16th annual Richmond Jewish Food Festival [Video]

The day painted a stark difference from two months ago when the synagogue became a place of mourning after the death of former community member Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Wounded and abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, during the Re’im music festival in Israel, he was held hostage for nearly 11 months until his body was recovered from a tunnel on Aug. 31.

The festival returned this year after taking a hiatus following the Hamas attack on Israel last year.

“It’s normally in January, so it would have been a couple months after, and we just thought it was inappropriate to have a festival right after the attack on our brethren in Israel,” said Chuck Lessin, president of Keneseth Beth Israel.

Lessin says the switch to …