Southeastern Virginia: Chesapeake • Norfolk • Portsmouth • Suffolk • Virginia Beach
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Kelly Burroughs Jewish Family Service is often tasked with medical and end of life decisions for its Personal Affairs Management (PAM) clients. After-life decisions are also fulfilled, regardless of the deceased’s religious affiliation. For indigent clients who are...
Stephanie Peck In anticipation of its Thanksgiving meal distribution, Jewish Family Service’s food pantry planned to open at 10 am on Tuesday, Nov. 21. By 8:30 am, however, cars lined up outside the Sandler Family Campus. By the scheduled opening time, 25 cars had...
Staff report Jewish Family Service, in conjunction with the Missing in America Project, performed a full military burial service at the National Cemetery in Quantico, Va. for the cremains of 22 non-Jewish veterans and two non-Jewish veteran spouses on October 27. The...
Tuesday, Nov. 28, 9 am – 12 pm • 260 Grayson Road, Virginia Beach Kelly Burroughs As Jewish Family Service continues to evaluate needs in the community, the evident lack of access to quality mental health services is more and more apparent. As part of the agency’s...
Patti Wainger A prayer vigil in support of Israel was held at Congregation Beth El on Sunday, Oct. 29. Reverend Tim Giddens, director of Norfolk’s Ghent Area Ministry, (GAM), New Life Church’s Pastor, David McBride, and Congregation Beth El’s spiritual leader, Rabbi...
Naomi Limor Sedek In 1987, when I was 12 years old, I hopped on a bus that was arranged by the local Federation that left from the JCC to march in Washington on Freedom Sunday for the Soviet Jews. That was 36 years ago and made such a vivid impression on me and shaped...
Stephanie Peck Prior to the terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, William & Mary students from various faith groups would come together on campus and a positive relationship existed between Muslim and Jewish students. This peaceful exchange collapsed when Hamas...
Naomi Limor Sedek Nestled beside one of the area’s fastest-growing congregations, a new playground gleams under the sun. While it may appear as just slides and swings, it’s much more for the young Jewish families of B’nai Israel. Funded through a Tidewater Jewish...
Rabbi Ron Koas In the past month I was asked by my colleagues about our Shinshinim, and the secret of their success in our (Congregation Beth El) school, congregation, and community. I realize that not everyone is aware of this program, so please allow me to share a...
Myrna Amdursky The stars lined up correctly on Sunday, Oct. 22 for Tidewater’s 2nd Annual Daffodil Planting Day at the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center in Portsmouth. The sun was shining brightly, the temperature was comfortable, Bob and Jeanne Zentz played music,...
Carin Simon Beyond the games, the food, and the festivities, the Strelitz International Academy Fall Festival demonstrated the power of community with more than 750 people attending. Held on Sunday, Oct. 22 at the Sandler Family Campus, the event exceeded...
Mia Klein In a visit to Tidewater, Rabbi Diana Fersko, author of We Need to Talk About Antisemitism and the rabbi at the Village Temple in Manhattan, shared a message of hope amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Israel and rising antisemitism around the world. “I...
David Abraham, Beth Sholom Village’s president and CEO, was recently appointed by Governor Glenn Youngkin to serve on the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority. “I am pleased to appoint our newest board members to serve in their respective administration...
B’Tayavon is equivalent to French’s Bon Appetit. In Jewish News, B’Tayavon is where locals share favorite recipes. This issue features Philip Sifen’s favorites. Philip Sifen Does it annoy you when you look for a recipe online; and you have to scroll through a research...
A unique educational experience for the Jewish community took place last month at the Sandler Family Campus. Hosted by Tidewater Jewish Foundation, the event, Grants in Action: Meet & Greet with a Sofer, offered an opportunity to meet a Sofer, learn what they do,...
Isaac and Rabbi Shawna Brynjegard-Bialik visited Tidewater for three days last month through the Milton “Mickey” Kramer Scholar-in-Residence Fund of the Congregation Beth El Foundation’s Tidewater Together Series. This in-person series was a follow-up to the variety...
The Simon Family JCC Seniors Club figured out how to beat-the-heat at its July meeting. Stifling summer heat? Not with this group! The Seniors Club enjoyed an indoor picnic of kosher hamburgers and hot dogs (with all the fixins’), friends, and karaoke. JCC’s Yolanda...
No one likes to say goodbye. Teachers like to keep students connected. Learners like to keep the material in focus. Jews want to keep the traditions alive. “Hadran Alach”—We shall return to you; the opening words of a special tefillah (prayer) recited upon completing...
David Proser, cantor at Kempsville Conservative Synagogue, Kehillat Bet Hamidrash, has recently been chosen to lead the Hampton Roads Board of Rabbis and Cantors as president. The organization’s mission, according to Proser, is to provide an opportunity for local...
Sharon Serbin recently joined Congregation Beth El as its new director of the Patricia Sarah Ashkenazi Religious School (PSARS). Serbin arrives in Tidewater from Pittsburgh, Pa., where she has worked in Jewish education for the past 30-plus years. An esteemed...
Previews began July 20 at the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles for the new play If I Forget, and a young actor with ties to Virginia Beach is playing the part of Joey. Jacob Zelonky, who has been in the Broadway tour of Billy Elliot, is one of three children of Barb...
(JTA)—Yair Lapid might only be Israel’s interim prime minister, but he appears to be determined to maximize the position in the four months he is guaranteed to occupy it. In a speech delivered Saturday, July 2, Lapid laid out a set of beliefs that he said bind...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Pam Scheininger and J. David Bleich have this much in common: They are Orthodox Jews who are preoccupied with Jewish ethics and teach at New York City law schools. But when Scheininger looks at an American map, she sees 16 states where Orthodox Jewish...
(JTA)—Agudath Israel of America, the national Orthodox Jewish organization for which I work, welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. Predictably, we were immediately cast into an “enemy” or “ally” box, depending on who was doing the casting. The...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Seattle-area football coach who lost his job after leading prayers on the field following his team’s victories, in a decision that could have ramifications for Jews in public schools and the military. A number of...
(JTA)—Brad Schneider knows from Chicagoland July 4 parades. The Jewish Democratic congressman has been working them since 2011, when he started running for his first term in Illinois’ 10th district. He packs five parades in on the day, and he can rattle off the...
Edie Weiss has embraced a life of travel and learned volumes about archeology, food, fashion, and how people relate to one another as a global community. A retired self-employed CPA, she shares what she’s learned about seeing the world and soaking it all in. Jewish...
A casual movie-goer until his mid-30s, Rabbi Michael Panitz, PhD, found that the invention of the VHS allowed him to enjoy films at home—and he began to study them. At the same time, he realized that films on Jewish subjects would be very useful in his work as a rabbi...
The Bonk-Rivin Holocaust Collection at Ohef Sholom Temple is managed by David Titus, a former college professor and academic librarian, and it is here that all corners of the Holocaust are explored. Titus has been a librarian for more than 45 years. He tells Jewish...
Third Mondays, 1:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus Simon Family Jewish Community Center’s Book Club has been active since it began in February 2008. When I was senior adult program coordinator for Jewish Family Service and Jewish Community Center, I recognized the need and...
Beth Sholom Village recently held an Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Care Seminar for all of its staff. The seminars were designed by the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners LLC (NCCDP LLC), and the classes were facilitated by Tree of Life Dementia...
Joe Weintrob has been collecting stamps specifically about Israel, Jewish life, and the Holocaust since he was in the Cub Scouts in 1954. Now, Weintrob particularly likes to look for KKL (Keren Kayemet Le’Israel) stamps, which feature the early history of Israel and...