Southeastern Virginia: Chesapeake • Norfolk • Portsmouth • Suffolk • Virginia Beach
Archives
Every athlete eventually plays a last game, and Jack Gross, a Norfolk Academy graduate and senior at Tulane University, wants to make sure there’s a plan for what comes next.Gross is a founder and the chief operating officer of Second Half Network, a free mentorship...
It doesn’t take much to keep Joel Feldman motivated to go into work every day. His store is his sanctuary, a culmination of half a century of hard work. “When my car pulls in the parking lot, I’m excited,” he says. “Sometimes I get chills. I’ve also broken down in...
A produce farm grabs the attention of many drivers traveling from Tidewater to the Outer Banks – and not because of its beautiful tomatoes or peppers. Lining the approach to the property, a striking row of Israeli flags wave proudly in the wind, catching the eye of...
For nearly 30 years, the Holocaust Commission’s White Rose Project has helped connect students with stories that educate, inspire, and encourage reflection. Each fall, the project donates Holocaust-related books to every middle and high school library throughout...
Books are packed, supplies are ready, and excitement is in the air because BeAR is heading back to school.The annual Be A Reader Literacy Project’s kickoff luncheon was a wonderful success, bringing together familiar faces, brand new mentors, lots of laughter and, of...
Three years after the atrocities of October 7, 2023, members of the Tidewater Jewish community gathered not simply to recall a date, but to honor lives, bear witness to loss, and reaffirm their enduring connection to Israel and the Jewish people.Surrounding the...
Members of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Center for Active Living, a group for older adults offering fitness, lifelong learning, and cultural programming, spent the morning of Tuesday, October 13 at the Chrysler Museum of Art. Attendees enjoyed a...
Book clubs are everywhere these days. Beth Chaverim’s Beach Sisterhood Book Club is comprised of a cordial group of Jewish women who meet monthly to discuss a selected book.The Sisterhood Book Club meetings take place at a local home with everyone contributing to a...
From the corridors of Capitol Hill to military deployments in Afghanistan and Poland, Lauren Sucher has built a career where every word matters, relationships are critical, and the stakes are high. Now, she’s bringing that experience closer to home: strengthening...
Friday, Oct. 30 – Saturday, Oct. 31 Step away from the business of everyday life and join thousands of Jews around the globe for the annual Tidewater Shabbat Project. Last year, a record breaking 300 people from around Tidewater came together for a lively and...
Wednesday, November 4, 7 pm, B’nai Israel Congregation B’nai Israel Congregation, in partnership with the Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, invites Jewish women of all ages, stages, and backgrounds to Together We Rise, a...
October 19 - May 24, Mondays, 5 pm Sandler Family Campus, Free Join Tidewater’s Shinshinim for weekly conversational Hebrew classes designed to help participants build confidence in speaking and understanding modern Hebrew. Through interactive activities, games,...
This election season marks my 16th election with United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Jewish Community Relations Council.Over those 16 election cycles, I’ve watched elections energize the community, spark debate, shape public policy, and help determine the...
On a beautiful September afternoon, just days before Rosh Hashanah, Tidewater’s Ruby Lions gathered at Jodi Klebanoff’s home for a luncheon celebrating friendship, philanthropy, and the impact of women’s leadership.Alicia London Friedman, Women’s Philanthropy chair,...
The High Holy Days just offered a time to pause, reflect, and think about the year ahead – how to do better, how to give more, and, hopefully, how to make a difference.Now it’s time to get busy!This is one of Be A Reader (BeAR) Literacy Project’s favorite times of the...
“Honor your father and your mother” is one of the most recognizable of the Ten Commandments – simple enough for a child to memorize, yet its sentiment sticks with many Jews far more into adulthood.Kibud av v’em, the Jewish obligation to honor one’s parents, doesn’t...
Attorneys, financial advisors, and other professional advisors often begin some of their most important conversations with clients with a simple question: What matters to you?For clients who are charitably inclined, that question can open the door to planning that...
In 2018, a gunman killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history.In the years since, some Jewish writers have argued that congregants should be able to protect themselves. Rabbi Stuart...
A full house gathered at Temple Emanuel in Virginia Beach on Tuesday, Sept. 15, for the annual Cantors and Chazanim Concert, an evening that brought together cantors, rabbis, and musicians from congregations across the Tidewater Jewish community.Now in its fourth...
For more than 40 years, the Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival has brought extraordinary voices to Tidewater. Bestselling authors, journalists, diplomats, physicians, judges, artists, historians, and thought leaders visit the community to share ideas,...
For 38 years, golfers, sponsors, volunteers, and friends of Strelitz International Academy have come together for a day that is about much more than golf. This year, that tradition reached a new milestone.The 38th Annual Bob Josephberg Classic & Strelitz...
More than 50 women gathered on the top floor of the Assembly building in downtown Norfolk for the Lev Sara Bikkur Cholim Inaugural Dinner in March. Lev Sara Bikkur Cholim is a committee founded by Shari Berman, Shana Danziger, Liba Eisenberg, Dee Slone, and Michal...
For the past 13 summers, Erica Ausch has led hour-long water aerobics classes for fellow residents at the Oceans Condominiums on Atlantic Avenue. “Raise hands, bring them over your head, then down to your sides,” Ausch calls out. “Kick right side, arms out, then left,...
Next dance: Saturday, October 24, 7 - 10 pm, Simon Family JCC For anyone who has ever thought it would be cool to learn how to dance but didn’t know where to start, a new opportunity is taking place at the Simon Family JCC.Robin Orr, Tidewater USA Dance treasurer, was...
Monday, October 19, 11 am - 12:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus Moving through life, everyone inevitably experiences the loss of people who have been integral along their journey — family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and members of the community. While those losses...
There is still time to experience Ilse Bing Between Paris and New York at the Chrysler Museum of Art before the exhibition closes this month.The exhibition examines the life and work of German Jewish artist Ilse Bing (1899-1998), whose photographs captured the energy...
Tuesday, October 13, 11 am – 12 pm, Chrysler Museum of Art Rabbi Michael Panitz of Temple Israel will join Father Noah Van Niel, Rector of Christ & St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, for Civic Salon: Faith, a conversation exploring whether faith communities can serve as...
October 18, 8 am - 2 pm • Jewish Museum & Cultural Center Portsmouth For information about Jewish Museum & Cultural Center’s Rummage sale, go to jewishmuseumportsmouth.com. The sale is open to everyone.
Chesapeake – Shirley B. Chernitzer, 89, of Chesapeake, Virginia, passed away peacefully with family at her side on September 18, 2026.She was born May 24, 1937, in Norfolk, Virginia, and remained a lifelong Virginian.A 1955 graduate of Maury High School in Norfolk,...
Norfolk – Cabell B. Cummings, born August 14, 1977, passed away on September 5, 2026.Cabell was a man no one will ever forget. Throughout his life, he touched the lives of countless people, leaving behind memories filled with laughter, sarcasm, and the unmistakable...
Virginia Beach – On September 17, 2026, Betty Glasser Bonnie Hecht, a native of Norfolk, Va., passed away at the age of 95.Betty was a loving wife of Dr. Herbert Bonnie for over 25 years until he passed away. Later, she married Robert Hecht with whom she spent six...
Norfolk – Norman Hecht, 93, passed away on September 12, 2026, after a brief illness.A proud native of Norfolk, he was the son and youngest child of the late Mollie L. and Joseph L. Hecht. He graduated from Maury High School in 1950 and University of Virginia Law...