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On the Sickle’s Edge Neville Frankel Dialogos, an imprint of Lavender Ink, 2016 ISBN: 978-1-944884-10-9 474 pages, $16.95, paperback Stories based on family history are a strong current in Jewish literature. It is by remembering and retelling that we honor our loved...
Home, October 9, 2017
You won’t see anything just yet by walking into the building off Auburn Drive, but there is a major renovation underway at the Berger-Goldrich Home at Beth Sholom Village. Some of the rooms on the Sholom Unit are vacant, with those residents having been shifted to...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—American Jews overwhelmingly disapprove of President Donald Trump in just about every area, scoring him lower than his predecessor even on topics like Israel, where Jewish approval of Barack Obama was relatively low, according to an American Jewish...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The debate has gone on for weeks among rabbis and Jewish leaders: If President Donald Trump does not formally renounce white supremacists, is it still worth engaging in a conversation with him? This was on much of the Jewish community’s mind since...
A decades-long injustice to the memory of Israel’s Olympic athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games was rectified this month with the dedication of a permanent memorial to their memory in the very same Munich Olympic Park, where...
The first-ever Catch-and-Release Fishing Derby at the Simon Family Jewish Community Center took place on Sunday, September 17. With more than 60 official registrants and many more family and friends as supporters and participants, the turnout exceeded expectations for...
Thursday, October 26, 7 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus Want to enjoy the fragrance of yeast rising, laugh, and share community with hundreds of women, and then experience the deep satisfaction of baking a challah for Shabbat? This year, the 3rd Annual Great Big...
With the passing of Hal Sacks, Jewish News has lost a friend, advocate, historian, and visionary—along with a writer and book review editor. As a friend, Hal was always available for advice—and not timid about offering it up—even when it wasn’t requested. As an...
High Holidays, September 25, 2017
After a national search, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s board made the decision to “go local” with the appointment of Betty Ann Levin as executive vice president upon Harry Graber’s retirement in May 2018. Currently executive director of Jewish Family Service...
In the beginning… We got the first diagnosis in 2003. ADHD. Nothing to worry about there, right? Lots of kids have ADHD. Heck, even I have ADHD. But as time went on, we knew that there had to be more than just that. So, in July 2006, when Brandon was six years old, we...
Sunday, Jan. 26, 9 am–1 pm The young adult Steering Committee planning Super Sunday, the Tidewater Jewish community’s annual phone-a-thon are representative of the Tidewater Jewish population. Some are multi-generational Jews, others have only lived here a year or...
NEW YORK (JTA)—With an estimated Jewish population of 275 undergraduates, the Quaker-founded Swarthmore College outside Philadelphia is home to one of the smaller Hillel chapters in the country. But that hasn’t stopped student activists at the small suburban school...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The membership of the American Studies Association endorsed its national council’s call for a boycott of Israeli universities. Two-thirds of the 1,252 members who voted approved the boycott, according to an ASA announcement Monday, Dec. 16, a day...
Martin J. Raffel is the senior vice president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), where he has served as the lead professional on Israel, world Jewry and international human rights for the past 26 years. He also holds the position of project director for...
When giving to the United Way of South Hampton Roads through your workplace or individually, please consider designating all or part of your pledge to the Simon Family JCC and/or Jewish Family Service of Tidewater. When you get your United Way form, you’ll see it’s...
BAYONNE, N.J. (JTA)—Arik Einstein, who died last month at the age of 74, basically invented Israeli popular music. He was a unique Israeli combination of Sinatra, Dylan and the Beatles, embodying the spirit and the struggles of a younger, more optimistic Israel. His...
As the Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma* and Howard Laderberg, celebrates its 21st anniversary, it continues to expand its presence and breadth, becoming one of the longest running festivals of its kind in the country. To bring new ideas and...
I was honored to receive an invitation last month to the premiere of the film adaptation of Markus Zuzak’s award winning novel, The Book Thief, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. There would be a panel after the film including the author, director, and...
The girls of BINA High School presented “An Evening of Royalty” at Bnai Israel Congregation on Sunday, Nov. 17. The program, coordinated and directed by Chayale Lefkowitz, focused on the meaning of God’s kingship and what it means to be a subject in His kingdom. More...
On October 29, Hebrew Academy of Tidewater and Strelitz students joined more than one million other students across the country by participating in the 12th annual Mix It Up at Lunch Day. Launched by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project in...
On any day walking down the halls of Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, visitors will observe students fully engaged in the learning process. Whether they are being taught about ancient history or today’s current events—from general to Judaic studies—they are doing so by...
I just experienced an educational do-over. In my younger years, I was lucky enough to receive a first-rate college education in Ann Arbor, Michigan and travel to Israel on a Federation-sponsored tour in my late 20s. Thus, I had studied Jewish and Israeli history, and...
Martin J. Raffel is the senior vice president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), where he has served as the lead professional on Israel, world Jewry and international human rights for the past 26 years. He also holds the position of project director for...
A large and emotional gathering at Thanksgiving David Abraham Every Thanksgiving, we travel to Indianapolis to be with my side of the family. This has been a long-standing tradition that my family loves to do. We have a tremendous amount of fun and camaraderie. I am...
Memories of Beth El and Thanksgiving A native of Norfolk , Shulamith Elster is the daughter of the late Rabbi and Mrs. Paul Reich (Congregation Beth El, 1935 to 1967). She writes occasionally for the Washington Jewish Week reflecting on her 50 years in the Washington...
Like sailors rallying around their captain or destroyers protecting their carrier group, the audience that came to hear Hal Sacks speak about his memoir, Hal’s Navy, on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at the Simon Family JCC, showed up in full support of the newly published author....
NEW YORK (JTA)—We were sharing a pastrami sandwich and pickles at the Los Angeles landmark Canter’s Deli. I was 24. She was nearly 50 years older, with a piercing voice as loud as her flaming red wig. Her name was Eva Rubenstein Grant, and she was a little-known...
With good book sales and attendance, wonderful sponsors and concluding events, this year’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe* Family Jewish Book Festival was among the most successful at the Simon Family JCC. Closing events included Marion Grodin, a stand-up comedian, who had a...
Approximately 60 people attended Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s annual Veterans Day Memorial Ceremony on Monday, Nov. 11. Philip Rovner, president and CEO of TJF, welcomed guests at the monument and Captain James Eilberg, SC, USN (Ret), officiated. Cantor Aaron...
The Mens Club of Congregation Beth El teamed up with the Tidewater, Post 158, of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States to help organize the Second Annual Tour De Mensch Bike Ride followed by a community brunch on Sunday, Nov. 3. The Tour De Mensch is a 15-mile...