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...
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Nine things you didn’t know about Purim
(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...
Stein College Scholarship deadline is approaching
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...
With few safeguards, Jewish cemeteries make easy targets for vandals
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....
JCPA Calls for Action Against Bomb Threats Against Jewish Community
Washington DC—The ongoing bomb threats aimed at Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) have sown fear in more than 100 Jewish communities and institutions across the country. “We call upon our public officials, in both word and deed, to do everything in their power to put a...
Kim Simon Fink to receive Humanitarian Award
Thursday, March 30, 5:45 pm The Westin, Virginia Beach Town Center The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities has selected Kim Simon Fink to be among those receiving its prestigious Humanitarian Awards this year. She will be honored at the 53rd annual Tidewater...
2017 Operation Hamantaschen was full of dough
During Operation Hamantaschen, the annual family-baking event at the Simon Family JCC, 20 pounds of flour and 54 eggs went into the creation of 800 triangular-shaped Hamantaschen cookies that are traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday of Purim. This year for...
Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day 2017
Jewish Family Service. Israeli business opportunities. Support for scholarship tax credits (including local Jewish day schools). Elie Wiesel recognition. These are just some of the issues that are examined by the Virginia State legislature, many of which are near and...
Alan Morinis lead a four-day journey to a soulful Jewish life
Six local synagogues and temples opened their doors last month to embrace Alan Morinis, founder and dean of the Mussar Institute. Morinis lead discussions about the practice of Mussar, a Jewish spiritual path that emphasizes self-awareness and action as key to...
Retirement
March 6, 2017 Retirement Section
Fitness, family, and fun at JFit Today
New equipment, new classes, and reduced fees at Simon Family JCC JFit Today, Simon Family Jewish Community Center’s newly remodeled fitness center at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus, has a snappy new slogan, brand new Precor equipment, and some new joining...
Hundreds of yeshiva, seminary students disrupt Women of the Wall service
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Hundreds of haredi Orthodox men and women and religious Zionist female seminary students disrupted the monthly Rosh Chodesh morning service of the Women of the Wall group. About 150 women who gathered at the women’s section of the Western Wall Plaza to...
UJFT to celebrate Tidewater Jewish community in Biennial Meeting
Monday, June 3, 6 pm Every other year, the leadership and staff of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater come together to celebrate accomplishments, honor leaders, and chart the future. The Biennial meeting, taking place this year at the Sandler Family Campus, is...
Kempsville Conservative Synagogue and Temple Israel to celebrate “Bar Mitzvah Year” of programming partnership
Friday, June 7 Members of Kempsville Conservative Synagogue and Temple Israel are not sure if anyone remembers exactly how their “programming partnership” began. They do remember that Sharon Grossman, then president of Temple Israel, and Alene Jo Kaufman, then...
Third Annual JCC Presidents’ Cup Golf Tournament
Monday, June 10 The Simon Family JCC’s Presidents’ Cup Tournament, which will take place this year at Heron Ridge Golf Club in Virginia Beach, has existed since the 1980s, but was renamed the Presidents’ Cup two years ago to honor past JCC presidents. The Golf...
Jewish Education Night celebrates teachers and Jewish learning in Tidewater
The emphasis placed on Jewish learning in Tidewater was evident both in the number of people honored and the crowd that attended the Jewish Education Night ceremony on April 30. Professional, volunteer and youth educators were honored at the annual event, presented by...
David Krohn and Chuck Woodward entertained with song at JCC
For many who knew David Krohn as the boy who loved to sing with his father Rabbi/Cantor Philip Krohn* at Gomley Chesed Congregation, the man they heard at the Simon Family JCC on Saturday, May 11 was a delightful reminder. “David was always comfortable singing in...
Beth El holds Genizah ceremony
How do Jews dispose of materials containing the name of G-d? Shaimot (articles with G-d’s name) are kept in a safe, special place in the synagogue or community called a Genizah. Once a ‘critical mass’ of material accumulates, a grave is opened in a Jewish cemetery and...
Step Up Series culminates with Speak Up for Israel film at Beth El
When speaking up for Israel, remember the ABCs: Answering the claim, Bridging to give perspective, and Closing, with YOUR message. These and other techniques for effectively educating others about Israel were included onscreen and reinforced on a handout given to...
Virginia Beach Law Day examines Jewish lawyers in Nazi Germany
The Holocaust Commission and the Business and Legal Society of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater were partners in the reception and presentation of the profound and illuminating exhibit “Lawyers without Rights: Jewish Lawyers in Germany Under the Third Reich”...
Ohef Sholom—Mitzvah Day 2013
From packaging soup kits to making hospital bears, “Mitzvah in Motion” had the congregation at Ohef Sholom Temple abuzz with outreach activities throughout the morning of Sunday, April 21. Two hundred and fifteen Religious School students, from pre-K through...
The 20th Anniversary of Our Conscience
At a tribute dinner on Sunday, April 28 in Washington DC, I sat with Holocaust Commission members Deb Segaloff and Marilyn Ashe, and her husband Michel, a child survivor from Paris, and applauded the presentation of this year’s U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Elie...
Giffords accepts JFK award in Boston
BOSTON (JTA)—Former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Giffords, who has become an advocate for stricter gun control after being shot in the head in 2011, was recognized for the courage she has...
UJFT Women’s Campaign moves from Strength to Strength
On Thursday, May 9, the Women’s Cabinet of the UJFT held its biennial Spring Installation Luncheon to thank and recognize the members of the Women’s Cabinet whose terms of service were complete and to welcome new cabinet members. In Honorary Cabinet member Ann...
Celebrate Shavuot with the best of the spring season
NEW YORK (JTA)—With its tradition of dairy meals, Shavuot is one of my favorite holidays. Arriving later in the spring—an ideal time to find delicious fruits, herbs and vegetables—it’s perfect for using fresh and seasonal ingredients. The four dishes I have selected...
Alfred Dreyfus tell his story to HAT students
Last month, fourth and fifth graders at Hebrew Academy of Tidewater were privileged to hear Alfred Dreyfus tell his story of survival during the Shoah. With his son Mark, he told the students that instead of hearing a story of horror and death camps, they were going...
The Sunderlins: Four years and counting at Camp JCC
For Heather Sunderlin, mother of nine-year-old twins, Camp JCC has it all. She works full-time as the director of employee services at Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer; her husband, Rich, is in the Navy and is often away for weeks; and she wants her sons Dylan and Tyler...
Professionals hear about investing in Israeli start-ups
Thirty business, legal and medical professionals assembled at Vandeventer Black law offices on Wednesday, April 17 to learn about Israeli innovation and the opportunity for Americans to invest in start ups in Israel. According to presenter Brian Rosenzweig of JANVEST,...
Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance reception at Old Dominion University
Students and faculty were guests of Old Dominion University’s Office of Intercultural Relations and Hillel on Monday, April 8, for the Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance reception. Jay Ipson, a holocaust survivor from the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania, and a cofounder/...
About This Marathon Week: Reflections from a Norfolk native on five days of terror in Boston
The word Marathon has been used in many ways. ‘It was a marathon effort.’ Thoughts of ancient Greece. But add the word, ‘Boston,’ in front of it, and a jubilant scene of miles of cheering spectators marveling at the heroic efforts of the most athletic to the most...
Intergenerational study of American Jewish Community launches with United Jewish Federation of Tidewater participating
A new survey launched by Dr. David Elcott and Stuart Himmelfarb explores the attitudes, activities, plans, priorities, and beliefs of Jewish adults 18 and over. The research targets all four adult generational groups (Millennials, Gen X-ers, Boomers and WWII/...
Kurt Rosenbach is recipient of Endowment Achievement Award
The board of directors of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation honored a long-time community leader and Life Trustee, Kurt Rosenbach, with a special award at its March board meeting. Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), the organization that unites Jewish...