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When we saw the JCC campers playing with oversized Connect4 and checkers boards on the blacktop, an entire year of experimentation and hard work came full circle. Yes, all the effort was worth it. In fall 2016, YAD—United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Young Adult...
Tuesday, September 12, 6:30 pm Sandler Family Campus United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s 2018 Annual Campaign kicks off with a cocktail reception and keynote address by acclaimed author and lecturer, David Hazony. An American-born Israeli writer, translator, and...
As Hebrew Academy of Tidewater and Strelitz Early Childhood families enter the building this year, they are greeted with friendly smiles, photos of engaged children, and a new bulletin board that announces, “There’s no place like the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater.” On...
A pledge brother at Clemson asked me to go on Birthright on a national trip, Shorashim—the only Birthright trip organizer that has Israeli soldiers for the entire 10 days. Those seven Israelis were some of the greatest people I’ve ever met. In the Negev, we stayed in...
The Abisl Theater will present entertainment with a “Jewish Twist” It has hosted everything from bingo games to women’s auxiliary lunches, but by summer 2018, what is known today as The Pincus Paul Social Hall, named for a late benefactor, will also house the area’s...
I wasn’t here at Beth El last Shabbat, a day that brought concern and anxiety to us Jews in the Commonwealth and beyond. Miriam and I were in Florida so we could be with her father as he celebrated the 80th anniversary of his bar mitzvah. He put aside his walker and...
As this High Holiday season approaches, a fresh New Year feels incredibly important for 5778. The news around the globe, nation, and our very own state, continues to have most of us on the edge of our seats and not far from our trusted news sources. Soon, however,...
In Spring 2017, the Ohef Sholom Temple board of directors unanimously approved a proposal to welcome independent households to one year of enrollment in the Temple’s Reform Jewish Sunday morning classes. An “independent household” is a family that expresses its Jewish...
In preparation for the school year and the Jewish High Holy Days, it’s important to be proactive in communicating with faculty and administrators about these holidays so Jewish students have the opportunity to observe without penalty. While schools may try their best...
CRC and local high school work together to ensure bright future for foreign policymakers In May 2011, the topic of conversation among my First Colonial High School students was international stability and the global nuclear system. I asked them to work together and...
Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring was the Keynote Speaker at the Anti-Defamation League Washington, DC Region 2017 Annual Meeting, earlier this summer. Attorney General Herring began his remarks by highlighting the importance of ADL’s work combatting and...
The Tidewater Jewish Foundation (TJF) is “delighted to welcome Barb Gelb as the new development associate and Life & Legacy Coordinator,” says Scott Kaplan, CFRE, president and CEO, Tidewater Jewish Foundation. “Barb comes to our community with a wealth of...
One of the most significant issues facing religious school educators is accommodating students with special needs in the supplementary school setting. With numerous obstacles to overcome, both practical and attitudinal, it is challenging to adapt curriculum, implement...
Last month I attended a powerful and very well attended presentation at B’nai Israel Congregation sponsored by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Community Relations Council. Bob Feferman, outreach coordinator for the not-for-profit and non-partisan advocacy...
The Young Adult Division of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater has been very busy in 5774. Between maintaining current outreach and engagement programs, adding new unique outreach initiatives, and rolling out signature leadership programs, it seems that not a...
Compelling speakers, interesting topics and timely discussions have characterized the past two seasons of the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Israel Today Forum. With the announcement of its third season, which begins next...
What should an advocate of Israel say when someone who knows very little about the country asks about its legitimacy? The answer to this basic question, according to Mark Solberg and Sandra Haas-Radin, Ph. D., is intricately tied to Israel’s history and political...
For Amy and Kirk Levy, three weekly classes are the draw for working out together at the Simon Family JCC. Kirk, who works nearby, meets Amy as often as he can on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for noon Tabata with Starr Kimmer Gargiullo or Tony Pearsall at the...
Inspired and energized Jewish volunteers embarked on a unified effort last month to reach out to others in the community and speak with them personally about the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater—what it is, what it does, and why continued support is vital to...
English conversations, Hebrew singing and the universal sound of children’s laughter spilled from the Simon Family JCC cafeteria on the afternoon of Wednesday, Oct. 30. Inside the room, local teens from Tallwood High School’s Global Studies & World Languages...
Long confined to the extreme margins, but, in recent times, beginning to seep into mainstream discourse, is the odious position that challenges Israel’s legitimacy as both a Jewish and democratic state. In response, the Israel Action Network’s project director (and...
On Thursday, Oct. 24, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Women’s Cabinet welcomed Alison Goldstein Lebovitz to its annual Lion-Tikva-Chai Luncheon at the Sandler Family Campus. Lebovitz is one of this year’s JFNA National Young Leadership Cabinet co-chairs, and...
Hardship has no season; struggling local Jewish families need assistance throughout the year. Through donations of toys and money, Jewish Family Service serves many local Jewish children and teens by providing new gift items for Chanukah and for use throughout the...
The Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater hosted candidates for Lt. Governor of Virginia on separate evenings last week. State Senator Ralph Northam met with the community on Monday, Oct.. 21st and Bishop E.W. Jackson did so on...
On Sunday, Sept. 15, the day after Yom Kippur, Hebrew Academy of Tidewater’s middle school alumni participated in their first continuing education and social program for the most recent graduates. The sound of the tekiya gedolah still echoed in the ears of 22 excited...
Every Wednesday the ladies meet to knit. The members of the Jewish Family Service Knitters Club, however, aren’t just knitting for the fun of it. These women are creating lap blankets, scarves, and other items for JFS clients. And each week the group comes together,...
The Simon Family JCC gym was full of action Tuesday, Oct. 8 as 19 young Jewish men got together for pick-up basketball. That’s nine more people than the most recent basketball night on Sept. 23. Participants are part of the newly- formed YAD Men’s Basketball Group,...
When I was a kid, my father was a Chief Petty Officer, and then a Chief Warrant Officer, in the Coast Guard. That was (long) before the all-volunteer military, which means we never had a lot of money. But he and my mother were always generous at Chanukah. I know, I...
Hebrew Academy of Tidewater’s 25th Annual HAT Golf Tournament held on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at Bayville Golf and Country Club was another outstanding triumph due to the generosity of spirit, time and funds of committee members, players and sponsors. It was a beautiful day...
NEW YORK (JTA)—In August, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told New York magazine, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get all the Russian billionaires to move here?” Today, the Russian billionaires—or at least some Jewish ones—returned the compliment, naming Bloomberg...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Janet Yellen is soft-spoken, tough, methodological, flexible— and Jewish. President Obama’s announcement that he had tapped Yellen, 67, to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve made news in part because she would be the first woman...
Profession I am a licensed clinical psychologist in a private practice in Norfolk. Education Undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia; master’s and doctorate degrees from Florida Institute of Technology. Family Married to David Kamer Two children, Olivia...