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INSIDE
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Southeastern Virginia | Vol. 55 No. 10 | 3 Shevat 5777 | January 30, 2017
4th Annual
Tidewater Together
February 2–5
11 Beth Sholom Village’s Generations Home Health
14 Beth Sholom Village’s Kahbaid weekend February 17–18
—page 12
Alan Morinis
31 Date with the State Wednesday, February 8
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33 Operation Hamantaschen Sunday, February 19 Supplement to Jewish News January 30, 2017
super sunday
Donations still being tallied—and accepted— from super successful Super Sunday Article and photo by Laine Mednick Rutherford
T
he 2017 Super Sunday Tidewater Jewish community phone-a-thon on January 22 raised more than $118,000 for a variety of programs helping Jews locally and around the world. One hundred volunteers of all ages attended the four-hour event at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family campus. Nearly 300 people made generous donations that day—over the phone, in person, or online at www.JewishVa.org/supersunday. The giving has not stopped, according to Leah Abrams, director of the Young Adult Division of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Abrams guided a dedicated group of young Jewish leaders who volunteered to serve on the Super Sunday Steering Committee. They planned and helped ensure the success of the 36th annual event. The committee and other volunteer callers unexpectedly are continuing their work on behalf of UJFT’s
Annual Campaign, which counts Super Sunday as its biggest fundraising day of the year. Abrams says donors are responding to voice messages left during the phone-a-thon, and volunteers have been receiving calls back with pledges of donations. This is a new development for Super Sunday, and serves to extend the success of the event and exceed all goals and expectations. The incoming gifts and numbers of donors will be tallied in the coming week. The next edition of Jewish News will report the final total, along with more photos from Super Sunday. Didn’t get a call or lost the callback number? Super Sunday contributions are still being accepted online, www.JewishVA.org/supersunday, by phone— call Patty at 757-965-6118, or can be dropped off in person or in the mail to United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, 5000 Corporate Woods Dr., Virginia Beach, VA 23462. To preview some of the photos taken for social media on Super Sunday, visit www. fb.com/UJFTidewater and click on the photos tab.
The Super Sunday Steering Committee show a preliminary tally. Amy Kurfist, Rachel Kane, Andrea Karelitz, Brandon Terkeltaub, Danit Drory, Mendy Fisch, Pam Trompeter, Sam Molofsky, and Leah Abrams. Not pictured: Ethan Heben, Eric Miller, Robyn and Paul Weiner.
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Upfront
Jewish news jewishnewsva.org Published 22 times a year by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.
Reporting to a diverse audience
A
n article this month in the London-
American Jews casting votes for another
offer balanced articles and views, publish-
based The Jewish Chronicle, headlined:
candidate.
ing the news as reported by our primary
“Trump will widen the fissures in Jewish
No longer is there one Jewish opinion.
source of information, the award-win-
America,” states: “American Jews are well
For example, while many cheered the
ning international news service, Jewish
positioned to weather the storm that Mr.
letter in our January 16, 2017 issue con-
Telegraph Association (JTA).
Trump has unleashed. The same, how-
demning the US decision not to use its
With heightened awareness, we con-
ever, cannot be said for the organized
veto power in the UN Security Council to
tinue our dedication to delivering a quality
American Jewish community. The next
defeat a resolution criticizing Israeli set-
product to our community. As always, we
four years will challenge its assumptions,
tlements—others in the community were
aim for civil conversation and encour-
its values, its strategies, indeed the very
disappointed, to say the least, with United
age your letters to the editor, opinions,
notion of a cohesive American Jewish
Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s position.
and articles. So, please, write or email.
The intention of Jewish News is to accu-
Listening to each other has never been
community.” The article sites examples of the divide,
rately inform our readers of events and
with issues ranging from the selection of
actions that impact Jewish communities
Steve Bannon as chief strategist (ADL, URJ
and individuals in Tidewater, in the USA,
opposed; ZOA, invited him to dinner);
in Israel, and throughout the world. That
to the Conference of Presidents of Major
reporting, especially in today’s political
American Jewish Organizations hosting a
climate, will undoubtedly upset some
Hanukkah party at Donald Trump’s hotel
readers, and at the same time encourage
in Washington (several member groups
others. It’s also possible, even probable,
boycotted the event, some protested on
that the next issue—or even an article on
the streets, while others enjoyed the party
an adjacent page in the same issue, might
at the new venue).
alter who is upset and who is encouraged.
From across the pond, The Chronicle’s
What we don’t want to do is remain silent
article hits home. Never before has an
out of fear of a negative reaction. These
election so divided the Jewish community,
times are too critical and the issues too
and that includes ours in Tidewater.
important. We know and respect that the
Polls show that nearly a quarter of American Jews voted for Trump, which translates, of course to the majority of
And, we thank you for reading.
on both spectrums. That said, in each issue we strive to
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negative and positive emotions run high
Contents Super Sunday update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Upfront. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Briefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Torah Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Nation: Women’s March. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Trump and Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Greenblatt on Trump and Mideast. . . . . 8 Two Jewish tribes on Trump . . . . . . . . . . 9 Gordon Hospice receives accreditation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 BSV’s new home health option. . . . . . . . 11 Tidewater Together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 BSV’s Kahbaid weekend. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
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Candle lighting Friday, February 3/7 Shevat Light candles at 5:15 pm
“Are you the Israelis
Friday, February 10/14 Shevat Light candles at 5:22 pm
that are ripping off
Friday, February 17/21 Shevat Light candles at 5:30 pm
our show?”
Friday, February 24/28 Shevat Light candles at 5:37 pm —page 31
Friday, March 3/5 Adar Light candles at 5:43 pm Friday, March 10/12 Adar Light candles at 5:50 pm
jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Jewish News | 3
Briefs Hundreds of runners mark Holocaust in race past Rome Jewish sites Hundreds of participants in a road race through downtown Rome commemorated the Holocaust while looking to the future. Dubbed the “Run for Mem,” the Sunday, Jan. 21 race was among an array of events on and around International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27, the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp. The noncompetitive race was organized by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, or UCEI, the Rome Marathon, and the Maccabi Italia Association under the auspices of the government and with the backing of civic, Jewish, sports and other groups. Organizers said the race had approximately 1,500 runners, from young people to grandparents. Many cheered them on from the sidelines. “There was no winner,” a UCEI spokesperson said. “They all arrived back together.” The runners wore white T-shirts emblazoned with the race’s slogan, “Race for Remembrance, Looking Ahead.” The race followed two itineraries starting and ending near the main synagogue in Rome’s old Jewish ghetto and taking runners past sites related to the World War II persecution or deportation of Jews. Among those on hand was Shaul Ladany, an Israeli racewalker who survived the Holocaust and the massacre of Israelis at the Munich Olympics in 1972. UCEI President Noemi Di Segni said they had chosen this “new, perhaps courageous, way to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day” to “unleash the energy of running together” as a means of reaffirming life. “People run every day, but today we have to carry with us the milestones of our past and remember that the journey ahead of us starts from the one which was created by the events of the past,” she said. “Sometimes people fall and are hurt. They have made us fall, they have hurt us, but we have gotten back to our feet and we have started again. We have started to live again, as individuals, as a people, as a community, as Italian citizens, as Europeans.” (JTA)
Obama administration reportedly gave $221M to Palestinians hours before Trump inauguration The Obama administration reportedly sent $221 million to the Palestinian Authority on the morning of Donald Trump’s inauguration. The administration told Congress that it would send the funds hours before Trump was sworn in, an anonymous State Department official and several congressional aides said, according to The Associated Press. At least two unnamed Republican lawmakers had held up the money, AP reported, in an act that is not legally binding but is usually respected by the executive branch. In total, the Obama administration sent over $227 million of foreign funding, including $4 million to climate change programs and $1.25 million to United Nations organizations, according to AP. In 2016, the United States gave $557 million in assistance to the Palestinian Authority, according to USAID. Israel was the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid last year, receiving $3.1 billion. Jewish playwright Jon Robin Baitz allegedly assaulted by man who shouted anti-Semitic invective Jewish playwright Jon Robin Baitz said he was assaulted in Washington, D.C., by a man who went “Sieg Heil” and shouted anti-Semitic invective. Baitz told Vanity Fair that he and his husband were attacked outside the Kimpton Carlyle Hotel, where they had dinner with several friends to attend the Women’s March the following day. He said they were approached by a group the playwright described as “exhilarated and pointedly celebratory.” “We were walking out to say goodbye,” Baitz told Vanity Fair. “There were a few ladies who had a central casting, Ann Coulterian uniform and hair. There was a tiny popinjay of a man with a windsor knot and a pink tie. And this 350-pound enormous red-headed linebacker guy, who clearly saw a group of East Coast Jewish liberal homosexual sodomite
4 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
communists congregating in their black clothes saying goodbye. He went ‘Sieg Heil’ and saluted us.” The man then shouted the anti-Semitic invective and threatened to kill Baitz before throwing him to the ground. Baitz said it was clear that the members of the group were Jewish and why they were in Washington. Baitz said he filed assault charges against the man. The Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the incident as a “suspected hate crime,” according to Vanity Fair. He is the author of the satirical play Vicuña, about a real estate tycoon and reality TV star who becomes a Republican presidential candidate. (JTA)
Series of anti-Semitic attacks strike north London A series of anti-Semitic attacks hit north London earlier this month. The incidents included a brick with images of swastikas and anti-Semitic messages thrown through the window of a Jewish home in the Edgware neighborhood. Hours earlier in the same neighborhood, a group of identifiably Jewish people were pelted with eggs while walking home from Shabbat dinner. Also, swastikas were discovered drawn on a property in the borough of Barnet; a city-owned garbage bin was defaced with anti-Jewish invective, and a poster for the film Denial was vandalized with graffiti. The film deals with Holocaust denier David Irving’s legal case against scholar Deborah Lipstadt, who won her case. The attacks were intended to “instill fear” in the Jewish community, the Shomrim volunteer security group told The Jewish Chronicle. “These cowardly anti-Semitic attacks targeted Jews when they were asleep in their homes or walking with their families after dinner. These attacks are intended to instill fear in London’s Jews,” Gary Ost, the CEO of Shomrim North West London, said in a statement. Scotland Yard said officers were investigating the incidents, the Evening Standard reported. Police also were adding patrols in the areas to reassure
residents, according to the newspaper, citing Scotland Yard. The London Metropolitan Police reportedly is investigating the incidents as hate crimes. Stephen Silverman, director of investigations and enforcement for the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, called the incidents “hit-and-run attacks on Jewish families at night.” “Anti-Semitic crime is on the rise and these cowardly attacks must lead to arrests and convictions,” he said. “Jewish families in our capital should not be living in fear of anti-Semitic attacks.” (JTA)
Israel, US successfully complete tests of David’s Sling missile system Israel and the United States successfully completed tests of the David’s Sling missile defense system, which is designed to stop long-range rockets, drones and cruise missiles. Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced the completion of the tests, the fifth in a series. The tests, held over the Mediterranean Sea out of Palmachim Air Base, were conducted by The Israel Missile Defense Organization of the Directorate of Defense Research and Development, and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. David’s Sling is intended to supplement the Iron Dome system, which targets short-range rockets, and the Arrow system for long-range ballistic missiles. The U.S. defense contractor Raytheon is collaborating on David’s Sling, also known as Magic Wand, with Israel’s stateowned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. “This test campaign is a critical step in ensuring Israel has the capability to defense itself from a very real and growing threat,” said the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s director, Vice Adm. Jim Syring. “We remain strongly committed to supporting Israel’s development of a missile defense system.” Earlier this month, the Israeli Air Force received the first advanced interceptors of the long-range Arrow 3 missile defense system, which is being jointly developed by the United States and Israel. (JTA)
Torah Thought
What was Pharaoh thinking?
I
t’s interesting to reflect on the Torah portion, Parshat Bo, while reading Alan Morinis’s book, Everyday Holiness, in preparation for Tidewater Together. This year, the series of programs focuses on the theory and practice of mussar, a 200-year-old system of Jewish teachings. Morinis, who will speak at each Tidewater Together event, posits that people can use the teachings to develop positive “soul-traits” that, when practiced, empower personal growth and spiritual enlightenment. Parshat Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16) covers the last three plagues (locusts, darkness, slaying of the firstborn) Egypt suffers before the Israelites are liberated from Egypt, the instructions for Passover, and the Israelites’ final preparations to depart. In the middle of all this, as his own son dies and the wails of bereaved Egyptians rise around him, he calls for Moses and Aaron and says, “Rise, go out from among my people, you and the Israelites! Go worship Hashem as you said! Take also your flocks and your herds, as you said, and go! And bless me also!” (Exodus 12:31-32) Uveirachtem gam-oti, “bless me also,” comes off as a pretty chutzpahdik thing for Pharaoh to say, especially in the plural—he wants all the Israelites to bless him. Why should they give a blessing to a man who held them in cruel captivity for years and who put Egypt through 10 deadly plagues before liberating them? The request looks different, though, when seen through the eyes of mussar. The first soul-trait Morinis discusses in detail in Everyday Holiness is anavah, humility. While we tend to think of humility as humbleness or meekness, Morinis explains humility as making space: the ability to take up only as much space as one needs (and not less, which is self-debasement and not
useful). Before the 10th plague, Pharaoh had projected nothing but arrogance, taking up all the space he could grab with his lofty position as ruler. After the plague of darkness, when he had rescinded his permission to the Israelites to leave, he warned Moses and Aaron that if he saw them again, they would die. But the slaying of the firstborn deflates Pharaoh. He must withdraw his threat to Moses and Aaron by summoning them, and asking for their blessing is, in the words of the chumash Etz Hayim, “an ultimate humbling act.” Some commentators do find Pharaoh’s plea for a blessing self-serving; for example, Rashi (1040-1104) wrote that Pharaoh asked for a blessing only so that he wouldn’t be killed with the other first-born Egyptians. But other rabbis attribute more generous motives to Pharaoh’s request. Rabbi Samuel Raphael Hirsch, writing in 19th-century Germany, sees the blessing Pharaoh wants as one that will restore Egypt, battered by the plagues, to health. Similarly, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (Ramban), a 13th-century philosopher, looked through Pharaoh’s eyes to see a blessing for himself to be a blessing for his country. Pharoah regretted what he had done to the Jews and also saw the pain he had caused his subjects; he wanted to make space for God’s blessing on his land. Another soul-trait, compassion, comes into play when considering the activities of the Israelites on that terrible night in Egypt. The Bible tells us what the Israelites were instructed to do that night, but not how they felt. One can hope that they, too, heard the cries of the Egyptian families who had lost loved ones and felt their grief, even though many Egyptians had been their oppressors. I believe it’s not only the suffering that the nation of Israel has experienced over the centuries that makes us serve the cause of social justice in disproportionate numbers, but also our understanding of what other tribes have withstood. As someone who explores Torah with others, I will be interested to learn more about mussar, especially how it relates to Scripture. I hope to see you at Tidewater Together! — Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill, Tidewater Chavurah
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For Jewish groups in Women’s March, many causes to fight for and a long road ahead
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A Night at the Movies
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Feb 10-12, 2017
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(JTA)—One Jewish group that joined the Women’s March on Washington has seen its online donations double since the election of Donald Trump as president. Another has twice as many guests as usual attending its annual conference. A third has seen its social media engagement skyrocket. And after bringing thousands of Jews to the streets on Saturday, January 21, they’re all asking the same question: What now? A range of liberal Jewish groups took part in the Women’s March, which drew more than 3 million people to streets across the country to protest Trump’s policies and advocate for women’s rights and civil rights. And like the organizers of the march, Jewish groups who shared its agenda face the challenge of making sure the demonstration wasn’t a one-off venting of frustration, but a catalyst for sustained political activism. “There’s so many things to fight for and there are so many things to fight against right now,” says Lori Weinstein, CEO of Jewish Women’s International, part of a coalition of Jewish groups that took part in the protest. “The Women’s March was a place for everyone to gather. It was a place for everyone to be lifted up and catapulted forward.” Groups like Weinstein’s have spent decades advocating for causes like health care or immigrant rights. They see the march not as a starting point but as a validation of the goals they have long pursued. For them, the question isn’t what to do. It’s how to get people to keep supporting what they are already doing. “This isn’t new,” says Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center, the Reform movement’s legislative advocacy arm, which hosted a day of programming around the march. “We’re building on growing competency we have. What we’re trying to do is build these movements of justice that will live on after these peak moments.” With the march acting as a clearinghouse for liberal activists of many stripes,
6 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
covering everything from reproductive rights to environmentalist activism, its momentum could spread thin over a variety of campaigns. Jewish organizations, hoping to capitalize on the rally’s energy, mentioned fighting the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, protecting voter rights, advocating for immigrants, opposing gun violence, pushing for paid family leave and other progressive causes. But Rabbi Jill Jacobs, executive director of T’ruah, a rabbis’ human rights group, says working on a range of issues isn’t a problem because so many people came to the protest. “All the people mobilized for the Women’s March, they’re not all going to be focused on one issue,” she says. “They’re not all going to be working on health care, they’re not all going to be working on immigration. But if there’s a big chunk of people that are going to be working on health care, on immigration, that’s going to be huge.” Some organizations, while pursuing several disparate goals, are concentrating their energies on the local scene rather than the national government. Jews United for Justice, a social justice advocacy group in Washington, D.C., will be centered on ensuring funding in the district’s budget for paid family leave, as well as building a network of synagogues willing to offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants. “We know one of the most productive things we can do is advocacy around the D.C. budget,” says Rabbi Elizabeth Richman, deputy director of Jews United for Justice. “It centers on the people who are going to be most vulnerable under the Trump administration—low-income employees and people of color.” Jewish organizations have seen gains since Trump’s election. Jewish Women’s International’s online donations have doubled, and an April conference hosted by the Religious Action Center, which drew a crowd of 400 last year, is on track to register at least 700 this year. But in a political environment where major policies are announced via Twitter, it’s unclear
whether the Women’s March or its Jewish contingent will be able to claim people’s attention and energy in the weeks and months to come. “There’s something about the public quality of the social media we use to coordinate protests that does a really good job getting people out into the street and feeling united on a mass level,” says Gal Beckerman, author of When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone, a book on the movement to free Soviet Jewry. “But [it] does a poor job helping people figure out the kind of organizing, building unified ideologies, sets of demands—all these things that movements need to move to the the next level in terms of effectiveness.” Beckerman says that staying focused might be especially tough for the Jewish community, which was divided over Trump. While most Jews voted for the Democrat Hillary Clinton, a few Jewish organizations, representing a vocal but now ascendant minority of American Jewry, have thrown their support behind the newly inaugurated president. “There’s a lot of division right now in the American Jewish world over Trump,” he says. “What was different in the Soviet Jewry movement, what made that movement so effective, is that it did bring together all the different sides of the Jewish community—particularly the side that thinks in terms of universal rights and the side that’s more particularist.” For Nancy Kaufman, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, which fought for voting rights in the 1910s and civil rights in the 1960s, the march was one more protest in a long line of activism. To make it effective, she says, the participants must understand that no one demonstration will create change— no matter how many people it mobilized. “The most important thing is to understand that despair is not a strategy, and we can’t stop,” Kaufman says. “The most important thing is we coordinate, collaborate, not spin our wheels and figure out where we can have some wins because it’s going to be a tough road.”
Bernard is doing
Nation No decision yet on moving US Embassy to Jerusalem, White House says WASHINGTON ( JTA)—The Trump administration has yet to decide on when to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, its spokesman said. On Monday, January 23, Sean Spicer, in his first Q&A with reporters as White House press secretary, said that President Donald Trump had not yet made a decision about the embassy move. “There’s no decision,” Spicer said when he was asked about whether the administration had considered the strategic consequences of a move. “We’re at the very early stages of that decision-making process.” Later, asked whether Trump would order the move through executive action, Spicer said: “It’s very early in this process. We’re at the beginning stages of this decision-making process and his team will continue to consult with stakeholders there.” Finally, a third reporter asked Spicer whether he meant there was no decision yet—not just on when, but whether to move the embassy. “If it was already a decision, we wouldn’t be going through the process,” Spicer said. Trump said while he campaigned and reportedly as recently as last week, that he planned to move the embassy from Tel Aviv. The previous week, Spicer said there would be an announcement “soon.” The Palestinian leadership has said that an embassy move could bury any vestiges of the peace process, which Trump has said he would like to advance. MSNBC reported that Trump believes that advancing peace is a greater priority than moving the embassy. Jordan, a close U.S. ally, has also warned that the move could destabilize the region. Congress in 1995 passed a law mandating a move to Jerusalem, but allowed presidents to waive it every six months for national security reasons; successive presidents have done so. Trump would need to issue a waiver by the end of May if he chooses not to move the embassy.
Trump: Phone call with Netanyahu ‘very nice’ (JTA)—President Donald Trump said a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was “very nice.” Trump made his comment Sunday, January 22 when asked by reporters following a White House swearing-in ceremony for some Trump administration advisers. The leaders had spoken earlier in the afternoon. A statement released from the Prime Minister’s Office described the interaction as a “very warm conversation,” and said the leaders discussed “the nuclear deal with Iran, the peace process with the Palestinians and other issues.” “The Prime Minister expressed his desire to work closely with President Trump to forge a common vision to advance peace in the region, with no daylight between the United States and Israel,” the statement said. Trump invited Netanyahu to come to Washington in February to meet with him, according to the statement. Earlier in the day, Netanyahu said when asked what subjects the leaders would talk about: “There are many issues between us including the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the situation in Syria and the Iranian threat.” Prior to the phone conversation, Netanyahu reportedly told his Security Cabinet that he would lift restrictions on building in eastern Jerusalem, and that he would soon announce West Bank settlement bloc expansion, The Times of Israel reported. Also, Israeli government ministers postponed a vote on annexing the large West Banks settlement of Maale Adumim, agreeing to wait to decide on the issue until after Netanyahu and Trump meet. The Ministerial Committee for Legislation agreed to wait to vote on the proposed bill, which would subject the settlement to Israeli law, thereby annexing it. The international community and the Palestinians argue that making Maale Adumim an official part of Israel will prevent the formation of a Palestinian state, since it would prevent territorial contiguity. Earlier in the month, Netanyahu called on Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the pro-settler Jewish Home party, to postpone discussion on the bill, saying Trump’s advisers had asked him to hold off, and asked that there be no unilateral steps taken by Israel prior to a Trump-Netanyahu meeting.
Jewish Breitbart writer expected to join Trump administration, work under Bannon NEW YORK (JTA)—A Jewish staff writer at Breitbart News is expected to join the Trump administration, mainly working under chief strategist Stephen Bannon, the former chairman of the right-wing news site. Julia Hahn reportedly will work as special assistant to the president, according to Politico. Hahn, 25, joined Breitbart in 2015. The site has ties to the “alt-right”—a loose movement whose followers traffic variously in white nationalism, anti-immigration sentiment, anti-Semitism and
a disdain for “political correctness.” At Breitbart, Hahn has written multiple articles critical of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Previously she worked as a producer for conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham and as press secretary for Rep. David Brat, R-Va. Hahn, a graduate of the University of Chicago, avoids TV appearances and social media, and colleagues refer to her as a “ghost” because she does not have a Twitter account, according to The Washington Post.
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jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Jewish News | 7
Nation OP-ED
What Trump can do for Mideast peace on day one
Jonathan A. Greenblatt
(JTA)—In the run-up to his swearing-in on Friday, January 20, President Donald Trump made a series of big promises to Israel. Aside from his oft-repeated pledge to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, he has talked about reviving the peace process with the Palestinians, with a goal of achieving a deal before he leaves the White House. Undeterred by the failure of past presidents to achieve this dream, Mr. Trump has already tasked his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with the challenge of brokering the agreement. Mr. Kushner inherits this charge at a time when trust between the parties is at an all-time low. Trust is an essential ingredient for closing any deal that requires some degree of risk. Therefore, the incoming president would be wise to look back to some old plays and also to make some small bets as a way to build trust between the parties and lay the groundwork for real progress. We have seen that even when you have a White House intent on reaching an agreement on this conflict, it all depends on the parties’ willingness to compromise on the most difficult issues. No solution can be imposed from the outside. At the same time, reaching any IsraeliPalestinian accord will require renewed trust between Israel and the United States. Mr. Trump is looking for ways to reassure Israel that he has its back. It is understandable, therefore, that the new administration has indicated its desire to move the embassy to Jerusalem. ADL long has believed in the case for relocating our embassy to Israel’s capital, even though it is controversial and could have significant reactions in the region. Whatever he decides on the embassy, there are measures that Mr. Trump can support on day one that may not solve the whole crisis but can demonstrate strong support for the Jewish state and foster trust between Israel and the Palestinian
Authority. This would require a mix of reviving old arrangements even as it allows for some new approaches. First, Mr. Trump would be well served to dust off a policy approach that has been shelved in recent years but possesses real urgency. In 2005, President George W. Bush sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prior to Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. The correspondence was important because it contained two elements that never had been articulated previously by a U.S. president around settlements and refugees. Written in the context of Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, the letter recognized the reality of settlements. Since 1967, population growth and demographic shifts irrevocably had altered realities on the ground. It was therefore unrealistic to expect Israel to uproot the largest civilian areas located near the Green Line, known as the settlement “blocs.” “In light of new realities on the ground,” President Bush wrote, “including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949.” Israel is struggling now to find a formula that will allow it to continue building housing units in the settlements most likely to be included in Israel in any peace agreement while limiting construction in the most problematic areas that pose the greatest obstacle to territorial compromise. This could be achieved by invoking the existing Bush letter rather than contriving a new formula. Moreover, by returning to this notion of treating the settlement blocs near the Green Line differently, Mr. Trump would be making a clear and powerful statement to Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the world that contrary to UN Resolution 2443, there is an arrangement for Israel’s settlement policy that is consistent with a two-state vision.
8 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
The resolution was only the latest example of the Palestinian preference for international forums over the hard work of the negotiating room. The U.S. abstention on 2443 reinforced that tendency. President Trump should make clear that the path of incitement, delegitimization, demonization and violent terror will not yield any progress for Palestinian aspirations, while the route of negotiation will yield dividends for all. Meanwhile, the 2005 letter also provides a smarter approach on refugees. It offers official recognition that any resolution to the Palestinian refugee issue “will need to be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel.” This is crucial because the United States, the Middle East Quartet, the United Nations and other actors all acknowledge that the so-called right of return cannot be a pretext to flood Israel with Palestinian refugees and demographically overwhelm the Jewish state. This is unrealistic and unreasonable. By reviving the Bush position, the U.S. can reinsert a more reasonable position into the process, one that can facilitate the return of both Israel and the Palestinians to the negotiating table. Mr. Trump also can encourage Israel to take small but pragmatic steps to meet some of the urgent needs of Palestinian civilians. This could include freeing up areas of the West Bank for Palestinian economic activity and building consistent
with Israel’s security needs. It also might entail taking measures to foster additional investment and growth in the Palestinian economy and reducing the frustration and tension that can undergird violence. As a successful businessman, Mr. Trump surely will appreciate the constructive role of commerce in bringing people together and creating mutual interests in stability and growth. Indeed, just this month, an Israel’s coordinator of government activities in the territories, Gen. Yoav Mordechai, and his Palestinian counterpart, Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh, announced that they had reached a water deal that promises to improve the quality of life for Palestinians. This is the fourth such agreement reached over the past year and a half. While reaching compromises on discrete issues like mail delivery, water sharing, electricity and cellular connectivity is not a substitute for solving the toughest political issues, they show a pathway toward rebuilding absent trust and improving quality of life. Mr. Trump has promised big new things around the world, including in the Middle East. But reviving an old arrangement—even while seeking small, achievable improvements on the ground—could be the best route to a better long-term future. —Jonathan A. Greenblatt is CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
President
Trump should
make clear that the path of incitement, delegitimization,
demonization, and violent terror will not yield any progress for Palestinian aspirations, while the route of negotiation will yield dividends for all.
Nation
At dawn of the Trump era, two Jewish tribes descend on Washington Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON ( JTA) —“Cantor Kaufman!” Rabbi Jonah Pesner shouted across the intersection of 3rd and D in Washington’s Northwest quadrant, packed sidewalk to sidewalk with women in pink pussycat hats and their male friends. “A song!” Jason Kaufman, the cantor at Beth El in Alexandria, Virginia, draped in a rainbow tallit and in the middle of telling a joke, cocked an eyebrow and pivoted gracefully from the guy hanging with his buddies at the Saturday, January 21 Women’s March on Washington to the religious leader ready to, well, lead. Kaufman’s rich tenor soared above the foggy chill and soon found company. The song was a natural for hundreds of Reform Jews waiting at the junction to join with hundreds more organized by the National Council of Jewish Women and other liberal Jewish groups. “Hinei ma tov umanaim,” they sang, quoting from Psalm 133. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.” The Reform marchers, organized by the movement’s Religious Action Center, which Pesner leads, ultimately never met up with the NCJW marchers— Washington’s streets and the National Mall were crammed to the point of claustrophobia the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the nation’s 45th president. The sternest shouted entreaties by group leaders could not keep the Jewish marchers from disappearing into the sea of humanity pocked by the pink hats that were the marchers’ badge of honor. Still, at around the same time, Nancy Kaufman, the NCJW CEO, says the marchers she was leading from the historic synagogue at Sixth and I broke into the same song. It was not the first time that King David’s words soared over the nation’s capital. Psalm 133 also made an appearance the previous day, in Trump’s first speech delivered as president. “When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice,”
Trump said. “The Bible tells us, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.’ We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When America is united, America is totally unstoppable.” Rather than unity, the twin uses of Psalm 133 on Friday and Saturday signaled a nation deeply divided, and within it two Jewish tribes deeply at odds over its future. To the smaller tribe, solidly Republican and disproportionately Orthodox, the inauguration weekend was a time to celebrate Trump for bringing Israel closer to the U.S. bosom. For the other, larger one, which votes reliably Democratic and tends to support a progressive domestic agenda, it was a time to stand as one against what it sees as Trump’s crusade to cleave Americans from one another. Those glad of the Trump ascendancy say it will be a relief from a U.S.-Israel relationship still stinging from the toxicity between former President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Their ranks include Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and his wife, whose spending on pro-Israel causes is outmatched only by their spending to keep Democrats from power. They were seen grinning on the inaugural dais—a rare, if not unprecedented place of honor for donors. Trump said later that their combined giving to his campaign and to the inauguration reached $125 million. Perhaps a half a football field across from them, six or so Jewish Trump supporters from Los Angeles huddled on the mall in layers a little too thick for the mild mid-Atlantic chill. They were close to tears as Rabbi Marvin Hier took the stage to deliver the benediction—one that cited another psalm, 137, “If I forget you O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.” “That’s my rabbi!” one yelled out. After the speeches were over, the group enthused about why they had made the journey cross-country.
“We had a chill” as Hier spoke, said Chaya Illulian, 22. “God wants us to stand for the truth!” “We’re excited for the change,” chimed in Chaya Israely, also 22. “To see Rabbi Hier up there, it means we’re equal,” said Adam King, 33.
The evening before, clumps of middle-aged out-of-towners, red Make America Great Again hats covering their kippahs, clustered around tables at the Char Bar kosher steakhouse. The most common topic of conversation: Would continued on page 10
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Nation continued from page 9
Trump’s Orthodox Jewish daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, set to assume a role as a top adviser, make it out of their parade limos the next day in time for Shabbat? (They did: The limos pulled up to the White House at 4:35 pm Shabbat came in a few minutes after 5.) Earlier Thursday, a select group of Jewish Trump supporters attended the exclusive Republican Jewish Coalition reception, which featured Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the House majority leader, and Tom Rose, the conservative Jewish talk show radio maven who is close to Vice President Mike Pence. On Friday night, they gathered on the lower floors of the Marriott Marquis at “The Inaugural Shabbat,” sponsored by the Israel Forever Foundation. The hotel is connected to the Washington Convention Center where, as the Shabbat dinner got underway, Trump took his first dance with his wife, Melania, mouthing the words to Frank Sinatra’s My Way. Or they were at the American Friends of Lubavitch headquarters near Dupont Circle, where Friday night services were packed with visitors. Rabbi Levi Shemtov’s sons squeezed between worshippers with trays bulging with tiny plastic cups of sweet kiddush wine. The sense of a homecoming, of relaxed and happy banter, was natural, says Matt Brooks, director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. “At the end of the day, I think there’s a huge sense of relief,” he said. “This last eight years we have seen a significant weakening of the U.S.-Israel alliance. Things are going to be very different from the Obama administration. We’re looking forward to a different tone and a relationship.” And Trump’s quotation of Psalm 133? A natural, Brooks says. “His presidency is going to be about the people, it’s going to be about holding government accountable, rebuilding infrastructure, restrengthening alliances, taking care of the middle class,” he says. “Judaism is predicated on making sure we take care of all people, and we look out for people who are less fortunate.”
If Trump was indeed intent on caring for the less fortunate, the message didn’t reach the thousands of Jews who joined an estimated half-million protesters in Washington the next day—not to mentions the millions of marchers in other American cities and around the world. Josh Weinberg, the president of ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America, had read Trump’s speech but did not notice the president’s Psalm 133 citation. “OK, it’s a nice line,” says Weinberg, who gently guided one daughter in a stroller through the crowd, carried another on his back and had a third clutching his hand. “But forgive my cynicism.” Jewish marchers who had picked through Trump’s speech say they discovered intimations of exclusion: a rejection of prejudice that was conditioned on opening “your heart to patriotism,” a dystopian vision of “American carnage,” of inner cities in flame and children lost to broken schools. Most striking for these marchers was Trump’s rallying cry. “From this moment on, it’s going to be America first, America first,” Trump said, an echo of the isolationist and anti-Semitic movement Americans rejected as they entered World War II. “I’ve been disappointed before,” says Leslie Shapiro, a retired paralegal from Gaithersburg, Maryland, recalling past elections. “I’ve never been afraid.” Rabbi Shira Stutman suggests that Trump had hijacked Psalm 133. “Unity without watching out for one another is not us,” she told a packed Friday evening service for marchers at Sixth and I. “Some of us grew up in this country feeling safe, and the safety is slipping from between our fingers.” The safety, according to Jewish marchers, was predicated on extending protections to all those who are vulnerable: The women, first of all, who marched because of Trump’s long history of misogynist statements, his recorded boast in
10 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
2006 of sexual assault (one he now insists was empty), and his pledge to roll back abortion rights as president. But also protections for the minorities he named as a threat during the campaign, Mexicans and Muslims. “Resistance is awakened at the intersection of love and holy outrage,” Rabbi Sharon Brous, the leader of Los Angeles’ IKAR congregation, told the hundreds of thousands of protesters. “Our children will one day ask us, ‘Where were you when our country was thrust into a lion’s den of demagoguery and division?’ And we will say, ‘I stood with love, I stood with hope, I stood with sisters and brothers of all religions and all races and all genders and sexualities,’” she said. “I ask you now to take the hand of someone to your right, take the hand of someone to your left, raise your hands high,” Brous urged, as hundreds of thousands heeded her. On the stage, one of the march’s organizers, Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American Muslim, strode forward and grasped the rabbi’s hand and raised it. It was the unity the marchers sought. Carole Benson, 77, of northern New Jersey’s Bergen County, woke up at 4 am, relying on two alarms and her husband to get her out of bed and on a bus with a broken toilet, idling for hours in traffic before getting off at RFK Stadium and then walking the 2½ miles to Sixth and I to join other NCJW members. At 5 pm, Benson was barely winded. “It was fun,” she says. “We knew we were not alone.” Rabbi Jill Jacobs prescribes a similar odyssey for all Jewish Americans, citing Moses shucking off privilege as an Egyptian prince to join the Jews in bondage. “We have certain access, and we have managed to assimilate, but we’re vulnerable,” says Jacobs, who heads T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights group. “We need to leave our place of privilege and join the liberation movement.”
We knew we were not alone.
Israelis rally in Tel Aviv in solidarity with women’s march JERUSALEM (JTA)—Hundreds of Israelis, mostly women, rallied in front of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington. The Saturday, January 21 rally, marking the first full day that President Donald Trump spent in office, was one of dozens taking place in cities around the world in support of the human rights march in Washington, D.C., which reportedly drew about 2.6 million people. Hundreds of thousands of people also marched in cities throughout the United States. About 500 people, many American Israelis, came to Tel Aviv for the rally, some carrying posters that read “Hate does not make America great,” “Love Trumps hate,” “Resistance has no borders” and “Keep your tiny hands off my rights.” The rally was organized mainly via an invitation-only Facebook page called Pantsuit Nation Israel, which has more than 1,200 members. “As liberals or progressive English speakers in Israel, it’s easy to feel like we’re a minority, but if you look around here tonight, I think we can say that’s not the case,” Pantsuit Nation Israel founder, Mindy Goldberg, said at the rally. “We are here to say, we have an important voice. A unique AmericanIsraeli voice that is rooted in the history of the discrimination of our people that can and will stand up to the bigotry and demonization of others and say loudly and clearly that Trump is not good for Israel, or for anyone.” Though the rally was billed as nonpolitical and nonpartisan, some marchers held signs against Israel’s occupation in the West Bank and advocating for Palestinian rights, as well as gay rights and women’s rights.
Tidewater
Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater receives accreditation from National Institute for Jewish Hospice
Jim Thompson and Carolyn Lempert.
O
ne of only two hospices in Virginia to retain accreditation with the National Institute of Jewish Hospices (NIJH), Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater again join more than 60 hospices nationwide in achieving the recognition. The accreditation links Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater (HPCT) with NIJH. Staff training, insights on treating terminally ill Jewish patients, and access to unique resources and education about Jewish custom and practice, while caring for a Jewish hospice patient, as well as their family, are provided by NIJH. The accreditation was earned after
one of Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater’s chaplains, Jim Thompson, and Carolyn Lempert, a social worker, attended the NIJH Annual Accreditation Conference in Newark, New Jersey on November 17, 2016. “The training and resources available through NIJH enables HCPT’s Interdisciplinary teams to provide specialized care to patients of the Jewish faith who are at the end of their life,” Thompson says. “We can better offer culturally sensitive emotional and spiritual support to our patients and their families as they go through this most difficult journey.” NIJH was founded by Rabbi Dr. Maurice Lamm in 1985 and he served as the organization’s president until his death earlier this year. Since its inception, the NIJH conference has brought together people from hospices across the country in related fields including rabbis, administrators, chaplains of all faiths, psychologists, nurses, bereavement counselors, and social workers for an intensive day of sessions to lecture and discuss all aspects of hospice and the Jewish terminally ill. “We congratulate Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater for earning this important accreditation,” says Rabbi Yitzchok Young, conference coordinator. “HPCT continues to be part of a database of accredited Virginia hospices to which NIJH will refer patients, families, and rabbis when they seek the best care for the terminally ill.”
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Beth Sholom Village and Beth Sholom Richmond create home health entity
Nina Turner, Ed Stein, and David Abraham.
A
joint venture between Beth Sholom Village (BSV) and Beth Sholom Richmond (BSR), Generations Home Health is designed to fill the gap in care once a resident leaves a facility and heads home. “We like to know how a Rehab resident fares once they return to their home environment,” says David Abraham, CEO of Beth Sholom Village. Generations Home Health communicates with nursing and rehab staff at BSV and BSR as needed regarding progress and any changes in the patients’ status. “We give exceptional care and prepare people to go back home and safely acclimate into their everyday lives. We want our discharged residents to know they can call us anytime they have questions, but more importantly, we call them at various intervals to check on their progress. Now that we have Generations Home Health, that gap is even smaller,” says Abraham. Generations Home Health is available
to anyone, not just residents within the two facilities. In fact, referrals from area physicians are already taking place. Generations covers all of Tidewater, and up through and including Richmond and surrounding counties. Nina Turner, MPT, WCC, Generations administrator, says she is excited about the level of care it can provide. The director of Rehab at Beth Sholom Village for more than 16 years, Turner says she is is keenly aware of the importance of the continuum of care. “The feedback we have received so far (as of this writing the caseload is more than 55 patients) is outstanding. People are enjoying the personalized attention they are receiving and family members feel their loved ones are being well taken care of and benefiting from the services. Generations provides skilled nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Call 804-421-5270 or 866205-0045 for information.
jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Jewish News | 11
tidewater together
Tidewater Together’s Alan Morinis plans transformative journey for area Jews Thursday, February 2–Sunday, February 5 Laine Mednick Rutherford
S
trengthening the Jewish commu-
Alan Morinis describes focus of his Tidewater Together discussions
nity and engaging all area Jews
in a truly transformative experience are two primary goals of the Milton “Mickey” Kramer Scholar-in-Residence Fund’s 4th Annual Tidewater Together. Unique in its scope and in its appeal to community members of various affiliations, involvement, and levels of observance, this year’s fourday event features Alan Morinis as scholar-in-residence.
Alan Morinis
The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar Thursday, Feb. 2, 6:30 pm, B’nai Israel Congregation Alan Morinis: This first session is the overview. Here, what I want to establish for people is, “You know folks, I didn’t make this up. It’s not coming out of my own head or my own experience.” What came out of my experience was an encounter with a Jewish tradition that I was unfamiliar with. Which, as you look into it, you’ll see how substantial it is.
Morinis, founder and dean of the
Mussar Institute, will lead six progressive discussions about the practice of Mussar—a Jewish tradition which emphasizes self-awareness, action, and, ultimately, transformation. Each of Morinis’ conversations will take place at a different area synagogue, all of which are excited to open their doors to bring the Tidewater Jewish community together. There is no charge to attend the discussions—all of which include a reception with lunch or desserts. As it has for the past three years, Ohef Sholom Temple will host a Tidewater Together community Shabbat dinner before Morinis’ talk on Friday evening. (The 6:30 pm event costs $10, and is free for those 12 and under. A kosher option is available. Dinner attendance is not mandatory for the 7:30 pm service and dessert reception.) The Jewish News spoke with Morinis via Skype and asked him to provide insights into each of the topics he will speak about. We also asked if it was necessary to attend all six discussions. “While any one theme can stand on its own, they’re deliberately structured to build on each other,” he says. The progression, he adds, can be transformative for everyone who attends, and for the community at large.
12 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
The Ways of the Righteous: Contemporary Lessons from a 16th Century Text Friday, Feb. 3, 12 pm, Temple Israel AM: Immediately, we jump into this next session and into a text. Orchot Tzaddikim is its name. An orchot is a way, or a path. Tzaddikim are the righteous, so orchot tzaddikim is the path of the righteous, the ways of the righteous. This little bit of text from the introduction to the book sets up the paradigm for how to understand and see our own experience in a very clear way, in very straightforward language. And you can’t believe it’s written 500 years ago! It’s talking about everyday experience—seeing it not just as things that happen, but in a sense as a personal curriculum. The things that happen to you are things that you are supposed to learn from and grow with and grow through. The second talk goes right to this source, because it’s very important for me to ground things in the tradition itself. We do that by going to the text.
tidewater together
You Shall Be Holy: Personal Transformation as a Jewish Imperative Friday, Feb. 3, 7:30 pm, Ohef Sholom Temple Dinner: 6:30 pm, $10 AM: The third talk is “You Shall be Holy.” That’s the goal. Now we’re looking through our everyday experience, but how do we organize it? How do we make sense of it? You need to have a reference point that is the ultimate reference point in order to make sense of all the bits and pieces. That notion of “you shall be holy” comes directly from the Torah and is really the driving force behind all of the work that one is meant to do on oneself—it’s not for the sake of improving yourself, it’s for the sake of filling the Jewish mandate to be holy. If you’re really impatient, that’s not going to contribute to being holy. If you’re an angry person, that’s not going to contribute to being holy. If you’re a miser, or you’re paralyzed by worry, or whatever it might be, those personal characteristics and those habits and those proclivities are not just things in and of themselves. Yes it’s true, it may better to be patient than to be impatient, but in a Jewish context, that’s not how we understand it. What we understand is a person who is overly impatient or overly patient has a quality that is a barrier on their journey towards holiness. The journey toward holiness is the inner journey of understanding yourself, understanding your experience, and seeing your challenges and overcoming them.
Torah Through a Mussar Lens: A Mussar Lesson from Parshat Bo Saturday, Feb. 4, 9:30 am, Congregation Beth El AM: In the fourth session we take it down into Torah. The point is to connect it to the deepest and most profound level of our tradition. So that it’s not just superfluous to, but rather in fulfillment of. Mussar shows up in the Torah in many different ways, but so often what we find is interpreted in terms of collective living. Through this session, looking with a Mussar lens, what we’ll see is that the Torah is actually giving us guidance for personal living.
What is Spirituality? A Jewish Take Saturday, Feb. 4, 7:30 pm, Temple Emanuel AM: Session Five is all about you. It’s not about theory. It’s about understanding your own curriculum. The miser has been assigned generosity. The impatient person has been assigned to learn patience. The worried person has been assigned to learn trust. If you get it, you realize, “Hey, this is a great thought. It’s not that I should feel badly about myself for feeling impatient. I should realize that that’s what’s on my curriculum and I should do something about this.” This isn’t about self-criticism. It’s about self-awareness and then going to the next step, which is based on a very profound Jewish idea—that we can change. You know, not every human culture or spiritual tradition says we can change. Some of them say we can’t. They say, “It’s your destiny. It’s your fate. It’s your karma.” That’s not the Jewish view at all. The Jewish view is if you’ve done something or if you’re in the habit of doing something, do teshuva [repentance] and you can change. That is the view of Jewish life. It’s very much in our hands and flexible. It’s right here where the rubber starts to hit the road around the personal aspect of things—you’ll see things in your own life, through this lens.
How to Get to Heaven: Practice! Practice! Practice! Sunday, Feb. 5, 10 am Kehillat Bet Hamidrash Synagogue AM: The final session is practice, practice, practice! The teachers in this tradition realize you don’t change because you get information. And you don’t change just because you understand better. Those things are necessary, but they only set the stage. It’s like when you get a diagnosis of high cholesterol. It’s good information to have in the sense that you can then proceed to do something that’s in the interest of your bodily health, but the diagnosis itself doesn’t change you. The same thing is true in relation to personal spiritual work. Mussar is rightly described—among other things— as being a path of practice, or a discipline that one takes on. It’s at this session where I say, “Okay, go now. It’s time to get out of the classroom and really take responsibility for who you are and who you could be. “ The thing about the Jewish spiritual path it is that it can’t be focused on you as an individual alone. We don’t have monasteries and convents in caves in the mountains. We don’t hold that out to people as being the way of spiritual practice. Jewish spiritual practice happens in the context of relationship. And what you find in relationship is when one person begins to change in a relationship, it changes the relationship—and the other person has to change too. In the context of a group—be it a synagogue or JCC or Federation or Hillel or school or family—you find that when people begin to understand their own inner life better and take responsibility for it and attach themselves to moving closer to the ideals of what the Jewish tradition says, then the culture of the organizations, school, and even the family changes too. These four days and the practice that follows is a transformative process. I hear it from students, from communities, from board members, from individuals: “I’m not the same person as I used to be.” It’s interesting to realize that this is what Judaism asks of us, that this is fulfilling a very major Jewish purpose. Which is to change ourselves—to engage with our challenges in life in order that we move through those challenges in the direction of holiness. That’s a Jewish mandate.
jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Jewish News | 13
Kahbaid or Honor Weekend
beth sholom village All area synagogues to focus on honoring fathers and mothers
“Kahbaid” weekend coordinated by Beth Sholom Village February 17–18
ttend services at one of these synagogues for special programming focusing on the Fifth Commandment and to honor Beth Sholom and its 37-year-long commitment to the care of aging parents and grandparents. February 17 Temple Sinai, Newport News February 18 Congregation Beth El, Norfolk Temple Israel, Norfolk B’nai Israel, Norfolk Adath Jeshrun, Newport News KBH, Virginia Beach Temple Emmanuel, Virginia Beach Rodef Sholom, Newport News February 24 Ohef Sholom Temple, Norfolk
Joel Rubin
W
e read it every year and are urged to practice it every day. Kahbaid et a’vecha v’et e’mecha. Honor your father and mother is the fifth of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai and which appear first in the Torah in the sedrah Yitro. (Exodus, Chapter 20). Kahbaid is also the title of the $3-million capital campaign now underway to refurbish the 37-year-old Berger-Goldrich Home at Beth Sholom Village, the area’s only Jewish nursing facility. So, the Home reached out to local synagogues, through the Tidewater Board of Rabbis and Cantors, suggesting that each plan special messages and programming for this year’s reading of Yitro, which happens on Saturday, February 18. “We thought it was a great request,” says Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz of Congregation Beth El, current chair of the Board of Rabbis and Cantors. “Everyone was eager to participate and I’m pleased that they will do so.” Rabbi Arnowitz will talk that morning about “how we treat our most senior members of the community” and members of Beth El’s Hazak committee will lead prayers and recite aliyot. At Temple Israel, several Home residents
A
Call synagogues for times and details. Jodi Laibstain (center) and her parents. Jodi Laibstain came to appreciate the Berger-Goldrich Home at Beth Sholom Village when her father, Bill Kittner went there for rehabilitation. “It felt like home to me,” says Bill.
will attend services, including Jeffrey Snyder, who lives at the Terrace and regularly attends the Village’s daily and Shabbat minyanim. “He is the son of our former gabbai, Harry Snyder, who was a legend at Temple Israel and a resident of Beth Sholom in his final years,” says Rabbi Michael Panitz. Marcia Futterman Brodie, whose father and mother were past presidents of the Home, will speak. At B’Nai Israel, there will be a special “Chai Kiddush” where for a minimal sponsorship, people will be encouraged to honor parents and elderly members of the community. “We will also have a free dedication page where children can write
Honor campaign for Beth Sholom refurbishment passes halfway point Beth Sholom Village has raised $1,750,000 of its goal of $3-million for its major capital campaign called “Honor” or “Kahbaid.” The funds will be used to make substantial improvements to patient rooms (including adding showers to each), common areas, rehabilitation therapy spaces, and more to upgrade the well-regarded skilled care facility. “We honor the blessed memories of all of those residents and their families who have relied on us for more than four decades,” says Steve Suskin, director of philanthropy for Beth Sholom. “And we are paving the way for future generations to reside in the Berger-Goldrich Home in comfort, dignity, and honor.” For more information on the “Honor” campaign, contact Suskin at ssuskin@bethsholomvillage.com or 757-420-2512.
14 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
there own short dedications,” says Rabbi Sender Haber, who adds that Toras Chaim, the Portsmouth based day school, will use the Shabbat to showcase middle school students’ work through the Better Together program with Beth Sholom. “I think it speaks directly to the theme of the weekend,” says Haber. At Temple Emmanuel, Rabbi Marc Kraus will address the difficult decisions that are necessary as parents age, and a Beth Sholom board leader, who belongs to the synagogue, will speak. Kempsville Conservative Synagogue (KBH) in Virginia Beach will acknowledge the role of parents in each person’s life and how children honor them by their behavior. “We are encouraging members to provide photos of their parents and note at least one parental saying/experience/ event that impacted their lives and, by the members’ actions, honors their parents,” says congregant Alene Kaufman. “We will create a display wall with these photos and impact statements, having it ready for services on February 18.” At Beth Chaverim, Rabbi Israel Zoberman will speak on the subject of honoring parents. Rabbi Gershon Litt will do the same at Adath Jeshrun in Newport News, Rabbi Gilat Dror will communicate a strong message on Kahbaid to her
congregants at Rodef Sholom in Newport News, and on February 17, a representative from Beth Sholom will relate the value of having a Jewish nursing home in Tidewater to the members of Temple Sinai in Newport News, thanks to the interest of their Rabbi Séverine Sokol. And finally on the following Friday, February 24, the sermon at Ohef Sholom Temple will be “Transcending Age: the blessings of relationships between the elderly and younger generations in our community.” In his sermon, Chris Kraus, director of Family Learning, will also highlight Ohef Sholom’s Better Together program. “Our students meet once a month for lunch with staff and residents at Beth Sholom to learn together, schmooze, play games, and tell stories,” says Kraus. “Such partnerships with seniors transcend the finality of a lifespan and give meaning to the present.” “It is so meaningful to us at Beth Sholom Village to have all the synagogues come together within the space of a week to speak to the issue that defines us as an institution every day,” says David Abraham, executive vice president of Beth Sholom Village. “We honor parents and grandparents, which is why we are raising the funds to make our acute care facility the true next generation of care in our community.”
Mazel Tov
Supplement to Jewish News January 30, 2017
MAZEL TOV
Meatloaf
Dear Readers,
T
here never should be a bad time to celebrate. In fact, the not-so-good
times should remind us to celebrate whenever possible. That’s the message from the author of In defense of the Big Fat Bar/Bat Mitzvah Party on page 18. She started planning early for her daughter’s Bat Mitzvah and looks forward to the new memories as she recalls those of her own.
Made with New Zealand grass-fed brisket, served with home-made grilled rustic sourdough bread, creamy mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, and crispy tobacco fried onions. Mazel Tov!
It’s an article that has relevance for everyone…as a host or a guest. This section covers other celebratory topics, such as the one on page 17
www.bakerscrust.com
where we offer tips on planning an event. According to the Sheraton’s Nancy Rosen, an expert party planner, a combination of some solid advice, lists, and the right
THIS CALLS FOR A C E L E B R AT I O N
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perspective will assure that every event …intimate or ballroom style…ends up perfect.
Subscription: $18 year For subscription or change of address, call 757-965-6128 or email mcerase@ujft.org.
For teens and their parents, the article on page 22 about Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy Program should be of particular interest. TJF has found a way to engage kids—especially around their Bar or Bat Mitzvah—to manage their own philanthropic fund. It’s a brilliant idea. Of course there’s more. We hope you MACON PHOTOGRAPHY
find this section interesting and that you glean some ideas from both the articles
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MA ZEL TOV
Plan to celebrate M
Jewish News Staff
azel Tov! A simcha is on the horizon…be it an engagement party, wedding, bat or bar mitzvah, milestone anniversary or birthday, the planning must commence! But where, oh where to start? Experts agree that for a successful event, the best place to begin is to determine the type of event desired and a realistic budget. With these two decisions in hand, the rest will fall into place…not necessarily easily, because as with any project, it is the details—and their execution—that determine the outcome. A plethora of books and websites are now available to jump-start the process. Some even focus specifically on Jewish events, such as Guide to the Jewish Wedding at aish.com, Step-By-Step Bar Mitzvah Planning and Bat Mitzvah Planning Guide…at www. emitz.com/planning-guide or the handbook-style book, MitzvahChic: How to Host a Meaningful, Fun, Drop-Dead Gorgeous Bar or Bat Mitzvah, among many, many others. Often temples also have handbooks and guides for congregants that include local, preferred vendors. In fact, experts note that Millennials are the largest group of incoming brides and grooms and frequently rely on social media to find their venue and vendors. And, parents of b’nai mitzvah kids are pretty savvy with the Internet, too.
Rosen, who had 10 years experience as an event planner prior to joining the Sheraton. “Caterers, florists, linen vendors, bakeries…they can all generally do more than one event in a day, but a venue can host just one party or service, and a photographer can only shoot at one place,” she says.
Decisions
Once the venue is chosen, timelines, vendor selection, menus, floor plans and all the details to make the event special have to be considered. “I am very thorough with all of the information I give to my clients and help them to make decisions on food through our tastings, by meeting with vendors and treating every question as an important one,” says Rosen.
Choose a style or theme
A style or theme sets the tone for the event…from the service to the celebration. Will it be formal, traditional, modest, whimsical, colorful, folk, or camp-style? A color scheme can permeate the event beginning with the invitation and continue on straight through to the clothes, kippot, table linens and décor. This sense of cohesiveness is not hard to achieve, it simply needs to be planned. Selecting to have a theme is, of course, personal. Some prefer a style—such as formal rather than casual. For those who want a theme, the options are, literally, limitless.
Get organized
A comprehensive list is among the early “musts.” Creating one and constantly updating it, helps to attain the desired event, and, equally as important, eases stress and relieves the mind of having to remember so many details. A binder, along with a portable plastic file box can become a planner’s best friends. The box will quickly fill with menus, samples, proofs, lists, catalogues, contracts, and receipts.
Pick the date
If possible, it’s best to schedule a date approximately eight months to a year in advance for planning purposes, according to Nancy Rosen, wedding specialist and catering manager at the Sheraton-Virginia Beach Oceanfront Hotel. “That’s ideal, but it can be done in less time, too.”
First things, first
Confirm a venue and a photographer first thing, advises
personality they are looking for,” says Rosen. “In a very competitive industry, it is important to form a trusting relationship with clients who will rely on you and trust your judgment when it comes to helping them plan important events in their lives. “I pride myself on being that person and enjoy working with people to help them create the vision they had in mind. The best feeling is knowing I have accomplished what they dreamed of.”
The latest trends
Rosen notes that smaller weddings from 100 to 150 guests, with simple and clean décor with up lighting and specialty linens are in demand.
Make it personal
Meet with an advisor
Setting a meeting with an event planner or venue representative helps to make decisions and understand options. “When I begin speaking with a prospective client I try to understand what is most important to them and build a connection. I first and foremost really try to get to know my clients. We discuss budget, whether they are looking for a view for their ceremony or reception, quality of food they want served to guests and what style or
Unique and personal details that add “a special touch, whether it be personalized favors for guests or photos of family and friends at tables,” are popular today, says Rosen.
Enjoy
Gigantic or small, formal or casual, the best advice from party planners, parents and “those who’ve done it before” is to focus on the main event: the wedding ceremony, the Bar or Bat Mitzvah service and then…kvell!
jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Mazel Tov | Jewish News | 17
MA ZEL TOV
In defense of the Big Fat Bar/Bat Mitzvah Party Beth Ain
(Kveller via JTA)—I took my first baby steps into bat mitzvah planning this week, and I had a lot of feelings—but mostly a twinge of nostalgia. Somehow a girl who was once a toddler with a furrowed brow, a desperate love of Little Bear, and a staying asleep problem is going to lead an entire weekend of Shabbat services and later, an entire evening of hors d’oeuvres and hora dancing. Did I mention I am—ahem—planning for a weekend that is a year and a half in the future? I know. I’ve got time. This is all insane. What I do not have, and which I very much expected to have, are mixed feelings about throwing a big party to celebrate the occasion. A quick Google search about
b’nei mitzvah planning reveals comment sections so fierce (and defensive and judgmental), I thought for a moment I had accidentally time traveled back to 2005, when Urban Baby posts and the anonymous moms whose persistent debates about nursing versus formula haunted my every thought. Me, waiting in line to check out at Duane Reade with armfuls of formula and lots to say about it, having imaginary conversations with opinionated women I hoped never to meet. A memory for another time. This is something else, though. This is not formula or breast milk, work at home or stay at home. This is about a simcha—a celebration. And you know what? We just don’t get that many of those. Lately, I’ve heard a lot of bad news. Lately, very young mothers are getting
breast cancer diagnoses. Lately, I lost an uncle far too soon. Lately, a wonderful 40-something husband and father in my town dropped dead—smack in the middle of his life. So lately, I’ve been thinking we should gather together more often, in large groups, and hoist people up on chairs just so we can make our faces hurt with smiles and feel the pinches of our aunts and our uncles. Lately I’ve also been missing childhood and the things about it that stand out for me. One of those things is my own bat mitzvah party, the video footage (on VHS) of which I refuse to watch for fear it will ruin the hazy montage that lives in my memory as a raucous mix of sock-sliding Coke and Pepsi games mixed with twinkling lights and appropriate amounts of tween and family drama. I suppose for
1980s semi-rural Pennsylvania, having a Saturday night affair was maybe a little bit extravagant, my mom’s party planning prowess put to the test by the advent of tacky ’80s things—managing the balloons-inside-balloons trend with great sense and style. Earlier, we had put glitz aside for earthiness by hand-making my invitations together at the kitchen table, coloring in little leaves with green felt-tip pens next to the words “Be a Blessing.” Such was my theme. I also remember riding my bike to the cantor’s house, his wife fumbling around in the kitchen while he and I went over and over Song of Songs and where he taught me not just the words and the tune but the meaning. To me, this man and his thick Yiddish accent actually embodied meaning and Torah and the history that
TJF’S B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy Program
Join us and Make a Difference Today! Contact Amy Weinstein at 757-965-6105 or aweinstein@ujft.org for more info!
philanthropy noun • phi·lan·thro·py • [fi-lan-thruh-pee] 1. The effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind, as by charitable aid or donations. 2. Love of human kind, in general. 18 | Jewish News | Mazel Tov | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
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Create your OWN FUND, make your OWN CHOICES, and GROW as a Jewish philanthropist!
e Te
1. Create a B’nai Tzedek Fund with a minimum gift of $250 to the Tidewater Jewish Foundation (TJF) 2. TJF will MATCH your gift with $250 3. You now have a fund of $500 or more IN YOUR NAME to benefit Jewish organizations of your choice
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All it takes is ONE Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and you can make a difference for the rest of your life!
h il a
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MA ZEL TOV no balloon-inside-balloon centerpieces could ever take that away—but OK, they might just add to it. Because I also remember having all of my relatives there for the service and later for the party, all of t hem — da ncing and smiling and smelling like themselves — cologne and maybe hints of cigar on some, vodka and red lipstick on others. So many of them are gone. My g r a ndpa rent s, my great-aunts and -uncles and now, even my own maternal uncle, who played his guitar on the bimah after the Havdalah service was over, and whose presence that day and later, at my various graduations and my wedding, was important and the memories lasting. We can debate what a party is worth, what it should cost, if you should take a trip to Israel instead, have a little kiddush luncheon and call it a day. It’s all good. It’s all wonderful. There are so many ways to mark an important milestone—klezmer music and high heels is only one of them. What bothers me is when one’s values are called into question because you want the whole shebang. I’m guilty of it myself. It’s a wedding for a 13-year-old, people might say. Well, sure. The same way a wedding is for the bride and the groom, I suppose that’s true. But how can we say that the wedding isn’t also for the parents of the bride and the groom, the grandparents, the college friends and camp friends who only get to be all in one place so many times in life—and let’s be honest, as we get a little older, not all of those times are good times. Every other day in life is a series of
piecing people together—a dinner date here, a birthday brunch there, a holiday card sent to the faraway people and places when you wish you could send for them instead. The truth is, I don’t know yet what kind of party I will throw for my daughter’s bat mitzvah. I’m feeling it out. I only want it to be a moment where we live in the present and in memory at once—preserving the smell of people and the feel of them pinching your cheeks, and squeezing your hand and maybe drinking too much, opening up too much. (Perhaps your uncle will even hook up with your cousin on the other side of the family—I’m not saying that did happen, I’m just saying it could.) It’s OK to throw a party. It’s OK not to. Just let people have their simchas, however they want to have them. No comments. One last thing about my bat mitzvah, though. Most of what you need to know about my mother is that she quoted both Robert F. Kennedy and Ferris Bueller on the bimah that day, and the latter is the one that stays with me: “Life moves pretty fast—if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.” Beth Ain is a children’s book author and creator of the Starring Jules chapter book series published by Scholastic. Learn more about Beth and her books at bethain.com.) Kveller is a thriving community of women and parents who convene online to share, celebrate and commiserate their experiences of raising kids through a Jewish lens. Visit Kveller.com.
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jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Mazel Tov | Jewish News | 19
MA ZEL TOV OP-ED
Why a rabbi under the chuppah may boost Jewish engagement in intermarried homes
Leonard Saxe and Fern Chertok
WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA)— At a summit meeting held last fall at the National Museum of American Jewish History, several hundred communal professionals, rabbis, scholars, philanthropists, and young intermarried couples gathered to discuss engagement of interfaith families in Jewish life. There is widespread communal agreement that intermarriage has reshaped the landscape of American Jewish life, but a lack of consensus regarding how best to respond to this development. At the forefront of the controversy has been rabbinic officiation at intermarriage ceremonies.
For some, the debate over whether a rabbi or cantor should conduct an interfaith wedding hinges on theological questions. But for many, the debate is also about the impact that rabbinic officiation might have on the Jewish character of the homes and families these couples create. Contrary to the long-held assumption that choosing a Jewish officiant is a symbolic, not a substantive act, we now have strong evidence of the association between rabbinic officiation at intermarriages and the couples’ subsequent involvement in Jewish life. Our new report, Under the Chuppah: Rabbinic Officiation and Intermarriage, explores the trajectories of Jewish
engagement of a large group of young adult Jews married to Jewish and non-Jewish spouses. As part of a long-term follow-up study of 2001–2009 applicants to Birthright Israel, we surveyed 1,200 married young adults. We explored differences among three groups of couples: inmarried couples, intermarried couples who had a sole Jewish clergy officiant (i.e., no non-Jewish co-officiant) and intermarried couples who married under other auspices such as a justice of the peace, friend or family member. The data are unequivocal that intermarried couples whose weddings were officiated by Jewish clergy as the only officiant are more highly engaged in Jewish
life than other intermarried couples. Among the intermarried couples married by a rabbi or cantor, the overwhelming majority (85 percent) of those who now have children reported that the religion in which their children are being raised is Judaism. This is in stark contrast to the intermarried couples who did not have a sole Jewish officiant, of whom 23 percent are raising their children Jewish. Consistent with these findings, one-third of intermarried couples who had a rabbi or cantor as sole officiant are synagogue members. This number is more than four times higher than the rate for intermarried couples married by another type of officiant.
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20 | Jewish News | Mazel Tov | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
MA ZEL TOV
WE TAKE PRIDE IN EXCEEDING YOUR EXPECTATIONS.
DESIGN LIGHTING MAINTENANCE OUTDOOR LIVING ENHANCEMENTS These differences persist even when the gender, Jewish background and college Jewish experiences of the Jewish spouse are taken into account. On the two measures that have been at the heart of the controversy about Jewish officiation at intermarriages—synagogue membership and raising children Jewish—intermarried couples with sole Jewish clergy officiation are not very different from inmarried couples (that is, Jews who marry Jews). The rates of synagogue membership are 34 percent for the former vs. 41 percent for the latter, and for raising children Jewish 85 percent vs. 94 percent. Sole Jewish officiation at intermarriages does not, however, fully level the playing field between intermarried couples with a sole Jewish officiant and inmarried couples on all measures of Jewish engagement. For example, intermarried couples who had sole Jewish officiation are somewhat less likely to have a special meal on Shabbat. Our study does not provide a full explanation of the reasons for the differences between intermarried couples with a sole Jewish officiant and other intermarried couples. In part, the decision to have a Jewish officiant likely reflects a continuation of the already existing Jewish trajectory of these couples. But it may also be that the involvement of Jewish clergy has an independent impact on the lives of intermarried couples. Interactions with Jewish clergy in preparation for the wedding may serve to welcome the non-Jewish partner into Judaism, establish
the groundwork for a continuing relationship and affirm the couple’s prior decision to raise a Jewish family. Conversely, rejection by clergy, even with a referral to another rabbi, may have a negative effect. Rabbinic officiation at intermarriage is a relatively new phenomenon, and we are only now beginning to see its effects. What does seem apparent from our research is that most couples who engaged rabbis for officiation purposes appear to have Jewish commitments that carry over past the wedding ceremony. Marshall McLuhan famously cautioned, “We drive into the future using only our rearview mirror.” In contrast to demographic studies which, while valuable, tell us more about the past than the future, our socio-psychological studies of intermarried young couples shed light not only on the lived experiences of contemporary Jews, but also provide critical data for thinking about the future. We would like to think that our research, rather than viewing Jewish experience through a rearview mirror, is looking forward. We are discovering that the consequences of intermarriage that we have long expected to be devastating vis-a-vis the Jewish future may not be inevitable.
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Leonard Saxe is the director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies of the Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University. Fern Chertok is a research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies.
jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Mazel Tov | Jewish News | 21
MA ZEL TOV
Have a B’nai Mitzvah on the horizon? Consider the B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy Program Amy Weinstein
T
he Tidewater Jewish Foundation recently debuted an exciting new program just for teens—particularly for those celebrating their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. The B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy Program encourages teens to become involved in tzedakah by establishing a fund for Jewish charitable giving. Opening a B’nai Tzedek fund gives teens a chance to play a part in improving the community and the world. So, how does this work? A donation of at least $250 to the Tidewater Jewish Foundation establishes a fund in the teen’s name. TJF then matches that gift with another $250 for
a starting fund balance of at least $500. Participants can learn about the needs of the Jewish community—locally, in Israel, and around the world. Each year, fund holders can grant 5% of their fund to a Jewish charity of their choice. B’nai Tzedek empowers teens to take ownership of their philanthropy—a valuable lesson that pays off. Reaction to this new opportunity has been positive throughout the community, with several Bar and Bat Mitzvah students adding this initiative to their ongoing mitzvah projects. One of the earliest participants in the B’nai Tzedek program, Jonah Abrams, explains why he wanted to be a part of the program: “I know how
important helping people in our Jewish community is to my parents. After my Bar Mitzvah, I wanted to do something, too. I really liked the idea of giving money to set up a fund at the Foundation and being able to decide each year where the money will go. This way I can make a difference for many organizations, not just one.” For information on how to participate in the B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy Program, visit http://jewishva.org/tjf-donor-advised or contact Amy Weinstein, director of development at 757-965-6105 or aweinstein@ ujft.org.
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country, fed up with the bureaucracy and strict religious requirements. Some seek to reform the haredi Orthodox-dominated Chief Rabbinate while creating alternatives to its monopoly on marriage and other personal status issues in Israel. But haredi Rabbi Yisroel Meir Riani thinks the Chief Rabbinate just needs better customer service. His rabbinical group, B’Noam, has made helping Israelis navigate the famously infuriating state marriage bureaucracy its top priority. Last month, the group expanded its marriage program with help from a grant. “People wonder why they have to deal with this procedure and why there is this monopoly over marriage,” Riani says. “They get very, very angry at the Chief Rabbinate. And that is exactly where we come in.” The Chief Rabbinate and its allies in government have embraced B’Noam, which means “pleasantly” in Hebrew, since its establishment in 2015. By most accounts they view it as a haredi answer to Tzohar, a rabbinical group that offers marriage registration by the generally more lenient standards of religious Zionism. A spokesman for Israel’s chief Ashkenazi rabbi, David Lau, says the Chief Rabbinate was “very, very pro-B’Noam,” which it sees as the only religious services group that recognizes its authority. “If another group opens tomorrow, we will support them,” spokesman Pinkhas Tannenbaum says. “We support every organization that is helping people get
married as long as they follow the Chief Rabbinate’s rules,” he adds, implying Tzohar does not meet that standard. Riani was among the handful of mostly young haredi community rabbis who started B’Noam. They were motivated, he says, by the growing public discontent with the Chief Rabbinate, which many see as religiously coercive and difficult to work with. Members of Israel’s secular majority must prove their Jewish bona fides to the haredi religious authorities—something that’s not always easy when one or both of their immigrant forebears weren’t Jewish or converted under non-Orthodox or obscure auspices. According to last year’s annual survey by Hiddush, a group that promotes religious pluralism, 63 percent of Israelis support separating religion and state, which would mean abolishing the Chief Rabbinate in its current form. The number rose from 56 percent in 2012. Uri Regev, the CEO of Hiddush, noted the obstacles to marriage for Jewish Israelis. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are not able to marry in their own country, he notes, because while they are deemed Jewish enough to be citizens, they do not qualify religiously. This includes the families of many immigrants from the former Soviet Union who arrived under Israel’s Law of Return, which defines someone as Jewish in terms less strict than rabbinic law, or halachah. Millions more would prefer not to have an Orthodox wedding, but have no choice, Regev says. The recent Hiddush survey showed nearly half of Israelis wanted a non-Orthodox wedding. By stepping in to offer friendly and
MA ZEL TOV helpful guidance, B’Noam aims to bolster the Chief Rabbinate’s reputation and authority. “We fight for every Jew to get him the best services from the Chief Rabbinate, and yes, we believe that will strengthen the Rabbinate,” Riani says. “The chief rabbis know our project is very important and needed, and they recognize that our success will close the gap between the Chief Rabbinate and the Israeli public.” B’Noam now claims some 1,000 members, about half the community rabbis in Israel, including some 300 religious Zionists, who tend to view Jewish law in a more accommodating way. Tzohar says it has more than 600 religious Zionist member rabbis. While B’Noam offers a range of religious services, from circumcision to burial, its flagship program is marriage assistance. That program was launched in June and expanded last month with funding from Orthodox philanthropist Elio Moti Sonnenfeld, who renamed it B’Noam Danielle in honor of his daughter who died in a car accident. About 60 rabbis work for B’Noam Danielle, according to Riani, responding to calls to its hotline from morning to midnight during the week, and before and after Shabbat on the weekend. B’Noam also has a slick website and an office in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv. Riani says B’Noam Danielle gets about 20 calls a day and hopes to one day serve 5,000 couples a year, or about 15 percent of all marriages, which happens to be the number claimed by Tzohar’s popular marriage program. For many years, the Chief Rabbinate and haredi politicians have sought to crack down on Tzohar’s work, which includes private registry “customized for secular couples,” according to its website. Mainly they have tried to prevent its chairman, Rabbi David Stav, from registering people for marriage who do not live in Shoham, the Tel Aviv suburb where he is chief rabbi. While most interpreted this as an effort to protect the Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly, haredi and some Orthodox religious Zionist politicians argued that
only local rabbis have the knowledge necessary to check that couples qualify for Jewish marriage. By contrast, Israel’s religious establishment has gone out of its way to help B’Noam succeed. Haredi stars studded the group’s inaugural event in September 2015, including speeches by Lau and his Sephardi counterpart, Yitzhak Yosef, along with Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and Religious Affairs Minister David Azoulay. Riani says he could call on those and other officials in a pinch to help him get Israelis the religious services they need, adding that it gives B’Noam an advantage over Tzohar. “We have very good and close cooperation with the chief rabbis of Israel and also with the Religious Affairs Ministry,” he says. Stav, who helped found Tzohar 1995, says such claims were “PR” and that navigating the Chief Rabbinate only required knowledge, not special connections. He also notes that Tzohar provides some services, like verifying a couple’s Jewishness, which the Rabbinate relies on. More broadly, Stav predicted B’Noam would neither hurt his group nor help the Chief Rabbinate’s reputation. “If there comes a time when there is no more need for Tzohar, we will say, ‘Wonderful. We have accomplished our mission,’” he says. “But we register more marriages than Jerusalem and Tel Aviv combined. People come to us because they want another option.” Regev says more groups like B’Noam, or for that matter Tzohar, would not solve Israel’s marriage problem. “These groups put a smiley face on the Rabbinate’s religious coercion,” he says. “But they don’t come any closer to bringing Israel out of the fold of the Rabbinate and into the fold of liberal democracy.” Every year, thousands of Jews who cannot or do not wish to marry in Israel go abroad, mostly in Cyprus, for their nuptials. Meanwhile, a growing number are opting out of marriage. Real change would only come, Regev says, when the public demanded it.
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he makerspace movement—an exciting development in progressive education that encourages students to put their ideas into action—has been fully embraced at Norfolk Collegiate. The school’s three MakerLabs are playgrounds for the imagination, where developmentally appropriate tools and resources enable students to pursue their interests and explore new possibilities. Outfitted with everything from basic tools to advanced 3-D printers, the school’s MakerLabs provide opportunities for every student to explore and create. Use
of these spaces is incorporated throughout the curriculum, and they are also available to students for hobbies, clubs, or unstructured exploration. Norfolk Collegiate’s MakerLabs, which enrich the learning environment for all students at every grade level, exemplify the school’s commitment to remaining on the leading edge of progressive education. For 70 years, Norfolk Collegiate has blended a supportive, hands-on learning environment with challenging coursework to remain one of the area’s premier college preparatory schools.
Plant a tree in Israel and enter to win a trip to Israel
J
ewish National Fund (JNF-USA) is celebrating Tu BiShvat by giving one winner the chance to travel to Israel and have a once in a lifetime experience. Anyone can enter to win by planting a tree with the organization—a fitting way to celebrate Tu BiShvat, the Jewish New Year for Trees. JNF has partnered with EL AL Airlines and the Carlton Hotel Tel Aviv for the sweepstakes to win the trip. When participants plant a tree through jnf.org, or by calling 800-542-8733, between
Feb. 1, 2017 and Feb. 11, 2017 at 11:59:59 p.m. ET, they will be entered to win the grand prize of a free roundtrip ticket to Israel, courtesy of EL AL Airlines,a free two-night stay with breakfasts at the Carlton Tel Aviv, and two VIP tickets to the national Jerusalem Day ceremony at Ammunition Hill on May 24, 2017. While in Israel, the sweepstakes winner will have the opportunity to plant a tree at the JNF-Harvey Hertz Ceremonial Tree Planting Center at Neot Kedumim.
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Tidewater
Join the Society of Professionals’ Professional Directory
KBH and Temple Israel continue joint celebrations
Application deadline: May 1
F
or the last 16 years, Kehillat Bet Hamidrash/Kempsville Conservative Synagogue and Temple Israel have enjoyed a programming partnership, sharing simchas, celebrations, programs, and prayers. Hanukkah 5777 saw another opportunity for being together. KBH holds an annual Hanukkah Rabbi Michael Panitz leads children in song. party with both indoor and outof Temple Israel led the candle blessings, door candle lightings, Ed’s famous latkes, followed by traditional Hanukkah songs. and lots of fun. This year, it was schedThis was the second in the partneruled for December 25, 2016, and in true ship celebrations held at KBH this year. tradition for the day, a Chinese dinner In October, the Simchat Torah celebrawas prepared in the synagogue. More tion was another sweet treat. Temple than 80 people from KBH, Temple Israel, Israel members joined KBHers to share synagogues throughout the community, the KBH tradition of handing out candy and the unaffiliated enjoyed the camaraduring the hakafot with the Torah scrolls. derie and candles. Rabbi Michael Panitz
at the Simon Family JCC Let your children explore things they love-or you think they’ll love-in enrichment classes designed especially for them! Visit www.simonfamilyjcc.org/childrensclasses or call 757-321-2338 for class descriptions and to register.
28 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
Sherri Wisoff
T
he official merging last fall of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Maimonides Society (medical professionals) and the Business and Legal Society into UJFT’s Society of Professionals, creates an abundance of networking and community-building opportunities. With a growing list of members, The Society of Professionals has embarked on developing a directory that reflects the diversity, interests, and values of its membership. This new directory, modeled on research gleaned from other Jewish communities across the country, indicates that one of the best ways to market is to add a personal touch. The directory, which will include business hyperlinks, will offer members the opportunity to launch their own publicity page, complete with their picture to add a ‘face to their name,’ as well as any other relevant information about their business that they may wish to share with the community. In addition to printed copies that will be distributed in the summer to Jewish agencies and businesses throughout the area, the Professional Directory will have a permanent online presence on UJFT’s website. Ethan Heben, a community member
and a business development professional at TechArk Solutions, gave his first gift to the Federation in order to be a part of the Professional Directory. He says, “It is great way to expand professional circles and support the Federation at the same time. Where else can I invest my human and financial capital knowing that I am impacting and sustaining my Jewish community here and abroad?” To be a part of Tidewater’s first major directory of Jewish professionals, complete the online form at www.JewishVa. org, by May 1 and make a pledge to the 2017 Annual UJFT Campaign. Members who gift $500 or more toward the 2017 UJFT Campaign will be eligible to be a part of the new Professional Directory with a half page profile; those that gift $1,000 or more will receive a full page to promote their business or service to the community. For information about the Society of Professionals of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, upcoming events, and to join the Professional Directory, visit: JewishVa.org, contact Jasmine Amitay at jamitay@ujft.org, or call 757-321-6138.
It’s a wrap The Definition of Anti-Semitism, an evening with Kenneth Marcus Wendy Weissman, assistant director, CRC
T
he rise of anti-Semitism on college campuses has become more pronounced in recent years, but its ambiguous meaning, at least in the context of a university setting, has yet to be uniformly defined. Kenneth Marcus hopes to make that definition clear. President and general counsel of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights and an author, Kenneth Marcus spoke at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus about the definition of anti-Semitism, also the title of his recent book. Marcus founded the Brandeis Center, an independent, non-partisan institution for public interest advocacy, research and education in 2011 to combat the resurgence of anti-Semitism in American higher education. While in Tidewater, Marcus spoke to the members of the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater over lunch at the Sandler Family Campus. He was then interviewed by Christian Broadcasting Network’s Mark
Martin, spoke briefly at a reception for the UJFT Society of Professionals and ended his day with a community event at the Sandler Family Campus. Jeff Brooke, honorary CRC steering committee member and attorney who introduced Marcus at the community event, found Marcus’s message especially important in the face of growing anti-Semitism on American college campuses. “At first blush, the definition of anti-Semitism—hatred of Jews—should be obvious. When the issue is examined closely, the problem is not so simple.” While anti-Israel sentiment does not always equate to anti-Semitic rhetoric, Marcus expressed the importance of knowing when the line is crossed. He defines anti-Semitism as falling into one of the “3D” categories: 1) Double standards—where Israel is criticized more harshly than any other country; 2) Demonization of Israel; and 3) De-legitimization—to deny Israel legitimacy. If any of these ideals are in question,
CBN Anchor Mark Martin interviews Kenneth Marcus.
the context should be considered. Marcus stressed the importance of the definition with the goal of treating anti-Semitism as any other form of bigotry, especially when cloaked as anti-Israel. “Today’s anti-Semites are quick to revert to anti-Zionism and other concepts while maintaining their overall ‘respect’ for the Jewish religion. The way we as a people grapple with this new anti-Semitism will determine the environment for the next generation of young Jewish leaders,” Brooke says. The importance of a definition of anti-Semitism is simple: a clear definition will more effectively combat it. Marcus is working with members of Congress to secure this legal definition through the
Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2016. The Beyond the Festival event as part of the Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe* Family Jewish Book Festival was presented in partnership with UJFT’s Community Relations Council, BBYO, and OSTY, and was the first in a three part series, Cause an Effect, focusing on anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment on university campuses. For more information on the legislation currently in Congress, the Cause An Effect series for teens and their parents, or to RSVP for the remaining series events, contact Wendy Weissman, assistant director, CRC, at WWeissman@ujft.org or 965-6107. *of blessed memory
Temple Israel’s Hanukkah shpiel combines new music and zany dialogue
W
hat were those Maccabee brothers really like? Did they get secret help from their girlfriends? And how did the Marx Brothers get involved in the story of Hanukkah? All of these questions were answered in entertaining fashion by Temple Israel’s Hanukkah shpiel, Oh, Hanukkah! Oh, Brother! The production, including original music composed by congregant Madeline Rossettini, was performed at Temple Israel last month. The event also included an array of appetizers and desserts and the presentation of a new menorah. The script was written by Bob Seltzer, a veteran author of Temple Israel Hanukkah and Purimshpiels. “I let my imagination roam,” Seltzer says. He envisioned love interests for the Maccabee boys since “every musical needs a boy-meets-girl plot.” And he fashioned a couple of the Maccabees on the zany Marx Brothers, including the wise-cracking Groucho and the silent Harpo. The shpiel featured a handful of songs from a
Hanukkah cantata that Rossetini composed 30 years ago when she was teaching Sunday school in New Jersey. The production also included rewrites of Broadway and pop songs including The Impossible Dream and California Girls and fittingly ended with We Are the Champions. The cast included Miriam Blake, Tasha Chapel, Meyer Chovitz, Barry and Lois Einhorn, Doris Friedman, Jay and Nancy Lazier, Jonathan Longman, Bob and Lynn Seltzer, Leonard Shapiro and Richard and Valerie Yanku. Madeline Rossettini accompanied the singers on piano, and Linda Longman was the stage manager. Rabbi Michael Panitz says, “Our Hanukkah celebration was enlivened by some startling revelations, in the zany spirit of the “Purimshpiel. Who knew that the Marx brothers were actually the Maccabee brothers in disguise? And that they had help from two young women, who were a cross between Belle Boyd, Mata Hari and the Apocryphal Judith? Kudos to the creative team of Bob Seltzer and Madi Rossettini for giving us a madcap Hanukkah.”
The new menorah, purchased with the help of more than three dozen Temple Israel families, was designed by CJ Art, an Israeli art group. Made of Jerusalem stone and engraved with symbols of the 12 tribes, it was selected to support Israeli artists and because the symbolism of the tribes reflects the diversity within Temple Israel, says Beverlee Tiger, co-chair of the event.
jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Jewish News | 29
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L
ast month at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Israelis Jill and Amnon Damti performed the interactive dance, Two Worlds. This event offered a glimpse into the collaborative, creative life of an Israeli deaf dancer and highlighted one of the unique human-interest stories brought to Tidewater by the Israel Today series. More than 200 community members and busloads of Portsmouth public school students witnessed choreography combining pantomime, expressive movement, and both Hebrew and English sign language. In addition to the performance at MOCA, the dance duo shared their talents with five public schools in Virginia Beach and Portsmouth (Three Oaks Elementary, Tallwood High School, Douglass Park Elementary, Hodges Manor Elementary, and Simonsdale Elementary), as well as with residents at Beth Sholom Village, and with Ohef Sholom Temple Religious School students, offering more than 1,000 people the opportunity to experience a taste of Israeli culture.
The goal of the expanded Israel Today series is to present and celebrate Israel’s rich diversity and to amplify the voices and talents rarely heard through mainstream media. The Damtis’ performances were embraced with great enthusiasm and brought a fresh perspective to Israeli dance, as well as to one way Israel is working to ensure inclusivity throughout society, including the arts. Chris Kraus, director of Family Learning at Ohef Sholom Temple says, “It was an awesome, educational performance on so many levels: Israel, dance, Hebrew, deaf: it was so joyful and humorous, loving, interactive, prayerful. “The performance received rave reviews from faculty and kids. We are grateful for the Simon Family JCC (and CRC) for making this Israel education opportunity possible,” he says. This event was part of the 6th annual Israel Today series presented by Community Relations Council of UJFT, Simon Family JCC and community partners. For more information on upcoming events visit www.JewishVa. org/IsraelToday or call 757-965-6107.
what’s happening Israel Today
What more can you do?
Join CRC in Richmond for Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day
Israel Story with Mishy Harman, master podcast storyteller Thursday, February 16, 7:30 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus, free
Wednesday, February 8 Deadline for registration: Tuesday, January 31
Mishy Harman
I The 2016 Tidewater delegation in Richmond for CRC’s annual Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day.
Robin Mancoll
O
ne of the great strengths of the Tidewater Jewish community is that so many people are willing to take action when it comes to issues impacting Israel or Jews locally and abroad. As such, the CRC always has a strong delegation in Richmond for the annual Date With the State to meet with local senators and delegates on Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day. Date With the State offers the Jewish community an opportunity to be pro-active by building relationships with legislators today, to have those friendships to counter any issues that come up in the future. The Tidewater delegation will travel by bus to and from Richmond, leaving the Simon Family JCC at 7 am and expect to return by 4 pm. Immediately upon arrival in Richmond, the group will divide into teams to visit the regions’ State senators and delegates. Following the appointments
with legislators, the group will join with members of the other Virginia Jewish communities to hear from the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General over lunch. Attendees interested in hearing the opening prayer offered by rabbis from Richmond and the Peninsula at the General Assembly session, will be able to do so. A check for $36, which includes a kosher lunch and helps defray the cost of transportation, made out to the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater (mail to UJFT 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23462, ATT: CRC DWTS) will reserve a seat on the bus. To RSVP (required) by Jan. 31, visit www.JewishVa. org/CRCDateWiththeState. For more information, e-mail Wendy Weissman, assistant director, Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater at WWeissman@ ujft.org or call 965-6107.
n a world of visual media communication, a radio podcast might seem like a throwback to an earlier era, but Mishy Harman, a curly haired, 30-something Jerusalemite, experienced an epiphany during a long road trip across the U.S. Captivated by the intimacy of the stories on Ira Glass’s podcast, This American Life, Harman was inspired to begin a new career. In 2012, with his closest friends, Harman founded Israel Story (Sipur Israeli), a radio initiative aimed at introducing high quality non-fiction content to and about Israel. Much to their surprise, the show was a success. According to an article in The Tower, the “creators of This American Life are well aware of Israel Story. In fact, Harman says that the first time he met Ira Glass, Glass got out of his chair and said to him, “Are you the Israelis that are ripping off our show?” Despite the joke, Glass has been quite supportive of Israel Story, even attending the live show Herzl 48, held at the JCC of Manhattan.” In The Tower article, Harman says he “wanted to change the way radio is done in Israel by producing carefully taped and edited stories in the style of This American Life. As he explains, “Most of the radio here is interviewers with an open mike speaking
over the phone to a politician, yelling at them about why they are supporting a bill they were opposed to two weeks ago.” Harman’s sense before he started the show was that “Israel is a storytelling nation and diverse. This could catch on.” He explains that there is a high number of radio listeners here because of the high number of cars per capita. And in Israel, radio has always been a connective vehicle. A big fixture of radio in the early days of Israel was a show in which people would look for relatives, to try to see if they could find those who had survived the war. An announcer would read names of those seeking their relatives and instruct listeners to write to a centralized address at the Jewish Agency if they knew anything. “The two radio stations in Israel—Kol Yisrael, run by the government, and Galei Tzahal, run by the army—did not have storytelling like NPR in the U.S.”* Today, Israel Story is one of Israel’s most popular radio shows and is the country’s first documentary storytelling podcast. Sharing human-interest stories about Israeli life, Harman will delight audiences in Virginia Beach with his down-to-earth storytelling as part of the Israel Today series presented by the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Listen to Israel Story online at www. IsraelStory.org. To read the complete article in The Tower, go to www.thetower.org/article/ looking-for-the-ultimate-israeli-story/. To RSVP (required for security purposes) for this free and open to the community event, or for more information on the Israel Today series, including upcoming events and a full list of community partners, visit www.JewishVa.org/CRCIsraelToday or call 965-6107. *reprinted with permission from The Tower.
jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Jewish News | 31
what’s happening Israeli pianist, a Young Concert Artist winner, to perform at Sandler Center’s Miller Theater Tomer Gewirtzman, piano February 8, 7:30 pm
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ne of the most exciting artists to emerge from the acclaimed Young Concert Artists program, Tomer Gewirtzman, pianist, is slated to perform at the Sandler Center’s Miller Theatre. The concert is presented by Virginia Arts Festival. Hailed by The Washington Post as an artist of “formidable virtuosity and stylistic sensitivity,” Israeli pianist Gewirtzman has impressed audiences around the world. This season, he makes his New York recital debut on the Young Concert Artists Series and performs a D.C. recital on the Washington Performing Arts Series. Winner of a First at the 2015 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Gewirtzman has won major competitions across the globe, including First Prize at the 2014 Wideman International Piano Competition in Louisiana, First Prize and a special prize for a commissioned piece for the competition at the 2010 Clairmont Competition in Israel, and First Prize at the Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition. Founded in 1961 in New York, Young Concert Artists program has discovered and launched the careers of many internationally celebrated musicians, including such stars as violinist Pinchas Zukerman, pianists Emanuel
Saturday Night Laughs, a comedy show Saturday, February 18, 7:30 pm, Ohef Sholom Temple
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n evening of eating, drinking, and clean comedy, hosted by Susan Sussman, Ohef Sholom Temple’s comedienne, will take place in the temple’s Kaufman Hall. The exciting lineup of very funny people includes national headliner David Beck and local comedians Sid Bridge, Joy Julian, Jon Kranz, and Vince Pilato. (Visit www.ohefsholom.org to read more about the comedians.) Doors open at 6:30 pm and the show starts at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Food, alcohol, and non-alcoholic beverages may be purchased separately. For more information, go to the Saturday Night Laughs quicklink at www.ohefsholom.org, email: reservations@ohefsholom.org or call the office at 757-625-4295. Tables seat up to 10 people. Ohef Sholom is located at 530 Raleigh Avenue in Norfolk.
Last call for entries
CRC’s 5th annual Israel Poster Contest for first–12th graders Deadline: Monday, February 13
Tomer Gewirtzman Credit: Christian Steiner
Ax, Jeremy Denk, and Murray Perahia. The New York Times wrote: “Young Concert Artists has acquired a special status in the musical world, and deservedly so. It is extremely doubtful that any organization anywhere could have matched the YCA record for spotting great talent and helping it along.” Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students/seniors. Tickets are available at the Sandler Center box office, by calling 877-YNOTTIX, or online at YNOTTIX. com.
Go to Facebook JewishNewsVa and like the Tomer Gewirtzman event for a chance to win two tickets to attend
32 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
Elizabeth Hughes, the first annual Israel Poster Contest winner signs her winning poster in 2013.
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he Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater invites area first through 12th graders to participate in its fourth annual Israel Poster Contest.
Students and teachers can find a list of cool facts about Israel at www.JewishVA. org/CRCIsraelPosterContest. Each student should choose one fact from the list to serve as the theme of his or her poster. The fact should be clearly stated on the front of the poster. Posters are to be submitted on 8.5 x 11-inch paper and are to be hand drawn (not computer generated) only using pencil, crayon, marker, or 2-D art. Names should not be visible on the front of the poster, but must be included along with age, grade, school, email address and phone number on the back. Submissions must be received by 4:30 pm on Monday, February 13. They should be delivered in person to the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater office on the second floor of the Sandler Family Campus, 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Virginia Beach. For more information, visit www. JewishVA.org/CRCIsraelPosterContest or email CRC@ujft.org.
Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill’s class, Torah Study for Skeptics, meets twice a month on Sunday evenings. For more information, email her at rabbicantorejg@gmail.com or call 464-1950.
what’s happening Calling all bakers and cookie makers
Beyond the Book Festival with Jessica Fechtor
Operation Hamantaschen
Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals That Brought Me Home Wednesday, March 15, 12 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus
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uthor of the award-winning memoir, Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals that Brought Me Home, Jessica Fechtor will share her journey of recovery from a ruptured aneurysm at age 28 and how she reclaimed her life through the restorative power of food and cooking. A national bestseller and winner of the 2015 Living Now Book Award, Stir has been praised by Oprah.com as “a page-turning pleasure,” and by The Wall Street Journal as “a recipe for living a life of meaning.” This event is part of the Beyond the Book Festival series, an extension of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe* Family Jewish Book Festival, presented by the Simon Family JCC in partnership with Jewish Family Service of Tidewater. Tickets, which are $10 per person and includes lunch, may be purchased by contacting the JCC at 757-321-2338. The author will sign books that will be available for purchase. For more information, email
Jessica Fechtor
Michele Goldberg, cultural arts director, at mgoldberg@simonfamilyjcc.org or call 757-321-2341.
Sunday, February 19, 10 am–1 pm, Simon Family JCC Sherri Wisoff
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he delicious aroma of fresh baked goods will flow through the halls of the Simon Family JCC during Operation Hamantaschen. Filled with assorted fruit jams or other sweet confections, these tasty triangular shaped cookies, otherwise known as Hamantaschen, are traditionally served during Purim. Each year, this family baking event generates about 1,500 cookies, which are distributed to U.S. troops overseas, Israel Defense Forces, and Jewish Family Service clients. Meticulously organized with stations for rolling and cutting, filling and folding, and egg brushing, the event makes it possible for everyone to roll up their sleeves and partake in the baking process. Last year, more than 100 community members of all ages participated, including BBYO teens, Hillel students, young families, and grandparents. Children and teens will also make greeting cards thanking the troops for their dedication and service. The cards will accompany each package of Hamantashen. This free event is open to the community. Babysitting will be available. Presented by Children, Family and Camp department of the Simon Family JCC, UJFT, and PJ Library. For more information or to sign up, visit Jewishva.org/OperationH or call 757-321-2342 by February 13.
Campers will go on Adventures through Time at Camp JCC this summer
*of blessed memory
Second Friday Shabbat service with Tidewater Chavurah Friday, February 10, 7 pm
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idewater Chavurah will hold the second Friday of the month Shabbat service with Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill leading the service in prayer and songs. It will include celebrating Tu BiSivat, the “new year” of the trees. This is the time of year when the first fruit-bearing trees begin a new fruit-bearing cycle in the State of Israel. A feast of colorful and delicious dates, raisins, pears, and oranges to eat and glasses of wine to sip, usually takes place, as this is a time for rejoicing. Children are encouraged at this service. A “congregation without walls,” events are held in members’ homes or at other locations. Everyone is invited. For event information and location address, email carita@verizon.net or dlqt@cox.net or call 499-3660 or 468-2675. Go to www.tidewaterchavurah.org.
Registration opens February 1
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amp JCC, the Simon Family JCC’s popular summer program for children two years old through grade 11, begins accepting registrations for new and returning campers on Wednesday, February 1. Families are encouraged to sign up early to ensure their children have a reserved space. Camp JCC begins on June 19 and concludes on August 11. Two weeks of post camp, August 14–25, are available for children grades pre-K through 6. The theme for the entire summer is Adventures Through Time. Each week will introduce a new era with activities to match, taking kids from the Wild West to the Roaring 20s and into the Sweet 60s, among other memorable time periods. Along with Preschool, Elementary, Teen, and Counselor in Training camps, the JCC will again offer an all-inclusive camp experience, Yachad (together in Hebrew), for children with special needs. Campers can attend all sessions, or sign up for a week or two. For more information, including registration forms, special incentives, scholarship information, and a camp calendar, visit www. SimonFamilyJCC.org/Camp, or call 757-321-2306.
jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Jewish News | 33
what’s happening Saffron & Rosewater Sunday, February 26, 7:30 pm Old Dominion University’s Goode Theatre
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he perfume of Persian nights will transport the audience into a fragrant evening of stories, song, and surprises. An original show, it explores the Persian Jewish woman’s experiences as a child fleeing Iran, an immigrant adapting to a new home, a college student wishing to move to a dorm by defying her traditional father, a writer making it in America, and an immigrant celebrating Thanksgiving. The show features works by Persian powerhouse writers, Gina Nahai, Angella Nazarian, Farideh Goldin, Esther Amini, and Dora Levy Mossanen. The production is a collaborative event sponsored by Old Dominion University’s Institute for Jewish Studies & Interfaith Understanding and ODU Theatre/ODURep and the Jewish Women’s Theatre of Los Angeles. Tickets are $15. For more information, call ODU’s Arts and Letters box office at 757-683-5305.
C A R E E R O P P O RT U N I T Y H O LO C AU S T CO M M I S S I O N PRO G R A M C O O R D I N ATO R The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater seeks candidates for the position of Holocaust Commission Program Coordinator. This part-time position (approximately 20 hours/week) is responsible for the administrative and program support of Holocaust Commission activities. A minimum of 1-2 years of administrative experience is required. Associate's Degree in business, Public Administration, Jewish Communal Service, or other related and appropriate field, preferred. Candidate must be proficient in using MS Office Suite; have an understanding of social media and its usage; excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written. Must be available for flexible working hours.
Contact Taffy Hunter, Human Resources director, at 757-965-6117, resumes@ujft.org or submit resume to: United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Attention: Human Resources 5000 Corporate Woods Drive Virginia Beach, 23462
Team oriented LEADERS; THIS CAREER might be yours! APPLY TODAY! 34 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
Calendar February 2, Thursday–February 5, Sunday 4th Annual Tidewater Together with Alan Morinis, founder and dean of the Mussar Institute and author. Morinis will lead four days of Jewish learning and discussion about the practice of Mussar-a path of Jewish reflection and spiritual self-awareness at six local synagogues and temples. For more information and to RSVP, visit www.TidewaterTogether. org, call 757-965-6138, or email jamitay@ujft.org. See page 12. February 8, Wednesday Date With the State. UJFT’s Community Relations Council travels to Richmond for the annual Jewish Advocacy Day. 7 am–4 pm; leaving from Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. $36 includes kosher lunch and helps defray the cost of transportation. For more information, or to RSVP (REQUIRED) by January 31, visit www.JewishVa.org/ CRCDateWiththeState or WWeissman@ujft.org. See page 31. February 16, Thursday Israel Today with Mishy Harman. An evening of magical conversation with Mishy Harman, creator of Israel Story —the award-winning radio show and podcast that public radio icon Ira Glass calls “the Israeli This American Life.” 7:30 pm. Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. RSVP for this free and open to the community event (required) by visiting www.JewishVa.org/IsraelToday or calling 757-965-6107. See page 31. February 19, Sunday Operation Hamantaschen. Annual family baking event to create Purim cookies for U.S. Jewish troops overseas, Israel Defense Forces and Jewish Family Service clients. 10 am–1 pm, Simon Family JCC. Free, all ages welcome and babysitting available. www.JewishVa.org/OperationH or call 757-321-2342. See page 33. 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.
Employment Oppor tunity Marketing Director The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater/Simon Family JCC seeks a candidate with proven managerial leadership and experience coordinating progressive marketing policies and programs. The Marketing Director is responsible for managing the development, and marketing initiatives that support the agency’s strategic and operational marketing, goals and objectives. This position requires a candidate with hands-on experience in the coordination and use of all creative, visual, graphic and written materials required to meet objectives of marketing and communications; including the use of formal and informal, traditional and non-traditional methods to reach all target audiences. Marketing Director oversees all public relations, advertising and promotional staff, agencies and activities.
If you are self-motivated, career minded, and a Team oriented LEADER, this career might be yours! Complete job description at www.jewishva.org or www.simonfamilyjcc.org
Submit cover letter, resume and salary requirements to: resumes@ujft.org Or call Human Resources director at 757-965-6117 Submit by mail to: United Jewish Federation of Tidewater/Simon Family JCC Attention: Human Resources – Confidential 5000 Corporate Woods Drive Virginia Beach, 23462
Equal Employment Opportunity
Finally! Etgar Keret
WHO Knew?
obert Kraft will see his New England Patriots, the American Football Conference champions, in the big game for the seventh time since 2000. He bought the club, which will make its record ninth Super Bowl appearance, in 1994. Arthur Blank will watch his National Football Conference-winning Atlanta Falcons playing in their second Super Bowl—but the first since the Home Depot founder bought the team, 15 years ago. In the most recent faceoff between Jewish owners, in 2012, the Patriots were upset by the New York Giants, who are co-owned by the Tisch family. The Patriots and Falcons advanced to the 51st Super Bowl, which will be played February 6 at NRG Stadium in Houston. Blank, 74, the chairman of the Arthur Blank Family Foundation, has pledged to take all of the Falcons employees, about 270, to the Super Bowl. He is a signatory of The Giving Pledge, committing himself to give away at least 50 percent of his wealth to charitable causes. Blank reportedly has a net worth of about $3 billion. The Kraft family over recent decades has donated more than $100 million to an array of causes, including health care, education, the Jewish community, Christian organizations and local needs. Kraft, 75, is a supporter of American football in Israel, including the Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem and the Kraft Family Israel Football League. (JTA)
La La LanD ties record with 14 Oscar nominations, including for music by Jewish composer
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a La Land received a record-tying 14 Academy Award nominations, including for its music written by a Jewish composer, and Jewish actors Natalie Portman and Andrew Garfield also were nominated. The Oscar nominations were announced Tuesday, Jan. 24. La La Land, which is up for best picture, director,
POUR
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actor and actress, ties the mark set by Titanic and All About Eve. Jewish composer Justin Hurwitz wrote the songs for the musical film, including City of Stars, which was nominated for the Oscar for best original song. Benj Pasek, who is Jewish, and Justin Paul wrote the lyrics. Director Damien Chazelle, who was a roommate with Hurwitz at Harvard, attended Hebrew school for four years though his parents are Catholic. They had become dissatisfied with their church Sunday school. La La Land won seven Golden Globes, including best original song for City of Stars, earlier this month. Portman received a best actress nomination for her portrayal of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the film Jackie, and Garfield was tapped for best lead actor for his performance in the World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge. The Academy Awards ceremony will take place Feb. 26 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles (JTA)
a wine tasting experience
Super Bowl LI will feature teams with Jewish owners for the first time since 2012.
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sraeli author Etgar Keret was slated to speak at Old Dominion University’s Literary Festival this past September. Ahead of his visit, Jewish News published a review of his latest book, A Seven Year Memoir and an article about his receiving the $100,000 Bronfman Prize. Just before he was due in Norfolk, Keret was in an automobile accident in Boston. With several ribs broken, he flew home to Israel, bypassing ODU. Madeline Budman, a Norfolk resident and avid Keret fan, knew that during her first Etgar Keret and Madeline Budman with Jewish News. week in Israel to study at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, she would meet with the famed author. Obliging the Jewish News editor, she took a copy of the paper to have him sign. Finally!
Mix and mingle with fellow Jewish professionals at the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront as you discover new, bold, delicious kosher wine.
Sunday March 5, 2017 4:00pm - 7:00pm Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront 3001 Atlantic Avenue Tickets: $36 Complimentary valet parking
Purchase your tickets today at:
WWW.JEWISHVA.ORG/POUREVENT
Wines will be available for special order. For more information, contact edougherty@simonfamilyjcc.org or jamitay@ujft.org. Sponsored by Insco Insurance Group.
jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Jewish News | 35
obituaries Ann Giat Norfolk—Beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Ann Giat passed away as gently as she lived on January 14, 2017 at Beth Sholom Village where she was cared for the last year of her life. She was 88 years old. Met and Virginia Opera lover, glass blower and self taught accountant, rescuer of cats and Siamese aficionado, European pastry cook and tailored fashionista, Ann was the epitome of grace, ability and culture. Born to Lucia and Oskar With in New York City in 1928, she and her sister Ruth roller-skated down the city avenues and traveled the trains to every corner of the city as girls. Shortly after their father left the family, their maternal grandparents came to assist, but while here the Nazis closed the borders of their native Romania, and they were forced to remain in the United States while family members left behind perished in the Holocaust. The family got through the Depression running a candy store in the Yorkville section of Manhattan. Ann showed artistic talent and intelligence from a young age. She was New York City spelling-bee champion in her age group, and honored by the Mayor as having the second-highest IQ in the City. She attended the High School of Music and Art and later took classes at the Arts Students League. Through a mutual friend in Brooklyn, Ann met and then married Ouriel Giat, whose family had emigrated in 1929 from what would later become Israel.
They made a family home in West Hempstead, Long Island where their children Laura, Daniel, and Matthew were raised before a move in 1966 to Fairfield, Connecticut. Ann cultivated art and reading in her children. She began memorable, warm, religious, and holiday events at home that have become traditions in the family. Ann’s garden was always full of roses, forsythia, and azalea. From her sewing machine came velvet dresses for Laura, suits for Daniel and Matthew, pajamas, coats, and little hats. There was always a present on their beds when they woke on their birthdays. Many years later her young grandchildren found little presents in the mail beautifully wrapped with cards in her elegant script that said simply, “I love you.” Ann rose through the secretarial pool at the regional office of Coca Cola to become New England Branch Operations Manager, first in Westport, Connecticut, and later in Manhattan, a career from which she retired in 1992. When she retired, having trained many young women seeking to make their way in business services, she found a new life in the quieter inlets and neighborhoods of Tidewater Virginia just blocks away from her daughter Laura. There, she served on the hospital auxiliary of Sentara Norfolk General Hospital as its accountant, and helped find funding for nursing scholarships for more young women. She also served as accountant for the auxiliary of Virginia Opera for many years. She was an amateur etymologist and excelled in the
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36 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
New York Times crossword puzzle. Ann is survived by daughter Laura and her husband Rabbi Larry Forman, by grandchildren Aaron and Jordana, and by great-grandchildren Annabella and Myles; by son Daniel and his wife Jane, by grandchildren Rebecca and Julian, and by great-grandaughters Elisabeth and Olivia; by son Matthew and his wife Nataliya, and grandson Andrew. A celebration of life will be held in the spring, in the city of her birth, New York. Donations to the American Cancer Society.
his wife Gail, and Katie Cole, Thomas Cole, Jack Solomon. Loving great grandmother of Michaela and Mackenzie Cole, Kali and Anthony Neydon. Dear sister of the late Jane Lawentman. Loving sisterin-law of Paul Horlick and his wife Joan. Cherished Aunt of Sheryl Greenspan and her husband Avram. Admired great aunt of Shaina and Hannah Greenspan. Graveside services were held in the Newton Cemetery. Remembrances may be made to the Perkins School for the Blind, 175 N. Beacon Street, Watertown, MA 02472. Levine Chapels, Brookline.
Barbara Golsen Atlanta—Barbara Frank Golsen, 81, passed peacefully on January 15, 2017. She is preceded in death by her parents, Mickey and Maurice Frank; daughter, Mindy Golsen; son, Carey Golsen and brother, Perry Leonard Frank, of blessed memory. She is survived by her loving husband, Charles Golsen; son, Rick Golsen and daughter-in-law Julie; sister, Helene Frank Grablowsky and her husband Bernie; sister-in-law, Sherry Zimmerman Frank; grandkids: Alan Golsen and wife Sarah; Mindi Golsen Friedman and her husband Howard; great grandchildren: Michael, Mia, Hattie and Lila. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews, and cousins. Mrs. Golsen was a native Atlantan who grew up in Morningside and attended Grady High School. She was an accomplished realtor and bookkeeper. She was devoted to her family and loved spending time with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Sign online guest book at www. edressler.com. Donations may be made to Congregation Etz Chaim, the Atlanta Radio Club or a charity of your choice. A graveside service was held at Crestlawn Cemetery. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, Atlanta.
Rosalyn Landres Virginia—Rosalyn Landres, 84, daughter of Nathan and Frances Davidson, passed away peacefully on January 10 surrounded by family. She was preceded in death by her husband Ezra (Zeke) Landres of New York. She is survived by her four children, Julie Krachman and husband Al, Diana, Mark and husband Bryan, Jack and wife Lisa, and four grandchildren Natalie, Elyse, Alexa and Ellie. Roz was born in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from Boston University with a degree in English. She was a member of the drama club and through this developed a lifelong love of theater and opera. She taught English and volunteered to help teach Granby Elementary students to read. Her passion for education led her to establish the Ezra Landres Fund for Excellence in Education. In 1955, Roz moved to Norfolk after marrying Zeke and joined Temple Israel where she was an active member for more than 60 years in all aspects of the synagogue from the Sisterhood to the choir to the minyan. She served on the boards of the Jewish Women’s International, the Norfolk JCC, Young Audiences (where she helped bring professional performing artists into schools), and the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. She also served as president of Jewish Family Service, president of the Hebrew Ladies Charity, and was a lifetime member of Hadassah, Brandeis and B’nai B’rith Women. Roz had a love of traveling and traveled the world including many trips to Israel. Wherever she traveled she met and
Ruth Horlick Newton, Mass.—Ruth Horlick, 86, passed away on January 9, 2017. Beloved wife of Robert C. Horlick. Cherished mother of Linda Cole, Lawrence Horlick and his wife Lisa. Adoring grandmother of Jeremy Cole and
obituaries made friends and typically ran into people she knew! Roz was a devoted wife, mother, aunt, great-aunt, grandmother and friend who will be missed dearly. A private service was held in Northern Virginia. Donations to the Temple Rodef Shalom Building Fund. Marilyn Lewitt Nochimson NEWPORT NEWS—Marilyn Lewitt Nochimson passed away Tuesday January 24, 2017. She is survived by her devoted and loving husband of 56 years, Dr. Robert M. Nochimson, her son, Dr. Geofrey Nochimson (Lisa) of Williamsburg, daughter Debbie Wilson (Ken) of Norfolk, and grandchildren Joel and Benjamin Nochimson, Yaakov, Miriam and Sima Wilson. She was predeceased by her parents, Mr. Louis and Mrs. Fannie Lewitt, her twin brother Irwin, her older brother Herbert Lewitt and her sister Jean Lippman. She was born on April 13, 1938 in Thomasville, Georgia. She attended the University of Alabama and then transferred to the University of Georgia where she graduated with a B.S. in Early Childhood Education in 1960. Marilyn was a wonderful and caring wife, mother and grandmother. She married Bob in 1960 and moved to Tidewater in 1964. Marilyn and Bob raised their family in the Denbigh section of Newport News. She was an outstanding teacher and taught at the Jewish Community Center preschool, Newport News Public Schools, and eventually taught 14 years at Paul Burbank Elementary School in Hampton. In all these positions, she nurtured hundreds of pre-school students. Bob and Marilyn often ran into former students and parents who expressed their gratitude to Marilyn for the wonderful start to their education. Among her many awards, she was chosen as Teacher of the Year at Paul Burbank. However, her greatest accomplishment was her family. She loved spending time with her children and grandchildren and was so proud of everything they did. Bob and Marilyn were devoted members of the Rodef Sholom Temple.
Marilyn was a stalwart member of the Virginia Association for Early Childhood Education, National Council of Jewish Women, and the Rodef Sholom Temple Sisterhood. Marilyn was a charming, warm and beautiful “Southern belle” and will be remembered for her sweetness, tenacity, and always having a kind word and bright smile for anyone she met. Donations to the Alzheimer’s Association—Southeastern Virginia Chapter, The Sarfan Early Childhood Center—United Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula, or Rodef Sholom Temple. Graveside services were at the Jewish Cemetery of the Virginia Peninsula. Melvin Herman Ornoff Portsmouth—Melvin Herman Ornoff, 93, of the 5600 block of Rivermill Circle, passed away Monday, January 16, 2017 in a hospital. A native of Norfolk, he was a retired pilot in the US Army Air Force and US Air Force during which he served in World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He was a member of Temple Beth El, past president of Gomley Chesed Synagogue, and a member of the American Legion, Jewish War Veterans, P47 Thunderbolt Pilots Assn. and the DAV. Survivors include his wife, Frances Hilda Ornoff; a daughter, Marsha Ornoff Merkle and husband Marvin Joel of Portsmouth; two grandchildren, Jenefer Dayle Snyder and husband Michael and Heather Keller Umberger and husband Troy; and three great-grandchildren, Brayden Douglas Snyder, Dylen Evan Keller and Seth Troy Umberger. A graveside service was held in Gomley Chesed Cemetery by Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz. Sturtevant Funeral Home. Frances Sont Smith Virginia Beach—Frances Sont Smith, 98, passed away Sunday, January 15, 2017 at Beth Sholom Village. Frances grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia, the daughter of the late Samuel and Ethel Sont. In addition to her parents, Frances was predeceased by her husband of 57 years, Leon, as well as her four siblings. Frances and Leon owned and operated
Wythe Lanes, a bowling alley in Hampton, Virginia for 40 years. After retirement, she continued to help out her family members at Riverdale Delicatessen and later at Philly Style Steaks. Frances was a past president of the Ladies Auxiliary at Adath Jeshrun Synagogue where she also served as a volunteer for many years. She was very much a people person and known as the “Dancing Queen” at Beth Sholom Village. Frances is survived by her son Mannie ( Judy); two daughters, Anita (David, deceased) and Debbie (John); six grandchildren; three great grandchildren and a host of extended family. A graveside service was held in Hebrew Cemetery in Hampton. Frances’ family would like to thank the staff of Beth Sholom for the kindness and care extended to her. Condolences may be left for the family at www.altmeyerfh.com. Donations may be made to Beth Sholom Village.
SouthSide Chapel 5792 Greenwich Rd. Virginia Beach 757 422-4000
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Chris Sisler, Vice President, Member of Ohef Sholom Temple, Board member of the Berger-Goldrich Home at Beth Sholom Village, James E. Altmeyer, Jr., President, James E. Altmeyer, Sr., Owner
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jewishnewsva.org | January 30, 2017 | Jewish News | 37
ATTENTION HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS!
tidewater
Thanks to generous donors, Jewish Family Service helped 120 families during Hanukkah
Announcing the 2017 Stein Family College Scholarship
Debbie Mayer, LCSW
Applications are now available at: www.JewishVa.org/TJF-Stein Applications deadline is March 31, 2017 Questions? Contact Amy Weinstein at 757-965-6105 or aweinstein@ujft.org
Quality. Experience. Trust.
• Comprehensive care provided by our professional therapy staff. • Regain mobility, strength, endurance, improved balance, and independence in your own home. • In addition to therapy services, our home health staff can provide skilled nursing care, including wound care, mental health nursing, pain management, and palliative care.
JFS is your Jewish communal agency for skilled home health care and private duty care.
JFS Home Health Care
Call 757-489-3111 www.jfshamptonroads.org
Pictured: Seated – Sid Barrera, LPTA; Jessica Keetz, PT; Jenny Lind, PT; and Sally Neilan, PT. Standing – Marion Lisenby, PT; Donna Troici, PT; Kimberly Naylor, PT; and Joe Anderson, PT. Not pictured: Bonnie Dudley, OT; Susan Dunkley, SLP; Denyse Jenner, PT; Brandee McBride, OT; and Grace Potamianos, LPTA; and Stacy Powell, LPTA.
38 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
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ow in its 24th year, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater’s Chanukah Gift Program annually helps local Jewish families in financial need with gifts and gift cards for their children and teens, and with money for those without children. This year, JFS received donations from individuals, families, groups, Hebrew Academy Student Government Association officers pose with companies, organizations, con- donated gifts from Hebrew Academy of Tidewater and Strelitz Early gregations, and schools. Boxes Childhood Education Center. were filled with new clothing, winter coats, boots, shoes, books, schools, temples, and congregations. games, toys, bicycles, school supplies, and This year, a total of 120 different Hanukkah wrapping paper/decorations. families, consisting of 273 people, benMany of the families who seek help efited from the program. Throughout are active members of the local commu2017, these same families will continue nity who attend schools and temple with to benefit from the donations given at everyone else. Although gifts are collected Hanukkah time as JFS provides gift cards during the holiday, many gifts are used towards medication, food, gas, clothing, all year. and school supplies. Maryann Kettyle, JFS special needs case manager, says, “We request gifts that Help JFS help local Jewish families in are needed by our families like school need year-round: supplies, clothing, shoes, underwear, and • Donate food, gas, and grocery store winter coats. Our families need these gift cards, or cash items all year long, not just during the • Support JFS special needs group holiday. We also ask for gifts of fun activities items like toys, games, and books, so • Donate: grocery bags; toiletries, costhat children and teens can have things metics, bath and body products; for playtime. Our most challenging age Judaic/Jewish items; school supplies; groups to find gifts for are pre-teens and baby supplies; paper goods; and teens. For these families, we ask for gift cleaning/household supplies cards so that the families can shop for • P urchase Baskets of Hope themselves and pick out exactly what they centerpieces want to have. We are able to give out so • Volunteer many wonderful gifts because of the genAll donations to JFS are tax deductible. erosity of so many donors.” For more information about any of these The students, parents, and teachers programs, contact Maryann Kettyle, spefrom Strelitz Early Childhood Education cial needs case manager, Jewish Family Center and Hebrew Academy of Tidewater Service of Tidewater at 757-459-4640 or comprise one of the largest annual groups MKettyle@jfshamptonroads.org. of donors. JFS received several hundred A complete list of donors can be found on gifts of toys and clothing from them this the JFS website: www.jfshamptonroads.org. If year. Gifts, gift cards, and/or cash donasomeone was inadvertently left off of this list, tions also came from many area religious JFS says “thank you” and apologizes.
The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and The Tidewater Synagogue Leadership Council present
The Milton “Mickey” Kramer Scholar-in-Residence Fund’s
4TH ANNUAL
TIDEWATER
TOGETHER A 4-day journey to a soulful Jewish life
FEBRUARY 2–5 with Alan Morinis, Founder and Dean of The Mussar Institute
Alan Morinis is an active interpreter of the teachings and practices of the Mussar tradition. He is a leading figure in the contemporary revival of this Jewish spiritual discipline, which emphasizes awareness, wisdom, and transformation. A Rhodes Scholar, Morinis is also a filmmaker, teacher, and bestselling author of Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar and With Heart in Mind: Mussar Teachings to Transform Your Life.
ATTEND ONE OR ALL Thursday, Feb. 2 · 6:30pm · Discussion & Reception The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar At B’nai Israel Congregation | 420 Spotswood Avenue, Norfolk
Friday, Feb. 3 · 12:00pm · Lunch & Learn The Ways of the Righteous: Contemporary Lessons from a 16th Century Text At Temple Israel | 7255 Granby Street, Norfolk
Friday, Feb. 3 · 6:30pm Dinner* 7:30pm Service & Oneg Shabbat You Shall Be Holy: Personal Transformation as a Jewish Imperative
Tidewater Together conversations are FREE* & open to the community.
At Ohef Sholom Temple | 530 Raleigh Avenue, Norfolk
Saturday, Feb. 4 · 9:30am · Service & Kiddush Lunch Torah Through a Mussar Lens: A Mussar Lesson from Parshat Bo At Congregation Beth El | 422 Shirley Avenue, Norfolk
Saturday, Feb. 4 · 7:30pm Discussion & Dessert Reception What is Spirituality? A Jewish Take At Temple Emanuel | 424 25th Street, Virginia Beach
Sunday, Feb. 5 · 10:00am · Brunch & Learn How to Get to Heaven: Practice! Practice! Practice! At Kehillat Bet Hamidrash Synagogue | 952 Indian Lakes Blvd., Virginia Beach
*Friday Night Dinner $10, $15 Kosher option | FREE (12 years & under) | RSVP required | Dinner is not mandatory for attendance at 7:30pm community event jewishnewsva.org 30, 2017 | Jewish News | 39 For more information and to RSVP, visit www.TidewaterTogether.org, call 757-965-6138, or email| January jamitay@ujft.org.
40 | Jewish News | January 30, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org