A retired estates attorney with Pender & Coward, Beryl Adler is a Norfolk native. He attended Taylor Elementary, Blair Junior High School, and Maury High School – all in Ghent. Married for 69 years to Leonette, whom he met at a dance at Hunter College where she was studying, he has three daughters, five grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. 

Jewish News: How did you celebrate your milestone birthday?

Beryl Adler: I was with my dear wife.

Leonette Adler: We had a big party at Dockside. Huge balloons and everyone was there. We sat outside on the deck with our family.

JN: How do you spend your days?

BA: I think about my good fortune a lot. I read multiple newspapers each day.

JN: What are you grateful for?

BA: I am grateful for my good health that I enjoy at 95. I even have my wits about me most of the time!

LA: And he’s still driving!

JN: What was your favorite decade?

BA: Most of my memories of things in the past are all very good. I don’t have any issues that give me any pause.

LA: Beryl has memorable moments as a lawyer, a judge, and the dad of three girls.

JN: What words of wisdom would you like to pass on?

BA: Make the most of any opportunity that comes your way.

The “Best in Show” winner of the first Boardwalk Art Show in July 1956, Leonette Adler is a native of the Bronx, N.Y. She moved to Norfolk to marry Beryl Adler, then a young Navy lieutenant.  In addition to painting, Adler spent many years teaching art at the Jewish Community Center, Tidewater Community College, and Norfolk Academy. 

 A mom to three daughters, grandmother to five, and great grandmother to two, she can still be found in her studio painting, with her works sold at various shows.

Jewish News: How did you celebrate your milestone birthday?

Leonette Adler: We went out with my children and their husbands.

JN: How do you spend your days?

LA: I walk every day. And I paint, read, and cook, and the day disappears!

JN: What are you grateful for?

LA: I am grateful for each day.

JN: What was your favorite decade?

LA: My whole married life was, and is, memorable and joyous. We have been married for 69 years.

JN: Do you have words of wisdom to pass on?

LA: I don’t think so; I haven’t got a clue!

90 years old

The former owner of Southern Packing Corporation, Lenny Brooke has been married to Ellie for 63 years and is nearly as active as ever. His son, Jeffrey Brooke says, “Even now after my father has turned 90, he still calls on a few customers from Southern Packing Corporation and goes out to the plant in Chesapeake to make sure Ronnie and Todd (his cousins, to whom he sold the business) “don’t screw it up.” 

He has three grandchildren and six great grandchildren. 

Jewish News: How did you celebrate your milestone birthday?

Lenny Brooke: We celebrated at my son, Jeff’s, house. We had a deluxe meal with two of our grandchildren and four of our great-grandchildren. One grandchild lives in Israel with his family and couldn’t join us.

JN: How do you spend your days?

LB: I still deliver Meals on Wheels. I meet with friends and play golf. My wife, Ellie, and I do many things together.

JN: What are you grateful for?

LB: I am grateful to be alive! I feel good and have no old age characteristics; I get up and go. Ellie and I are very fortunate to be so active for our ages.

JN: What was your favorite decade?

LB: The best decade was the 60’s. We got married in 1961 and those were our early married years.

JN: What words of wisdom would you like to pass on?

LB: I am thankful for my wife and my good health and welfare. We celebrate Judaism together. We are ambulatory and active.

100 years old

The oldest in this esteemed group, Lorriane Fink manages to find humor in almost every situation – at her 99th birthday, for example, she suggested the cake be turned upside down to make her 66!  She’s an award-winning artist, a retired art teacher from Old Dominion University, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Chrysler Museum, and the Peninsula Fine Arts Center, and her paintings and other works of art hang in various museums and galleries throughout the area. Fink has five children and nine grandchildren and was married to Bill, her late husband, for 63 years.  

Jewish News: How did you celebrate your milestone birthday?

Lorraine Fink: Most of my family came in for it. We partied; it was written up in the newspaper. It was a very family-oriented celebration. Plus, the family re-enacted a portrait taken more than 25 years ago – with everyone dressed in the same colors as they were then.

 I spent 15 years at ODU getting my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. ODU had a 100th celebration for me and an art exhibit with a lot of my artwork. ODU asked to borrow the artwork for incoming students to see in the art education building. They had a reception for me.

JN: How do you spend your days?

LF: I am still working. And I’m happy to be breathing in and out! I’m busy thanking God.

My work is my artwork: painting, drawing, collage. Friends and family come over to do artwork together with me.

JN: What are you grateful for?

LF: I’m grateful for today and every day.

JN: What was your favorite decade?

LF: My favorite time is when all the kids were home, and my husband was with me. Nothing like having all the kids around and my husband at home.

JN: What words of wisdom would you like to pass on?

LF: Be with people you look up to – that’s what it’s all about. Having respect for each and every individual.

Even rap stars, accused of antisemitism, have been prone to insert these joyful words into their music, albeit among other stanzas laced with expletives and R-rated lyrics.

Mazel, which is translated as “luck,” literally means “constellation” or “planet.” The Talmud explains that a person’s fortune is influenced by the position of the heavenly spheres, according to chabad.org.  Our mazel, our luck, is determined when we are born. 

In Hebrew, tov translates to good.  

So, there it is – Good Luck!

In an article on forward.com, Julie Potash refers to “mazel tov” as the most celebratory Jewish lyric of all time. In the song, I Gotta Feeling, The Black Eyed Peas croon, “Fill up my cup (drink)! Mazel tov (l’chaim)!” Potash interprets this as the overwhelming emotion one experiences when a grandchild or great-grandchild is dancing joyfully at a bar or bat mitzvah. What a feeling, to see the fruits of Jewish history, together, celebrating in the same room. Potash asks, “Did will.i.am (of The Black Eyed Peas) have a profound understanding of this, feeling so deeply connected to the Jewish experience that he was moved to write a song of celebration in the language of the Jews?”

Mazel Tov, a restaurant in Hungary, serves as one of the most popular culture clubs in Budapest’s Jewish Quarter. The place operates in the spirit of diversity and acceptance and provides not only Mediterranean cuisine and cocktails, but hosts various cultural events, too, according to welovebudapest.com. One of Mazel Tov’s primary goals is to provide a space for everyone who believes in an open and inclusive world; the programs also aim to convey these messages. 

Emily Burack, deputy managing editor of the website, heyalma.com, searched Genius, the popular lyric site, for songs containing the words mazel tov. Included in her list are three songs by Jay-Z, Omigod You Guys from Legally Blonde: The Musical,  popular Jewish rapper Drake, DJ Khaled, Kesha, A$AP Rocky, Weird Al Yankovic, and Pusha T (a rapper with Virginia Beach roots). Burack even created a “mazel tov” playlist on the digital music service, Spotify. Many of these songs, unsurprisingly, are not for the ears of children.

As one of the most celebrated Jewish actors and comedians of his generation, Adam Sandler shares his Jewish wit to nationwide audiences through movies such as The Wedding Singer and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. Although most famous for his Chanukah song, which does not mention mazel tov, Sandler’s song in Wedding Singer does, and is aptly named Mazel Tov.

Other notable productions which include these two congratulatory words include Love and Mazel Tov (2020), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Mazel Tov ou le Mariage (a 1968 French film translated in Englishto Marry Me! Marry Me!), and Fiddler on the Roof (1964). More recently, the Netflix show, Nobody Wants This, wouldn’t be kosher without the pronouncement of “mazel tov.” Afterall, one of the show’s main characters is a rabbi.