Zoe Bell and Braden Hamelin | Staff Writers
A retiree since 2016, Vivian Bass shows no signs of slowing down. She said her calendar is just as jam-packed as when she was working, her days now consumed by volunteering and serving as a lay leader for various nonprofits.
Bass was named a recipient of the 2025 Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award for her decades of volunteer and philanthropic work in the Jewish community.
Every two years, beginning in 2004, the Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award recognizes women across North American Jewish Federation communities who represent the spirit of the Lion of Judah through leadership and giving. Recipients are chosen by their community as “women of valor with a lifelong commitment to the Jewish world.”
“It’s especially meaningful and precious and cherished to me to have this honor because I feel that I’m standing on the shoulders of the distinguished and legendary past recipients of the Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award, and that’s such a tremendously empowering and exhilarating experience,” Bass said.
The modern-day Lions of Judah is an organization of close to 18,000 Jewish women focused on social justice, aiding people in need and building Jewish community, according to the Jewish Federation website. Bass is the 10th woman from the Greater Washington area to be honored as such, according to a July 17 press release.
The Federation website adds that the floor for entry in most Lion of Judah communities is an annual $5,000 donation to their Federation, a show of commitment to their local Jewish community.
Bass has been a Lion of Judah since 1996 and an at-large member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s board since 2018. She considers her membership and philanthropic efforts vital to her identity.
“My Lion pin exemplifies the essence of my being — my pride in Judaism and philanthropy that I feel in every fiber of my being,” Bass said in a press release. “It is paramount to me both personally and professionally.”
Beyond her commitment as a Lion of Judah, Bass spent her life working in the Jewish world to champion equality for disabled D.C. residents and women globally, a passion realized when she was a child.
She is the board president of Save a Child’s Heart, an Israeli-based international humanitarian organization for children with rheumatic and congenital heart disease, which is meaningful to her personally: Bass’ daughter died at a young age from heart defects.
Bass currently serves on the advisory council of Tzedek DC, a Greater Washington Jewish Federation Agency Partner that serves local community members with lower incomes facing debt and fines and fees problems, including through the organization’s Disabilities Communities Project.
She is the former CEO of Makom, renamed from The Jewish Foundation for Group Homes, where she spent more than 30 years improving the quality of life, independence and community inclusion of adults with disabilities in the Washington, D.C., area.
As a volunteer, Bass served as vice chair of Disability Belongs, formerly RespectAbility, a national nonprofit organization in Rockville that fights stigmas and promotes opportunities for people with disabilities, and as a board member of CaringMatters. She also served as chair of Jewish Women International, which aims to empower women and girls and end gender-based violence.
“Since I was in elementary school, I never gave a second thought to pursuing any studies other than working with children or adults with disabilities,” Bass said. “I feel there’s so much untapped potential and the disabilities movement over the years has become so much more sophisticated. I’m particularly proud of our local community.”
Though now retired, Bass continues to assist the community as a volunteer. Serving as a Federation board member has been “unofficial training” in becoming an impactful, successful volunteer, Bass said.
“The values of tikkun olam I feel that I’m fulfilling every day,” Bass said. “There’s not enough days in the week for me. I feel that my Judaism is integral in driving all that I do and why I do it.”
Bass and the other award recipients will be honored at the International Lion of Judah Conference in Atlanta in January.
Bass has gotten to know the nine previous local Lion of Judah honorees — Shelly Kupfer, Ellen Kagen Waghelstein, Catherine Zacks Gildenhorn, Yvonne Distenfeld, Liza Levy, Diane Feinberg, Tamara Handelsman, Lois Hechinger England and Ryna Cohen — on a personal and professional level.
“To be the 10th member of this local cohort, as well as the North American sisterhood of honorees, is a truly indescribable honor of my lifetime,” Bass said.
