Transitioning to college life as a first-year student can be challenging. For undergraduates entering the University of Virginia over the past two years, that transition has, at times, been overwhelming. In addition to figuring out what supplies to stock up on and how...
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Planning for Camp JCC
Camp professionals often get asked: What do you do during the school year? Is planning camp a full year job? What is going to happen this summer? Which week will be Color War? When will Kona Ice be coming? Will field trips be happening? If so, to where? Is your job to...
2022 Genesis Prize winner Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, son of Holocaust survivors, is working to preserve Jewish history
(JTA)—From the halls of the United States Capitol to the streets of Europe, politicians and activists protesting against vaccine requirements have increasingly invoked the Holocaust. Some are wearing yellow stars, while others are sharing Nazi-era medical documents...
A visual feast! Jewish Art Education provides interactive, lively, entertaining, and educational experiences over lunch
Wednesdays, March 9, March 30, and April 6; Mondays, May 16 and May 23, 12:00 pm Thanks to a very generous anonymous donor, the Konikoff Center of Learning is offering free Jewish Art Education classes to the Tidewater community this Spring. JAE is dedicated to...
Roie Galitz: Renowned photographer travels to the ends of the earth
Tuesday, March 1, 7:30 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus and online Free Registration Required: JewishVA.org/IsraelToday Photography has allowed Roie Galitz to travel to the coldest climates on the planet where he has witnessed the starkest effects of global...
A new kind of Mah Jongg fundraiser
Janet Gordon Annual Mah Jongg Tournament Sunday, April 3 The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way nearly everything takes place at Beth Sholom Village—from food service to family visits, religious services, and even fundraising. BSV has hosted the Janet Gordon Annual...
Six unforgettable days, 50 memorable years
Sitting in front of my grandparents’ black and white television set watching Abba Eban’s unforgettable speech before the United Nations General Assembly is certainly one of my most distinctive memories of the Six-Day War. Just 10 years old and not able to fully...
Carl Reiner, 95, dishes his secrets to longevity
(JTA)—The first thing Carl Reiner does every morning is pick up the paper and read the obituary section to check if he’s named there. “If I’m not, I’ll have my breakfast”—or so he says in the charming and appropriately titled HBO documentary If You’re Not in the Obit,...
It’s always better together
When the seniors at Beth Sholom Village and the teens at Ohef Sholom Temple met for the first time last year at an Oneg Shabbat, there were jitters on both sides. But when the two groups came together a few weeks ago for their end-of-year banquet, those jitters were...
Five ways celebrate Shavuot—without (necessarily) studying Torah
NEW YORK (JTA)—Shavuot is the “Rodney Dangerfield of Jewish holidays,” says Rabbi Shira Stutman of Washington, D.C.’s Sixth and I synagogue. Meaning: It gets no respect. Considered by Jewish tradition to be on par with the fall and spring festivals of Sukkot and...
Israeli paratroopers re-create iconic photo on 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War
JERUSALEM (JTA)—David Rubinger’s iconic photograph of three paratroopers at the Western Wall is the defining image of the 1967 Six-Day War. The men in the photo—Dr. Yitzhak Yifat, Tzion Karasenti and Chaim Oshri— have proudly served as symbols of the historic Israeli...
Leadership transition
Next week we will hold our biennial meeting of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and the Simon Family JCC, where I will transition out of the board presidency and introduce John Strelitz as the incoming president. John’s presidency will continue a Strelitz legacy...
One Night of community and food
The community gathered on Wednesday, May 3 to celebrate the Simon Family JCC with One Night of Israeli food, wine, and music. The fundraising event, hosted by John Stein of Baker’s Crust, featured Israeli chefs Guy Marom and Nir Margalith of the travel and catering...
Staycation
Staycation, May 29, 2017
A roller coaster of emotions
I remember having the family for dinner and walking into the den where Joyce and Leonard (Strelitz) were on the phone with national UJA office people in New York—there was no CNN back then. I felt a nervous immediacy being in the room with people getting news directly...
Developing armaments under pressure and for future use
On May 23, 1967 Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran – the entrance to the Red Sea, ordered the UN force to leave Sinai, and moved six divisions (130,000 soldiers) into Sinai. This was against the agreement with the U.S. and United Nations after the 1957...
Consumed
It took over our lives. I remember going to the Federation, which was located in the Center, from morning until late at night. We were raising money…on the phones constantly. Personally, I was getting my house painted and Morty and I would go home and have no place to...
How the Six-Day War changed American Jews
NEW YORK (JTA)—On the morning of June 5, 1967, as Arab armies and Israel clashed following weeks of tension, Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg sat anxious amid his congregants at daily prayers—fearful that the Jewish people would face extinction for the second time in 25...
Terror victim Ezra Schwartz posthumously inducted into Jewish fraternity at Rutgers
Ezra Schwartz, who was killed in a West Bank terrorist attack in November 2015, was inducted posthumously into Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity, at Rutgers University. The induction ceremony was held last month, at the start of Yom Hazikaron in Israel, which...
Chicago Jewish couple married 69 years die moments apart holding hands
A Chicago Jewish couple who were married for 69 years died moments apart in the same hospital room while holding hands. Teresa Vatkin, 89, died at 12:10 am Saturday, April 22 at Highland Park Hospital, and her husband, Isaac, died at approximately 12:50 am as they...
Jesse Lurie, longtime Hadassah Magazine editor
Jesse Lurie, the longtime executive editor of Hadassah Magazine and a peace activist, has died at 103. Lurie, an Israeli American, was the magazine's founding executive editor in 1947 and held the post for 33 years. He professionalized a publication that had been run...
Rabbi Benny Elon, former Knesset member and champion of settlement movement
Rabbi Benny Elon, who served as the head of a number of religious Zionist yeshivas in Israel and was a Knesset member from 1996 to 2009, has died. Elon died Friday, May 5 at 62; the cause was cancer, Arutz Sheva reported. A member of the right-wing Moledet and...
RACHEL (REGINA) TESSLER
Ramat Hasharon , Israel —Rachel (Regina) Tessler, mother of long-time cantor of Congregation Beth El, Jacob Tessler, passed away on Thursday, March 30, at the age of 94. Born in the small Romanian village of Romoli in 1922, Rachel helped run her family grocery store...
RUTH CHAPEL SOSKEL
Norfolk —Ruth Chapel Soskel, 98, died peacefully in her residence on April 30, 2017. She was a native and lifelong resident of Norfolk, Virginia and was the daughter of the late Nathan and Eva Shiffman Chapel. She was preceded in death by her husband Fred Soskel. Mrs....
DAVID M FINDER
Ashev ille, N.C.—David M. Finder, 67, of Asheville, N.C. died peacefully on Sunday, April 16, 2017 at John F. Keever, Jr. Solace Center. A former resident of Virginia Beach, Virginia, he had resided in Asheville since 1997. He was preceded in death by his father,...
Rabbi Israel Zoberman
Rabbi Israel Zoberman joined Mayor Alan P. Krasnoff and the citizens of Chesapeake on Thursday, May 4 at the city’s National Day of Prayer program. Rabbi Zoberman shared a heartfelt message of Hope and Prayer for Unity.