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Southeastern Virginia | Vol. 58 No. 2 | 1 Tishrei 5780 | September 30, 2019
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Jewish Tidewater: A survey for the future Terri Denison
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Jewish Community Demographic Study, it revealed where Jewish people lived, how old they were, who comprised what households (ages and number of people) and many other such details. A lot has happened since then—congregations have come and gone, the Sandler Family Campus was built, new schools have emerged. It’s time again to ‘take the Jewish community’s temperature’ and learn about Jewish Tidewater for 2020 and beyond. With shifts in degrees of religious involvement and overall engagement, the organized Jewish community wants to “create a strategic framework for our future,” says Betty Ann Levin, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater executive vice president/CEO. “To do so, we need to know where people are on their Jewish journey, what types of services and activities they want, how they want to be connected and contacted.”
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BRIEFS United Arab Emirates will build its first official synagogue Construction on the first official synagogue in the United Arab Emirates will begin in several months. The synagogue, slated to be completed by 2022, will be part of a multi-faith complex called the Abrahamic Family House in the capital Abu Dhabi, Reuters reported, citing the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper the National. The complex also will contain a mosque and a church. A small group of Jews who live in the city reportedly meet for worship in a private home. The UAE does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. (JTA) WeWork CEO wants to be Israel’s prime minister, report claims An embarrassing IPO devaluation and a bombshell Wall Street Journal report have the business world buzzing about We Co., the parent company of WeWork, the mammoth co-working space brand co-founded by Israeli entrepreneur Adam Neumann. In January, the company was expected to be valued at $47 billion. Since then, troubling information about its business model and company culture—one of excess, promoted by Neumann—has caused that number to drop by as much as two-thirds. The Journal report fills in a lot of details about Neumann’s “unorthodox” practices and tendencies. Vanity Fair listed out the most shocking anecdotes from the piece, including one in which Neumann left a stuffed box of marijuana on a private plane he flew to Israel for the trip back. Neumann also banned company employees from eating meat, then allegedly got caught eating meat afterward, and threw a lavish party (featuring a member of Run-DMC) just minutes after firing seven percent of the company’s staff. The list goes on. The Journal report’s broader narrative paints a very unflattering portrait of Neumann, 40, a 6-foot-5 Israeli who grew up on a kibbutz, portraying him as a reckless spender and potentially unethical businessman who is comically ambitious. He wants to be the world’s first
trillionaire, for instance. There’s another goal Neumann apparently has in mind: being the leader of Israel. “He told at least one person directly that his ambitions included becoming Israel’s prime minister,” Eliot Brown wrote. “More recently, he said that if he ran for anything, it would be president of the world, according to another person who spoke with him.” (JTA)
Dershowitz says accuser has done ‘a terrible disservice’ to #MeToo Denying allegations of sexual assault, attorney Alan Dershowitz lashed out at one of his accusers, claiming she fabricated her claims and was tarnishing the #MeToo movement. “I’ve never met Virginia Giuffre. I’ve never had sex with her. And the reason I’m saying it is because it’s true,” NBC News quoted Dershowitz as saying outside a New York courthouse following a hearing in a defamation lawsuit brought against him by Giuffre. “She, on the other hand, has never and will never stand in front of any media and repeat her lie that she did have sex with me,” he continued, accusing her of doing “a terrible disservice to a great movement, the #MeToo movement.” The #MeToo movement began on social networks in late 2017 following exposes by the New York Times and The New Yorker on movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s alleged exploitation of women. “The ‘Me Too’ movement relies on credible reports of sexual misconduct,” Dershowitz said, “and when a woman and her lawyer make false allegations and falsely accuse people, it hurts not only the falsely accused person, me, but it hurts everybody who is a true victim of sexual abuse,” he said. In her suit, Giuffre accuses Dershowitz of sexual assault and claims that he defamed her by claiming that she maliciously spread false allegations against him. Giuffre and Sarah Ransome, two accusers of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, have said that Dershowitz, who represented the convicted pedophile, also abused them.
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Epstein was accused of sexual abuse and committed suicide in jail in August while awaiting trial. Dershowitz has denied being involved in sex crimes. He wrote for JTA that he will continue to defend clients like Epstein. (JTA)
Holocaust survivors reunited in Israel after 75 years Two Holocaust survivors who were separated as children reunited in Israel after 75 years. Morris Sana, 87, and his cousin and friend Simon Mairowitz, 85, were convinced that the other had been killed by the Nazis, according to People magazine. They reconnected after their descendants found each other on Facebook. The men had escaped Romania separately following the German invasion in 1940. Sana lives in Israel, in Raanana, and Mairowitz ended up in the United Kingdom. In a video posted online, the pair can be seen hugging each other and crying. “Good to see you too after all these years,” Mairowitz said. “Seventy-five years you waited. I know it’s a long time. We’ve got each other now. And we can see each other.” (JTA) Jewish and Arab astronauts head to space together The first Arab to visit the International Space Station launched there on Wednesday, Sept. 25 with the daughter of an Israeli father. Hazzaa al-Mansoori, 35, of the United Arab Emirates and Jessica Meir, an American, took off on the historic trip from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on a Soyuz rocket. They will remain on the orbiting station until Oct. 3. Aal-Mansoori will not be the first Muslim on the space station, according to the French news agency AFP. “The dream has come true,” he was quoted as saying at a news conference. “As a fighter pilot I already prayed in my aircraft.” AFP quoted Meir as praising al-Mansoori’s achievement and quipping that while astronauts usually communicate in a melange of Russian and English, “we still need to work on our Arabic.” (JTA)
Homeless man guilty of burning down Minnesota synagogue A homeless man pleaded guilty to burning down a historic Minnesota synagogue earlier this month. Prosecutors have indicated that they intend to ask for probation for Matthew James Amiot, 36. He could have faced a maximum of three years in prison. Amiot pleaded guilty to negligent fire charges in the fire at the Adas Israel Synagogue in Duluth. He had previously admitted to starting the fire outside the synagogue on the morning of Sept. 9. Police have said that they saw no evidence that the arson was a bias or hate crime. Amiot told police that he tried to spit on the blaze to put it out but walked away when he was unsuccessful. The nearly 120-year-old synagogue was deemed a total loss, with damage to property estimated to be at least $117,000 for the structure and at least $250,000 for religious items. At the time of the blaze, Amiot was sheltering in an alcove between the synagogue building and its sukkah. Amiot used a lighter to set fire to what the criminal complaint said was “a variety of combustible materials.” Two minutes later he is seen on surveillance video walking away from the building. (JTA) TWO new synagogues open in Budapest Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis in Hungary opened two new synagogues in the Budapest area. The larger synagogue in Újlipótváros, a central area of the capital city, is housed in a riverside building overlooking the Danube River. It will be part of a threestory Jewish community center and worship complex being built by EMIH, the Chabad-affiliated Jewish federation of Hungary, the group said in a statement. The other synagogue is in Szentendre, a northern suburb of Budapest. Both synagogues were opened earlier this month. Hungary has about 100,000 Jews, by far the largest Jewish community in Central Europe. (JTA)
Nation
Why these Jewish lawmakers’ calls for impeachment are a big deal Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON ( JTA)—What a difference a dozen days—and a major scandal—make. On Sept. 12, Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y., was incensed enough by the growing number of fellow Democrats calling for impeaching President Donald Trump that he took to a local Staten Island news site to opine against the idea. “Impeachment will only tear our country further apart and we will see no progress on the enormous challenges we face as a nation,” Rose wrote on SILive. com. By Tuesday, September 24, Rose had reconsidered. In a statement on his website, Rose noted his previous opposition to “a partisan impeachment process that would only deepen…divisions, not solve them.” But the recent revelation that Trump had sought to pressure the president of Ukraine into launching a criminal investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, the leading Democratic contender to challenge him in 2020, had altered his calculus. “However, a President attempting to blackmail a foreign government into targeting American citizens is not just another example of scorched earth politics,” Rose said. “It would be an invitation to the enemies of the United States to come after any citizen so long as they happen to disagree with the President.” Rose went on to call on Republicans to join Democrats in demanding the release of all information related to the case, pointedly noting that “all options are on the table” in addressing the crisis. The dramatic switch by Rose and other swing district Democrats who are veterans of the national security community signals how much the political climate has changed in the last week. On Monday, September 23, Elaine Luria of Virginia, a former Navy commander, and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA agent, joined five other
national security veterans in announcing their support for impeachment in Washington Post op-ed. Luria, Slotkin and Rose, an army veteran, were all solidly opposed to impeachment when the Jewish Telegraphic Agency canvassed Jewish Democrats in the House of Representatives in May. Two factors seem to be at play: A sense of honor cultivated during their service to the United States, and the perception that this is an easier case to make for impeachment than the complex legal questions that undergirded the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. “We have devoted our lives to the service and security of our country, and throughout our careers, we have sworn oaths to defend the Constitution of the United States many times over,” the seven Democrats said. “Now, we join as a unified group to uphold that oath as we enter uncharted waters and face unprecedented allegations against President Trump.” (Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, an Air Force veteran who has cited the experience of her Holocaust survivor father as a reason for her entry into politics, was another signatory to the op-ed. Houlahan does not identify as Jewish.) In a separate statement, Luria emphasized that the national security aspect of the latest charges against the president is what drove her to change her mind. “In the military and in Congress, I swore an oath to protect our Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic,” says Luria, who likes to regale Jewish audiences with the tale of her leading a Passover seder in the belly of an aircraft carrier. “Allegations of this gross misconduct meet the threshold of high crimes and misdemeanors set by the Constitution. Congress must investigate and use the full extent of its powers to check these alleged abuses of presidential power. The House must move forward with impeachment.”
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The appeals to honor are not merely a reflection of the careers of the op-ed signatories. They may also help garner support in districts that are heavy with veterans. Slotkin closely attends to the needs of the many veterans in her Lansing-area district, and Luria’s Tidewater district is replete with acting and retired Navy personnel. Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a political newsletter published by the University of Virginia
Center for Politics, said another factor may have driven the switch: This is a simple scandal to explain, compared to the report by special counsel Robert Mueller, who found 10 possible instances when Trump obstructed justice. “It may be that Democrats who were on the fence about impeachment saw the new developments on Ukraine were more significant and clear cut than even the Mueller report,” he said.
jewishnewsva.org | September 30, 2019 | Jewish News | 5
world
5779: The North American year in review Ben Harris
Highlights in North America from the Jewish year 5779. September 2018 Leslie Moonves resigns as CEO of the CBS network after six women accuse him of sexual misconduct. The allegations, published in the New Yorker, follow six early accusations against Moonves published two months earlier. Moonves denies the claims against him. Rabbi Rachel Cowan, a pioneer in the Jewish healing movement, dies in New York at 77. Cowan was among the founders of the Jewish Healing Center and served for 14 years as director of the Jewish Life and Values Program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation in New York, where she helped direct grants for programs that addressed the spiritual dimensions of serious illness. Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, become the biggest spenders in American politics, having donated $55 million to groups helping to maintain Republican Party control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections, according to a New York Times report. The sum represents a substantial increase from the $46.5 million they had donated at the same point in the 2016 election cycle. A federal court in Canada denies the appeal of a former Nazi who sought to avoid deportation after having been found to have failed to disclose his past when applying for citizenship there in 1960. The court rules that it was “reasonable” that Helmut Oberlander, 94, be stripped of his citizenship.
October 2018 In the deadliest attack ever on an American Jewish institution, 11 people are killed and another six injured when a gunman opens fire on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh during Shabbat
morning services. Shortly before the attack, the alleged gunman, Robert Bowers, made a post on an online social networking website accusing the Jewish immigrant group HIAS of bringing “invaders” into the United States. Top officials in the United States and Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images abroad condemn Police tape is seen outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh the attack, which on Oct. 28, 2018, a day after a shooting there left 11 people dead. President Donald Trump calls “pure evil.” says it consulted with experts to learn about the historical disputes in the region An explosive device is found in the in order to make a decision about whether mailbox of the New York home of Jewish it should be doing business there. Israel’s billionaire George Soros, a major donor tourism minister, Yariv Levin, calls the to left-wing causes and often a right-wing decision “discriminatory.” target of conspiracy theories. The police bomb squad detonates the device. In what is believed to be the largest gift ever to higher education in the United In a reversal of a 1972 ban, the States, the billionaire Jewish businessConservative movement’s religious law man Michael Bloomberg announces authorities move to allow its rabbis to a $1.8 billion gift to Johns Hopkins attend intermarriages. The Committee University to eliminate student loans on Jewish Law and Standards issues the and financial aid packages for incoming new ruling at the same time as it upholds students. In an op-ed announcing the the movement’s position that its clergy gift, the former New York City mayor and may only officiate at a marriage in cases alumnus of the Baltimore university says where both parties are Jewish. that denying college entry to students based on their ability to pay undermines The nearly century-old Hebrew College equal opportunity, perpetuates intergenin suburban Boston installs its first erational poverty and “strikes at the heart female president. Rabbi Sharon Cohen of the American dream: the idea that Anisfeld had served 12 years as the dean every person, from every community, has of its pluralistic rabbinical school. the chance to rise based on merit.”
November 2018 The online home rental service Airbnb says it will remove listings of rooms and homes for rent in West Bank Jewish settlements. In a statement, the company
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The Reform movement’s rabbinical wing appoints Rabbi Hara Person as its first female chief executive. Person succeeds Rabbi Steven Fox as head of the Central Conference of American Rabbis,
which represents 2,100 Reform rabbis around the world. Data released by federal law enforcement authorities show that hate crimes against Jews in the United States rose by more than a third in 2017. The FBI further shows that Jews were targeted in 58 percent of religion-based hate crimes. Overall, hate crimes increased by 17 percent in 2017. More than 75 percent of Jewish Americans cast their ballots for Democrats in midterm congressional Elaine Luria elections, according to polls. The election, which returned Democrats to the majority in the House of Representatives, brought eight new Jewish members into that body and two Jewish candidates to governorships. In Virginia, Elaine Luria became the state’s first Jewish woman elected to Congress. The American-Israeli man convicted of making hundreds of bomb threats to Jewish community centers and Jewish schools in the United States in 2017 is sentenced to 10 years in prison in Israel. Michael Kadar had admitted making hundreds of threats against American Jewish institutions that forced widespread evacuations and promoted fears of mounting anti-Semitism. The New York City Health Department warns of an outbreak of measles in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community, where vaccination rates are lower. The department said a total of 17 cases had been recorded in the heavily Jewish
World neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Borough Park, three of which—including the initial case—were acquired by children on a visit to Israel. Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, one of the founders of the Women’s March, apologizes for causing harm to the movement’s Jewish members and being too slow to fight anti-Semitism. “We are deeply sorry for the harm we have caused, but we see you, we love you, and we are fighting with you,” Sarsour said. The statement came a day after another of the march’s co-founders, Teresa Shook, called on the movement’s current organizers to step down because they have “allowed anti-Semitism.”
December 2018 The American Civil Liberties Union announces a lawsuit against the state of Texas over a 2017 law prohibiting government contractors from engaging in boycotts of Israel. The ACLU argues that the law infringes on a legitimate form of political protest, while defenders say they don’t inhibit free speech but only extend existing civil penalties for complying with boycott requests from foreign countries. Political commentator Marc Lamont Hill apologizes for calling for “a free Palestine from the river to the sea” during a U.N. event in solidarity with the Palestinian people. CNN fires Hill, a professor of media studies at Temple University, as a commentator for using the slogan, which Palestinian groups have invoked in rejecting any Israeli sovereignty between the
Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. “I take seriously the voices of so many Jewish brothers and sisters, who have interpreted my remarks as a call to or endorsement of violence,” Hill writes in an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Congress passes bipartisan legislation named for the late Elie Wiesel that aims to improve the U.S. response to emerging or potential genocides. The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act passes the House of Representatives by a vote of 406-5. The Senate had passed the measure with 24 co-sponsors.
January 2019 Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots owner, is named the winner of the $1 million Genesis Prize, the so-called Jewish Nobel. Kraft, 77, is the sixth person to win the prize, which honors individuals who serve “as an inspiration to the next generation of Jews through their outstanding professional achievement along with their commitment to Jewish values and the Jewish people.” The Forward announces it will be ceasing its print edition and laying off its editor in chief and 20 percent of its staff. Founded in 1897, the storied Jewish newspaper began as a Yiddish-language publication and launched an English edition in 1990. The Forward will continue to publish online in both English and Yiddish.
Aurora Samperio/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Rep. Ilhan Omar is seen outside the Capitol Hill building, Sept. 12, 2019.
P r o m i n e n t Democrats launch a pro-Israel group to counter the party’s drift away from Israel. “Our mission at Democratic Majority for Israel is to strengthen the pro-Israel tradition of the Democratic Party, fight for Democratic values and work within the progressive movement to advance
policies that ensure a strong U.S.-Israel relationship,” says Mark Mellman, a longtime Democratic Party pollster who has been active in the pro-Israel community. Other party leaders involved in the effort include Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of Michigan; Henry Cisneros, a Housing secretary under President Bill Clinton; and Ann Lewis, chief of
communications under Clinton and a longtime leading supporter of Hillary Clinton. Rep. Ilhan Omar disavows a 2012 tweet in which she said Israel had “hypnotized” the world, saying the term was “unfortunate and offensive.” One continued on page 8
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of two freshman lawmakers to endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign targeting Israel, the Minnesota Democrat’s comment comes days after she is named to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “It’s now apparent to me that I spent lots of energy putting my 2012 tweet in context and little energy in disavowing the anti-semitic trope I unknowingly used, which is unfortunate and offensive,” she says.
February 2019 Al Vorspan, who helped organize the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and served as the longtime director of its Commission on Social Action, dies at 95. A World War II veteran, Vorspan pushed the Reform movement to create the commission in 1953, and later pressed for the creation of the Religious Action Center, which became the movement’s voice in Washington.
Omar says in a tweet that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee pays politicians to be pro-Israel, a falsehood that draws quick rebukes from a number of her Democratic colleagues, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and two key committee chairs, Eliot Engel and Jerry Nadler. Omar subsequently apologizes for the tweet and expresses gratitude to “Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.” Michael Cohen, the longtime lawyer for President Donald Trump, cites his father’s survival of the Holocaust to explain why he turned on his onetime mentor and employer. “My father survived the Holocaust thanks to the compassion and selfless acts of others,” Cohen says in a statement prepared for delivery to the House Oversight Committee. “He was helped by many who put themselves in harm’s way to do what they knew was
right.” Cohen pleaded guilty to fraud and violating campaign finance laws and was preparing to serve three years of jail time. The U.S. Senate approves a bill that provides legal cover to states that target the movement to boycott Israel over the objections by several prominent Democrats. Critics say the measure, which passed by a 77–23 margin, infringes on free speech freedoms. Its opposition includes Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders—all candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Every Republican senator except Rand Paul of Kentucky supports the bill. A Holocaust survivor who escaped the shooting at the Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 worshipers were killed is a special guest at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Judah Samet, 81, was late to services the
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morning of the shooting and was warned to stay outside the building. Samet sat in the gallery with first lady Melania Trump for the address with 12 other guests, including a police officer who was shot several times battling the Tree of Life gunman.
March 2019 Jewish megadonor Michael Steinhardt is accused of a pattern of sexually inappropriate behavior by seven women. In an expose published by the New York Times and the journalism nonprofit ProPublica, the women accuse Steinhardt, a founder of Birthright Israel and a major giver to Jewish institutions, of making sexual requests while they were relying on or seeking his support. Steinhardt denies the accusations, but acknowledges a pattern of comments “that were boorish, disrespectful, and just plain dumb.” President Trump signs a proclamation recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, making the U.S. the first country to recognize Israeli rule over the strategic plateau captured from Syria in the 1967 war. Israel annexed the territory in 1981. A Gallup poll finds that a majority of Americans sympathize with Israel over the Palestinians, but that the percentage is slipping. Some 59 percent of Americans say they sympathize more with the Israelis, down from 64 percent in 2018, Gallup’s annual World Affairs survey finds. The poll also finds that 43 percent of Democrats sympathize more with Israel, while 76 percent of Republicans do, and 21 percent with the Palestinians, unchanged from the previous year. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee opens its annual policy conference in Washington, D.C., with a defiant refusal to be silenced in the face of mounting criticism from the left. “When they try to silence us we speak up, and when they tell us to sit down we stand up, we stand up. We. Stand. Up,” AIPAC CEO Howard Kohr says in a fiery opening speech. MoveOn, a progressive grassroots
World
Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images
A makeshift memorial sits across the street from the Chabad of Poway Synagogue, April 28, 2019, one day after a gunman killed one person and injured three others.
organization, had called on Democratic presidential candidates to boycott the conference, though candidates generally do not appear at AIPAC in non-election years. Some 18,000 activists attend the conference. Trump calls Democrats the “anti-Jewish” party following a House vote condemning anti-Semitism. “The Democrats have become an anti-Israel party. They’ve become an anti-Jewish party, and that’s too bad,” the president says. The House resolution condemns anti-Semitism primarily, along with Islamophobia and other biases, and specifies that charges of dual loyalty are especially harmful. The entire Democratic caucus votes for the resolution along with all but 24 Republicans. The resolution was spurred by several comments made by Omar that appear to traffic in anti-Semitic tropes.
April 2019 One person dies and three are injured in a shooting at a Chabad synagogue in Poway, California, near San Diego. Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, is killed when a gunman opens fire on the synagogue on the last day of Passover. The 19-year-old suspect is charged with murder as well as federal hate crimes and civil rights violations. Airbnb says it will reverse its decision to remove West Bank settlement listings from its website. The online rental service changes its policy after
two federal court settlements between the company and two groups of Jew i sh-A mer ic a n plaintiffs accuse the company of discrimination. In a statement posted to its website, Airbnb says it will donate the proceeds from West Bank rentals to humanitarian groups.
The Anti-Defamation League says there were 1,879 anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2018, a drop from the 1,986 reported in 2017, but still the third highest since 1979. The vast majority are incidents of harassment or vandalism, but the number of assaults doubles since 2017 to 39 from 17. In Canada, the number of anti-Semitic incidents tallied by B’nai B’rith Canada rises to a record high for the third consecutive year, surging to 2,041 in 2018 from 1,752 reported the prior year. The New York Times publishes a cartoon in its international edition depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog wearing a Star of David collar and leading President Trump, who is wearing a black yarmulke. The cartoon is broadly condemned as anti-Semitic, and the newspaper says it is “deeply sorry” to have printed an image that includes “anti-Semitic tropes.” In a subsequent editorial, the paper calls it “an appalling political cartoon” that is “evidence of a profound danger—not only of anti-Semitism but of numbness to its creep.” Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submits his resignation letter to Trump. Rosenstein had appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to look into Russian interference in the 2016 elections and was a key player in overseeing the probe that the president called a “witch hunt.” continued on page 10
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Please join Ohef Sholom Temple for a Carpool Cafe film screening about 86 Jewish refugees detained in Norfolk on the SS Quanza in 1940. Sunday, October 6, at 10:30 am | 530 Raleigh Avenue, Norfolk Admission is free, but reservations are required. RSVP at ohefsholom.org. jewishnewsva.org | September 30, 2019 | Jewish News | 9
Bob & Augusta Live Forever As philanthropists and volunteers, this Virginia Beach couple supported important causes in Hampton Roads. Although Bob Goodman passed away in 2006 and Augusta Goodman in 2017, they help others today because of the charitable bequest they entrusted to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. Today, their four children carry on Bob and Augusta’s legacy through donor-advised funds that let them recommend grants to help nonprofits do their best work. Thanks to their generosity, Bob and Augusta will forever make life better in their home region. Learn how easy it is to leave your mark on the future by ordering a free bequest guide. Adding Charity to Your W or IRA ill
A quick
world continued from page 9
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declares a public health emergency over a measles outbreak in Brooklyn’s haredi Orthodox community, ordering unvaccinated people living in four Zip codes there with heavily Orthodox populations to be vaccinated or pay fines up to $1,000. A week later, the city closes a yeshiva preschool in one of those neighborhoods, Williamsburg, for defying a Health Department order to provide medical and attendance records regarding measles vaccinations. According to the city, between October and April, there had been 285 reported cases of measles in Brooklyn’s Orthodox community, including 246 children.
May 2019 Daniel Atwood, an American, becomes the first openly gay man ordained as an Orthodox rabbi at a ceremony in Jerusalem. Atwood had been denied ordination by the liberal American Orthodox rabbinical school Yeshiva Chovevei Torah three months prior to his graduation. The New York City school declined to specify the reason for its decision, but it came just months after Atwood and his partner were engaged to marry. Atwood’s ordination was granted by Rabbi Daniel Landes, a prominent American-Israeli rabbi. Herman Wouk, the best-selling Orthodox Jewish author whose literary career spanned nearly seven decades,
dies at 103. Wouk helped usher Judaism into the American mainstream through more than two dozen novels and works of nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prizewinning The Caine Mutiny from 1951, which was a fixture on best-seller lists for two years, and the best-selling Marjorie Morningstar from 1955. The Israeli eatery Zahav wins the 2019 James Beard Foundation award for outstanding restaurant. Jewish chefs Michael Solomonov, a native of Israel, and Steve Cook founded the Philadelphia restaurant, whose name means “gold” in Hebrew, in 2008.
June 2019 Quebec passes a so-called secularism law banning certain public employees from wearing religious symbols, including yarmulkes and hijabs, at work. The law, which applies to teachers, judges, and police officers, among others, is passed in a 73-35 vote following contentious debate. “The Jewish community of Quebec is profoundly disappointed by the adoption of Bill 21,” Brenda Gewurz, chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Quebec, says in a statement, adding that the measure “undermines religious freedom and equal access to employment.” Ryan Braun passes Hank Greenberg to claim the record for most home runs in a career by a Jewish baseball player. The Milwaukee Brewers outfielder hits his 332nd homer in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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Ryan Braun bats for the Milwaukee Brewers in a game against the Miami Marlins in Miami, Sept. 9, 2019. He became the all-time Jewish home run leader this season.
10 | Jewish News | September 30, 2019 | jewishnewsva.org
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comes under fierce criticism for comparing migrant detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border to “concentration camps.” Multiple Jewish groups criticize the Democratic lawmaker’s Holocaust comparison,
including Yad Vashem, the Anti-Defamation League, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. Gary Rosenblatt announces that he will be stepping down as editor and publisher of the New York Jewish Week after 26 years. Rosenblatt, 72, will continue to write occasionally for The Jewish Week and remain involved in several of its educational projects, according to the newspaper. Steven Nasatir, the longest-serving CEO of any Jewish federation in North America, says he will step down as head of Chicago’s Jewish United Fund after four decades on the job. The federation has distributed nearly $7 billion to charitable causes since Nasatir took the helm in 1979. The White House unveils the economic portion of its Mideast peace plan, which calls for $50 billion of investment in building infrastructure as well as other needs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Authored by a team led by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, the plan is released just days ahead of a conference in Bahrain where Kushner aims to drum up support for it. The plan includes no political details and makes no mention of Palestinian statehood.
July 2019 A man is shot several times while waiting for daily prayers to begin at a synagogue in Miami. The victim, identified as Yosef Lifshutz, undergoes multiple surgeries and is in stable condition following the shooting. Canadian Jews are the most targeted minority group for hate crimes for the third straight year, a government report finds. Statistics Canada says that overall reported hate crimes targeting Jews fell in 2018, to 345 from 360, but Jews are still targeted more frequently than Muslims or blacks. B’nai Brith Canada President Michael Mostyn says the numbers show that hate crimes against Jews remain an “urgent concern.”
world Former New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren is named editor in chief of the Forward. Rudoren succeeds Jane Eisner, who was let go in a sweeping staff cut that accompanied news that the venerable Jewish newspaper would cease publishing its print edition.
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U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman announces charges against Jeffery Epstein in New York City, July 8, 2019.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau dies at 99. Morgenthau, an iconic figure, served from 1975 to 2009, a tenure that included the prosecution of numerous high-profile cases—including Mark David Chapman, John Lennon’s assassin, and the conviction and later exoneration of the Central Park 5, black teens who were wrongly convicted of raping a white jogger. Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein is arrested in New York on sex-trafficking charges. Epstein, a registered sex offender who served 13 months in jail following a 2008 conviction of soliciting a teenager for prostitution, is facing charges that he was involved in trafficking dozens of minors between 2002 and 2005. In August, Epstein kills himself in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial.
August 2019 Thirty-eight men file a lawsuit against the Yeshiva University High School for Boys claiming they were sexually abused over a three-decade period beginning in the mid-1950s and that the school did not act to protect them despite multiple complaints of abuse. The lawsuit follows a February change in New York state law that grants child victims of abuse one year to file civil lawsuits, regardless of when the alleged abuse took place.
President Trump says that Jews who support Democrats are being disloyal. “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” he says at a news conference. The statement is widely condemned by centrist and left-wing Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League. The Republican Jewish Coalition defends the president. An array of American Jewish groups condemns Israel’s decision to bar entry to two Democratic lawmakers critical of the Jewish state. The Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Federations of North America and—in a rare statement of criticism aimed at Israel—the American Israel Public Affairs Committee all decry Israel’s refusal to grant entry to Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. The Republican Jewish Coalition and the Zionist Organization of America endorse the decision. William Daroff is named CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Daroff, the Jewish Federations of North America’s top official in Washington, succeeds Malcolm Hoenlein, who guided the 50-member coalition for 33 years. (JTA)
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Jewish leaders put prevention and survival plans into action by Lisa Richmon
W
ith active mass shootings and anti-Semitism on the rise, local Jewish leaders can’t be too pro-active. Security and risk assessment actions taken by various synagogues and the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus reflect the reality that heightened fear is the new normal, and tightened security is critical for keeping the community safe. Jason Capossere is security and safety manager at the Sandler Family Campus. “To date we have obtained over $1,000,000 in Homeland Security and local grants in order to increase security measures,” says Capossere. “We actively partner with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and have an amazing working relationship.” The Sandler Campus offers training several times a year on various topics including active shooters, lockdowns, etc. “Homeland Security has reviewed our procedures and equipment,” says Capossere. “They ranked us number 1 among 85 similar facilities for safety.” Capossere’s message for staff and members of the community: “If you see something, say something. Anything that seems out of the ordinary, suspicious, or makes you feel uncomfortable, just let us know. Security or law enforcement will decide whether or not it rises to the level that requires more attention. It should be reported immediately without delay.” Joe Bouchard is a private consultant and former Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness professional whose current clients include three synagogues, three Christian churches, and a private school, among others. When working with targeted organizations such as temples and synagogues, Bouchard draws from several core principles: Speed is Life, Threat warning; Physical Security and Access Control; Situational Awareness and Threat Recognition; Security in Depth; Large Event Preparation;
and Medical & Security Training. Capossere and Bouchard both stress the extreme importance of immediate action without delay. “Be alert for suspicious behavior and report it immediately,” says Bouchard. “The same applies to suspicious unattended packages, near or inside the building. Don’t hesitate because you’re not sure if what you see is a threat. Report it and let the professionals determine if there is a threat.” Glenn Saucier is facility director for the Sandler Family Campus. Surveillance and immediate response top his list. “Our surveillance is extreme,” says Saucier. “And if people will only take one thing from this, it’s how important it is to call us immediately, not a week later or even the next day. Making the call right away, even if you’re unsure of what you saw, is always the best call.” Minette Cooper, a past Ohef Sholom Temple president, recruited Bouchard because of his background in Homeland Security. “I agreed to come out of retirement to help,” says Bouchard. “I am still assisting Ohef Sholom and have gained seven other non-profit clients by word of mouth. Bouchard’s services include risk assessments, drafting security and all hazard’ emergency preparedness plans, conducting training, and assisting with Nonprofit Security Grant Program applications and grant management. Living in a digital age, community vigilance connects to digital devices. “Many people overlook the social media aspect,” says Capossere. “Almost every agency or synagogue is on social media, many live stream services or events. Do you know who is watching those events? You have to be aware of this. Who is liking or following your pages, and do they really need to be? The best defense against an incident in our community is simple common sense and situational awareness. Something we all have to be aware of and contribute to.”
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with October 22, the final day of Simcha Torah. The season brings celebrations, atonements, reflections, and, of course, lots of eating. Even Yom Kippur, the fast day, begins and ends with festive meals. Not surprisingly, this section offers two articles dealing with food: A gluten-free cake recipe on page 18 and some great tips on what to eat before the Yom Kippur fast to ease the water- and food-free 25-hour period. (page 19) The suggestions make perfect sense. Sometimes, we all just need to see the obvious in print. On a very different subject, forgiveness, the article on page 16 is probably relatable to any parent…no matter a child’s age. According to the article about the Etrog on page 17, the fruit actually has more uses than what we know it for…being held beside the lulav. Who knew? One more thing…Congregation Beth Chaverim was inadvertently omitted from the
Thomas Hardy
High Holiday services listing in the September 16 issue of Jewish News. We apologize for
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the error. This year, Beth Chaverim is holding joint services with Tidewater Chavurah at Old Donation Episcopal Church Parish Hall in Virginia Beach. Their Yom Kippur service information is below. Happy 5780!
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jewishnewsva.org | September 30, 2019 | High Holidays | Jewish News | 15
High Holidays
The working parents’ collective apology on Yom Kippur Shira Zemel
(Kveller via JTA)—Like so many of you, I’m a working mom trying to juggle it all—my kid, my job and, you know, my life. For the High Holidays, I was inspired
to write a working parents’ version of the Ashamnu, an alphabetic acrostic of our collective transgressions, which is part of the public confession we recite during Yom Kippur. This year, 5780, I strive to acknowledge
my wrongdoings, to do better by my little guy and my family, and to forgive myself and others more.
•
• For the sin of not acknowledging mistakes, and not asking when we need help, and not meaningfully apologizing as much as we should.
•
• For the sin of talking about how busy we are. • For the sin of trying to control everything, even when we know that’s totally impossible and frustrating.
• For the sin of being distracted and not giving our children our full attention.
• For the sin of having no energy at the
For the sin of prescribing our children’s interests by allowing capitalism to dictate what toys and clothes we purchase for them. (Really, why is the doll aisle so pink? And why are dinosaurs a boy thing?)
• For the sin of questioning the intentions of others instead of assuming everyone is doing the best they can. • For the sin of resisting when sometimes it’s easier to just say yes. (But also: ¡vive la resistance!) •
end of a long work day to truly connect or play with our kids.
For the sin of keeping our heads down looking at our screens.
• For the sin of forgiving in others for
• For the sin of too much television and not enough conversation.
what we can’t find a way to forgive in ourselves.
• For the sin of giving more attention to our professional work than to our kids.
• For the sin of not doing everything we can to help: for not using every extra ounce of energy, every extra penny, every extra waking moment to do what we can for children separated from their families at the border.
• For the sin of Instagram: spending too much time on it, and for only showing all that is beautiful and fun instead of the hard, everyday truths. • For the sin of judging other parents and the decisions they make for their kids and families. (I’m still so upset with myself for judging that mom who had her toddler with her at Target at 11 p.m.—more likely she had no other time to run those critical errands, and no one to watch her child.)
• For the sin of thinking we know best. • For the sin of lamenting the easier days before we had kids.
• For the sin of making excuses. • For the sin of saying “no” so often. 16 | Jewish News | High Holidays | September 30, 2019 | jewishnewsva.org
For the sin of overprogramming, overscheduling, and overindulging our children.
• For the sin of undermining how hard we work when we obsess over how we can do better.
• For the sin of not voting and not vaccinating. (#sorrynotsorry—I have strong opinions that neither of these are OK choices.) • For the sin of wanting more instead of being content with what we have. • For the sin of xenophobia—something that I abhor in others but fear I may practice in small and unknowing ways. • For the sin of yelling. • For the sin of thinking about parenting in terms of zero days (losing) or 100 days (winning)—when we know many days are just going to be a 40 degree day, and that’s OK. May the gates of repentance be open to us all. G’mar Chatima Tova! Shira Zemel is a working mom in Washington, D.C., where she directs youth leadership development at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She and her husband have a two-year-old son.
High Holidays
The etrog is Judaism’s best kept wellness secret
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Rachel Myerson
(Alma via JTA)—For most Jews, the etrog, a thick-rinded citrus, is relegated to a fleeting, supporting role. Held beside the lulav (palm frond) once a year during the upcoming festival of Sukkot, the etrog (citron) is then left to dry out or, if it’s lucky, turned into jelly. We have massively underestimated this super citrus. The etrog is far more than a prop, it’s a wellness goldmine that’s been lauded throughout history—from Alexander the Great’s troops who may very well have (but probably didn’t) discover it when passing through Persia, to Buddhist monks in ancient China—for its wide-ranging healing properties. It also has great genes! As one of the oldest citrus varieties, the etrog is basically the great-great-grandfather of oranges and lemons, which were developed through hybridization with it. Luckily the Yemenite Jewish community stayed woke and quietly enjoyed the etrog’s numerous benefits for centuries until, 15 years ago, a shrewd entrepreneur named Uzi Eli set about introducing Israelis to the generations-old etrog-centric remedies passed down in his family. Known as the “Etrog Man,” Eli opened a stall in Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market and Tel Aviv’s Carmel market over a decade later. He’s a colorful character who once told me that his secret to looking far younger than his 70-plus years was etrog juice and breast milk—his sole form of nourishment until the age of 10. I spent a lot of time with Eli and his daughter Maayan, who mans the Tel Aviv stall with impossibly dewy skin while working as a culinary tour guide in Israel. For months I watched from afar, bemused, as they shpritzed and massaged various oils and creams on unsuspecting tourists on the promise that they would cure acne, fade wrinkles and increase libido. I stopped being a bystander when Maayan insisted on rubbing their
Flavio/Flickr
etrog-infused vitalium lotion, a “multiuse herbal concentrate [that] functions as a comprehensive local analgesic,” on a nasty-looking burn I’d acquired while wrestling my oven that morning. Two days later, with no trace of a scar, the burn was gone—and I was hooked. Like Uzi Eli, Ayurvedic medicine, a holistic healing system developed in India over 3,000 years ago, uses etrog juice to curb nausea and excessive thirst. References in Ayurvedic literature from 800 B.C. have led many to believe that the citron is native to India. Others argue that it originated in China, where until today, a variety known as the Fingered Citron (also known as Fo Shou or, my personal favorite, Buddha’s Hand), is used to treat nausea, bloating, and chronic coughs. Perplexingly, the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, sometimes referred to as the “Father of Botany,” praised the vomit-inducing properties of the etrog, which he prescribed when “one has drunk a deadly poison.” This seems to be a Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans situation, best played only by the sturdy-stomached. For the more cautious, I’d suggest brewing a simple tea from the etrog’s leaves, or mixing etrog jelly with sugar and honey a la yuja-cha, a popular Korean cold remedy made with yuzu. Modern medicine advises avoiding the etrog’s seeds, contrary to the advice of Pliny the Elder—a Roman Empire-era commander, naturalist, and etrog enthusiast who endorsed chewing the seeds to reduce morning sickness. Despite his dodgy advice, Pliny wasn’t alone in connecting the etrog to pregnancy. Due to its breastlike appearance, the citron is a feminine symbol in Jewish spiritualism
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and has long been linked to childbirth-related segulot (Jewish superstitious charms or rituals). One segula dictates biting off the pitom (stigma) to guarantee a son, or placing it under your pillow for an easy labor. To the cynics among you, I can only relay my sister-in-law’s story with a shrug: Force-fed etrog jam by my mother-in-law when her contractions began on the promise that it would ensure the birth was as painless as possible, my niece basically fell out. After pestering my mom friends for intricate play-by-plays of their birthing experience, I take the view that anything
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that could potentially reduce the torment of childbirth is worth a try. When it comes to wellness, we need not look much further than Jewish healing and spiritual tradition. The etrog, which combines both, is an excellent place to start. Now who’s up for a cuppa? Rachel Myerson is a freelance journalist from the United Kingdom now based in New York after a five-year stint in Tel Aviv. She writes about all things cultural, with a focus on food, and has been published in Time Out, Vice and the Forward, among others.
jewishnewsva.org | September 30, 2019 | High Holidays | Jewish News | 17
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(JTA via The Nosher)—In recent years, it seems that more and more of my family members and friends have developed food allergies and food intolerances. This can make it difficult to determine what to serve at holidays and family events. So a gluten-free, dairy-free apple cake for the High Holiday season is a delicious way to celebrate while also suiting everyone at my table. Nut allergy? You can absolutely leave out the walnuts here. My preferred gluten-free flour to use is Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, which can be used as a direct substitution for all-purpose flour and doesn’t require additional thickeners such as xanthan gum.
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Rachel Pattison
5. Fold in the diced apples and walnuts. If you find that the mixture is too thick, you can add some almond milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, not to surpass ¼ cup.
Ingredients ¼ cup coconut sugar or brown sugar 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 large eggs, room temperature ²⁄3 cup honey 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2½ cups gluten-free baking flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt ¹⁄8 teaspoon allspice 3 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into ¼-inch pieces (I recommend using a mixture of green and red apples) ²⁄3 cup walnuts, finely chopped (optional) Unsweetened plain almond milk (optional)
6. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake in the oven for 1 hour. Check the cake at the 50-minute mark. It is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Once done, allow the cake to cool in the bundt pan for 15 minutes. Then place a cake plate on top of the bundt pan, and while holding the pan and the plate together, very carefully flip the bundt pan so the cake lands directly onto the cake plate.
Rachel Pattison is a healthy food blogger living in Los Angeles. She loves taking traditional recipes (including Jewish family recipes!) and finding ways to make them healthier. You can find more of her recipes on her blog, www.littlechefbigappetite.com.
7. Allow the cake to cool completely and then dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar. Serves 6–8.
18 | Jewish News | High Holidays | September 30, 2019 | jewishnewsva.org
High Holidays
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Rosh Hashanah greeting from Gandhi discovered at National Library of Israel Marcy Oster
JERUSALEM (JTA)—A Rosh Hashanah greeting written by Mahatma Gandhi on the day that the Nazis invaded Poland has been discovered at the National Library of Israel. The handwritten letter from the famed Indian advocate of nonviolence to A.E. Shohet, the head of the Bombay Zionist Association, is dated Sept. 1, 1939. The library placed it online this month. “Dear Shohet, You have my good wishes for your new year,” the letter reads. “How I wish the new year may mean an era of peace for your afflicted people.” The greeting was discovered as part of a major National Library of Israel initiative to review millions of items in its archival collections, which include personal papers, photographs and documents. The library’s initiative is with support from the Leir Foundation. Shohet was an Indian Jew from the Baghdadi community in Bombay. He also headed Bombay’s Keren Hayesod office
and served as editor of the Jewish Advocate newspaper. Shohet had interviewed Gandhi earlier that year, in March, at his ashram in Wardha, according to the National Library. Gandhi had called for resisting Nazism solely through nonconfrontational means. “My sympathies are all with the Jews.… If there ever could be a justifiable war, in the name of and for humanity, war against Germany to prevent the wanton persecution of a whole race would be completely justified. But I do not believe in any war,” he wrote in November 1938. Not long before he was assassinated in January 1948, Gandhi called the Holocaust “the greatest crime of our time,” yet maintained that “…the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs…It would have aroused the world and the people of Germany.… As it is they succumbed anyway in their millions.”
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Young Jewish people receive free High Holidays seats throughout the nation Marcy Oster
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ore than 1,100 synagogues across the United States and around the world are welcoming Jewish college students and young adults to worship with them for the High Holidays for free. Synagogue Connect is helping Jewish young people between the ages of 18 and 26 to find the synagogue with the appropriate affiliation near them to attend Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. Synagogue Connect was founded in 2017 by Rabbi Ronald Brown and Charles Klein. It uses an online system to make
the matches. It also works with Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity and Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority to continue building its list of synagogues. “Our purpose is to help young adult Jews connect, reconnect—or in some cases connect for the first time—with a synagogue in their city, whatever denomination they choose,” Brown says. In addition to the United States, the service includes synagogues in Canada, Israel, Europe, Australia, and South Africa. More than 30 countries have participating synagogues. (JTA)
jewishnewsva.org | September 30, 2019 | High Holidays | Jewish News | 19
This New Year, pick a gift that will sweeten the Jewish future.
High Holidays
Six tips on eating before the Yom Kippur fast
Shannon Sarna
Shannon Sarna
When you create a legacy gift, you help your most cherished organizations secure resources needed to thrive today, plan for tomorrow, and blossom far into the future. LIFE & LEGACY® is a program that helps individuals and families create legacy gifts, providing a permanent source of support for the Jewish causes they care about. Regardless of age, wealth or affiliation, you can make a gift that will sweeten Jewish futures.
(The Nosher via JTA)—Yom Kippur is one of the most, if not the most, important day on the Jewish calendar. For many Jews, fasting and being in synagogue is the focus of the day. Fasting is not easy, nor is it for everyone—some people cannot fast because they are pregnant, breastfeeding, or have a medical condition. Or they simply do not function well abstaining from water and food for a 25-hour period. But for those who choose to fast as a meaningful way to engage in Yom Kippur, there are actually foods that can set you up for a more successful, less onerous fast. As I researched for this article, I found that most people stick to a menu that is classic and delicious, but not too crazy or spicy: chicken soup, chicken, rice or pasta, a vegetable, some challah, and water. Here are more tips on eating before the fast.
PHIL ANTHROPY IS OUR TR ADITION. For more information, contact Kaitlyn Oelsner koelsner@ujft.org | 757-965-6103 foundation.jewishva.org
20 | Jewish News | High Holidays | September 30, 2019 | jewishnewsva.org
1. Avoid foods that are hard to digest. Now this might be different for everyone, but in general stay away from heavy meat dishes, fried foods, or lots of dairy. Because you know, Jewish stomachs. 2. Eat foods that have fiber and water. Foods with lots of fiber will keep you fuller longer, and foods with water (like fruits
and vegetables) will keep you hydrated. Chickpeas or lentils are a great vegetarian protein source to eat, especially a dish like mujaderra. A hearty chicken soup with noodles or rice and lots of veggies is another safe bet. 3. Avoid salt. Salty foods like olives, pickles, chips, canned soup, or dishes made with those bouillon cubes will bloat you and make you even more thirsty. So stick to something a little blander for that pre-fast meal. 4. Avoid sugar. Too much dessert before fasting may cause your blood sugar to spike and then come crashing down, which can be unpleasant at its least and cause a headache or moodiness at its worst. Too much sugar also makes you thirsty, like salt, and will have you craving more sweets during your fast. 5. Drink water. This is pretty obvious, but make sure to drink plenty of water, not only at the meal right before the fast begins, but the days preceding as well. 6. Avoid eating too much. Eat a moderate-sized meal that leaves you satisfied, but not unbuttoning your pants. You will feel uncomfortable and it will be more difficult to digest a monstrous-sized meal.
it’s a Wrap Rough bumps. Sweet ride. Coffee and cookie icon energizes Society of Professionals
Mark Robbins
Jeff Werby, Michael Coles, Lisa DeNoia, and Greg Zittrain.
Lisa Richmon
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ichael J. Coles didn’t gain weight or lose sleep slaying it in the cookie and coffee business. He got rich. And resilient. Coles is one tough cookie. He set three trans-continental biking world records after coming back from a near fatal motorcycle accident. He worked his way to the top of two highly competitive, multi-billion-dollar industries—without a formal education or venture capital. He helped the state of Georgia gain a tax credit in favor of in-state filming, and in doing so transformed the movie industry. He lost a lot. He fell hard. He’s seen it all. That level of extreme resilience wasn’t lost on the crowd attending United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Society of Professionals Industry Icon event, on September 18, at 1701, in Virginia Beach’s Vibe District. “He has the most remarkable founders’ spirit,” says Dr. Alan Wagner. Coles’ story resonated with Wagner as a health care provider and entrepreneur. “Although limits are set personally, there are critical times when help and guidance from others is crucial.” Marcie Warranch is a coffee
professional employed by a local ‘global company.’ “I went because of his coffee background,” says Warranch. “But I was pleasantly surprised by the entire evening. It wasn’t just a typical 30-something networking event. Coles relayed a powerful message just by telling his personal story: ‘If you want to start something different, don’t let fear stop you.’ He overcame many major problems and conquered them. When he wanted to try something new, he didn’t stop at ‘will it work for me?’” People such as Coles thrive on challenges, and when they look back on a remarkable career fraught with obstacles, they want their accumulated grit and glory to mean something and resonate with others, in particular the next generation. “Nothing is more inspirational than hearing a successful entrepreneur talk about his successes—and failures,” says Emily Nied, a local real estate professional. “Our son, a budding entrepreneur, also started by selling cookie cakes to his classmates. There was nothing more thrilling than watching Michael’s eyes light up when we told him about our son debating between fulfilling his order for half a dozen cookie cakes or studying for a math quiz. Spoiler—our son got an A on the quiz.”
Greg Zittrain is co-chair of the Society of Professionals, a group of medical professionals, attorneys, and business owners—anyone who considers themselves a professional is welcome. SoP holds educational and social events throughout the year. “Our purpose,” says Zittrain, “is to foster community—to learn about each other, to support each other, and to give back where we can. We proudly consider ourselves an outreach arm of our Federation, and we connect with the greater Tidewater community. Going forward, we have a dynamic lineup of trailblazing industry icons to look forward to.” In business, the right perspective is true currency, just like cashflow and customers. Sometimes it just takes finding
your mettle and looking for the blessing in a dark place. This worked for Michael Coles. Just ask Wagner: “Adversity is an opportunity…if you have a sense of humor.” Michael Coles was in Tidewater as part of the Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Book Festival through the Jewish Book Council. This event was made possible by Fathom Coffee and 1701. For more information on SoP, contact Carly Glikman at cglikman@ ujft.org. Visit JewishVa.org/Book-fest to learn more about upcoming events.
B’nai Israel Sisterhood kicks off the New Year with membership and mingle event
Bina Krieger Zukerman and Andie Pollock.
Avigayil Perry, Aviva Harpaz, Jodi Schwartz, and Rikki Davis.
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ore than 40 women attended B’nai Israel Sisterhood’s brunch and an interactive, get-to-know-you game on Sunday, September 15. “For our new board’s first event, it was a fantastic turnout,” says Darcy Bloch, Sisterhood president. Launching its new mission to “Connect. Support. Enrich,” the B’nai Israel Sisterhood has a wide-range of plans for the upcoming year. “All of our events will be fun and educational, but we’re taking the next step to help each member feel connected,” says Bloch. “We encourage everyone to get involved and lend support to future sisterhood events.” For more information or to join, email sisterhood@bnaiisrael.org. jewishnewsva.org | September 30, 2019 | Jewish News | 21
Upcoming issues
World
Inspiring Jews who died in 5779 JTA Staff
October 28
(JTA)—The close of every year brings with it bittersweet reminders of the incredible figures we lost in the year that was. This year the task of remembering the departed is particularly fraught as 12 people on the list were lost to acts of anti-Jewish violence in U.S. synagogues. Along with the shooting victims in Pittsburgh and Poway, California, are artists, activists, and ordinary folks who heroically answered the call of history. Here are some whose stories inspired us the most. Pittsburgh victims n Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and opened fire while shouting Dmitry Brant a n t i - S e m i t i c Memorials for the victims of the Tree of Life synagogue slogans. The shooting in Pittsburgh, Pa., October 31, 2018. shooting would become the deadliest act of terrorism against American Jews in the country’s history. Eleven worshippers were killed that morning, ranging in age from 54 to 97. Among the dead were a married couple, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, and two brothers, David and Cecil Rosenthal, along with Daniel Stein, Jerry Rabinowitz, Richard Gottfried, Joyce Fienberg, Rose Mallinger, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger.
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Salute to
tidewater Jewish Military Connections
November 11
November 25 To advertise, call 757.965.6100 or email news@ujft.org
Herman Wouk When Time put Herman Wouk on its cover in 1955, it found the Orthodox novelist’s blend of literary achievement and religious practice to be paradoxical. But over the course of his nearly seven-decade career, Wouk would help usher Judaism into the American mainstream through more than two dozen novels and works of nonfiction, several of which were adapted for the screen. He died on May 17 at the age of 103.
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Peggy Lipton ctress Peggy Lipton was descended from Russian-Jewish immigrants and raised in a heavily Jewish enclave on Long Island, New York, but she became the quintessential American flower child as the star of the crime drama The Mod Squad. In 1974, she married the legendary music producer Quincy Jones, with whom she had two daughters. She died of cancer in May at 72.
Herman Wouk, Palm Springs 2014.
Amos Oz, 2005.
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Publicity photo of Peggy Lipton from the television program The Mod Squad, c. 1971.
Lori Gilbert-Kaye hen a gunman burst into the Chabad of Poway synagogue in April, Lori Gilbert-Kaye reportedly leapt in front of the rabbi to shield him from the bullets. Gilbert-Kaye, 60, was the only fatality in the attack on the San Diego-area congregation. Remembered as a pillar of the community and a regular hostess of Shabbat meals filled with guests, Gilbert-Kaye was survived by her husband, Dr. Howard Kaye, and their daughter, Hannah.
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Yechiel Eckstein istory will remember Yechiel Eckstein as the man who raised hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly from Christians, to benefit needy Jews in Israel and beyond. But to thousands of Jews in conflict zones who he helped FellowshipCam bring to Israel, Eckstein was someRabbi Yechiel Eckstein, thing of a guardian angel. Eckstein September 2008 founded the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in 1983, and through a combination of pluck, charisma, and tireless legwork made unprecedented progress in raising money for Jewish causes from evangelicals. In February, he died of heart failure in Jerusalem at 67.
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Amos Oz mos Oz won virtually every literary prize short of the Nobel and was perhaps Israel’s most widely translated
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author. He was also among its most vocal peace activists, calling Israel’s withdrawal from the Palestinian territories a “moral imperative” and helping to found Peace Now in 1978. In novels like My Michael, Black Box, Where the Jackals Howl, and his 2002 autobiographical A Tale of Love and Darkness—later made into a film by and starring Natalie Portman—Oz chronicled the emotional development of his young country. He died of cancer in December at the age of 79.
World David Berman a v i d Berman was a founder of the influential band Silver Jews, which released six albums David Berman, between 1994 January 2009 and 2008. Berman, who battled various drug addictions over the years and survived multiple overdoses, long described himself as “ethnically Jewish.” But after a stint in rehab in the mid-2000s, he began going to synagogue and studying Jewish texts. He died in August at 52.
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Barbra Siperstein n Feb. 1, the Babs Siperstein law went into effect in New Jersey, allowing residents to change their gender identity without proof they had undergone gender reassignment surgery. Two days later, the law’s namesake died at 76. Barbra Siperstein was an advocate for gender equality and transgender rights. In 2009, after completing sex reassignment surgery, she officially changed her Hebrew name from Eliezer Banish to Baila Chaya at a ceremony at her Conservative synagogue in Freehold.
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Eva Mozes Kor va Mozes K o r was born in Romania and, along with her twin sister, sent to Auschwitz in 1944. At the concentration camp, they underwent medical experCANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center iments at the hands of the Eva Mozes Kor, April 2016. infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. But Kor was not the type to hold grudges, even against
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Nazis. She publicly forgave Mengele and made headlines in Germany for embracing Auschwitz guard Oskar Groening at his trial in 2015. Kor died in July in Poland while on a trip organized by the Candles Holocaust Museum and Education Center, which she founded in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1995. Stan Lee ew had as significant and enduring an impact on the comic book industry— and the i nter n at ion al m e g a - b l o c kGage Skidmore busters that it Stan Lee, June 8, 2014. would eventually spawn as Stan Lee, the genius behind Marvel comics. Among the characters he co-created with other artists are SpiderMan, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Thor. He was born Stanley Lieber to Romanian-Jewish immigrants. He died in November at 95.
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Simcha Rotem ew historical events more dramatically signify Jewish defiance in the face of persecution than the Warsaw Ghetto Adrian Grycuk Uprising. And Simcha Rotem, April 2013. Simcha Rotem, who died in Jerusalem in December at 94, was its last known surviving fighter. Born Kazik Ratajzer in Warsaw in 1924, Rotem lost six members of his family when the Germans bombed his home in 1939. After the uprising, Rotem led surviving fighters from the ghetto through the city sewers, saving their lives. He immigrated to prestate Israel in 1946 and fought in its War of Independence.
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For more information, contact Ann Swindell aswindell@ujft.org | (757) 965-6106
jewishnewsva.org | September 30, 2019 | Jewish News | 23
what’s happening Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival
Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival
Avid readers and book clubs— Two special events with authors
Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook An evening with Christopher Noxon
The Cast—Amy Blumenfeld
Monday, November 4, 6 pm Sandler Family Campus, free
Monday, November 18, 7:30 pm Simon Family JCC, free
Lisa Richmon
The Face Tells the Secret—Jane Bernstein Monday, December 16, 12 pm Beth Sholom Village, $12 includes lunch
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wo outstanding novels have been chosen as Community Reads with visiting authors as part of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. The Cast, by Amy Blumenfeld, is November’s community read. This book explores the power of forgiveness, the importance of authenticity, and the immeasurable value of Amy Blumenfeld deep, enduring friendships. The story revolves around a group of ninth graders that produce a Saturday Night Livestyle videotape to cheer up an ailing friend. Twenty-five years later they reunite, but nothing goes as planned. The happy holiday card facades everyone’s been hiding behind quickly crumble and give way to an unforgettable three days filled with complex moral dilemmas and life-altering Jane Bernstein choices. This event is free and open to the public. Registered Book Clubs will be invited to a reception with the author.
Meet Jane Bernstein, author of The Face Tells the Secret, at a luncheon hosted by Beth Sholom Village and in partnership with the JCC Book Club. The Face Tells the Secret is a beautifully written story depicting a family’s trauma and the journey required to come to a place of acceptance and peace. “This book was a great read!” says Bina Zukerman. “Most every family has their “closeted” unspoken secrets, yet in her poetic way, Ms. Bernstein lets us identify with the sorrow, sadness, and secrets that let us see the intimate and sensitive side for her characters from so many perspectives. There is much to learn as the story reveals its hidden message.” To register a Book Club by October 31, RSVP, or for more information, contact Patty Shelanski, Arts + Ideas manager, at pshelanski@ujft. org or 757-452-3184. The authors visit Tidewater through the Jewish Book Council.
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he human vocabulary cannot articulate what Christopher Noxon illustrates on the subject of history and hope in Good Trouble Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook. An illustrator, author and activist, Noxon’s vivid pen and watercolor drawings provide a ‘Moral Imagination’ map for activists and communities seeking inspiration and guidance. Good Trouble is eye and brain candy for anyone in search of an actiondriven antidote to today’s turbulence and upheaval. Expect some pre-election day Good Trouble when Noxon speaks Christopher Noxon candidly about the importance of confrontation, joy, and faith as part of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. Noxon is the author of the novel Plus One, which Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner called “well-observed, honest, and laugh-out-loud funny,” and Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes and the Reinvention of the American Grown Up which Ira Glass, host of public radio’s This American Life, called “an eye opener.” His work is featured in the Wall Street Journal,
USA Today, The New York Times, CNN’s In the Money, NPR’s Talk of the Nation and Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report. This event marks Noxon’s first gallery-style exhibition where he will feature 25 illustrations chosen from his new book. He says he is excited to share what he learned about the local Civil Rights movement, and display three original illustrations created expressly to resonate with the community. Noxon’s talk promises to provoke and enlighten—and coincide with Noxon’s debut gallery showing. A book signing will follow. All book proceeds are donated to the Center for Popular Democracy, a nonprofit advocacy group devoted to racial justice, health care, and poverty issues. To RSVP or for more information on this and other Book Festival events, visit JewishVa.org or contact Patty Shelanski at pshelanski@ujft.org or 757-452-3184. Christopher Noxen is in Tidewater through the Simon Family JCC’s partnership with the Jewish Book Council.
Calling new local authors
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s part of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival, local authors who have published a book within the last year will share their work during ‘Tidewater Reads: Local Authors Present!,’ an afternoon of discussion, meet and greets, and book signings. If interested in participating, or for more information, contact Patty Shelanski, Arts + Ideas manager, at pshelanski@ujft.org, by October 18. Space is limited.
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what’s happening Hadassah presents end-of-life ethics panel Israeli physician and first female Orthodox rabbi are featured speakers Sunday, November 3, 3 pm Sandler Family Campus, $18 • • • •
Only 10% of Americans discuss end-of-life decisions with a health care provider Only 42% of Americans rate the U.S. health system as fair for end-of-life care 50% report religious or spiritual beliefs play a role in making end-of-life decisions 70% report that death is a subject that they generally avoid discussing —2016 Kaiser Family Foundation Study on End-of-Life Medical Care
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oo few Americans have told their families what to do when death is near. The result can cause uncertainty and emotional strife with family members, doctors, social workers, clergy, and other professionals who are caught in the middle of end-of-life decisions. To encourage the conversation, Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc., will present End of Life Ethics: A Conversation with Leading Global Voices, moderated by former local TV reporter and talk show host Joel Rubin. Admission is $18. Special guest panelists include Charles Sprung, an Israeli physician, and Rabbi Lila Kagedan. Director emeritus of the General Intensive Care Unit at Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Sprung is an advisor for the National Palliative Care and End-of-Life Program of the Ministry of Health of the State of Israel. He has consulted on end-of-life protocols in Israel, Europe, and the United States. Rabbi Kagedan, a dual American and Canadian citizen and the first Orthodox woman to adopt the title of rabbi, teaches bioethics and is a chaplain in hospitals and hospices in Boston where she resides. In addition to Sprung and Rabbi Kagedan, a panel will include local experts: • Thomas Elder, a certified hospice and palliative nurse who is administrator of Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care, a joint agency of Jewish Family Service of Tidewater and Beth Sholom Village. • Scott Alperin, an attorney with Alperin Law, which specializes in elder law and issues involving medical directives, health care power of attorney, surrogate decision making, and other end-of-life issues. Discussion topics include “halachah” (Jewish law) as
well as the practical challenges Dr. Charles Sprung that can arise when a family member of any faith is fatally ill. Panel members will also answer questions about medical direc- Rabbi Lila Kagedan tives, living wills, family dynamics, how Orthodox vs. Reform and Conservative movements approach end-of-life issues and more. “All of us should prepare for the inevitable and Jewish teachScott Alperin ings can help in the process,” says Sprung. “Hadassah has focused so much of its work, through its hospital, research, and programs like this, on challenging medical topics,” says Dr. Gail Moscowitz, event chair. “We hope this will be the first of many opportuni- Thomas Elder ties for Hadassah to engage the local community in meaningful dialogue.” “I am very eager to share my experience and knowledge of Jewish thought on end-of-life concerns,” says Rabbi Kagedan. “As rabbis and teachers, it is an issue we must help our fellow Jews address, and in advance when possible.” Pre-registration at www.hadassah.org/southernseaboard is encouraged, as space may be limited. For more information, call Sharon Goretsky at 757-535-9633 or email at hadassahNFKVB@gmail.com.
Vaad of Tidewater
Fiery chopped competition to feature ‘The Aussie Gourmet’ Sunday, November 3, 5 pm Sheraton Waterside
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aomi Nachman, author and social media influencer, will host four local teams of professional and home cooks in an all-out battle of kitchen supremacy for the title of Tidewater Chopped Champions at Vaad of Tidewater’s fall event. During the three rounds of competition, Nachman will share her extensive food knowledge, as Naomi Nachman well as her global culinary travels, while guests enjoy an array of tapas, desserts, and cocktails. For more than 50 years, Vaad of Tidewater has provided the highest standards of kosher supervision throughout the area. Vaad’s efforts reach local eateries, stores, synagogues, and hotels, enhancing the Jewish community. “The Vaad continues to be an invaluable service to the community while fostering growth and awareness,” says Rabbi Sholom Mostofsky, kashrus director. “This event is no different. Community members will have an opportunity to learn more about what it means to keep kosher in Norfolk and have fun doing it. This event promises to be a good time.” To become a sponsor or for more information, email choppedva@ gmail.com or call Tehilla Mostofsky at 757-572-2581.
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Calendar
mazel tov to
THROUGH OCTOBER A Century of Activity in Romania, an American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee exhibit in the Leon Family Gallery on the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus.
Elihu Flax is new head of Board of Rabbis and Cantors
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antor Elihu Flax, who directs religious services at Beth Sholom Village, is the new president of the Board of Rabbis and Cantors of Hampton Roads. The board Cantor Elihu Flax addresses issues pertaining to the Jewish community as they relate to the area’s Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform synagogues, including reacting to Jewish community concerns and sharing information with other Jewish organizations.
OCTOBER 6, SUNDAY Ohef Sholom Temple Men’s Club Carpool Café will show the documentary, Nobody Wants Us: S.S. Quanza at 10:30 am. RSVP to reservations@ohefsholom.org. For more information, call 757-625-4295.
“It means a lot to me,” says Cantor Flax, who has a master’s degree in Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary and graduated from JTS’ cantorial school. “It represents a continuation of a family legacy. My father was a founder of a New York synagogue, and my mother was president of its Sisterhood,” says Flax. “Additionally, my grandfather was a mohel in the Orthodox movement, and my brother was a professional in the Jewish Federation. I have a love for this Jewish community and the importance of all the movements in Judaism.” Flax was the cantor at Temple Israel in Norfolk before assuming his current position at Beth Sholom Village in 2003.
OCTOBER 16, WEDNESDAY Senior Lunchtime Prom, “Blast from the Past” featuring The Silver Tappers. $6 for members, $10 for potential members. Includes lunch, music, and dancing. Space limited. For more information, visit jewishva.org/seniors or call 757-321-2304. NOVEMBER 3, SUNDAY End-of-life ethics panel presented by Hadassah with Israeli physician and first female Orthodox rabbi as featured speakers. Space may be limited, pre-registration encouraged. For more information, call Sharon Goretsky at hadassahNFKVB@gmail.com or 757-535-9633. $18. See page 25. NOVEMBER 3, SUNDAY Naomi Nachman, ‘The Aussie Gourmet’ will host the Vaad of Tidewater’s fall event for the Tidewater Chopped Champions at the Sheraton Waterside. For more information, choppedva@gmail.com or 757-572-2581. See page 25. NOVEMBER 4, MONDAY Author Christopher Noxon will speak about his book, Good Trouble—Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook. For more information or to RSVP, pshelanski@ujft.org or 757-452-3184. See page 24. November 16, Saturday Ohef Sholom Temple’s 175th Anniversary Gala at Ohef Sholom. Dinner, dancing, and more. 6:30 pm. $75 per person. For reservations or more information, 757-625-4295 or ohefsholom.org.
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.
November 17, Sunday Super Sunday. UJFT’s Young Adult Division’s annual phone-a-thon. Sandler Family Campus. 10 am–1 pm. For information or to volunteer, contact Jasmine Amitay at 757-965-6138 or jamitay@ujft.org.
SIMON FAMILY JCC SENIORS CLUB PRESENTS
Blast Past FROM THE
SENIOR LUNCHTIME PROM FEATURING THE SILVER TAPPERS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2019 AT 12:00 PM SIMON FAMILY JCC $6 FOR MEMBERS, $10 FOR POTENTIAL MEMBERS INCLUDES LUNCH, MUSIC, & DANCING SPACE IS LIMITED PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED BY OCTOBER 10 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER, PLEASE VISIT JEWISHVA.ORG/SENIORS OR CALL 321.2304.
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NOVEMBER 18, MONDAY Amy Blumenfield, author of The Cast. Free, 7:30 pm, Simon Family JCC. For more information, pshelanski@ujft.org or 757-452-3184. See page 24. DECEMBER 16, MONDAY Jane Bernstein, author of The Face Tells the Secret. For more information or to RSVP, pshelanski@ujft.org or 757-452-3184. See page 24. 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.
Ohef Sholom Temple 175th Anniversary Gala Saturday, November 16, 6:30 pm
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he 19th oldest Reform congregation in the nation, Ohef Sholom Temple is celebrating its 175th Anniversary in style with a Gala at the temple. The evening includes cocktails, dinner, wine, open bar all night long, dancing, a piano bar, and several surprises. Guests are asked to either arrive “Dressy” or “as a favorite or famous Jewish person.” Tickets are $75 per person or $1,000 for a reserved table of 10. RSVP to ohefsholom.org or call 757-625-4295.
what’s happening The Band’s Visit at Chrysler October 29 – November 3
Award-winning Israeli actor Sasson Gabay and star of Beautiful Chilina Kennedy, part of North American Tour cast Winner of 10 Tony awards—including best musical Winner of Grammy award for best musical theater album
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he Band’s Visit tells a delightfully offbeat story. Set in a remote Israeli town, an Egyptian police band arrives lost due to a mix up at the bus station. With no bus until morning, they are taken in by the locals for just one night. Under the spell of the desert sky, and with beautiful music perfuming the air, the band brings the town to life in unexpected and tantalizing ways. THE BAND’S VISIT is about music bringing people together and human connection. It is a timely story of
acceptance and a celebration that people are more alike than different. The cast of world-class performers is led by award-winning Israeli actor Sasson Gabay, star of the original film and Broadway production, and Chilina Kennedy, known best for her historic run as Carole King in Broadway’s Beautiful— The Carole King Musical. The show also features a band of on-stage musicians that bring the score to life. The score fuses musical theater with
To win a pair of tickets to see The Band’s Visit at Chrysler Hall, go to Facebook/JewishNewsVA and like The Band’s Visit post by Tuesday, October 15.
jazz and a traditional Middle Eastern flavor. Tony and Grammy winner David Yazbek created a truly fresh and unique sound for Broadway Matthew Muprhy audiences. Chilina Kennedy & Sasson Gabay. With a Tony- and Grammy-winning score and featuring thrillingly talented Tickets for The Band’s Visit start at onstage musicians, The Band’s Visit $40 (plus applicable fees) and are on rejoices in the way music makes audiences sale now at the Scope Arena Box Office laugh, cry, and ultimately, brings people and Ticketmaster.com. Orders for groups together. of 10 or more can be placed by calling 757-823-4299.
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Obituaries Marshall M. Friedman Virginia Beach—With heavy hearts, at the age of 83, we announce the death of Marshall M. Friedman (Norfolk, Virginia), who passed away on June 8, 2019. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on the memorial page and share them with the family. To leave online condolences to the family, visit www.vacremationsociety.com. Bernice Greenberg Virginia Beach—Bernice Greenberg passed away at home on September 9, 2019. She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Norman Greenberg; children Larry (Eva) Greenberg, Deborah (David) Shahvar and Michael (L’sandra) Greenberg; grandchildren Jacob, Hannah, Sarah, Daniel, Samuel, Jonathan, Benjamin, Jessica and Mika; niece Tammy Vangorder and nephew David Greenberg. Bernice gave her time to many organizations such as the Senior’s Club where she served in many capacities. She was even honored with the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Jewish Community Center. Bernice and her husband were both active members of Brith Sholom. A graveside service lead by Rabbi Israel Zoberman was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery. A meal of consolation followed at Altmeyer Funeral Home. Sofia Maria Ruiz Konikoff Virginia Beach—Sofia Maria Ruiz Konikoff, mother of seven, grandmother of four, and the wife of Dr. David B. Konikoff, passed away Sept. 13, 2019, during a trip to Jerusalem. She was 57. Sofia was born Jan. 4, 1962, in Miami, Fla., shortly after her family arrived in the United States from Cuba. She was the youngest of six children. She was preceded in death by her parents, Dr. Abelardo and Marta Ruiz. She is survived by the loves of her life: David, whom she loved with all her heart and soul; her daughters, Elisa Carter (Mike), of Moyock, N.C., and Rachael Rosenberg (David), of San Francisco, Calif.; and her sons, Ryan Konikoff, of Cleveland, Ohio and Joshua Konikoff, Jared Konikoff, Jacob Konikoff and
Jonathan Konikoff, of Virginia Beach. She also is survived by her grandchildren, Keira, Skylar and Colton Carter of Moyock; and Makiah Rosenberg of San Francisco, Calif. Her family was the most important thing to Sofia, and she referred to a recent trip to Italy, when all 15 family members vacationed together, as “the trip of a lifetime.” Sofia also is survived by her loving siblings, Maria Butterworth (Carey) of Chesapeake; Dr. Abelardo Ruiz (Angela) of Virginia Beach; Grace Little (Mike) of Chesapeake; Marta Stewart (Jamie) of Virginia Beach; Dr. Antonio Ruiz (Anne) of Elizabeth City, N.C.; Dr. Albert Konikoff (Wendy) of Virginia Beach; Dr. Steven Konikoff (Ronnie Jane) of Virginia Beach and Sharon Berger (Rich) of Cleveland, Ohio; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews and cousins. She was a 1980 graduate of Portsmouth Catholic High School and earned her degree in dental hygiene from Old Dominion University in 1984. She stayed incredibly busy. While family was her priority, she also enjoyed coaching her children’s basketball and soccer teams, traveling, playing tennis and belonged to the United States Tennis Association. She was a member of the Congregation Beth El and involved in volunteer work with the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center of Virginia Beach; the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore; the Women’s Cabinet of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Sofia was instrumental in the founding of the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater—Konikoff Center of Learning. She traveled worldwide supporting missions of the JDC and was a life member of the Lion of Judah. Sofia’s involvement in these meaningful causes always gave her a sense of pride and purpose. A funeral service was conducted at Congregation Beth El. Burial was private. Leona Rose Roberts Boynton Beach, Fla.—Leona Rose Roberts passed away peacefully in Boynton Beach, Fla., on September 15, 2019 at the age of 98.
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Born in Portland, Maine, Leona heeded the call to help in the war effort and joined the 3,700 women of Maine who built the Liberty ships during WWII, producing a ship off the line every 47 days. These ships produced the ‘Rosie the Riveters’ and ‘Wendy the Welders’ that could build ships faster than our enemies could sink them and provided major supply chains to our troops. After the war, Leona and her naval husband Bill ended up in Norfolk, where she raised her family and became an active member of the Jewish Veterans Auxiliary at the Commodore Levy Chapel on the Norfolk Naval Base. Once a month she would prepare the Oneg Shabbats for the Sabbath services and would make sure there was enough food and sweets for the servicemen and women who attended services to sneak some back to their ships and barracks afterwards. Leona loved opera, theatre, concerts, anything musical, especially when her violinist husband played with other talented members of her close-knit family. She volunteered at Beth Sholom Home, was beating women half her age at Mahjong well into her 80’s and enjoyed competitive Rummy-Q with her son and daughters right up to her last days of hospice care. Leona always viewed as special those days when her children picked her up and took her to a casino, where she found a favorite slot machine to sit at and enjoyed a great lunch of her favorite foods. Leona was predeceased by her parents, Bessie and Benjamin Edison, sister Eleanor Taft and husband of 46 years, William S. Roberts. She was surrounded by her loving children: Diane Roberts, Jerry Roberts, Esther Roberts Kline and husband Andy Kline, sister-in-law Andrea Kline, who Leona loved as her friend, as well as ‘private family nurse’ and Ron Lovell. She is also survived by her sister Estelle Fineman, daughter-in-law Jacalyn Roberts ( Jerry), grandsons Brandon Roberts, Travis Roberts and wife Beth, great grandchildren Chloe, Bryce, and Shawn, step grandsons Jeffrey, Eric, and Danny Kline, and many nieces, nephews and cousins. Graveside services were conducted by
Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg and Cantor Jennifer Rueben at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Norfolk. H.D. Oliver Funeral Apts. Carole Block Rosenberg Virginia Beach—Carole Block Rosenberg died at home on September 14, 2019 at age 84. She was a native of Newport News and lived in Virginia Beach. She is predeceased by her beloved husband of 63 years Monte Z. Rosenberg. She is survived by her three children and their spouses; Jo Rosenberg (Shari Strader), Paul Rosenberg (Stefan Rosenberg), and Lesley Rosenberg. She is also survived by her beloved grandchildren, Elizabeth Rosenberg (Joe Levy) and Jacob Rosenberg (Hannah St. Lifer), her sister Linda Reitzes (Richard Reitzes), Roz Weinstein, and several devoted nieces and nephews. Carole had strong friendships that she treasured and maintained for decades. She was passionate about her career as a therapist for over 35 years and loved her patients dearly. She faced life with humor and unfiltered truth—like it or not. Services were held at Altmeyer Funeral Home. Carole requested everyone wear bright colors. Donations to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia or Lee’s Friends Helping People. “Go Hoos!”
Body of Jewish victim of Santa Barbara boat fire returned to New Jersey for burial A Jewish victim of the Santa Barbara boat disaster was buried on Monday, Sept. 9 in New Jersey. Yulia Krashennaya, 40, of Berkeley, California, was one of 34 people killed when the scuba dive boat Conception caught fire and sank early on Sept. 2 during a Labor Day weekend outing. Krashennaya’s partner, Daniel Garcia, 46, also was killed. The only survivors were five crew members who were on the main deck when the fire broke out and jumped overboard. Krashennaya’s body was released days ahead of the other victims after the
Obituaries intervention of the Misaskim organization and rabbis from Chabad-Lubavitch and Agudath Israel of America, the Yeshiva World News reported. Krashennaya and Garcia were avid divers and underwater photographers who participated in dives around the world, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. She was a product manager at Spiralinks, where she did contract work for Cisco Global Event Marketing. The fire had cut off escape routes and trapped the victims who were sleeping below deck. The primary cause of death of the victims has been determined to be smoke inhalation. (JTA)
Pioneering journalist Cokie Roberts Cokie Roberts, a pioneering journalist who with her husband, wrote an interfaith Haggadah and published a book about their interfaith marriage, has died. Roberts was one of the few female voices on the air when she began in the 1970s and won several prestigious awards for her work, including an Emmy. She was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2008. Roberts died Tuesday, Septemeber 17 in Washington, D.C., at 75 from complications of breast cancer, the family said in a statement. She married Steven Roberts, a Jewish journalist and journalism professor at George Washington University, in 1966. Over the course of their careers, the couple collaborated on many occasions, including writing a nationally syndicated news column for USA Weekend for several years. The couple co-wrote the book From This Day Forward, first published in 2000, which candidly tells the personal story of their interfaith marriage while discussing the wider topic of the state of marriage in America. In 2011, they published Our Haggadah: Uniting Traditions for Interfaith Families, a guide for mixed-faith families in which they describe their approach to celebrating Passover with family and friends of all faiths. Steve Roberts told the Interfaith Family website “There’s a joke that Cokie is the best Jew in the family, and there’s a
lot of truth to that.” Cokie Roberts told the Washington Post that she did not convert to Judaism for her husband because “I couldn’t give up Jesus.” Cokie Roberts joined National Public Radio in 1978, and remained associated with the network as a political commentator until her death. She began working for ABC News in 1988 as an on-air analyst, and served for eight years as co-anchor of its Sunday morning broadcast and as chief congressional analyst, as well as covering politics, Congress and public policy for World News Tonight and other ABC News broadcasts. She won the Edward R. Murrow Award and the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. She won the Emmy in 1991. Roberts’ full name was Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs, but she was first called Cokie by her brother, who could not pronounce Corinne. Her father was Thomas Hale Boggs, a
Democratic congressman from Louisiana, and her mother, Lindy, was ambassador to the Holy See and then was elected to serve as a Louisiana congresswoman in the seat that had been held by her husband until his death, which she held for 17 years. She is survived by two children and six grandchildren.
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beth sholom village
Poker players at Beth Sholom Village have the real stuff Do not underestimate the power of poker. Well, at least not at Beth Sholom Village.
A
dedicated group of residents, staff, and volunteers would not think of missing their weekly poker game. The game provides comraderie, a little competition, and the ability to make a few shekels. Thanks to the kindness of Frances Levy Birshtein, the weekly game now looks and feels official. Birshtein donated a beautiful and functional poker table to the Terrace Assisted Living. The table is a treasured memory as it belonged to Birshtein’s husband (of blessed memory) Oscar Brandeis Birshtein. Well-known and beloved at Beth
Sholom Village, Oscar Birshtein came to the Home most Friday and Saturdays, and would bring 50 pounds of bananas. He thought the residents who had difficulty with eating would love the soft fruit, and of course, they did. He became known as ‘the banana man.’ When Fra nce s Birshtein learned about the regular poker game, she decided the Terrace would be a perfect home for the table. In the table’s center is a plaque with a dedication to Oscar from Frances. The regular players are happy, and Oscar’s memory lives on.
Who are we? Where are we? Why are we engaged? Why are we not engaged? What do we want ?
2020 Community Survey
To help understand Jewish Tidewater, its people, and community
Help us prepare for the online survey by attending one of these Jewish Tidewater Forums: Wednesday, October 23, 7–8:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus Thursday, October 24, 12–1:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus Thursday, October 24, 7–8:30 pm, Ohef Sholom Temple FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO RSVP, CALL 757.965.6124
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Some will drive it, all will feel it. The first-ever Audi Q8 is here. A presence that’s impossible to ignore. With class-leading acceleration, all-wheel steering, and 335hp — the rules of performance have officially been ratified.
Audi Virginia Beach Part of the Checkered Flag Family 2865 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach AudiVirgniaBeach.com 888-475-3593 Audi of America, Inc. defines the competitive segment as the 2019 Audi Q8, 2019 BMW X6 xDrive35i, and 2018 Mercedes-Benz AMG GLE 43 Coupe. “Audi,” all model names, and the four rings logo are registered trademarks of AUDI AG. ©2019 Audi of America, Inc.
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