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“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...
The final installment of the What We Carry film series, featuring the remarkable story of Colonel Edward Shames, premiered at the Sandler Family Campus on Monday, January 27. Held on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the event drew an engaged audience to honor...
On a very chilly Sunday morning last month, Mona Flax, president-elect of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Jodi Klebanoff, past UJFT Women’s Philanthropy chair, Amy Zelenka, UJFT chief development officer, and I travelled to the 2025 International Lion of Judah...
The Jewish New Year of the Trees, Tu B’Shevat starts on Wednesday, Feb. 12 Rabbi Wolf Zitomirer was an innkeeper in a village. A Jewish wagon driver entered and asked for a glass of wine. When he was about to drink it without saying a blessing, the rabbi stopped him...
(JTA) — Israel and Hamas have reportedly agreed to a deal that will cease more than a year of fighting in Gaza and Israel, bring dozens of Israeli hostages home and free hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners.The agreement was reportedly confirmed by multiple...
It’s certainly been a chaotic start to 2025.We were barely finished singing Auld Lang Syne when we heard the news about the deadly attack in New Orleans by a man displaying an ISIS flag. (page 4) The threat of Lone Wolves, we’re told, is one of the many reasons to...
At the funeral service for Dr. Bernard Einhorn, Rabbi Michael Panitz noted that “Barry had the unusual gift of positively intersecting” with countless people. The nearly full Temple Israel sanctuary was proof of his remark.Personally, I know Rabbi Panitz’s words to be...
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.In 2005, to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 asInternational Holocaust Remembrance Day.The resolution stated that...
Janet Mercadante Since many people spend money that they don’t have, Mercadante stresses, “No matter what you’re earning, live within it.” She counsels college grads and retirees with the same advice: “It’s going to take a little while to figure out how much you’re...
Imagine this: You’re getting ready to be discharged from the hospital when you get the news that your care team is recommending you go to a rehabilitation center to get stronger. You may ask, “Can’t I just go home with home health?” The answer is yes, but the benefits...
A heartfelt celebration that brings together students, families, and friends to honor the special bonds between generations, Strelitz International Academy’s annual Grandparents and Grandfriends Day achieved its goals. The event was marked by warmth, gratitude, and...
A trip that brought the stories of Hampton Roads’ Jewish history to life was the culmination of From the Shtetl to the South, a 10-week course hosted by the Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Participants joined Rabbi Michael...
Most people know or have heard that a Donor Advised fund at Tidewater Jewish Foundation offers the convenience of a one-stop-shop. Cash (or, ideally, appreciated stock) tax-deductible contributions are made to the fund, and then the fund’s owner recommends grants to...
Last month’s BBYO kickoff event had a great turnout with about 20 Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA) boys and 16 B’nai Brith Girls (BBG) attending. The teens swam, ate pizza, caught up with old friends, and met some new additions to BBYO Tidewater. The night wrapped...
With permission to reprint from Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and Washington Jewish Week, this is a recent Q&A with candidates for the U.S. Senate, Senator Tim Kaine and Hung Cao. Printed are the candidates’ responses to two questions...
October 7, 2023, changed us. The attack on our beloved Israel was truly soul crushing for our entire community. We followed the news hour by hour, spoke with friends and family in Israel, and prayed for their safety. Beyond October 7, seeing what was starting to...
(How are you?) מה שלומך? (What's up?) מה נשמע? These simple, innocent questions that we automatically use at the beginning of an interaction with someone we know have, since October 7, 2023, become loaded in Israel. With every phone call or conversation with my...
Lay leaders are integral to the functioning of Jewish Tidewater. With multiple synagogues, day schools, and various agencies meeting myriad needs of the community, Jewish Tidewater’s lay leadership helps steer the missions and define the goals of each organization, as...
At Tavss, Fletcher, Maiden & Reed, Richard Tavss and his daughter, Besianne Tavss Maiden, specialize in different areas of law, yet they communicate and share ideas multiple times each day. Both attorneys look forward to the next generation joining the firm, when...
Boaz Kritchman, an Israeli with two adult children living in Tidewater, facilitated the donation of a painting last month to the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. The impetus for the donation, by his son, Lotan Kritchman, stems from a desire to remember...
As we usher in 5785 this week, I again wish you and your families l’shana tova tikatevu. May each of us be inscribed in the Book of Life. And may we find better days ahead for all of Israel and the Jewish people.In this issue of Jewish News, I want to take a moment...
Meet “Ellen,” a perpetual giver. From her synagogue, the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia, and Hillels, to her alma maters, Ellen supports a wide array of causes on a monthly or yearly basis. Some contributions come directly from her cash flow, while others are...
Every year, the Jewish Family Service Food Pantry—a cornerstone of Jewish Tidewater’s support system—assembles Rosh Hashanah care packages for more than 120 seniors, many of whom live in nursing homes or are homebound. These holiday bags, filled with essentials such...
The first meeting of the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Next Generation group occurred on Sunday, August 11 in the Survivor’s Room at the Sandler Family Campus. Comprised of children of Holocaust survivors, as well as third...
The men of Nadiv voted and chose Camp JCC as the recipient of the group’s fundraising efforts during the ‘24-‘25 programming year. Nadiv gathered on Thursday, Sept. 5 at the Virginia Beach home of Laura and Fred Gross to socialize and discuss where to direct the...
The Strelitz International Academy’s (SIA) 36th Annual Golf Tournament, held on Wednesday, August 28 at the Virginia Beach National Golf Club, proved to be another hole-in-one event. Known as the Bob Josephberg Classic, this tournament remains SIA’s premier annual...
Typically, as we prepare for the New Year, I would share the enormous impact of our 2024 Annual Campaign where, together as a community, we raised more than $5 million to support the needs of the Jewish people and organizations locally, on college campuses around...
Almost 40 men – sons, brothers, fathers, and grandfathers came together on Thursday, August 22, for what has become an annual tradition, the Men’s Major Gifts Luncheon for the 2025 Annual Community Campaign. The event was chaired by John Strelitz and Jay Klebanoff,...
Seven members of the Team Virginia Beach delegation to the JCC Maccabi Games & Access 2024 arrived on August 5 at the Houston airport at 1 am – delayed but excited for the upcoming competitions. More than 1,700 teens from across the globe convened in this Texan...
Several members of Old Dominion University’s Hillel attended Congressman Bobby Scott’s 43rd Annual Labor Day Cookout in Newport News. Amy K. Milligan, PhD, ODU’s Batten Endowed Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies, director, Institute...
New and familiar faces flooded the Metzger Outdoor Aquatic Center water park and splash pad at the Simon Family JCC for the annual End of Summer Shabbat and Pool Party, hosted by PJ Library in Tidewater, UJFT’s Young Adult Division, and the Tidewater ShinShinim....
Tidewater Jewish Foundation recently named Aryeh Litt the 2024 Feldman Family Medical and Health Professions Scholarship recipient. Currently pur- suing a degree in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling at Hofstra University, Litt’s mission is to serve others. Litt's...