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This summer, Camp JCC provided consistency and happiness—what campers so desperately needed after a difficult year. Campers were able to be kids again, counselors were able to role model while showing off their silly side, and families had a sense of routine and...
Hurricane Ida has torn through much of the Gulf Coast, leaving survivors devastated by its damage. Roofs have blown off buildings, homes and businesses are severely flooded, while power lines are down and phone service and electricity are out for hundreds of thousands...
Sunday, September 12, Sandler Family Campus Each year, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Super Sunday marks the biggest day of impact for Tidewater’s Jewish community. Hundreds of community members participate by answering the call from dozens of...
Sunday, October 3 and Monday October 4 This year’s Milton Mickey Kramer’s Scholar in Residence Fund of the Congregation Beth El Foundation’s Tidewater Together will bring mental illness and addiction out of the shadows and consider ways that Tidewater’s...
Dear Readers, A recent JTA piece by Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein began, “Over the past year, I have led efforts to teach, guide and coach rabbis and other clergy of every Jewish denomination. We have worked with over 500 individual members of the clergy, serving hundreds...
More than 80 people attended Sababa Social Club’s party at the pool. The inaugural event brought friends together —following the past year and a half apart. Sara Jo Rubin, Sababa Social Club’s chairperson, says, “It was wonderful to see so many old friends, as well as...
It is safe to say the bottle of cognac Colonel Ed Shames opened in celebration of his son’s bar mitzvah at Norfolk’s B’nai Israel synagogue in 1961 was unlike any bottle opened for a b’nai mitzvah in Hampton Roads. Shames’ bottle came straight from Adolph Hitler’s...
In September of 1962, while serving as the senior Supply Officer aboard USS Blandy (DD 943) out of Newport Rhode Island, I was detailed to the destroyer USS Joseph P Kennedy Jr. for the duration of the America Cup Races being held that year off Narragansett Bay. The...
Dear Readers, The United States military is practically synonymous with Tidewater. With all branches located here, including and especially, the world’s largest Naval Base, it’s no wonder that nearly everyone—including the Jewish community—has some sort of military...
As hard as it is to believe, living in the north right along the border with Lebanon/ Hezbollah might be one of the safest places in Israel right now. The current “wave of terror” has not really affected my day-to-day life. There have been no attacks in my area, I...
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Some 100,000 people joined together in central Tel Aviv on Saturday, Oct. 31 to pay tribute to slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, but they were divided over what exactly they were rallying for. The demonstration, which marked the 20th anniversary of...
With the blessing and urging of both father Isaac and mother Rebekah, Jacob leaves home. Indeed, he flees. There are two reasons for his hasty departure: Esau’s wrath and the need for a proper bride. The complex and conflicting dynamics in the household of Abraham’s...
In 1979, as chairman of the UJFT allocation committee, I was appointed to the “Federation’s seat” on the board of the incipient Beth Sholom Home. My dear friend Morty Goldmeier, of blessed memory, was chairman of the board, ably supported by two other stalwarts, Jack...
Dear Readers, Fall is a favorite season of the year for many, including me. While the spring is when we look to outside, fall tends to be the time to begin spending more of our days inside. (That is, after we get those leaves raked and gardens prepared for the...
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—Rabbi Jacob Pressman, a religious, community and civil rights leader, died in his Los Angeles home on Oct. 1. He was 95. He served as spiritual leader of the city’s Temple Beth Am for 35 years and founded the Conservative congregation’s school...
Virginia Beach —Nancy Yagoda Weill passed away on Friday, October 2, 2015 at the age of 75. Nancy was a devoted and beloved wife, sister, mother, grandmother and friend. She is survived by her beloved husband, Alan of 51 years, her brother Ronald, her children Karen...
VIRGINIA BEACH—After a valiant fight with aging, Lou Stadlin passed from natural causes on Friday, October 9, 2015 at his home in First Colonial Inn. Lou was born on July 11, 1928 in Brooklyn, N. Y. He met his wife, Frances Stadlin while serving in the Navy in...
Watkinsville , Ga.—Eli Rafal, 91, of Watkinsville, died Wednesday, September 30, 2015. Born in Norfolk, Va., he was the proud son of the late Solomon Rafal and Bertha Fine Rafal. During World War II , Mr. Rafal was in the service of the U.S. Army for 36 months, with...
Thousand Oaks, Calif.—Rubie Puritz, 82, passed away peacefully on October 5, 2015 in Thousand Oaks, Calif. with her daughters by her side. She was born October 28, 1932 in Brooklyn, N. Y. to Faye and Martin Meyers of blessed memory. After graduating high school, Rubie...
Norfolk —Abraham Mandel, 96, passed away on Oct. 3, 2015. He was the son of the late Rae and Joseph Mandel. Abraham moved with his family to Norfolk, Va. in 1938 where he met and married his wife of 73 years, Sylvia Levinson. He was preceded in death by his wife and...
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 7:30 pm, Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus The Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and community partners’ fifth annual Israel Today series includes three visiting experts under the age of 40, beginning with...
The goals of the United Jewish Federation’s 2015 Week of Extraordinary Deeds are threefold: engagement, action, and tikkun olam, or repairing the world. Achieving these goals means event organizers are tackling one of the larger challenges facing world Jewry today:...
Sunday, Oct. 25, 1:30–4:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus All ages. Free and open to the community. Register at www.JewishVA.org/mitzvah-day. Volunteers who participate in the community-wide 2nd Annual Mitzvah Day will be changing lives, not just in Tidewater, but in small...
It was a day of endless pouring rain, flooded streets, powerful winds, and stormy skies. The perfect conditions for a night at the movies with the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and The Christian Broadcasting Network as they...
Myths of the Oil Boom Steve A. Yetiv Oxford University Press, 2015 251 pages, $29.95 ISBN 978-0-19-021269-8 Does anyone remember (only yesterday?) when “unleaded regular” gasoline approached $4 a gallon? Just this summer, people were grumbling that prices were...
The Sea Beach Line Ben Nadler Fig Tree Books, 2015 224 pages, $15.95 Author Ben Nadler has created a novel steeped in Judaica, yet a mystery. Izzy Edel, not quite wasted on drugs, determines to search for his father, reported deceased, but possibly alive. What follows...