It was a special day on Sunday, October 24 as the members of Nadiv, the Young Men’s Giving Circle through YAD, led the Jewish community in a cleanup of Mikro Kodesh cemetery in Chesapeake.
Together with the Norfolk Kollel and community members of all ages, more than 50 people cleared out overgrowth that had covered many of the headstones. Nearby, children painted rocks to place on top of the headstones.
During the event, Rabbi Yedidya Koven of the Norfolk Kollel led everyone in a Kaddish for those buried at the cemetery. He spoke of the importance of addressing and tending to life and afterlife matters. Some community members in attendance recognized graves of family friends and shared personal stories and memories.
“The oldest grave we saw dated back to the 1840’s,” says Danny Rubin, chair of the Nadiv Young Men’s Giving Circle. “It’s humbling to think of all of the history here in our own Tidewater Jewish community.” By the end of the event, the group had restored a small, but important cemetery in dire need of repair.
The cleanup is only the latest community effort from Nadiv, founded in 2016 as a business networking group for Jewish men in Tidewater in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Since then, Nadiv (which means “generosity” in Hebrew) has evolved to become a giving circle in which each member puts in annual dues of $54 (separate from a United Jewish Federation of Tidewater campaign gift). The group hosts a community-wide NCAA bracket pool every March to raise additional dollars.
Nadiv combines the membership dues and NCAA fundraiser and donates the funds back into the Jewish community, targeting programs and community needs based on the collective Jewish values of the Nadiv members. Previous Nadiv gifts include outdoor games for the “white top” behind the JCC, groceries for Jewish Family Service, and financial support for an aide to a child with special needs at JCC Summer Camp.
Nadiv currently has 29 members and continues to grow. At its core, the group is designed to build camaraderie among members and underscore the importance of the UJFT and the need to make a gift to the annual campaign.
Know someone who should be in Nadiv? Email Matthew Kramer-Morning, UJFT’s YAD director, at mkmorning@ujft.org to get connected!
-Matt Kramer-Morning and Danny Rubin