{"id":392937,"date":"2026-09-07T15:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T15:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/392937\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T15:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T15:36:16","slug":"laura-tankel-jewish-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/392937\/","title":{"rendered":"Laura Tankel – Jewish Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Laura<\/a><\/p>\n

Laura Tankel<\/p>\n

For Laura Tankel, giving back to the community is more than something she makes time for \u2013 it is a value she learned by watching the women who came before her.<\/p>\n

Both her mother, Virginia Bare and mother-in-law, Terri Tankel, have been community leaders. Their examples have shaped the way she thinks about leadership, family and service, inspiring her to get involved. \u201cThey are both trailblazers in their communities. They both provided me with strong female leadership figures,\u201d she said. Tampa\u2019s Jewish community has provided Laura the platform to get involved.<\/p>\n

Originally from Cincinnati and raised in York, Pennsylvania, Laura has called Tampa Bay home since 2014. A proud double Seminole, she earned both her bachelor\u2019s degree in political science and her law degree from Florida State University. \u201cI went to FSU for warm weather and college football, and have never looked back,\u201d Laura said.<\/p>\n

As a licensed attorney, she took a less traditional path, working as a legal recruiter with the law firm, Gunster. There, she combines her legal background with one of her favorite skills: connecting with people.<\/p>\n

\"\u00a0\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

She loves meeting someone new, learning that person\u2019s story, and remembering details from previous conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy skills excel at \u201csmall talk,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople sometimes are impressed that I remember their dog\u2019s name, or a vacation or wedding they just attended.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same instinct to connect has become an important part of her Jewish community involvement.<\/p>\n

Although she did not grow up Jewish, Judaism was not entirely unfamiliar to her. As a child, she attended her local Jewish Community Center for preschool.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a young age I was taught the Jewish traditions and holidays,\u201d Laura said. \u201cOne of my earliest memories was making a Sukkah at the JCC and spending time in it having a picnic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her family also explored different faith traditions, which gave her an early appreciation for learning, questioning and respecting different beliefs.<\/p>\n

\"\u00a0\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Years later, after meeting her husband, Scott, her connection to Judaism deepened.<\/p>\n

Her husband grew up in Pinellas County and attended Jewish day school and summer camp at Camp Judaea. He made aliyah, and served in the IDF\u2019s elite Paratrooper Brigade \u2013 an accomplishment his family is especially proud of.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to think of myself as the local\/community-based side of service, and Scott is the worldwide Israel side of giving back,\u201d Laura said.<\/p>\n

For more than six years, she immersed herself in Jewish learning and culture, attending classes and services, and exploring what Judaism could mean for her and her growing family. She ultimately chose Leah ( )<\/p>\n

\u2026.. as her Hebrew name, inspired by the biblical matriarch\u2019s strength, devotion and quiet leadership.<\/p>\n

Motherhood has made that connection even more meaningful.<\/p>\n

Today, Laura and Scott are raising two young children, ages 4 and 1 and a half, and some of her favorite moments are the simplest ones: Friday night Shabbat dinners, singing Bim Bam with her children, and creating family traditions that she hopes will continue for generations.<\/p>\n

At Passover, the family places a Miriam\u2019s Cup alongside the traditional Cup of Elijah. For Laura, it is a meaningful tribute to the strong women in her family and a hope for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiriam\u2019s Cup to me is a nod to the strong matriarchal figures in our family and the hope that one day my daughter will also be a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

That desire to model leadership for her children is also reflected in her growing involvement in the Tampa Jewish community.<\/p>\n

In 2024, following Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Laura had a conversation with her rabbi about tikkun olam and the responsibility to help repair and improve the world. Her own family had been fortunate not to be displaced, while others in the community were dealing with tremendous hardship.<\/p>\n

She knew she wanted to do more.<\/p>\n

At the time, however, she was pregnant with her second child. The timing wasn\u2019t right, but she made herself a promise: when the timing was right, she would get involved.<\/p>\n

About a year after her son was born, she was ready.<\/p>\n

She graduated from the Hope Cohen Barnett Leadership Institute (HCBLI) in 2026. She now serves on the board of Tampa Jewish Family Services and is involved with several other Jewish organizations, including Congregation Schaarai Zedek, the Jewish Education Loan Fund (JELF), Amy Gail Buchman Preschool, Hadassah and the Tampa JCCs & Federation\u2019s Leadership Council and President\u2019s Dinner Committee.<\/p>\n

JELF is especially meaningful to her because of her own love of the college experience. The organization provides interest-free loans to Jewish students with financial need, and she hopes to help expand awareness of JELF\u2019s work in Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

Her approach to community involvement is simple: start where you are and do what you can.<\/p>\n

That philosophy was evident during her time in HCBLI. She spearheaded a class project to help those in need during the holiday season, and her class members donated toys, canned goods and school supplies to Tampa Jewish Family Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so impressed by the generosity of our group,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

For Laura, community isn\u2019t simply about organizations and board meetings. It is about relationships \u2014 and the relationships that will last.<\/p>\n

For a young mother balancing a career, two small children and an expanding commitment to community, those connections matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I made friends in the leadership class or through the synagogue, or preschool, I\u2019m always thrilled to think that their children will be in my kids\u2019 bar mitzvah class, and I will say \u2013 \u201cI knew your mom when you were just a newborn.\u201d I love knowing and making a commitment to the relationships that I am starting today for many more years to come,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That sense of continuity may be one of the things she loves most about Tampa\u2019s Jewish community. It may be smaller than some communities, she says, but that means the connections are everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone says that it is small \u2013 it is small! When I first met my husband, we always played the \u201cJewish Geography Game\u201d \u2013 someone you know knows someone that you know,\u201d she said. \u201cIn Tampa, it\u2019s true \u2013 you may be seated next to someone\u2019s mom at a board meeting or the wife of your doctor. It\u2019s always surprising who is around.\u201d<\/p>\n

And perhaps most importantly, she hopes her children will see her doing exactly what she saw the women who inspired her do: showing up, getting involved and making a difference.<\/p>\n

She is also becoming a powerful example of what it means to advocate \u2014 not only for yourself, but for your family, your community and the generations still to come.<\/p>\n

This feature profiles the inspiring young adults of the Tampa Jewish community who are making a meaningful impact through volunteerism and leadership. These emerging changemakers embody the values of tikkun olam \u2014 repairing the world \u2014 by giving their time, energy and passion to causes that strengthen both the Jewish community and the broader world around them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laura Tankel For Laura Tankel, giving back to the community is more than something she makes time for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-392937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}