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 One of the first conversations every family should have is about when additional support may be beneficial. Whether it’s help with daily activities, medication management, or simply the desire for greater social connection, understanding the differences between independent living, assisted living, memory care, rehabilitation, and skilled nursing can make future decisions less stressful.

 Another important discussion centers on financial planning. Many families have questions about how to pay for senior living, whether selling a home is necessary, what resources may be available, and how to prepare financially for the years ahead. Having these conversations early can help families make thoughtful decisions rather than rushed ones.

 Families should also discuss estate planning and legal documents. Ensuring wills, powers of attorney, advance medical directives, and other essential documents are up to date provides peace of mind and helps loved ones honor an individual’s wishes.

 Finally, understanding Medicare and insurance options can be invaluable. Navigating healthcare coverage can be confusing, and learning about available benefits before they are needed helps families make informed choices with confidence.

 Jewish tradition teaches the importance of honoring elders with dignity, compassion, and respect. Planning ahead reflects these values by ensuring older adults remain at the center of decisions about their own care and future.

 Whether personal planning or helping a loved one, starting the conversation today can make tomorrow’s decisions easier.

Ashley Harris BS, CTRS, CDP, is director of community relations at Village at Maimonides Health Center of Virginia Beach.

 This is how Jennifer Lenay, Simon Family JCC fitness instructor, guides students through gentle, breath-synced movement in Flowing Waters, an aquatic take on traditional tai chi. 

 Held Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon in the indoor therapy pool, the class combines slow, intentional movement with warm water, making it well-suited for people managing pain, injury, or limited mobility. 

 Movements are paired with steady inhalation and exhalation, creating a rhythm that participants carry through each motion. That connection between breath and movement helps shift the body out of stress responses. 

 “When we are stressed… we absorb those things,” Lenay explains. “Breathwork helps reset our nervous system, and it puts us back into a parasympathetic mode.” In this state, combined with the warm water, participants can fully work through pain points without accumulating further tension. 

 The class is a gamechanger for many of its participants who come with a variety of health concerns. 

 Sue Ellen Crounce, 78, for example, has been deeply involved in the JCC’s fitness community for years. Before discovering Flowing Waters, she was a regular at many JCC classes. Then life brought significant health challenges, including knee replacements and major heart surgery. Movements that once felt simple on land, such as stepping sideways, shifting weight, and maintaining balance, became difficult. When she tried Flowing Waters, she found that the therapy pool provided a safe container to work through those limitations. 

 Lenay echoes that sentiment, explaining the benefits of underwater exercise for older adults. 

 “With water, there is minimal impact, if not zero,” she says. “The strengthening is inevitable. Once that injury is under the water, you’re going to strengthen that area.” 

 Crounce is one of many seniors who have regained the confidence to strengthen vulnerable muscle groups without fear of injury. “I still feel safe,” she says. “But I can see what I need to work on.” 

 That sense of safety and feeling of stability extends beyond the class. “When I leave and go home after being in the therapy pool, I can sleep,” Crounce says. “I’m not achy.” 

 In fact, Crounce recalls nearly tripping over her rocking chair in the middle of the night and catching herself at the last moment using balance skills she developed in Flowing Waters. To her, the class is now a necessity. 

“I need this,” she says. 

 Crounce describes the class as her sanctuary and advocates for its future. When enrollment was low earlier this year, she was among a group of participants who petitioned the JCC to keep the class running. 

 To reinforce the class’s mental and spiritual benefits, Lenay asks participants to choose a word to carry with them through the movements. On a recent afternoon, Crounce chose “joy.” 

 “I have to find joy,” she says. “Even with everything happening, we can still find it in our day. We have life. We can pray for other people and remain in joy.” 

 For Crounce and many of her classmates, Flowing Waters is more than an exercise class. It is a place to find balance in mind, body, and spirit that can be carried into life outside of the pool.  

For information on Flowing Waters and other fitness classes at the Simon Family JCC, go to simonfamilyjcc.org.

 This new project will bring together fitness, lifelong learning, cultural, and social opportunities to help older adults across Tidewater stay active, connected, and engaged. By building on existing programs and strengthening community partnerships, the initiative will expand access and create more opportunities for meaningful connection. 

 Rooted in connection, lifelong learning, wellness, and purpose, this evolving approach is designed to help older adults across Tidewater stay active, engaged, and thriving. 

 More details will be announced soon. In the meantime, to learn about the current myriad opportunities for engagement, visit JewishVA.org/adults or contact Sarah Cooper, Center for Active Living manager, at Scooper@ujft.org or 757-452-3184.

 Boarding a charter bus, the 30 participants first stopped at the Session Café located in the original hospital building at the top of a hill on 67th Street. The Cafe’s seating boasts an almost entirely clear view of the oceanfront as tables wrap around a sun porch of the front and sides of the building. It also overlooks a stone labyrinth and reflexology path, as well as a meditation garden with a fishpond and bamboo forest. 

 Next, the group moved to the main Visitor Center and spent half an hour perusing the bookstore and gift shop. It was a warm day, so others sat and gathered in the foyer watching an informational video on Cayce. 

 Two knowledgeable guides led the group on a tour that started on the third floor where the Meditation Room is located. The room has seating for about 40 people, with a floor-to-ceiling view of the ocean, as well as large crystals in each corner. Vibrant stained-glass box windows shone at the top of one of the walls, each color representing one of the chakras. 

 Originally from Kentucky, Cayce decided to build the hospital in Virginia Beach after “being directed to do so in a reading.” Attendees learned that he saw himself as a servant and his mission was to offer practical, spiritual, and holistic guidance for living a purposeful life. Known as the Sleeping Prophet, the guide explained Cayce’s process of giving readings in a self-hypnotic state.

 The library is located on the second floor and although it was closed for renovations, it houses the sofa that Cayce laid on during his readings as well as an abundance of books on all aspects of spirituality. Detailed readings by Cayce are also archived and available for members of the center to view and study. 

 The trip was a success and proved that outings are desired by the senior community. In fact, at least five people wanted to join after the registration date closed. 

For more information on the Senior Club, senior activities, or to offer suggestions and feedback, contact Sarah Cooper at scooper@ujft.org or call 757-452-3184. 

 The celebration began on May 4 with an exploration of Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a complex figure in American Jewish art history. An intimate group gathered at the Sandler Family Campus for a screening of Moses Ezekiel: Portrait of a Lost Artist, which prompted conversation about the tension between Ezekiel’s artistic achievements and his support of the Confederacy. Alex Pincus and other members of the Pincus family, who are descendants of Ezekiel, spoke briefly about the family connection and what they knew about the complicated man.

 That dialogue extended to two guided tours at the Norfolk Botanical Garden the following week where participants encountered Ezekiel’s work in the Moses Ezekiel Statuary Vista Garden. Standing among the Carrara marble sculptures he created in Rome, attendees engaged with his legacy, deepening reflection on how his art and local history intersect.

 The exploration of Jewish artistic legacy continued with docent-led tours of Architects of Being: Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina at the Chrysler Museum of Art. Led in large part by Harry Graber, longtime community leader and former UJFT CEO, the tours highlighted the innovation of these groundbreaking Jewish artists. Participants engaged with themes of immigration, identity, resilience, and creativity, gaining a deeper appreciation for the lasting influence Jewish American artists have had on the nation’s cultural fabric. “[The exhibit] was an epiphany,” says Lorna Orleans. “Very able docent Harry Graber led the visit with great knowledge and humor. After visiting this exhibit, one was left with the impression that these two women were literally and figuratively truly architects of their own being.”

 On May 6, JAHM was marked at Harbor Park, where families and friends from the Jewish communities on both sides of the water gathered for the Norfolk Tides’ inaugural Jewish American Heritage Night. UJFT and the United Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula had approached the Tides to organize the night last year, but inclement weather on two separate dates led to postponing it until 2026. Highlights of the evening included Tidewater native and award winning Jewish country artist Troy Breslow’s performance of the National Anthem, and local Cox High School pitcher MJ Lemke – recently signed to play Division I baseball at the University of Richmond – making the ceremonial first pitch.

 The month closed with a residency of author, educator, and musician Jason Schachter McKinney, whose programming invited participants of all ages and backgrounds to reflect on identity and belonging. Through school visits, performances, synagogue engagements, and interfaith dialogue, McKinney used music and storytelling to explore what it means to hold multiple identities while building community.

 At Butts Road Intermediate School, McKinney read his new book, Jason Belongs to 120 third grade students, sparking enthusiastic questions about language, heritage, and growing up in a multicultural family. The visit concluded the school’s JAHM programming and SOL testing season.

 McKinney also participated in UJFT’s Annual Celebration of Lifelong Learning, this year held at the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center, where he offered an intimate concert, singing traditional Jewish songs and spirituals in his signature operatic baritone voice. “The Jewish Museum provided a beautiful setting,” says Nancy Bangel. 

“Jason filled the room with his larger-than-life powerful voice that filled me with emotion.” Normon Soroko, president of JMCC, adds, “The event was wonderful. Chazan McKinney gave one of the best performances I have seen in a while.”

 McKinney also visited area synagogues, beginning at Ohef Sholom Temple where he served as a guest speaker and led the congregation in a rendition of Oseh Shalom that he composed. He also participated in services at Kehillat Beit Hamidrash alongside congregants and clergy from Temple Israel and Temple Emmanuel, where his music and storytelling added a meaningful dimension to prayer and communal connection. 

 McKinney’s residency concluded with an interfaith service at Second Presbyterian Church with Pastor Craig Wansink, music director Bob Shoup, and Rabbi Michael Panitz, helping to bridge communities through an exploration of faith through music. Wansink says that having McKinney as a guest “made for a meaningful and memorable experience,” expressing gratefulness on behalf of his congregation.

 Together, these programs created a multifaceted portrait of Jewish American Heritage Month, inviting the community to engage with the complexity of Jewish American experience, as well as with the ongoing work of building belonging across difference.

Teen campers also put Jewish values into action during the first week through a mitzvah project with Mutts with a Mission. They helped plant garden beds before having the chance to meet puppies training to become future service dogs, learning how acts of service can make a lasting impact on both people and animals.

  Camp JCC staff has fun, too.

  “I enjoy going to the pool and getting to see everyone, past campers of mine and current. It’s always a good time!” says Riley Salway, a Camp JCC unit head. 

 Counselor Jordan Cubitt, who has transitioned from camper, to CIT, to counselor and works at Camp JCC year-round, says he is excited to share his interests and introduce campers to new technology, “I’m looking forward to showing the teens how to 3D print!”

 Blake Sisler, youth and family program coordinator at United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, is spending her first summer as Camp JCC’s Teen unit head. “I’ve enjoyed seeing the joy on everyone’s faces at Boker Tov. They are all so happy to see their friends!”

Camp traditions continue to be among everyone’s favorite moments. “Seeing the kids dance at Shabbat is one of my favorite parts!” says Chris Fenley, Art & Fishing Specialist who is spending his 30th summer at Camp JCC this year. 

 The week concluded with Camp JCC’s first Shabbat of the summer at the Marty Einhorn Pavilion. Campers gathered for Shabbat blessings and challah and celebrated a successful week of camp with a lively dance party led by the ShinShinim.

 As summer continues, campers and staff look forward to more adventures, new friendships, and the lasting memories that make Camp JCC a place where children can’t wait to return year after year.

Interested in signing up for Camp JCC? A few weeks still have some open spots. Visit CampJCC.org or contact Christine Carnahan, camp manager, at 757-452-3182.

 For the upcoming 2026–27 season, the JCC is expanding that tradition by inviting children in grades K–5 to take part in the creative process – encouraging them to design original team names and logos for the league. 

 A panel will review the entries and select a group of finalists. Those designs will be presented for a public online vote beginning September 1. Winning designs will be announced in October and become the official team names and logos for the season. At least eight winners will be selected, giving multiple young designers the opportunity to see their work featured on the court.

Participants are asked to create original designs that include a team name, clear and readable text, a cohesive color scheme, and a logo that visually represents the team.

 Submissions are open through August 14, 2026.

 Submit designs at JewishVA.org/Contest. Contact Tom Edwards, Simon Family JCC athletics director, at TEdwards@SimonFamilyJCC.org or
757-321-2308 for more information.