Richmond, Va. — Attorney General Jason Miyares joined a coalition of 20 state attorneys general in sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas calling for the prompt removal of foreign student visa...
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Local Jewish Families in need
Kelly Burroughs Concerns in Israel have dominated most of our thoughts and prayers. The Jewish community’s generosity has enabled thousands of items and millions of dollars to be sent to support people in Israel. As hundreds of people came together on the Sandler...
JFS’s care for PAM clients continues even after life
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...
JFS Food Pantry provides Thanksgiving meals
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...
JFS participates in military burial for 24 clients
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...
JFS Open House for Embrace Counseling
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...
Striving for Tikkun Olam
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...
Marching again
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...
William & Mary students experience antisemitism
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...
Craft a legacy, secure the Jewish future
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...
Shinshinim program is successful and important
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...
Daffodil Project is planted at Jewish Museum and Culture Center
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,...
Indian River High School honors the memory of Holocaust survivors
In the first semester of the 2021–22 school year, I taught my Virginia and U.S. History classes about the Holocaust and mentioned the local survivors and rescuers who had graciously shared their stories with former Indian River High School students in the past. I...
New director of Lifelong Learning at Ohef Sholom
Many congregants and families at Ohef Sholom Temple already know its new director of Lifelong Learning, Alyson Morrissey. There are several reasons that Morrissey is well known around the temple. A beloved Jewish educator, Morrissey has taught in OST’s Religious and...
Progress continues on Marty Einhorn Pavilion
Exciting things are happening as construction on the Marty Einhorn Pavilion at the Sandler Family Campus continues to move forward. The concrete is in, the ceiling fans are on site, and the LED color-changing lights have just been installed. Named in memory of Marty...
Tidewater Ukraine Emergency Fund raises more than $675,000
As the war rages on in Ukraine, Jewish Tidewater has continued to give to the Tidewater Ukraine Emergency Fund. The fund has now raised and distributed approximately $678,000 to help the people of Ukraine via United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s overseas partners,...
Breyer fears Supreme Court ruling in Maine school case could lead to broad funding for religious schools
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Maine parents seeking funding to send their children to religious schools, a development that a dissenting Jewish justice, Stephen Breyer, suggested could open the door to broad public funding of parochial...
Simon Family Passport: Yael Schranz spends gap year in Israel
It’s been almost a month, and it feels like I just left yesterday. You know the experience was especially amazing when it is so difficult to move on from it. I went to Israel on a gap year known as Young Judaea Year Course. First, I lived in Jerusalem taking classes...
JFiT director makes it to Final 8 in national “Top Trainer” contest
On a particularly sunny morning in late April, between Life Fit and Stretch classes he teaches at the Simon Family JCC’s JFiT Wellness Center, an email caught Tom Purcell’s eye. The message was an inquiry about submitting for the opportunity to be named “Mr. Muscle...
Children’s story gets passed from generation to generation
The Tsigala Story told to Abbot Granoff, MD, by his paternal grandfather Morris Granoff (Pa) ignited a curiosity about his family’s history. In addition to spending time in Ukraine, the Granoff family story is a tale of travel, perseverance, and creativity. Here is...
New Children’s Pavilion at CHKD serves the community’s pediatric mental health needs
Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters opened its new $224 million, 14-story Children’s Pavilion on April 25. The facility offers a wide array of outpatient psychiatric services that include pediatric psychiatrists, psychologists, nurse practitioners, mental...
Insight-centered approach to mental health: An interview with Dr. Michael Weissman
Judging by the waiting list of more than 400 people for Dr. Michael S. Weissman, Ph.D.’s outpatient practice, you would think there is a heightened need for mental health services today, and you would be exactly right. According to the Chesapeake and Norfolk-based...
JFS: “Perfect storm” sees heightened need for mental health counseling
Think about it: the world went through a pandemic, a lockdown, reintegration, new variants, social isolation, and financial uncertainty. Why wouldn’t anxiety be at an all-time high? “The level of stress has exploded,” says Debra Mayer, LCSW, CT director of clinical...
A pain management approach to long-haul COVID, gut issues, and what to know about medical marijuana
Staying on top of current research in pain management is very important to Dr. Lisa Barr, who has more than 30 years of experience as a board-certified physician treating patients in Tidewater with muscle, nerve, and joint problems related to sports injuries and...
Special tour of yads exhibit at the Chrysler organized by UJFT
Enthusiasts of the Jewish Art Education classes offered by the Konikoff Center for Learning at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and other members of the Simon Family JCC, joined Clay Barr for a private tour of The Guiding Hand: The Barr Foundation Collection...
Strelitz International Academy students celebrate Shavuot with a Mitzvah Fair
Primary Years students at Strelitz International Academy had excitement in their eyes as they entered the room for the Shavuot Mitzvah Fair on Friday, June 3. Richard Glasser’s family dedicated the unique holiday celebration in his memory. His brother Michael,...
ShinShinim are coming to Tidewater
Aya Sever of Kefar Sava, located 15 miles north of Tel Aviv, and Alma Ben Chorin, of Hertzliya, will fly into Norfolk this August to live in Tidewater through summer 2023. Both 18, Sever and Chorin are two of the 200 Israeli high school graduates that are among...
Sandy Koufax honored with a statue at Dodger Stadium
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—For Jewish sports fans around the world, Sandy Koufax has for decades occupied an unmatched legendary status. Now, 57 years after the Hall of Fame pitcher sat out a World Series game to observe Yom Kippur, Koufax has officially been immortalized with...
I left Israel to give my kids the American dream. Is this it?
On the day when the shooting happens, I finally unlock what some say is the most vital part of the American dream. My husband and I have a house in the suburbs now, big trees towering above —no picket fence, but a wide expanse of green and room for the pattering of...
Junior’s, NYC’s iconic Jewish cheesecake emporium, buys back guns to protect the city it loves
(New York Jewish Week)—When Alan Rosen, the third-generation owner of Junior’s Restaurant, read the headlines back in April about a 12-year-old Brooklyn boy who was shot and killed while eating in the backseat of a car, the only thing he could think was, “enough...
A new podcast chronicles the little-known stories of boxers from the Holocaust era
(JTA)—In the early 1930s, Victor Perez was on top of the world. The Tunisian Jewish boxer, who fought under the ring name “Young Perez,” became the World Flyweight Champion in 1931 and 1932 after moving from Tunis to Paris. He became a bona fide celebrity, dating...
Fishing Derby 2022 reels in some big ones
The Simon Family JCC’s Annual Catch and Release Fishing Derby at Lake Sandler took place Sunday, May 22. The Annual Fishing Derby is the only day of the year that Lake Sandler is open to the public for fishing—and word is out that it’s a great place to “reel ‘em in.”...