As if Israel Today’s Mishy Harman’s performance wasn’t captivating enough, the event last month also included a presentation by Sheena Jeffers and Jennifer Chapman, founders of Story Exchange, a community engagement project aimed at sharing human experiences via art....
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Mishy Harman: The story he told
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...
Kahbaid weekend brought message of honoring parents and appreciating Beth Sholom Home to entire community
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...
Hands United Building Bridges (HUBB) to be honored at Tidewater Humanitarian Awards Dinner
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,...
Camp
March 20, 2017 Camp Section
Israel Today’s Princess Shaw receives standing ovations
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...
Retired! Martin B. Mandelber
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...
Retired! Dorothy Zimmerman
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...
Retired! Farideh Goldin
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,...
A healthy lifestyle for all ages
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...
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...
B’nai Israel Congregation hosts second film in CRC series
If the smiling faces and warm greetings of B’nai Israel Congregation members weren’t enough to make guests feel welcome at a movie screening held at the shul on Monday, Feb. 18, the sight and smell of bags filled with freshly made popcorn convinced moviegoers they...
Giving back on Martin Luther King Day
A team from Temple Israel spent an afternoon volunteering at the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia on Monday, Jan. 21. After a brief introduction and instructional video, the group, which ranged in age from 13 to 75, assisted with quality assurance by assessing...
Pope Benedict XVI—A Jewish Retrospective
Rabbi Arthur Ruberg delivered this Shabbat sermon at Congregation Beth El on Feb. 15, 2013 This has been an eventful week in the life of our country and in the world. There are so many topics I could address today. Of those, I’ve decided to talk about the Pope. Maybe...
The 20th Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film presented by Alma* and Howard Laderberg wrapped up a week of cinema with an incredible final day
The matinee showing of Six Million and One brought a crowd of more than 200 to view a moving documentary about the struggle of the second generation after the Holocaust, children of survivors, who cope with the emotional legacy of their parents’ suffering. Pete...
Ed Koch, pugnacious New Yorker and passionate Jew till his dying day
NEW YORK (JTA)—One of the proudest moments of Ed Koch’s life came during a trip to Israel in 1990, in the midst of the first Palestinian intifada. Koch had recently left City Hall after 12 years as mayor of New York City and was touring Jerusalem when a Palestinian...
A Jewish book club with a difference
A little known fact is that Old Dominion University (ODU) sponsors a Jewish book club. What makes this Jewish Writers’ Book Club unique is that it is often facilitated by ODU professors, focuses largely on writings by women authors, and at times meets with the...
Jewish Family Service Chanukah Gift Program 2012
In its 20th year, Jewish Family Service’s Chanukah Gift Program asked the community to contribute gifts, gift cards, and money during this past Chanukah holiday to help local Jewish families in need. JFS received donations from individuals, families, groups,...
Tidewater Jewish community works together to build first-ever database
“We want to work together, we want to communicate together and we want to build and strengthen our community together! We want to do it, we need to do it and the technology is there to do it, so let’s move forward and finally do it! Let us build a community data base...
Israel posters are up: Time to vote
Beginning Wednesday, Feb. 13 through Friday, March 1, community members can help a young artist become a big winner in the Israel Advocacy Poster Contest, sponsored by the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Last month, the CRC...
Return on investment: Jewish Family Service in Budapest
This year, Tidewater is helping provide more than 1,066 Hungarian children from 586 families with comprehensive social services. Since 2007, through the generosity and vision of Tidewater’s Jaffe family and the continued support of the United Jewish Federation of...
Will Obama’s planned Israel visit revive Israel-Palestinian peacemaking?
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Is President Obama’s plan to visit Israel a sign that he’s ready to take another shot at Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking? The White House announced Tuesday, Feb. 5 that Obama would visit Israel in the spring, his first trip there as president. He did...
Fans and family of Art Modell praying for Ravens Super Bowl victory, Hall of Fame entry
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Every Sunday during the football season, a group of 30 diehard Jewish Baltimore Ravens fans suit up in purple pants, jerseys, socks, face paint and special Ravens tzitzit to watch the game together. If the game falls on a Saturday, the club gathers...
A return on investment: Baby Help in Argentina goes intergenerational
Rosana Jacofsky, a long-time teacher at the Joint Distribution Committee’s (JDC) Baby Help day care program in Buenos Aires, Argentina dedicates the majority of her time to children with physical and psychological difficulties. “We are constantly reminded that love...
Women’s Seder explores old and new Passover traditions
Sunday, March 17, noon–2 pm Take three of the most enthusiastic, creative, involved, Jewish women in Tidewater. Ask them to plan a Passover Seder, open to all women in the community. Tell them they have two hours to share the story of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt, and...
Jewish community expert to visit Tidewater
Thursday, Feb. 7–Sunday, Feb. 9 Dr. Ron Wolfson, an expert in the field of synagogue and Jewish community transformation, will appear on four separate occasions in Norfolk and Virginia Beach to speak, teach and interact with the community. A professor of education at...
First film in CRC series attracts diverse audience
Only 40 people were expected to attend the first movie in the five-part, film-based education program, Step Up for Israel, on Jan. 10 at Norfolk’s Temple Israel. But at 7:15 pm, members of the congregation began counting the number of folks coming into the downstairs...
Obama’s likely takeaway from Israeli election: More two-state advocates
WASHINGTON (JTA)—With the Israeli election results split evenly between the right-wing bloc and everyone else, no one in Washington is ready to stake their reputation on what the outcome means for the U.S.- Israel relationship and the Middle East. Except for this: The...
Jewish Democrats low key, grateful at second inauguration
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The inaugural poem included a “shalom,” and three rabbis and a cantor attended the traditional next-day inaugural blessing. But the message that Jewish Democrats were most eager to convey during President Obama’s second inauguration on Monday, Jan. 21...
Jewish religious, lay leaders join call to ban assault weapons
An interfaith alliance including Jewish religious and lay leaders is seeking a ban on assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines. Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence held a news conference on Jan. 15 calling for the bans, as well as improved background...
Community members plan to keep their Annual Date with the State
Tuesday, Jan. 22 Jeff Brooke offers advice to those who are unhappy with the current political system and their elected officials: “You have the power, and the responsibility, to do something about it.” As co-chair of the Community Relations Council of the United...