Jewish News | November 26, 2018

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Southeastern Virginia | Vol. 57 No. 6 | 18 Kislev 5779 | November 26, 2018

A weekend with Rick RechT November 29 to December 2

8 Second District’s first Jewish Representative

—page 41

14 Women celebrate givers and Annual Campaign

34 Beth Sholom Village: Art Mah Jongg, and more

5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Suite 200 Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462-4370 Address Service Requested

Happy Hanukkah!

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25 Kislev 5779

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• Continuum case management for at-home patients

• Sentara leaders improving community behavioral health services

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Program support for employment challenges

• Heart attack survival tactics with Heartsafe Alliance

• Police partnership for overdose prevention and a decrease in narcotics use

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Statewide initiative to end childhood hunger

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Sisters Keepers Collective committed to lowering infant mortality rate and pregnancy-related deaths

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Dean Ornish program training heart patients on healthy lifestyles

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Mobile emergency department at community events

• Mobile mammography screenings • Diabetes awareness and coalition • Community care for older and disabled patients

• Prescribing opioid standards to prevent abuse and addiction

In 2017, Sentara provided nearly $365 million in total community benefits and charity care to the communities we serve.

Learn more about Sentara’s community involvement at: sentara.com/community 2 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Jewish news

Upfront

jewishnewsva.org

More than 2,000 handmade Jewish stars hung throughout Pittsburgh

Published 21 times a year by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

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M

ore than 2,000 handmade Stars of David were hung

Parkland Fla, a survivor of the Columbine High School shooting

throughout Pittsburgh.

in Colorado and a Quaker woman from Pueblo, Colo., according

The stars, created by more than 1,000 volunteers from around

to the newspaper.

the world, were hung on Saturday, Nov. 17 by 40 volunteers. Each

“Three weeks ago, I met Ellen Dominus Broude online and we

star—some crocheted, some made with leather—had a heart in

created Jewish Hearts for Pittsburgh. Today, with a team of volun-

the center.

teers, they are installing 2,000 hearts around Pittsburgh. More

The stars were the brainchild of Hinda Mandell and Ellen Dominus Broude, who created the Facebook page Jewish Hearts from Pittsburgh in response to the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue building in the Squirrel Hill

than 1,000 volunteers from Qatar to California poured their love into their crafted, collaged, painted and crocheted Jewish Hearts. Ellen spent the past week “bagging and tagging” these creations, and archiving the notes that arrived

neighborhood that left 11

in the mail,” Mandell wrote

worshippers dead.

in a post on her personal

The page called for dona-

Facebook pate.

tions of handcrafted stars to

Mandell, an associate pro-

help strengthen the community

fessor of communications at

in the wake of the tragedy.

Rochester Institute of Technology

On Oct. 28, Mandell on her own

in Rochester, N.Y. is a former Boston

Facebook page provided patterns

Globe journalist, according to the Post-

for knitters, suggested sizes and

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater John Strelitz, President Alvin Wall, Treasurer Stephanie Calliott, Secretary Betty Ann Levin, Executive Vice-President www.jewishVA.org The appearance of advertising in the Jewish News does not constitute a kashrut, political, product or service endorsement.

The articles and letters appearing herein are not necessarily the opinion of this newspaper. © 2018 Jewish News. All rights reserved.

Subscription: $18 per year

titled Crafting Dissent: Handicraft

she calls “Jewish Hearts.” On

as Protest from the American

Oct. 30 she and Broude set

Revolution to the Pussyhats.

up the Jewish Hearts from

JewishNewsVA

For subscription or change of address, call 757-965-6128 or email mcerase@ujft.org.

Broude supervised the

Pittsburgh page

hanging of the stars. Her

The women, both from New York, opened a post office box to receive the stars. They arrived from 12 countries, including New Zealand and Qatar, according to the

daughter Emily, a senior at Carnegie Mellon University, lives in Squirrel Hill and in previous years taught musical prayers and songs at Tree of Life’s religious school on the weekends, according to the Post-Gazette.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Stars were sent by Catholic school children from Little Rock, Ark., students from a Hebrew school in London, residents of

The group reportedly will accept more stars and hang them after Thanksgiving.

Beth Chaverim’s new home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Temple Israel’s pushke. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Beth Sholom Village’s been busy. . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Toras Chaim fundraiser exceeds expectations. . 35 Beyond Duty at Regent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Local teens attend AIPAC High School Summit. 36 Jewish Book Festival Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . 38 What’s Happening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Rick Recht in Tidewater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Mazel Tov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Upcoming Deadlines for Editorial and Advertising Dec. 10 Dec. 24 Jan. 21, ’19 Feb. 4 Feb. 18 March 4 March 25

Business Education Investing/Giving Foodie Retirement Mazel Tov Camp

Nov 23 Dec. 7 Jan. 4, ’19 Jan. 18 Feb. 1 Feb. 15 Mar. 8

Candle Lighting

Quotable

About the cover: Rick Recht

Up Front. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Briefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Torah Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Anti-Semitism incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 What is Gab platform?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Jewish women who won midterm elections, including Elaine Luria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Rabbi saves Torah scrolls from fire. . . . . . . . . . . 10 TJF: End of year giving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Community stands up to hate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Women celebrate successful campaign. . . . . . . . 14 Challah Bake: bread and camaraderie . . . . . . . . 16 Special Hanukkah section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Terri Denison, Editor Germaine Clair, Art Director Sandy Goldberg, Account Executive Ronnie Jacobs Cohen, Account Executive Marilyn Cerase, Subscription Manager Reba Karp, Editor Emeritus

Gazette. She is editing an anthology

colors and deadlines of what

Contents

Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Suite 200 Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462-4370 voice 757.965.6100 • fax 757.965.6102 email news@ujft.org

Friday, November 30/22 Kislev Light candles at 4:31 pm Friday, December 7/29 Kislev Light candles at 4:30 pm

“You have to say it with a Hebrew accent though,

Friday, December 14/6 Tevet Light candles at 4:31 pm

kind of like Blek Fchidey.”

—page 22

Friday, December 21/13 Tevet Light candles at 4:34 pm Friday, December 28/20 Tevet Light candles at 4:38 pm Friday, January 4/27 Tevet Light candles at 4:44 pm

jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Jewish News | 3

BRIEFS Tom Hanks joins Pittsburgh rally to honor synagogue shooting victims Actors Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton were among several hundred people who participated in a rally to honor the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

The event, under the banner “Stronger than Hate: A Gathering of Compassion, Unity and Love,” was held Friday, Nov. 8 at Point State Park in downtown Pittsburgh.

It started with a moment of silence for the 11 worshippers killed in the Oct. 27 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

Hanks was in Pittsburgh researching and filming a movie about the life of Fred Rogers, a native of Squirrel Hill. He was joined on stage by Rogers’ widow, Joanne.

Keaton is a native of Pittsburgh.

Mayor Bill Peduto in his address noted that the gathering was on the same day as the Kristallnacht pogroms.

“We gather here today on the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht: a day in which Jews in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia saw the breaking of glass of businesses, saw the vandalism and the damage done through physical harm— words of anti-Semitism, reflected 80 years ago today, in the first violent acts that would lead to the Holocaust,” he said.

The accused synagogue gunman, Robert Bowers, has pleaded not guilty in federal district court and requested a jury trial. The 44 charges against Bowers include 32 punishable by death. (JTA) Miriam Adelson receives Presidential Medal of Freedom Miriam Adelson, a physician who has partnered with her husband, the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, in directing donations to the Republican Party, medical research, and pro-Israel and Jewish causes, was named one of seven recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The recipients are the first to be honored by President Donald Trump.

The announcement called Miriam Adelson “a committed doctor, philanthropist and humanitarian” who has “practiced internal and emergency medicine, studied and specialized in the disease of narcotic addiction, and founded two research

centers committed to fighting substance abuse.” It also noted that with her husband, she established the Adelson Medical Research Foundation, which supports research to prevent, reduce, or eliminate disabling and life-threatening illness.

“As a committed member of the American Jewish community, she has supported Jewish schools, Holocaust memorial organizations, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and Birthright Israel, among other causes,” the announcement also said.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest honor for a civilian.

The Adelsons poured more than $100 million of donations into this federal election cycle in support of Republican candidates. Sheldon Adelson was among the biggest givers to Trump’s presidential campaign and his inauguration. The couple watched the midterm election returns with Trump at the White House.

The other living recipients of the medal, which were bestowed on Nov. 16, are Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who is retiring after more than four decades in the Senate; Alan Page, a retiring justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court as well as a Pro Football Hall of Famer; and Roger Staubach, a Hall of Fame quarterback who was cited for his charitable contributions as well as his Dallas Cowboys career.

Posthumous honors were granted to Elvis Presley, who according to the White House “defined American culture to billions of adoring fans around the world”; Babe Ruth, the Yankee slugger who set baseball records that stood for decades; and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. (JTA)

Swastika image sent to cellphones of students at suburban Chicago high school An image of a swastika was sent to the cellphones of students during an assembly at a suburban Chicago high school.

The image was “air-dropped” Friday, Nov. 9 on an Apple device to students attending the Tradition of Excellence assembly at the Oak Park and River Forest High School.

The sender was later identified as a student who was in the auditorium.

The incident follows two other incidents of racist and anti-Semitic graffiti

4 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

found on the school’s campus this month.

On Nov. 2, racist and anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered outside the school building on a shed near the campus tennis courts. Days later, “hate-speech graffiti” including a swastika and racist and anti-Semitic comments, including “GAS the Jews,” was discovered inside a campus bathroom.

The school held a panel discussion Nov. 7 with students, religious leaders and school board members titled “Community Conversation Around Hate Crimes: Coming Together for Change.”

Meanwhile, a Jewish student at Chicago’s Oscar Mayer Magnet School, found a swastika drawn on his locker, as well as other “derogatory symbols.” (JTA)

Lana Marks makes handbags for celebs and lives at Mar-aLago. Now she’s nominated as US ambassador to South Africa Lana Marks, whose designer handbags have been carried by such celebrities as Jennifer Aniston and Helen Mirren, has been nominated to serve as ambassador to her native South Africa.

Marks, who lives in Palm Beach, Florida, is a member of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club resort. Her nomination by Trump was announced on Wednesday, Nov. 14 and sent the following day to the Senate.

Marks, who is Jewish, has no diplomatic experience. She speaks the native South African languages Xhosa and Afrikaans and attended the University of the Witwatersrand and the Institute of Personnel Management in Johannesburg.

The South African government has been critical of Israel, with prominent South African leaders and organizations, including the ruling African National Congress, accusing Israel of practicing apartheid in its treatment of the Palestinians.

The last ambassador to South Africa, Patrick Gaspard, a Democratic appointee, left his post in December 2016. The U.S. mission has been overseen since then by Chargé d’Affaires Jessye Lapenn.

Along with Aniston and Mirren, other celebrities who carry her handbags include Charlize Theron, Kate Winslet, Angelina Jolie, Drew Barrymore and Paris Hilton.

Marks went into the handbag business after she could not find a red alligator

handbag to match the outfit she wore to a birthday celebration for Queen Elizabeth II aboard the royal yacht Britannia, BuzzFeed reported. The experience demonstrated to her that there was a niche for luxury, exotic leather fashion handbags in bright colors. (JTA)

Man who shouted ‘Heil Hitler, Heil Trump’ in crowded Baltimore theater apologizes for insensitivity The man who shouted “Heil Hitler, Heil Trump” from the balcony during intermission of a performance of Fiddler on the Roof in Baltimore apologized for his outburst and said the comparison came out wrong.

Anthony Derlunas II, 58, caused some members of the audience to panic and flee the Hippodrome Theatre on Wednesday, Nov. 14. They feared an attack similar to one at a synagogue complex in Pittsburgh that left 11 worshippers dead.

In an interview Friday, Nov. 16 with the Baltimore Sun, Derlunas acknowledged that he had been drinking heavily before the show.

Derlunas was removed from the theater by security and turned over to the police.

He told officers that he yelled the slogans because the final scene before intermission—when the Russians stage a pogrom against the Jewish residents of the Russian village of Anatevka during the wedding of the main character’s daughter—reminded him of his hatred for President Donald Trump, the New York Times reported.

No charges were filed against Derlunas because his words “are considered protected free speech because nobody was directly threatened,” Matthew Jablow, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, told reporters. He has, however, been banned from the theater for life.

“I shouldn’t have taken my political frustrations out at a public show. How I could have been so stupid and insensitive, I don’t know,” Derlunas told the Sun. “I was so insensitive. But I am not a racist, I am not anti-Semitic. I feel so sorry for the fear and the people’s night that I ruined. I just wasn’t thinking at the time.”

Derlunas apologized to the theater and is reaching out to local rabbis so that he can apologize to the local Jewish community. (JTA)

torah thought

Lights of hope

T

he great and most colorful Joseph saga extends over four Torah portions and 13 Biblical chapters. How opportune it is as we celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah and the reading of Joseph’s awesome adventures, that the Jewish experience has often been to find ourselves like Joseph, in the darkness of the pit without losing faith in the light of redemption yet to emerge.

As we kindle the Hanukkah menorah’s sacred lights of eternal hope for a

world transformed through shalom’s gifts, we remember the 11 lost shining lights targeted on Shabbat by the venom of the precipitous rise of anti-Semitic darkness (Western civilization’s oldest disease) at the historic Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. It was the worst ever deadly attack on Jews on American soil. Indeed, an attack on what America, the world’s leading democracy, is all about. We should ponder with somber soul-searching: How could an American perpetrate such criminal carnage in sacred space and time?

The committed atrocity is reminiscent of the Holocaust. How tragically poignant that the Pittsburgh massacre happened only days before observing the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht (November 9-10, 1938), the Holocaust’s precursor, when synagogues and Jewish businesses were set ablaze throughout Germany, 91 Jews were killed and 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps. The Holocaust’s lessons should be taught on all education

levels, even as we continue to trust in the overriding goodness of the American people.

In Pittsburgh, two worshippers and four heroic police officers were also wounded. In the precious honor of all martyred victims, let us pledge to spread more loving and enlightening light as we affirm that the radiant lights of our fallen fellow Jews will not be driven out. Let us engage in random acts of kindness, as well as reach out to people at large.

The 4,000-year-old inspiring menorah of Jewish life lit by the Maccabees of all ages will not be extinguished! It was reassuring at the moving gathering organized by the UJFT at the Sandler Family Campus to have a large assembly with interfaith and community leaders in attendance.

Just like Joseph, the dreamer and interpreter of incredible dreams, the Jewish people have believed that noble as well as disturbing dreams have the potential and power to transform reality. In the way of

Joseph who was not accepted by his own immature and treacherous kin, begrudging him his unique spirit and grandiose ideas of a dreamy youngster whose father’s favoritism put him at risk, we have felt isolated throughout much of history.

Joseph appeals to us in his touching humaneness which is not lost when he becomes powerful and his survivor’s skills of ascending from the pit to the palace inspire us, realizing that it reflects the historic Jewish challenge to survive and even thrive in a harsh reality. He is the prototype model of the modern Jew, enlightening us about living in two worlds.

Joseph and those with the Maccabees’ spirit have taught that to be a Jew is to somehow make a difference, reducing darkness and rejoicing in the light’s promise.

Dr. Israel Zoberman is the founding rabbi of Congregation Beth Chaverim.

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jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Jewish News | 5

anti-semitism What is Gab and where else are anti-Semites gathering on the internet?

Josefin Dolsten

(JTA)—Robert Bowers, the man held in the shooting deaths of 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh last month, belonged to an online community where he frequently railed against Jews and immigrants. That social media site, Gab, has come under closer scrutiny.

Created two years ago as a haven for far-rightists who felt they were being targeted on mainstream platforms, Gab quickly rose in popularity. But the site wasn’t just home to ideological discussions. Critics say threats of violence and virulent hatred are a common theme of those posting to it.

JTA spoke to two experts on extremism to learn more about Gab and other sites like it. Michael Edison Hayden is an open source intelligence analyst at Storyful, a company that analyzes conversations on social media. Oren Segal is the director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

What is Gab? Gab was founded by Andrew Torba in August 2016 as a response against what he saw as censorship of right-wing users by some social media platforms. Often these users were kicked off platforms for using racist or anti-Semitic language or harassing individuals. Among those who found a home on Gab was Milo Yiannopoulos, the former Breitbart News provocateur who was booted from Twitter after urging his followers to harass the African-American comedian Leslie Jones, and Andrew Anglin, the founder of the neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer.

“What makes the entirely left-leaning Big Social monopoly qualified to tell us what is ‘news’ and what is ‘trending’ and to define what ‘harassment’ means?”

Torba told Buzzfeed in 2016. “It didn’t feel right to me, and I wanted to change it, and give people something that would be fair and just.”

Straight away, Hayden says, Gab became a popular platform for white nationalists as “a place where they felt they could give voice to their anti-Semitic,

racist, bigoted, misogynistic views out in the open.” He has spent over a year studying the site.

Segal calls the site “the primary destination for a lot of white supremacists and anti-Semites.”

Apple and Google have refused to offer Gab in their app stores due to concerns about hate speech.

Gab has claimed to have some 800,000 users, but Hayden estimates the actual count is far less.

“The number of active users seems like it is more likely to be in the tens of thousands of users than in the hundreds of thousands of users,” he says.

What is unique about Gab? Gab merges features of different sites, offering the chronological timeline of posts from Twitter, but the ability for users to “upvote” or “downvote” posts they like or dislike a la Reddit. Though threats of terrorism and violence are supposed to be banned, the policy is not always enforced.

“On numerous occasions, posts that threatened violence to specific people were ignored, even after being reported,” Hayden says.

As a social media site, Gab is considered an appealing alternative to other sites frequented by white nationalists, including Stormfront, 4chan and 8chan, that are forums but do not as easily facilitate connections among users.

Hayden says that “in the way that you can organize a party on Facebook or discuss the news with your friends in a group DM on Twitter, a racist could organize harassment campaigns and other unpleasant things at Gab very easily.”

How did Bowers use the site?

The vast majority of messages posted

by Bowers were anti-Semitic in nature, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Among other things, he wrote that “Jews are the children of satan,” and referred to “kike infestation” and “filthy EVIL jews.”

His photo shows the number 1488, a neoNazi hate symbol that references a white

6 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

supremacist slogan called “14 words” and 88, which is code for “Heil Hitler.”

Those type of messages are not unusual on Gab, according to Hayden.

“It was common for Gab posters to treat Jews as if they were inhuman and blame them for all kinds of problems,” he says.

How is Gab responding?

Gab took down the site but returned.

Immediately after the shooting, visitors to the site saw a message from Torba saying that he has been providing information to the Justice Department and FBI about “an alleged terrorist.”

“In the midst of this Gab has been no-platformed by essential internet infrastructure providers at every level,” the message read. “We are the most censored, smeared, and no-platformed startup in history, which means we are a threat to the media and to the Silicon Valley Oligarchy.”

What are other similar sites?

Segal says that he had seen discussions on Gab before it was taken down of other possible venues for users. Those cited include the emerging social media platforms Wrongthink, Minds and Mewe.

Wrongthink is “already somewhat popular with right-wing posters because it promotes itself as an alternative network by people who ‘actually respect your freedom of speech,’” Segal says. The other sites don’t necessarily have an extremist or right-wing bent.

Voat, a news aggregator and social networking site, and the forums 4chan and 8chan are also popular among those on the far-right, Hayden says.

And while Twitter and Facebook continue to crack down on hateful accounts, users there continue to target others with anti-Semitic, racist, and homophobic messages daily.

“The number of forums or platforms are really endless,” Segal says, “and none of them are completely absent of extremism and hateful speech.”

DC man arrested after saying Pittsburgh synagogue killings ‘were a dry run’ WASHINGTON (JTA)—A Washington, D.C., white supremacist was arrested on a gun charge after family members warned police that he said the Pittsburgh synagogue killings last month were a “dry run.”

Jeffrey Clark, 30, appeared Tuesday, Nov. 13 in U.S. District Court on charges of illegally possessing a firearm and a high-capacity magazine, the Washington Post reported.

Two family members alerted police after Clark grew increasingly agitated in the wake of the suicide of his 23-year-old brother, Edward, on Oct. 27, just hours after news broke of the worst anti-Jewish attack in U.S. history in Pittsburgh.

The brothers were active on far-right social media. Jeffrey Clark had been “friended” by the alleged Pittsburgh gunman, Robert Bowers, on the far-right chat site Gab. Huffington Post reported that Jeffrey Clark wrote on Gab that the Pittsburgh killings were a “dry run” and “the f***ing kikes that got shot by the hero #RobertBowers were all active supporters of pedophilia…and every last one of them deserved exactly what happened to them and so much worse.”

Conspiracy theories linking hated figures to child abuse are commonplace on the far right.

Huffington Post reported that photos showed Jeffrey Clark at the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. The rally included violence against counterprotesters and culminated in a deadly car ramming that killed one counterprotester and injured at least 20.

anti-semitism Roger Waters’ anti-Israel message ignites ‘wish you weren’t here’ campaign

by Latin American Jews BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA)—Jewish institutions in Argentina have launched a campaign against former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters over his support for the boycott Israel movement.

Waters’ “Us + Them” tour has been traveling throughout Latin America for the past month and will continue into December.

The Argentina Zionist Organization’s online campaign urges residents of the region to reject the British singer’s presence and upcoming concerts. The campaign calls Waters “one of the great anti-Semites of our time” to protest what it called his hate speech.

“We, Latin Americans, say to Roger Waters—we wish you weren’t here!”—echoing the Pink Floyd song Wish You Were Here, its Change.org campaign says.

Officials at the Simon Wiesenthal Center officials called on the tour’s corporate sponsors, including Entel, Cencosud, Grupo Aval and Bac Credomatic y Citibanamex, to withdraw their financial support. The center also said Waters’ Latin American hosts should denounce his abuse of their hospitality and his message of hate.

On Friday, Nov. 9, Waters participated in an event of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel in Buenos Aires, a day before performing there.

“We must insist to our local governments to pressure Israel, in favor of the human rights

of the Palestinians,” he said at the program titled “A World Without Walls,” organized by BDS Argentina.

Waters at his shows has displayed a pig with a Star of David.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center noted that medieval anti-Semites used an iconography that featured a Jewish pig or Judensau to humiliate and dehumanize Jews.

“Using this symbol treated with the technology of the 21st century, Waters contributes to the array of anti-Semitic hatred,” the center said in a statement.

“Waters came to Uruguay and Argentina to promote BDS—Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions—declared illegitimate in a growing number of European jurisdictions as based on the attacks in Nazi Germany on Jewish shops and enterprises to the cries of “Kaufen nicht bei Juden” (No Buying from Jews),” Shimon Samuels, the Wiesenthal Center’s director for International Relations, said in a statement.

“The timing of his hatefest tour led up to today’s 80th anniversary of ‘Kristallnacht’ (the Night of Broken Glass).

“Across Germany and Austria, 1,500 synagogues were torched and 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps,” he wrote of the pogroms.

Samuels said Waters “should be treated as persona non grata in all democratic countries.”

Cornell students report three swastika incidents in nine days

T

hree swastikas have been reported in the student residential area of Cornell University in nine days.

The most recent incident was a large swastika stamped out in the snow next to a dormitory on Monday, Nov. 19, the independent student newspaper the Cornell Sun reported.

A swastika was drawn in a dorm on Nov. 14, according to the publication. One had been drawn on a whiteboard in a different dorm four days earlier.

“Swastikas are icons steeped in anti-Semitic hate, and have no place on our campus,”

a Facebook message from Cornell’s Hillel said. “We are deeply concerned about this trend. We stand against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate.”

The post said the Hillel was in communication with the administration and would provide information as it becomes available.

Students filed bias reports in the three incidents, according to the Sun. The university told the student newspaper that it was investigating. It could not provide details about the incidents because information reported in bias reports are confidential.

(JTA)

Shutterstock removes photos showing ‘happy man in a Jewish cap’ waving wads of cash WASHINGTON (JTA)—Shutterstock, the stock photo supplier, removed staged photos of a man wearing a yarmulke and reveling in piles of cash after online complaints that it was anti-Semitic.

“We can confirm that all images of concern have now been removed,” the agency told Amy Spiro, a Jerusalem Post reporter. “Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.”

Twitter user Dennis Wilen brought the photos, by Viacheslav Krylov, to the company’s attention on Nov. 9.

The photo was accompanied by captions reading “portrait of a happy man in a Jewish cap and waistcoat sits at a table with lots of money and shows thumb” and “a man accountant of Jewish nationalism sitting in the office attentively considers monetary hundred-dollar bills,” according to Spiro.

The image remains available at the stock photo site Depositphotos.

Shutterstock features portfolios by hundreds of photographers who are paid if their work is chosen by subscribers, including newspapers, websites and advertising firms.

Krylov’s portfolio page identifies him as hailing from Russia. On the site are photos of a similarly joyful woman in a black jacket over a white frilly shirt handling wads of cash. The caption reads, “Very happy, middle-aged woman lifting your thumb and smiles to luck, holding a lot of money.” She appears white, although her ethnicity is otherwise indeterminate.

House unanimously condemns anti-Semitic attack on Pittsburgh synagogue WASHINGTON (JTA)—The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, Nov. 14, unanimously approved a bipartisan resolution condemning the “anti-Semitic attack” on a synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 worshippers dead.

The resolution honors “the memory of the victims of the attack, and offering condolences to and expressing support for their families, friends, and community.”

A gunman shouting anti-Semitic epithets raided a synagogue complex and killed the worshippers on Oct. 27 before police subdued and arrested him.

Rep. Mike Doyle, the Pennsylvania Democrat who represents the Squirrel Hill neighborhood that is home to the Tree of Life synagogue complex, introduced the resolution. He was joined by the co-chairs of the House of Representatives Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism: Reps Nita Lowey and Eliot Engel, both D-N.Y.; Chris Smith, R-N.J.; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.; Ted Deutch, D-Fla.; Kay Granger, R-Texas; Marc Veasey, D-Texas; and Peter Roskam, R-Ill. “We will carry the memory of those lost in the Tree of Life synagogue building attack, the deadliest anti-Semitic incident in U.S. history, and work to ensure that all Americans are free to worship in peace and security,” the task force said in a statement.

The resolution, which says it “stands with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh, the United States, and across the world,” also “condemns rising anti-Semitism in the United States and around the world”; “reaffirms the commitment of the United States and its allies to defeat anti-Semitism in all its forms throughout the world”; and “supports the right of Americans to freely exercise their religious beliefs and rejects all forms of terror and hate.”

jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Jewish News | 7

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(JTA)—The 2018 midterm elections were hailed as a victory for gender parity, as an unprecedented number of women won bids to serve in Congress. More than 100 women were elected to serve in the House of Representatives and the Senate, according to final vote tallies and projections.

The group includes 11 Jewish women— nine in the House and two in the Senate races. The winners are all Democrats— several female Jewish Republicans were unsuccessful in their bids for office.

Here’s a rundown of the winners:

The newcomers Elaine Luria (House) uria overcame challenging odds to edge Republican incumbent Scott Taylor in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. Luria, 43, is a former U.S. Navy Elaine Luria commander who finds ways to connect to the ocean in quite a different way—by owning and running a mermaid-theme shop, The Mermaid Factory. Her campaign platform included protecting Medicare and Social Security, increasing funding to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and combating sea level rise and flooding.

A member of Ohef Sholom Temple, Luria is the District’s, and in fact, Virginia’s, first Jewish Representative. In an interview with Jewish News last month, she said she felt the Congressional support of Israel was solid and bipartisan. “I’ve spoken to many Democratic members of Congress about protecting our relationship with Israel and it’s a top priority. I think that the alliance with Israel, both continuing and building on that alliance, is very important across the aisle.

“We need to make sure that we support Israel in every way to protect itself from outside threats, and then stand with Israel when it is threatened,” she continued.

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Jacky Rosen (Senate) osen, 61, a one-term congresswoman from Nevada, will move to the Senate after defeating Republican incumbent Dean Heller in a toss-up race. She launched her political career in 2016 with a victory in her state’s 3rd Congressional District.

Her prior political experience was minimal—if you don’t count being president of a synagogue, Congregation Ner Tamid in suburban Henderson. Rosen previously worked as a consultant and software designer. Her Senate campaign centered on education and the environment, as well as opposing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

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Elissa Slotkin (House) lotkin’s background is in defense and intelligence. Slotkin, who beat Republican incumbent Mike Bishop in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, is a former CIA analyst and served in various defense capacities in the Bush and Obama administrations, including as acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. Slotkin, 42, lives on her family farm in rural Michigan. She is passionate about health care and says she was motivated to run for office by seeing the high costs her mother faced as she battled and succumbed to ovarian cancer.

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Susan Wild (House) ild, 60, left a career in law to enter politics. She defeated Republican Marty Nothstein in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District to replace another Republican, Pat Meehan, who resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal. This was her first political campaign, and she ran on a platform that includes improving health care and protecting organized labor. Wild’s involvement with Jewish life includes serving on the board of directors for her local Jewish federation.

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election 2018 Kim Schrier (House) chrier is a physician who made her campaign in Washington state’s 8th Congressional District primarily about health care reform. She has said that as a Jew she was motivated to enter politics following last year’s neo-Nazi and white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Schrier was one of several Jewish candidates targeted with Republican ads that showed her clutching cash—many saw the ads as playing on anti-Semitic tropes. In the end, she beat Republican Dino Rossi to replace retiring incumbent Dave Reichert.

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The veterans Dianne Feinstein (Senate) t 85, Feinstein is the oldest sitting U.S. senator and the longest-serving woman. The California lawmaker is also the top Democrat on the Senate’s Judiciary Committee and is a leading progressive on many issues. She led the Democratic effort to dig into the record of Brett Kavanaugh after he was nominated to serve on the Supreme Court.

Feinstein started her political career in San Francisco, becoming president of the city’s Board of Supervisors in 1969. In 1978, she became the city’s mayor following the assassination of George Moscone (Jewish gay rights activist Harvey Milk, San Francisco’s city supervisor, was killed by the same gunman). Her parents are both of Jewish ancestry, but her mother was raised Christian; Feinstein chose Judaism as her faith at age 20.

She beat fellow Democrat Kevin de Leon (California’s election system allows the top two candidates to run against each other, regardless of party), with 54.3 percent of the vote.

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Susan Davis (House) avis, 74, won re-election with her victory over Republican Mortan Murtaugh. She has been serving California’s 53rd Congressional District since 2001 and is the top Democrat on the higher education subcommittee. She is passionate about the topic of education, having served as president of the San Diego school board early in her political career. Another of her core issues is health care access, and she has introduced

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legislation to allow women to visit their ob/gyns without a primary doctor referral.

Her grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. After college, Davis lived on an Israeli kibbutz and worked with at-risk youth.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz (House) asserman Schultz, 52, will continue to represent South Florida’s 23rd Congressional District. Wasserman Schultz, a member of the House since 2005, has experienced a rough two years. Once a rising Democratic star, she served as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, but resigned after a hack found that she and others had favored 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent who caucuses with Democrats. But she’s still doing fine in her district, receiving 58.4 percent of the vote and beating her Republican opponent Joe Kaufman by 22 percent.

Wasserman Schultz became involved in politics through the now-defunct National Jewish Democratic Council. She also was one of the driving forces behind establishing Jewish American Heritage Month, introducing the legislation in 2005 with the late Arlen Specter.

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Jan Schakowsky (House) chakowsky easily retained her seat in Illinois against Republican John Ellison, receiving 73 percent of the vote in the state’s 9th Congressional District.

Schakowsky, 74, has been representing the district since 1999 and is among the most progressive members of Congress.

A major advocate for women’s rights, she has fought for issues such as combating sex trafficking, reducing maternal death and fighting health care costs that put a higher burden on women. Schakowsky is close to the liberal Middle East advocacy group J Street and in 2015 wrote in the Huffington Post about her decision to boycott a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in front of Congress.

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Nita Lowey (House) owey, 81, will continue to represent New York’s 17th Congressional District. A House member since 1989,

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she is the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee and on its foreign operations subcommittee. Though Lowey was a top contender to take Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat after the former first lady was nominated to be secretary of state, Lowey said she did not want to give up her role on the Appropriations Committee. She is a strong supporter of Israel and was one of fewer than 20 House Democrats who voted against the Iran nuclear deal in 2015.

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Suzanne Bonamici (House) mong the lawmakers on this list, Bonamici’s entry into politics is relatively recent. First elected to Congress in 2012, she represents Oregon’s 1st Congressional District. She is passionate about education and the environment, and is the ranking member on the Committee on Science, Space and Technology’s environment subcommittee. Bonamici, 63, was raised Episcopalian and Unitarian, but now practices Judaism with her Jewish husband, Michael Simon, a federal judge.

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jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Jewish News | 9

nation How a rabbi saved four Torah scrolls from being destroyed in the California wildfires Josefin Dolsten

(JTA)—The death toll and damage continue to rise in California in the wildfires ravaging the state.

Like other Californians, Jewish residents evacuated their homes and are dealing with the devastating fallout of the fires. Synagogues, camps, and a day school have all sustained damage.

Here are two remarkable stories of people coming together as a result of the fires, including a rabbi who ran into a synagogue to save its four Torah scrolls and a synagogue that helped ensure a family from an evacuated congregation was still able to celebrate their son’s becoming a bar mitzvah.

Rushing to save a synagogue’s Torah scrolls t 3 in the morning Friday, Nov. 9, a neighbor roused Rabbi Barry Diamond from sleep to let him know that their Southern California neighborhood had been given a voluntary evacuation order. About 20 minutes later, the rabbi arrived at Temple Adat Elohim, the Reform synagogue in Thousand Oaks where he works, to see fire surrounding the area by the building.

“There’s a hill right across the street from our temple—it was fully engulfed— and there was a raining down of sparks onto our property,” he says.

But that didn’t deter Diamond, 56, from dashing into the synagogue to save his congregation’s holiest objects. Setting off an alarm, he entered the sanctuary and grabbed two of the congregation’s Torah scrolls: One had survived the Holocaust, the other was dedicated only six months earlier.

He then ran in a second time and, with the help of the synagogue president, Sandy Greenstein, brought out the remaining two scrolls as well as the Book of Esther scroll traditionally read on Purim.

“I would say I was a cross between nervous and determined to get these out,” Diamond says. “Sometimes you just have to put your head down and do the work

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10 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

and worry about your feelings later.”

As he loaded the Torahs into his car, Diamond looked back and saw that plants behind the sanctuary were ablaze.

A photo taken of Diamond shows a wall of red-tinted smoke behind a nearby stand of trees.

Diamond and his wife, as well as most of his congregants, evacuated their homes.

As far as he knows no one has been hurt, but the synagogue has sustained damage.

The fires hit the community at an especially trying time: Only a day earlier, congregants learned that a deadly shooting at a nearby bar left 12 people dead.

Diamond said two congregants were at the bar at the time of the shooting and know people who were killed.

The rabbi is trying to be there for congregants affected by either or both tragedies.

“There are people who lost their homes, there are people who are displaced, and we have to acknowledge and recognize them and be there and support them,” he says. “And there were a number of families who just suffered terribly because of this horrible act, and I don’t want their pain to be eclipsed because there’s a broader disaster that we’re living through.”

A change of bar mitzvah plans with only hours notice On the same morning, everything seemed to be set for Jace Kletter’s bar mitzvah the following day. The 12-yearold was planning to read from the Torah and then have a party at the Malibu Jewish Center, the Reconstructionist congregation to which his family belongs.

“The DJs, the caterers, the security guards—we had it all planned,” Jace’s father, Jeff, says. “And then on Friday morning, we get a mandatory evacuation call.”

Jeff, his wife Josie and their three kids quickly left their home, but they did not realize how long they would be gone.

“We’ve always dealt with fires in Malibu, but you’re back in an hour,” Jeff says. “There’s no issue because they put it

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out, but this one was a raging fire.”

The next morning, it seemed unclear if Jace’s bar mitzvah could still take place.

Then the family got a call from their rabbi, who told them that a different synagogue had offered to host the service and party.

Everyone quickly scrambled to reorganize the entire party. Josie wasn’t able to get in touch with the caterer, so she ordered food from a local cafe instead and supplemented it with wine and desserts from Costco. The family had left their formalwear behind, so they ran to a department store to pick up new outfits.

And though many of the guests weren’t

able to make it, “a very small, meaningful group of 26 people” showed up, Jeff says.

The service was held that afternoon at Kehillat Israel, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Pacific Palisades. The synagogue was also hosting a bar mitzvah of its own, so two services were held in adjacent rooms.

Jace says that he was happy with how his bar mitzvah turned out despite the last-minute changes.

“It did look different, and there were definitely a lot less people who showed, but it was still very meaningful,” he saya.

The event served as a much-needed

distraction both for the Kletter family and attendees who had to evacuate their homes.

“The people who did make it, it was a cathartic release for them, too, to not think about the fires for a few hours and just relax,” Jeff says.

Cantor Chayim Frenkel of Kehillat Israel says the clergy had not hesitated to offer up their space to the Kletter family as well as other Malibu Jewish Center congregants. “[There] wasn’t even a second thought,” Frenkel says. “Of course you can come to synagogue and have services.”

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Tidewater Jewish Foundation First Person

End of Year giving opportunities for you and your family Scott Kaplan

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t this time of year, most think about other people, friends, and family. This year, I hope you will also think about your community and the many Scott Kaplan ways to make a difference. Several exciting programs and matching gift opportunities are available through Tidewater Jewish Foundation (TJF) that will help you to positively impact your Jewish community before the end of 2018 and feel good about yourself during this holiday season. No matter your age, there are many ways to get involved and make an impact today and for generations to come.

Following are just a few suggestions.

Hanukkah—Commit to a family day of giving to others At Hanukkah, consider making at least one night “dedicated” to giving to others.

Incorporate the concept of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) into the holiday by after lighting the candles and in lieu of presents one night, talk with children about making a gift to a favorite Jewish charity as a family. Talk about what is meaningful and important to each person.

To create a family philanthropic fund, read below about how to incorporate philanthropy with your family throughout the year. Join me and my family, as we continue this tradition of giving to others in need this year.

Create a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) If you make charitable contributions to one or more organizations on an annual basis, consider opening a Donor Advised Fund (philanthropic fund) with TJF. For a limited time, if you establish a new Donor Advised Fund (DAF) through TJF with at least $7,500, TJF will match your gift with an additional $2,500 totaling $10,000 or more. A DAF allows you to

make charitable gifts into the fund at any time and retain the ability to make distribution requests from the fund to charitable organizations of your choice (Jewish or non-Jewish). Think of it like a charitable parking lot to maintain all of your philanthropy managed through our online donor portal, providing 24/7 access. You may also name your child(ren) as successor advisor(s) to your family fund. This type of fund may be established by an individual, a couple, or a family.

Given the recent tax law changes, you may consider “bunching” a few years’ worth of charitable gifts to create your fund. Gifts into the fund are tax deductible and then you can make distributions from the fund over a period of years to support the charities of your choice in a consistent manner over time.

B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy: a teen philanthropic fund and program A teenager, parent, grandparent or friend of a teen might consider establishing a B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy Fund in his/her/their name. With an initial gift of $250, a teen can have their own philanthropic fund (a mini Donor Advised Fund). TJF will match the initial gift (up to $250) simply for establishing your fund with us. This is a fantastic opportunity for teens to use some bar/bat mitzvah gifts and learn how to become philanthropists.

Legacy Match Life Insurance Program Life insurance can be used to make a significant philanthropic impact in our community and for generations to come.

Another great match opportunity is through the gift of life insurance where the Jewish community is the beneficiary of your policy. Right now, TJF is offering a 35% match of premiums for specific types of policies. Call to learn more how tax-deductible insurance premium payments

12 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

can create a fund to benefit one or more Jewish organizations and causes which are important to you.

LIFE & LEGACY Our community is nearing the end of Year 2 in the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s LIFE & LEGACY program, which includes more than 57 Jewish communities. LIFE & LEGACY is a four-year program that assists communities, through partnerships with Jewish Federations and Foundations, to promote after-lifetime giving to benefit local Jewish day schools, synagogues, social service organizations, and other Jewish entities. TJF is leading this initiative for Tidewater’s Jewish community, with 10 participant organizations: Congregation Beth El, Toras Chaim Day School, Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, Ohef Sholom Temple, Beth Sholom Village, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Temple Emanuel, Chabad of Tidewater, and Simon Family Jewish Community Center.

The program provides everyone the opportunity to participate by making a commitment to leave a legacy to one or more Jewish organizations of your choice.

Charitable IRA Roll Over The charitable IRA rollover, or qualified charitable distribution (QCD), is a special provision allowing certain donors to exclude from taxable income—and count toward their required minimum distribution (RMD)—certain transfers of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) assets that are made directly to public charities. In order for a gift to qualify for the charitable IRA rollover, the gift must be made by a donor age 70½ or older and must be transferred directly from a traditional or Roth IRA directly to a permissible public charity (such as Tidewater Jewish Foundation for the benefit of one or more organizations). The gift must be completed during the applicable tax

year. An individual taxpayer’s total charitable IRA rollover gifts cannot exceed $100,000 per tax year. If you have not already taken your required minimum distribution (RMD), a qualifying rollover gift may count toward satisfying this requirement. Consult your own professional advisor (tax, legal, financial) to learn how this provision may apply to your specific situation.

Gifting of Appreciated Securities The end of year is a great time to consider a charitable contribution of long-term appreciated securities (e.g. stocks, bonds and/or mutual funds that have realized significant appreciation over time). It is one of the most tax-efficient ways to give.

Long-term appreciated securities with unrealized gains (meaning they were purchased over a year ago, and have a current value greater than their original cost) may be donated to a public charity (such as TJF) and a tax deduction taken for the full fair market value of the securities—up to 30% of the donor’s adjusted gross income. Since the securities are donated rather than sold, capital gains taxes from selling the securities no longer apply. The more appreciation the securities have, the greater the tax savings will be. You may gift any appreciated securities directly to Tidewater Jewish Foundation into a current fund or create a new fund, such as a Donor Advised Fund to benefit one or more organizations now and in the future.

You may receive your tax deduction at the time of the gift of the securities and determine later which organizations you would like to receive distributions from the fund.

To discuss any of these programs or gifting options, consider setting up a confidential conversation with Scott Kaplan, president and CEO of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation. To learn more and to discuss specific goals and objectives, call him at 757-965-6109 or email at skaplan@ujft.org.

first person

Community stands up to hate on Shabbat Sarah Davis

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n a bright and cozy fall Saturday, I arrived to Temple Emanuel’s Shabbat morning service, to men and women walking toward the door, to cars lining the streets and even propped up on the grass.

Three policemen were standing guard by the front door, and two by a table asking to check bags. Their request was softened by a woman greeting congregants and visitors as they entered. “Shabbat Shalom,” she said.… “A peaceful Sabbath.”

Peace. Yes. Peace. And to keep peace, today we needed armed officers by the door and officers rifling through bags looking for weapons.

“Shabbat Shalom,” I answered back.

Unexpected emotion caught in my throat as I saw familiar faces wrapped in tallit, the same group of synagogue regulars I saw at Rosh Hashanah only a few weeks ago. It’s a comforting feeling of protection—a feeling of connectedness, of safety and togetherness. There is strength in this group, even though we are a small and intimate congregation.

My children and I walked toward the sanctuary, a place where I can usually arrive a few minutes late and still find my seat of choice. But not today. Today each seat was taken by members of the Virginia Beach community, here to listen, support, and attend in solidarity after the week’s tragic events.

The congregants were treated to words from Rabbi Marc Kraus, Imam Rachid Khould from the Crescent Community Center, Reverend Michael Simone from Spring Branch Community Church, Reverend Kathleen Bobbitt from Galilee Church, and Tracey Swinarsky, on behalf of the LGBTQ community.

At the bimah, Imam Khould spoke about feeling speechless about the shooting in Pittsburgh. . . so much so that he forced himself to speak in this forum, to outwardly process the thoughts we’ve all been having.

And then he said the word once.

Twice. Three Times. Murder. Murdered.

These people were murdered. The word stung each time it rang out; a sound so

cacophonous in what should be a warm, safe, and nurturing place. My eight-yearold son turned to me after the third pronouncement. “Mommy—I don’t think that man knows what murder actually means.”

I paused. What a purely innocent comment. Murder is such a vile concept—a concept that shouldn’t find a place in our reality, and especially in a house of God, so it seems inappropriate to use it. In my son’s young mind, the clergy man must be mistaken.

My son’s whisper was heavy. “Did someone get killed?”

And here it was. Up until now I hadn’t shared what had happened in Pittsburgh, choosing to protect my child’s innocence.

But in this moment, I found myself whispering, “Last week a bad guy came to a

synagogue…but not here…far from here.

He killed some people because they were Jewish.”

I saw his eyes change. In that moment, he realized what I didn’t want him to know yet. Some people hate you for who you are.

But just as quickly, I brought his attention to the filled sanctuary—so many people that there were no more seats, that people spilled into the hallway to hear the prayers. “That’s why we’re here today. All of these people, most aren’t even Jewish— they are all here to support us and to stand with us, to help us understand that so many in the world love us.”

Too often, we stand silently next to each other, believing that we are strong enough to stay on our own island, to handle our own conflicts and challenges.

But the truth is, without weaving ourselves

together, without asking for and accepting social connections, we miss out on a foundation of support, kindness, and of love.

And so, on this Shabbat, we were all rising together, in synchrony, in song, and in prayer. And just like a freshly baked loaf of challah, we were beautiful and imperfect, but whole—individual strands braided together so deeply that no one could tell where one community voice ended and the other began.

On the following Monday, as my son prepared for school, I heard him singing.

Hinei Mah tov u-ma nayim.… His voice carried through the house, the tiny, little boy voice announcing the message.

Hinei Mah tov u-ma nayim.… Behold how good and how pleasant it is for people to dwell together.

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it’s a Wrap Women come together to celebrate a successful campaign Amy Zelenka

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he Women’s Division of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater held its annual Lion Tikva Chai Luncheon on Thursday, Nov. 1 to celebrate its newest milestone givers. And, there was a lot to celebrate.

Headlining the event was author, lecturer, and performer Erin Mahone, whose one-woman show, It Runs in the Family, was based on the pages of her recently published book, If You Could See Me: Life,

New Milestone Givers Amethyst Lion • Kim Simon Fink

Emerald Lion • • • • •

Shari Friedman Connie Jacobson Sofia Konikoff Annie Sandler Renee Strelitz

Sapphire Lion • • • •

Bonnie Brand Randi Gordon Karen Lombart Sandra Porter Leon

Motherhood, and the Pursuit of Sanity. Her performance was deeply personal and described some of the highest and lowest points in her life, with an overriding message that life is a mixed bag, but the trick is to make the most of it—and to see the beauty in all things—even those which aren’t so obvious.

Held just days after the horrific events which took place in the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg delivered an opening message of healing and comfort to the women in the room. Rabbi Roz was followed by Janet Mercadante, Women’s Cabinet chair, who opened the lunch with a quick campaign overview, which revealed this year’s campaign to be on a remarkable trajectory—well ahead of the pace of last year, and set to break records across the board.

Next to take the podium were Stephanie Calliott, immediate past chair, and Barbara Dudley, Cabinet education committee chair. Dudley announced the names of the newest milestone givers (see box), and Calliott called the names of the Federation’s Endowed Lions of Blessed Memory—women who endowed their Lion of Judah gifts to the Annual

Ann Copeland and her daughter, Jodi Klebanoff.

Author, lecturer and performer, Erin Mahone.

Campaign during their lifetimes, so that their gifts would continue to benefit the community in perpetuity.

To close the event, Mona Flax, Women’s Cabinet vice chair, thanked all for coming, for supporting the annual campaign, and for asking others to support it, as well. She pointed out and encouraged all to come to the next women’s event, a Women’s PLUS ONE event. Free and open to all women in the Jewish community (and their plus ones!), the PLUS ONE event will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 7:30 pm at the Sandler Family Campus and features

Deb Segaloff with Randi Gordon.

author Jenna Blum, discussing her latest novel, The Lost Family.

Amy Zelenka is United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s campaign director. She may be reached at AZelenka@ujft.org.

Lion of Judah • • • • • •

Karen Fine Kristy Foleck Margot Miller Jacqueline Silverberg Robin West Helen Wolfe

Tikva Society Donors • • • • • •

Beth Berman Barbara Dudley Sonia Stein Jody Wagner Elaine Weitzman Ashley Zittrain

Chai Society Donors • Rachel Feigenbaum • Alyssa Muhlendorf • Stephanie Steerman

UJFT president-elect, Amy Levy; immediate past women’s cabinet chair, Stephanie Calliott; and cabinet member Leora Drory.

14 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Honey Maizel, Lucy Cardon, Judy Nachman, and Jan Ganderson.

it’s a Wrap

Wendy Konikoff, Ronnie Jane Konikoff, and Ilana Benson.

Kristy Foleck, Marian Ticatch, Ashley Zittrain, Alicia Friedman, and Elyse Cardon.

Mona Flax ,Women’s cabinet co-chair, with Janet Mercadante, Women’s Cabinet chair, and Jeri Jo Halprin.

Renee Strelitz, Laura Gross, UJFT campaign chair, and Shelly Simon.

Ellen Hundley, Rabbi Roz Mandelberg, Amy Lefcoe, and Stacie Hofheimer Moss.

2019 Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award winner, Ann Copeland (seated) with Ina Levy and Judy Nachman.

Marcia Moss; Barbara Dudley, Women’s Cabinet education chair; Judy Rosenblatt, Bootsie Goldmeier, and Marcia Hofheimer.

jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Jewish News | 15

it’s a Wrap

Challah Bake is as much about camaraderie as it’s about the bread Leigh Casson

T

he Great Big Challah Bake was a huge success as more than 120 women got together to bake challah as part of the International Shabbos project. The event took place last month at the Sandler Family Campus.

Along with the ingredients and supplies that were provided, instruction and guidance were offered by veteran challah bakers. Each woman created and kneaded the dough for two challahs. While waiting for their dough to rise, the girls of BINA High School presented a program. Finally, the dough was masterfully braided and sent home to bake.

“At the Challah Bake, one feels a special connection with Jewish women from all walks of life and sects of Judaism.

In retrospect, the spiritual aspect tied to baking challah, at the same time as women all over the globe, is exhilarating,” says Linda Sinowitz. “I hope the other participants shared the same uplifting sense of “Sisterhood” as I did…we are the backbone of the faith. I know I will be back next year!”

The Great Big Challah Bake, 2018.

Malka Rudin and Nechama Rudin.

Liora, Erika, and Eden Kaplan.

Vivian Turok, Shelley Slone, and Laura Gross.

Chamie and Minna Haber.

Anne Abraham, Alex Calliott, and Stephanie Calliott.

16 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Marcy Mostofsky, Darcy Bloch, and Amy Brooke.

Happy Hanukkah!

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or the past couple of months, I’ve been hearing, “Hanukkah is so early this year!”

Yet, according to the Hebrew calendar, Hanukkah is showing up perfectly on

time—on the 25th of Kislev. For those of us who live by the Gregorian calendar, however, the Festival of Lights begins at nightfall on Sunday, Dec. 2 with the lighting of the first candle, and the eating of the first latke.

In Tidewater, as across America, Hanukkah has evolved over the decades. For me, growing up, it was a quick lighting of the menorah each night. (My mom still uses the same one.) We got a little gelt and ate latkes one night. Most of my classmates weren’t even aware of the holiday. Today, it’s a completely different story. In our home, we add a hanukkiah each night, until on the eighth night, we’re lighting 72 candles! The room even gets hot! We choose between Hanukkah cds or put on Pandora’s Hanukkah station.

We eat latkes, exchange gifts, and talk about the story of Hanukkah and the Macabees.

How times have changed. Gary Tabakin, a past president of Temple Emanuel, recalls how the holiday was celebrated here in the 1960s and when he noticed the first change. The article is on page 21.

In fact, there’s so much going on in 2018 for Hanukkah in Tidewater that Carly Glikman of Shalom Tidewater compiled a list of lunches, dinners, parties, concerts, and fun events, including Norfolk Admiral’s Hanukkah on Ice—a sure sign that the holiday is now known and celebrated throughout community. Her list begins on page 30.

In addition to other fun articles, this section offers great gift suggestions from our advertisers. We hope you find something you like—including a new twist on a latke recipe.

All of us at Jewish News wish you a very Happy Hanukkah!

Terri Denison Editor

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Hanukkah How times have changed!

Hanukkah celebrations evolve in Tidewater

G

rowing up in the 1960s in Norfolk, there were no large “public” displays of Hanukah, recalls Gary Tabakin. “In religious school at Beth El, there would be a Hanukah party each year where dreidels and gelt were passed out and students would eat lots of latkes,” he says.

Often, says Tabakin, Jewish mothers across Tidewater would go into their child’s public school class to tell the story of the Macabees, light a menorah, and give dreidels to the students.

“Each evening,” says Tabakin, “we would wait with great anticipation for my father to come home from work to light the menorah and give my brother and me another gift.”

Overall, though, the holiday wasn’t given much time. Not many songs even existed in addition to Rock of Ages and Dreidel, Dreidel, which every Jewish kid knew. One of the two were usually incorporated into schools’ Christmas concerts.

“For Tidewater, in 1981, something amazing happened!” says Tabakin. “Rabbi Aaron Margolin of Chabad set up a giant menorah on Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, visible to everyone driving down the interstate to the oceanfront. Later, he displayed another giant menorah in Norfolk at Town Point Park.”

Things began to change with the entire community aware of the Festival of Lights.

“Today, every night of Hanukkah is celebrated—not just in our homes and synagogues, but in the community,” says Tabakin.

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Hanukkah Black Friday is now a thing in Israel Marcy Oster

JERUSALEM (JTA)—I was watching late night network television on Saturday night—that’s not terribly exciting here —when I was slammed with a string of ads that made me feel like I was back in America.

The ads were in practically shouted Hebrew, but I could discern the same two English words in each: Black Friday.

(You have to say it with a Hebrew accent though, kind of like Blek Fchidey.) Clothing, electronics, home decor—all the ads were pushing Black Friday sales.

Nor did the Black Friday assault stop with my television. Suddenly every cellphone text message (and I get a lot of them because I have loyalty cards at literally every store in one of the Kfar Saba malls where I do most of my shopping) is from a chain store reminding me that its Black

Friday sales HAVE ALREADY STARTED! I won’t lie; I have taken advantage of these sales. In fact I visited my favorite mall today and there were Black Friday sales signs in front of every store.

But the difference here: The stores are not swamped with shoppers like in America (though the pace of shopping is noticeably brisk).

This isn’t the first year that I have noticed Black Friday sales in Israel. It is just that this year it became…commonplace.

How did this most American of traditions—the door-busting Christmasseason sales that come the day after Thanksgiving—make it to Israel? Blame the internet. Israelis order a ton of merchandise online, and every website they visit is touting Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. If it’s good enough for Americans, it’s good enough for Israelis, right?

While Israelis have come to expect

these November sales, which this year come conveniently less than two weeks before Hanukkah, I don’t think most of them know why there is a Black Friday or that it is the kickoff of the Christmas shopping season.

And why should they? As a nation we don’t celebrate Christmas even though it is the land where the story takes place.

But everyone loves a sale.

As for Thanksgiving, when we made aliyah from the States more than 18 years ago, my husband and I decided to keep the Thanksgiving tradition alive. The holiday was particularly meaningful to his immigrant grandfather, who escaped from Europe right before the Holocaust, and my immigrant father, a Holocaust survivor.

The first time I tried to buy a whole turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner, butchers in three communities looked at me like I was crazy. “Al lo dvar kazeh po!” (there

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is no such thing here), one said, and suggested I take home a nice turkey breast.

“Whatever do you want that for?” another asked.

As for cranberry sauce, fuhgedaboutit.

In later years, stores in Anglo neighborhoods in cities such as Jerusalem and Raanana began stocking cranberry sauce.

And this year my local supermarket also started selling it, likely in deference to a new cadre of young immigrants from the United States who have moved to our community in recent years and, apparently, are continuing to observe Thanksgiving.

When I went to order a whole turkey from the local butcher, the woman at the counter told me I was the third order that morning!

“For Chag Hahodaya, right?” she asked me, using a literal translation of “Festival of Thanks.” (In a strange linguistic coincidence, the Hebrew word for turkey, hodu, can also mean “give thanks.” That’s a fun fact for everyone but the turkey.)

The term Black Friday became widely recognized in the 1980s. According to several sources it was dubbed “black” (as in negative, as in “black eye” and “black sheep”) by police in Philadelphia to describe the crowds and traffic on the day after Thanksgiving and the day before the Army-Navy football game.

In an effort to make the term more cheery, retailers took on the explanation that success on the day makes the difference between finishing in the red, or operating at a loss, to being in the black, or operating at a profit.

Do Israelis know this? I have no idea.

But every time I hear or see a Black Friday ad, I feel like maybe too much of America has crept into our society. We already have pre-Rosh Hashanah and pre-Passover sales, since they have also become gift-giving occasions. But Black Friday? It’s just not Israel.

All I know is that I can’t wait for Friday and the end of the bombardment of advertisements. Besides, the End of Season sales will already be starting soon.

jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Hanukkah | Jewish News | 23

Hanukkah How a Hanukkah song made its way into the Hebrew translation of Harry Potter Josefin Dolsten

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(JTA)—If you read the Harry Potter series in Hebrew you may have noticed a curious Jewish fact: Though Sirius Black isn’t Jewish, the character sings a Hanukkah song in one scene.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hebrew translator Gili Bar Hillel reveals some behindthe-scenes tidbits about her Harry Potter translation process. In the original English version, Black parodies a Christmas song, God Rest Ye, Merry Gentleman, but Bar Hillel felt that wouldn’t resonate with Israeli readers.

Instead, she referenced a well-known Hanukkah song, Mi Yimallel (Gvurot Yisrael) so that Jewish readers would be able to relate.

“There were fans who ridiculed this and said that I was trying to convert Harry to Judaism, but really the point was just to convey the cheer and festivity of making up words to a holiday song,” she says.

“I don’t think any of the characters come off as obviously Christian, other than in a vague sort of cultural way, so I didn’t feel it was a huge deal if I substituted one

seasonal holiday for another!”

That wasn’t Bar Hillel’s only translation dilemma. She struggled with finding the right phrase for “Pensieve,” a container used to store memories. After weeks of thinking, she came up with the term “Hagigit.”

The phrase is “a portmanteau of ‘hagig’—a fleeting idea—and ‘gigit’—a washtub,” Bar Hillel says.

It doesn’t seem like author J.K. Rowling would mind the liberties Bar Hillel took.

The British author has recently become a vocal critic of anti-Semitism, using Twitter to call out people peddling anti-Jewish arguments. Her latest book even includes a villain whose obsessive hatred of Zionism turns into anti-Semitism.

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Hanukkah Israel and US postal services issue joint Hanukkah stamp JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel Post and the U.S. Postal Service have issued a joint stamp for Hanukkah.

The stamp also is meant to celebrate 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the United States, Israel Post said in a statement.

The new stamp design was launched simultaneously in the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, the oldest synagogue in the United States, and at the American Center in Jerusalem.

“Today’s joint stamp issue is a symbol of the shared values and the cultural affinity between the United States and Israel,” U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said at the Jerusalem ceremony.

Postal Service Judicial Officer Gary Shapiro said in Rhode Island: “Starting today, this work of art celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights will travel on millions of letters and packages, throughout America and around

the world.”

The stamp art features a Hanukkah menorah created using the technique of papercutting, a Jewish folk art, by artist Tamar Fishman. Behind the menorah is a shape that resembles an ancient oil jug representing the miracle of the oil that burned in the candelabra in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after its sacking and recapture for the eight days necessary to resupply. Additional design elements include dreidels and a pomegranate plant with fruit and flowers.

The stamp is being issued in the United States as a Forever stamp, which will always be equal in value to the current first-class mail one-ounce price. It will sell in Israel for 8.30 shekels, the cost of a regular first-class stamp.

The first joint U.S.-Israel Hanukkah postal stamp was issued in 1996.

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Hanukkah In time for the holiday: a new twist on a Kosher ice cream Happy Hanukkah!

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SECAUCUS, N.J. (JTA)—Once a year, this swampy neighbor of New York City turns into kosher food heaven. Jews from across the country gather at the Meadowlands Exposition Center for the world’s largest kosher food trade show, Kosherfest.

There’s plenty of nosherai, Yiddish, and kippahs to go around at an event where attendees skew Orthodox and male. Some 300 exhibitors showed their products Nov. 13–Nov. 14 to an audience of approximately 5,000 food industry professionals, vendors, and journalists.

One of the more unusual products at the 2018 Kosherfest is just for Hanukkah.

Menorah-shaped ice cream cake Klein’s Ice Cream gives sufganiyot a run

for their money with a cake with slices that look like Hanukkah menorahs. The pareve (non-dairy) and vegan dessert is made of cherry and passion fruit-mango sorbet and is topped with chocolate icing.

The health-conscious can delight—or at least take solace—in the fact that the cake, which comes pre-sliced, is made with real fruit. (Another version has slices that look like candle flames.) The menorah cake is only sold around Hanukkah, but those looking for a cold treat can buy other varieties of Klein’s Ice Cream yearround. A 12-slice log costs about $30 and is available in kosher supermarkets.

“If you buy it for your kids, your kids will love you,” says Victor Klein, manager of Klein’s Ice Cream.

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Hanukkah Forget the crunch—try these creamy potato latkes for Hanukkah Rachel Ringler

(The Nosher via JTA)—Each Jewish holiday has its traditional food: For Passover it’s the symbolic matzah; for Rosh Hashanah it’s sweet honey and new fruits. For Purim we get the delectable hamantaschen; and for Hanukkah it’s oil. That purified olive oil, used to rekindle the iconic seven-branched candelabra that was eternally lit in the grand Temple in Jerusalem, has shown up in modern times in our Hanukkah lamps and in our foods.

Jews from North Africa customarily ate some form of fried pastry or doughnut filled with fruit or coated with honey and sugar. In Israel, expect to see bakeries filled with flats and flats of sufganiyot, fried doughnuts filled with jam, for weeks before the start of the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah. But in the United States, while jelly doughnuts have grown in popularity, some sort of fried pancake is still de rigeuer.

In our home, we eat what our

Polish-born grandparents ate: potato latkes. Generally, they are the classic ingredients: grated russet potatoes and onion, bound with matzah meal and egg, seasoned with salt and pepper, and fried in vegetable oil. We never use schmaltz, the chicken or goose fat that was often used in Eastern Europe because of its ubiquity and low cost. We would like to! But we feel guilty enough eating any sort of fried food.

Cooking our potatoes in schmaltz, while delicious, is simply a bridge too far.

But still, even within my own family, there is a latke schism. Yes to potatoes.

Yes to vegetable oil. But it’s the texture of those potato delights that causes the great divide. I like a crunchy latke, while my sisters prefer creamy. The difference between the two? How they’re prepared and processed—on a coarse or fine grate.

For a potato pancake that while crisp on the outside is memorable for its creamy texture within, and that requires lots of

Creamy Potato Latkes Ingredients 3 pounds russet potatoes 1 medium yellow onion 3 extra large eggs ½ cup matzah meal

2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Vegetable oil for frying

oil—a tip of the frying pan to Maccabean times—try my sister Cheryl Schildkraut’s simple recipe for potato latke straight from my family’s treasure trove of Eastern European foods.

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Hanukkah In Holland, one of the world’s most expensive Hanukkah menorahs hides in plain sight Cnaan Liphshiz

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AMSTERDAM (JTA)—Nothing about the appearance of object MB02280 at this city’s Jewish Historical Museum suggests it is the capital’s priciest Hanukkah menorah, worth more than the average local price of a duplex home.

Shaped like the body of a violin, it is only 16 inches tall. Its base cradles eight detachable oil cups intended to function as candles on Hanukkah, when Jews light candles to commemorate a 167 BCE revolt against the Greeks. They are set against the menorah’s smooth, reflective surface, whose edges boast elaborate rococo reliefs.

But for all its charms, the Nieuwenhuys menorah—its creator was the non-Jewish silversmith Harmanus Nieuwenhuys— doesn’t stand out from the other menorahs on display next to it at the museum. Far from the oldest one there, the menorah certainly doesn’t look like it’s worth its estimated price of $450,000.

The Nieuwenhuys menorah can hide in plain sight because its worth owes “more to its story than to its physical characteristics,” says Irene Faber, the museum’s collections curator.

Made in 1751 for an unidentified Jewish patron, the Nieuwenhuys menorah’s story encapsulates the checkered history of Dutch Jewry. And it is tied to the country’s royal family, as well as a Jewish war hero who gave his life for his country and his name to one of its most cherished tourist attractions.

The price tag of the Nieuwenhuys menorah, which does not have an official name, is roughly known because a very similar menorah made by the same silversmith fetched an unprecedented $441,000 at a 2016 auction. A collector who remained anonymous clinched it at the end of an unexpected bidding war that made international news. It was initially expected to fetch no more than $15,000.

Another reason for the more vigorous bidding: The menorah came from the

collection of the Maduros, a well-known Portuguese Jewish family that produced one of Holland’s most celebrated war heroes. The Nazis murdered George Maduro at the Dachau concentration camp after they caught him smuggling downed British pilots back home. In 1952, his parents built in his memory one of Holland’s must-see tourist attractions: the Madurodam, a miniature city.

“I imagine the connection to the Maduro family drove up the price,” says Nathan Bouscher, the director of the Corinphila Auctions house south of Amsterdam, which has handled items connected with famous Dutch Jews.

Besides the menorah on display at the Jewish Historical Museum, the Netherlands has another very expensive one in the Rintel Menorah: A 4-footer that the Jewish Historical Museum bought last year for a whopping $563,000. Far more ostentatious than the modest-looking Nieuwenhuys menorah, the Rintel, from 1753, is made of pure silver and weighs several kilograms. It is currently on loan to the Kroller-Muller Museum 50 miles east of Amsterdam.

The Jewish Historical Museum has no intention of selling the Nieuwenhuys, Faber said, although it could attract even more spectacular bids owing to its provenance: It was bought by the late queen of the Netherlands, Wilhelmina, as a gift for her mother and given to the museum by her grandson, King Willem-Alexander.

“We don’t know who commissioned the work, but from the reputation of the artist and the amount of labor it took, it was probably a wealthy Jewish family, perhaps of Sephardic descent,” Faber says.

At the center of the object is a round network of arabesque-like decorations “that probably contains the owner’s initials in a monogram,” Faber says, “but we haven’t been able to decipher it. It’s a riddle.”

The monogram was one of several

Hanukkah techniques that Nieuwenhuys and other Christian silversmiths in the Netherlands had developed for their rich Jewish clients.

Before the 19th century, no Jews were allowed to smith silver in the Netherlands because they were excluded from the Dutch silversmiths guilds, which were abolished in the 1800s.

“This exclusion was beneficial [to the guild] because it kept out competition, but it meant that Christian smiths needed to become experts at making Jewish religious artifacts like this menorah,” Faber says.

Works like the menorah on display at the museum illustrate how some Jewish customers clearly were art lovers with sophisticated tastes.

Whereas the Maduro menorah was symmetrical with Baroque highlights, the Nieuwenhuys is asymmetrical with rococo characteristics that were “pretty avant-garde for its time,” Faber says. The smooth surfaces are “another bold choice, showing finesse,” she adds.

Whoever owned the menorah no longer possessed it by 1907, when Queen Wilhelmina bought it for an unknown price at an auction to give it as a gift to her mother, Princess Emma.

This purchase may appear inconsequential to a contemporary observer, but its significance becomes evident when examined against the backdrop of institutionalized anti-Semitism among other European royal houses and governments.

The German Emperor Wilhelm II, a contemporary of Wilhelmina, was a passionate anti-Semite who famously said in 1925 that “Jews and mosquitoes are a nuisance that humankind must get rid of some way or another,” adding “I believe the best way is Gas.” Belgium’s King Leopold III was more

politically correct, stating magnanimously in 1942 that he has “no personal animosity” toward Jews, but declaring them nonetheless “a danger” to his country. He raised no objections when the Germans and their collaborators began deporting Belgian Jews to their deaths.

But in the Netherlands, where thousands of Jews found haven after fleeing the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition of the 16th century, royals not only refrained from such statements but were genuinely “interested in other faiths, including the Jewish one,” Faber says.

Wilhelmina’s gifting of a menorah to her mother “isn’t strange for her,” Faber says. “I imagine she found it fun, something to talk about with her mother, to see together how it works.” After all, “Jews have always been under the protection of the Royal House.”

Except, that is, during the years 194045, when Queen Wilhelmina and the Royal House fled to the United Kingdom.

Wilhelmina mentioned the suffering of her Jewish subjects only three times in her radio speeches to the Dutch people during five years of exile.

Whereas before the war “Jews always sought the Royal House,” during and after “it appeared Wilhelmina didn’t think too much about the Jews,” Faber says. This was “a stain” on relations between Dutch Jews and the Royal House, which underwent a “rupture.”

But this was gradually healed in the postwar years.

The fact that King Willem-Alexander, Wilhelmina’s great-grandson, in 2012 gave the Nieuwenhuys menorah on an open-ended loan to the Jewish museum on its 90th anniversary “symbolizes the healing of the rupture,” Faber says.

ALL EIGHT NIGHTS— COVERED ALL THE BRANDS HE LOVES. ALL IN ONE PLACE. Ledbury • Peter Millar •34 Heritage Jack Victor • Coppley • Martin Dingman AG Jeans • Rodd & Gunn • True Grit Brax • Johnnnie O • MAC Jeans AND MANY MORE!

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A perfect Chanukah gift for the young lady or woman in your life The Jewish Woman’s Book of Wisdom:

Thoughts from prominent Jewish women on spirituality, identity, sisterhood, family, and faith edited by Ellen Jaffe-Gill, rabbi of Tidewater Chavurah

Available through Rabbi Ellen’s website: ellenjaffegill.com jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Hanukkah | Jewish News | 29

Hanukkah Hanukkah is happening around Tidewater Compiled by Carly Glikmam for Shalom Tidewater

B’nai Israel The Kabbalah of Chanukkah

Wednesdays, Nov. 28 and Dec. 5, 1:30 pm Simon Family JCC Join Rabbi Gavriel Rudin for a two part series about Hanukkah.

RSVP to gavriel.rudin@bnaiisrael.org.

Ohef Sholom Temple

Wednesdays 10 am–2 pm through December 9th Ohef Sholom Temple’s gift shop will feature special Hanukkah Judaica.

757-625-4295

30 | Jewish News | Hanukkah | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Simon Family JCC Latkepalooza

Sunday, Dec. 2, 12–3:30 pm Sandler Family Campus Rick Recht LIVE along with Jamie Korngold, author of Sadie’s Marvelous Menorah and Sadie’s Snowy Tu B’Shevat, and Carrie Jones, author of The Spy Who Played Baseball.

RSVP to 757-616-0770.

Chabad of Tidewater/ Chabad at the Oceanfront Sunday, Dec. 2, 4:30 pm Annual Chanukah Extravaganza at the Giant Mount Trashmore Menorah!

Mt. Trashmore parking lot near the Y. Hanukkah treats, crafts for the kids, Ryan the Balloon guy, free light up gift, and photos with Judah Maccabee and Dizzy the Dreidel. Free and open to the public.

RSVP www.chabadoftidewater.com/ menorah.

Anne Phillips’ Couture

Hanukkah Temple Emanuel: Latkes & Lights Sunday, Dec. 2, 5:30 - 8:30 pm First night celebration with latkes, ice cream, and a craft table for kids. Bring your own menorah (or borrow) RSVP by Nov. 28 to Gail 757-428-2591

Chabad at the Oceanfront: Chanukah Celebration Monday, Dec. 3, 6 pm home of Mark Lipton, 232 43rd Street, Virginia Beach

Beth El Family Chanukah Party at Cloud 9 Tuesday, Dec. 4, 6-7:30pm Celebrate Chanukah with a night of fun for the whole family. Pizza dinner, Menorah lighting together in the party room. Free Admission for Beth El Members with one toy per child to be donated. (Grip sock included) RSVP to the Beth El Office by November 27 (757-625-7821)

The Norfolk Kollel Benefit Dinner Cruise

Wednesday, Dec. 5, 530 boarding, cruise 6-8 Enchanting evening cruise to experience the latest craze in the culinary world. $250 per couple, $150 per person.

RSVP at RSVP@norfolkkollel.com

Chabad of Tidewater & Hebrew School of The Arts Open House and Chanukah Party Wednesday, Dec. 5, 4–5:30 pm Light dinner and Hanukkah activity. Learn about Chabad’s new Hebrew School. chabadvb@gmail.com

Ohef Sholom Temple Shabbat for everyone

Friday, Dec. 7, 5:30 pm (dinner starts at 6:45 pm) 530 Raleigh Ave., Norfolk Community Hanukkah dinner.

757-625-4295

B’nai Israel Channukah lunch

Friday, Dec. 7, immediately following davening Lunch welcoming new B’nai families gavriel.rudin@bnaiisrael.org

Norfolk Admirals’ Hanukkah On Ice

Saturday, Dec. 8, 7 pm Norfolk Scope Purchase tickets at https://BIT. LY/2PAUTXN and enter the code “TIDEWATER”. Toy toss, special guests from Fur Circus, and a post game skate. A third of ticket sales using the Hanukkah code will be donated to UJFT’s annual campaign.

Chabad of Tidewater: Children’s Shabbat Experience— The Chanukah Edition!

Saturday, Dec. 8, 10:45–11:45 am Supervised playroom during services to celebrate Hanukkah in Gan Izzy style!

Games, songs, treats,and edible craft.

Ages 2–10.

RSVP to Rashi.brashi@me.com.

Open House Hanukkah Party

Saturday, December 1

12 - 6 pm

Hors d’oeuvres and sips will be served Tea Room modeling

Happy Hanukkah!

Gift Certificates Available

Wayside Village Shops 4216 Virginia Beach Blvd Suite 180 Virginia Beach Mon - Sat • 11 am - 5 pm • 757-431-2888 (or by appointment, including Sundays)

The Norfolk Kollel 5th Annual Chanukah Party

Saturday, Dec. 8, 7:30 pm Music, Hanukkah crafts, delicious food, exciting stories, and moving divrei torah. $8 per person, $40 per family. rabbirudin@norfolkkollel.com

YAD Ugly Sweater Happy Hour

Thursday, Dec. 20, 5:30 - 7:30 pm, Coelacanth Brewing Company, Norfolk Join YAD (ages 22–45) for a special Ugly Sweater Happy Hour at Coelacanth Brewing Company sponsored by Tidewater Home Funding.

Appetizers are on YAD, drinks are on you. Bring friends to celebrate this year’s Festival of Lights.

CGlikman@ujft.org.

Carly Glikman may be reached at CGlikman@ujft.org.

jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Hanukkah | Jewish News | 31

This Hanukkah, Light the Way for Future Generations

Happy Hanukkah from YOUR Tidewater Jewish Foundation

Learn how you can secure the Jewish future by establishing your legacy.

Contact Barb Gelb at bgelb@ujft.org or 757.965.6105 32 | Jewish News | Hanukkah | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Tidewater

A new year and beginning for Congregation Beth Chaverim

Temple Israel pushke hits milestone

Jill Mitcham and Dr. Kathryn Sinclair-Fenter bring the light of Shabbat into the congregation’s new home.

Karen Bennett

H

ow fitting that Congregation Beth Chaverim’s first service in its new home was for Simchat Torah. This holiday was an extremely special occasion for the congregation as they not only turned the Torah scrolls back to the beginning, but brought them to rest in a new home.

For the past two years, Congregation Beth Chaverim has experienced significant struggles. In addition to conducting services and many life cycle events with only the help of lay leadership, 18 months ago, the congregants made the tough decision to sell their building at 3820 Stoneshore Road in Virginia Beach. While many congregations would not have survived this process, Beth Chaverim is surviving and embracing its new journey.

So far, one of the positive aspects of the journey is the friendships Beth Chaverim is forming. As soon as the Tidewater community got news of the synagogue’s troubles, many area congregations contacted Beth Chaverim offering space for services, or space to store ritual items.

Kempsville Conservative Synagogue and Temple Emanuel have been instrumental in making congregants feel welcome in their buildings, exemplifying what it means to be a Jewish community. Through

joint services, holiday celebrations, and events, the three Virginia Beach congregations have learned that, although each congregation has its own unique Jewish identity, they are one in Jewish spirit.

Pluralistic friendships are important in any community, and Beth Chaverim looks forward to continuing joint endeavors with both congregations.

Through this journey, Beth Chaverim has also embraced the strength of its own identity and has a newfound appreciation for their house of friends. It is with this renewed appreciation that the congregation is meeting weekly in Temple Emanuel’s social hall in Virginia Beach.

There, on Friday nights at 8 pm, Beth Chaverim now conducts its traditional Shabbat service with the warmth of friendship and Jewish spirit that epitomizes this congregation.

Embracing and looking forward to a bright future, Beth Chaverim realizes their new service location is only the beginning of its journey. Next steps will include the search for a spiritual leader, building upon existing membership, and furthering pluralistic friendships. The congregation is determined to succeed and looks forward to the road ahead.

Bobbie Fisher

“L

ast call for the pushke!”

That’s a phrase one can expect to hear every Friday night in the minyan room at Temple Israel, just as reliably as the psalm for Shabbat or the shema. It’s a tradition with a long history that recently passed a milestone.

There have been pushkes in the Temple Israel minyan room as long as anyone can remember—from those old blue and white metal boxes to plastic ones and even cardboard. Temple Israel members have been generous over the years—and not just on Friday nights when tzedakah is a mitzvah. Members began dropping in a few coins and occasionally, a bill, as they passed through the minyan room to get to other places in the synagogue.

During a 2007 trip to Israel, Rabbi Michael Panitz saw something that gave him an idea for a minyan room pushke upgrade. He visited Yad La Kashish, ‘Lifeline for the Old’, a sheltered workshop for economically disadvantaged seniors in Jerusalem, where elderly artisans receive training that allows them to produce beautiful hand-made crafts and Judaica

that is then sold to fund their many programs.

The box pictured here was meant to hold an esrog, but Panitz asked if they could produce the word ‘tzedakah’ and affix it to the box. They were happy to oblige.

Returning home with the pushke, the rabbi suggested that each Rosh Chodesh the minyan regulars get together to decide where they’d like to send the previous month’s tzedakah. The minyanaires, as they dubbed themselves, responded enthusiastically and generously. Their donations, along with those of guests and members who attend to say kaddish, have gone to both local and Israeli causes.

Long-time member Lois Einhorn began keeping a record of the contributions, and recently advised the temple that the minyanaires had reached a milestone: as of November 1, the pushke had received and donated more than $70,000. Among the many recipients: American Red Magen David for Israel, Camp Ramah, the Jewish Braille Institute, and of course, Yad La Kashish.

jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Jewish News | 33

It’s a Wrap Beth Sholom Village celebrates residents’ art work, welcomes new Sensory Room for memory patients, raises funds for Alzheimer’s research, and hosts annual Mah Jongg event

B

eth Sholom Village residents, staff, volunteers, and friends have been busy since Labor Day with a host of activities.

In September, Attending the opening of the Sensory Room in the Memory Enhancement Unit staff, family memat BSV are Bob Lansing, donor; Frances Levy Birshtein, past president; BSV CEO David Abraham; Leonard and Carol Laibstain, donors; bers and friends and Stuart Nachman, BSV president. raised $10,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association through bake sales, pie throwing contests, potato and taco bars, as well as gift baskets for raffles For the third year in a row, BSV staff and friends collected funds for The Alzheimer’s Association. The cause is and a silent auction. chosen because the disease impacts so many BSV residents. Holding the check are David Abraham, CEO of Beth Sholom Village and Gino Colombara, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association of Southeastern Virginia.

A wine and cheese reception as lava lamps and On October 30, the Village officially took place on October 19 for several peaceful aromas, as added a Sensory Room in the Memory Terrace residents who dabble in painting, well as tactile objects Enhancement Unit as a way to help respottery, and jewelry making, along with such as a tray with idents who experience mood swings, a silent auction. Indeed, some started kinetic sand. Josh depressive episodes, and agitation, to relax. creating art when they came to live at The Bennett, Recreation Ellen Mesh, Bernice Moses, Bonnie Lindenburg, and Valerie White.

They do so by interacting with items such Terrace.

Therapy director, spearheaded this endeavor. Donors were Carol and Leonard Laibstain for the room, and Bob Lansing for the sensory items and two Lay-Z-Boy chairs.

The Village hosted the Janet Gordon Annual Mah Jongg Day and Bruncheon, attracting 110 women from across the commu- Shelley Slone, Jeri Jo Halprin, Stephanie Calliott, nity to a brunch Denise Goldwasser, and Babbi Bangel. and games on Cecilia Higger, who immigrated to America from Judy Mitnick at Mah Jongg Bruncheon.

November 4. Tiles were shuffled, stacked, was raised to support Beth Sholom Village Cuba as a teenager, has lived at the Terrace for three years. All of her family members have been and drawn, and most importantly, money and its residents. given pieces of her artwork.

34 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

it’s a Wrap Fundraiser exceeds Toras Chaim expectations

Rabbis Yisroel Stein and Aharon Lipman.

T

oras Chaim conducted their 36-hour matching campaign fundraiser on Sunday, Oct. 14. The campaign goal of $40,000 was met within the first four hours of the event.

Ultimately, Toras Chaim raised more than $60,000 from over 230 donors.

This success comes as Toras Chaim is

expanding programs and increasing enrollment.

“The Jewish community really stepped up to make a difference,” says Rabbi Yisroel Stein, Toras Chaim’s development director, who organized the event.

Four new families have joined Toras Chaim in the past four months, and an additional four more families plan to enroll when they move to Norfolk in the coming months. This will bring the enrollment to close to 120 students. The Orthodox community’s advertising campaign to bring new families to Norfolk is paying off as families from larger cities seek the advantages of small community life including personal attention, community, and affordable programs.

Rabbi Gershon Litt, parent and board member, says, “It really was a lot of fun and energy in the room as we were calling. We were working the phones,

eating shawarma, and watching our fundraising goals rapidly get met and get surpassed.”

Litt says he is very proud to note how widespread support for Toras Chaim has become.

“Our base is really expanding, we have current parents and grandparents, Esther Bridge, Aviva Harpaz with two of her daughters, and Amy Brooke. successful alumni, friends, and supbringing nationally known educational porters all over who believe in what we trainers, and expanding efforts to work are doing.” with students with a range of individual With new families and strong support, needs. Toras Chaim will be visited by Toras Chaim started the year strong, plantheir accreditation review team this year. ning many educational initiatives both for Judaic and General Studies. The school is

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Ruth’s Life Said a Lot About Her

it’s a Wrap Local teens attend AIPAC High School Summit

As a “pink lady” Ruth Goodman volunteered more hours than anyone else at the Norfolk hospital where she greeted visitors for years.

Carly Glikman

A

Before she died in 1995, Ruth arranged for a Hampton Roads Community Foundation bequest to forever give good health to the community she and her late husband Victor loved.

This year 15 students are studying to become physicians, physical therapists, nurses and other medical professionals thanks to scholarships generated by Ruth’s generosity. Many more Goodman Scholars will follow every year.

Write your prescription for a better future by ordering a free bequest guide.

Learn how easy it is to leave a gift for charity.

merica’s bipartisan pro-Israel organization, AIPAC holds the Schusterman Advocacy Institute High School Summit in Washington, DC each year for students from across the country. More than 500 teenagers attended the summit this year, including two members from Congregation Beth El, Jordan ParkerAsh and Ethan Myers. They were chosen to represent Tidewater by Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz.

The Summit was an intense three-day conference with training sessions starting at 8 am and ending at 11 pm. The sessions were designed to give the teens the knowledge and tools to become advocates for positive U.S.-Israel relations. The conference taught the teens how to work with both political parties to secure a stronger United States and Israel.

Along with receiving current and past information on the situation in Israel and the Middle East, one of the highlights of the conference is to prepare for and lobby a local Virginia Congressman. At the end of the third day, the four teen delegates from Virginia met with a staff member from Congressman Gerry Connolly’s (VA11) office. Each student explained why

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Israel is so important to them as a Jewish student and as an American. The students were asked to lobby for the current security situation in Israel explaining the situation on the Gaza border, asking for $3.3 billion in the next vote to go towards Israel’s security. They also lobbied for a bill that will issue sanctions against anyone that uses humans as shields.

“It was nice to be able to discuss the problems facing Israel openly and work on a solution for them in a meaningful way,” says Ethan Myers. This came even more true when discussing the current situation on college campuses with BDS and SJP. AIPAC Liaisons from college campuses spoke to the teens about what they might encounter when they enter college in the next few years. They also spoke about how important it is to have the knowledge ahead of time and strength to be able to stand up and be a pro-Israel advocate on their college campus.

“I am so honored to have had the opportunity to attend this conference,” says Jordan Parker-Ash. “I learned so much about the American-Israeli alliance, explored my interest in politics, and made many, many friends. It was an

Jordan Parker-Ash and Ethan Myers at the AIPAC conference.

engaging and meaningful way to examine my Jewish political identity through education and experience right here in our nation’s capital.

“My favorite education session was the one where we heard about relationships, conflicts, and possible solutions going on in the Middle East from AIPAC’s own analysts. On our final day, we lobbied Congress, which was extremely exciting, as it was something I would have never been able to do,” she says.

This experience gave the two local students the skill set to positively speak about U.S.-Israel relations and become future AIPAC leaders. They learned that they have the power to make a difference and can continue to do so.

Beyond Duty Gordon Robertson, chief executive officer, The Christian Broadcasting Network; Betty Ann Levin, executive vice president, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater; Benjamin Krasna, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Israel; and Dr. Gerson Moreno-Riaño, executive vice president for academic affairs of Regent University, at the opening of Beyond Duty: Diplomats Recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.

A traveling memorial exhibit honoring the lives of 36 diplomats who risked their lives and the safety of their families to save countless Jews during the Holocaust, the local presentation was co-sponsored by Regent University and the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), in partnership with the Embassy of Israel.

The Jewish Community of Tidewater has a new website!

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Tidewater Jewish Foundation are excited to announce the launch of the newly redesigned JewishVA.org website.

Changes create a more engaging user experience, with the look and feel of the site refreshed and the layout transformed to give each organization its own navigation. Plus, the community calendar is now searchable, making it easier to find events by organization, department, and type.

“One of our primary goals for this website was to make it the central hub for our community to find upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, innovative programs and speakers, and more,” says Betty Ann Levin, Federation executive vice president.

Other goals for the redesign include improving the site’s mobile responsiveness and having the right tools for sharing impact stories, specifically through dynamic photo galleries and multiple video players. Most importantly, this new website provides a clear message about who we are as a community, and makes it easier for new and returning visitors to find the information they’re looking for.

Scott Kaplan, Foundation president and CEO, says, “Through the new site, we are excited to portray a more holistic view of the Foundation’s programs and services aimed at strengthening the future of our Jewish community. I hope the site provides a more valuable resource for individuals to explore how they can make an impact.”

Features of the new website include: • Prominent navigation and placement for JewishNewsVA.org • Searchable and interactive community information with the improved Shalom Tidewater • Easier access for Foundation donors to make donations from a Donor Advised fund • Increased opportunities to communicate and request information • One search bar returning results from both organizations

Explore the new community website at JewishVA.org.

JewishVA.org

jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Jewish News | 37

CHANUKAH SHOP Ost’s Judaica Shop Presents The

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530 Raleigh Avenue Norfolk, VA For More Information, call 757-625-4295 or email information@ohefsholom.org

This way to an unforgettable summer

All first time campers can get up to

$1,000 at Jewish overnight camp There’s a perfect camp for every Jewish camper.

Find yours at the

Camp Extravaganza December 2nd at Noon at the Sandler Family Campus.

One lucky camper (new or returning) will

win a $500 door prize to the Jewish overnight camp of their choice.

for more information or to apply contact Barb Gelb at bgelb@ujft.org or visit www.onehappycamper.org 38 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Jewish Book Festival Book reviews Richmond author shares personal and universal stories in new book If You Could See Me: Life,Motherhood, and the Pursuit of Sanity Erin Mahone Motivational Press, 2017 ISBN: 978-1-62865-490-5 190 pages Reviewed by Amy Zelenka

D

id you ever feel like you were living in that famous idiom: the inmates are running the asylum? Well, Erin Mahone, in her new book, If You Could See Me: Life, Motherhood, and the Pursuit of Sanity, seems to suggest that perhaps that’s not such a terrible thing.

Life will find its course, and we’ve all got to roll with the punches it deals us every now and then (or even more frequently). Mahone’s book, published in 2017 by Motivational Press, Inc. (a publisher whose very name is apropos of this book and its lessons) is warm and charming. Most moms I know (myself included) will see themselves represented, possibly more often than we care to admit, on the pages of this book.

A quick and easy read, I found myself reading and enjoying it in the oddest of places. I started it in shul during the High Holidays (Shhhhh, don’t tell the rabbi). I continued it while waiting for my Real ID Virginia Driver’s License at the DMV (read a lot of it there!) and finished it in the waiting rooms of various doctors’ offices in a week that saw one appointment after another (sometimes life just piles up the doctor visits). Please don’t worry about me. I’m fine. These were all just check-ups. But I can’t help feeling…there must be a metaphor in here somewhere.

And Mahone’s book actually seems to be encouraging me find that metaphor!

It’s a book that draws you in, because it’s incredibly personal. As a compassionate reader, I felt nearly each of Mahone’s childhood, adolescent, and young adult struggles to find herself and to love herself. I cheered for each of her victories, and

I dog-eared a lot of pages. Throughout the book Mahone’s own quotes, as well as quotes from wellknown inspirational figures, framed or summarized up the Amy Zelenka vignette or observation which made up the chapter.

The individual chapters in Mahone’s book feel like little grenades of wisdom, which quietly shout: “Learn from me! You don’t have to live it.… I’ve already lived it for you!” Sometimes they also whisper: “And if you’ve been through this too…you get what I’m talking about, but don’t let it bum you out…there are other ways to look at it, new perspectives to try on, and you may find that some lay softer on your heart than others.”

If You Could See Me is a beautifully written book full of humor—some of it genuine and some of it used to mask an underlying sadness. But it’s also a reminder that life is beautiful—even in its ugliness; that we look at situations through a different lens, and find that beauty most unexpectedly.

It’s also a poem to a love affair with motherhood—with its highs and lows and constant threats to our sanity. Mahone is a gifted writer with a beautiful soul that jumps of the pages of the book. She’s definitely someone I’d hang out and drink Pinot Grigio with any night of the week, just to hear her stories!

The Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival runs through December 2 and features a variety of authors and programs.

For more information, visit JewishVA.org/ book-fest.

Amy Zelenka is United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s campaign director.

She has two sons. She may be reached at AZelenka@ujft.org.

Jewish Book Festival Book reviews Tragedy impacts generations The Lost Family: A Novel Jenna Blum ISBN: 9780062742162 $27.99 Harper Collins Publishing New York, New York Reviewed by Lynn Woods

I

n The Lost Family, author Jenna Blum explores how tragic grief and loss can impact a family for generations.

Years have passed since Peter Rashkin, chef and restaurant owner of Masha’s in New York City, suffered torture and degradation in Auschwitz at the hands of the Nazis. He lost his wife, Masha, and young twin daughters during the Holocaust.

After the war’s end and his arrival in the United States, he rebuilds a life haunted by his loss. From each family member’s point of view, readers learn about three decades of the Rashkin family, beginning in 1965, with Peter, his second wife June, and their daughter Elisabeth.

Blum tells a story of how deeply woven relationships can impact everyday lives without family members realizing it. She breathes life and believability into these complicated characters as she includes the mundane thoughts and activities of everyday life, while detailing the intimate and powerful emotions of their relationships. The loss of Peter’s first family impacts each of them in ways that they either refuse to discuss or cannot recognize in themselves.

This is an excellent character study of how the tragedy of the Holocaust lives

Perfect for baseball and history fans

on, even to this day.

The damage done by the Nazis was not only death and destruction of the Jewish people of the time, but an indelible stain on the lives Lynn Woods of all who have lived afterwards, a stain on the world so deep that the true impact of the tragedy may never be known.

Blum has created a beautiful novel exploring the intertwining of both love and loss.

Jenna Blum will be at the Sandler Family Campus on Tuesday, November 27 at 7:30 pm as a guest author during the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival.

The Book Festival runs through December 2 and features a variety of authors and programs.

For more information, visit JewishVA.org/ book-fest.

Lynn Woods is a retired middle school teacher and a volunteer with the Holocaust Commission.

Jenna Blum

The Spy Who Played Baseball Carrie Jones ISBN: 9781512458640 $7.99 Kar-Ben Publishing Minneapolis, MN Reviewed by Sam Levin

I

had the opportunity to read a great book called, The Spy Who Played Baseball.

It is about how Moe Berg played Carrie Jones. baseball and was a spy. Nobody expected Moe to become famous. When Moe was seven years old, he started playing baseball. His coach told him, instead of a Jewish name like Moe Berg, to go by Runt Wolfe.

Moe loved school so much, that in the book it says, “He hated to miss school.

Once, he cut his leg so badly that he couldn’t even walk but went to school in a wheelbarrow.” Moe finished high school by age 16. He had studied Hebrew, French, Latin, and Greek. All that study paid off and he was accepted to Princeton University, one of the best colleges in the country. When he was in college, he played baseball and he used Latin as a secret code with his teammates. Moe set a team record-winning season and, as soon as he left college, Brooklyn’s pro baseball team hired him. Moe went to law school while playing pro baseball and the press called him, “The Professor.”

Years later, Moe joined the U.S. office of Strategic Services and became a spy. It was a dangerous thing to spy on the Nazis, even more dangerous if you are Jewish.

His next mission was even more dangerous. U.S. officials worried Germany was building an atomic bomb that could kill thousands. Moe’s assignment was to get information from Germany’s best physicist, Werner Heisenberg. First, Moe studied as much science as he could about an atomic bomb. Then, he went to Switzerland, where Heisenberg was giving a speech. Moe, disguised as a German businessman, attended the speech, but

Sam Levin.

could not tell if the Germans were close to building the bomb or not. In an act to find out more, Moe found his way into a party for Heisenberg and, pretending to be friendly, chatted with him. Moe determined that Heisenberg was not close at all to building the atomic bomb.

Moe continued to spy for the U.S. until they defeated Germany and Japan in 1945.

He returned as a hero. The President tried to award him the Medal of Merit, but Moe politely refused. He was too old to play baseball, but occasionally went to a Mets game. In his old days, he loved reading and read 12 books a day. Moe died in 1972, and only his sister knows where he was buried. Even after death, Moe Berg remains a mystery.

In my opinion, this is a really great book and I recommend it to anyone who likes baseball or history.

Carrie Jones will be at the Sandler Family Campus on Sunday, Dec. 2 as a guest author during Latkepalooza and Camp Extravaganza with Rick Recht LIVE. For more information about Latkepalooza and Camp Extravaganza, visit JewishVA.org/latkepalooza.

Sam A. Levin is 10 years old and is in fifth grade at Kingston Elementary School in Virginia Beach. He enjoys playing flag football and baseball, as well as attending all Virginia Tech sporting events.

jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Jewish News | 39

What’s happening Art in the family: Temple Israel’s festival of Jewish art Michael Duffy—2018 Scholar-in-Residence Saturday, December 8–Sunday, December 9 Bobbie Fisher

P

rofessor Michael Duffy, Temple Israel’s 2018 Scholarin-residence, is chair of the Art History department at East Carolina University.

As Temple Israel’s Scholar-inProfessor Michael Duffy Residence, Duffy will focus on the synagogue’s vast collection of art works, including the iconic Ascalon stained glass windows. Also included will be a presentation and dedication of a set of nine prints

by Uruguayan artist Luis Camnitzer, a gift to the Temple from the Zetlin family.

Duffy has taught numerous courses in art and art history at both East Carolina University and Western Illinois University, and is the author of several journal articles and essays, scholarly papers, and a monograph on French plein air landscape painting.

He holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, specializing in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century European Art and earned a Master’s in Art History from Michael State University and a Master’s in History from the University of New Hampshire.

All events are free and open to the community.

Shabbat Services in the Sanctuary 9:30 am–1 pm, Saturday, December 8 Professor Michael Duffy will explore works of art housed within the sanctuary. Services will be followed by a luncheon in the Evelyn Eisenberg Atrium, itself a virtual museum of Jewish art and artifacts.

Hanukkah-themed art program Saturday, December 8, 7 pm Surrounded by Jewish art, guests will enjoy Duffy’s slide presentation touching on various artistic media: painting, sculpture, ceramic and paper works, textile and glass creations, and featuring the Camnitzer prints. Refreshments will be served.

Tour of the Collection Sunday, December 9, 10 am–2 pm The Temple’s entire art collection is open to the public. Browse at leisure and spend time with favorite works. Duffy will serve as docent. Also included: ceramic art created by students from Beth Sefer Shalom and five works created by past winners of the Elie Wiesel Visual Arts Competition.

A portion of the cost of this festival of Jewish art is underwritten by Tidewater Jewish Foundation. This helps Temple Israel continue to share such rich experiences with the public free of charge.

Tidewater Chavurah’s second Friday Shabbat service Friday, Dec. 14, 7 pm

T

idewater Chavurah meets at the home of Hal and Elaine in the Great Neck Meadows area of Virginia Beach for their second Friday of the month Shabbat service.

Events are held in members’ homes or at other locations. Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill leads the service and an Oneg follows. New faces are always welcome.

For event information and location address, email carita@verizon.net or dlqt@cox.net or call 499-3660 or 468-2675. Visit www.tidewaterchavurah.org or Tidewater Chavurah Facebook page for upcoming events.

40 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Switch Day at Beth Sholom Village: Wonderful memories!

Now, with a new twist…

Tuesday, December 25, 4–6 pm

F

or more than 30 years, Beth Sholom Village has engaged family members and the community as they came to volunteer on December 25. The activity was called “Switch Day.” The idea was born when staff—everyone from food servers to nurses—requested the day off to spend time with their family on Christmas day. The Jewish community pitched in and volunteered, switching places with many staff. The volunteers did it all. Volunteers cooked and served food and escorted residents from their room to the dining rooms. They worked in the laundry room and helped clean. They lead Bingo. Lots of socializing and making of new friends took place. It worked out well for everyone! Jewish people had the day off and wanted to help and the staff was able to spend an important holiday with family.

Fast forward to today and times have changed. New health care guidelines dictate that only trained staff members may assist residents with certain activities. The health department will not allow volunteers in the kitchen to cook. The list goes

on. BSV’s staff enjoys working the long shift with time and a half for a holiday.

So, in 2018, BSV suggests coming together as a community—only this time, with a different twist. BSV is inviting family members, friends, and former volunteers for a kosher Chinese Buffet.

Chinese Kosher Food December 25, 4–6 pm BSV’s Pincus Paul Multi-Purpose Room Beer and Wine Adults, $10 Children under 12, $5 RSVP and pay by Dec. 17.

Call 757-420-2512 and ask reception to make a reservation. Credit cards accepted over the phone. Cash, check, and credit card at the front desk.

Leon Family Gallery Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus

Through December

The National Library of Israel: Curating the past, creating the future

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n exhibition developed in partnership with the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, Curating the Past, Creating the Future, features mixed media that highlights the four central collections at the impressive National Library of Israel.

This exhibit focuses on the spiritual realm —with sacred books, sacred places, and mysticism, as well as the ethnographic and secular realm—with Israeli culture, Hebrew/Jewish language. An array of facsimiles of illustrated manuscripts, ancient maps, posters, and photographs introduce viewers to NLI’s treasures.

Founded in Jerusalem in 1892, the National Library of Israel serves as the collective memory of the global Jewish community and the Israeli people in all of their diversity.

NLI is responsible for collecting, preserving, and making accessible the cultural and intellectual heritage of the Jewish people, the State of Israel, the Land of Israel, its people, and region across the ages.

To schedule a personal or group tour of the exhibit led by a trained volunteer docent, contact Callah Terkeltaub at cterkeltaub@ ujft.org or 757-321-2331.

What’s happening Singer-Songwriter Rick Recht to perform community concerts in Tidewater Thursday, November 29–Sunday, December 2 Barb Gelb

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popular Jewish rock star, Rick Recht is also an educator and leadership motivator. During his visit to Tidewater’s Jewish community, Recht will bring his unique brand of high-energy, interactive Jewish rock music to multiple audiences at varied venues.

Recht’s music career started in the secular rock and roll world. After graduating from University of Southern California and the Music Institute, he toured in a rock band, sharing a stage with national acts such as The Guess Who, Chris Rock, America, Supertramp, and others. After several years, for family reasons, Recht moved back to his hometown of St. Louis.

There, he began to explore his Jewish roots through music, debuting with his Jewish album, TOV in 1999. His shift to Jewish music marked the birth of a unique blend of pop, radio-friendly music with Hebrew, Jewish text, and social responsibility.

When he was in his late 20s, he had an epiphany, says Recht. “I was no longer a musician, I was now a Jewish educator, and music was my vehicle.”

In Tidewater, Recht will perform and entertain, and his music will be liked, but that won’t be all. People will feel different.

“The purpose of music and the purpose of me was to bring people together and educate them and help them feel measurably different than when they walked in, so they would feel empowered as leaders and feel a greater connection to each other and their community,” he says.

“Vision has always supercharged me. In the Jewish world I am more of an entrepreneur than a musician,” says Recht. “After a few years of studying and learning how I want to be in the Jewish world, it became

Rick Recht in Tidewater Workshop for Jewish Educators Sandler Family Campus Thursday, November 29

Sunday, Dec. 2, 12–3:30 pm Sandler Family Campus

Shabbat Alive Concert Service Ohef Sholom Temple Friday, November 30 Camp Reunion Shabbat service Congregation Beth El Saturday, December 1 Teen Leadership Workshop Sandler Family Campus Sunday, December 2 clear to me that I wanted to have an impact further than me traveling to cities to play music – not that I would ever not do that, but to step back and have more of an impact.”

In fact, Recht has had a tremendous impact in two specific areas: leadership and mass communication. He created Songleader Boot Camp (SLBC), a leadership training program, which has trained hundreds of Jewish musicians, rabbis, cantors, and educators to lead and empower others. He also created Jewish Rock Radio (JRR), which utilizes the power of music to attract, inspire, entertain, and educate Jewish youth while providing information about a variety of meaningful engagement opportunities. In addition to streaming Jewish music 24/7, JRR brings people together across America with live streaming concerts which connect and educate and build community. He has even created an American Idol type of competition called “Jewish Star” where people get to vote and select the next Jewish music star.

S

everal opportunities are available to experience Recht when he is in Tidewater. (See box for details.)

Recht will impact community members of all ages and interests. He says he is excited about visiting and engaging with Tidewater’s Jewish community. “I am super passionate about leadership, creating

Latkepalooza: A perfect start to Hanukkah

Community concert at the Camp Extravaganza, Latkepalooza, Jewish Book Month Sandler Family Campus Sunday, December 2 For a complete schedule with more information, go to www.jewishva.org.

opportunities for shared leadership, and helping to shine a spotlight on different segments of the Jewish population and paint them into the picture. I want to role model ways for them to be involved in Jewish life. Dialogue is always on my mind —it’s almost awkward to be by myself on stage now,” he says.

“Almost” is the key word there, because on stage, Recht is anything but awkward.

He is warm, engaging, inspiring, and fun, and everyone who attends one of his performances, leaves feeling uplifted.

Recht is the top-touring Jewish artist today, performing more than 125 concerts each year across the nation. Recht’s powerful performances have earned him a strong, loyal national fan base and he has become an icon for Jewish youth, elevating the medium of Jewish music as a powerful and effective tool for developing Jewish pride and identity.

T

idewater’s annual community Hanukkah celebration, this year’s Latkepalooza promises something for every family member and plenty of firsts, including, Tidewater’s first ever Camp Extravaganza and a Rick Recht LIVE! concert. Plus, the Simon Family JCC’s annual Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival will feature authors Jamie Korngold and Carrie Jones for its last day, activities for all ages with visiting Jewish sleepaway camps, and, of course, a light latke lunch.

Grab your family, young and old, and join the Simon Family JCC, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Tidewater Jewish Foundation, PJ Library in Tidewater, The Michael & Anita Siegal One Happy Camper Program, Sababa Beach Camps, Ohef Sholom Temple, Congregation Beth El, and Jewish Rock Radio’s Rick Recht, for a fun-, information- and, latke-filed afternoon.

Also, enter for a chance to win $500 toward a Jewish overnight camp.

Free and open to the entire community.

RSVP is required jewishva.org\latkepalooza.

LatkePalooza Light Latke Lunch—12 pm Author Jamie Korngold, Sadie’s Almost Marvelous Menorah & Sadie’s Snowy Tu B’Shevat—1:30 pm Rick Recht LIVE!—1:30 pm Author Carrie Jones, The Spy Who Played Baseball—2:15 pm

Camp activities all afternoon with • • • • • • • • • •

Camp Ramah Capital Camps Camp Harlam Camp JCC Camp Zeke Sababa Beachaway URJ Camp Kutz URJ Creative Arts Camp URJ 6 Points Sports Academy East URJ Sci-Tech East

jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Jewish News | 41

Let Il Giardino cater your next event...

Calendar November 27, Tuesday YAD HAPPY HOUR. Join UJFT’s Young Adult Division for a 5:30 pm Happy Hour at Park Lane Tavern in Virginia Beach. Socialize, network, and meet fellow YADians. For more information and to RSVP, contact Carly Glikman at CGlikman@ujft.org.

rehearsal dinners, weddings, celebrations.

Through DECEMBER 2 The Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. Books are available for sale at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. For more information, contact Callah Terkeltaub at 757-321-2331 or CTerkeltaub@ujft.org.

Call for information about our off-premise catering.

NOVEMBER 29, Thursday–DECEMBER 1, SATURDAY Shabbaton with Rick Recht. Begins with an educators training on November 29 at the Simon Family JCC, followed by events at Ohef Sholom Temple and Congregation Beth El. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lisa Rosenbach at 757-321-3182 or LRosenbach@ujft.org. See page 41.

DECEMBER 2, SUNDAY A community celebration of Hanukkah as part of Latkepalooza and One Happy Camper’s Camp Extravaganza, with PJ Library and support from the Tidewater Jewish Foundation. Two children’s authors and a live performance by Rick Recht. 12:30–3:30 pm at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lisa Rosenbach at 757-321-3182 or LRosenbach@gmail.com. See page 41.

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Employment Oppor tunities

Development Manager (Men’s Division/Society of Professionals)

Development Manager works with staff to establish development plans and goals for the Men’s Division of the UJFT Annual Campaign and the UJFT Society of Professionals affinity group, as well as coordinates Men’s Campaign and/or Society of Professionals activities.

Summer Day Camp Director

Ideal candidate has independent judgment, initiative, camp operations experience, and creativite program planning skills. Must enjoy interacting with children, be dedicated to promoting appreciation for Jewish culture and values; proficient in preparing budgets, maintaining fiscal responsibility and administrative management.

Development Manager, Sponsorships

Position is responsible for developing a comprehensive fundraising plan that integrates myriad campaigns, sponsorships, community outreach, events, and marketing plans in support of development activities to successfully garner the funding needs of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater/Simon Family Jewish Community Center.

Complete job descriptions at www.jewishva.org Submit cover letter, resume and salary requirements to: resumes@ujft.org Submit by mail to: United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Attention: Taftaleen T. Hunter, Director of Human Resources – Confidential 5000 Corporate Woods Drive Virginia Beach, 23462

Equal Employment Opportunity 42 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

December 7, Friday Rabbi Sender and Chamie Haber invite the entire community to their home, 1432 Queens way in Norfolk, for a special Friday night Oneg Shabbos in honor of Hanukkah. 7:30 pm. No RSVP required. For more information, contact office@bnaiisrael.org.

December 8, Saturday Join B’nai Israel Congregation for a delicious Shabbos lunch to welcome 11 new families who recently joined the community and shul. 11:30 am. $5 per child, $8 per adult. For more information or to RSVP, contact Rabbi Gavriel Rudin at gavriel.rudin@bnai.israel.org or go to www.bnaiisrael.org/shabboslunch.

Hanukkah On Ice. Celebrate Hanukkah with the Norfolk Admirals’ Hanukkah on Ice Game. Free skate follows the game. Game starts at 7pm. For more information, contact Carly Glikman at CGlikman@ujft.org.

December 14, Friday YAD-Chabad Shabbat. Join UJFT’s Young Adult Division and Chabad of Tidewater for its annual YAD-Chabad Shabbat. This is a meaningful evening filled with community, Kiddush, and a kosher dinner. Shabbat Dinner starts at 5:45 pm at the Chabad House of Norfolk. $10 per adult, $5 per child ages 3 and up. To register: www.Jewishva.org/YADChabadShabbat.

DECEMBER 19, WEDNESDAY Senior Club Holiday Party. Enjoy holiday food and a sing along led by Michal Newman.

12:00 pm. Sandler Family Campus. Open to the public. $6 at the door. For more information, contact Sheryl Luebke at 321-2334 or sluebke@ujft.org.

December 20, Thursday YAD UGLY SWEATER HAPPY HOUR. Join UJFT’s Young Adult Division at 5:30 pm in your ugliest holiday sweater for a festive Happy Hour at Coelacanth Brewing Company in Norfolk.

YAD Happy Hours are a great way to socialize, network, and meet fellow YADians. For more information and to RSVP, contact Carly Glikman at CGlikman@ujft.org.

JANUARY 10, THURSDAY Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship with Food with author Rachel Herz and discussion with panelists including Tom Purcell, membership and wellness director, Simon Family JCC’s JFit and Sandra Porter Leon, MS, RDN, professor at Tidewater Community College and nutrition consultant. In Why You Eat What You Eat, acclaimed neuroscientist Herz examines the sensory, psychological, neuroscientific, and physiological factors that influence eating habits. For more information or to RSVP (Required), visit jewishva.org/book-festival or contact Callah Terkeltaub at 321-2331 or cterkeltaub@ujft.org.

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.

Jewish Education and Leadership with Music

Mazel Tov TO achievement Stephanie Adler Calliott named to Virginia board Governor Ralph Northam named Stephanie Adler Calliott to the Virginia College Building Authority board.

The Virginia College Building Stephanie Adler Calliott Authority provides financing for capital projects and educational equipment for state institutions of higher education, and provides a conduit financing mechanism for private, nonprofit institutions of higher education in Virginia.

Calliott also serves as the chair of the Norfolk Employees Retirement System board, a board appointment since Jan. 2007. The Retirement System administers, oversees, and manages the pension fund for city employees and retirees, providing disability and retirement benefits.

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater presents

JEWISH EDUCATOR INSTITUTE with

philanthropy, and dedication to improving life in Hampton Roads. Rose is an attorney specializing in trust and estates, and tax and business law with Willcox Savage.

Rose serves on the boards of Temple Beth El Foundation, Kiwanis Club of Norfolk, and Zeiders American Dream Theater. He is a member of the Professional Advisors Committee at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. A past vice chair of the Virginia Beach School board, Rose has led the boards of his Kiwanis Club, Congregation Beth El, and the Virginia Beach Education Foundation.

As part of Rose’s award, the Hampton Roads Community Foundation presented a $5,000 grant in his honor to a nonprofit he selected—Zeiders American Dream Theater in Virginia Beach.

The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is southeastern Virginia’s largest grant and scholarship provider.

Since 1950 it has provided more than $265 million in grants and scholarships to make life better in Hampton Roads.

RICK RECHT

Thursday, November 29 • 6 pm Powerful program for Jewish educators, rabbis, cantors, cantorial soloists, family engagement specialists, songleaders, teens, and college students.

Join Rick Recht as he shares a master class on Jewish education and leadership with music woven throughout and utilized as a tool for learning and engagement.

Tickets: $10 RSVP to lrosenbach@ujft.org Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus 5000 Corporate Woods Drive Virginia Beach

Wedding

Enjoy these days of joy, warmth, and light.

Max Chucker and Emmy Buckner Neil L. Rose

Neil L. Rose of Virginia Beach recently received the 12th annual Barron F. Black Community Builder award from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

The annual award honors a Hampton Roads professional advisor for outstanding community service, support of

Max Chucker and Emmy Buckner were married on September 1, 2018 at the Brown Hotel in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, the bride’s hometown. The groom is from Virginia Beach. The couple met at Florida State University where they studied Musical Theater and now live in Los Angeles, Calif. where they work in the entertainment industry.

Mazel Tov submissions should be emailed to news@ujft.org with Mazel Tov in the subject line. Achievements, B’nai Mitzvot, births, engagements and weddings are appropriate simchas to announce. Photos must be at least 300k. Include a daytime phone for questions. There is no fee.

Laurent Abitbol, Agent 121 W 21st Street laurent@laurentinsureva.com Bus: 757-416-7500 Fax: 757-961-0726 www.laurentinsureva.com

1101453.1

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jewishnewsva.org | November 26, 2018 | Jewish News | 43

Obituaries Geraldine M. Epstein Norfolk—Geraldine M. Epstein, 88, passed away on November 15, 2018.

GiGi was born to Loius and Ethel Amdursky in 1930. GiGi owned Toppers of Norfolk and Mark Lance of Virginia Beach with her loving husband, Irwin Epstein, and partners and close friends, Jerri and Stanley Furman.

She was also a devoted member of Temple Israel.

She is predeceased by her parent Abe and Ethel as well as her brother, Harold Amdursky. Left to cherish her memory is her husband Irwin; son, Lance Epstein; daughter, Ronnie Epstein; grandchildren, Nathan and Natalie Epstein; and nieces, Meril and Loren. As well, she is remembered by her cousins Stevie, Jackie, Larry, Judy, Celia Newberg, and Barbara Amdursky and the entire Amdursky family.

Funeral services were held at Altmeyer Funeral Home, followed by graveside at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens. Memorial contributions to Temple Israel and Beth Sholom Village.

Marilynn Popkin Faust Sun Valley, California—Marilynn Popkin Faust, age 82, died peacefully on October 31, 2018, in Sun Valley, California, near the children and grandchildren she loved so well.

Marilynn was an extraordinary mother and grandmother, a devoted wife, a steadfast friend, and a kind soul. She loved and doted upon children, made houseplants flourish with the greenest of thumbs, and humored children’s foibles with an open heart and with great patience. Her many friends and relatives recall her loving, warm nature with affection and remember her as a generous and gregarious woman who loved small gatherings and conversation, and whose adherence to the tenets and observations of her Jewish faith, while somewhat selective, was genuine and deeply held. Many of her and her children’s friends have commented on how special she was to them and they recall her fondly even if she has not seen them in decades.

Marilynn is survived by her sons, Mark Faust, of Oakton, Va., Brett Faust, of Puyallup, Wash., and Gregory Faust, of Sun Valley. She is also survived by three

daughters-in law: Karis Faust of Oakton, Sandra Scannell Faust of Puyallup, and Marie Faust of Sun Valley; and by three grandchildren: Maxwell Faust, Grace Pounders, and Ava Faust, all of Sun Valley.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband David Warren Faust, of Forest Hills, New York, who passed away on January 4, 1976 at age 45, and her parents, Dora Horenstein Popkin and Max Popkin, of Norfolk.

Marilynn was born on June 16, 1936 in Norfolk and was raised and lived there at a house on Georgia Avenue in Colonial Place until her marriage in June, 1956. She graduated from Maury High School in 1954 and attended college at William and Mary extension, Norfolk (now Old Dominion University).

She and Warren lived in Norfolk; Brunswick, Maine; Ewa Beach, Hawaii; and Tom’s River, New Jersey before returning to Norfolk, where they resided in Roosevelt Gardens with their growing family of small children for five years.

In 1966, they moved to Silver Spring, Maryland after Warren accepted a position with RCA at Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. They resided in Kemp Mill with their children until his death, and the house remained her home until she moved to Leisure World in 2007.

After Warren Faust’s death, she worked nearly 20 years as a data clerk for Citizens Savings and Loan of Maryland. She also was a longtime Avon sales representative.

She moved to Glendale, Calif. in 2015 to be near the grandchildren she so cherished and loved and lived there and in Sun Valley until her death.

A funeral took place at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk. Rabbi Dr. Michael Panitz of Temple Israel officiated.

The family thanks Rabbi Panitz for his help in planning Marilynn’s internment. Donations to Children’s Hospital of The Kings Daughters in Norfolk, Debra Levy Eldercare Associates of Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington in Rockville, Maryland.

Robert Collier Nusbaum Norfolk—Robert Collier Nusbaum was born on February 23, 1924, in Norfolk, Virginia, the oldest son of Justine L.

44 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

and Virginius H. Nusbaum, and he died peacefully at home in Norfolk on October 31, 2018.

He was predeceased by his parents and his two brothers, Sidney L. Nusbaum II and Virginius H. “Pooch” Nusbaum, Jr., as well as his nephew, Alan B. Nusbaum.

He is survived by his wife of thirty-one years, Linda S. Laibstain; sons, Robert C. Nusbaum, Jr. (Sue), and William L. Nusbaum (Sharon); daughter-in-law, Marlene A. Nusbaum; granddaughters, Jessica L. Nusbaum (Chris Jannusch), and Leigh M. Nusbaum; great grandchildren, Eva and Karsten Jannusch; nieces, Ann G. Nusbaum, and Cynthia N. Katz (Stuart); brother-in-law, Richard H. Laibstain (Teresa Allen), and sister-in-law, Betty L. Lappin (Larry); nieces and nephews, Caroline Laibstain, and David, Jeffrey, and Emma Lappin; and an extended family of cousins and dear friends.

In 1941, Bob graduated from Maury High School in Norfolk and entered Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His undergraduate education was interrupted by World War II, when he was called to service first in the United States Army, and then in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), serving in the European Theater until the conclusion of the war. Bob’s war service left him with a lifelong appreciation and love of France. Throughout his lifetime he returned numerous times to France, enjoying the opportunity to speak French and enjoy the country’s culture.

After a post-war term at Harvard, Bob enrolled at the University of Virginia Law School in June 1946, graduating two years later in June 1948. He began his practice of law in Norfolk with Alan J. Hofheimer, a relationship that endured for over 40 years. Their firm grew to over 30 attorneys, and in 2004, Hofheimer Nusbaum merged with the law firm of Williams Mullen. In Bob’s 65 years plus of the practice of law, he was regularly named a “Super Lawyer” by Virginia Super Lawyers magazine and a member of the “Legal Elite” by Virginia Business magazine. He was one of a select few to be listed in seven categories in The Best Lawyers in America. Bob was a permanent member of the Judicial Conference of the U.S.

Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

He was a fellow of the American Bar Association, the Virginia Law Foundation, the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel, and the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. He served as president of the Norfolk & Portsmouth Bar Association, and chaired the Virginia State Bar Committee on Women and Minorities in the Law, among numerous other leadership positions in the bar.

In 2011, Bob received the EgglestonAnson Professionalism Award, the highest honor given by the Norfolk & Portsmouth Bar Association to a practicing attorney.

Bob’s civic and philanthropic activities include years of service on the board of directors and executive committee of Norfolk International Terminals, various boards of Sentara Health Systems and its predecessors, and the board of directors and as chairman of the Library of Virginia.

He served as an officer and director of the Tidewater Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Norfolk Forum, the Virginia Symphony, the Maury Foundation, and the Diabetes Institutes Foundation.

Bob was particularly proud of his role in establishing the Foundation for the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, including several years as chairman of the board. Always committed to building a forward-thinking community, in the late 1950s, Bob publicly fought against Virginia’s “Massive Resistance” to the integration of Norfolk public schools. In the 1960s, he organized The Aid Fund, to provide scholarships to talented African-American students who were integrating Virginia’s public colleges and graduate schools. In the 1970s and 1980s, he founded and led Virginians Organized for Informed Community Expression (VOICE) to support the then-controversial creation of the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine. In the 1990s and 2000s, he conceived and facilitated the founding of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan University. In recognition of his contributions to the establishment of the Center for Religious Freedom, Virginia Wesleyan University awarded Bob an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2002. Bob

Obituaries was named First Citizen of Norfolk by the Cosmopolitan Club in 1996, an honor also bestowed upon his mother, Justine, in 1979. Bob received the second Barron F. Black Community Builder Award from the Norfolk Foundation in 2008, and in 2009, he was named the Colgate W. Darden, Jr. Scouter Citizen of the Year by the Tidewater Council of the Boy Scouts of America. In 2013, Bob received the Humanitarian Award from the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, and in 2014, he was honored to receive the L.D. Britt, M.D., Community Service Award.

In 2014, Bob and Linda received the Chancellor’s Award for Leadership and Philanthropy from Tidewater Community College (TCC) for their years of support of TCC and higher education at the community college level.

It is impossible to summarize over 94 years of life and achievement on paper and to capture the person. Simply put, Bob’s greatest achievements were his family, his professionalism, and his unwavering commitment to the rights and liberties which he believed to be among the most important of our society, namely the freedom of religion and education for all citizens, regardless of race or religion. In 2017, in recognition of his contributions to furthering higher education in the African-American community, and his having been the chief patron of Norfolk State University’s Honors College since its inception in 1993, the University named it “The Robert C. Nusbaum Honors College,” which will remain one of his enduring legacies.

Bob and Linda not only enjoyed a long and happy marriage, but they enjoyed each other and traveling together for three decades.

Burial was at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk with services at Ohef Sholom Temple, where Bob was a lifetime member, trusted advisor, and past president. Contributions may be made in Bob’s memory to a charity of choice.

Stan Lee, creator of iconic Marvel comics superheroes

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tan Lee, who as one of the masterminds behind Marvel Comics created such mega-popular comic book franchises

as Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men, died early Monday, Nov. 12 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

He was 95.

Born Stanley Martin Lieber in 1922, the son of a Romanian-Jewish immigrant father and what he once called a “nice, rather old-fashioned Jewish lady,” Lee drew on themes of his childhood to create a series of memorable pulp heroes whose outsider status in some ways became their superpower.

Lee was a pioneer of a comic book industry dominated at its outset by hungry, second-generation Jewish artists and writers, and one of its most iconic figures. He also lived long enough to see it transformed into a multibillion-dollar film industry that has spawned countless blockbusters based on his characters, including Black Panther, the Mighty Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil and Ant-Man.

Lee grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan and attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.

In 1939 he was brought in to what would become Marvel—and became its interim editor at age 19—although it wasn’t until the early 1960s that he and artist Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg) teamed up to put their distinctive stamp on the industry

then dominated by DC, which published Superman and Batman comics.

According to Arie Kaplan, author of From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books (JPS), Lee and Kirby created “a group of superheroes who weren’t sunny or optimistic like rival company DC’s heroes. One member of the Fantastic continued on page 46

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Obituaries continued from page 45

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46 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Four, Ben Grimm (aka The Thing) felt like a freak because cosmic rays had transformed him into an orange, granite-skinned monster. With Ben Grimm, Lee and Kirby were using a superhero as a metaphor for Jews, African-Americans, and other minorities.”

In the introduction to the book Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero, by Danny Fingeroth, Lee wondered if the anti-Semitism he and other young comic book writers and artists experienced played a role in their art. “[C]ould it be that there was something in our background, in our culture, that brought us together in the comic book field?” he wrote. “When we created stories about idealized superheroes, were we subconsciously trying to identify with characters who were the opposite of the Jewish stereotypes that hate propaganda had tried to instill in people’s minds?”

Yet readers also appreciated the vulnerability and human scale of his otherwise outsized characters.

“His stories taught me that even superheroes like Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk have ego deficiencies and girl problems and do not live in their macho fantasies 24 hours a day,” Gene Simmons of the band Kiss, who immigrated to the United States from Israel as a child, said in a 1979 interview. “Through the honesty of guys like Spider-Man, I learned about the shades of gray in human nature.”

In 1972, Lee was named publisher of Marvel, leaving the editing to others as he went about promoting the Marvel brand. He set up an animation studio

in Los Angeles, and saw the company eventually grow from TV production into a multimedia giant that has dominated the movie box office. In 2009, the Walt Disney Co. bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion.

The most recent Marvel film, Infinity War, is the sixth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to gross more than $1 billion.

In 2002, Lee published an autobiography, Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee. After Joan, his wife of 69 years, died in July 2017, Lee’s final few years were marked by a series of lawsuits over his fortune and allegations that Lee was a victim of elder abuse by a man handling his affairs. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lee’s estate is estimated to be worth as much as $70 million.

Upon hearing of his death, Lee’s Jewish fans offered tributes on Twitter.

“In honor of the late great Stan Lee, born Stanley Lieber, you should all read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay

by Michael Chabon, a novel about how American Jews invented superheroes, and why,” wrote Peter Sagal, the host of the NPR game show Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me! NBC News correspondent Benjy Sarlin described Lee as “a big source of cultural pride as a kid, both as a New Yorker and as a Jew. It meant a lot to me that so many great comic creators had similar biographies to my grandparents and that their world was reflected in the work itself.”

Survivors include his daughter and a younger brother, Larry Lieber, a writer and artist for Marvel. Another daughter, Jan, died in infancy. (JTA)

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48 | Jewish News | November 26, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org