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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...
The Shabbat@Home dinner on Friday, June 7 was a heartwarming culmination of a year-long series of learning sessions presented by the Konikoff Center for Learning and PJ Library of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, in partnership with Ignite757. The series...
Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) can be a popular vehicle for retirement planning, offering a reliable way to save for the future while enjoying tax advantages. Effectively managing an IRA, however, requires understanding its benefits and partnering with the...
ShinShinim are exceptional Israeli high school graduates who postpone their mandatory military service to serve as cultural ambassadors in Jewish communities around the world. These young emissaries are chosen through a rigorous selection process that evaluates their...
Nadiv capped off another terrific year of Jewish philanthropy, social action, and networking during a social at the Virginia Beach home of Bonnie and David Brand on Tuesday, May 14. This past programming year (which ran from August 2023 to May 2024), Nadiv...
Susan Donn has no plans to slow down. “I am enormously busy, but I don’t know what I do!” she laughs, explaining how this 82-year-old occupies her days. After a long career as a commercial interior designer, and an attorney-husband who still works full-time,...
Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pa., Nancy and Jay Lazier did not cross paths, even though their mothers knew each other through Hadassah. Not until a Hillel mixer at University of Michigan, where Nancy was a freshman and Jay, a sophomore, did they meet. “We were too young...
Married for 59 years, Sue Ellen and Seymour Teach have lived in the same Larkspur house for 53 of those years. Sue Ellen, 82 years old, grew up in Norfolk where her family attended B’nai Israel Congregation. A graduate of Old Dominion University with a degree in...
Joel and Sara Jo Rubin have long been dedicated to promoting Jewish education. “It began at home and participating in synagogue and Jewish events for our young family,” says Sara Jo. “We were adamant that our children (Molly and Danny) would be raised to practice and...
The Honorable Scott Joseph Flax was sworn in on May 1 to begin his eight-year term as a Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit Court. He is the third Jewish circuit court judge to be appointed in Virginia Beach, following the Honorable Jerry Friedman and Honorable Alan...
Food is always a Jewish topic, and every Shabbat and Jewish holiday are new opportunities to overindulge.Maimonides famously says (Deot 4:15) that overeating is unhealthy and everyone knows that keeping healthy makes good sense. But to what extent is a healthy body,...
David Leon, president of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, first travelled to Israel 50 years ago on the first commercial flight from the United States after the Yom Kippur War. This past March, he was on United Airline’s first flight to Israel following the...
Adults over the age of 55 visited the Simon Family JCC to celebrate National Senior Health and Fitness Day on Wednesday, May 29. The day was filled with fun, laughter, health, and fitness – deeming it a huge success.Vendors from all over Tidewater offered information...
As several major construction phases are wrapping up, much excitement is in the air regarding the completion of Aviva Pembroke. With an anticipated opening date of early October, prospective residents and neighbors within the Pembroke area are preparing for the...
The sun shone brightly on Sunday, June 2 as students and their families from the Strelitz International Academy Mitzvah Club gathered at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront for a beach cleanup event that blended service with fun.The day began with laughter as children...
Rabbi Madeline Torop Budman and Rabbi Aaron David Torop Budman were ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on Saturday, June 1. The ordination took place at the historic Plum Street Temple, a 158-year-old landmark in Cincinnati, Ohio. A Norfolk...
In a time of unprecedented antisemitism, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater organized a workshop on combatting antisemitism in the arts. The event, held on Wednesday, May 15 at the Chrysler Museum of Art, focused on creating a more inclusive and welcoming...
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...