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For 2017, Ohef Sholom Temple stepped up its congregation’s commitment to creation by working on the requirements for two national environmental certifications. The Union for Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center and GreenFaith became partners in January 2016 to...
Caring for the elderly…funding scholarships to Jewish day school and summer camps…providing psychiatric and emotional support services…ensuring the future of Israel and other nations worldwide. These were among the various causes which drew donors to lend their...
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...
Application deadline: May 1 The official merging last fall of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Maimonides Society (medical professionals) and the Business and Legal Society into UJFT’s Society of Professionals, creates an abundance of networking and...
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...
Israeli author Etgar Keret was slated to speak at Old Dominion University’s Literary Festival this past September. Ahead of his visit, Jewish News published a review of his latest book, A Seven Year Memoir and an article about his receiving the $100,000 Bronfman...
Mazel Tov Special Section, January 30, 2017
We read it every year and are urged to practice it every day. Kahbaid et a’vecha v’et e’mecha. Honor your father and mother is the fifth of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai and which appear first in the Torah in the sedrah Yitro. (Exodus,...
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...
That’s R-O-A-D not RHODE. It used to be “Elderhostel” programs, but apparently the connotation of “Elder” was a put-off to people under 90. So, it became “Road Scholar” programs—all over the country; all over the world—and in Baltimore. For us, it started with a call...
FAIRFAX, Va. (JTA)—Prominent Jewish surrogates for President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney tackled domestic issues and foreign affairs during a cordial debate in Northern Virginia. Former Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), representing Obama, faced off against...
After a seven-year courtship and 25 years of marriage, Ohef Sholom Temple board president, Ed Kramer, and his wife, Anne, exhibit a warmth and sense of humor with each other that extends outward, embracing everyone they come in contact with. It’s this warmth and humor...
D’var Torah delivered by Harry Graber, executive vice president, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater at the UJFT Annual Campaign kickoff Tonight, we will speak to the Mitzvah of Pidyon Shvuyiim also known as the Redemption or Rescuing of the Captives. This will be...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—A new American Jewish Committee poll found 65 percent of Jews nationwide planning to vote for President Obama and 24 percent for Mitt Romney, with another 10 percent undecided. The poll, conducted Sept. 6-17 among 1,040 Jewish voters nationwide, found...
NEW YORK (JTA)—In 1935, a trial was held in Bern, Switzerland, in which two individuals were being prosecuted for distributing the notorious anti-Semitic document The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. At the trial, witness after witness came forward testifying...