After months of cleaning, sorting, and donating nearly 50 years of accumulated items, KBH has entered the next stage of its journey as a Conservative synagogue in Tidewater.  Centrally located in shared space on the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community and no longer burdened by the responsibility of maintaining a building, synagogue members are refocused on their core mission of religious observance and fellowship.

 Since moving to the campus, membership has grown, Shabbat morning attendance has increased, more members are taking part in leading services, and new monthly programs for children are in place.  Kiddush luncheons continue each week, with members lingering to talk and connect after services.  Even the prayers seem to sound better.

 Although KBH meets in the warm,
multi-use Fleischmann Lounge, members look forward to celebrating events and activities throughout the campus – from Shabbat dinners to outdoor services.  Each Shabbat morning, the congregation is surrounded by meaningful reminders of its history: beloved works of art and the Tree of Life adorn the walls, the new ark for the Torah scrolls features a familiar parochet, and the Ner Tamid has been thoughtfully reimagined from the previous one.  Soon the memorial plaques will find a new home on newly created yartzheit boards.  

 KBH is proud to be part of Tidewater’s Jewish community and delighted to be a religious presence on the Sandler Family Campus.  With a focus on community and the Jewish future, KBH is also honored to have a place within the Tidewater Jewish Foundation.  Selling the building was not a move backward – it was a step forward.

Services are held each Shabbat morning at 10 am.  All are welcome. Bring identification for campus security.  For more information, email kbhsynagogue@gmail.com or visit kbhsynagogue.org.  

 The Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) Book Project is designed to ensure that every elementary, middle, and high school in Tidewater can celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month in May and explore Jewish culture year-round. Each year a volunteer committee, drawing from recommended lists by the ADL, The Jewish Education Project, and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, selects three to four titles appropriate for every grade level. Along with the books, schools receive educator guides, posters,
and a digital toolkit to help teachers integrate the stories into lessons and create vibrant displays.

 “This project allows students of all backgrounds to see Jewish experiences represented in the literature they read,” says Sierra Lautman, UJFT’s senior director of Jewish Innovation. “Representation matters, and these books invite curiosity, empathy, and understanding.”

 Lautman first envisioned the project while volunteering in her own child’s classroom. “I noticed how few Jewish-themed books were available,” she says. “What began as a plan to purchase a few books for one classroom turned into an initiative to reach every student in our community. With the creativity of the Jewish Innovation Steering Committee and the generous contributions of Rita and her family, we were able to make it sustainable for years to come.”

 Volunteers now gather each winter to sort and package the books, preparing them for delivery to schools across Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Isle of Wight, and Surry.

 “Thank you so much for gifting us with these valuable books!” says Tina Howard, librarian at Cape Henry Collegiate. “I have already shared them with teachers who will be including them in their classroom collections this school year. I’m sure they will let me borrow them back in May for a Jewish American Heritage Month display.”

For more information, or to get involved, contact Sierra Lautman at SLautman@ujft.org.

With music, prayer, and community spirit, Kehillat Bet Hamidrash (KBH), Kempsville Conservative Synagogue, has entered a new chapter in its nearly five-decade history

On Saturday, September 6, KBH held its first Shabbat service in its new home in the Fleischmann Lounge of the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community. Just two days earlier, on September 4, congregants and friends gathered for a celebratory procession to accompany KBH’s three Torah scrolls to the synagogue’s new location.

 The festive Hachnasat Sefer Torah, the ritual welcoming of Torah scrolls, was a moment filled with joy, reverence, and gratitude. The scrolls were carried under a tallit serving as a chuppah, accompanied by lively klezmer music and the voices of participants joining together in song.

 The procession included meaningful moments of honor and remembrance. At the Holocaust Torah case, originally built for the former KBH building but now situated near the campus Holocaust Memorial, Marge Schechner, whose family sponsored the acquisition of the Torah, and Ron Kaufman, a second-generation survivor, carried the scroll. Chazzan David Proser, who has led KBH for more than four decades, sang the memorial prayer for victims of the Holocaust before the group continued to the Fleischmann Lounge. There, new members Danny and Shikma Rubin were honored with the final carry of the Fine Torah, while Elyse and David Cardon carried the Segal Torah, representing the Susan Tapper and Nathan Segal family.

 The ceremony featured the sounding of the shofar by Sam Epstein, the Shehecheyanu prayer led by Rona Proser, KBH co-president, and remarks from Marge Schechner, co-president and Betty Ann Levin, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater executive vice president. Levin emphasized the significance of this moment for KBH and the wider community. “The relocation of KBH is more than simply a change of address – it’s about continuity and growth. It’s about honoring the past while embracing the future. And it’s about the sacred work of building community, together.”  

 She then offered this prayer, “Bless this synagogue and all who enter its doors. May this space be filled with learning, laughter, prayer, and peace. May it be a place where all who come find comfort, feel welcome, and inspired.  May the words of Torah be spoken here with love and may acts of kindness ripple outward. Bless our campus with unity and purpose. May we continue to build bridges, build community, and walk forward together in our shared faith. And let us all say: Amen.” 

 The program concluded with a prayer for the hostages in Israel and the singing of Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem.

 The relocation marks a milestone in KBH’s long and dedicated journey of service to the Jewish community in Tidewater. Founded in 1978 through the merger of Kehillat Yisrael and Bet Hamidrash, the congregation began in storefronts and shared spaces before establishing its home on Providence Road in Virginia Beach. Over the decades, KBH has been guided by the steady leadership of Chazzan M. David Proser and enriched by visiting rabbis, rabbinical fellows, and partnerships with fellow Conservative congregations in the region.

 Community has always been at the heart of KBH. In preparing for the move, the synagogue ensured that furnishings and supplies were donated to Toras Chaim, Temple Israel, the Sandler Family Campus, Strelitz International Academy Early Years, and a local nonprofit, further extending its spirit of generosity.

 Now, on the Sandler Family Campus, KBH looks forward to continuing its mission as a welcoming spiritual home and a place of Jewish learning, worship, and community connection.

For more information about KBH services or membership, visit www.kbhsynagogue.org or email kbhsynagogue@gmail.com.

Once everything was designed and planned, we inventoried our current supplies and equipment and decided what to take to the new building and to which classroom it would be assigned. We packed, labeled, and numbered boxes ad nauseum, certainly a bit nervous that everything would end up where it was supposed to be. Not sure why we worried – Walter Camp had everything under control!

These were the building pieces, but the intellectual and emotional pieces were the harder part. Beth had built the Shalom Children’s Center, a successful preschool/day care program at the JCC in Norfolk.

I had developed a preschool and extended day program at the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater in Virginia Beach. Now we were being charged with creating a single program to serve our students and plan for the future. Beth said on many occasions that in estimating future enrollment, “we were making plans for students who haven’t been born yet,” and she was right!

We needed to create an entity that encouraged parents from both programs to enroll their children in a new environment. As enrollment opened, we met with parents in small groups in private homes to create an intimate and caring atmosphere and share our vision. We interviewed current faculty and created teaching teams. Trying to keep friend groups together while integrating students from both schools in each classroom was a challenge.

We must have done something right because we opened with 125 preschoolers, ages 2 to 4. Beth quickly started planning classes and programs for children ages 0 to 2 and their parents. I started to learn all the ins and outs of taking 3- and 4-year-olds swimming and how long a day care day really is!

There were challenges and concerns. Things were different and even adults are resistant to change. Over time, we settled into our new lives. Teaching teams coalesced, students made new friends, parents bonded and created an active preschool parents’ program. Traditions morphed into newer traditions. Everyone gradually learned to “play in the same sandbox.”

I still spend a lot of time at the Sandler Family Campus and marvel at how fluid this building is. The school cafeteria is now a place for JCC vacation camps. The old senior room now holds cribs for a full infant program. The indoor playground became, for a time, childcare for parents in the fitness center. The preschool offices have been moved and toddler classrooms and an art room have taken their place. Classrooms became JFS offices and are now classrooms again. But, as our first class of two-year-old students prepare to graduate from college, I am sure of one thing – the sounds of happy, creative, inquisitive, loved, children fill these spaces.

After 20 years, that hasn’t changed.

My husband, Ron, and I are celebrating our 49th anniversary this month. A few years ago, we worked with an attorney and financial advisor to draft the documents we would need for the upcoming years. It was an emotional and meaningful experience. Looking back, we acknowledged those early days in our marriage during the unemployment crisis of the 70s – the situation that impacted our move to Virginia.

We reminisced about the arrival of our children and grandchildren and thought about the joy and celebrations of our family’s life. It was a time for warm fuzzies when we reflected on where we are today and how we got here when we appreciated how lucky we are. It was an intentional and intense experience as we looked at the values we each brought into our marriage and how those moral and ethical principles shaped and impacted the decisions we made in our lives as individuals and as a married couple.

Ron and I feel very lucky to have ended up in this community. We have great friends and belong to a warm and welcoming synagogue (KBH), our spiritual home for almost 40 years. Ron and I held careers and engaged in volunteer opportunities that challenged and changed us. Our children were educated at Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, my professional home for 36 years, and loved growing up in this supportive Jewish community. The Jewish agencies were there when we needed them – HAT educated our sons; Jewish Family Service was at the ready when we needed emotional support; UJFT provided partial funding when our sons went on their USY trips to Israel. We are so grateful, and we wanted to find a way to show our gratitude.

Our children (and grandchildren), indeed, are the jewels in our crown. At some point, we will no longer be here and have planned to leave most of our estate to them for their futures. However, the organizations that helped us grow and develop have futures, too. By working with our financial advisor and the professionals at the Tidewater Jewish Foundation, we will be able to ensure that the institutions and agencies who played meaningful roles in our lives will continue to do the same for others. Not only is it our way of saying thank you, but it is a way to show our heirs and our community how much we treasure our Jewish life in Tidewater. I encourage others to do the same.

For more information about Tidewater Jewish Foundation, contact Naomi Limor Sedek, president and CEO, at nsedek@tjfva.org or 757-965-6109.