Other News

According to the World Health Organization, 55 million people are experiencing dementia worldwide in 2023. Symptoms include memory loss, anxiety, personality changes, and difficulty performing familiar tasks. Caregivers are often unprepared to handle the onset of...

Attorney General Jason Miyares announced the members of his Antisemitism Task Force earlier this month. The members were chosen through an application process and are from the Office of the Attorney General employees, law enforcement, educators, and leaders in...

Cyber-crime is a growing national and global concern. In fact, according to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), one in three homes in the United States have a computer infected with malicious software, 65% of Americans who went online...

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel’s Declaration of Independence has taken central stage this year in the country’s divided politics — sometimes literally, as when Israelis opposed to proposed changes to the judiciary carried a massive version in their protests. Now, the...

The Conservative community gathered last month at Temple Emanuel to celebrate the second night of Shavuot with a Kabbalat Shabbat service, a simple but delicious dinner, and a communal Shavuot-teach from its rabbis and cantor. More than 50 people from all four...

The only site of its type in Tidewater, the Jewish Museum & Culture Center (JMCC) is housed in a former synagogue, Chevra T’helim, a building constructed more than 100 years ago in Portsmouth. The original congregation was established in the early 20th century by...

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden unveiled a multifaceted and broad strategy to combat antisemitism in the United States that reaches from basketball courts to farming communities, from college campuses to police departments. “We must say clearly and forcefully...

Tidewater families gathered in the sukkah on the Sandler Family Campus for a Sukkot celebration on Sunday, September 19. The path to the sukkah featured a life-sized book walk of images from The Harvest Blessings by Amy Meltzer, a PJ Library author. In the sukkah,...

The Israel trip was an experience of a lifetime! A couple of reasons why I chose to be a part of the Journey 5 trip to Israel include making new connections and experiencing historical and culturally important areas in my homeland. Growing up Jewish was not easy. In...

www.holocaustcommission.jewishva.org It took 25 years and a coronavirus to push the Elie Wiesel student competitions (art and writing) to their new online format. Since most public and many private school students spent their year in remote learning, the Holocaust...

The new tradition of Sunday Fun Day continued this fall as PJ Library in Tidewater welcomed families to the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community on September 12 for an afternoon of field games, music, and ice cream. Families with...

Collectors, family, friends, and mentors gathered from across the country—and globe—to honor artist Lorraine Fink during a reception celebrating Then, Now, & Looking Forward: Lorraine Fink Retrospective. The reception was held via Zoom on Sunday, Sept. 12. As a...

Farm to table has become accessible to Beth Sholom Village by way of a very futuristic-looking farm. The “farms” are in towers that resemble modern art sculptures. The crops can be seen in the beautiful six-foot case that emits a warm light and varying hues of green....

Tidewater families raising Jewish children will now have more opportunities to participate in Jewish life, thanks to a grant recently awarded to United Jewish Federation of Tidewater by PJ Library®, the flagship program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation that provides...

Forty families gathered by the pool at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus to welcome Shabbat on Friday, August 27. Hosted by PJ Library in Tidewater, in partnership with United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Young Adult Division, the night began with pool games,...

On July 12, I hopped on a nine-and-a-half-hour plane ride with two of my best friends and 41 other teens to visit the land of Israel for 22 days. I always knew that visiting Israel would shift my perspective on being Jewish, but being able to experience that change...

Who would have thought 18 months ago, that we would still be speaking about COVID-19 as we approach another Jewish New Year? With our nation and world, we continue to combat the virus. But now we fight in a stronger position—with vaccinations—as we pivot daily and...

Elka Mednick As summer comes to a close and the High Holidays approach, annual concerns regarding conflicts between the academic calendar and the holidays are brought to the forefront. This year, the usual first day of school for public school students, the day after...

Compiled by Ronnie Jacobs Cohen, Shalom Tidewater Editor’s note: This listing is current as of Wednesday, August 18. Due to the evolving nature of COVID-19, it is advised to check with congregations to learn specific protocols for attending High Holiday Services,...

 Robin Ford As another potentially challenging school year is about to start, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Be a Reader (BeAR) program is gearing up for 2021–22. The program’s volunteers and staff hope to be able...

Thomas Mills Tidewater Jewish Foundation awarded a $7,500 Community Impact Grant in March to Toras Chaim to renovate their auditorium. Serving Tidewater’s Jewish community for almost 20 years, the school has undergone an extensive beautification project. Renovations...

Michelle Fenley Two special groups of Camp JCC campers demonstrated this summer that joy can be found through doing mitzvot. Despite the limitations that COVID‑19 placed on summer experiences, the two oldest groups of campers at the Simon Family JCC’s summer camp...

Earlier this summer, 14 members of the Simon Family Jewish Community Center participated in the Sprint 8 Cardio Challenge. “I wanted to challenge our members to change how they’re doing cardiovascular exercise with a clinically tested workout that provided real...

Lisa Richmon The pandemic surges and lulls before it rises again, but attacks on Israeli peace remains a front burner issue that never lets up. United Jewish Federation of Tidewater continues its partnership with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, known...

Emily Burack (JTA)—The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are finally happening, a full year after they were planned. And yes, they’re still being called the 2020 Olympics, even though they’re happening in 2021. The Jewish athletes competing this year—and there are many—are the...

Rabbi Adam Ruditsky Beth Sholom Village is not just a long-term care facility or rehab, an assisted living or memory care, but it is a dwelling place for Jewish life. At least that was so for Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, z’’l, who said: “A test of a people is how it...

  Temple Israel participated in another successful Mitzvah of the Month in June by conducting a Jewish Family Service food drive titled, “Bare Necessities.” Members of the congregation donated money, food, and products that families need to survive the summer....