To learn more about BeAR, contact Robin Ford at United Jewish Federation of Tidewater at 757-321-2304 or rford@ujft.org.

Sukkot with NextGen

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s NextGen has myriad plans for Sukkot at venues throughout the community. NextGen is for Jewish adults, ages 22 – 45ish.

All Sukkot events can be found at www.Jewishva.org/Nextgen, where registration, which is required, can take place. For additional information, contact Hannah Yasemsky, NextGen engagement coordinator, at 757-470-8080 or Hyasemsky@ujft.org.

 The sale comes barely a year after the team’s controlling stake was sold for $10 billion to Mark Walter, the billionaire CEO of Guggenheim Partners who also owns MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, the WNBA’s L.A. Sparks, Premier League club Chelsea, the Professional Women’s Hockey League and Cadillac’s Formula 1 team. 

 Walter, who is not Jewish, is reportedly seeking cash to pay down loans in response to a Department of Justice investigation.

 Kushner, 41, is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law and advisor to President Donald Trump who has played a central role in Israel policy. The younger Kushner is a billionaire venture capitalist who holds a minority stake in the Miami Heat — which he will have to sell to complete the Lakers sale — and was previously a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.

 “As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world,” Iger and Kushner said in a statement. “We have immense respect for the leadership and vision of [longtime owners] Jerry and Jeanie Buss. Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level, and serve this extraordinary team, its fans, and the city of Los Angeles.”

 The Lakers sale is the latest in a string of recent high-profile NBA team transactions by and among Jewish businesspeople — including Mat Ishbia’s purchase of the Phoenix Suns, Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall’s purchase of the Charlotte Hornets from Michael Jordan, and Mark Cuban’s sale of the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson.

 Kushner, who is the grandson of Holocaust survivors and was raised in an Orthodox home in Livingston, New Jersey, was at the center of a controversy in the world of professional soccer earlier this summer when his investment fund Thrive Eternal attempted to purchase a stake in FIFA’s World Cup tournaments.

 Under pressure from stakeholders from across the sport, who objected to the prospect of private ownership of the sport’s preeminent contest, the global soccer body withdrew the privatization offer.

 The Kushner family has donated millions of dollars to Jewish organizations in America and Israel, including the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, multiple West Bank settlement organizations, Chabad, the Ramaz School in Manhattan and Kehilath Jeshurun synagogue on the Upper West Side. The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston is named for his grandfather, who launched the family’s real estate empire.

 Kushner’s father Charles serves as the United States Ambassador to France and Monaco. 

 Iger, 75, ended his second stint as CEO of Disney earlier this year. He and his wife, Willow Bay, are the owners of the professional women’s soccer club Angel City FC. Iger was raised in a Jewish home.

 Following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that launched the Gaza war, Iger sent a note to Disney’s Jewish employees to “express my shock and sadness.”

 It was an election-season stunt that drew such a flood of responses that the number’s WhatsApp account was blocked within minutes and those calling received a busy signal.

 It also drew suspicions that it was a ploy to collect voter data.

 In a video posted to social media, Netanyahu is seen with longtime adviser Topaz Luk, who asks the prime minister whether he can publish his phone number. Netanyahu initially reacts with disbelief, saying, “Topaz, have you gone crazy?” before agreeing. 

 “I want to hear from you. Your suggestions, your questions, your problems. I want to hear, so leave me a message,” Netanyahu said. He added that he could not promise to answer everyone but would respond to as many people as possible. 

 Hundreds of messages and calls arrived within minutes and the WhatsApp account associated with the number was blocked. Luk later posted on X that the account had been disabled because of the volume of calls and said Netanyahu’s team was working to restore it, directing people to Telegram in the meantime. 

 Kan political correspondent Michael Shemesh questioned whether the number belonged to Netanyahu at all and suggested on X that the exercise was “probably designed to harvest the phone numbers of potential voters.” 

 Other users pointed to another clue that the handset seen in the video was unlikely to be Netanyahu’s personal phone. One of the WhatsApp groups visible in Luk’s video was a synagogue updates group whose latest message appeared to back political rival Naftali Bennett, the former prime minister who now heads the Beyachad party. 

 “Something tells me that Bibi isn’t signed up to the ‘Menachem’s House Main Shul Updates’ group,” one X user wrote, “especially not when the latest message there is ‘yalla, it’s time for Bennett.’” 

 It was not the first time Netanyahu handed out what he presented as his personal number during an election campaign. In August 2022, little more than two months before the vote that returned him to power, the then-opposition leader published another number and invited Israelis to video call him. 

 “Why should only some people have my phone number? Everyone should have it,” Netanyahu said at the time, joking that the move was a “dramatic, world-changing decision.” He told supporters who sent proof they had joined his Telegram channel that they would have a better chance of receiving a video call from him. 

 The response was similarly intense. Likud said Netanyahu received 9,420 calls within the first 30 minutes, while follow-up videos showed calls and messages flooding the phone. 

 Netanyahu’s rivals mocked the stunt. Then-Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman released a parody video saying Netanyahu “has not picked up the phone in 12 years,” while Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid dismissed it as a “fictional phone operated by Netanyahu’s aides.” 

 The episode comes as Netanyahu faces a difficult reelection campaign, with roughly 20% of voters remaining undecided, many of whom are disillusioned Likud voters, according to pollsters and researchers. 

 A Channel 13 poll put Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party at 23 seats, ahead of Likud with 21, and Netanyahu’s current coalition projected to win just 49 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. Eisenkot also led Netanyahu 47% to 34% when respondents were asked who was better suited to serve as prime minister. 

 The phone-number appeal is the latest in a series of efforts to put Netanyahu directly in front of voters. 

 Likud also rolled out billboards showing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani alongside the leaders of Iran, Turkey, and Hezbollah under the slogan, “They want Netanyahu to lose. Don’t let them win.” 

 Member Sid Bridge led a joyful Carlebach infused Shabbat service, with the youngest members (led by Niv Rubin) often taking over the bima and capably leading prayers.  Participants were truly dancing in the aisles!

 If the spirit in the room weren’t enough by itself, the Shabbat dinner that followed increased camaraderie, connection, and community.  As recipients of a Tidewater Jewish Foundation Community Impact Grant, KBH hosted this program to show the multi-use strength and flexibility of the Sandler Family Campus; to showcase the Cardo Cafe’s excellent kosher catering; and to welcome young families to a child-friendly and affordable Shabbat experience.

 KBH is grateful to the TJF for their generous support, to Latoya Haspberry and the Cardo Cafe for preparing the delicious meal, to the campus leaders and staff for their set-up assistance, and to the KBH schleppers and set-up team for anything else that needed doing.

For more information about Kehillat Bet Hamidrash, visit kbhsynagogue.org or email kbhsynagogue@gmail.com.   For information about Tidewater Jewish Foundation, go to jewishva.org.

 For decades, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater and Beth Sholom Village shared a commitment to serving older adults through a continuum of care. The two agencies helped build successful hospice and palliative care services, while each also operated home health programs. As the healthcare landscape changed, JFS ended its home health program, and the hospice program was sold. Beth Sholom later closed its home health program and sold “the Home,” but its commitment to supporting Jewish seniors continued.

 Today, that shared legacy is taking new shape. JFS continues to offer a broad range of services, while Beth Sholom advances its mission through the Beth Sholom Village Foundation, which invited local organizations to apply for funding to support seniors. Jewish Family Service, along with several other organizations, received grant funding to help meet the growing and changing needs of older adults.

With support from the grant, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and JFS will work together to develop programs that engage Jewish seniors across multiple areas, including fitness, education, social connection, and cultural experiences. The agencies also hope to strengthen collaboration with other organizations serving older adults throughout the region. 

 “There is so much we can do by working together,” says Kelly Burroughs, chief executive officer of Jewish Family Service. “Increasing social and educational activities, cultural experiences, and accessibility for older adults is one of the agency’s primary initiatives this year. Doing this in partnership with our sister organizations means that we can make an even larger impact.” 

 Betty Ann Levin, executive vice president/CEO of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, agrees, noting that “the Sandler Family Campus is an ideal location for engagement across program areas, including health and wellness classes in conjunction with JFit, intergenerational engagement with PJ Library and Strelitz, and through our Center for Active Living at the Simon Family JCC.”

 The vision extends beyond campus-based programs. Through the BSV Foundation grant, JFS will expand its social service continuum for older Jewish adults by offering case management and coordination for critical support such as transportation, financial assistance, burial assistance, home safety modifications, shopping help, and light housekeeping. The need is already clear. “Within the first two weeks of the grant,” says Burroughs, “JFS received three requests for assistance with burial arrangements, two financial assistance requests for eviction prevention, and one request for repair of an air conditioning unit.” These services can make the difference between crisis and stability, helping older adults remain in their homes, age in place, and stay connected to community. One donor recipient, who was struggling to pay their mortgage due to some temporary challenges, recently shared their appreciation:

“It is difficult to put into words the immense relief and peace of mind your support has given me. Your kindness has made a profound difference in my life.”

Jewish Family Service, along with fellow grant recipients are building services that honor the generations who helped shape this community—and ensuring that older adults and people with disabilities continue to be cared for with dignity, compassion, and connection.

 Reflecting on the resurgence of antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and what he called the “anti-history” engulfing much of the world, Ferguson reached a painful conclusion. “The goal of my entire career as an historian was to ensure that citizens learned the lessons of history. … Yet today … anti-history is spreading like a cancer. The Holocaust is either denied or derided. I have to admit: I failed utterly.”

 His words resonated with me because they capture what many Jews are experiencing today. I understand why he feels defeated, but I simply don’t think defeat and failure are the same thing.

The purpose of historians

Antisemitism has returned to the mainstream. Holocaust denial has become fashionable and even expected in some circles. And far too many young people are historically ignorant and seem detached from even the most basic knowledge of the past.

 But I think Niall reached the wrong conclusion about both his work and that of history more generally.

 He did not fail. Rather, he expected history to accomplish work that history has never been able to achieve on its own.

 His mistake was understandable. Historians preserve the past. Their task is to recover it, explain it, place it in context and protect it from distortion. That is indispensable work. However, preserving the past and transmitting it are different responsibilities. Historians can document a civilization. They cannot, by themselves, persuade civilizations to remember.

 The Jewish tradition has understood that distinction for thousands of years. Judaism never assumed that facts speak for themselves or that historical knowledge automatically becomes moral wisdom. Instead, it taught those lessons around the dinner table, in the synagogue, and from one generation to the next.

Remember

The Hebrew word is zachor — remember. It is not advice; it is a command and is an idea that I first encountered when I was in elementary school. I vividly recall being taught to remember that we were strangers in Egypt, that we must remember Amalek and the Sabbath, and that very Covenant itself is sacred.

 Former Columbia University professor Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi observed in his landmark book, Zakhor, that “remember” appears in the Hebrew Bible no fewer than 169 times, with either God or Israel as its subject and that is no accident. Memory, in Judaism, is not simply a feeling or an act of nostalgia — it is an obligation.

 Yerushalmi’s central insight in Zakhor was that history grows more important precisely when memory grows weaker. As the ordinary practices that carried Jewish memory from one generation to the next became less secure, Jews increasingly turned to writing history. History expanded as memory contracted.

 That is a lesson worth remembering far beyond the Jewish experience. We often assume that historical knowledge is enough — that if people learn the facts, they will reach the right conclusions. But facts alone do not sustain a civilization. Judaism has always demanded something more: not simply that we know the past, but that we remember it.

 The holiday of Passover may be the clearest example. Every year Jews gather around the Seder table not simply to recall the Exodus but to enter it. The Haggadah instructs every person to see himself as if he personally came out of Egypt. Parents tell the story and children interrupt with questions; this is celebrated and encouraged. Meals, songs, ritual, and repetition give the story emotional weight until it becomes part of a family’s identity rather than simply another historical event.

 That is how Jewish memory survived nearly 2,000 years of exile, persecution, dispersion, and hate. History and scholarly pursuits certainly mattered and remain central to Jewish life, but they were never sufficient. For centuries, families, synagogues, schools, and local communities carried memory together until it became woven into the rhythm of ordinary Jewish life.

What has changed

Many of those institutions — Jewish and non-Jewish alike — are weaker today. Families spend less time together. Religious participation has declined. Voluntarism has declined. Civic organizations have withered. Schools often struggle to transmit a shared civic inheritance.

 I do not need polling to tell me something has changed. I have seen the resurgence of antisemitism where I teach, online where anonymity magnifies hatred, and on the streets of New York while walking with my children. What Ferguson describes is not an abstraction. It is part of daily Jewish life once again.

 It is tempting to blame social media and artificial intelligence for what we see today. I think that gets the causal arrow backward. AI and social media did not create this problem. They exposed our cultural weaknesses. We have become very good at preserving, but much less good at passing on memory.

 Immediately after the Shema, Jews are commanded: “You shall teach them diligently to your children.” That command assumes something important. Memory is fragile and if neglected or ignored, even the most important truths disappear.

 Bernard-Henri Lévy recognized this almost immediately when he responded to Ferguson online. “No, dear Niall,” he wrote, “this is not a failure; it is a defeat. … Antisemitism may win battles, but not the war.”

Handing down memory

Lévy was making a profoundly Jewish point. Judaism has never confused survival with uninterrupted success. The covenant never promised that evil would disappear or that exile would never come. Instead, it made remembering part of everyday Jewish life — in homes, holidays, prayer, and study. That is how the story endured.

 Historians preserve the past. They recover forgotten truths, challenge falsehoods, and help us understand where we have been. But they cannot do the work of memory. That responsibility belongs to families, schools, congregations, and communities.

 That work falls to the institutions that turn history into memory. It happens around dinner tables, in classrooms, in congregations, and anywhere one generation takes responsibility for the next.

 Years of studying politics, sociology, and my own religious tradition have led me to the same conclusion: Communities survive because they hand something down. Historians record that inheritance. Families and institutions transmit it.

 So no, Niall — my friend — you did not fail. The work to which you devoted your life still matters. I, for one, am grateful.

 You did what great historians are called to do: preserve the record, challenge falsehoods and help us better understand the past. But history alone cannot carry a people or stop dangerous, irrational movements like anti-history from gaining so much power and influence. I wish it could, but that work belongs to memory — to families, congregations, schools and communities willing to pass an inheritance from one generation to the next.

 History preserves the past. Memory preserves a people.

Samuel Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a scholar with the Sutherland Institute.