Editor’s Note: The following article is by Annie Weinberg, a Richmond native, who is Executive Director of the Brody Jewish Center, Hillel, at UVA. She shares reflections on the Grand Event and her  2024 Sisisky Fellows trip to Tbilisi, Georgia, with 10 Richmonders. In the photo, Annie visits with a senior citizen, Nelly in her home, along with Sisisky Fellow Avi Remitz.*

By Annie Weinberg

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond’s “Grand Event” with special guest Noa Tishby.

Vibrant Jewish Community

It was an incredible evening, and the student leaders who joined me from UVA were energized by what they saw. Not only did they love hearing from Noa for the second time in two weeks, but they also were in awe of the vibrant Jewish community they encountered in Richmond.

I had a blast pointing out my dentist, introducing them to the current principal at my beloved Jewish day school, hugging the women I consider my second mothers, saying hello to the person who taught me my bat mitzvah trope, and even letting them meet my former AP government teacher.

Annie (center) at the Grand Event with (right) Rebecca Levy and  (left) Rebecca's sister, Stephanie Hefter. Annie and Rebecca served together on the Rudlin Torah Academy Board of Directors several years ago. 

On the short drive back to Charlottesville, my students asked how I knew all of those people and marveled at how connected everyone seemed to be. I simply replied, “that’s just how the Richmond Jewish community is.”

Energized, Prideful and Connected

It wasn’t just my students who left feeling energized by what they saw. The experience at the Grand Event left me feeling energized, prideful, and connected. In addition to the various characters from my childhood, an added layer of connectedness I was able to experience that evening came from the newer relationships I built with the Richmond community last year through the Sisisky Fellows trip to Tbilisi, Georgia.

It had been my plan for years to find my way onto a Sisisky Fellows trip with the JDC. I guess I’ve been somewhat obsessed with the idea of global Jewish peoplehood for years. Every time I have traveled abroad as a young adult, exploring the Jewish quarter or visiting the local Hillel or Chabad is included in my (overly detailed) itinerary.

I’ve been to Chabad in Belize while my friend went scuba diving. I’ve joined in on shabbat services in numerous European cities. I even had a shabbat dinner at a Jewish center in Guatemala before hiking a volcano. In my time staffing BBYO Passport Trips, I’ve watched teenagers participate in Kabbalat Shabbat services in our shared language of Hebrew, and walk away feeling more connected to their Jewish identity than ever before. Those are the moments where I feel the most apart of Am Yisrael.

Am Yisrael, of Peoplehood

In my work as a staff member at the Brody Jewish Center, Hillel at UVA and now as the Executive Director, I’ve been eager to find ways of exposing our students to that concept of Am Yisrael, of Peoplehood, and to show them what Jewish looks like in all corners of the earth. After an eye-opening trip with the JDC to Cuba in March of 2024 and the devastation the Jewish world felt after October 7th, this became so much of a priority for us that we hired a staff member fully dedicated to Israel Engagement and Global Jewish Peoplehood.

And so, when I left Dulles airport with a few fellow Jewish Richmonders last November and landed in Tbilisi, I was already on board with the idea of global Jewish peoplehood. But there was something extra special about this trip. Not only were we exploring the triumphs and challenges of the Georgian Jewish community for 10 days. We were doing it alongside members of our small but mighty Jewish community back home, and getting to know one another better in the process.

In the photos above/below, Annie is with other Sisisky Fellows and JDC staff members in Georgia. 

I got to listen to individuals share their challenges as they tried to balance their Jewish identity with other identities that they held dear. We talked about politics, about Israel, about our Jewish backgrounds, and most importantly our connections to the Richmond Jewish community.

And those who were not Richmond locals learned so much about what makes Jewish Richmond so incredible. I knew that the wonderful humans I was dancing, eating, praying, walking, drinking, and volunteering alongside were invested in the same Jewish community I grew up in, and that the relationships we built could continue to develop after the trip, when we were back in Virginia.

Relationships Continued to Develop

Although we don’t get together as often as we’d probably like, those relationships have continued to develop for me, and that was so clear to me during the Grand Event a few weeks ago.

It was clear when I sat in front of my friend David whom I only really got to know after walking the streets of Tbilisi looking for incredible coffee (which we found). It was clear to me when I gave Avi Remetz a big hug and we talked shop about ways to collaborate on projects between the Richmond community and our community here at UVA Hillel.

It was clear when I let out loud cheers for my friend and fellow-traveler Hayley Grosman after she spoke in front of the entire room about her life-changing experience in Israel this past summer during Pride. I often say that the best part of our trip to Georgia was getting to experience it through Hayley’s excitement.

In a moment where she was feeling little support from some of her communities in town, we got to be a part of building a new one with her, and the way she has blossomed in the Richmond Jewish community since truly brings tears to my eyes.

There are many more individuals whom I had the privilege of forming bonds with on that trip, and it only drives home a point I make often when encouraging our UVA students to explore the Jewish world on trips with our team- immersive travel and exploration of Jewish communities globally, has a magical way of strengthening Jewish community locally.

‘Sense of Community’

I’ve never been to an event as large as the Grand Event, but when I walked in, I felt a sense of community belonging that I hadn’t felt in years, and I know our trip to Tbilisi, Georgia, last year played a key role in that.

A year later, I’m so grateful that I got to know and love the Georgian Jewish community, that I have an even deeper understanding of Am Yisrael, and that I have a cohort of Richmond friends with whom I share that experience.

* The Sisisky Fellows program, generously supported by the Mark and Susan Sisisky JDC Global Enrichment Fund of Richmond Jewish Foundation, is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of Jewish leaders.