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Mazel Tov!

Mazel Tov!

Click here to view the entire Mazel Tov! special section. Dear Readers, In the best of times, planning a milestone event is known to create stressful situations. Throw in a pandemic, along with months of uncertainty, and the stress leaps to a never-seen-before level....

JCC Children’s Cultural Arts presents Puerto Rican Folk Tale

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2:30 pm, Simon Family JCC. The Horse of Many Colors, presented by the Simon Family JCC’s Children’s Cultural Arts Series, will captivate kids and amuse their parents. The story will be read and danced by a group from Todd Rosenlieb Dance and Virginia...

Joe Fleischmann’s gift of computer knowledge

Classes begin Monday, Feb. 15 The Simon Family JCC was Joe Fleischmann’s home away from home. He knew everyone and spent at least a few full days a week at the JCC taking classes, exercising, eating lunch, and being with friends. When he passed away last year at 89,...

Super Sunday success

An “old-fashioned,” Jewish community Super Sunday phone-a-thon still works in 2016. The proof? The 80 volunteers who came to make phone calls and provide support on Sunday, Jan. 31, at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. And the community members who answered...

Ohef Sholom’s Confirmation Class holds retreat at the beach

The Ohef Sholom Temple 2016 Confirmation Class held a one-day retreat in December at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. Health Center at the oceanfront in Virginia Beach. This annual event for the Confirmation Class was a meaningful and bonding experience for the 15 members who...

Temple Israel continues tradition of volunteering on Christmas

In December, the local Jewish community continued its 20-year tradition of bringing good cheer—and good food—to needy people on Christmas. Nineteen people cooked and served dinner to homeless families at Haven House, a shelter operated by ForKids in Norfolk. The...

Oh frog-et about it!

4th Annual Community Relations Council Israel Poster Contest is going to be wild! Spiders and raptors and frogs, oh my! Those words are not the synopsis of a play starring arachnids, birds, and amphibians, but a few details from the list of Cool Facts about Israel...

Jewish community of Argentina going strong despite challenges

Sixteen members of the Tidewater Jewish community recently returned from a special mission to the Jewish community of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The mission, sponsored by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, allowed local donors to “follow their campaign dollars”...

Studying success Israeli style

Prof. Jack Habib and his colleague Dr. Keri Zelson Warshawsky enjoyed a walk through Seashore State Park on Thursday, Dec. 17 as their last experience in Tidewater before they flew back to Israel. Invited to Tidewater by Annie Sandler, the researchers experienced two...

Western Wall prayer fight ends with historic compromise

TEL AVIV (JTA)—Israel’s government on Sunday, Jan. 31 approved a compromise to expand the non-Orthodox Jewish prayer section of the Western Wall, putting to rest the decades-long fight between Women of the Wall and Israel’s haredi Orthodox religious establishment. The...

God’s contractor

Every winter, the Jewish calendar rolls around to Parshat Terumah, a Torah portion whose every word is devoted to the details of the portable tabernacle that the Israelites will carry from Egypt to the Promised Land. It’s all lengths, widths, and materials: a distinct...

Arthur Obermayer, US philanthropist who preserved German-Jewish history

Arthur Obermayer, a Boston-based Jewish philanthropist who honored Germans for preserving local Jewish history, has died. Obermayer died Sunday, Jan. 10 in Dedham, Mass., at 84. The cause of death was cancer, the family confirmed. A longtime activist in political and...

Bob Earl Wolfson

Norfolk —Bob Earl Wolfson passed away on December 30, 2015 at his home in San Diego, California surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren. Born on September 23, 1947, he was a native of Jacksonville, Fla. where he attended Landon High School, the University...

Robert Jay Soble

Norfolk —Robert Jay Soble, 67, died Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 in his residence. He was a native of Baltimore, Md. and was the son of the late Jonah and Hilda Goodman Soble. Robert graduated from Granby High School in 1966 and attended Old Dominion University, where he...

Ryvela June Berk

Virginia Beach —Ryvela June Berk passed away January 9, 2016. She was the daughter of Oscar and Sonya Levy (of blessed memory), the wife of Kenneth Berk (of blessed memory). She is survived by her daughters Ronna Adler (Larry) of Virginia Beach and Joyce Jones (Bob)...

The Hampton Years Discussion follows performance

Sunday, Jan. 31, 2 pm, Virginia Stage Company, Wells Theater Many periods of history have brought African Americans and Jewish Americans together. The two communities share common bonds of often feeling like strangers in their homelands, and sadly, also feeling...

Operation Understanding Hampton Roads accepting applications

Applications due Monday, Feb. 1 A year-long leadership development program for 40 African American and Jewish high school students in Tidewater, Operation Understanding Hampton Roads (OUHR) is now accepting applications for the relaunch of the program by the Virginia...

Why do Jews say Mazel Tov and L’Chaim?

The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) presents The Jewish Course of Why, beginning during the week of February 7 Rabbis Aron Margolin and Levi Brashevitzky of Chabad of Tidewater will conduct The Jewish Course of Why, The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) 2016...