Two members of the leadership team at Beth Sholom Village were recently recognized with promotions, new designations earned, and for their community-wide work. Mazel Tov Lauren Schoenfeld and Amy Weinstein! Lauren Schoenfeld, LNHA The new administrator of the...
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Jean-Pierre Weill speaks of love and evolution
Artist Jean-Pierre Weill recently spoke to Alene Jo Kaufman of KBH Synagogue about his book, Evolve: A Children’s Book for Adults as part of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. The conversation took place on Zoom. Weill, a father of five who was...
Team swims to records
The Swordfish winter youth swim team may have been small, but they accomplished big things. Lead by coaches Leia Sabatini and Kayleigh Carnazza, the Swordfish broke 14 team records this season. During their three swim meets, Sawyer White, 9 years old, set three new...
On Assignment with Lahav Harkov in 2023
Thursday, March 2, 12 pm Israel Today’s On Assignment with Lahav Harkov on Thursday, Feb. 2 was another exciting and informative way to learn about who’s who, and what’s happening in the Israeli political world, beyond the front page of the newspapers. Harkov,...
Protecting Abortion Rights as a Jewish Religious Imperative with Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg
Thursday, March 9, 7–8 pm, Blocker Hall Auditorium, Virginia Wesleyan University The overruling of Roe v. Wade last year brought many Jews across the nation to speak about Jewish perspectives related to reproductive and religious freedom, as well as the scripture that...
David Weinfeld, PhD: An American Friendship: Horace Kallen, Alain Locke, and the Development of Cultural Pluralism
Thursday, March 16, 7 pm, Zoom Old Dominion University’s Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding and United Jewish Federation of Tidewater present David Weinfeld, PhD in conversation about his book, An American Friendship: Horace Kallen, Alain Locke,...
Why I signed the Jewish Future Pledge: Danny Rubin
My son, Niv, knows the layout of the Simon Family JCC like the back of his hand. He’s only five, but can already point out the best kickballs on the white-top behind the building, the dogleg on the 6th hole of the mini-golf course, and how to reach max speed on the...
A fond farewell to Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s Kaitlyn Oelsner
After two years of serving the Tidewater Jewish community, Kaitlyn Oelsner, Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s director of Philanthropy, is leaving the organization. “I’ve decided to put a pause on my professional career to fully focus on being a mom,” says Oelsner, who is...
Women’s Cabinet Spring event offers unexpected inspiration
United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Cabinet held its first ever virtual Spring Lunch and Installation on May 13. Mona Flax, Cabinet chair, having completed a two-year term in office, made the unusual announcement that she would not be stepping down as...
Bringing To Life back to life
The Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is in the process of updating To Life: Stories of Courage and Survival, a collection of 67 personal stories published in 2002. With most of the individuals in the book now deceased, the Commission...
Fishing Derby reels in fun…and fish
After a COVID-induced one-year absence, the Simon Family JCC Catch-and-Release Fishing Derby was held Sunday, May 23 on the Sandler Family Campus. This was the fourth time the Derby was held on Lake Sandler, but the first time it was held in the spring, which may have...
Israel and Hamas agree to ceasefire after 11 days of bloodshed
(JTA)—After 11 days of fighting, Israel and Hamas agreed to a “mutual and simultaneous” ceasefire on Thursday, May 20 that began at 2 a.m. Friday Israel time. Israel’s security cabinet unanimously approved the truce, after military officials presented what they deemed...
UJFT opens Israel Emergency Fund
The brutal 11-day attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens demonstrated to the world just how fragile peace is between Israel and its neighbors. It also was a reminder for United Jewish Federation of Tidewater to unequivocally reaffirm its support of the State of Israel’s...
Congresswoman Elaine Luria joins group asking President Biden to fight anti-Semitism
A group of moderates, including Congresswoman Elaine Luria, sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Tuesday, May 25, condemning a series of comments they deem as anti-Semitic. They write: “We are deeply disturbed by the recent surge of antisemitic incidents in the...
What is the Iron Dome? All about the missile defense system that changed how Israelis experience war
(JTA)—Overnight between Thursday, May 13 and Friday, May 14, an arresting image appeared on social media: On the right, streaks of fire shot out into the night sky—rockets heading for a group of buildings illuminated in the darkness. But on the other side of the...
Life in Israel During Conflict: Perspectives from people with local connections
Several Tidewater Jewish community members have friends and relatives who live in Israel and were candid in talking about the current situation. When asked how their lives have been affected and how they feel about the ongoing con-flict, this is what they said: ARLENE...
‘Twas the year the Christmas lights went out for good: Joseph “Buddy” and Leonard Strelitz
This is the first in a series on generations of families in Jewish Tidewater. Joseph “Buddy” Strelitz honored his mother’s single dying wish and became a trailblazer for the Jewish tribe in her memory. Buddy’s son, John Strelitz, says that his grandmother’s only...
JCC Camp staff positions Calling all Grads!
“We want you (all graduates—high school and/or college) to embark on a leadership role with us at Camp JCC,” says Dave Flagler, director of Camp and Teen Engagement at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC. Camp JCC is hiring senior counselors...
Louis Brenner
PORTSMOUTH—Louis Brenner, 98, died on May 14, 2021. He was born and raised in Richmond, Va. After graduating from the University of Richmond in 1943, he joined the U.S. Navy. Upon completion of his military service, he obtained his law degree from the University of...
Stanley Graber
Virginia Beach—Stanley Graber, MD, Capt.(ret.) USPHS, passed away on May 12, 2021. He was born in Brooklyn N.Y. to Hyman and Bertha Graber. He went to Brooklyn College, Downstate Medical School, with a residency in Staten Island and Baltimore. He was a Captain in the...
Hilda “Honey” Verschleisser
Baltimore, MD—Hilda Rose Verschleisser (nee Peck), of Baltimore, Maryland, passed away on Friday, May 14, 2021 at the age of 76. She is survived by her children, Elka (Yosef) Shereshevsky, Reuven (Yocheved) Verschleisser, Yocheved (Michael) Glaser, Rena (Yaakov Moshe)...
Charles Grodin, Jewish comic actor known for The Heartbreak Kid and Beethoven
(JTA)—Charles Grodin, the deadpan Jewish comic actor who starred in such blockbuster films as The Heartbreak Kid and the children’s movie, Beethoven, died Tuesday, May 18 at his home in Wilton, Connecticut. He was 86, and the cause was bone marrow cancer, according to...
Former congressman Lester Wolff, known for surviving assassination threats and supporting Israel
(JTA)—Lester Wolff, who served eight terms as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives and was an important player in American foreign affairs in the 1960s and ’70s, has died. At 102, the New York lawmaker was the oldest former member of Congress. Wolff died...
Faye Schulman, Holocaust survivor whose photographs documented the partisan resistance
(JTA)—Faye Schulman, a Holocaust survivor who lost most of her family to the Nazis but joined a group of partisan fighters and documented their work in photographs, died Saturday, April 24, The Washington Post reported. She was 101 years old. Schulman’s photographs...
Five Israelis from one family among 14 dead in cable car crash in Italy
(JTA)—Fourteen people, including five members of an Israeli family, were killed Sunday, May 23 in a cable car accident in northern Italy. The accident near Lake Maggiore claimed the lives of husband and wife Amit Biran, 30, and Tal Peleg-Biran, 26; their 2-year-old,...
In Jewish Heritage Month proclamation, Biden recognizes Emhoff and Schumer— and the rise of anti-Semitism
WASHINGTON (JTA)—In his proclamation marking Jewish American Heritage Month, President Joe Biden cited the precedents set by prominent Jews in politics this year and condemned the nation’s spike in anti-Semitism in recent years. Biden recognized Douglas Emhoff and...