, Save the James Program and RISC - Richmonders Involved with Strengthening our Community. Franklin also has served on the boards and committees of the Federation and JCC. He has been an active Campaign worker for the Federation for over 50 years!
He has served as the president of the Oil Heat Institute of Mid-Virginia and was the organizer and treasurer for almost 30 years of the 3BK Family Association. He currently is a volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels.
For this community service and more, in 2019 Franklin was awarded the first Neil November Distinguished Community Service Award by the JCFR.
Franklin’s wife, Gini, has worked in the JCC preschool for many years. Like her mother-in-law, she was awarded the Edith, Esther and HJ Bernstein Volunteer Leadership Award.
And their children continue the path of education, excellence, and service that Hortense inspired.
Eldest son Joseph lives in California with his wife and children, and has several degrees in Electrical Engineering and an MBA, all with honors. He attended UVA on the Governor’s Virginia Scholars 4-year scholarship.
Joseph is director of Product Management at Intuit and previously worked at Google where he received The Executive Management Group Impact Award and the
Wolf Family
More on page 22
women and workers who followed her. This giant of a matter whether there was a football game, a party or headwoman, known aectionately by many as the Golda Meir ing out on a date … you always made time for Grandma’s of Richmond, was actually short in stature but her wings on a Friday night. And the most special Friday night dinners were large enough to encompass all who came to her who of all were Report Card dinners where grandma would became known as ‘her girls.’” prepare our favorite meals to celebrate our grades and ac
Among her many honors, she was awarded the Fedcomplishments.” eration’s Lifetime Achievement Award as well as its DisShe passed her Shabbat traditions and love of Judaism tinguished Community Service Award. Her further list of as well as her work ethic and mucy more to the next generaawards, achievements and honors reads like a Who’s Who. tions. This included the Federation’s Woman of Valor – L’dor As many knew, Hortense was a humble woman who V’dor, twice awarded the JCC’s most prestigious honor, the never said no and never turned down a challenge or an Edith, Esther and HJ Bernstein Award (32 years apart), and opportunity. She once said, “I am just an ordinary woman the Chesed Award from Rudlin Torah Academy. with an ordinary life.”
She also served as a vice president and secretary of the Guiding all of Hortense’s eorts were her creeds - “each Richmond Jewish Community Council, chairman of the person is responsible for their own destiny, each of us has a Women’s Division of the Jewish Welfare Fund, president communal responsibility, each individual has responsibility of the Women’s Cabinet of the Council (which she helped for the mitzvah of tzedakah, and how good it is for brothers found), secretary of the JCC, and secretary of Temple Bethand sisters to dwell together in unity.” El Sisterhood. She was a member of several agency Boards To conclude her eulogy, Franklin told friends and relaof Directors including United Way of Greater Richmond, tives, “If this day and this life are to have any meaning to Jewish Family Services, VCU Judaic Culture Committee, you, Mom would want you to open your eyes and hearts to The Daily Planet and the Richmond Fuel Oil Association. your community. Serve when asked and unselfishly give or
Over and above being a fierce businesswoman and a your time, energy and resources to make this community committed community servant, she was a devoted and cara better place for all of us to live, to enjoy and to prosper. ing mother and grandmother. Shabbat dinners were a traAmen.” dition that was as important as anything else in her life. In “My parents exemplified what it means to live lives of fact, according to her grandson Joseph, Jewish values.”
Operating Committee Excellence Award. October 2020 . Tishrei/Cheshvan 5781 | the Reflector | 13
