Friends,
As the year ends, we look back at events, visitors, and achievements— and yes, the challenges—the Tidewater Jewish community experienced in 2015.
Our gratitude toward this community’s commitments, its accomplishments, its devotion and its dedication to meeting the challenges—facing not just Tidewater, but Israel, Europe, the Former Soviet Union, and so many communities around the world—is profound.
You came, with hundreds and thousands of others, to Federation-sponsored community events, often put on with the help of partner agencies, synagogues and countless volunteers: CRC’s Israel Today forum, the Holocaust Commission’s Yom Hashoah Holocaust Day of Remembrance, Tidewater Together with Scholar-in-Residence Rabbi Sharon Brous, the Teen Wellness Event, Across Oceans and Generations film premiere, Family Shabbats, a mission trip to Argentina, and even a Ride on the Tide.
You listened carefully to Ira Forman, the U.S. State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, who spoke to our community on the eve of the Charlie Hebdo and Jewish market attacks in France. Your response and offers of assistance were informed, heartfelt, generous and immediate.
You gave—to our extended Jewish family in Israel, in France, in Ukraine, in Nepal, and in Houston.
And you supported our UJFT Annual Campaign through generous donations. Your gift impacted every aspect of Jewish life in Tidewater, last year providing 9,000 Kosher Meals on Wheels to our homebound seniors, helping pay bills and buy medication for more than 400 people in dire financial need, providing funding and scholarships to 400 students in local schools and camps.
Your impact extended far beyond Tidewater, too, and with your help we can continue to meet challenges, both existing and new, and secure the future for generations to come in Tidewater, in Israel and globally.
Thank you for your contributions to date. Please consider making an end-of-the-year gift today to the UJFT Annual Campaign. Beyond the tax benefits you’ll get, you’ll be helping so many others through your tzedakah, the expression of your Jewish values, and your commitment to this community, and to Israel.
An advantageous option—for future generations and your own financial planning—is to have TJF help you create a Jewish legacy. For a limited time, TJF is offering a match program when you establish a Donor-Advised Fund: setting up a $7,500 fund will be supplemented with a $2,500 match from TJF, creating a $10,000 fund in your name. Through this fund, you are passing on a philanthropic legacy for your children, and your grandchildren.
Please visit www.JewishVA.org/Donate to make a gift today, or call us at 757-965-6100. We’ll be glad to speak with you personally.
We appreciate your continued generosity, and feel blessed to be part of such a remarkable community. Have a Happy Hanukkah, full of light!
Harry Graber
Executive Vice-President
United Jewish Federation Tidewater
Scott Kaplan
President and CEO
Tidewater Jewish of Tidewater Foundation