Tamar Weinberg of New Rochelle has been chosen as a recipient of the Julian Y. Bernstein Distinguished Service Award from the Westchester Jewish Council, nominated by Young Israel of New Rochelle (YINR) for her amazing, non-stop efforts on behalf of the New Rochelle community. Each year WJC honors approximately 18 volunteers for their exceptional, dedicated volunteer efforts. This year’s award celebration will be held virtually on Tuesday, March 16.
On March 3, New Rochelle was designated as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, being the first community in the U.S. with a confirmed case of community spread. An immediate quarantine went into effect, with more than 1,000 people isolated in their homes, with the rest of the country spinning with worry at the news.
Tamar Weinberg, a member of YINR, is a married mom with four kids between the ages of 4 and 11. She was concerned about providing food for her own family and for community members, as well. Coming right after Purim, with only a few short weeks until Passover, she sensed additional needs within the community would also require attention and began to design a detailed plan of action. Working on behalf of many community members, Weinberg sourced items for the Passover holiday. She contacted local restaurants and stores to ensure they would begin providing delivery services. As restaurants were ordered to shut down due to the pandemic, she was also concerned about restaurant owners losing their livelihood. A food-delivery service to New Rochelle began in earnest.
Weinberg established a community WhatsApp and began taking orders from community members for kosher food, which would be delivered by local and not-so-local kosher restaurants. Orders, placed in advance, would be delivered to Weinberg’s home in New Rochelle, with people using her circular driveway to pick up their orders and continuing to exit the circle so the lines of cars kept moving along. Masks were required; socializing was discouraged. The important thing was “getting your food.”
Perhaps Weinberg’s biggest initiative was working with local farms, ensuring that surpluses of food were not going to waste. People ordered “pods” of fresh produce, often split between several families, so that people could continue to serve fresh, wholesome meals to their families. This coordination of restaurant orders, plus fresh produce, has fed an estimated 50,000 people since the onset of the pandemic, with donations also being made to food pantries, first responders and other charities, as well as to local residents.
Waiting at her doorstep to facilitate each delivery was a complicated, difficult process, one Weinberg handled with grace and efficiency. After just a few weeks, she realized that she was ill with the virus. Ignoring her symptoms, she continued to toil on, working upwards of 90 hours a week, with little or no sleep, in assisting the community with food and other needs. Since recovery, Weinberg has donated plasma at least five times.
But, if this weren’t enough, Weinberg was in the midst of launching a company (tamar.com) in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic to produce new fragrances. Nothing was going to stand in her way! Weinberg shared the fact that she suffered from depression that lasted nearly 10 years. “When you’re depressed,” she said, “you don’t care about what you look like and definitely don’t care about what you smell like.”
Her experience with illness empowered and changed her life. She recognized that “personal fragrance can be a vehicle to happiness.” When she launched, she wrote, “I know it’s insanity to launch a brand in the middle of a pandemic. At the same time, I knew it was the right time to launch this brand, mostly because we are all alone and may not be feeling good for ourselves right now. We don’t feel beautiful and don’t love ourselves the way we should. And yet, that was my brand mission even before COVID-19 shook the planet. Now, more than ever, this message needs to be heard, felt and smelled.” Her fragrances, “Quirky” and “Intense,” have become instant best-sellers. Weinberg’s choice of names for her two signature fragrances clearly reflect her own perky, persistent and fun-loving personality. But, Weinberg explained her real motivation for the names is that they describe “humanity and our flawed beings. As a perfectionist, I was not into these types of phrases until I realized that I have to embrace everything I am.”
One of Weinberg’s friends, Daphna Brainson, chose to use “Quirky” and commented, “The Quirky perfume smells delicious! I love the pear scent that comes through! So different and special…We know you’ll have a lot of success.”
Weinberg’s attention to the New Rochelle community morphed into furthering connections and friendships between so many people as they shared deliveries and used WhatsApp to comment on food choices, as well as on other community events and important information. The “food exchange” became a means of connection and admiration for a dedicated volunteer who cares so much.
As the months have progressed, concerns about the availability of the COVID vaccines have become a major part of the WhatsApp discussions as people share information about vaccine sites and websites. Weinberg’s help continues, getting information out as quickly as possible to her dedicated followers.
