Dear Editor, Thank you so much for accepting my article to the Jewish News on the new Keilim Mikvah, the mikvah for immersing vessels. I have received several comments on how much people appreciated seeing this article featured and knowing that we have made the mikvah...
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Knowledge is key
Israel’s war with Hamas has resulted in vocal and aggressive anti-Zionism and antisemitism across the globe. Many American Jews lack basic knowledge about Israel to converse with certainty about the sole democracy in the Middle East. Beginning with this column, in...
Date with the State: Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day
On the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 7, a delegation of committed and proud Jews – ranging from ODU students to retirees – boarded a double-decker bus at the Sandler Family Campus in Virginia Beach destined for Richmond. There, we met up with other Jewish delegations...
Peace by Piece marks 25years of a unique partnership with JFS and Edmarc
February marked the 25th anniversary of Peace by Piece, a partnership between Jewish Family Service of Tidewater and Edmarc, a family-centered home health and hospice for children with life-threatening illnesses. Peace by Piece is an interfaith program for grieving...
Jewish Film Festival honors the victims of Hamas’ October 7 attacks in Israel
After three decades, the Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma and Howard Laderberg, continues to evolve, bringing films that interest and excite, as well as meet the moment during times of turmoil. For the 31st annual festival, the Festival’s screening...
Virginia Festival of Jewish Film: Shorts, documentaries, and dramas
The lineup for the 31st Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg, includes shorts, documentaries, and dramas and takes place next month at various locations throughout Tidewater. The Festival begins on Sunday, Feb. 18, with a special...
JFS continues meal delivery program with new partner
Kelly Burroughs and Jody LaibstainJewish Family Service’s Home Delivered Meals program is a continuum of the organization’s food service programs. Geared to older and disabled adults throughout Virginia Beach who qualify, a steadfast group of volunteers has been...
Bar Mitzvah plans morph into supporting IDF soldiers for Mostofskys
In anticipation of her nephew’s bar mitzvah in January, Tehilla Mostofsky bought tickets to Israel last July. Along with her husband, Sholom, and her parents, who had not been to Israel in 25 years, she planned to stay for five days to celebrate with her family. The...
Three local men volunteer near Gaza
Eitan Mor, Nathan Goldin, and Norman Goldin volunteered in Israel for two weeks in January. “Israel faces an existential threat, and I wanted to help and show my support,” says Norman Goldin. Both Goldins are physicians and hoped to provide medically related services....
Vergie McCall brought us together to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King
On Martin Luther King Day, Vergie McCall was in her element, not just singing a spiritual to residents of Maimonides Health Center (formerly Beth Sholom Village), where she is a longtime volunteer, but leading a program with three “other” Jews. Yes, the 76-year-old...
Family Shabbat Experience was a hit at Ohef Sholom
I don’t “belong” to Ohef Sholom Temple, but on Saturday, Jan. 27, I felt as if I did. My friend, Paul Terkeltaub, invited me to attend Ohef’s first “Family Shabbat Experience” and to bring my son, daughter-in-law, and their two sons (ages 8 and 5), promising a morning...
First dates, first meals
While not every first date is centered around a meal, most involve some sort of dining, even if it’s not fancy fare or a sit-down meal. When Jewish News asked these couples to share their first dining experiences together, one unexpected result was that the settings...
A Bluffer’s guide to the wine list
We have all been there. You are in a fine restaurant with a good looking date (in some cases your spouse), and the waiter or steward presents you with a wine list. It may be a small card. It may be the size of a book. What do you do? Many folks in this situation will...
Tidewater’s seventh annual Great Big Challah Bake serves up lessons and fun
Women of all ages spent an evening in November at B’nai Israel Congregation celebrating the Jewish tradition of preparing for Shabbat and the spiritual joys of making challah. A partnership between B’nai Israel and the Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish...
Jewish Book Festival wraps up First Half of Season
Four engaging authors presenting on a variety of topics were featured in the first half of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in November and December. Italian cookbook author Benedetta...
Temple Israel honors police officers at Law Enforcement Appreciation Shabbat
It wasn’t long ago that no one could have imagined needing armed guards to conduct Shabbat services. Accustomed to hearing about that kind of thing in Europe, it wasn’t thought possible here—not in the U.S.A. That thinking was wrong. For Temple Israel, the “it can’t...
Camp JCC Winter Camp wraps with happy campers
Camp JCC wrapped up a successful Winter Break Camp with diverse days, fun, and plenty of good spirit. Activities included gym games, free swim, winter crafts, indoor gaga, Israeli culture with the community ShinShiniot, Alma Ben Chorin and Aya Sever, and a daily...
Beyond the Bible course explores history not often studied
In Sunday School, it is typical to learn the highlights of the sacred memories of the Jewish people of the Biblical period. Then, it gets a bit fuzzy. After the Bible, what was there? Some rabbis, perhaps? It gets clear again with the modern era, the past quarter...
The Holocaust as reflected in diaries and memoirs, offers a collaborative learning experience
A 10-session intensive course on the Holocaust, The Holocaust as Reflected in Diaries and Memoirs, invited students to dig into the first-person accounts of living through the Holocaust. Diaries and memoirs served as a looking glass into these individuals’ daily...
A workshop through the Journey of Your Name
In a hands-on workshop offered by the Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, community members explored the meaning of their name through a mystical interpretation of the aleph bet. Josh Baum, illustrator of Malka’s Notebook: A...
PJ Library in Tidewater’s January Sunday Fun Day
The Simon Family JCC was filled to the brim with children and their families during the January Sunday Fun Day on Jan. 8. Some made winter-themed crafts, others played interactive inflatable sports games, and all enjoyed spending time with friends, new and old, from...
Tidewater Jewish Foundation earns recognition for its prudent management of invested funds
As investment stewards, Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s Investment Committee recognizes its fiduciary responsibility to oversee the investment of the community’s assets and continues to review TJF’s Investment Policy Statement (IPS) and evaluate its implementation....
New kindergarten program at SIA will focus on younger students
Strelitz International Academy plans to launch a new transitional kindergarten program for eligible new and re-enrolling students for the upcoming school year. The SIA TK program is designed for students old enough for kindergarten, but who need an extra year to...
Be A Reader is roaring back into schools
The BeAR program started 2022 with plenty of questions, as volunteers were still not permitted in the schools. Calls to BeAR schools with offers to help resulted in many schools requesting supplies, reading and writing games, and books. They also asked for the BeAR...
Nadiv meets to discuss Jewish values ahead of giving circle donation
The men’s giving circle through YAD, Nadiv, gathered at the home of Dr. Alan and Jody Wagner on Wednesday, December 7 to discuss the Jewish values that matter to each member of the group—values such as education, community, Jewish peoplehood, saving lives, and others....
“Locked In” on fun
The first “Middle School Lock-In” in many years was hosted at the Simon Family JCC on a Saturday evening in November with 24 teens and tweens from across Tidewater’s Jewish community. Camp JCC counselors, lifeguards, and Alma Ben Chorin, one of Tidewater’s...
We’re going to Israel this Purim! Want to come?
March 1–9, 2023 After a COVID-driven moratorium, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is re-igniting its Missions Program for next March. Led by mission chairs Laura and Fred Gross, the trip will include an exciting “Purim in Tel Aviv” experience. Starting in...
Security while out and about: some timely reminders
All training is perishable and should be refreshed at least annually. As we move into the next round of holidays, this is a timely reminder. It is during this next period when auto burglaries, robberies, and residential burglaries increase. When you leave a location,...
Trump’s dinner with a Holocaust denier draws rare criticism from some of his Jewish allies
(JTA)—Two weeks after feting Donald Trump as America’s most pro-Israel president ever, the Zionist Organization of America had harsh words for the man who aspires to return to the White House. “ZOA deplores the fact that President Trump had a friendly dinner with such...
Hanukkah gifts for local Jewish children and teens
A local Jewish man with two young children came to Jewish Family Service for help with his family and overdue bills. He had lost his full-time job when his workplace unexpectedly shut down. He did not have enough funds to pay bills and have anything else left over....
Jewish Book Festival off to a strong start
The 2022–2023 Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival began last month with three authors, each with unique stories for the Tidewater community. Dan Grunfeld, author of By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented...
Nearly half of U.S. adults believe America should be a ‘Christian nation’
(JTA)—Forty-five percent of American adults believe the United States should be a “Christian nation,” according to the results of a new survey published Thursday, October 27 by the Pew Research Center—the latest data point finding modern support for Christian...