Other News

Now in its 24th year, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater’s Chanukah Gift Program annually helps local Jewish families in financial need with gifts and gift cards for their children and teens, and with money for those without children. This year, JFS received donations...

WASHINGTON ( JTA)—“Cantor Kaufman!” Rabbi Jonah Pesner shouted across the intersection of 3rd and D in Washington’s Northwest quadrant, packed sidewalk to sidewalk with women in pink pussycat hats and their male friends. “A song!” Jason Kaufman, the cantor at Beth El...

(JTA)—In the run-up to his swearing-in on Friday, January 20, President Donald Trump made a series of big promises to Israel. Aside from his oft-repeated pledge to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, he has talked about reviving the peace process with...

(JTA)—One Jewish group that joined the Women’s March on Washington has seen its online donations double since the election of Donald Trump as president. Another has twice as many guests as usual attending its annual conference. A third has seen its social media...

An article this month in the London-based The Jewish Chronicle, headlined: “Trump will widen the fissures in Jewish America,” states: “American Jews are well positioned to weather the storm that Mr. Trump has unleashed. The same, however, cannot be said for the...

For the last 16 years, Kehillat Bet Hamidrash/Kempsville Conservative Synagogue and Temple Israel have enjoyed a programming partnership, sharing simchas, celebrations, programs, and prayers. Hanukkah 5777 saw another opportunity for being together. KBH holds an...

Celebrated by schools across the country, National Mix It Up Day promotes respect and tolerance among children. The program, first introduced to Hebrew Academy of Tidewater by school guidance counselor Michele Fenley, LCSW, encourages children to broaden their...

In operation for just a few months, the Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater has already made a big impact on many of its patients’ family members, including Irwin Kroskin. When his wife Ruthi became ill, Kroskin called on the hospice team. “When...

LOS ANGELES (JTA)—We need to celebrate a Lincoln Chanukah this year. It’s not because of the new Spielberg movie—that gives us something to do on Christmas Day—but because of the 150th anniversary of a little-known event in American history that threatened to expel a...

In her soothing voice, Vergie McCall recites Psalms 23 and 91 to her hospice patients. “Prayers are powerful,” she confirms. “When you leave this world, you are going to the presence of God,” her grandmother used to say. “In the spirit of the Divine, you are no longer...

The year 2012 has been one of highs and lows for the Holocaust Commission. The highs include the integration of our new What We Carry program into our educational offerings, and the lows last January as we lost two of our Speakers’ Bureau survivors, David Katz and...

ATID is the Hebrew word for future. And Atidim (futures) is the name of a breakthrough project designed to build a better, stronger Israel by enabling capable and talented young people from underprivileged communities to acquire higher education in order to share in...

Congregation Beth El is kicking-up its level of tikkun olam projects. In September, Rabbi Jeff Arnowitz initiated a “Mitzvah of the Month” program with the synagogue focusing attention on and supporting a particular cause each month. Congregants and especially BERS...

Approximately 60 people attended Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s third annual Veterans Day Memorial Service on Monday, Nov. 12. The Jewish War Veterans Monument, located on the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community, was unveiled in 2010....

Two matching gift programs are currently in place that give new or increased donations to the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater a higher monetary value. The programs translate into the community having a greater impact on improving the lives of Jews in Tidewater,...

In January, Ohef Sholom Temple will launch an innovative program designed specifically to make Jewish education accessible and tailored to children with special needs. “We believe that v’shinantam l’vanecha, you shall teach your children, refers to all children,” says...

The support of the sponsors of the 2012 Lee and Bernard Jaffe* Family Jewish Book Festival enabled the Simon Family JCC to present 12 authors and sell thousands of books. Business sponsors of this year’s festival were Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Monarch Bank,...

Some of the first thoughts that come to Americans’ minds when thinking about Israel are the Palestinian conflict, the threat of terrorism, and the treat of war with neighboring countries. While the reality of life in Israel, these issues do not define Israel or her...

When we’re young adults, we most often purchase life insurance to pay off our mortgage or provide some surety that our spouse would have a sum of cash should we become deceased before we’ve had the opportunity to build our estates. Over the years, the initial purpose...

Homework for elementary school children has fallen in and out of favor over the years. In the early 1900s, it was illegal in California for teachers to assign homework to young children who were instead expected to help on the farm or in the family business after...

The concept behind the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Learn@Lunch series is to provide education opportunities on a variety of issues, in different places, during business lunch hours. “We were hearing from some members of...

Comedian Dan Ahdoot, the first of three events at the Simon Family JCC in this season’s Performing Arts at the J, presented by Leah Wohl*, kept the jokes coming, pleasing adults of all ages on Saturday, Oct. 20. Susan Schwartzman, chairperson of the series, says the...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Obama’s Jewish numbers are down, but by how much and why? Expect four more years of tussling between Jewish Republicans and Democrats about the meaning of Obama’s dip from 78 percent Jewish support cited in 2008 exit polls to 69 percent this...

TEL AVIV (JTA)—Most Israelis were asleep as the polls closed in America and voters waited for the results, but on one rooftop in central Tel Aviv a party with loud classic rock music and flashing lights was going strong. It was the pro-Obama election- watching party...

Dr. Lior Nesher, former head of the department of emergency medicine at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, spoke to the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Maimonides Society at the Sandler Family Campus last month. The event was sponsored by American Associates,...

The number of hands thrust into the air at the end of Maly Jackson’s presentation about her childhood escape from Ethiopia was testimony to the power of her story. A dozen of the Sunday School students visiting the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater wanted to ask...