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For the Kass family, giving back is more than just a value — it’s a responsibility. When their son Jonah was preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, Melissa and Aaron Kass knew they wanted to instill the importance of community and responsibility. The B’nai Tzedek: Youth...
Local folk musician Bob Zentz was bestowed a 2025 Music Lifetime Achievement Award from Veer Magazine during a ceremony at Elevation 27 last month. With a career that includes nearly every aspect of music – as a writer, performer, retailer, manager, mentor – Zentz has...
Thursday, March 27, 6:30 - 8 pm • The Westin Virginia Beach Town Center Each year, Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities awards its prestigious Humanitarian award to individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the promotion of respect...
Partaking in BBYO’s International Convention 2025 was truly an experience I will never forget. The annual gathering took place this year over President’s Day Weekend in Denver, Col.From listening to the incredible speakers to dancing and singing with my friends at the...
Carin Simon, Strelitz International Academy’s director of development, and Ally St. Pierre, SIA’s admissions manager, recently attended the 2025 Prizmah Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. This gathering brought together Jewish day school leaders from across the...
The holiday of Purim begins this year on Thursday, March 13.Plenty of opportunities exist in Tidewater to participate in Purim festivities to commemorate Haman’s failed plot to destroy the Jews of Persia.The reading of the Megillah, Purim Carnivals, Purim Parties, and...
From a tidy and unassuming office on the second floor of his office building in Virginia Beach, John Feigenbaum, a local Jewish community member, sits on a raised chair before his elevated computer screen and sets the pricing used by coin dealers throughout the United...
(JTA) — Reactions from partisan American Jewish groups to President Donald Trump’s proposals for Gaza — that “all” Palestinians leave and the United States “take over” the territory — began flowing in just as soon as their leaders picked their jaws up off the floor on...
Jewish News appreciates all who support the newspaper with generous contributions – whether in honor of or in memory of friends and loved ones or as a Friend of Jewish News. Friends of Jewish News Terri and Steve BudmanMr. Walter FenskaMr. and Mrs. Donald FriedmanDr....
I know you join me in the joy we all feel for the return of Israeli hostages.Each one of the hostages is special to many people, especially their families who have long waited for their return. It also turns out we have a special connection to one of the hostages,...
Baking is a science that requires the precise chemistry of all ingredients. One misstep and a decadent dessert devolves into a tragic mess, a puffy souffle deflates into a cavernous hollow, or a delicate confection becomes a misshapen blob. ❦ David Leon, Joel Nied,...
“Stunning” was the most frequent word heard as Beth Sholom Village and its friends in the Jewish community celebrated the official opening of Aviva Pembroke with development partner Pembroke Square Associates inside the seven-story structure off Constitution Drive in...
Proud to support Jewish military families, PJ Library is piloting a new Military Parent Connector program in partnership with the JWB – Jewish Chaplains Council and United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Although Parent Connectors have been in PJ Library...
This year’s graduation season began with plenty for Jewish Tidewater’s graduates and their families to celebrate.Graduations provide time to recognize achievements, formally bid goodbye to a treasured educational institution, and move on to life’s next chapter. And...
The annual Tidewater community Yom Ha'Atzmaut gathering, held this year on Sunday, May 19 on the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus, was a vibrant recognition of Israel’s independence. The atmosphere was electric, as close to 2,000 community members were adorned in...
Last month, Virginia Beach neighborhoods were again littered with antisemitic propaganda on fliers dropped by a national neo-Nazi hate group, the Goyim Defense League. These flyers, though not signaling a violent threat, are designed to harass, incite fear and...
When Max and Emma Bernstein married this spring, more than 15 friends from their days at Newport Avenue’s Jewish Community Center’s Shalom Children’s Center attended the wedding. The friends all met at the JCC preschool 25 years ago and later went to Hebrew Academy of...
Editor: Coverage of Israel’s war with Hamas has been endlessly frustrating, which is not surprising given the one-sided anti-Israel bias exhibited by most major newspapers during the past 40 years. This portrayal of Israel as the Oppressor and...
As Eddie Kramer prepares to step into his new role as board chair for Tidewater Jewish Foundation, his thoughts naturally turn to the impact his father, Herbert L. “Pete” Kramer, had on his life. For Eddie, Father’s Day is not just a time for celebration but also a...
Before you join a counter-protest, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater encourages you to ask yourself: Is a counter-protest effective in supporting Israel? Does staging or attending a counter-protest serve the community’s support of Israel? Does...
This morning, I had a phone call with a former summer camper of mine. She is now a first-year student at George Washington University in DC, and she wanted to talk to me because she is beginning to explore the idea of becoming a rabbi. When I called at the time that...
Sunday, May 19 • 12 – 3 pm • Sandler Family Campus Yom Ha’ Atzmaut, commemorating Israel @76, is a day for people of all ages to come together to learn about Israeli people, art, music, food, and history.Presented by Avraham and Karen Ashkenazi, the United Jewish...
Third time’s the charm. You let me know if that’s the case by the time you finish this article – it’s the third one I’ve written where I feel compelled to share an experience with Jewish News. The first was after I completed the March of the Living in Poland. Second...
U.S. Representative Rob Wittman spent a couple of hours at the Sandler Family Campus having lunch and speaking with and answering questions from members of Tidewater’s Jewish community on Friday, May 3.Congressman Wittman immediately addressed the current state of...
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli American hostage held in Gaza, spent part of his childhood in Richmond, Va. before his family made aliyah to Israel in 2008. His Virginia roots go even further back, to Portsmouth, where Hersh’s grandparents and young family...
A crowd of community members and leaders, including principal project partners and future residents, gathered on Friday, March 22 to celebrate another significant milestone towards the completion of the newest Virginia Beach senior living community, Aviva Pembroke.The...
After 20 years, most buildings experience at least minor updates and refreshes. . . painting, repairs, some renovations. The Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus, however, has added features, revamped spaces, and updated technology, security, and environmental...
In February, Jewish News featured a story about Aloha Hearts, fused glass ‘worry hearts’ created by Hawaiian Barry Gitelson. These glass hearts have since been distributed to Israeli children in Sderot as part of Youth Futures, a program that assists at-risk children...
Next meeting: Sunday, June 16, 10 am, Temple Israel The Rabbi Sacks Tidewater Community Book Club continued its journey of Jewish conversation by reviewing The Great Partnership in collaboration with Temple Israel and the Konikoff Center for Learning of the United...
A crowd of community members, including principal project partners and future residents, gathered on Friday, March 22 to celebrate another significant milestone towards the completion of the newest Virginia Beach senior living community, Aviva Pembroke. The level of...
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine spent a couple of hours at the Sandler Family Campus last month chatting with members of Tidewater’s Jewish community about a host of issues, including Israel’s war with Hamas.
Saturday, April 20, 7 pm, Harrison Opera House He made it clear in Ireland. The same in India. And, of course, in Tel Aviv. Phil Rosenthal of Netflix’s Somebody Feed Phil is Jewish. In a brief phone conversation this week, when asked why he manages to insert being...