Cantor Elihu Flax to serve as part-time chaplain • Saturday, May 17, 10 am
With a number of its Jewish and even some non-Jewish residents looking on, Cantor Elihu Flax affixed a fully kosher Mezuzah on the front door of Aviva Pembroke senior housing, located at Pembroke Square near Target and other retailers, restaurants, hotels, and popular amenities.
“The mezuzah includes a parchment with the Shema that calls on Jews to ‘write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates’,” said Flax, who was chaplain and director of Religious Services at Beth Sholom Village, 2004 – 2021 and is currently coordinator of Religious Services at Congregation Beth El. His first position in Hampton Roads was as cantor at Temple Israel for five years.
“I am thrilled to announce that Aviva has retained me to be its first chaplain,” says Cantor Flax.
To fit that into his other duties, Flax, who has a doctor of music degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary, will be at Aviva two days a week, offering pastoral care and leading Jewish services, while also “honoring religious preferences of non-Jewish residents,” presiding at funerals if asked, hosting “Ask the Clergy” classes, and of course, conducting “sing-a-longs.”
Aviva is pleased to have him on the team, says Jay Kossman, chairman of the board of Beth Sholom Village. “Having Cantor Flax back on staff is a real bonus,” he says. BSV, along with Pembroke Square Associates, built and operates the 153-unit complex, featuring one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, plus units for assisted living and memory impaired individuals. “It took a little while to establish the Jewish presence we have always desired for Aviva, and we’re not done yet. Our Jewish residents have been waiting for the mezuzah, but we wanted to secure a good one and arrange a nice ceremony.”
Another and equally significant event will take place on Saturday, May 17 when Danny Rubin, his sons, and father lead a Sabbath Service to dedicate a new ark – designed and constructed by David Small, a Navy man who also created the new Readers Table at Beth El where he’s a member. “It’s beautiful,” says Rubin, who began attending services at the old Beth Sholom, now Maimonides Health Care in Virginia Beach, as a child. “On May 17th, we will put it to good use, taking the Torah in and out to read the weekly sedrah and honoring residents and volunteers with aliyot and ark openings. I hope everyone will attend this historic program.”
Mezuzot are now on several resident apartments, and Aviva will assist anyone wishing to secure one. “We will have a nice mix of Jewish and non-Jewish residents,” says Kossman, “but there is a plaque just inside the front entrance with the names of donors, the vast majority of them Jewish, who rightly wanted there to be as much of a Jewish presence as possible, given the resident and ownership mix, although the Pembroke leadership has been very amenable to our requests. Thanks to Cantor Flax, our Board, staff, the Rubins, and other volunteers and clergy, we will have that and are open to all ideas to engage those Jews who live here, their families and the community.””