Jewish News Supplement - Mazel Tov (March 2024)

ma zel tov

RISTORANTE

INSPIRED BY ITALY

Dear Readers,

Exclamations of “Mazel Tov!” generally conjure up images of celebrations for milestone events such as weddings and b’nai mitzvot. But not exclusively. The quintessentially Jewish phrase is also used to congratulate for a job well-done, for a job obtained, and for an award received. In fact, a hearty “Mazel Tov!” is also said on myriad other occasions – winning (or completing) a race, getting a good grade or a school acceptance, or even purchasing a new car. The list is endless.

Regardless the reason, proclaiming “Mazel Tov!” generally is for a happy event. Here, we’re recognizing a variety of such instances.

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Mazel Tov!

First, for milestone Mazel Tovs, Stephanie Peck spoke with Reva Stein, Pearl Taylor, and others about trends in celebrations. Not short on expertise or opinions, the article with these seasoned event planners is on page 22.

Laura Gross, immediate past president of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, will be recognized later this month as a Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities Humanitarian Award recipient. She’s highlighted on page 24.

Local caterer Susan Byrne has fond memories in the kippot she’s collected from various events she’s served over the years. Her heartwarming story is on page 25.

Annie Sandler, JDC president, was in Romania last month to receive an award from the prime minister. The article is on page 26.

Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s B’nai Tzedek Youth Philanthropy program instills the importance and values of giving in young people, especially near their b’nai mitzvah. Niv Rubin and Jonathan, Audrey, and Caleb Peck are fund holders. Page 27.

Jewish Family Service is marking 25 years of partnering with Edmarc for their Peace by Piece program to help grieving children. The article is on page 29.

How’s that for variety?

However and whatever you find to celebrate, we hope you consider the advertisers in this section and throughout the paper, as they can all contribute to a perfect event.

To all these award recipients, donors, and celebration makers, “Mazel Tov!”

Terri Denison Editor

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Trends in simcha celebrations... always an evolution

Stephanie Peck

Jews have been celebrating life-cycle milestones for what seems like forever – with events often including traditions dating back for what also seems like forever . . .or at least several centuries. While the significance of a bar or bat mitzvah or Jewish wedding may remain dedicated to religious law, the celebration of these occasions has certainly changed with time.

In 2024, for example, a bride may still wear white, but the color of her dress may be the sole detail she shares with brides who came before her.

Reva Stein shares plenty of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ when coordinating a celebration. An event planner in Tidewater with 32 years of experience, one trend she’s particularly outspoken about disliking is one that may save money but can create confusion in the long run: asking guests to RSVP to an email address rather than including a postage-paid reply card with the invitation.

“I am a firm believer in RSVPs on a card. It keeps a better record,” she says.

Bar and bat mitzvah parties are not as “over-the-top” as they once were, according to Stein. Many parties now focus more on the kids than the adults. In addition, many families travel to Israel for the occasion.

Pearl Taylor, also an event planner with a long history in Tidewater, explains that wedding venues have evolved to include more than just the synagogue or hotel. Couples are opting to marry in historic homes or barns, often renting tents to celebrate in outdoor spaces. “No high heels!” she emphasizes. Taylor has seen more than

one guest sink in the mud.

Like most things in life, absolutes on indoor vs outdoor don’t exist when it comes to planning a party. And for those who can’t entirely make up their mind, some hotels offer both options, including room accommodations for guests.

The Historic Cavalier Hotel and Beach Club, for example, provides 40 indoor and outdoor wedding spaces, including the renovated Cavalier Hotel, Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront, The Beach Club, and the Embassy Suites by Hilton. Couples can choose from a beach, ballroom, or garden ceremony and reception or perhaps a combination of indoor/outdoor –venues not found in many other areas.

Then again, for couples seeking a more urban environment, Norfolk’s The Main boasts a unique modern art collection framing the expansive space and setting the stage for a big event. This contemporary, upscale hotel provides several venue spaces, with as one mother-of-thebride noted, a spectacular view.

Party favors often include an edible treat.

Whether indoor or out, both event planners highlight similar trends when working on upcoming nuptials. Brides often change from their wedding gown to a less-confining cocktail dress for the reception. Registries and thank you notes are optional. Officiants are often friends instead of clergy. Tall, floral centerpieces sometimes give way to more greenery, candles, and table runners, but not always.

Technology plays a large role, too. Websites, such as theknot.com, allow couples to share entertaining stories

Photographs by Don Monteaux

about how they met and details about the wedding weekend. Gift ideas can include cash – to help offset the cost of the wedding or subsidize the honeymoon.

Isha Foss, a florist in Virginia Beach, says, “more people, not only Jewish people, are opting for a wedding canopy. It has spread from the Jewish culture outward.” She often uses a Lucite frame made from clear acrylic, a more modern twist on the tradition of a chuppah, which represents the couple’s first home. Flowers still adorn the structure, with many Jewish couples featuring their family tallis as part of the design.

“Jewish weddings are a coming together,” Foss says when discussing the importance of flowers at a wedding. One particular trend she sees is that bridal bouquets are now smaller, following the royal wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton.

On the subject of kids, Stein says, “A lot of people are not having young children at their wedding these days. But the bride and groom don’t know how to explain to guests not to bring their kids!”

As the reception concludes, Taylor and Stein both see guests leaving with party favors. “It’s an end to a fun evening,” Taylor shares. Often an edible treat, such as a cookie, candy, or push pop, Taylor says she enjoys that people leave with the feeling ‘look what they did for us!’

Taylor also plans corporate holiday parties, with photo booths, casinos, and colored dance floors, to show appreciation to the staff.

“Oh, and divorce parties, too,” she adds.

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60th Annual VCIC Tidewater Humanitarian Awards Dinner to honor Laura Geringer Gross

Thursday, March 21, 5:45 pm

The Westin Virginia Beach Town Center

LHanukkah at the White House

Rabbi Israel Zoberman with his daughter, Rachel Zoberman Azoff, on the fifth night of Hanukkah at the White House Hanukkah Presidential Reception in December 2023.

aura Geringer Gross is one of this year’s honorees for The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities’ (VCIC) 60th annual Tidewater Humanitarian Awards. Individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the promotion of respect and understanding among people of diverse racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds in South Hampton Roads are among those who receive this prestigious award. Among her community leadership roles, Gross has served as president of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and the Jewish Community Center of Tidewater, and as UJFT’s Women’s Cabinet chair.

“I was surprised and am honored to be included as an honoree, especially as VCIC is such a necessary and wonderful organization,” says Gross.

“I’ve

attended this event many times in the past and always find the honorees to be so impressive. This group is particularly amazing.”

Recognized for her professional excellence, Gross has been named in Best Lawyers in America (2020-2024) and Virginia’s Legal Elite (2006, 2008-2023). In 2008, she was awarded Women of Distinction by YWCA of South Hampton Roads, and, in 2010, she received the Influential Women of Virginia Award.

Gross is affiliated with many professional bodies, including the American Bar Association, Virginia Bar Association, and Norfolk-Portsmouth Bar Association.

Gross’s extensive legal background, community engagement, and commitment to inclusivity underscore her multifaceted contributions.

Under the leadership of Sandra Porter Leon, Celebration chair, the following individuals will be honored along with Gross: Thomas Brandl, Don Comer, Jr., Susan S. Goode, Iris J. Lundy, and Michael R. Toliver.

To purchase a ticket to attend, go to inclusiveva.org. To purchase tickets through UJFT, contact Bobbie Wilcox at bwilcox@ujft.org.

Laura Geringer Gross

A bag of kippot = memories for local caterer

Terri Denison

Susan Byrne of Catering Concepts recently happened upon a bag of yamakas (kippot) – all from events where she had been the caterer.

“It was fun to find them and have all of the memories come flooding back,” says Byrne.

“Seeing those yamakas reminded me of viewing these families’ celebrations.”

Byrne and partner Eddy Byrne started Catering Concepts in 1993. Their first bat mitzvah, she recalls, was for Barbara Rosenblatt, the daughter of Nancy and Chuck Rosenblatt. Byrne’s first kippah is from Darryl Lefcoe and Alan Friedman’s wedding in 1996. “Those pre-date our years of computer software!” she says.

Over the years, Catering

Concepts has done several bris/baby namings and then the bar/bat mitzvah celebration for the same child, as well as bar/bat mitzvah parties and then weddings for the now young adult. A wedding in November 2021, however, might have been the first time that she had also catered

the bride’s baby naming. That’s continuity.

Byrne credits her mom’s studying about kosher laws and Jewish holidays with her own ability to better understand how to cater Jewish milestone events. In fact, she recalls having to explain the rules of kashrut to several clients when planning menus for luncheons and dinners to take place in synagogues.

“For me, it is always so cool to watch the weddings, to see everyone dance the horah in circles, to celebrate,” she says. Learning what she did about Judaism from her mother and then over the years witnessing the celebrations first-hand, Byrne says she values the Jewish traditions she has experienced.

“We feel so fortunate to have been part of so many families’ most meaningful days.”

Some of Byrne’s kippot.

Susan Byrne and Eddy Byrne.

Annie Sandler receives award in Romania

Terri Denison

While in Bucharest, Romania with JDC earlier this year, Annie Sandler was recognized by the Romanian government with Romania’s “Grand Officer of the National Order for Merit.”

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The ceremony took place on International Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27. Sandler was joined by several JDC board members and supporters.

At the solemn event at the Choral Synagogue, “I was joined by JDC CEO, Ariel Zwang, and our wonderful Romania

Country director, Israel Sabag,” says Sandler. “We were honored for JDC’s special relationship and support of the Romanian Jewish community. It was a humbling and incredibly powerful moment, and it was followed by two days of extraordinary hospitality, warmth, and soulful visits with the Jewish community.”

Silviu Vexler, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania, who JDC has worked with over the decades to rebuild and strengthen Jewish life, hosted the group.

According to Vexler, the President of Romania, His Excellency Mr. Klaus Werner Iohannis, decided to bestow upon Sandler the Grand Officer of the National Order for Merit “as a sign of high appreciation for the special support granted to the Jewish communities in Romania, the fundamental contribution to the development of Jewish life in Romania, the major positive impact on the situation of Jews in Romania as well as for the constant and long term

involvement in promoting the image of Romania around the world”

“I am honored to be a part of this century-plus work and my family’s ongoing involvement in this effort. Our community (Tidewater) has been assisting to re-build the Jewish community for decades,” says Sandler.

“Through the leadership of Israel Sabag, we have ensured that Romania’s Jewish community, almost decimated in the Holocaust, is today strong and proud and helps lead Jewish communities in the region in addressing many challenges, including the recent influx of refugees from Ukraine,” she says.

The government of Romania has restored synagogues, she notes.

After the ceremony, Sandler and others from JDC did home visits. At one, they spent about 45 minutes with a woman who was about to turn 100. The group took her a birthday cake and both the ‘birthday girl’ and the group enjoyed every minute of the visit.

So many reasons to say “Mazel Tov!”

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Annie Sandler receives award.

Annis Sandler visits with “the birthday girl.”

Cultivating young philanthropists: TJF’s B'nai Tzedek Youth Philanthropy Program

TJF Staff

Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s B'nai Tzedek Youth Philanthropy Program instills the value of giving as early as birth. This innovative program teaches children and teenagers about philanthropy and how to actively participate in the process, shaping them into the community leaders of tomorrow.

Consider

Stephanie and Paul Peck’s family, for example, where all three children, Jonathan, Audrey, and Caleb, participate in the program. Paul Peck says, “B'nai Tzedek has provided a tangible way for our children to connect with Jewish values of giving and community. Seeing their funds grow and being part

Peck’s involvement with Jewish Family Service. Their charitable focus diversified, however, as their children grew and became more involved in their respective communities, especially in college.

of decision-making on where to allocate resources has been incredibly empowering for them.”

Initially, decisions about donations were primarily influenced by Stephanie

Jonathan, Audrey, and Caleb started identifying with causes that resonated with their personal experiences, such as COVID-19 initiatives at their schools and supporting community programs. Peck says his children’s active involvement in philanthropy led to thoughtful discussions about transitioning from the B’nai Tzedek fund to a donor-advised fund, further cementing their understanding of philanthropy’s impact.

Similarly, Shikma Rubin, whose son Niv is a proud B’nai Tzedek participant, says, “We have always taught Niv the importance of tzedakah and mitzvot, but B’nai Tzedek has brought these concepts to life. He’s truly excited about making a difference.”

Niv Rubin, at just eight years old and in the third grade, joined the program inspired by the possibility of using his funds to support others. Participating in the program

has reinforced Niv’s understanding and practice of Jewish values and enhanced the Rubin family’s focus on philanthropy and community service.

Rubin advises other parents to involve their children in philanthropic efforts early, emphasizing the importance of understanding the fund’s purpose, even at a young age.

Highlighting the program’s foundation in Jewish values, Naomi Limor Sedek, TJF president and CEO, says, “From birth to bar or bat mitzvah and beyond, our youth philanthropy programs are essential for nurturing a sense of communal responsibility and continuity in the Jewish community. It’s about building a bridge between generations and ensuring that

our future is in capable, compassionate hands as we cultivate the philanthropists of tomorrow, today.”

To start in the B'nai Tzedek Youth Philanthropy Program, donate at least $250 to the Tidewater Jewish Foundation to establish a fund in a child’s name. TJF matches this with another $250 for a starting balance of $500. Continue with annual $250 gifts. By bar or bat mitzvah age, the child can grant 4% to a Jewish charity of their choice. When the fund reaches $5,000, it becomes a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) for ongoing philanthropy.

For more information, visit foundation. tjva.org or contact Naomi Limor Sedek, TJF president and CEO, at nsedek@tjfva.org or 757-965-6109.

Danny Rubin, Naomi Limor Sedek, Niv Rubin, and Shikma Rubin on the day Niv opened his B'nai Tzedek fund.

Jonathan, Stephanie, Caleb, Paul, and Audrey Peck.

Barbenheimer , Maestro and The Zone of Interest lead large crop of Jewish-inspired Oscar nominations

Andrew Lapin

(JTA) – The year’s biggest movie phenomenon was a one-two punch of blockbusters with Jewish roots — and they both came up big at the Oscar nominations.

Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s biopic of the Jewish “father of the atomic bomb,” led the year’s nominations with 13, including best picture and director, and is favored by many prognosticators

to win the big prize.

The film’s rendition of J. Robert Oppenheimer covers a fair amount of Jewish ground, including his personal animus toward the Nazis; his recruitment of expelled European Jewish scientists to work on the bomb; his relationship with Albert Einstein, and his late-in-life rivalry with Jewish atomic energy bureaucrat Lewis Strauss. Both Cillian Murphy, who plays Oppenheimer, and Robert Downey Jr., who plays Strauss, were nominated for acting Oscars, as was Emily Blunt, who plays Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty.

The movie’s summer release-date companion and partner-in-memes, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, picked up eight nominations, including best picture. The doll at the center of the musical comedy was created by Jewish inventor Ruth Handler (a minor character in the movie, played by Rhea Perlman). Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz, an executive producer on the film who greenlit Gerwig’s playful take on the property, is Israeli and helped organize a controversial Los Angeles screening of footage of the Hamas attacks that was protested by pro-Palestinian groups.

Also nominated from the film are Gerwig’s partner Noah Baumbach, a credited co-writer, and composer Mark Ronson for best original song. Both are Jewish.

Another Jewish-themed contender this year, Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, was the subject of some derision upon its premiere for Cooper’s use of a prosthetic nose to play Jewish composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein. But the biopic, a passion project of Cooper’s, sailed over the objections and picked up seven nominations — including, notably, for best makeup. (It was joined in the latter category by Golda, the biopic of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, which starred Helen Mirren.)

Maestro was also nominated for best picture, with producer Steven Spielberg among the nominated names, as well as lead actor for Cooper and lead actress for Carey Mulligan as Bernstein’s wife Felicia

Montealegre, the actress whose paternal grandfather was Jewish and who in real life converted to Judaism for Bernstein.

Meanwhile, The Zone of Interest, a challenging and formally daring cinematic take on the Holocaust, picked up five nominations, including for best picture and best international feature (submitted by the United Kingdom). The film is loosely based on the real-life Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, and is directed by British Jewish filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, who was nominated for best director and best adapted screenplay (he based it loosely on the novel of the same name by Martin Amis, who died last year).

Nolan’s screenplay for Oppenheimer was also nominated; he adapted it from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Oppenheimer biography American Prometheus,” co-written by Kai Bird, who grew up watching his American diplomat father try to negotiate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and later married a Jewish woman who was the daughter of Holocaust survivors. After his Oppenheimer work, Bird published a 2010 memoir, Crossing Mandelbaum Gate, describing his firsthand experiences watching IsraeliArab diplomatic efforts.

While several actors were nominated for playing Jewish roles, no actual Jews received acting nominations this year — despite what many critics called a career-best performance by Natalie Portman in the Netflix film May December. (Downey has Jewish patrilineal ancestry.)

Notable Jews scored some nominations deeper down on the list. Letter to a Pig, a short film by Israeli director Tal Kantor about the strange journey of a Holocaust survivor, received a nomination for best animated short.

Diane Warren, the Jewish veteran songwriter, received her 15th nomination for penning The Fire Inside, from Hulu’s Flaming Hot. Warren has never won an Oscar but did receive an honorary award in 2022.

The Oscars will air March 10 on ABC.

Peace by Piece marks 25 years of a unique partnership with JFS and Edmarc

Stephanie Peck

February marked the 25th anniversary of Peace by Piece, a partnership between Jewish Family Service of Tidewater and Edmarc, a family-centered home health and hospice for children with life-threatening illnesses.

Peace by Piece is an interfaith program for grieving children and teens. Participants are assigned to age-appropriate groups led by trained volunteer facilitators and are able to process their experiences related to loss while providing support to one another through therapeutic activities, games, and crafts.

JFS is a collaborative partner to the Edmarc program with Edmarc raising all funds for this free service.

“Kids can feel isolated when something about them feels different. Peace by Piece gives them a safe place to talk,” says Debbie Mayer, director of clinical services at JFS.

“Grief is a natural part of life. All people are capable of processing grief with the right support in the right setting,” adds Mayer. “We change people’s lives.”

Peace by Piece does not define the relationship of a loved one. In most cases, it’s a parent who has died, but a child can also grieve the loss of a teacher, nanny, or sibling. The model is not time-limited, either; groups are open-ended, so people can get what they need. One young woman has been attending Peace by Piece for seven years.

“Over the past 25 years, the collaboration between Edmarc and Jewish Family Service has been nothing short of extraordinary. Together, we have worked tirelessly to provide Peace by Piece . . . to those in need,” says Deborah Stitzer-Brame, Edmarc’s executive director. “Our collective efforts have had a profound and positive impact on our community, offering solace and support during challenging times.

“It is with great pride and gratitude that we reflect on the amazing journey we have embarked upon, and we look forward to continuing our partnership in bringing comfort and healing to those who need it most,” she says.

For information on how to connect a grieving child or teen and their family with this free program, contact Debbie Mayer, LCSW, at dmayer@jfshamptonroads.org.

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mazel tov

Golda, biopic about Israeli leader at war, wins top prize from Cinema for Peace Foundation

Toby Axelrod

BERLIN (JTA) – Israeli director Guy Nattiv and British actor Helen Mirren received a Dove Award from the Cinema for Peace Foundation for their joint work in the 2023 biopic, Golda, in which Mirren stars as Golda Meir, the fourth prime minister of Israel.

The film focuses on Meir’s role during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Nattiv and Mirren attended the awards ceremony in Berlin last month, where their prize was presented by 102-year-old Margot Friedlander, one of the oldest remaining Holocaust survivors. The ceremony took place contemporaneously with the Berlinale International Film Festival, where Golda premiered last year.

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In the intervening year, Israel was plunged into war again with an attack by Hamas on a different Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah, on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war. Nattiv said on Instagram after receiving the award that he remained hopeful that the current Israel-Hamas war would end with the kind of rapprochement that resulted from Israel’s victory in the Yom Kippur War.

“In 1973 after the horrific Yom Kippur war, leaders took responsibility and accountability and resigned. Menachem Begin and Anwar Saadat made a historic peace agreement that saved millions of lives,” he wrote. “Today, we need to see new courageous leaders from Israel and Palestine with vision empathy and hope for a better future for the two nations.”

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The ceremony took place at the Cinema for Peace gala, attended by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At the gala, Clinton’s talk was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters, according to video posted to YouTube. The Israeli clarinetist Giora Feidman also led the crowd in a rendition of the Hebrew folk song Shalom Chaverim

The Berlin-based Cinema for Peace initiative was founded after the 9/11 terror attack on the United States and in 2008 expanded to include a foundation whose goal is to “foster change through film.” Last year, the foundation gave the Dove Award to All Quiet on the Western Front, based on the classic World War I novel. This year, it announced that it would issue a special prize for “filmmakers whose work supports the protection of Jewish life, reminding of the Holocaust and the events on October 7 all over the world.”

Golda shared the organization’s Most Valuable Film of the Year award with James Hawes’ One Life, which stars Anthony Hopkins as Sir Nicholas Winton, a London broker who rescued more than 600 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia; and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest, about the everyday life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoess and his family living just a wall away from the extermination camp.

The founder of the Cinema for Peace Foundation, Jaka Bizilj, was instrumental in bringing Russian dissident Alexey Navalny to Germany after Navalny’s near-fatal poisoning in 2020. Navalny died last month in a Russian prison.