After a national search, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s program department started 2023 with new directors for its Holocaust Commission and Jewish Community Relations Council. Both directors quickly immersed themselves in their roles with projects and events....
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JCC Seniors— Great people, great programs, great space
The new membership year for the JCC Seniors Club is off to a great start, due in part to its active year in 2022. There is so much going on with this mainly retired and very active group that it’s hard to know where to start or who to feature. Here are a few...
Clare Krell
Virginia Beach—Clare Krell passed away peacefully on January 29, 2023. She lived the life of a loving wife, a wonderful mother, adoring Savta and was loved by many. Clare is preceded in death by her parents Jacob and Sylvia Eichenbaum, her devoted husband David H....
In Hungary, JDC provides warm respite for Jews from Ukraine
Every week on Shabbat, we pray for peace—for our loved ones, for our world, and especially our extended Jewish family in Ukraine. Beginning this month through April, we’re ensuring 700 to 800 Jews from various cities in Ukraine will share in the peace of a 12-day...
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...
A Time To Mourn From Death to Renewal
Pandemic A dangerous new phenomenon entered our 2020 vision. A novel virus would forever change our lives and our times. Marching us from spring and falling into autumn without even looking. Dementia Her normal eccentricity quickly magnified into the bizarre. Storing...
TJF Thanks Legacy Donors
Today, we honor and thank our Legacy donors, who have committed themselves to the future of the Tidewater Jewish community. Your gift(s) will help meet the challenges and needs our community faces for generations to come. Thank you. View TJF Life & Legacy list.
Yeshivas Aish Kodesh brings students to Norfolk and sends them out in the world, fully prepared
Yeshivas Aish Kodesh Talmudical Academy of Norfolk is a four-year high school for Jewish boys, offering a dual curriculum of Judaic Studies, along with a complete General Studies program —in a religious environment. The pride and joy of the YAK staff is the...
Grant helps feed the hungry
Jewish Family Service received a grant from Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation in the amount of $2,500 to purchase food for members of the community who might otherwise go hungry.
Israeli Supreme Court rules state must grant citizenship to non-Orthodox Jewish converts in Israel
(JTA)—Israel must grant citizenship to Jews who converted to Judaism in Israel under non-Orthodox auspices, its Supreme Court ruled Monday, March 1, possibly igniting another round in the long-running government battle over who the state should recognize as Jewish....
Whale watching and Shabbat
Actually standing in a boat looking at a whale in the water, it’s not hard to imagine how one swallowed Jonah. Encouraging her students to be inquisitors, Morah Nicole’s class at Strelitz International Academy has become enthralled with all kinds of whales. That’s how...
Simon Family Passport to Israel: Funds available for teen trips to Israel Application deadline: Monday, March 15
Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s Simon Family Passport to Israel Fund, which provides grants for trips for teens to Israel, is accepting applications for the program until March 15, 2021. The program provides funds to enable and encourage Jewish students to participate...
An anniversary of caring: Pam Blais delivers to caregivers
Anniversaries are sometimes faced with mixed emotions. For some, there’s pure joy in recalling a wedding anniversary or the day children or grandchildren were born. Conversely, some bring sadness, reminders of the loss of loved ones or of a catastrophic event such as...
B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy: Putting the Mitzvah in Bar and Bat Mitzvah
Around the time of their bar or bat mitzvot, teens explore what it means to become an adult and active member of the Jewish community. They study Torah, learn to lead services, perform mitzvah projects and begin their journey into Jewish philanthropy. The Tidewater...
BINA High comes back from 100% virtual with caution and success
The BINA curriculum actively encourages high school students “to develop their love for Hashem, His Torah, and the Jewish people.” The close-knit BINA staff partners with parents to help each student actualize her potential in a supportive and challenging academic...
Ohef Sholom Temple is turning plastic bags into benches
It seems they’re everywhere. Plastic bags are choking sea life, clogging up waterways, and blowing in the wind through streets and yards. Ohef Sholom Temple is helping to do something about it. OST joined the Trex Community Challenge two years ago. Trex is a company...
Swordfish team swims through its first winter season, sets records, wins meets
The Simon Family JCC Swordfish swim team is in its first-ever winter season, having started practices on November 9 in preparation for virtual swim meets from December through February. Jacob Gynan, the JCC swim coordinator, is the team’s head coach, with Leia...
These 7 US bakeries will ship hamantaschen directly to you
It’s always great to bake hamantaschen and share them with friends and family. But this isn’t a normal year, of course, and it may be harder to find the time to bake hamantaschen because your kids are home doing remote school; or you’re worried about getting the...
We’ve lost almost an entire year: COVID-fatigued communities prepare for a distanced Purim
(JTA)—In any other year, the mask-decorating party planned for later this month at Congregation Beth El Ner Tamid in Broomall, Pennsylvania, would make perfect sense: Costumes are part of the ritual for festive Jewish holiday of Purim, which begins Feb. 25. This year,...
Has your tax situation changed? Looking for a new tax-wise strategy this year?
As you collect your 2020 income tax information and prepare to file a return, are you: • Realizing that your tax situation may be different from previous years? • Interested in learning about a way to support your community in a tax-wise manner? Tax law changes last...
Some of the Jews Joe Biden has tapped for top roles in his administration
(JTA) President-elect Joe Biden filled the months before Inauguration Day lining up a slate of Cabinet secretaries, assistants and advisors, many of them Jewish. Biden’s choices reflect a diverse cross-section of American Jewry and possess expertise gleaned from...
Here are the 37 Jewish members of Congress
WASHINGTON (JTA)—There are 37 Jewish members of the 117th Congress, which was sworn in earlier this month amid the trauma of an insurrection spurred by President Donald Trump. Of the 37, there are 10 in the Senate and 27 in the House of Representatives—25 Democrats...
Congregation Beth El celebrates, gives, and recycles
Hanukkah around the world together Beth El celebrated Hanukkah each night with collective candle lighting, singing, and sharing that took the congregation around the world and back again. Several members grew up in other countries and shared stories and childhood...
Get to know today’s Hadassah
When most people hear the word ‘Hadassah,’ chances are they think of a hospital in Israel. In actuality, Hadassah is so much more. Hadassah’s mission statement describes itself as “a volunteer organization that inspires a passion for and commitment to the land, the...
During a pandemic, hugging friends is what many seniors miss most
While the wait for a safe vaccine for all looms large, the range of reactions to COVID-19 is as diverse as the people whose lives are affected. Some seniors in the community have lived in Tidewater all their lives. They’re married with children and grandchildren and...