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Jewish Military Families of Tidewater joined PJ Library in Tidewater for a Havdalah ceremony in celebration of Veteran’s Day at the Simon Family JCC on Saturday, November 13. The Havdalah ceremony was led by Navy Rabbis Yoni Warren and Aaron Kleinman. The families...
In honor of Veterans Day, the third and fourth grade class of Joanna Schranz at Toras Chaim School, under the leadership of Rabbi Yonah Lazar, held a special program to recognize the holiday. Craig Schranz a Commander in the United States Navy Reserve (and the...
In a first, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, Embassy of Israel & Community Partners’ 11th Annual Israel Today Series partnered with the Chrysler Museum of Art’s Perry Glass Studio to welcome...
Wednesday, December 8, 7:30 pm, online Adam Mansbach is mostly known for fiction writing. He is the author of a #1 New York Times bestselling “children’s book” series that is, in fact, meant for adults in the throes of parenting who need a good laugh. His dry comedy...
Sunday, December 5, 4–5:30 pm Congregation Beth El World-renowned a cappella singing sensations Six13 will perform at a community-wide, family-friendly, high-energy celebration at Congregation Beth El to mark the congregation’s 71st anniversary. The in-person event...
Friday, January 14 and Saturday, January 15 A commemorative and celebratory Shabbos Shira is planned for B’nai Israel Congregation’s 75th anniversary. This special Shabbos, featuring renowned singer and chazzan, Simcha Leiner, will be filled with memories, joy, and...
Virginia Beach —Irwin Arthur Stavin passed away peacefully at the age of 97 on July 11, 2016. He was the son of Reuven and Sarah Ephraim Stavin. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on May 13, 1919. He is survived by his wife of 73 years, Gertrude Gussoff Stavin. He is also...
Norfolk —Renee Heyman of Norfolk, Va., a beloved wife, mom, and grandmother died at her home on June 28, 2016. She was born on January 1, 1935 in Lithuania to the late Sima and Bernard Ginsburg. She grew up in New York City and worked for many years at the Breast...
St. Pete Beach , Fla .—Fred A. Buns, 92, passed away July 9, 2016. Born in Baltimore, Md., Fred came to Florida in 1983 after living in Gainesville and Alexandria, Va. A longtime retail and real estate entrepreneur, Fred was engaged in many aspects of life within the...
Norfolk —Ralph “Jerry” Bernstein, 89, of the 1600 block of Sheppard Avenue, passed away on Tuesday, July 5, 2016 at his son and wife’s house in the quiet of his bedroom. He was a native of Norfolk, and was the son of the late Louis and Anne Bernstein. Jerry graduated...
Shaina and Andreu Moore on the birth of their son, Benjamin Grayson Moore, on June 24, 2016. He is the brother of Caleb Jerome Moore, grandson of Brenda Gordon and Ben Gordon (of blessed memory), and Tom and Darlene Tupper.
Wednesday, August 3, 6 pm, Simon Family JCC Ten 17-year-old Israeli Scouts and two leaders will visit the Simon Family JCC in early August. Each Friendship Caravan of Scouts, or Tzofim, consists of five males and five females. The Scouts are all accomplished...
Leon Family Art Gallery at the Simon Family JCC July 20–August 20 A white billowy hood crowns a woman’s face peeking out of the darkness. Ceremonial robes drape the human form. The composition is swallowed in sorrow. Monochromatic tones transition from deep blacks to...
The Simon Family JCC’s Be a Reader (BEAR) program was honored at the Virginia Beach City Public Schools 2016 Community Celebration in April. BEAR’s success continues to receive recognition and accolades for the impact the program has on the community. But the real...
At the 63rd Biennial Meeting of Jewish Family Service of Tidewater on June 9, Lawrence Steingold, outgoing president, handed over the reins to Jeff Cooper, who will serve as president for the 2016- 2018 term. Throughout the evening, the focus was on celebration,...
The Morning They Came For Us (Dispatches From Syria) Janine Di Giovanni New York: Liveright Publishing 206 pages, $25.95 The Morning They Came For Us is an important book with lasting consequence by author Janine Di Giovanni, award-winning (including two Amnesty...
A Rage For Order—The Middle East in Turmoil: From Tahrir Square to ISIS Robert F. Worth Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016 259 pages, $26 ISBN978-0-374-25294-6 When Robert Kaplan published his collection of articles, Balkan Ghosts, in 1995, it was immediately recognized...
Interfaith coalition urges Senate action on Supreme Court vacancy. Fifteen Jewish groups joined an interfaith coalition in calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to consider President Barack Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. During a conference call...
Like so many of members of our community, I had the honor of hearing Elie Wiesel speak at ODU’s Ted Constant Convocation Center in March 2006. Always the conscience of his generation, Wiesel lamented how little humanity had changed since the Holocaust. Wondering...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate who became a leading icon of Holocaust remembrance and a global symbol of conscience, died Saturday, July 2 at 87. His death was the result of natural causes, the World Jewish Congress said in a...
July 2006 Zena Herod officially became the head of school for Hebrew Academy of Tidewater and the Strelitz Early Childhood Center. Helen Kisser joined administration as new director of general studies and assistant director of SECC. Alene Kaufman continued as director...
Remember Mr. Ed, the talking horse of the early 60s sitcom? I think of him every year when Parshat Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9) rolls around, as it does this week. The chumash Etz Hayim describes Balak as containing “what may be the only comic passage in the Torah,”...
We, the undersigned Jewish community organizations, stand together in denouncing racism and xenophobia in all circumstances. We share a belief that public figures, including those who aspire to hold elected office in service to people of all races and religions, have...
RIO DE JANEIRO ( JTA)—Mazel tov! That’s perhaps how the big shots in charge of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the first to take place in South America, will toast victories when the competition gets underway Aug. 5. Three of the top officials of the Rio 2016 Organizing...
The 2016 Biennial Meeting of the Simon Family JCC took place on Wednesday, June 15. During the meeting, outstanding community accomplishments were acknowledged, awards were presented, a president bid his farewell, and a prospective president explained that the...
Norfolk —Patricia Kelsay Wisoff, beloved wife for 65 years to Dr. Carl Peter Wisoff, passed away in her home in Norfolk, Va. surrounded by family on Monday, June 13, 2016—just shy of her 86th birthday. Born amid the great depression, the onset of the great plains dust...