Celebrate Israel’s 78th Independence Day, Yom Ha’Atzmaut, while connecting with friends, embracing Israeli culture, and strengthen community ties – bringing together families, friends, and organizations in Tidewater.

 This year’s gathering offers a chance to support Israel during a challenging time. Yom Ha’Atzmaut is not just about reflecting on Israel’s history, but also about deepening the connections between local Jewish families and their ties to Israel. It’s a moment to stand united and celebrate the resilience and spirit of Israel.

 The afternoon will be packed with activities for all ages, from hands-on experiences for kids to opportunities for adults to connect and engage. Enjoy authentic Israeli barbecue, delicious food, and synagogue-led programs that bring the essence of Israel to life. Everyone can join in the fun and make meaningful memories.

 In addition, representatives from Virginia Hillels will be available to offer high school students and their families time to explore Jewish life on college campuses—an important opportunity and consideration for those planning their future.

 One of the highlights of the day will be the Israeli marketplace hosted by ESEK. With more than 20 curated collections, it is a chance to meet Israel through the stories of its people — from Nova Music Festival survivors featured in the NOVA Collection to Israel Defense Forces reservists working to keep their businesses going while serving. From handmade jewelry and Judaica to artisanal foods, every item has a story, and every purchase is a meaningful way to show support.

 More than anything, the day is about connection— whether it’s reconnecting with old friends, meeting new faces, or simply coming together as one. 

 Tidewater’s Yom Ha’Atmzmaut events are presented by Avraham and Karen Ashkenazi, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, and Simon Family JCC, and made possible through the generous support of Simon Family Foundation and the Helen G. Gifford Foundation.  

For more information and to register, visit JewishVA.org/YH or contact Nofar Trem at NTrem@UJFT.org. 

Yom Ha’Atzmaut Sponsors:

Avraham and Karen Ashkenazi

Palms Associates

Simon Family Foundation

Virginia Beach Arts & Humanities Commission

Helen G. Gifford Foundation

Harbor Group International

American Israel Public Affairs Committee

Payday Payroll Services

S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co.

Gentry Locke Attorneys

Eide Bailly

The Law Offices of Daniel J. Miller

Wilks, Alper, Harwood & McIntyre, PC

The Spindel Agency

Allegra Marketing Print Mail

Ensuring a safe day focused on fun

Due to global events and in our ongoing commitment to the safety of the community, enhanced security measures will be in place for this year’s Yom HaAtzmaut celebration. We appreciate your partnership in helping us create a safe, secure, and welcoming environment for all.

Please read carefully and plan:     

• RSVP is required for all attendees.
Those who have not RSVPd in advance will be asked to provide information upon arrival and should expect delayed entry.

• A valid photo ID is required for entry.
Having your ID ready will help expedite the check-in process. 

• Please allow additional time for arrival and entry.
This will ensure adequate time for parking, security screening, and check-in. 

• Metal detectors will be in use.
All attendees will be screened upon entry, and weapons of any kind are strictly prohibited.

• Travel light.
We strongly encourage guests not to bring large bags (with the exception of diaper bags). All bags are subject to inspection.

• Security protocols will be in place throughout the event.
These measures are designed to support a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. 

Thank you for your understanding, cooperation, and shared commitment to community safety. We look forward to celebrating together.

 He hit and injured the congregation’s security director,
Danny Phillips, with his car as he plowed through the synagogue’s doors and drove down a hallway. But he didn’t manage to harm anyone else after he was shot by members of Temple Israel’s armed security team.

 And because the rest of the staff knew exactly how to respond to an active shooter threat.

 “We always worry that you can plan and plan and plan and practice and practice, and it won’t matter, because it will be something else, but it feels like a miracle that everything worked the way it was supposed to, that our team was so incredibly brave, local law enforcement’s been amazing, and that everybody’s OK,” Rabbi Jen Lader of Temple Israel says.

 Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and West Bloomfield County Police Chief Dale Young immediately praised the security response in the wake of the attack.

 Bouchard noted that the security team had “neutralized the threat” before police officers arrived.

 “I am deeply proud of the response, not only from the security that was on site, but also of all the police officers and the firefighters that are here right now, we train on active shooter events a lot,” Young said during a press conference outside the synagogue. “I think that training certainly helped to mitigate what happened here today.”

 Indeed, it was a situation that Jewish institutions across the United States have trained for, as antisemitism and threats of violence have ticked up in recent years, especially following the 2018 synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh that killed 11 Jews during Shabbat services. The rabbi of a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, credited security training with enabling him to respond when a man took him and three congregants hostage in 2022.

 “Everybody flees danger, and our team went straight toward it, and they were the ones who neutralized the terrorist and saved everybody,” says Lader. “And our teachers followed, you know, to the absolute letter, our active shooter training and lockdown procedures, and saved every kid.”

 Beyond the synagogue’s full-time director of security, Lader says Temple Israel also has a full team of armed security guards on the premises at all times as well as a remote security system that is able to secure different areas of the building during threats.

 In late January, FBI agents also visited Temple Israel to train clergy and staff about how to respond to an active shooter.

 Michael Masters, the national director and CEO of the Secure Community Network, an organization that coordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide, including in Tidewater, says that the outcomes of the attack reflected the preparedness of Temple Israel.

 “Investing in security is an investment, it’s a down payment on the Jewish future,” says Masters. “The community that made up the synagogue, the larger Detroit Jewish community, has been making that investment for years and years, and today, that investment paid off and lives [were] saved.”

 Among the security measures that Masters says his organization recommended were “bollards or fences or natural obstructions” to the building, controlling access to the facility through reinforced doors or windows and having a security presence.

 “What we hope this reaffirms is that security needs to be an ongoing investment in order to allow Jewish life, faith-based life, to thrive,” says Masters. “And very much that investment can result, and did result, in Jewish lives being saved, and so we all need to recognize that and commit ourselves as members of the community at every level to be a part of making that investment at whatever level we can.”

 In the wake of the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington D.C. in June, the synagogue hosted a town hall on hate crimes and extremism.

 Among the speakers at the town hall was Noah Arbit, a lifelong congregant of Temple Israel who represents West Bloomfield in the Michigan House of Representatives. Arbit said in an interview that after he first learned of the attack while working on the state house floor, he immediately began to cry and raced down to his home synagogue.

 “I campaigned on taking on hate crimes,” said Arbit. “To be working on these issues, and then to see it come home to roost in my own community, in my own synagogue, in my hometown that I represent is, frankly, just like my worst nightmare.”

 While Arbit praised the response by security and law enforcement as the attack unfolded, he said he was “outraged and enraged and deeply pained that it was necessary in the first place.”

 “Jewish communities across the country and world have watched, you know, for the past decade, as our institutions have congealed into fortresses,” he said. “We are now forced to live behind, basically, you know, militarized, institutionally securitized institutions, and what a shame that is. It’s not just a shame, It’s unfathomable, it’s unforgivable.”

 For Rabbi Mark Miller of Temple Beth El, another Reform synagogue a 20-minute drive away in Bloomfield Hills, the attack on Temple Israel served as a stark reminder of why security infrastructure was essential for Jewish institutions.

 “This is one of those moments when, for years and years, we have bemoaned that we have to put so much time and energy into security for our institutions,” says Miller. “And this is one of those days that reminds us that we don’t have a choice.”

 Miller’s synagogue had a recent security crisis of its own, when a man drove through its parking lot in December 2022 and shouted antisemitic threats as parents walked their preschoolers into the building. The assailant, Hassan Chokr, was sentenced to 34 months in prison in September for illegally possessing multiple firearms inside a gun store after leaving the synagogue.

 “It’s a terrifying day, obviously for a lot of people, especially for parents with their kids at not only Temple Israel but at ours and other temples and Jewish institutions,” Miller says.

 Lader says that among her congregants, two competing sentiments had jumped out: Those who “never, in a million years, in our heart of hearts, thought it was ever going to happen to us” and others who “knew it was only a matter of time before it knocked on our door.”

 But another feeling was even stronger, she says.

 “I think the overarching sentiment, and the one that I want to make sure gets out there, is our absolute gratitude to our internal teams, our amazing staff, local law enforcement and our teachers for really, like, a building full of absolute heroes, who were able to keep us safe,” Lader says.

Reading the Purim megillah in a school bomb shelter near my synagogue. We closed the door when the siren sounded, causing us to lose the internet connection we were using to broadcast the megillah reading over Zoom.

Grilling barbeque. After the siren, I had just seconds to grab my burgers, kebabs and sausages off the open-air grill so they wouldn’t burn or be snatched by an enterprising cat.

While grocery shopping at a Rami Levy supermarket, I and other shoppers were herded into the bomb shelter that doubles as the supermarket synagogue (a common feature of Rami Levy supermarkets).

Going to sleep; in a deep sleep; about to wake up.

On a walk to the corner park for a breath of fresh air, then sprinting home to make it to shelter in time.

On work calls; doing work; thinking about doing work.

While writing a piece about what it’s like to live in Israel during the latest war with Iran.

To be sure, I am among the fortunate ones. My home was built with a mamad — the Hebrew word that’s an acronym for “apartment safe space.” Mandated by a 1992 law for all new construction, these reinforced safe rooms include walls designed to withstand explosives of a certain level of intensity, a shatterproof window protected by a heavy steel shutter, and a thick, steel door.

Originally meant to protect Israelis from the sorts of gas attacks that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein threatened to use during the 1991 Gulf War, the safe rooms were used on Oct. 7 by Israelis living in communities near Gaza to shelter from Hamas assailants — with varying degrees of success. The doors and windows proved to be bullet-proof, but Hamas attackers managed to force their way into some of the rooms nonetheless, including by setting fire to homes.

Mamads are a terrific convenience. I can put my children to sleep in the private bomb shelter, and they usually sleep right through the sirens at night. I don’t have to share my shelter with strangers, or run outside and into some dank public shelter filled with dead cockroaches, as others do who live in older buildings without mamads. I don’t have to lay down to rest in subway stations, like friends in Tel Aviv.

But mamads are not bombproof. They weren’t built to withstand ballistic missile attacks, and a direct strike by an Iranian missile or drone likely will destroy a mamad and kill its occupants. That’s exactly what happened when an Iranian missile struck a shelter in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh on Sunday night, killing nine people and wreaking a wide radius of devastation.

So, in this war mamads are part psychological shield, part actual protection. They’ll withstand deadly shrapnel and some indirect explosions, but they have their limits.

Inside the mamad, we hear all kinds of sounds of war. There are the shuddering booms of Israel’s anti-missile defenses firing, and massive metallic bangs that my wife thinks are falling shrapnel or missiles strikes in the vicinity. I’m not sure what they are, and when I asked a missile expert I know who helped design the Arrow system about them, he refused to answer me.

We hear Israeli warplanes. It’s not clear whether they’re patrolling the skies above our heads as a defense measure or are en route to bombing runs in Iran.

Perhaps the most startling sound of all is the blaring mobile phone notification we get alerting of an incoming rocket attack and warning us to be close to a bomb shelter. The earsplitting, high-frequency alert is a very nasty sound to wake up to at 4 a.m., especially when it arrives in stereo from the four different mobile phones in our house.

Then we must wait several minutes to learn if we’ll actually get an air raid siren or not. When the siren comes, we supposedly have 90 seconds to reach shelter, but the booms often start sooner than that.

As in many homes, our family has a running debate over when it’s safe to exit the mamad. Is 10 to 12 minutes from the time of the air raid siren sufficient, or do we have to wait for the official all-clear phone alert? Sometimes, we get another air raid siren before the 10-minute count is up, and the clock starts all over again.

With in-person school canceled for the foreseeable future, all my children are home all the time, and we’ve started to get on each other’s nerves. But in the middle of the night, nobody complains when we crowd into the mamad and share blankets and small camping mattresses on the floor so we all can lie down.

The people subject to Israeli and U.S. bombardment have it much worse. Their leaders invested in ballistic missiles, attack drones and other weapons of war. We have those too, but we also developed sophisticated alert systems, in-house safe rooms, bomb shelters and, crucially, a variety of anti-missile defenses: Iron Dome for shorter-range missiles, like those fired by Hezbollah and Hamas; the Arrow, which counters ballistic missiles in the upper atmosphere and lower space; the new Iron Beam, a laser that works like the Iron Dome; David’s Sling, designed for medium-range ballistic missiles.

And, of course, there is the Israeli Air Force, which shoots down missiles en route and bombs missile-launching systems on the ground in enemy territory.

If Israel’s enemies were more concerned with the welfare of their own people rather than attacking the Jewish state, perhaps we wouldn’t have this war in the first place.

I’d write more, but there goes the air raid siren again (no joke)!

Sandler Family Campus

Israel’s renowned Dream Doctors Project—professional medical clowns who bring healing, dignity, and emotional support to patients and families in hospitals and humanitarian settings around the world – will visit Tidewater.

 For more than two decades, Dream Doctors have worked as part of medical teams in more than 30 hospitals, using empathy, humor, and nonverbal communication to provide evidence-based therapeutic care that reduces anxiety and supports recovery.

 During the evening, Tsour Shriqui, Dream Doctors CEO, along with members of the team, will share their experiences in hospitals, emergency response, and their “No War Zone” initiative since October 7, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how compassion and creativity support healing in the most challenging environments.

 The event is part of a five-day United Jewish Federation of Tidewater-organized residency with healthcare providers, students, and community partners across the area.

 Free and open to the community, this program is presented as part of UJFT, Simon Family JCC, and Community Partners’ 15th Annual Israel Today Series. For more information: JewishVA.org/IsraelToday or Nofar Trem at NTrem@UJFT.org.

(JTA) One of the main advantages for Jewish kids in a Christian world is that — thanks to Purim — they get two “Halloweens.” And for parents, it’s nice to get double use out of that overpriced probably-toxic-plastic monstrosity you rush-ordered from Amazon on October 28. More broadly, Purim celebrations are probably the most accessible entry point for getting the littles to associate Judaism with “fun.” Passover strains mightily to do this, and sometimes succeeds. Hanukkah succeeds, but at the price of sometimes becoming a sad Christmas knockoff. 

 Purim is just unlimited sweets, grown-ups making fools of themselves, and kids getting to be loud. Game over.

 But for anyone who actually reads the original “whole Megillah,” there’s a lot going on in there that’s very far from fun. And extremely far from “family-friendly.” Raging alcoholism. Domestic strife. Female exploitation. Genocidal antisemitism. Slaughter in the tens of 1,000s. Literal asphyxiation, 11 times over. 

 So how did that dark, telenovela-like book become the only Jewish holiday when we’d even think of having a “Carnival?”

 One reason is, Megillat Esther, or the Book of Esther, is famously the only book of the Bible where God is never mentioned. In a way, this frees up a spirit of irreverence, bordering on blasphemy. Purim stands apart from other, more theologically formulaic Jewish narrative holidays with its wild roller coaster narrative. And this briefly gives the religion of rules a refreshing “anything goes” vibe.

 Purim has also served some historical functions that give it a different flavor. For some, it’s a sly way to knock back down to earth the high and mighty. And/or a cathartic storyline to insert whatever villain is currently threatening the Jewish people. And finally, with its only halachic orders involving how to celebrate, Purim has been a great avenue for much-needed escapism.   

  But to get back to the story: How can it be so readily boiled down and leeched of its naughty adult parts? Perhaps because the basic tale is very simply hero and villain: an unlikely underdog girl gets to be royalty and fight and defeat a two-dimensionally cartoonish villain. It almost comes across as a Disney movie.

 All of which was apropos for me recently, because I’m a professional screenwriter who was actually hired to adapt the Purim story into a family-friendly film. I read the previous drafts — one where they adapted it so literally it would have been rated X, the next where they went to the other extreme and made it about Esther and her wacky talking animal friends. 

 I was the Goldberglocks asked to find the balance, and it was an interesting challenge. I had to find ways to make some of its barbarities more palatable — for example, reducing King Ahasuerus into an innocent, gullible dupe of Haman so he could be an actual love interest for Esther that we like, rather than what he actually was like. And I tried to bring a little silliness to Haman, so that his actual terrifying plans could be felt to be more ridiculous and unlikely.

 It didn’t hurt that I’d been producing and sometimes appearing in Purim spiels (staged, often riotously comedic re-stagings of the Book of Esther) for more than 20 years. I knew the story had so many unlikely twists and turns, hidden identities, incredible coincidences, it was an endless mine of possibility. 

 And I think, in a way, this is why it’s actually a good thing that Megillat Esther has been popularly boiled down to a kiddie-version. Because the main theme of the story, and holiday, “v’nahafoch hu” (Hebrew for “and it all got turned upside down”), is an extremely powerful Jewish idea that shines through it. Ever since the Golden Calf, we Jews have been trying to get the world to not take human-made institutions too seriously and reminding everyone that everything can change in a flash. As well as the idea that we live behind masks that hide our true selves.

 Kids may come to Purim celebrations dressed as everything from princesses to Pokemons, and not understand a word of that ancient thing being sung up on the bimah. But they see the big authority figures in their lives not taking themselves too seriously, the hallowed halls of their synagogue briefly turned into a free-for-all where hierarchy is temporarily abandoned. And, even when they know or intuit that Big Sad Adult Things Are Happening in the world, they feel powerfully how the Jewish people respond to, and survive, them: through unfettered joy and celebration of what we have, and our continued peoplehood.

 And that’s an even better value for that costume than getting to use it twice a year. 

Rob Kutner is an Emmy-winning comedy writer and author who has written for The Daily Show, CONAN, and Marvel. His comedic book of Jewish history The Jews: 5,000 Years and Counting (HINT: a perfect bar/bat mitzvah gift!) arrived last year just in time for Purim!

This article first appeared on Kveller.

Purim 2026

The festival of Purim begins this year on the evening of Monday, March 2 and runs through Tuesday, March 3.

Recounted in the Book of Esther, the holiday commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from annihilation at the hands of Haman. Purim is generally celebrated with joy, fun, and downright silliness. Carnivals, costumes, Purim spiels (skits or plays), Hamantaschen cookies, and for some, alcohol, all contribute to the holiday’s festivities.

Other Purim traditions include sending food gifts (mishloach manot) to friends and neighbors and giving to the poor (matanot l’evyonim).

 Stephen Spencer Pittman was charged on Monday, Jan. 12 with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Mississippi.

 The blaze, which tore through the Beth Israel Congregation, the only synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, early in the morning on Jan. 10, destroyed two of the synagogue’s Torahs as well as its library and offices. Several other Torahs belonging to the congregation were damaged, though no injuries were reported.

 The Reform synagogue serves as the religious and communal center for the city’s small Jewish population.

 No congregants or first responders were injured in the fire, and investigators quickly ruled out accidental causes. The department’s arson investigation division, working with the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, determined the blaze was deliberately set. 

 During an interview with the FBI and local law enforcement, Pittman confessed that he had set fire to the synagogue, which he referred to as a “synagogue of Satan,” according to the affidavit.

 According to social media accounts that appeared to belong to Pittman, he is originally from Madison, Mississippi, and is a baseball player at Coahoma Community College. (A student athlete profile for Pittman has since been deleted from the school’s athletics page.)

 An X account that appeared to belong to Pittman featured a link to a website that promotes “Scripture-backed fitness” as well as a Bible quote that read, “In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”

 Pittman told the FBI that he had stopped at a gas station on his way to the synagogue to purchase the gas used in the fire, removed his license plates, broken a window in the building with an ax to gain entry, and used a torch lighter to start the fire. The FBI discovered a cell phone and hand torch believed to belong to Pittman at the scene.

 Zach Shemper, the president of Beth Israel Congregation, told CNN that he had been told by law enforcement that “the perpetrator had been posting antisemitic comments on social media.”

 On Saturday, Jan. 10, Pittman’s father reported his son’s alleged arson to police after his son texted him photos of the building along with messages including, “There’s a furnace in the back,” “Btw my plate is off,” “Hoodie is on,” and “And they have the best cameras.”

 After Pittman’s father pleaded with him to return home, Pittman replied that he was due for “a home run” and “I did my research.” The following morning, Pittman allegedly laughed as he told his father about the arson attack and said, “he finally got them,” according to the affidavit.

 Surveillance footage obtained by the FBI from within the synagogue showed the suspect appearing to pour the contents of a gas container on its floor before setting the building ablaze, according to the affidavit.

 Prior to the affidavit’s publication, several Jewish leaders and politicians were quick to label the arson attack as antisemitic.

 “A historic synagogue was burned. Sacred Torahs destroyed. We are thankful no one was injured, but this wasn’t random vandalism — it was a deliberate, targeted attack on the Jewish community,” wrote Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, in a post on X Sunday, Jan. 11. “An attack on any synagogue is an attack on all Jews. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silent.”

 Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism under President Joe Biden, wrote in a post on X that the incident was a “major tragedy,” adding, “But it’s more than that. It’s an arson attack and another step in the globalization of the intifada.”

 Other politicians and Jewish leaders who labeled the attack as antisemitic included New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former NYC mayor Eric Adams, New York Jewish Sen. Chuck Schumer, Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott, and Israeli Ambassador to the United Nation Danny Danon.

“Acts of antisemitism, racism, and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as acts of terror against residents’ safety and freedom to worship,” Jackson Mayor John Horhn said, condemning the fire and pledging support for the synagogue and the broader community. 

 Beth Israel history reflects both resilience and vulnerability. Organized in 1860, it is one of the oldest Jewish institutions in Mississippi. In 1967, members of the Ku Klux Klan bombed the synagogue in retaliation for civil-rights advocacy of the rabbi at the time, Perry Nussbaum, damaging the office and library but causing no injuries. That bombing and later intimidation efforts, including an attack on Nussbaum’s home, remain a defining chapter in the congregation’s history. 

 “We are devastated but ready to rebuild, and we are so appreciative of the outreach from the community,” said Michele Schipper, CEO of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life and past president of Beth Israel. The Institute, whose offices are in the same building, said local Christian and interfaith partners have reached out to offer support. 

 Services have been suspended indefinitely, and leaders say the congregation will work with local partners to find temporary space for worship and community events.

If convicted, Pittman faces five to 20 years in federal prison.

This was another tough year for the global Jewish community – the continued war in Gaza, the escalation of antisemitic acts and outright discrimination, a slew of misinformation about Israel, the killings of two Israeli Embassy employees, and raised security alert levels for Jewish synagogues, schools, and other organizations – which all created much unease for Jewish life.

Still, it was another busy year for the world-wide Jewish community, as well as for Jewish Tidewater. 2025 was also a year filled with good times – celebrations, weddings, graduations, art exhibits, Israeli festivals, baking events, presentations, holiday parties, and busy congregational lives.

It was also a year of activism – connecting with elected officials, helping those in need, mentoring children, and building for seniors.

While this review of 2025 includes global, national, and statewide news, it primarily concentrates on the news of Jewish Tidewater, of which there is plenty to report – the proof of which can be seen in the very packed Jewish News issues.

Since this is only a sampling, to learn and read more, go to JewishNewsVa.org, click on the e-edition icon and peruse the year’s papers and articles.

JANUARY

The Jewish community springs into action to assist those suffering from the devastating Los Angeles-area fires.

For Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day or Date with the State, 50 members of Jewish Tidewater travel to Richmond to meet with legislators, staff members, and hear from the governor. Issues addressed include support for funding the Combatting Hate Crimes Grant Program, increasing the penalty to a felony for placing a swastika on certain property, and maintaining funding for the Virginia Israel Advisory Board.

The premiere of the final What We Carry film featuring Col. Eddie Shames takes place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Sandler Family Campus.

Ohef Sholom Temple celebrates Cantor Jen Reuben’s birthday with Taste of the Town.

Inna Vdovychenko, a member of JDC’s Ukraine Crisis Team visits Tidewater to update the community on the devasting situation in her beloved Odessa. She is joined by Eliza Prince, JDC’s senior development officer and Annie Sandler, JDC board president.

Aviva Pembroke, an independent senior living facility, which is a partnership of Beth Sholom Village and Pembroke Square Associates, officially opens.

FEBRUARY

The 32nd Annual Virginia Festival of Film features seven films presented at six different venues throughout Tidewater.

In honor of the memories of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, two young Israeli boys who were murdered by Hamas while held captive in Gaza (their bodies were returned Feb. 20), buildings across the globe are illuminated with orange lights. The boys had red hair. Locally, The Sandler Family Campus, the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront Resort, Summer House apartments, Wells Fargo Building, and The Main participate.

Local folk musician Bob Zentz is bestowed a Music Lifetime Achievement Award from Veer Magazine.

A memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directs Pentagon platforms to purge anything related to DEI. Among the information removed on the website of a U.S. Airforce unit is a story about Kitty Saks, a local Holocaust survivor.

MARCH

Steve Kocen receives a 61st Annual VCIC Tidewater Humanitarian Award.

David Elcott, author of The Future of Liberal Democracy, visits Tidewater as part of the Konikoff Center for Learning.

A Purim Party at the Sandler Family Campus is a ‘Time-Travelling Celebration’.

Operation Hamantaschen bakes up a sweet gathering at the Sandler Family Campus.

US Senator Mark Warner meets with members of Jewish Tidewater to talk about Israel and rising antisemitism.

APRIL

The Daffodil Project brings blooms in Tidewater via the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center.

The community’s Yom Hashoah observance takes place at Ohef Sholom Temple.

Tidewater teens attend BBYO Spring Cultural Convention.

New Federal spending cuts affect aid for Holocaust survivors, kosher Meal on Wheels deliveries, and the JFS Food Pantry.

MAY

Israeli chef Moshe Basson, founder of Jerusalem’s acclaimed Eucalyptus restaurant, visits Tidewater, treating many to his delicious dishes, while also promoting The Eucalyptus Cookbook.

Israel’s 77th Independence Day is celebrated at the Sandler Family Campus.

Jewish American Heritage Month is observed throughout Tidewater with a variety of events at myriad locations.

JFS 21st Annual Run, Roll, Stroll takes place at the Sandler Family Campus under rainy and gray skies but still rates the morning a success.

World Zionist Congress election concludes with record US turnout. Reform slate wins the most votes.

Nadiv holds its first Poker Night at the Sandler Family Campus to raise money to support scholarships for Camp JCC.

Shabbat service and Ark dedication takes place at Aviva. Cantor Elihu Flax begins serving as part-time chaplain.

Sarah Kosovsky named the 2025 Stein Family Scholarship recipient. She will attend University of Virginia.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares secures a court victory compelling AJP Education Foundation, also known as American Muslims for Palestine – to comply with the Attorney General’s Civil Investigative Demand.

Tidewater’s outstanding Jewish educators are honored at a Konikoff Center of Learning event. Educators honored include Rabbi Michael Panitz, Dr. Amy Milligan, and Alene Jo Kaufman.

After two Israeli Embassy employees are killed outside the Capitol Jewish Museum, 40+ Jewish groups call for $1 billion in federal funding to secure religious institutions.

JUNE

UJFT holds the 2025 Biennial Meeting and Installation of officers. Mona Flax is installed as president and awards are presented, including the first Tzedek Award to Linda Spindel.

The Maccabeats perform a Unity Concert at the Sandler Family Campus.

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s 2025 Annual Campaign closes after crossing over the milestone mark of $5 million.

FBI, DHS issue warning of ‘elevated threat’ to Jewish and Israeli communities.

Mah Jonng Monday begins at the J. Amy Levy and Stephanie Calliott teach nearly 80 women the fundamentals of Mah Jongg. Play follows for new and seasoned players.

UJFT joins more than 100 Jewish communities to urge Congress to adopt a 6-point security plan. Betty Ann Levin, UJFT’s executive vice president/CEO, Robin Mancoll, UJFT’s chief program officer and senior director, Jewish Community Relations Council, and Mike Goldsmith, regional security advisor, Secure Community Network, represent Tidewater on Capitol Hill.

JULY

Rabbi Jacob Herber arrives at Congregation Beth El to serve as the congregation’s rabbi.

Tzofim Friendship Caravan returns to the Sandler Family Campus to celebrate Israeli culture and community.

JFS marks the 30th Anniversary of the PAM program and honors Dorothy Salomonsky for 30 years of service.

Naomi Limor Sedek marks five years as president and CEO of Tidewater Jewish Foundation.

AUGUST

Shinshinim Danielle Hartman and Emily Patyuk say goodbye to Tidewater. Noga Yaniv and Yarden Lahan arrive as Tidewater’s new Shinshinim.

Team VB attends JCC Maccabi-Access Games in Tucson, Arizona, bringing home medals and positive memories.

End of Summer Shabbat takes place at Sandler Family Campus.

SEPTEMBER

Kehillat Bet Hamidrash (KBH), also known as Kempsville Conservative Synagogue, moves to the Sandler Family Campus from its long-time location on Indian Lakes Boulevard. The move marks a milestone in KBH’s more than 45-year journey.

37th Annual SIA Golf Tournament raises $145,000.

Super Sunday is reimagined to a virtual model.

Christian Broadcasting Network, CBN Israel, and Regent University partner with JewBelong for Antisemitism Awareness Campaign, placing billboards in Tidewater.

U.S. Postal Service announces stamp to honor Holocaust survivor and humanitarian Elie Wiesel. It is the 18th stamp in the Distinguished Americans series. It will be used for two-ounce mail.

OCTOBER

Ceremonies in Tidewater and around the world mark October 7 – the second anniversary of the Hamas massacre.

An Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement goes into effect October 10, 2025. All 20 remaining living Israeli hostages are released by October 13, 2025; hundreds of Palestinian prisoners one also freed.

Yaakov Katz, former Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief and author of While Israel Slept, visits Tidewater.

Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival begins.

NOVEMBER

Lion-Tikva-Chai Luncheon 2025 celebrates women donors. Rabbi Shira, senior rabbi at the Aspen Jewish Congregation (after serving for many years at the historic 6th & I Synagogue in Washington, DC), discusses her debut book.

Congregation Beth El celebrates its 175th anniversary with an evening of music, food, drinks and highlights of the past 175 years.

JFS leads efforts to provide food for complete Thanksgiving dinners for 300 families in need.

Rabbi Gershon Litt receives Birthright Israel Award, the 2025 Jeffrey R. Solomon Prize.

DECEMBER

Legacy 2025: Hampton Roads Jewish Artists of the Past, an exhibit of local artists who are no longer living, opens in the Leon Gallery at the Sandler Family Campus.

MAJ John W. Spencer, USA (Ret.), a leading voice on the Israel-Hamas conflict, confronting misinformation, speaks to an attentive and overflowing audience at the Sandler Family Campus, among other stops while in Tidewater.

Jewish Tidewater heard about the needs and responded with generosity. Local synagogues and other Jewish service programs collected donations from food drives totaling nearly $9,000 and financial contributions totaling nearly $30,000.

 In November, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aka SNAP) benefits were suspended. According to the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, families with children comprise 67% of Virginia’s SNAP recipients as of 2024, and more than 80% of the families who receive SNAP have been employed in the past year. 

 “Even before the SNAP cuts, we were concerned about the increased utilization of our food pantry,” says Kelly Burroughs, Jewish Family Service CEO. Earlier in the year, funding to Food Banks nationwide was massively cut. “These cuts have already led to fewer resources for food banks whose empty shelves bear witness to the greater need for their services.” 

 In addition to the funding cuts, the price of food increased by 2.9% from July 2024 to July 2025, according to USDA. Smaller pantries could not afford to keep their shelves stocked or their doors open. Many of them closed, which led to an increased number of people using the pantry at JFS each week.  In fact, this Thanksgiving, JFS has more than 300 people signed up to receive meals—nearly twice as many as last year. Each family averages four to five people, meaning that almost 1,500 people this year will benefit from the generosity of Tidewater’s Jewish community’s support.

 JFS often relies on monetary contributions to purchase supplemental items that are not available through the food bank, such as toilet paper and other hygiene products. “We are so grateful for the monetary donations and food drives that benefit JFS’ clients every day and even more considering the cuts to funding at Thanksgiving time,” says Brooke Rush, JFS director of development.

 In addition to the food pantry, JFS also delivers meals through its partnership with Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia and Meals on Wheels of Chesapeake. “There is a myth that there is no hunger in Jewish households. But the truth is, one in four people who receive home delivered meals by JFS is Jewish,” says Rush.

 “The community coming together to support one another is an incredible testament of tzedakah. No one should go hungry, and no one should be ashamed of need. That is why we exist,” Burroughs adds. “I think people underestimate how quickly we can be those people in line that we serve.”

An evening with MAJ John W. Spencer, USA (Ret.)

Wednesday, December 3, 7:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus, Free

In an era where global conflicts are increasingly fought in dense urban environments, understanding the strategic, moral, and humanitarian dimensions of modern warfare has never been more critical. Few experts combine battlefield experience with public education as effectively as MAJ John W. Spencer, USA (Ret.), executive director of Urban Warfare Institute.

  A veteran of more than 25 years, Spencer has held every rank from Private to Major, serving in elite units, including the 75th Ranger Regiment and 173rd Airborne. His deployments to Iraq, leadership in Ranger School, and strategic advisory work at the Pentagon and West Point give him a rare perspective on urban combat. Today, he continues to shape military thinking as a colonel in the California State Guard and as director of Urban Warfare Training for the 40th Infantry Division.

 Spencer is a leading voice on the Israel-Hamas conflict, confronting misinformation while defending Israel’s right to self-defense. In The Washington Free Beacon, he called the U.N. Genocide Report against Israel “an assault on critical thinking,” and in The Washington Post, he explained why “a siege on Gaza City is not a war crime.” His Jerusalem Post articles highlight Israel’s humanitarian efforts and counter false claims of genocide.

 Spencer’s research spans conflicts from Nagorno-Karabakh to Ukraine, focusing on the challenges of urban warfare while minimizing civilian harm. As he notes in The New York Post, “The US-Israel Gaza aid plan is working—which is why Hamas is spreading lies about it.” Through his books, Understanding Urban Warfare and Connected Soldiers, and his Urban Warfare Project Podcast, Spencer shares insights into strategic planning, tactical execution, and moral clarity in war.

 He also addresses broader regional dynamics – from Egypt’s role in Gaza’s humanitarian crisis to Israel’s protection of the Druze in Syria – showing Israel’s commitment to responsibility even in complex conflicts.

 This event is a rare opportunity to hear directly from one of the world’s foremost urban warfare experts. For more information or to RSVP, which is required by Monday, December 1, visit JewishVA.org/Spencer or contact Nofar Trem, UJFT’s Israel engagement manager, at NTrem@ujft.org.  

 Additional security measures will be in place; please have ID ready and allow extra time for check-in. 

Israel in Focus is a Jewish Federations of North America partnership with AJC, the Conference of Presidents, ADL, and AIPAC. Presented by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater as part of the 15th Annual Israel Today Forum. 

David Leon is immediate past president of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

 The Conservative congregation hung a “Bring Them Home Now” sign out front on behalf of the hostages. Rabbi Jesse Olitzky added the Acheinu prayer for redeeming captives to the weekly Shabbat service, and each week read the biography of a hostage. As the war raged on, the congregation sang songs of peace. 

At Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk, the congregation sang the Mi Chamocha prayer to the tune of Hatikvah.

 There and elsewhere, congregants wore yellow hostage ribbons and pins on their lapels, and dog tags with the names of the missing. Some families lit extra candles on Shabbat. Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh would eventually be listed among the dead in Gaza, popularized the wearing of a piece of masking tape on which she wrote the number of days since the hostages were taken.  

 Now, as the last 20 living hostages were returned to Israel as part of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, many Jews are relieved to be ending these rituals — even as they question whether it is right to do so and wonder how to channel their prayers and practices toward whatever comes next. Deceased hostages are still believed to be in Gaza, and even as soldiers return home and Gazans reclaim what’s left of their former lives, an enduring peace seems far away. 

 At Beth El, the Acheinu and lawn sign will stay in place until all the bodies are returned. In the meantime, at the celebration of Simchat Torah, there was a chance to experience a sense of relief members haven’t felt in two years.

 “Like so many we haven’t been able as a people to move forward and get to Oct. 8 until the hostages came home,” Olitzky says, hours after Hamas released the living hostages. “And now there is a sense of being able to exhale and breathe and, God willing, to move forward, to rebuild, and for all Israeli citizens and for Palestinians to have opportunities to build peace.”

 When Israeli pop star Yoni Bloch made a video in January imagining an end to the war and showing Israelis pulling down “Bring Them Home” posters and cutting yellow ribbons off their car doors, the idea seemed to many too distant to believe. Now, rabbis and Jews in the pews are asking if it is time to move forward.

 Rabbi Yael Ridberg, the recently retired spiritual leader of Congregation Dor Hadash in San Diego, says she would remove the ribbon and dog tag she wears when the bodies of the deceased hostages are returned. 

 “I look forward to tucking them away, but not disposing of them,” she wrote in response to a journalist’s query. “I will stop wearing them when all the deceased hostages are returned. These are keepsakes of a time worth remembering, as hard as it has been for the last two years.”

 Ronit Wolff Hanan, the former music director at Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck, New Jersey, says she is not sure what to do with the ribbon pin and dog tags she’s worn for most of the past two years. She’s torn between “this unbelievable release and relief and joy,” and sadness about the 24 bodies yet to be returned.

 “My whole thing is, well, what do we do now?” says Wolff Hanan, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen whose son served more than 300 days in the Israeli reserves during the war. “I keep thinking about the long, difficult road all of these hostages and families have ahead of them, and it’s just unimaginable. But also I’m thinking about, when is it really over? We don’t know if this is the dawn of a new era or if we are going to go back to the same old, same old.”  

 On a Facebook page for Jewish women, a number of members spoke of their reluctance to stop lighting extra candles. Some felt that if they did, it would break a kind of spiritual commitment or might suggest that they’ve given up on the freed hostages who will continue to have mental and physical challenges. Some referred to a passage from Talmud (Shabbat 21b) that extends the metaphor of the Hanukkah candles to suggest that someone should always add light, not subtract.     

 By contrast, the comic Periel Aschenbrand wrote that she was eager to take off the button that she’d been wearing in solidarity with Omri Miran, a hostage abducted in front of his wife and two children on Oct. 7. “I can’t wait to be able to take it off tomorrow, and for Omri to be reunited with his daughters and family,” she wrote Sunday, Oct. 12 on Instagram. 

 Alyssa Goldwater, an Orthodox influencer, wrote that she too is “really looking forward” to taking off the yellow ribbon pin she’s worn over the past two years, but that removing doesn’t mean forgetting. 

 “When you remove a pin, the tiny holes never fully go away,” she wrote on Instagram. “They will remain and serve as a reminder that we will never forget what has happened to us over the last two years. We will never forget who stood by us and who stood soundly or against us. The holes will be tiny because we pray that the hostages will be able to eventually heal and live their regular lives again, where the unimaginable travesties they’ve been through won’t even be noticeable in the human eye, but the holes will remain, because this is a part of us now.”

 Long before Oct. 7 led to a torrent of new practices, Jews altered their prayers and rituals in tune with current events, with some changes handed down from rabbis and others bubbling up from the “folk.” 

 Some changes stick — like the Av HaRachamim memorial prayer, composed in the Middle Ages for those who perished in the Crusades — and others fall away. In the 1970s and ’80s, boys and girls celebrating their b’nai mitzvah “twinned” with Soviet Jews unable to emigrate. Adults wore silver bracelets with the name of these refuseniks and put them away when the emigration restrictions fell.  

 The additions and changes that persist usually speak to other events, the way Av HaRachamim has become a weekly reminder of various Jewish tragedies. In general, however, a prayer or ritual that responds to current events “should have a theoretical timestamp for when it exits stage left, even if we cannot always know when that time will come,” Rabbi Ethan Tucker, president and rosh yeshiva of Hadar, explained in a Facebook post discussing the transition away from Oct. 7 practices. “Without that foresight and planning, the addition either straggles on, eventually becoming a kind of exhibit in the gallery of prayer, or it simply fades away when monotony and detachment have gotten the better of it.”

 The Jewish calendar itself seemed to conspire in the spiritual turbulence of many Jews: The hostage release came on the eve of Israelis’ celebration of Simchat Torah — and the second anniversary, on the Hebrew calendar, of the Hamas attacks. 

 The holiday is meant to be a day of unbridled joy. A centerpiece of Simchat Torah is the hakafah, when congregants dance with and around the Torah scrolls.

 Last year, congregations struggled with how to match the happy themes of the holiday with the one-year anniversary of the worst attack in Israel’s history. Olitzky said his congregation began last year’s Simchat Torah festivities with a “solemn” hakafah, where congregants sang Israel’s national anthem and a somber Hebrew song while standing still. Olitzky said he took solace at the time in the words of Goldberg-Polin, who said, “‘There is a time to sob and a time to dance’ and we have to do both right now.”

 And while the release of the hostages is also tinged with sadness — for the lost years, the captives who didn’t make it, the suffering still to come — many will use the holiday as a celebration of deliverance and gratitude.  

 Adat Shalom, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Bethesda, Maryland, used Simchat Torah to celebrate the hostages’ return by ending another common practice since Oct. 7: a chair left empty on the synagogue’s bima, featuring the image of a missing hostage.

 During the dancing on Simchat Torah, the congregation brought the chair and used it to lift up members wedding-style. “We have a lot of people in the community who are really close with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Washington,” says Rabbi Scott Perlo. 

 Adat Shalom rotated in a number of special prayers and readings over the past two years, acknowledging, Perlo says ruefully, that “there’s so much to pray for,” including “the hostages, the safety of our family in Israel, the safety of people in Gaza,” and the state of American democracy. 

 He understands that some congregants may be wary of letting go of the new rites and prayers — perhaps afraid that if they don’t keep up the tradition, the horrors that prompted their prayers will only return. 

 “So what I would say to them is some version of, ‘Yes, don’t let it go completely, but let it transform into something new,’” says Perlo.

 Rabbi Felipe Goodman of Temple Beth Sholom in Las Vegas, Nevada planned to incorporate a ritual of release and transformation during Simchat Torah celebrations. He asked congregants to bring their yellow pins and dog tags and place them on an heirloom Torah cover. “This cover will be dedicated as a memorial and displayed at the entrance of our Temple, so that every time we walk through Our Temple’s doors, we will remember what happened on Oct. 7, 2023,” he wrote in a message to members.

 With the release of the living hostages fulfilling two years of prayers, gestures and vigils, many offered new words and actions to mark the transition from war to whatever follows in its place. Hanna Yerushalmi, a rabbi based in Annapolis, Maryland, shared a poem on Instagram, called “Yellow Chairs,” that welcomed the transformation of the fraught symbols of Oct. 7 grief and remembrance. It reads in part:

Empty chairs will be

saved for friends arriving late,

and tape will be

tape again,

and hostage necklaces

will be put away, forgotten in drawers.

and Saturday night will be date night once again.