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Born to play Rachmaninoff: Pianist Olga Kern

Sunday, May 7, 2:30 pm, Sandler Center She was born to play Rachmaninoff” may seem trite, a well-worn phrase used to describe an artist with an extraordinary gift for interpreting the works of that composer. But for pianist Olga Kern, her first experience with...

Cantor Elihu Flax to receive award

Sunday, May 7, 10 am Rodef Sholom, Newport News Beth El Men's Club's Blue Yarmulke Person-of-the-Year is Cantor Elihu Flax. He, along with the honorees from Temple Israel in Norfolk and Rodef Shalom in Newport News, will be honored at a brunch followed by the award...

Barbara Ann Jones Amdusky

Norfolk – Barbara Ann Jones Amdusky passed away peacefully in her home on April 7, 2023. She was 86 years old. Barbara was born November 8, 1936 in (Berkley) Norfolk, Va., to the late John Paul Jones and Lydia Mae Wicker Jones, and was raised by her grandparents...

Stuart Engel

Norfolk – Stuart A. Engel, 76, passed away on April 15, 2023 in Norfolk, Va. He was a loving husband to his wife Nancy of 54 years, a caring father of two boys and proud grandfather of four granddaughters. Martin and his wife, Alison, Paige (14), and Elle (11) of...

Marilyn Goldman

Norfolk – Marilyn W. Goldman, 94, of Norfolk, passed away April 14, 2023. She was the second of two children born to Abraham and Dora Wolowitz of Shenandoah, Pa. Sent to Norfolk by her father after obtaining her journalism degree from Penn State University, she met...

Suzette DeBell Rashkind

Virginia Beach – Suzette DeBell Rashkind, 75, a tiny woman with an enormous heart, passed away on April 1, 2023, after tenaciously battling numerous medical issues that strapped her strength but never her spirit nor sense of humor. She will always be so lovingly...

The Great Big Challah Bake­—is back in-person

Tidewater women from five years of age and up gathered at B’nai Israel Congregation in Norfolk for the 7th Annual Great Big Challah Bake on Thursday, October 21. The annual event is part of the global Shabbos Project and a collaboration between B’nai Israel...

Workshop on antisemitism featured national and local experts

Old Dominion University’s Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding, along with Jewish Community Relations Council and the Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater hosted an online workshop to learn about the hidden...

Books for area schools

Each year the Holocaust Commission’s White Rose project donates educational materials to ALL middle and high schools in the area. Commission volunteers finish packing up this year’s books to be delivered to school libraries.

Workshop: Parenting with Sanity and Joy with Susan G. Groner

Sunday, November 14, 2 pm, Simon Family JCC Susan G. Groner, podcaster, author, and founder of The Parenting Mentor, will conduct an interactive parenting workshop aimed to help parents with toddlers through teens navigate some of the everyday parenting decisions that...

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel with Elyssa Friedland

Monday, November 15, 12 pm, Sandler Family Campus and online Secrets and scandals come to light as the last family-owned Catskills resort teeters on the brink of extinction. Long-buried secrets emerge and everyone from the traditional grandparents to the millennial...

Gardening, the ultimate metaphor for life with Meir Shalev

Sunday, November 21, 2 pm, online While Meir Shalev is not a household name in the United States, he is one of Israel’s most celebrated novelists. Shalev will join the community for an online conversation as part of the 11th annual Israel Today series in partnership...

Be A Reader program enters new territory

Brainstorming session: Monday, December 6 The Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Be a Reader (BeAR) Literacy Program is refusing to hibernate this winter. Instead, it is roaring into new territory. BeAR will host a...

B’nai Israel plans 75th anniversary celebration

Friday, January 14 and Saturday, January 15 The Shabbos of January 14 and 15, B’nai Israel will celebrate the congregation’s 75th anniversary with a gala kiddush. B’nai Israel Congregation serves the Jewish community however possible. To help enhance this very special...

I Had a Brother Once, with Adam Mansbach

Wednesday, December 8, 7:30 pm Join Adam Mansbach, novelist, humorist, and poet, for his second visit to Tidewater as he shares excerpts from his new memoir, I Had a Brother Once. The event is presented by the Konikoff Center for Learning at the United Jewish...

Mazel Tov to Michael and Mattie Brooke

Mazel Tov to Michael and Mattie Brooke on the birth of a daughter, Brocha. Michael and Mattie were married on August 27, 2020. Michael attended Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, Toras Chaim Yeshiva, and received a bachelor’s degree in Talmudic Studies from Bais Medrash...

Harriet Bresenoff

Raleigh, North Carolina—Harriet R. Bresenoff, born on September 2, 1931, passed away October 25, 2021 surrounded by her loving children. Sensing her deep loss, she left this earthly realm a mere 16 weeks after her beloved Morty. Harriet and Mort had 69 years of...

Charles Stuart Heyman

Needham, Massachusetts—It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Charlie Heyman, on Friday, October 22, 2021 in Needham, Massachusetts. Charlie was the loving husband of Renee Heyman (of blessed memory). Charlie is survived by his daughter Joanne...

Morton J “Kappy” Kaplan

VIRGINIA BEACH—Morton J. “Kappy” Kaplan, 91, passed away on Tuesday, October 19, 2021. A native of New York, he was the son of Harry Kaplan and Mary Levine Kaplan. Kappy was a paratrooper with of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles in the U.S. Army. He was...

Steven Shawn Lazernick

Chesapeake—Steven Shawn Lazernick passed away October 18, 2021, in Chesapeake, Virginia. Steve was born March 25, 1956, to Albert and Thelma Fay Goldman Lazernick, the third of six children. Steve was a graduate of Granby High School and attended Tidewater Community...

Phillip Allan Ungar

Bridgewater, Virginia—Phillip Allan Ungar, 82, of Bridgewater, Virginia passed away Saturday, October 23, 2021 at his home. He was born in Norfolk, Virginia on June 15, 1939, a son of the late Max and Martha (Cooper) Ungar. Phill was a gentle soul who loved life, his...

Jay Black of Jay and The Americans

(JTA)—When Jay Black wanted The New York Times to understand that he was a hell-raiser, he said he was thrown out of New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn. When he made the same point to The Forward, he added that he was subsequently tossed out of three yeshivahs....

Tyler Herron, former Team Israel pitcher

(JTA)—Tyler Herron, a former major league baseball prospect who pitched for Team Israel during their Cinderella run in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, died last month at 35. No cause or exact date of Herron’s death have been reported. Several of the minor league...

Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival 2021-2022

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival 2021–2022 The annual celebration of Jewish writers, books, and ideas, Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival provides...