For Beth Sholom Village, that understanding has long been at the heart of its mission to care for seniors with compassion and dignity. This spring, that mission expanded with the launch of Beth Sholom Village’s community grant program, supporting nonprofit organizations serving seniors throughout Tidewater.

 While BSV’s grant program was primarily created to support organizations serving Jewish seniors, the inaugural grant cycle also reflects Beth Sholom Village’s broader commitment to strengthening the lives of older adults across the community. Applications were received from a diverse group of nonprofit organizations addressing some of the most important challenges facing seniors today. 

 Following a review process led by Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s staff and Beth Sholom Village’s Grant Committee, the organization’s board of directors approved the slate of grant recipients.

 “For over 40 years, Beth Sholom Village has been caring for older adults with kindness, compassion, and dignity,” says Fay Silverman, board chair of Beth Sholom Village. “Through this grant program, we are proud and honored to extend support to organizations that are helping seniors remain active, connected, engaged, and cared for throughout our community.”

 The grants will support a wide range of needs, including caregiver support, indigent Jewish burials, expanded transportation options, outreach services, reducing social isolation, food insecurity, home improvements, emergency assistance, and visitation programs. 

Edie Schlain, chair of the Beth Sholom Village Grant Committee, says the process highlighted both the growing needs of seniors and the extraordinary dedication of the diverse local organizations working to meet them.

 “Beth Sholom Village is here to help seniors with food, housing, transportation, and connection,” Schlain says. “Our commitment to caring for older adults remains as strong as ever.”

 Grant recipients will be formally recognized during a special community celebration hosted by Beth Sholom Village on June 17.

 A full list of grant recipients can be viewed at: https://bethsholomvillage.com. 

Two years have flown by. My term as chair of Tidewater Jewish Foundation is nearing its end. I have served with some of the most dedicated board members and staff anyone can ever be privileged to have, and it has been an honor I will never forget. Our Jewish community in Tidewater has some of the most amazing people to learn and work with. Thank goodness for my predecessors, who were always willing to listen and advise on a moment’s notice. The same can be said for my board and committee members. Their intelligence and wisdom are guiding lights, keeping this institution on course and doing everything it possibly can for the community it serves.

  TJF’s staff are some of the hardest working, dedicated professionals I have ever been associated with. I hope everyone has experienced the results of their work as we try to help our organizations become thriving institutions able to address the needs of our community.

  Those of us who serve at TJF have a singular motivation. We all hope we can secure our Jewish future by building strong foundations for the institutions that allow us to live Jewishly here in Tidewater. These accomplishments require hard work, sacrifice, vision, and perseverance. Legacy is not simply about dollars and cents. It is about making sure future generations have the same opportunities to gather, worship, learn, celebrate, and support one another that we have today.

  I served with Ron Kramer, Jerry Miller, Alvin Wall, Lawrence Steingold, Jody Wagner, and Charlie Nusbaum, and each generously shared their vision while helping me understand how important TJF is to our community. Hopefully, I’ve been able to keep that vision alive in some small way while helping prepare those who follow.

  TJF has, by any metric, been incredibly successful. In six years, we have grown our consolidated assets from $104 million at the end of 2020, to almost $200 million with almost $68 million in promises. Several years ago, Jody and Charlie helped develop a long-range plan calling for a tripling of assets and stronger succession planning. 

  Today, TJF has set its sights on an even bolder goal; reaching $500 million in assets under management to help secure the long-term strength of Jewish life in Tidewater. Naomi Sedek, TJF’s president and CEO, has worked tirelessly to implement this vision, and we are in far better shape because of her and TJF’s professional team.

I leave TJF in capable hands. Paul Peck will be a fabulous chair, and our succession plan is strong. My more than 20 years of service has been among the most rewarding experiences of my life, and I thank you for allowing me to serve. 

  The F. Craig Read Service Award honors individuals who have demonstrated sustained leadership, volunteerism, and dedication to HRACRE’s mission. Sacks exemplifies those values through decades of involvement and impact.

  Sacks became involved with HRACRE in the mid to late 1990s, first serving on the Programs Committee and later chairing the committee for many years. In 2006, he and Scott Adams established the HRACRE Internship Program, which Sacks chaired for many years and helped shape into one of the organization’s most impactful initiatives.

  In 2008, Sacks participated in HRACRE’s Strategic Planning Process, contributing to key initiatives that strengthened the organization’s role in the region, including enhanced legislative efforts, the revitalization of the HRACRE Presidents Council, and some of the earliest joint meetings among regional economic development offices.

Sacks served on the HRACRE board and executive committee for many years and was president in 2013. In 2013 and 2014, he taught “Legal Aspects of Commercial Real Estate” at Old Dominion University as part of HRACRE’s outreach efforts. His class, which frequently featured HRACRE members as guest lecturers, became the model for the expanded Internship Program. He says he is especially proud of the positive feedback he received from students, noting with humor that he never earned a single “chili pepper” on Rate My Professor.

  In 2019, Sacks received the Robert M. Stanton Real Estate Teacher of the Year Award from ODU’s Strome College of Business.

 In addition, Sacks served on the HRACRE REACH Foundation Board for several years and was president in 2024. During his tenure, he led the effort to create a permanent endowment for the HRACRE Internship Program. This endowment secures the program’s future, ensuring that students will continue to have access to meaningful commercial real estate internships for generations to come. The Internship Program endowment stands as one of Skip’s most significant and lasting contributions to HRACRE.

Along with all these volunteer efforts for HRACRE, Sacks finds time to occasionally write book reviews for Jewish News and assume the chair of Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s Gift Acceptance Committee. And, of course, he and is wife, Ellen, are the proud parents of Sam, Nate, and Hannah.

HRACRE is a commercial real estate organization serving Hampton Roads, focused on networking, education, and industry engagement. The organization brings together professionals across the commercial real estate sector to support collaboration and growth.

 Eight years after building the Shenkman Jewish Center, William & Mary Hillel’s engagement has exploded with success. During the 2024-2025 academic year, more than 440, out of the university’s approximate 650 Jewish students, attended programs at W&M Hillel at least once, and 90 students attended six or more events. During the 2025 – 2026 academic year, 525 Jewish students attended programs or events at least once and 101 students attended six or more programs. This massive increase in engagement is being celebrated as a significant achievement in Williamsburg. 

 Engagement success, says Rabbi Gershon Litt, executive director of W&M Hillel, has to do with teaching leadership and empowering students to succeed. The programs need to be engaging, recruitment strategies need to be in place, but the work on campus today is to find Jewish students wherever they may be both physically and philosophically and be willing to meet them there. 

  “Many Jewish students are not ready to come to a Jewish institution the first day on campus,” says Litt. “Their experience with Jewish institutions has not always been positive. A relationship can take time, and we need to go to where they are and help Jewish students see what Judaism and the Jewish people have to offer.” 

 This academic year, Rabbi Litt hired a part-time engagement professional to assist with student recruitment. A W&M Hillel success story, Lilly Tanenbaum became the president of the Hillel student board, graduated in 2025, and decided to stay at W&M to obtain her master’s degree in psychology. Tanenbaum was hired to add an engagement lens to everything that takes place at Hillel. 

 “Most of our programs are planned and facilitated by our student leaders. Lilly exemplifies the best of the best and she is now utilizing her skills to engage more Jewish students as staff,” says Rabbi Litt. 

 In addition to success in engagement, W&M Hillel saw incredible success in the Israel education space. Yeela Mimrod was the full-time Israel Fellow at W&M Hillel for the past two years and worked with Rabbi Litt, Tanenbaum, and the student board, to create a dynamic and inspirational Israel education program.  

 The Israel education program at W&M Hillel brought together students virtually every day of the academic year to examine the relationship between Jews in America and the Jewish state. Yeela had one-on-one coffee meetings, large classes, experiential cooking events, Hebrew classes, Israeli history and politics events, and much more. While Yeela will be leaving the area, W&M Hillel is looking forward to continuing the program with a new educator in the fall. Even during the recent wars, Rabbi Litt has not stopped leading Taglit Birthright Israel trips. His last Birthright trip was in January and his next trip, traveling with 37 students, is scheduled for June 8. 

 Engagement of Jewish students on college campus today is one of the toughest nuts to crack. William & Mary Hillel has not only cracked it but exploded in success. W&M Hillel needs more support to keep up with the growing need. 

To learn more about Jewish life at William & Mary or how to support the Jewish students on campus, contact Rabbi Gershon Litt at rabbilitt@wmhillel.org. 

William & Mary Hillel is a recipient agency of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. 

 The event raised more than $25,000 with most of those funds going to support PJ Library in Tidewater. PJ Library sends families free, high-quality Jewish storybooks each month.

 The tournament winner, Jon Horwitz, fended off Jason Hoffman at the final table to take first place.

 Many Nadiv members set up the room and managed the event all night (ending at 11 pm). Special thanks to the dealers who kept the table action moving and to Tom Edwards, JCC athletics director, for running a flawless tournament.

 A young professional men’s fundraising group through UJFT, Nadiv is open to men ages 22-50. Interested in joining? Contact Amy Zelenka at AZelenka@ujft.org.

SCC is also a time to handle Eastern Region BBYO business. The six elected regional presidents (one BBG and one AZA from each council) give a state of the region (“States”) where they review the successes and challenges of the past year. The new regional board is also elected.

Simcha BBG’s Skylar Caplan was elected as the fourth regional mazkirah (secretary) of Eastern Region. Mazkirah is responsible for managing Instagram posts, social media storytelling, designing flyers, and creating digital materials, as well as taking meeting notes, tracking member information, and keeping records of gatherings. Skylar will do this and more while leading and supporting her chapter counterparts in the region (all the mazkirahs in each BBG/BBYO chapter).

Conventions bring members together for a fun and meaningful weekend of programming, activities, Shabbat moments, and hanging out with friends. More than a few tears were shed upon departure.

Members are already looking forward to L’dor V’dor Convention (LVC) taking place November 13-15 outside Charlotte, North Carolina.

To learn more about supporting One Happy Camper or to begin a conversation about establishing a lasting legacy through this initiative, contact Naomi Limor Sedek at Tidewater Jewish Foundation, nsedek@tjfva.org or 757-965-6109.

To learn more about Camp JCC, Kids Night Out, School Days Out, children’s classes, and more, contact Christine Carnahan, Camp JCC manager, at ccarnahan@ujft.org or 757-452-3182.