Jewish News - 4.25.22 Issue by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater

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Southeastern Virginia | Vol. 60 No. 14 | 24 Nissan 5782 | April 25, 2022

Marty Einhorn Pavilion set for completion in May

3 Match Grant announced for Tidewater Ukraine Emergency Fund

—page 8

33 Wind is Blowing Our Way Tuesday, May 3

34 Yom Ha’Atzmaut Israel Fest Sunday, May 1

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38 Unorthodox had fun in Tidewater

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JEWISH NEWS

UPFRONT

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Matching Gift announced for UJFT Ukraine Emergency Fund

Published 20 times a year by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

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Millions of Ukrainians, including tens of thousands of Jews,

Betty Ann Levin

have fled the country and millions of others are internally

he Tidewater Ukraine Emergency Fund has raised and dis-

displaced.

tributed more than $280,000 as of Tuesday, April 19. The

Now, a very generous donor who wishes to remain anony-

money has been sent to United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s

mous, has offered a $200,000 matching gift for the UJFT Ukraine

overseas partner agencies, the American-Jewish Joint Distribution

Emergency Fund. Again, these dollars will quickly be distributed

Committee (JDC) and Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) to be used

to multiple overseas partners and relief organizations as the crisis

to assist refugees and those still in Ukraine to ensure that urgent

in Ukraine continues to escalate.

relief reaches the most in need—as quickly as possible. But so much more is needed.

The Tidewater Jewish Foundation to date, has distributed more than $235,000 to support relief efforts for those sheltering in place and fleeing the conflict zone, with $135,000 distributed

Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Suite 200 Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462-4370 voice 757-965-6100 • fax 757-965-6102 email news@ujft.org Terri Denison, Editor Germaine Clair, Art Director Sandy Goldberg, Account Executive Marilyn Cerase, Subscription Manager Reba Karp, Editor Emeritus United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Laura G. Gross, President Alvin Wall, Treasurer Mona Flax, Secretary Betty Ann Levin, Executive Vice-President

to the UJFT Ukraine Emergency Fund.

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If you would like to help deliver hope and assistance when it is so desperately needed and take advantage of this matching gift opportunity, please do so now. To give online, go to www.jewishva.org.

The appearance of advertising in the Jewish News does not constitute a kashrut, political, product or service endorsement. The articles and letters appearing herein are not necessarily the opinion of this newspaper.

To give with a check, mail to: Subscription: $18 per year

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Attention: Ukraine Emergency Fund 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Suite 200

JewishNewsVA

Virginia Beach, VA 23462 Jewish Tidewater is known locally, nationally, and globally for its generosity. Thank you for giving. Betty Ann Levin is executive vice president/CEO of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater/Simon Family JCC. She may be reached at balevin@ujft.org.

CONTENTS

Photograph of the Marty Einhorn Pavilion during construction by Steve Budman.

Up Front. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Briefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Virginia Supreme Court. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Opinion: Where are the headlines? . . . . . . . . . 6 Ukraine: Jewish refugees and traitors. . . . . . . . 7 HUC to end Cincinnati rabbinical program. . 10 Terror in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Some Jewish tech workers move to Israel . . . 14 Celebrities discuss Jewish issues . . . . . . . . . . 15 TJF grant helps Toras Chaim with updated books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Celebrating Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lessons learned from moms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time for camp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SIA hosts Evening of the Arts. . . . . . . . . . . . Teens dive into movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S’more fun afternoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What’s Happening. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unorthodox takes a Southern spin . . . . . . . . .

18 18 26 30 31 31 32 34 36 38

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CANDLE LIGHTING

QUOTABLE

Friday, April 29/28 Nissan Light candles at 7:34 pm

“In the 246-year history of the Commonwealth of Virginia, there has never been a Jewish member of the Virginia Supreme Court”

Friday, May 6/5 Iyar Light candles at 7:40 pm

—page 5

Friday, June 3/4 Sivan Light candles at 8:02 pm

Friday, May 13/12 Iyar Light candles at 7:46 pm Friday, May 20/19 Iyar Light candles at 7:52 pm Friday, May 27/26 Iyar Light candles at 7:57 pm

jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | JEWISH NEWS | 3

BRIEFS US POSTAL SERVICE HONORS JEWISH POET SHEL SILVERSTEIN WITH ‘THE GIVING TREE’ STAMPS The United States Postal Service released a new series of Forever stamps Friday, April 8 in honor of Shel Silverstein, the Jewish author and illustrator who died in 1999. The stamps commemorate what is perhaps Silverstein’s most famous book, The Giving Tree, which tells the story of the relationship between a boy and a tree. The stamps feature an image of the boy from the story catching an apple with Silverstein’s name written below. “The issuance honors the extraordinarily versatile Shel Silverstein (1930–1999), one of the 20th century’s most imaginative authors and illustrators. His picture book The Giving Tree and his quirky poetry collections are beloved by children everywhere,” the description on the postal service’s website reads. Silverstein was born in 1930 to a middle-class Jewish family in Chicago. He started drawing and writing from a young age and drew his first cartoons for adult readers when he was a GI in Japan and Korea. In addition to his career as a children’s book author, Silverstein was a prolific songwriter and playwright. (He also inspired the name of the youngest child of a Jewish family that recently appeared on Ava Duvernay’s home-swapping TV show.) The U.S. Postal Service’s special edition stamps commemorating notable Americans have included many Jews, including the physicist Richard Feynman in 2005, cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg in 1995 and, in 1991, comedian Fanny Brice, the inspiration for the musical Funny Girl. The series in which Brice appeared was drawn by the Jewish illustrator Al Hirschfeld. (JTA) CANADA SET TO OUTLAW HOLOCAUST DENIAL Canada is set to outlaw Holocaust denial, a move that has the backing of the governing Liberal Party coalition and the opposition Conservative Party. The CTV reported on Saturday, April 9 that language adding Holocaust denial to the criminal code is in the must-pass government budget.

Coalition officials cast the change as consistent with existing Canadian laws criminalizing incitement to hatred and promotion of genocide. “There is no place for antisemitism and Holocaust denial in Canada,” Marco Mendicino, the public safety minister, told CTV. “That’s why we’ve pledged to prohibit the willful promotion of antisemitism through condoning, denying or downplaying the Holocaust. The Holocaust was one of the darkest chapters in human history. We must preserve its memory, combat contemporary antisemitism and be unequivocal when we say: never again.” Irwin Cotler, the veteran human rights activist who is currently Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, said: “Holocaust denial and distortion constitute a cruel assault on memory, truth, and justice—an antisemitic libel to cover up the worst crime in history— and thereby a cruel and mocking rebuke to Holocaust survivors and their legacy.” The language echoes a separate law already advanced by a Conservative member of parliament, Kevin Waugh of Saskatchewan. He called the decision a “win for everybody.” Canada joins a number of European nations, including Germany, that have criminalized Holocaust denial. (JTA)

KEN BURNS’ NEXT DOCUMENTARY IS ABOUT THE US RESPONSE TO THE HOLOCAUST For his next historical deep dive, famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is exploring America’s relationship to the Holocaust. Tentatively titled, The U.S. and the Holocaust, the three-part miniseries set to air Sept. 18-20 on PBS is co-directed and co-produced by Burns and his longtime collaborators Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein. Burns’ production company says the series “dispels the competing myths that Americans either were ignorant of what was happening to Jews in Europe, or that they merely looked on with callous indifference.” In a 2019 interview with Esquire, the Emmy-winning director said the series

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would be “all about immigration and who’s an American and who’s not an American.” Like all of Burns’ projects, the documentary has taken years to make. But it will now be the next release from his production house, as he announced in a promo message that aired earlier this month to accompany his latest PBS documentary, Benjamin Franklin. “Our next film is one of the most important we’ve ever worked on,” Burns, the director of such works as The Civil War, Jazz, and The Roosevelts told viewers, by way of introducing the series. Burns, whose wife is Jewish, has explored the Holocaust in different ways before. The 2016 documentary Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War, for which Burns came onboard as co-director and co-producer midway through its production, followed American Unitarian minister Waitstill Sharp and his wife Martha in their mission to save Jewish refugees in Europe. His 2007 series The War, about America’s entry into World War II, also discussed the Holocaust. (JTA)

‘COMPELLING’ ISRAEL DATA SHOWS AMERICANS OVER 60 SHOULD GET 2ND COVID BOOSTER The White House’s top COVID-19 response coordinator said that Americans over 60 should be getting a second vaccine booster shot, citing Israeli data. “The data out of Israel is pretty compelling for people over 60,” Dr. Ashish Jha said on Fox News Sunday, April 17. “People who have had that second booster shot four months after their first booster, what we saw was a substantial reduction not in just in infections, but in deaths.” The Food and Drug Administration authorized second Pfizer and Moderna boosters for people over 50 last month. But Israel, which launched the world’s first major second booster program in January as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus swept through the world, authorized it only for people over 60. Jha also said April 17 on This Week with George Stephanopoulos that getting a second booster between the ages of 50 and 59 “is a much closer call.” While an Israeli study found that the second booster’s “protection against

confirmed infection appeared short-lived,” the shot’s “protection against severe illness did not wane during the study period.” (JTA)

WINE FROM WEST BANK SETTLEMENT SERVED AT WHITE HOUSE SEDER Wine from a West Bank settlement was on the menu at this year’s White House Passover seder hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Dough Emhoff. A spokesperson for Harris said the choice should not be construed as a political statement about Israeli settlement in the West Bank. “The wine served at the Seder was in no way intended to be an expression of policy,” Herbie Ziskind, an advisor to Harris, said in a tweet. The response from the Harris spokesman came after reporters spotted a bottle of wine from the Psagot winery in a photo of the seder that Emhoff posted to social media, eliciting a flood of criticism from anti-occupation activists. “These photos show @VP serving wine from Psagot at Passover Seder. Psagot’s vineyards are on stolen Palestinian land. It’s not cool. It was the Trump that ‘legitimated’ the theft,” James Zogby, founder of the ArabAmerican Institute, said in a tweet. The Psagot winery, which is located north of Jerusalem in the West Bank, has been active in efforts to resist international efforts to prevent goods produced in Israeli settlements from being labeled “Made in Israel.” The winery challenged a 2016 French ruling requiring wines produced in Israeli settlements to be labeled as such, though the European Court of Justice upheld the French law in 2019. In February 2020, the winery introduced a special label named for Mike Pompeo, then-President Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, whom they thanked for repudiating a State Department finding that Israeli settlements were illegal. The photo of the seder posted by Emhoff also showed traditional seder plates on the table alongside an orange, a more modern addition to the seder plate meant to symbolize inclusion of LGBTQ Jews at the seder. The tradition to host a seder at the White House was started in 2009 by then-President Barack Obama. (JTA)

VIRGINIA

Consider Jewish judges on Virginia Supreme Court

he following letter was sent to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and others earlier this month to highlight the fact that there has never been a Jewish judge on the Virginia Supreme Court. April 13, 2022 The Honorable Glenn Youngkin Governor Office of the Governor P.O. Box 1475 Richmond, VA 23218 Senator Creigh Deeds, Co-Chair Senator John Edwards, Co-Chair Senate Judiciary Committee Pocahontos Building 900 E. Main Street Richmond, VA 23219 Delegate Robert B. Bell Chairman, House Courts of Justice Committee House of Delegates Pocahontas Building 900 E. Main Street Richmond, VA 23219 Re: Vacancies on the Virginia Supreme Court Dear Governor Youngkin, Senator Deeds, Senator Edwards and Delegate Bell:

e write as concerned citizens, members of the organized Jewish community and in some cases members of the Virginia State Bar with regard to the above-referenced vacancies. We understand that after much deliberation two vacancies remain. Many fine candidates have been vetted, and many elected officials have repeated the sentiment that the Court should resemble the demographic make-up of the Commonwealth to the extent possible. This is a laudable concern that has advanced various candidates to the bench who might have been overlooked in the past. We hope that these considerations remain true today. Not unmindful of the minefield that

racial politics can promote, we call to your attention one simple fact which consistently gets ignored: In the 246-year history of the Commonwealth of Virginia, there has never been a Jewish member of the Virginia Supreme Court. The undersigned are non-partisan and at the same time concerned about quotas and religious litmus tests. We stand for the unassailable principle that such important appointments should only go to the most qualified candidates ---whatever his or her race, gender or religion. But at some point, the citizens of the Commonwealth must ask themselves as we do, why would a religious group which has been so essential for the administration of justice in Virginia be excluded from the Supreme Court bench for all of these centuries? Jewish lawyers and jurists were amongst the founders of the Commonwealth. They have served as advocates, circuit court judges, and elected representatives at all levels of state and local government. Without promoting any one jurist in particular, we note the fact that a significant number of sitting circuit court judges and senior attorneys are completely suited for approval. We ask today for their consideration. Whether it be in connection with these vacancies or at some other point in time in the near future, this issue deserves attention. The Bible/Torah admonishes “tzedek, tzedek, tirdof”—“Justice, justice you shall pursue.” Deuteronomy 16:20 This is a foundational principle of the Jewish people. Based upon the Commonwealth’s regrettable history in this regard and the strength of so many qualified candidates, we now highly recommend your consideration of a Jewish jurist for one or both vacancies. Respectfully yours, Jeffrey F. Brooke (Note: Twenty additional members of the community signed the letter.)

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Forever Helping Others

OPINION

Where are the headlines? Jay Klebanoff

Architect Bernard Spigel died in 1968, leaving a legacy of homes, schools, and other buildings he designed. Today, Spigel Scholars are designing buildings of their own. A scholarship that Bernard’s daughter, LucySpigel Herman, created at the community foundation to honor him helps future architects pay for their education.

Find out how you can leave your mark. Visit LeaveABequest.org

ords matter. So do images. We see and feel the impact of words and images in cascading form in this age of technology driven social and journalistic media. As we were reminded at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, people, nations, and institutions pay the price when misleading words are spewed as truth or presented in skewed fashion. For too many years to count, Israel has suffered from a media, writ large, that portrays a set narrative regarding the struggle for peace and self-determination in Israel. The country that started out in 1948 as a miraculous story of courage, determination and ingenuity—the little country that could—now suffers from a consistent narrative portraying Israel as the unsympathetic oppressor. Whether overt or subliminal, this long-standing and skewed media perspective has created the kindling often ignited by a movement like BDS or by endemic antisemitism. Media coverage of the current spate of murderous attacks on innocent civilians in Israel provides the latest example. On March 22 in Beersheba, four Israeli civilians were stabbed or rammed to death by a known ISIS supporting terrorist. Five days later in Hadera, two 19-year-old police officers were killed at a bus stop in an attack ISIS has taken credit for. On March 29 in Bnei Brak, a religious suburb of Tel Aviv, five people were killed by an Israeli Arab, including two Ukrainian citizens and an Arab-Israeli police officer responding to the attack. On April 7, in the heart of cosmopolitan Tel Aviv, two 27-year-old Israeli life-long friends and a 35-year-old father of three young children were gunned down and others critically wounded by an ArabIsraeli terrorist. Each of these horrific incidents was reported in our Virginian-Pilot newspaper as part of a cursory “News Briefing” section. Evidently, innocent Israelis getting killed on four occasions over a two-week period isn’t considered headline worthy.

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Worse, on two occasions The Pilot featured the Israeli reprisal to the terrorism as a headline article; the second of which was titled, Israeli forces kill Palestinian militant in raid. The photo accompanying the Israel Police The shooting attack on Dizengoff Street, April 7, 2022. second headline story shows Israeli military vehicles rumbling down the streets of Jenin, a Palestinian city that is often a hotbed of terrorist planning. There were no photos of Eytam Magini, one of the 27-year-old friends killed in Tel Aviv, who had just gotten Israel Police engaged and was The shooting attack on Dizengoff Street, April 7, 2022. planning his wedding. There were no photos of Barak Lofen, also killed in Tel be peace in Israel—a time when terrorist Aviv, who was a two-time Israeli Olympic organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and kayaker. There were no photos of the ISIS lose their grip on the population Chesed Shel Emet teams gathering the of the West Bank and Gaza and people bodies in Beersheba, Hadera, Bnei Brak or who want security and economic stabilTel Aviv after the murders. ity can negotiate a peace similar to the No, once again the media—our agreements Israel shares with Egypt and media—chose to downplay the killing of Jordan. Israelis and instead feature Israel as the But as long as the murder of Israelis aggressor. One has to wonder why this is trivialized and Israel’s rightful defense portrayal has become the narrative for The of its population is portrayed as heavy Pilot and for journalists worldwide. Does handed oppression, there will be no incenthis narrative attract more subscribers? Is tive for Palestinians to curtail the rocket there visceral or intentional antisemitism attacks, stabbings, shootings, and vehicle at work? attacks that terrorize the Israeli populaIt is hard to say. What is readily appartion and prompt a necessary reprisal. ent is that this skewed reporting has an Reporting matters. impact. It affects people’s opinions consciously and sub-consciously; especially Jay Klebanoff is a past president of United those who only know the Israel presented Jewish Federation of Tidewater. by the media. We can hope that there will someday

UKRAINE

Ukrainian state agency adds Ukrainian Jewish leader to list of pro-Russia ‘traitors’ Cnaan Liphshiz

Ukrainian refugee with Tidewater ties uses words to emote fear, hope, and gratitude

tella Kremen emigrated from Ukraine in 1994 to Tidewater with her husband, two boys, and her parents. Her children attended Hebrew Academy of Tidewater. Kremen’s brother stayed behind in Ukraine. Kremen shares the following Instagram post from her niece, Karyna who 33 years old and was living in Ukraine on February 24.

(JTA) — Ukraine’s government has placed Vadim Rabinovich, a lawmaker and Jewish community leader, on a list of 111 people it called traitors in the war with Russia. “I am a Ukrainian mother of two daughters, 3 and 7 years old, who had to The list was published this month by Rukh Chesno, escape from Kyviv, the capital of Ukraine on February 24, on the first day of a nongovernmental organization dedicated to promotthe war when Russia began to bombard my city and my country hard, because I ing honest governance, and Ukraine’s National Agency would not be able to protect them myself before the bombs, because I don’t want for the Prevention of Corruption. It includes bureautheir psyche to be from sirens 6 times a day and I don’t want their childhood crats, journalists, and mayors accused of collaborating passed in bomb shelters without schools and kindergartens. with Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The “Together with my husband’s sister and her son (4 years old), we traveled government agency was a partner in compiling the for 15 hours in a cold evacuation train to Lviv. From there, we got to Poland list, according to TSN, a leading television station. and now we live in a small Polish village in a refugee camp and pray every day Rabinovich was elected in 2019 to the Verkhovna that the war ends, that our relatives, husbands, mothers and fathers remained Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, and headed a small oppoalive and intact. sition party whose critics say is pro-Russian. A former “We will be grateful for any help and support.” billionaire, he entered politics in 2014. Rukh Chesno’s website called Rabinovich a “collaborator, pro-Russian politician,” adding that he has “been abroad since the beginning of the war” and on Feb. 14 wrote on Facebook that the war had begun “and the West Ukraine began it.” In 1997 he founded the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress, which has been one of the main local Jewish groups active in the country. He also heads the European Jewish Parliament, a largely inactive Jewish umbrella group founded in 2012. Last year, Rabinovich launched a failed attempt at impeaching President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is also Jewish, over the government’s shuttering of three television stations deemed to be pro-Russian. Along with Anna German, a former politician, Rabinovich is among a handful of Jews on the list and the only leader of a Or, take $300 off select Jewish organization. stressless recliners. Many of the people on the list have not See store for details. Offers end May 31. been arrested or otherwise punished. Some are dead, including Volodymyr Struk, 57, a former mayor of the city of Kreminna, who last month was kidnapped and shot dead, possibly for allegations of collaboration. Rabinovich did not immediately reply Largest local selection of contemporary furniture to a request for comment by JTA to his 301 West 21st Street, Norfolk | 757.623.3100 | decorumfurniture.com inclusion on the list of alleged traitors.

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SANDLER FAMILY CAMPUS

Marty Einhorn Pavilion set for completion next month Terri Denison

n almost perfect coordination with the appearance of spring flowers, a new outdoor structure at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus is making Marty Einhorn. its own debut. The Marty Einhorn Pavilion is rapidly taking form, with an anticipated completion of early next month. Named in memory of Martin A. Einhorn, a past president of the Simon Family JCC and a leader in countless organizations, the Marty Einhorn Pavilion sits adjacent to the basketball court on the rear lawn of the Sandler Family Campus. Plans call for the pavilion to be used throughout the year by the Simon Family JCC summer camp for outdoor programming, by Strelitz International Academy for outdoor learning, by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC for adult and family programming, for community events, and more. Einhorn, who died in February 2021 at 63 years old, “shared his generous spirit, time, advice, and contributions throughout Tidewater and beyond,” says Betty Ann Levin, UJFT and Simon Family JCC CEO and executive vice president. “The Marty Einhorn Pavilion will bring joy to the entire community—including to so many children and families—just as Marty did to everyone he met.” Growing up not far from the Jewish Community Center on Newport Avenue in Norfolk, Einhorn spent countless hours

(and days) there—especially as a teenager. Serving as president of the JCC, a post his father, Bernard Einhorn also once held, was a natural progression for him. “Marty loved the community and felt a responsibility to support it in all sorts of ways,” says Susan Einhorn, Marty’s widow. “I know he’d be proud to have the pavilion named for him and thrilled to know that it will be a meeting place for so many.” COVID-19 made clear the need to have an outdoor space at the Sandler Family Campus, says Levin. “Having an outdoor structure that can protect from the hot sun or even a simple rain shower will be a huge benefit to so many on the Campus. COVID pushed us to act now so that we can meet and still feel safe.” “We anticipate the Marty Einhorn Pavilion opening up all sorts of programming opportunities,” says Laura Geringer Gross, UJFT president and a past JCC president. Ground was broken for the pavilion last month, and other than a few weather delays, construction is moving along as planned, according to Glenn Saucier, facility director, Sandler Family Campus. The 40- by 60-foot structure will have a comfortable seating capacity of 160 people. Lighting for evening events with power and WIFI will make it flexible for a variety of uses, including setting up picnic tables for dining. The pavilion will also have ceiling fans. The Pavilion’s budget is approximately $175,000. In addition to a Community Impact Grant from Tidewater Jewish Foundation, support from UJFT and Tidewater Jewish Foundation, and individual donor gifts, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation will provide $20,000 in matching funds once the initial $40,000 has been committed.

The Pavilion just after the concrete was poured.

To contribute, contact Betty Ann Levin at balevin@ujft.org or 757-965-6130. Model of the Marty Einhorn Pavilion constructed by Jason Capossere.

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Photos by Steve Budman.

The Pavilion is 40 feet by 60 feet.

Local Relationships Matter

NATION New York Times makes Joseph Kahn its 5th Jewish executive editor since 1964 Ron Kampeas

(JTA)—The New York Times named Joseph Kahn as its next executive editor, the fifth Jewish editor in the position since it was instituted in 1964 as the newspaper’s top journalist job. Kahn is currently the Times’ managing editor and was widely expected to succeed Dean Baquet, who is retiring at the age of 65, as is Times custom. “Joseph grew up in the Jewish tradition,” spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said Tuesday, April 19 in an email. “Though he is not a practicing Jew he identifies as Jewish.” The past Jewish executive editors were A. M. Rosenthal (1977–1986), Max Frankel (1986–1994), Joseph Lelyveld (1994–2001, 2003) and Jill Abramson (2011–2014). Kahn, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who earned his chops as a foreign correspondent reporting for the Dallas Morning News in China in during a turbulent period in the late 1980s and early 1990s, is the son of the late Leo Kahn, a founder of Staples, the office supply giant. The elder Kahn, who also founded a chain of health food stores that was

wrapped into the Whole Foods enterprise, was known for his philanthropy, including in promoting Holocaust education, according to his 2011 obituary in the Times. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. Both Kahns, father and son, attended Harvard, and Leo Kahn earned a masters in journalism from Columbia University. The Times, in reporting Kahn’s elevation, said father and son enjoyed “dissecting” newspaper coverage together. The family is Boston-based, and Leo Kahn’s memorial service in 2011 was held at Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. Kahn became a leading China reporter, writing dispatches from the country in the 1990s for the Wall Street Journal and the mid-2000s for the Times. His reporting there in 2006 scored his second Pulitzer Prize. Joseph Kahn, who goes by Joe, is close to Baquet, the Times’ first Black executive editor, who will be stepping down by June 14. The Times is owned by the OchsSulzberger clan, many of whom decades ago stopped identifying as Jewish. A.G. Sulzberger, the current publisher, announced Kahn’s appointment.

University that fired Jewish professor who reported antisemitic incidents violated his academic freedom, panel finds Andrew Lapin

(JTA)—A university in Oregon that fired a Jewish professor last year after he accused the school’s president of making antisemitic comments violated the professor’s academic freedom, according to a new report by a group that represents university professors. The American Association of University Professors concluded that Linfield University, a private school in McMinnville, violated academic freedom guidelines when it fired tenured English professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner a year

ago. The report, released this month, also said the university “contributed to a culture of abuse” by its actions. Linfield fired Pollack-Pelzner shortly after the professor went public with his accusations against the school’s president, Miles K. Davis. He accused Davis of making multiple antisemitic comments to faculty, including commenting on the size of Jewish noses and making jokes about sending Jews to gas chambers. Pollack-Pelzner also accused the school of covering up reports of sexual assault and instances of swastikas and other hateful messages painted on campus.

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The standoff attracted attention from Jewish groups, with the Anti-Defamation League and the Oregon Board of Rabbis both calling on Davis to resign. Local outlets reported that members of the university community who rallied behind Pollack-Pelzner were being intimidated into silence. Pollack-Pelzner subsequently sued the university for $4 million for whistleblower retaliation and other claims; meanwhile, a parallel investigation by the local NAACP found that Davis, who is Black, had been subjected to racism at the university, and it called the professor’s allegations into question. PD-ad-three-eighths-V-color-Jewish News-111320.indd 3

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Now, the AAUP report 11/13/20 corroborates 2:56 PM much of Pollack-Pelzner’s allegations against the school. It details how Linfield forced him out of his job and locked him out of his email without first holding a disciplinary hearing required for charges against a tenured professor. It also details how, as the school board’s designated faculty trustee, Pollack-Pelzner had reported several relayed instances of sexual assault and harassment, as well as reported instances of swastikas and racial slurs found on campus, to the board, allegations that the report says were swept under the rug.

jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | JEWISH NEWS | 9

NATION

Hebrew Union College to end Cincinnati rabbinical program after board backs controversial plan Andrew Lapin

(JTA)—Hebrew Union College will officially stop ordaining rabbis in Cincinnati, the Ohio city where the Reform seminary was founded in 1875. The seminary’s board of governors voted Monday, April 11 in New York City to approve a strategic plan that centers on enrolling all rabbinical students at HUC’s campuses in New York and Los Angeles. The Cincinnati rabbinical program will “sunset” after all currently enrolled students are ordained by the end of the 2026 academic year. The plan was approved by a more than two-thirds majority, according to the school. Its approval comes after years of declining revenue and enrollment at the school—and months of bitter debate

across the Reform community. “We recognize the pain that this decision causes and expect to take the appropriate time and care to implement this decision in a sensitive and constructive manner, in collaboration with our community,” HUC President Andrew Rehfeld said in a statement acknowledging Cincinnati’s renown as the historic center of American Reform Judaism. Rehfeld, board chair Sue Neuman Hochberg and chair-elect David Edelson called the decision a “first step” in an email to the school community sent more than two hours after the vote concluded. “This vote was a first step toward transformational change for HUC-JIR and the Reform Movement—as we are bound together in the recognition that Judaism must honor its history and tradition while

adapting to fundamental changes in the world around us,” they wrote. HUC says it is not closing its Cincinnati campus and will maintain the Klau Library, Skirball Museum and American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati. In the coming years, according to the plan, HUC will also create a new low-residency rabbinical and cantorial program based on the campus.

Opponents said they would view the plan’s passage as a sign the Reform movement was abandoning non-coastal Jews.

The school’s small doctoral program, which has been based in Cincinnati, will over the coming years, be offered at its other campuses, too, Rehfeld told JTA last month. The vote was closely monitored by the broader HUC community, including faculty, staff and alumni serving Reform congregations across the United States and beyond. In two open letters that circulated among the HUC community in the weeks leading up to the vote, opponents to the plan outnumbered supporters by a factor of around three to one. Opponents said they would view the plan’s passage as a sign the Reform

10 | JEWISH NEWS | April 25, 2022 | jewishnewsva.org

movement was abandoning non-coastal Jews. They contended the plan would not produce enough savings to justify its implementation; would discriminate against students who are unable to study in cities with high costs of living; and could potentially lead to further closures in Cincinnati. Opponents made several last-ditch efforts to avert the plan’s passage, including threatening to withhold individual donations to the school as well as congregational dues to the Reform movement should it pass. Ohio’s attorney general also alerted the school that the plan could be in violation of its nonprofit agreement, and thus potentially warrant an investigation. No members of the Cincinnati faculty supported the proposal, and one publicly derided it in a speech in full view of the school’s president. About 100 opponents attended a “Rally for our Rabbis” Thursday, April 7 in Cincinnati, according to public radio station WVXU, where Louise Bettman, the great-great granddaughter of HUC’s founder, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, spoke and suggested that the attorney general’s letter might be the group’s last, best chance to stop the plan. Some HUC faculty and alumni supported the plan, which its authors, HUC Provost Rabbi Andrea Weiss and Rabbinical School Director Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, researched by conducting hundreds of interviews over a period of two years. A group of influential Reform rabbis pledged to make up any shortfall in congregational dues incurred because of the board vote. The plan’s backers said it would help the school reorient itself amid its ongoing financial and enrollment crisis. Over the past 15 years, enrollment at HUC’s three American campuses fell by 37%, with the largest drop, 60%, coming in Cincinnati. Meanwhile, the Reform movement has seen dues from congregations fall by two thirds over the same period, reducing the movement’s ability to pad the seminary’s stretched budget.

The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family Jewish Community Center are grateful to the following corporate sponsors and partners, whose generosity is helping to bring this year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut Israel Festival to life!

If you would like to become a corporate sponsor or partner for future events, please call Amy Zelenka at 757-965-6139 or email azelenka@ujft.org. jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | JEWISH NEWS | 11

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Terror in Israel

(JTA)—Two Hasidic Jews were shot on Monday, April 11, while trying to visit Joseph’s Tomb, a shrine in the West Bank city of Nablus believed by some to be the burial site of Joseph, the son of the biblical patriarch Jacob. The two men did not coordinate their visit with Israel’s army, which typically escorts groups to the site a few times a year, according to Israeli media. The shooting came one day after the shrine became the site of a riot when a group of about 100 Palestinians vandalized the site and set parts of the shrine

on fire. The shrine, which is also considered to be holy by Muslim and Christian worshippers, has been the site of clashes between Israelis and Palestinians several times in recent years. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett condemned the vandalism in Nablus at a government meeting and said he was “shocked” by photos of the damage. “During the night, Palestinians destroyed Joseph’s Tomb. Dozens of Palestinian rioters in a campaign of destruction simply violated a holy place for us, the Jews,” Bennett said, according to The Times of Israel.

Shooting in downtown Tel Aviv leaves 2 dead, at least 4 in serious condition Ron Kampeas

(JTA)—At least one gunman shot people at different locations along a downtown Tel Aviv street on Thursday, April 7, leaving what Israeli emergency responders said were at least two people dead and four injured in critical condition. Police said they were in pursuit of at least one gunman, and called on people to stay indoors and stay away from windows. Witnesses described policemen running through the city streets, guns drawn. A spokesman for Magen David Adom, Israel’s main responder, said at least 16 people were evacuated to hospitals; it was not clear if this number included those

who were declared dead. Media reports claim the attack occurred on a busy section of Dizengoff Street, where bars and restaurants are concentrated. The two casualties died from their wounds at the Sourasky Medical Center hospital. Ron Huldai, Tel Aviv’s mayor, said the attack apparently had terrorist motives. The attacks came at the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holiday when tensions are often heightened around prayer spaces in Jerusalem. Israeli police and Muslim worshipers clashed for weeks around the same time last year.

ISRAEL Israeli police raid Al-Aqsa mosque to quell rioting by Palestinians Ron Kampeas

( JTA)—Israeli police raided Al-Aqsa mosque during riots on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a rare incursion that headed off for now tensions stoked by the confluence of Passover and Ramadan. After police quelled the riots, some 60,000 Palestinians prayed at the site holy to both Jews and Muslims. Palestinian first responders said more than 150 Palestinians were injured in the clashes and Israeli police said three of their number were lightly injured.

Palestinian rioters inside the mosque lobbed objects and explosive devices at police, who were positioned in the plaza outside the mosque. That prompted the rare entry into the mosque. Police fired rubber bullets. Tensions during Ramadan last May culminated in days of rioting in Jerusalem and a deadly conflict in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian militant groups have been calling for increased confrontations, and police kept Jewish extremists from sacrificing a goat on the Temple Mount to mark the Passover holiday.

Israeli police clash with Palestinians at Temple Mount on tense second day of Passover Shira Hanau

(JTA)—Several Palestinians were arrested and 17 were wounded, according to Israeli news reports, after Israeli police entered the Temple Mount complex Sunday, April 17. Jewish worshipers were allegedly blocked from entering the site by Palestinian worshipers. The incident came just two days after violent clashes at the Temple Mount Friday morning, during which hundreds of Palestinians were arrested.

The period leading up to the holidays of Ramadan, Easter, and Passover this year was marked by violence in Israel, with 14 people killed by Palestinian terrorists and 14 Palestinians killed in raids by the Israeli army. Five people were also wounded in the morning when Palestinians threw stones at a bus taking Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount site, according to Haaretz, which reported that more than 700 Jewish visitors had entered the site Sunday.

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HARNESSING THE POWER OF WIND A CONVERSATION ABOUT OFFSHORE WIND FARMS & A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

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From the harnessing of power, to the innovative engineering and technology it takes to produce, move, or store it… the winds of change are here! Come be a part of the conversation, and find out what it means for us as individuals and as a region. Hang around after the program to continue the conversation over drinks & snacks! FOR INFORMATION + TO RSVP CONTACT AMY ZELENKA AZELENKA@UJFT.ORG // 757.965.6139 jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | JEWISH NEWS | 13

Leaving a Legacy in Jewish Tidewater

ISRAEL Some Jewish tech workers won’t ever return to the office. Instead, they’ve moved to Israel. Emma Goss

I am a Holocaust survivor. My husband and I lost our entire families during the war. The people of the United States and this community have restored my faith in humanity and provided a safe environment in which to raise our wonderful children. Norfolk has become my home. Based on everything I have experienced, it is my obligation to be charitable both globally and to my community. There is nothing more important than good deeds and respect for others. - Bronia Drucker*

Bronia Drucker* established a Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment gift to UJFT. What will your legacy be? Define your legacy with a gift to endow the Jewish community so future generations have the opportunity to embrace our shared heritage and the values you hold dear.

( J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA)—Koby Geduld clocks into work at 7 pm most nights. He’s a project coordinator for Tile, the San Mateo–based maker of Bluetooth-enabled tracking devices. He boots up his laptop from his home, responding to messages and having meetings until 3 am. No, Geduld isn’t nocturnal (at least not naturally). He’s working overnight hours because he no longer lives in the Bay Area. Instead, he’s 10 hours ahead, in Jerusalem—where he and his wife moved last summer. And the 24-year-old isn’t alone. Guy Rosen, an Israeli and a vice president at Meta, the parent company of Facebook, worked at the social media network’s Menlo Park offices prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, he’s planning to relocate to Israel, according to the Wall Street Journal. Working from Israel while retaining a Bay Area tech job is the result of the willingness of many Silicon Valley companies to allow their employees to work remotely—indefinitely. “I’ve never been in the offices, which is weird,” says Geduld, who began working for Tile’s parent company, Life360, during the pandemic in December 2020. The pandemic had already thrown a couple of major wrenches into his life. When it first hit, he was studying communications at Reichman University in Herzliya, and his classes went remote. Then, his planned wedding to his college sweetheart, Ariel, was postponed, and what had been anticipated as a short, pre-wedding stay in Oakland turned into a year and a half there.

* of blessed memory

14 | JEWISH NEWS | April 25, 2022 | jewishnewsva.org

The couple used the time to look for post-college jobs, with Geduld doing Bay Area deliveries for Instacart and DoorDash before he landed a part-time job at Life360, which turned into a fulltime position with Tile in July 2021. A month later, the Cleveland native and Ariel (now his wife) relocated to Jerusalem, where Geduld’s siblings have lived for years, and where the newlyweds had always hoped to live. “I think it’s an amazing opportunity that I have,” Geduld says of their move. “I don’t take it for granted at all. I’m beyond grateful.” The pandemic has allowed many businesses—Silicon Valley and Bay Area tech companies, in particular — to rethink the way work can get done. “I think they’re super understanding and willing to give you a lot…especially if they see you’re contributing with a time difference,” Geduld says. “They realize that you’re here not just for a paycheck. You’re here for something bigger.” That belief is what led him to ask for something he was at first hesitant to bring up: time off for Shabbat. He got an immediate yes. As for how he manages the graveyard shift, “It’s honestly not that bad,” he says. “I wake up late and take some midday naps.” For Dan Cohen, who relocated from Oakland to Israel five years ago, the pandemic “really changed the equation” of working remotely from Israel. Cohen, 53, lives in Raanana and runs Full Court Press, a public relations firm headquartered in Oakland that specializes in supporting nonprofits, federations, and social enterprises, many of which are Jewish. Though his team of seven

employees is entirely Bay Area-based, the CEO and founder (Cohen) has led the company from Israel since 2017. When he first relocated, Cohen recalled, picking up a phone and calling someone was how most companies operated. Now he communicates almost entirely over Zoom, which he feels builds stronger connections with people than a standard phone call can achieve. Five years ago, he worried that missing out on handshakes with clients and not having a seat at a literal conference room table might weaken the social capital he was fostering. Now, he said, it feels normal, both for him and the companies he supports. “What felt like a leap off a cliff five years ago now just feels like a walk in the park,” he says. Cohen and Geduld both say they are atypical of most of Israel’s workforce; for example, Cohen’s Israeli friends and neighbors are openly jealous of his work schedule that includes Sundays off. Like Geduld, Cohen works overnight hours so he can stay available for his Bay Area team and clients. He works Monday through Thursday each week—reaping the benefits of an Israeli workweek that ends on Thursday and the traditional U.S. workweek that starts on Monday. “I get to do physical fitness, I get to volunteer, I get to spend time with people I care about. And I get to really be active and supportive in my kids’ lives,” Cohen says. “The best thing is,” he adds, “I get to live here.” A version of this article originally appeared in The Jewish News of Northern California and is reprinted with permission.

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CELEBRITIES Idina Menzel, Ilana Glazer, Rachel Bloom, and several other Jewish celebs discuss antisemitism on YouTube show Evelyn Frick

t’s fun and exciting when favorite celebrities regale the public with the minutiae of their lives. What color were the balloon arches at Jenny Slate’s bat mitzvah? How does Morgan Spector react to being the object of the internet’s thirst? But when these favorite celebrities speak out on issues that matter, that’s a special kind of heartening. In Recipe for Change: Standing Up to Antisemitism, a YouTube special released this month produced by The SpringHill Company, a whole cohort of Jewish celebrities are doing just that. Featuring Idina Menzel, Ilana Glazer, Rachel Bloom, Skylar Astin, Michael Twitty, Hannah Einbinder, Alex Edelman, Tommy Dorfman, Josh Peck, Hari Nef, Michael Zegen, and more, Recipe for Change brings together this group to discuss the current global rise of antisemitism. In the special, the celebs are divided into three Shabbat dinners and are each given a scroll. As they dine on delicious looking Black and Middle Eastern-inspired Jewish food, they open their scrolls to discuss the tough questions they pose such as, “Have you ever experienced antisemitism?” and “Could the Holocaust happen again?” For Mrs. Maisel actor Michael Zegen, the latter question prompted memories of intergenerational trauma. “My grandparents on my mother’s side were Holocaust survivors,” he recalls. “My grandfather essentially lost his whole family. His father was shot on the way to the trains because he had a clubfoot and couldn’t keep up. So they shot him.” But the dinner conversations aren’t about only antisemitism. Rather, some of the scrolls focus on Jewish joy, asking, “What makes you proud to be Jewish?” and, “Tell me you’re Jewish without telling me you’re Jewish.” Other scrolls prompt discussions about Jewish identity, like whether Jews of European descent are white.

In a moment of perfectly blended humor and a confession of Jewish assimilation, Idina Menzel reveals, “I have to come clean, so my real spelling of my name is M-E-N-T-Z-E-L. Which everyone would say ‘Ment-zel’ and I had a lot of self-hatred about that for some reason. And then [I] wanted this cool sounding [name], so I took the ‘t’ out, which didn’t help anybody say it right.”

This special will easily prompt important discussions for many Jews, as well as allies to the Jewish community. Ultimately, Recipe for Change couldn’t be coming at a better time. Debuting right before Passover, and when many Jewish families gathered at their own tables, this special will easily prompt important discussions for many Jews, as well as allies to the Jewish community. Recipe for Change also succeeds in its radical inclusivity. Instead of just focusing on what Jewishness and antisemitism mean to cisgender, straight, Ashkenazi Jewish men, the special very purposefully makes room for the voices of Black Jews, Mizrahi Jews, LGBTQ+ Jews, and Jewish women. What results are conversations that are as thoughtful and poignant as they are full of laughter and Jewish pride. This article first appeared on Hey Alma.

ARE YOU READY TO START YOUR MEDICAL CAREER? The Tidewater Jewish Foundation can help with the Feldman Family Medical and Health Professions Student Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to Virginia Jewish students who have been accepted at a Virginia based institution for a degree in their chosen healthcare field. Scholarship applicants must: • • • •

Must identify as Jewish Live in Virginia, with priority to those from the Hampton Roads area Accepted to study at a Virginia based institution Be entering a field of medicine, dentistry, Physician Assistant, nursing as LPN, RN or Nurse Practitioner; pharmacy or physical therapy; ancillary medical professions, and all those who will be comforted and cared for as a result

Applications open May 1, 2022. Apply online at bit.ly/tjf-feldman. Due by July 1, 2022.

jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | JEWISH NEWS | 15

TIDEWATER JEWISH FOUNDATION

TJF Community Impact Grant helps Toras Chaim with new updated textbooks Thomas Mills

Toras Chaim third graders with math books and manipulatives.

o do a job well, one must have the proper tools. A carpenter might need a specific saw for a type of wood to be cut, a photographer might need a special lens to capture a tiny creature, and educators need the most up-to-date information and methods to teach and prepare their students. The educators at Toras Chaim had a pressing realization that they lacked the proper tools. To improve the curriculum and resources for students and staff, the administrators’ focus quickly centered on the school’s textbooks, which were old and outdated. “The textbooks that Toras Chaim were using were more than 10 years old,”

says Andie Pollock, the school’s assistant principal. “The math books especially did not match the current trends in teaching math. More recently, math has moved away from the skill and drill to have the students truly understand the why and how of math skills.” The Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s Community Impact Toras Chaim kindergarteners work with phonics books. Grant of $11,500 helped Toras Chaim purchase new textbooks for their curriculum. In addition to new math textbooks, Toras Chaim ordered new literature and life science books for middle school and phonics books for kindergarten, first, and second grade. “The TJF Community Grant made it possible for us to order across the board in several subjects,” says Pollock. “We were able to fill in the gaps in several areas, rather than have just one grade get started at a time.” The new textbooks helped Toras Chaim get their curriculum back on track. Students had phonics lessons in their workbooks and science textbooks had a wonderful Jewish twist. “When learning about the intricacies and amazement of the cell, we are reminded of all the Hashem has created,” says Pollock. “ “Education is one of the cornerstones of the Jewish community in Tidewater,” says Naomi Limor Sedek, president and CEO of Tidewater Jewish Foundation. “TJF is honored to help institutions like Toras Chaim improve their curriculum for their students, many of whom will be future leaders in our community and the world.”

“We were able to fill in the

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Celebrating Women and Mother’s Day Supplement to Jewish News April 25, 2022 jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | Women | JEWISH NEWS | 17

Women Dear Readers,

R I S T O R A N T E

I N S P I R E D

interesting how much my mom moves to the front of the line.” I can’t agree more.

n a recent interview in Parade Magazine (yes, I read EVERYTHING!), Viola Davis

B Y

I T A LY

(The Help, How to Get Away with Murder) was asked about the strong women who

inspired her. Part of her response included, “As I move through my life, it’s really

The women in our lives, especially our mothers and grandmothers, make tremendous imprints on us…if we’re smart enough to pay attention. As we approach Mother’s Day (and before I read the Davis interview, by the way), Jewish News asked several women to write about one or two—of the probably many —things they’ve learned from their moms. Their pieces are so heartfelt, respectful, adoring, and loving that they are inspiring. They begin on page 19. Thank you Janet Mercadante, Joni Burstein, Alicia Friedman, Megan Zuckerman, Shaye Arluk, Andie Eichelbaum, and Miche Anderson for sharing. Beanie Feldstein is back on Broadway, but this time in the ultimate Jewish female role, playing Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Can you imagine being the first to follow Barbara Streisand on stage on Broadway in that iconic role? New York Jewish Week asked Feldstein all the right questions for the interview on page 21. There’s more in this section, along with a host of terrific advertisers—some that offer delicious options for where and how to celebrate the special women in our lives on Mother’s Day. However or wherever you spend Sunday, May 8, all of us at Jewish News hope you

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18 | JEWISH NEWS | Women | April 25, 2022 | jewishnewsva.org

have a very Happy Mother’s Day!

Terri Denison Editor

Women Lessons learned from moms W

hat one (or two) thing(s)—of the probably many—have you learned from your mom? We posed the question to several women, and not surprisingly, their responses are filled with respect, admiration, love, and even some humor. How fortunate these women are to have had such strong role models…and how fortunate for us that they’ve shared their lessons…and words of wisdom.

Lorraine Fink Joni Fink Burstein

Lisa Rosenbach Andie Eichelbaum

Joan London Alicia Friedman

Lorraine S. Fink and Joni Fink Burstein in Norfolk earlier this month.

have the good fortune to still be learning from my mom, and the older I get, the more I recognize how unique and positive she is. She always gives people the benefit of the doubt and is the most appreciative person I’ve ever met. She turns every little thing into an object of wonder, full of praise and excitement—and it is genuine. She was into gratitude long before it was “in.” When I was a child, if I said Sally was mean to me, she would say, “Poor Sally—she must have been having a bad day.” She quickly shifted my self-pity or hurt feelings to considering Sally’s situation. Trained as a bookkeeper, my mom has meticulous attention to detail and her standard is perfection. At the same time, she is a free-flowing artist and accepts and treasures everything just the way a person offers it. She inspires me to live up to her example and strike that balance. I am still trying! With her wonderful sense of humor and positive and appreciative approach to life, the main thing I’ve learned is how lucky I am to have her as my mom.

here are many lessons I have learned from my mother throughout my 26 years of life. Out of all of them, resiliency has to be the most important. My mom is one of the most resilient women I’ve ever met. Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. As much as resilience involves “bouncing back” from these difficult experiences, it can also involve profound personal growth. Life can, and has been, difficult in so many different ways. At an age not much older than I am now, my mother lost her husband and had to figure out a way move forward while simultaneously raising three girls under the age of six. Not only did she do it, but she showed us firsthand what the process of self-growth truly looks like. I now strive for that same type of growth through resiliency in everything I do.

Lisa Rosenbach holds her young daughter, Andie Eichelbaum in the mid 1990s.

Joan London and Alicia Friedman.

o pick one thing I have learned from my mom, I began reflecting and realized that so many of the qualities I like about myself are all attributed to my mom. Identifying one life lesson I have learned from mom would have to be resiliency and grace. My mom’s life has been filled with so many amazing blessings and she will be the first one to tell you how grateful she feels for her lot in life. That being said, when adversity rears its head, Mom has picked up the pieces, shown strength and courage to move forward, and always looked for the silver lining. Her positive outlook and discipline to not allow herself to go down a dark path is a beautiful quality and one I admire so much. Mom is a woman who loves hard and deeply and would do anything for her family. I count my blessings everyday that Joan London is my Mom.

jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | Women | JEWISH NEWS | 19

Women Grace Weinstein Janet Mercadante

Judy Anderson Annabel Sacks Micheline Anderson

Leslie Siegel Megan Zuckerman and Shaye Arluk

Janet Mercadante with her mom, Grace Weinstein, at a Passover Seder circa 1968(ish).

o my kids, I call them my WOWs (Words of Wisdom). My mom, Grace Weinstein (of blessed memory), had her own set of WOWs, some of which were stated, and others simply demonstrated by how she lived her life. All continue to resonate with me. She used to say that she would never take the credit for how Larry and I turned out, because if she took the credit she would have to take the blame. She was teaching us to be humble. My mom was an accomplished author who always worked from home. She showed me that it was possible to have a successful career, while at the same time being a hands-on mom. I have tried to emulate her success in both. Mom battled breast cancer and ultimately lost the fight in 2012, but she lived 26 years after being given less than a 20% chance of living five. By example, she taught me to face life’s challenges with courage and optimism, to just keep moving forward, and to never accept an end date. Sorry, Mom, but I have to give you credit for that one!

hen I was eight, my mother, Judy Anderson, began graduate school to become a physical therapist. It meant a change in routine, in role transitions for her. For me, it meant being told, “Mom can’t take us to practice or dance class” or “Mom has a big test, we need to let her be.” While I remember the disruption, what stuck with me was the doggedness with which she pursued her professional ambition while balancing the responsibilities of being a nurturing, caring mother. Beyond the minor inconvenience, she taught me the value of being tenacious, of always being growth-oriented. She came by this naturally. My grandmother, Annabel Sacks, was a master of reinventing herself. First, a naval officer’s wife, then a teacher, then a professor, then a community organizer and leader, and of course, a grandmother. My mother and grandmother truly embody the eshet chayil, woman of valor. As a psychologist, I work with women extricating themselves from their postpartum depression. Many times we assess values to motivate and create a life worth living. Inevitably, at least one value is derived from a desire to parent differently from one’s own mother. When I reflect on my own parenting values, I am fortunate they require no such negation or rejection. Rather, as I raise my daughter, I seek to emulate the pioneering spirit of my mother and grandmother and hope to continue this legacy of independent, fierce, and truly fabulous women.

Judy Anderson, Micheline Anderson, and Annabel Sacks with Lillian.

20 | JEWISH NEWS | Women | April 25, 2022 | jewishnewsva.org

Megan Zuckerman, Shaye Arluk,and Leslie Siegel.

ow, our MOM! How do you put into words the most selfless, empathetic, strong woman we have ever met? Our mom is a powerhouse. She is a powerhouse of love, of dedication to her family, her friends, those who she meets who become fast friends due to her unwavering curiosity in everyone’s story, and to her many, many, many philanthropic causes she holds near and dear to her heart. She is a powerhouse of strength, holding true to the values she believes in and raising us to be strong independent women with our own convictions and voices. So what has our mom taught us? She has taught us everything, but most importantly, she has taught us how to love fiercely and to be generous with our time and resources helping those we know and those we have never met, but are nonetheless in need. Written with love for our mom, Leslie Siegel.

Women Beanie Feldstein opens up on Funny Girl role Linda Buchwald

(New York Jewish Week)—Funny Girl is so deeply ingrained in Beanie Feldstein’s life that she doesn’t even remember the first time she watched the movie. “From my developmental psychology classes in college, I think I remember that your first memories are around 3 years old,” she tellls the New York Jewish Week. Funny Girl “precedes my memory. I’ve always loved it as far as I’m concerned.” Even if she doesn’t recall all the details now, the 1968 movie—starring Barbra Streisand, who plays real-life Jewish vaudeville star and comedian Fanny Brice—made enough of an impression that Feldstein had a Funny Girl-themed birthday party when she turned 3, leopard-print costume and all. Of course, now, in an incredible turn of events, Feldstein, 28—known for movies like Lady Bird and Booksmart—is starring in the first-ever Broadway revival of Funny Girl. (The musical, which also starred Streisand, opened on Broadway in 1964 and ran for more than three years.) What did such a young girl find appealing about a show about a strong-willed performer—with a story that also focuses on Brice’s rocky relationship with her suave, gambler husband, Nick Arnstein? “The biggest thing that impacted me was her ambition,” Feldstein says. “The character of Fanny Brice was so unrelenting in her pursuit of her own career and her love of her performing and I think, even at a young age, I really latched onto that.” She was also drawn to the score, featuring songs like Don’t Rain on My Parade, I’m the Greatest Star, and People, all of which have become standards of the American songbook. “Those songs have lasted in our hearts and our ears for almost 60 years now—and I’m sure they will continue to, forever,” Feldstein says. “You can’t hear the opening chords of Don’t Rain on My Parade and have it not just course through your body—even now, night after night.”

This interview has been lightly condensed and edited. New York Jewish Week: What does it mean to you, as a Jewish woman, to get to play this role? Beanie Feldstein: It’s such a big question, I could write a dissertation on it. But I truly believe that any Jewish woman who wants to be funny and perform and sing owes something to Fanny Brice. So, to get to play that trailblazing woman and bring her story back to Broadway 60 years after the original production, and over 100 years after she was a star herself, it’s all-encompassing and it’s very surreal and it’s incredibly moving because she opened a door that none of us could have walked through if it wasn’t for her. That’s a tremendous legacy. I think her legacy lives, of course, in Barbra Streisand, but [also] in people like Bette Midler and Sarah Silverman. Any of us who are bagels on plates full of onion rolls, we know that feeling and it’s very meaningful to me to get to bring her story back to 2022 Broadway audiences. NYJW: You mentioned Bette Midler, who you worked with in your Broadway debut in Hello, Dolly! in 2017. What did you learn working with her? BF: So much. To get to work with Bette Midler any time in your life, but specifically in your early 20s in your Broadway debut, was incredibly formative. She never sits down. I mean that so literally. She is the most hardworking person in the room. And when you’re someone like Bette Midler and you have such a tremendous body of work and following and people just adore every word that comes out of your mouth, she didn’t have to work hard. She could have walked onstage and the audience would have been in the palm of her hand. But the reason that she’s as genius as she is, and as beloved, proves to me that she is that way because she puts in the work every minute of every day to make whatever she’s working on the best,

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Women continued from page 21

the most funny, the most precise. She’s so detailed. That was such an incredible kind of master class to witness her work. And she’s also one of the funniest people you’ll ever be in a room with, so there’s that, too. NYJW: There has been a lot of talk lately about whether Jewish characters, especially women, should always be played by Jews. Do you have thoughts on this? BF: Again, I think it’s too big of a conversation to answer in three or four sentences. I was a sociology major in college, so I could write 15 academic articles about the topic. There’s so much to say. I’m playing Fanny Brice and I just finished playing Monica Lewinsky [in Impeachment: American Crime Story] and I think for me, as a Jewish woman, it’s been very meaningful to play Jewish women in history. And I love and cherish that we’ve added a lot of Yiddish to the show. The fact that I’m on a Broadway stage dancing under a huge banner that says “Mazel tov, Fanny!” is for me, as a Jewish woman, very meaningful and fulfilling and emotional and special. I think to get to play one of the most tremendous Jewish women in our history, especially entertainment history, is incredibly meaningful for me as a Jewish woman.

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NYJW: What was your own Jewish upbringing like? BF: Not to flex, but I was a junior cantor. I grew up going to a Reform synagogue [Temple Judea] in West L.A. and I became very close with my cantor. I’m still very close to him, Cantor Yonah Kliger. And he has always been a beautiful mentor in my life. Obviously, I love to sing. I grew up singing, so he quickly kind of roped me into doing a lot of singing with him at shul. We used to sing before I went away to college [at Wesleyan University]. We used to sing Sim Shalom every year during the High Holiday services. I do remember the day before my bat mitzvah, he was like, “Beanie, I really think that when you’re older you should become a cantor,” and I remember looking at him and just shaking my head and I was like, “I’m so sorry to disappoint you, but I want to be an actor.” My path as a cantor ended very soon. But I was always very close to him so he’s a

wonderful influence in my life. I’m very culturally Jewish. And always singing in different ways at synagogue. NYJW: Do you feel a lot of pressure since this is the first Broadway revival of Funny Girl and if so, how are you dealing with that? BF: I mean how could you not? I’d like to meet the person who wouldn’t be feeling the pressure. But I think I’d feel that way in any job. I hold myself to really high standards and I’m a perfectionist and I always want to do my absolute best. I’m unrelenting in that pursuit and I’m very focused and committed. I felt that way about Hello, Dolly! I feel that way about any opportunity. So then, of course, when you layer on the fact that I’m leading a Broadway show for the first time and then the fact that it’s Funny Girl, of course there’s added expectations and pressure, whatever word you want to use. But I think I just have to focus on my company of actors and our crew offstage and I think it’s such an extraordinary group of people. Whenever I get nervous, I look at Ramin [Karimloo], who plays Nick Arnstein, or I look at Jared [Grimes] who plays Eddie. I look at my incredible company of collaborators and I feel so safe. NYJW: Do you think because you know the original so well, does that make it easier or more difficult to make it your own? BF: In some ways I think I do and I don’t because I really know it through a child’s eyes. I think the last time I watched it was when I was a junior in college. My roommate and one of my dearest friends admitted she had never seen it and we watched it. But I haven’t seen it since then. I didn’t rewatch it between then and when I got the audition. And then, once I got the audition, I knew that I couldn’t watch it. I had to approach it as if it was brand new material, as if I was a person who was like what Funny Girl is about and I’ve never heard this song People before. I really tried to approach it like that because I knew that if I was going to do this, I had to do this my way and just bring my own bagelness, if you will, to the role. What I love so much about Fanny is she knows she can only be herself, so I knew in order to play the role I had to approach it that way.

Women This singing trio wants to make Yiddish sexy again Julia Gergely

(New York Jewish Week)—Like many great ideas, The Mamales, a Yiddish singing group, began on a summer night at a bar on the Lower East Side. The women who make up the trio, Maya Jacobson, Raquel Nobile, and Jodi Snyder, had gotten together for a night of fun and to reminisce about the 2018 production of Fiddler on the Roof (Fidler afn Dakh) at the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene, where they met as members of the cast. Jacobson had been listening to The Barry Sisters—a duo whose Yiddish covers were wildly popular in the mid20th century—and realized it was time for the next generation to carry on the tradition. “I heard The Barry Sisters’ version of Abi Gezunt and I knew I wanted to record this with these two, my favorite people and some of the best performers I know, and make a trio,” Jacobson, 25, told the New York Jewish Week. “I knew people in the Jewish community would be really into this. Yiddish is such huge part of Jewish culture stomped on by the Holocaust that is really being found again.” “We were just having a great time and dreaming out loud with each other,” Snyder, 28, recalls. “This project is coming at a time where we haven’t worked on a Yiddish project together in person in a while. I think we thought ‘why not dream big and try to make something for ourselves and have this passion project?’” Despite acting in Yiddish productions and singing Yiddish covers, none of the women speaks Yiddish fluently, though Jacobson braggs that she had a continuous 71-day streak in Yiddish on the language-learning app Duolingo. Nobile, an opera singer with Puerto Rican and Italian heritage, is not Jewish, but “fell in love with the Yiddish language and the culture” in 2017, when she started

performing with the Folksbiene. “I have a pretty good ear for it. It’s in my soul,” she says of the language.

As long as you’re living your life with joy, and as we all know in these times, as long as you’re healthy, you’ll be okay.”

Nobile, 30, was awarded the National Theater Conference’s Emerging Professional of 2018 for her work with the Folksbiene, where she’s also performed in Amerike: The Golden Land and The Sorceress. Snyder, almost straight out of Syracuse University at the time, earned laughs and glowing reviews as Fruma Sarah, the ghost who appears to Tevye and Golde in the dream sequence of Fiddler. To launch the project, the women started a GoFundMe page, with a goal to record and release a cover and music video of their rendition of Abi Gezunt. They raised $5,000 over the course of two months from donors around the country. “We’re constantly in disbelief by continued on page 24

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people’s generosity and excitement about this project,” Jacobson says. The music video premiered just in time for Passover. It’s delightful and funny and, as Jacobson notes, sexy too. “When I listened to the song I realized that it’s really sexy,” she explains. “I don’t normally think of Yiddish as being sexy, but it totally can be.” In the video, the three sing in Central Park, dressed as self-described “muppety, vaudevillian, mischievous, frumpy clowns,” who then transform into lounge singers hanging out and performing at a swanky bar, and back again. “The song translates to ‘As long as you’re well you can be happy,’” Jacobson explains. “The joy in performing is the through line between those two scenes, because as long as you’re living your life with joy, and as we all know in these times, as long as you’re healthy, you’ll be okay.”

The name of the group, The Mamales, is an homage to the 1938 Polish Yiddish film Mamele. It starred Molly Picon, “Second Avenue’s longest-reigning queen and the best-known Yiddish actress/singer later on Broadway,” according to the Milken Archive of Jewish Music. Picon wrote the lyrics for Abraham Ellstein’s melody and performed Abi Gezunt in the film, where it became an instant hit. The three don’t know what exactly is in store for them after the video launch, though they are eager to perform at JCCs, bnai mitzvah, synagogues, and other venues. Eventually, they hope to create a concept album with Yiddish covers and accompanying videos just like this one. “We’re hoping for nichely viral,” Jacobson jokes. “I hope it brings some joy and I hope that grandparents can share it with their grandkids and can show them how fun this language is. Because it’s a part of all of us.”

jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | Camp | JEWISH NEWS | 25

camp NORFOLK COLLEGIATE

Avoid the panic this summer: register for camp Sara Steil

hether this is your first summer as a mom or the seventh, it’s okay to panic a little at the thought of keeping the children entertained for three months. Why panic when this survival guide will help create a fun summer? 1. Sit down and plan all the fun things you want to do with your children this summer. Whether it’s hiking the Nolan Trail, visiting Hunt Club Farm, splashing in the JCC’s pool, or taking trips to the beach, write them down. Now mix in practical things like trips to the grocery store. And budget in a treat if your child

doesn’t have a meltdown in the store. It’s okay, everyone has been there. 2. Make an inventory of what you have at home that your children can enjoy each day. Don’t forget those memberships you have, too. Trips to the Botanical Garden, the Sandler Family Campus’ pool and miniature golf course, or Air and Space Museum are fantastic ways to spend a care-free day. 3. See if you have a friend with whom you can arrange quid pro quo with babysitting. See if you can take their children and they can take your children so you each can have childfree time.

4. Enroll your child in Norfolk Collegiate’s summer camps. Collegiate has partnered with Little Scholars to bring a summer

Sababa Beachaway is a co-ed Jewish sleepaway camp where young people can make friends, relax and ride the waves. At Sababa, we surf, sail, scuba dive and have a blast at the beach. Our campers have a chance to live Sababa, tackle new experiences, be inspired and find their passion. info@sabababeachaway.org • www.sabababeachaway.org

packed with camp options for children in pre-Kindergarten through Grade 5. The affordable weekly camps are at Norfolk Collegiate’s Lower School (5429 Tidewater Drive, Norfolk) and are created and taught by Little Scholars teachers. Camps include Codemoji, Adventures at Sea, Builders, ART-itects, Amazing Athletes, Dino Discovery, Stories in Motion, Whiz Kids Camp, Scientist in Training, Art Safari, Mini Med School and so much more! Camps are open to everyone, so enroll today at NorfolkCollegiate.org/ SummerPrograms. 5. Now focus on you. Plan some time for yourself, whether it’s drinks and dinner with your partner, or getting your nails done just because or some time alone.

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SABABA BEACHAWAY • JEWISH CAMP AT THE BEACH 26 | JEWISH NEWS | Camp | April 25, 2022 | jewishnewsva.org

camp Think your child might have asthma? Take these steps (Family Features) Does your child s o m e t i m e s wheeze? Are they short of breath? If so, they may need to see a health care provider to determine if they have asthma. Asthma affects the airways, or tubes, that carry air in and out of the lungs. In people with asthma, inhaling an irritant causes the airways to become inflamed and the airway muscles to tighten, making it harder to breathe. Asthma is the most common long-term health condition in children, affecting about 5 million kids in the United States. It usually starts before age five. Asthma impacts some groups of children more than others. For example, boys are more likely than girls to be diagnosed with it. Black, Puerto Rican and Native American children are more likely than white children to have asthma. Poorly controlled asthma can cause kids to miss school, not be able to fully enjoy being outside or attending camp, or even end up in the hospital. The good news is that with the right management, most kids with asthma can lead healthy, active lives. Here are several things you can do if you think your child has asthma: Look out for common signs and symptoms of asthma. These include coughing, wheezing, chest tightness and shortness of breath. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), up to 40% of children who wheeze when they get colds or respiratory infections eventually get diagnosed with asthma. Notice when and where your child has symptoms. Do the symptoms interrupt your child’s sleep? Do they occur during

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

a specific time of the day? Do exercise, allergies or illness make them worse? If your child’s symptoms persist, see a health care provider. The health care provider may ask about your child’s medical history and symptoms and do a physical exam. They may also conduct tests to measure your child’s breathing. Work with the doctor to develop an asthma action plan if your child is diagnosed with asthma. This is important. The plan will help you track medicines, monitor symptoms and changes, and understand when emergency care is necessary. Learn about the triggers that can bring on an asthma attack. Try to avoid the triggers that make your child’s symptoms worse. These may include things that cause allergies —such as pets, pollen, mold, and dust—or cold or low-quality air, infections such as the flu and tobacco smoke. Your family and health care provider can work together to control your child’s asthma and keep your child doing the activities they love. Find asthma information and resources from NHLBI’s Learn More Breathe Better® program at nhlbi.nih.gov/breathebetter.

jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | Camp | JEWISH NEWS | 27

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camp Birthright Israel prepares for a wave of tours this summer 14,000 students from 900 universities across North America expected to arrive in Israel in coming months

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bout 14,000 Birthright Israel participants from nearly 900 universities and colleges in North America are expected to land in Israel in the coming months, as part of Birthright’s 2022 Summer season. The flights, which begin on May 1, mark Birthright Israel’s long-awaited return after a series of suspensions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Birthright expects to bring about 19,000 young adults from North America during this summer. Birthright Campus Trips are a unique opportunity for North American students to go on a life-changing trip to Israel with their college friends and meet new people from their campus. The trips are usually timed to coincide with the school’s winter or summer breaks. Colleges with the largest number of Birthright Campus Trip participants include University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (585 students); University of Florida (506 students); and University of Wisconsin—Madison (424 students). University of Virginia, University of Richmond, College of William and Mary, and Virginia Tech University are among the Virginia schools sending students this year. “After a long hiatus, we are excited to bring back so many students from North America to these important and exciting tours to Israel. Many of these students are coming from college and university campuses where incidences of antisemitism are increasing, leaving them feeling beleaguered and isolated,” says Birthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark. “We know that after going on a Birthright trip, these students feel more confident.” Zachary Lech, 20, a Harvard student studying government, will travel to Israel on an upcoming campus trip. Having grown up in a small town, Lech says that he had not experienced being part of “a

Courtesy of Birthright Israel

Zachary Lech.

vibrant Jewish community” before arriving at Harvard. He hopes to further his Jewish involvement through Birthright. “I went on a short trip to Israel when I was 10, but this is my first time really seeing the country. I’m beyond excited to join the amazing people I’ve met here at Harvard on a trip to Israel to see for myself what Jewish life can really look like, and to explore my culture.” Birthright Israel offers a free, life-changing trip to Israel for young Jewish adults between the ages of 18 and 32 and, in doing so, transforms the Jewish future. Its mission is to give every Jewish young adult around the world, especially those less connected, the opportunity to visit Israel on an educational trip. Today, Birthright Israel is the largest educational tourism organization in the world that has more than 750,000 journeys to the state of Israel.

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jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | Camp | JEWISH NEWS | 29

IT’S A WRAP

Strelitz International Academy’s Evening of the Arts: How We Express Ourselves Carin Simon

packed house of Strelitz International Academy parents watched their children perform on stage, many for the first time, on Thursday, March 24. After two years of COVID mitigations, including no family programs or performances, SIA’s Evening of the Arts: How We Express Ourselves was everything the school’s families have anticipated. The proud parents were smiling from ear to ear—some even cried tears of joy. “Originally scheduled for February 17, we decided to postpone the show until March in the hopes that COVID cases would go down, and we could plan for an in-person student showcase,” says Janet Jenkins, director of the Primary Years. “Parents have been longing for in-person events, and we wanted to give our students the spotlight to show off all that they have been learning.” The evening kicked off with a string performance,

Adam Amitay introduces the third grade piece.

showcasing SIA’s xylo-string ensemble, which included SIA violinists, cellists, and percussionists. SIA students begin violin lessons in kindergarten and have the opportunity to add percussion instruments in second grade. The students were excited to show off their new skills. This was also the first Evening of the Arts since the school’s rebranding as the Strelitz International Academy. The show was a wonderful celebration of all the school’s unique aspects. The program opened with the EY4 classes singing, One Small Voice. Other songs included Kindergarten’s Thankful Song, second grade’s Lean on Me, third grade’s ABC and first grade’s It’s a Small World After All celebrating SIA’s international representation and emphasis on global learning. Fourth grade performed the prayers Adon Olam and Oseh Shalom in Hebrew, while fifth grade students illuminated themselves—creatively dressed in black and lined with Glow Sticks and danced to Mi’Shenichnas Adar, a traditional Purim Song. All 120 students performed the finale—Oseh Shalom and

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First grade students Noa Cohen and Avi Weistein sing It’s a Small World After All.

Fourth grader Yael Haas beets to Adon Olam.

Kindergarten students Madelyn Cohen and Molly Futterman show off the violin skills they’ve learned this year.

Salaam. A reception followed in the Cardo. Heather Moore, Head of School, says she is so proud of SIA’s students and faculty members, “Everyone worked together to produce such a wonderful spring show in a relatively short amount of time. The students brought to life SIA’s Evening of the Arts in a way that perfectly combined their learning of the fine arts, global mindedness and Jewish culture.” The Strelitz International Academy is the community’s Jewish Day School and authorized International Baccalaureate® program for Infants through grade 5. SIA is currently enrolling for the 2022-2023 school year. Carin Simon is director of admissions at Strelitz International Academy. She may be reached at 757-424-4327, ext. 4189 or csimon@strelitzacademy.org.

IT’S A WRAP Tidewater teens dive into Dive in Movie Dave Flagler

Danny Mishkin, Sababa Beachaway director, leads havdallah.

he first “Dive in Movie” in the Simon Family JCC indoor pool took place on Saturday, March 26 with 20 Tidewater middle schoolers and teens attending. The event was hosted by Camp JCC in collaboration with Camp Sababa Beachaway, a Jewish sleepaway camp in Virginia Beach dedicated to growth through ocean living. The movie was preceded by Havdalah, led by Sababa Beachaway director and educator, Danny Mishkin. Attendees got to know each other better through games before the lights went down and the movie started. As surfing is a major component of the Sababa Beachaway program, and a highlight of living in a beach town, the

movie of choice was fittingly Chasing Mavericks. Several intermissions were held during the movie for snacks, socializing, and competitive group games in the pool. This was the first collaboration between Camp Sababa and Simon Teens enjoy competitive relay races as a part of the Family JCC’s Teen Teen Dive in Movie program. program and it was rated an overwhelming success by the about year-round opportunities for teens in attending teens. the community, contact Dave Flagler, director of Camp and Teen Engagement, at DFlagler@ To learn more about Camp JCC, or to hear UJFT.org or 757-452-3182.

S’more Fun on a Sunday afternoon

ore than 60 people attended S’more Fun, a collaborative event presented by Camp JCC and Camp Sababa Beachaway on Sunday afternoon, March 27. Families enjoyed crafts, s’mores over a fire pit, and kosher pizza for dinner while chil- Elijah Berusch, Ella Higgins, and Layla Berusch roast their marshmallows. dren played gaga and other camp games on the field and white top. opportunity for local Jewish camps to On an unseasonably cold day, the create community outside of the summer fire was an extra special treat for parents season. Even though the weather was who had the chance to mingle while cold, the special afternoon spent with their children played. In addition to the friends was a warm reminder of summer fun, parents and their potential campers camp. were able to learn about Jewish camping options in Tidewater and connect To learn more about Camp JCC, or to hear with Dave Flagler, Camp JCC director, about year-round opportunities for teens in and Danny Mishkin, Sababa Beachaway the community, contact Dave Flagler, director director. of Camp and Teen Engagement, at DFlagler@ Families on their way out the door UJFT.org or 757-452-3182. shared that this afternoon was a wonderful

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idewater Jewish Foundation will host the 2022 Simon Family Legacy Celebration, an event honoring donors, agencies, and organizations serving the current and future Tidewater Jewish community. TJF’s first in-person event in three years, the celebration aims to connect and highlight community accomplishments. “For the past two years, our community, just like most of the world, has stayed home, practiced social distancing, and adhered to health guidelines,” says Naomi Limor Sedek, president and CEO of Tidewater Jewish Foundation. “As we ease out of the pandemic, now is the perfect time to finally get together and highlight the incredible accomplishments our community has achieved over the last few years.” In addition to connecting in-person and highlighting the impact of the community, TJF will unveil its revamped Book of Life site, which has been in the works since the start of the year. The event will also be the

first time that many community members will get to meet Limor Sedek in-person. “I am so excited for TJF to gather together for the first time in two years,” says Sedek. “The community gets to celebrate our past accomplishments and I can share my vision for the Foundation’s future.” The 2022 Simon Family Legacy Celebration will take place at the Marty Einhorn Pavilion on the Sandler Family Campus. RSVP is required to attend. For more information, contact Kim King at kking@ujft.org or 757-965-6103.

Jewish Family Service’s Annual Run, Roll, or Stroll returns Sunday, May 1, 31st Street Park Virginia Beach Oceanfront 5K Run/Walk: begins at 8 am 1 Mile Run/Walk: begins at 9am

ewish Family Service of Tidewater’s annual Run, Roll, or Stroll race as part of its Spring Into Healthy Living returns to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront on Sunday, May 1. Much more than a race, it is a time to gather as a community in fellowship and activity. The race is open for everyone—families and children are especially encouraged to register for the 1 Mile Fun Run. The event includes a special warmup session prior to the race with Yolanda from the Simon Family JCC. Plus, every race entry is eligible for raffle prizes including day passes to Hunt Club Farm, a Route 58 Deli gift card, Fleet Feet gift card, and many more. For more information and to register, go to runsignup.com.

32 | JEWISH NEWS | April 25, 2022 | jewishnewsva.org

WHAT’S HAPPENING The Wind is Blowing Our Way is panel topic

The mitzvah of disposing of Jewish text

Tuesday, May 3, 6 pm, Sandler Family Campus

Clean up and burial Sunday, May 22, 9 am–11:30 am Mikro Kodesh Cemetery

ou may have heard that America is moving away from fossil fuels and to renewables to generate clean energy to power homes, businesses, and other structures. Well, that’s very good news for Hampton Roads because Dominion Energy intends to construct the east coast’s largest windfarm 27 miles off of Virginia Beach, and the industry to service it and other projects is coming here, as well. That’s why United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Society of Professionals will host a program to bring everyone up to speed. The moderator will be Joel Rubin who is conducting a campaign called WINDSdays on behalf of Dominion Energy, to raise awareness of the career and business opportunities that offshore wind energy will bring to the region. His panel will include leading experts in the field: George Hagerman, the guru of offshore wind and a research professor at Old Dominion University; Fred Pasquine whose company, Fairlead, is engaged in maritime vessel repair, but will be leasing out pier space in Norfolk; Paula Miller, former Norfolk delegate and now in government relations with Dominion Energy; and Ray White, the “wind energy” maven in the Virginia Beach Department of Economic Development. Every local city will likely have existing and new companies engaged in some aspect of the industry, which thrives in Europe, but is new to the U.S. Siemens Gamesa for instance, will build a $200-million, 300 employee blade finishing plant, and perhaps later a manufacturing facility, at Portsmouth Marine Terminal. Danish wind

Matthew Kramer-Morning

giant Orsted is also coming to PMT. Certainly, there are questions about the viability of wind and sun vs coal and gas, and there will be some impacts on land because Dominion Energy and a second developer of a windfarm off of Kitty Hawk, N.C., must transmit the power above ground to connect into the electricity grid. But in the quest to contain the impacts of climate change, relying on solar and wind is, according to Virginia’s new Secretary of Commerce and Trade, Caren Merrick, “the future.” That’s why the tagline for WINDSdays is “The Wind is Blowing our Way.” Hear why on May 3 at the Sandler Campus. For more information and to RSVP, contact Amy Zelenka at AZelenka@ujft.org or 757-965-6139.

he Young Men’s Giving Circle, NADIV, led the Jewish community in a cleanup of Mikro Kodesh Cemetery in Chesapeake last October. Parts of the cemetery had succumbed to nature and time, but as vines were cut and plots were cleared from overgrowth, a sense of history and community could be felt. The oldest stone in Mikro Kodesh, dating back to 1848, is a testament to the longevity of the Jewish community in Tidewater. Although cemeteries are not often visited like synagogues or JCCs, they hold great importance in Jewish life and tradition. Jewish burial is so important that when the first Jews arrived in North America in 1654, the first Jewish institution designated was a Jewish cemetery. In addition to the importance of Jewish burial for people, it also pertains to texts and objects with holiness, or Kedusha, that are damaged or no longer usable. These items may be an old torah scroll, an old or damaged prayer book, Mezuza scrolls, or even tefillin straps. These items and texts are often referred to as shaimos or genizah. Often, communities designate genizah burial for larger items or community collections. And, that’s what YAD, together with Chabad of Tidewater and The Kollel plans to do again next month for Jewish Tidewater with another cleanup and burial at Mikro Kodesh Cemetery.

The Cleanup/Gnitzah Burial is for any and everyone in the community and will take place at Mikro Kodesh on May 22. The morning cleanup will tend to overgrowth in the cemetery around the fences and will culminate with a community Gnitzah Burial. To volunteer, sign up at jewishva.org/ gnizahproject. Those with shaimos can reach out to Matt Kramer-Morning at mkmorning@ujft.org for collection times at the Sandler Family Campus, and to Rabbi Levi Brashevitsky at rabbilevi@ chabadoftidewater.com with questions about what is or isn’t shaimos.

Yom Hashoah: 2022 Holocaust Commemoration events

Reading of the Names on Zoom Wednesday, April 27, 10 am–2 pm

Yom Hashoah Commemoration Wednesday April 27, 6:45 pm

Contact hhorwitzintune@yahoo.com to reserve a spot

Congregation Beth El. Masks are required.

olocaust survivor, Dr. Al Munzer, is this year’s guest speaker. Born in the Netherlands in 1941, Munzer and his two older sisters were entrusted to two different Gentile families for their protection when their parents sensed peril. At war’s end, Munzer and his mother were the only survivors from their family.

As one of the youngest Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, Munzer shares his story, and his memories, which are created mainly through photographs and his mother’s shared history, as a volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Also at Yom Hashoah, student winners of the Holocaust Commission’s annual Elie Wiesel competitions

and recipients of the Commission’s Excellence in Education awards will be honored and recognized. Special awards will also be presented to distinguished Holocaust educators. For more information, visit www.HolocaustCommission.org, email info@holocaustcommission.org, or call 757-965-6100.

jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | JEWISH NEWS | 33

WHAT’S HAPPENING

CALENDAR APRIL 27, WEDNESDAY

Reading of the Names, sponsored by Congregation Beth El’s Men’s Club, will take place via zoom. For more information or to reserve a time, email Beth El Men’s Club President, Howard Horwitz at hhorwitzintune@yahoo.com.

Israeli cuisine to be served in the Leon Family Gallery

Yom Hashoah at Congregation Beth El. Also available via livestream on the Holocaust Commission Facebook page. Dr. Alfred Munzer is the guest speaker. 6:45 pm. For more information, email info@holocaustcommission.org. Masks are required.

Free, opening reception with the artist Thursday, April 28, 3:30 pm Hunter Thomas

MAY 1, SUNDAY

Jewish Family Service’s Annual Run, Roll, or Stroll returns. 31st Street Park, Virginia Beach Oceanfront. 5K Run/Walk: begins at 8 am; 1 Mile Run/Walk: begins at 9 am. For more information and to register, go to runsignup.com. See page 32. Yom Ha’Atzmaut. 12–4 pm. Games, camel rides, shopping, exploring, plenty of food options, and more in celebration of Israel’s 74th year. Sandler Family Campus. Jewishva.org/IsraelFest.

MAY 3, TUESDAY

The Wind is Blowing Our Way is panel topic for UJFT’s Society of Professionals. For more information and to RSVP, contact Amy Zelenka at AZelenka@ujft.org or 757-965-6139.

MAY 15, SUNDAY

Simon Family Legacy Celebration. 4 pm, Sandler Family Campus. RSVP is required to attend. For more information, contact Kim King at kking@ujft.org or 757-965-6103. See page 32. Send submissions for calendar to news@ujft.org. Be sure to note “calendar” in the subject. Include date, event name, sponsor, address, time, cost and phone.

Shop the Shuk!

ART, JUDAICA, JEWELERY + MORE! sunday, may 1

selection of work by Israeli culinary photographer Israel Netanel will soon be on exhibit at Simon Family JCC’s Leon Family Gallery. The photographs are part of a collection featuring the culinary creations of Gili Ben Shahar and Ohad Kvity, the chefs and culinary renegades behind Tel Aviv’s Meat Carneval. Netanel’s beautiful photographs are the backdrop for Ben Shahar and Kvity’s cookbook, The Book of Meat, available only in Hebrew. Netanel says, “I bought my first camera because I wanted to capture special moments and make them last. I worked as a bartender in a few restaurants, and a love for culinary photography made me change my life path.” Netanel’s work is being displayed in the Leon Family Gallery in celebration of Yom Ha’Atzmaut, as Israel turns 74. Netanel will join Ben Shahar and Kvity in Tidewater to cook and serve authentic Israeli cuisine at the Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration, taking place at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus on Sunday, May 1. A tasting with the visiting Israeli chefs will take place when the exhibit opens in the Gallery on Thursday, April 28 at 3:30 pm.

One of the photographs from Israel Netanel’s collection.

RSVP for this free and open to the community reception by April 26 to HThomas@ ujft.org. Hunter Thomas is director of Arts & Ideas at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

12-4PM

Jewish News

free + open to the community food. friends. fun.

3 days before the cover date:

at the simon family jcc

JEWISHVA.ORG/ISRAELFEST 34 | JEWISH NEWS | April 25, 2022 | jewishnewsva.org

JewishNewsVa.org/digital.

IN MEMORIAM Gilbert Gottfried, whose foul-mouthed comic persona concealed a content Jewish dad Ron Kampeas

(JTA)—Gilbert Gottfried, the comic with a grating persona whose boundary testing got him canceled more than once, has died. His family announced Gottfried’s passing “after a long illness” on Tuesday, April 12 on Twitter. He was 67. Various outlets reported he suffered from a heart condition related to myotonic dystrophy. A 2017 documentary revealed that contra his foul-mouthed routine, Gottfried was a sweet and loving Jewish dad. Gottfried was reluctant to let that truth get out. “I was too much of a wimp to say no” to the filmmaker, Neil Berkeley, he told the JTA. Gottfried, who affected a high nasal voice for his comic appearances, was a boundary crosser, and it got him into trouble at times. In 1991, Fox apologized after Gilbert, hosting the Emmy awards, kept joking about fellow comic Pee-wee Herman’s recent arrest for masturbating in an adult movie theater. That dampened Gottfried’s career— for a while. He continued to score gigs in movies, on talk radio (frequently with Howard Stern), on sketch shows and sitcoms, and as a voice on cartoons. He was the funny animal sidekick, Iago the parrot, in Disney’s Aladdin. Then he famously told perhaps the first joke about the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, just a few days after terrorists piloted airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. (At a roast for Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner, Gottfried said he had to catch an early flight for Los Angeles because the only one he could find had “to make a stop at the Empire State Building.”) He lost the audience—for a moment. He recovered with one of the raunchiest-ever tellings of the notoriously raunchy joke that has The Aristocrats as its punchline. “I’ve always said tragedy and comedy are roommates,” Gottfried told Vulture in 2019. “Wherever tragedy’s around,

comedy’s a few feet behind them sticking his tongue out and making obscene gestures.” Aflac, the insurer whose trademark duck Gottfried voiced and which was his most lucrative gig, dropped him in 2011 after he made jokes on Twitter about the tsunami in Japan. (Gottfried’s self-inflicted wounds seemed to be timed by decades.) “I don’t regret the joke,” he told JTA. “I regret losing the money.” Sometimes the raunch found Gottfried. In 2020, during his daughter’s bat mitzvah, held on Zoom because of the pandemic, a 70-year-old woman unwittingly removed her bathing suit and took a shower in full view of the other participants. Gottfried credited his wife for turning him around from a notoriously parsimonious bachelor into an attentive dad who walked his two kids to Hebrew school. He met Dara Kravitz, a music executive, in the late 1990s at a Grammys party he was attending because of the free food. She dropped food on the table and he picked it up and put it on his plate. Gottfried grew up in secular Jewish home in Brooklyn—he told JTA his Jewish knowledge was limited to “I know that if we’re ever rounded up again, I’ll be on the train.” When he and Dara married in 2007, she insisted on a wedding under a huppah and raising their children with a Jewish education. Dara Gottfried adored her “gentle genius” and was bemusedly frustrated by his shyness when not performing. “Open up a little, Gil!” she chided him during a 2013 New York Times interview. But Gottfried’s kindness was his own: The documentary tracks Gottfried accompanying his sister, street photographer Arlene Gottfried, to chemo sessions. She died of cancer in 2017. In a 2014 interview with The Guardian, Gottfried, perhaps unwittingly, revealed his own gifts in explaining why he admired his sister so much. “Someone else couldn’t see the funny or odd or touching thing, and capture it,” he said.

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jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | JEWISH NEWS | 35

OBITUARIES LAWRENCE MARC CARDON VIRGINIA BEACH—Lawrence Marc Cardon, peacefully passed on April 18, surrounded by his loving family. Larry is survived by his wife, Lucy, who never left his side, his son David and wife, Elyse, his daughter Rebecca and fiancée Patrick, his brother Richard, his brother Reid and his wife Cheri, his four grandchildren, Bella, Sylvie, Avi, and Flora and nieces, nephews, and cousins around the country. He was predeceased by his brother Wayne, of blessed memory, and his wife JoAnn Cardon-Glass. Larry was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 3, 1943, to his loving parents Leon and Selma Cardon, of blessed memory, who often referred to him as “Larry Boy.” At the age of 4, the family relocated to Portsmouth, Va., where they became leaders in the Jewish community. He attended Churchland High School and the University of Virginia. (Go Hoos!) After graduating, he returned home to work in the family business, Star Band Manufacturing Company. During

this time, he met the love of his life, Lucy, and with her encouragement, he attended University of Richmond Law School. Eventually, he found his way to The Decker Law Firm, where he practiced traffic and criminal law for over 30 years. His passion for people brought thousands of clients, police, judges, and fellow attorneys into his circle of friends, and he always said he never worked a day in his life. Larry had the gift of making everyone feel important. To know him was to love him. If you spent a minute with Larry, you’ve seen the wallet photo, and you know he was beyond proud of his early six-pack. He found the gym after being picked on as a scrawny teenager. It became his home away from home—his happy place. He went on to compete, breaking many world records. One of his proudest moments was appearing with his daughter on Good Morning America as world record bench press holders. He was truly a legend. Donations may be made to Strelitz International Academy or your charity of choice.

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Funeral services for Larry took place at Congregation Beth El in Norfolk, followed by the graveside service at Gomley Chesed Cemetery in Portsmouth. Online condolences may be offered to the family at hdoliver.com.

NORMA FOX VIRGINIA BEACH—Norma Fox, 88, passed away peacefully March 31, 2022. Mrs. Fox was born August 11, 1933 to James and Ellen Edelin in Dorsey, Maryland. Norma’s life was extraordinary to say the least. Norma’s life reads like a Danielle Steele novel. She was an orphan and raised by different foster families as a child. Her height and thin build led her into modeling, but not until she was 28 and already an established career woman and mother. Fashion played an important role in Norma’s life. She was the fashion consultant for the Arrow Shirt Co. and would often say she was responsible for “getting men out of plain white shirts.” Norma founded Glamour Modeling and Talent Ltd. Her agency kept her busy around the clock. She taught the modeling courses and would coach models and actors for commercials, shows, and television and print work. Norma, along with her beloved husband Buddy Fox, found that traveling helped to rejuvenate her mind and body. She climbed the Great Wall of China, hitchhiked through Russia, tracked gorillas in Africa, ridden camels across the Egyptian desert, rode a mule to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and camped in the Serengeti as she tracked lions on safari. Norma would often say “I never see the negative side of things or people. That has helped me in business and traveling the world” When Norma and Buddy weren’t traveling you could find them in their Great Neck home with the ones they love. Norma will always be remembered as a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend. She will be deeply missed. Left to cherish her memory is her son Bradley Shaw, her sister Cathy Kendhammer, four grandchildren Chelsea Shaw, Brittany Franchebois, Michael Amos, Lori Amos, six great-grandchildren, two great great-grandchildren, and numerous extended family members and

friends. Norma was very specific that she did not want a funeral service or flowers. She loved animals, so the only thing she asked was to be remembered by a memorial donation made to Hope For Life Rescue at www.hopeforliferescue.com noting “in memory of Norma Fox.”

JEFFREY ALAN GOLDBERG VIRGINIA BEACH—Jeffrey Alan Goldberg passed away on April 15, 2022. Jeff was born in Orange, New Jersey on February 12, 1958. He went to grade school at Mount Pleasant Elementary in Livingston, N. J. and later graduated from Plantation High School in South Florida. Jeff worked as a lively morning show radio personality for 20 years in South Florida, Columbus, Ohio, Richmond, Va. and at his final station in Hampton Roads at 106.9 The Fox. Jeff then went on to open the popular Route 58 Deli in Virginia Beach. Jeff has been a staple to the Virginia Beach community, as well as in his second home of New York City. Jeff is preceded in death by his son Benjamin Goldberg, his mother Janice Goldberg, and his father Stanley Goldberg. He is survived by his wife Karen Dzupinka Goldberg, his sister Debbie Heller, his daughter Lauren Goldberg and his stepchildren Bryn Dzupinka and Nolan Dzupinka. A memorial service was held at Altmeyer Funeral Home in Virginia Beach. A private family only burial followed with Rabbi Israel Zoberman officiating. Deli Noshers, Friends and Family paid their respects, and shared stories at the Route 58 Deli. Donations requested to be made to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital in New York City. MARYNELL GORDON VIRGINIA BEACH—Marynell Gordon was born to Teresa and James Roberts in Memphis, Tenn., on September 19, 1942. She graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1964. She danced at a party with Stephan Gordon, who became her husband, dance partner, and best friend for life. They were married and inseparable for 58 years, during which they raised a loving family, explored all

OBITUARIES seven continents, and made a remarkable impact on their community. Marynell is survived by her husband Stephan of Virginia Beach, her sons Greg (Barbara) of Richmond, Va., and David (Jana) of Bellevue, Wash., and her five perfect grandchildren: Charlie, Catherine, Greta, William, and Henry. They eternalize her vivid personality of wit, silliness, stamina, and perseverance. Marynell’s favorite things in her long and happy life were her family, travel, tennis, working out at Wareing’s gym, monthly meetings of the Lowkey Book Group, and being with the couple’s many friends. In addition, she learned gourmet cooking and created professional-quality meals nightly. Marynell was a humorous and articulate communicator, sharing her perspective and tips in hundreds of travel reviews. She had an engaging personality with a flair for drama and storytelling. Her book group called her “a rare light—her recaps were often better than the book.” Marynell made a meaningful impact on the arts in Tidewater and shared her passion with many. She was a founding board member of the Virginia Stage Company, founding president of the Virginia Stage Associates, member of the Chrysler Museum Masterpiece Society, a Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art docent, and commissioner of the Virginia Beach Arts & Humanities Commission. She was a member of the Junior League of Norfolk / Virginia Beach and a passionate supporter of the ACCESS College Foundation to help students go to college. She played tennis at the Cape Henry Racquet Club in its early years and was a Princess Anne Country Club member. Marynell was a part-owner of the Green Bay Packers, a certified foley artist, and as “Marynell Ramone” was an official honorary member of punk rock pioneers The Ramones. She charted her own course in the world. While a teenager, she changed her name from “Mary Nell” to the unique “Marynell.” Her self-direction and determination were the fuel for a life of joy, goodness, and impact. She considered her outstanding achievements to be her sons, Greg and David. She died peacefully from complications of ALS on April 7, 2022. She

was surrounded by her family, holding Stephan’s hand and listening to her favorite song, Love Me Tender, by Elvis Presley. The Gordon family thanks the caring staff of Virginia Beach General Hospital and so many other helpful friends and caregivers for their support over the last two years. Rabbi Roz Mandelberg officiated a memorial service at Ohef Sholom Temple. If you would like to make a memorial donation, please direct it to the Virginia Stage Company (vastage.org) or the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (virginiamoca.org).

DEBRA P. HORN CHICAGO—Loving mother of her son Adam, daughter Sharna, and daughter-in-law Erica. Proud nana of her granddaughter Megan. Best of friends with Anni, Debbie, Fran, Sherry, and Susan. Debbi was born on April 16, 1952, to the late Sidney and Sally Truster, and grew up with her late sister Gail Persino née Truster in Rogers Park. She died on April 7, 2022, with the loving support of her family and friends. She devoted her life to being the most amazing, caring, and loving mother and nana. She took great pride in their accomplishments, none of which would have been possible without her support and guidance. Being raised by her was a privilege and we will always be grateful for who she was and the love she showed. Some of her greatest joys included: spending time with her granddaughter and watching her perform on stage and on ice; vacationing with her children; going to concerts with friends; and eating delicious foods, especially pizza, sushi, and Chinese food. She was known for her glitzy sense of style and had an eye for great deals while she shopped ‘til she dropped. She had the kindest soul and will be greatly missed. Her body may no longer be with us, but her love and spirit live on in all who knew her as she continues to watch over and protect us. Her funeral service was held at Chicago Jewish Funerals, Skokie, Ill. Following the service, her interment was at Menorah Gardens Cemetery, Broadview, Ill. To find the live stream, go to the

Chicago Jewish Funerals webpage https:// chicagojewishfunerals.com then click on Debra Horn. Memorial contributions may be made in her name to National Jewish Health, P.O. Box 17169, Denver, CO 802170169, https://www.nationaljewish.org/ home. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals.

EDWARD LOUIS SILVERMAN VIRGINIA BEACH—Edward Louis Silverman, age 82, passed away on April 4, 2022. He is survived by his spouse, Helene Silverman and son, Bruce Silverman. Arrangements are entrusted to Altmeyer Funeral Home—Southside Chapel.

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IT’S A WRAP

Unorthodox takes a Southern spin in Tidewater Hunter Thomas

live recording of “the universe’s leading Jewish podcast” had everyone laughing at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday, April 7. The Unorthodox podcast team visited the “Paris of the mid-Atlantic,” as Tidewater was referred to by host Liel Lebovitz, as part of the Milton “Mickey” Kramer Scholar-in-Residence Fund of the Congregation Beth El Foundation’s Tidewater Together series, in partnership with the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. Leibovitz was joined by fellow hosts Mark Oppenheimer and Stephanie Butnick as the trio interviewed Congresswoman Elaine Luria and Norfolk native and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Bruce Smith. Luria regaled the audience with her experience leading a Passover Seder on an aircraft carrier, what she had heard about the rabid fox terrorizing Capitol Hill the week of the show, and how so much more happens in Congress than what the public hears about through the media. Smith spoke about how having a

Congresswoman Elaine Luria, Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick, and Liel Leibovitz.

shared goal on the field helped him forge friendships with fellow teammates and Hall of Famers despite their differences. He also reflected on his experience visiting Israel with Robert Kraft in 2017. As the podcast’s “Gentile of the week,” Smith was also given the opportunity to ask a question pertaining to Judaism. When asked why many Jews have surnames ending in “stein” or “berg,” the hosts

Andy and Susan Cohen with Jim Soltz ready to get their book signed by the hosts.

Laura Gross (center) with her daughters Rachel and Aviv Faraj and Aly, and Michael Yaary.

38 | JEWISH NEWS | April 25, 2022 | jewishnewsva.org

explained that Jews in Eastern Europe were often referred to by their hometown or trade. Oppenheimer noted that his family had hailed from the German town of Oppenheim. The audience was also given opportunities to interact with the hosts, voting on who in the audience had “the most Southern name” (both Sara Jo Rubin and Betty Ann Levin were acknowledged). They also shouted out “mazel tovs” at the end of the show. Following the recording, the hosts spoke with audience members

and signed copies of their book, The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia. The show will be released in Unorthodox’s podcast feed on TabletMag. com and Apple Podcasts and Spotify at a later date. Hunter Thomas is director of Arts & Ideas at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. He may be reached at HThomas@UJFT.org. Photographs by Mark Robbins.

IT’S A WRAP

Bruce Smith and Mark Oppenheimer. Joan Laderberg, Lisa Cohen, Anne Kramer, and Jeanne Miller.

Brad Bangel and Congresswoman Elaine Luria.

Chazzan David and Rona Proser.

Nancy Loewenberg, Fay Silverman, Cindy Krell and Dana Pattish.

Bruce Smith shares his story.

Julius Miller gives the first Mazel Tov of the show.

jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | JEWISH NEWS | 39

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Jewish News - 4.25.22 Issue

Articles inside

Unorthodox takes a Southern spin

Some Jewish tech workers move to Israel

Ukraine: Jewish refugees and traitors

Opinion: Where are the headlines?

Obituaries

Briefs

Celebrities discuss Jewish issues

SIA hosts Evening of the Arts

HUC to end Cincinnati rabbinical program