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Mitch Albom, author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, once wrote, “There’s a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking.” Mishy Harman, the...
The fifth commandment is clear. “Honor your father and mother,” as is the reason, according to the Torah (Exodus, Chapter 20). “So that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your G-d gives you.” If that’s true, then we all gained a few more years on this...
Thursday, March 30, 5:45 pm The Westin, Virginia Beach Town Center Created in the spring of 2015 as a constructive response to the racial violence and civil unrest that took place in Ferguson and Baltimore, Hands United Building Bridges is comprised of Jewish,...
March 20, 2017 Camp Section
Sporting a street-smart bravado and phosphorescent red hair topped with a black fedora, little could hide Samantha Montgomery’s (a.k.a. Princess Shaw) raw edgy talent and endearing awkward vulnerability. The special guest and singer songwriter received a standing...
Baltimore native Marty Mandelberg moved to Norfolk in June 2005 with his wife, Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg. He immediately went to work at PayDay. For Ohef Sholom Temple’s Religious School, he became the eighth grade teacher, focusing on the Holocaust. He also began...
Originally from Boston, Dorothy Zimmerman moved to Tidewater in 1982 for a job with a psychiatric hospital. She immediately immersed herself in the community—often seen at Chrysler Hall and wherever else art and theater were taking place—and became active in her...
A native of Shiraz, Iran, Farideh landed in Tidewater in 1975 She is the author of two memoirs, Wedding Song: Memoirs of an Iranian Jewish Woman, about her childhood in Iran, and Leaving Iran: Between Migration and Exile, about her family’s departure from the country,...
Rick Mercadante, CSCS, CHC had a wakeup call when he was 48 years old. Overweight, suffering from hypertension, he had become one of the millions of Americans deteriorating from lifestyle related disease. Fearing for his life, Mercadante began a journey of...
(My Jewish Learning via JTA)—With costumes, spiels and lots of drinking, Purim is one of Judaism’s most raucous holidays. You might know about beautiful Esther thwarting evil Haman’s plans, the custom of getting drunk and what hamantaschen are. But we’re guessing...
Deadline: Friday, March 31 Applications are still being accepted for the Stein Family College Scholarship for the 2017-2018 academic year. The annual grant for Jewish students in Tidewater provides a scholarship of up to $10,000 a year for college tuition. Established...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Sometime between the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 17, and the following Monday morning, vandals damaged 170 gravestones at the Chesed Shel Emeth Jewish cemetery outside St. Louis. Beyond that, cemetery staffers aren’t sure when the attack happened....
On behalf of the Stein family, the Tidewater Jewish Foundation recently announced that Dinar Yusufov of Chesapeake is the 2013–2014 recipient of the Stein Family College Scholarship. She is the fifth recipient of this award established in memory of Arlene Stein. A...
For several years the Simon Family JCC has received requests not to close for so many Jewish holidays and to expand its Shabbat hours. The growth in the Kids Connection program and the Infant Care Center meant the closings had an even greater impact on the ability to...
“We met a real celebrity!” At least that’s how students at the Strelitz Early Childhood Center felt at the end of the school year after spending time with Emily Aronoff Teck of Miss Emily Celebrates. Aronoff Teck is a Jewish music educator and early childhood...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—A slight bump up on affirmative action, a plunge on voting rights, and on gay marriage, the mountaintop: federal legitimacy. It was a week of roller-coaster highs and lows at the Supreme Court for liberal Jewish groups. Their collective pledge: Stick...
Earning rave reviews from campers and their parents, there’s still time to register for Camp JCC to take advantage of all that it has to offer, including overnights, field trips and good ole simple summer fun. After a recent overnight and a great day of camp, Hannah...
Ten 17-year-old Israeli Scouts and two leaders visited the Simon Family JCC last month to perform on a Sunday evening and Monday morning for JCC campers. Each Friendship Caravan of Scouts, or Tzofim, consists of five males and five females. The group that performed in...
My parents raised me and my six siblings in Norfolk, Va., in essence, as the only “Haredi” kids in our day-school classes. As the “ultra-orthodox” kids who kept strict kosher, never drove on Shabbat, and who were wildly different from (and significantly shorter than!)...
Ready for a Jewish lawyer joke? You’ll have to read one somewhere else (Google the phrase and you’ll have your pick), because in this special Legal edition of the Jewish News we’re taking a more discerning look at legal professionals and the field of law. Judaism is a...
At a luncheon in Virginia Beach last month, visiting Israeli Avital Sandler-Loeff described how difficult it can be to live with a physical disability in Israel. “Think about Jerusalem,” Sandler-Loeff says. “Now try to imagine yourself in a wheelchair going in the old...
The flags flutter again from the gravestones of Jewish veterans of Tidewater because a team of patriots and veterans met at local Jewish cemeteries to honor these heroes. “We should have the veterans of our community in our mind all year round,” says Jim Eilberg, a...
Sunday, August 11, 5 pm Calling all rising college freshmen, currently enrolled college students, recent graduates and Birthright alumni. Your peers who are planning an upcoming event want to see you in August! The Community Relations Council of the United Jewish...
August 5–6 Educators throughout Tidewater are grasping the idea that Holocaust education can be an essential part of any classroom, and they’re increasingly turning to the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater for its reputation as a...
The Simon Family JCC’s Third Annual Presidents’ Cup Golf Tournament was an enormous success despite the inclement weather. Close to 100 golfers braved the elements to show their support of the JCC and its mission. The 2013 tournament surpassed all expectations, both...
Not even in Virginia 24 hours, Camp JCC’s Shlicha says she admires how green Tidewater is and looks forward to exploring and meeting many new people. Noga Wigelman, from Even-Yehuda, Israel, can’t wait to share her country’s culture with campers, staff and everyone...
Learning the values of tikkun olam, repairing the world, the Strelitz Early Childhood Center students created projects that have an impact on the Sandler Family Campus, the Tidewater community, and to Israel. This “home grown” approach took place right in the campus...
When this year’s 13 Melton graduates received their certificates, they joined a group of 170 proud adults in the community who have completed the first two years of the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning. The students, who took weekly classes at the Simon...
PALMACHIM, Israel (JTA)—As construction workers pass through sandy corridors between huge rectangular buildings at this desalination plant on Israel’s southern coastline, the sound of rushing water resonates from behind a concrete wall. Drawn from deep in the...
NEW YORK (JTA)—With the creation of David’s Slingshot Hoppy Summer Lager, beer maker Jeremy Cowan is evoking the image of the legendary battle between David and Goliath—a match-up that’s also apt for Cowan himself. Though still a small player in the world of craft...
With a youthful spirit and the ability to find joy in life’s smallest pleasures, Lynn Schoenbaum embraces her early sixties with enthusiasm and a willingness to seek new adventures. When most people are choosing to retire from their volunteerism, Schoenbaum has...
The evening of Saturday, June 1, approximately 75 donors to the Young Leadership Campaign (YLC), gathered at Bayville Golf Club for a special donor recognition event. Guests arrived at the idyllic setting to find cornhole games in progress. As the sun set on the bay,...