Under the well-organized leadership of Adele Muller and Carol Smith, another Mitzvah was carried out and “is in the books.” A group of Tidewater Chavurah members prepared and fed a nutritious dinner at the Judeo Christian Outreach Center. They served baked rigatoni...
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Rosh Hashanah with the ShinShinim
In Tidewater for a little more than a month, ShinShinim Aya Sever and Alma Ben Chorin are engaging community members of all ages. Since mid-September, the two Israelis have been busy celebrating and teaching about the Jewish holidays, adding an Israeli flair to...
Perspectives on basketball, the Holocaust, and what one author calls “Grace”
Dan Grunfeld: Wednesday, November 2, 7:30 pm By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream Dan Grunfeld Triumph Books 262 pages, 2021 The 2022-23 Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival kicks off this...
ESPN documentary focuses on Holocaust and Munich Olympics survivor Shaul Ladany
(JTA)—Frank Saraceno has worked for ESPN since 1994 and has produced hour-long documentaries on some of the biggest stars in sports for the cable channel’s Emmy Award-winning “E:60” series. But he thinks working on the episode that premiered September 20, might have...
Queen Elizabeth mattered. Civil religion explains why.
(JTA)—I am one of those people who gobble up films and television shows about the royal family almost as soon as they come out. And yet, watching The Crown, my thoughts would run like this: “This is great television,” I would say after nearly every episode. “But...
Area religious schools begin year with Israeli flair
Tidewater’s ShinShinim, Aya Sever and Alma Ben Chorin, are adding an Israeli touch to area religious schools this year. Sever will spend three weeks each month during the first semester with Ohef Sholom Temple while Ben Chorin is with Congregation Beth El. They will...
First Person: The impact of learner-centered Israel education
When I was a child in Jewish day school, we passed around the green, metal JNF box, sang Israeli songs, and watched videos about Israel’s beauty. Israel was our homeland, pure and simple. Since then, things have gotten much more complicated. Young Jewish adults do not...
What’s in the new Iran deal, and what’s holding it up?
(JTA)—Last month, the chances that the United States would rejoin the Iran nuclear deal seemed higher than they had been in years. CNN and Reuters reported that Iran had dropped multiple demands in the ongoing negotiations over a new accord that would update the...
Ken Burns’ PBS documentary The U.S. And The Holocaust asks hard questions about how Americans treated Jews and immigrants during wartime
Premier Sunday, September 18, 8 pm, WHRO (JTA) — One of the first people introduced in Ken Burns’ new documentary series about the Holocaust is Otto, a Jewish man seen in the series’ first episode who tries to secure passage to America for his family but gets stymied...
Programs department gets new coordinator
Mia Klein has joined United Jewish Federation of Tidewater as the new programs department coordinator. In her new role, she will work with the directors of Arts + Ideas, Jewish Innovation, and the Jewish Community Relations Council, chief programs officer, and, other...
ShinShinim find a warm welcome in Tidewater
Aya Sever and Alma Ben Chorin, Tidewater’s ShinShiniot, arrived in August and are getting to know the community. Shin Shin is an acronym in Hebrew that means Shnat Sherut—a year of service. Many Israeli teens choose to postpone their military service in the Israel...
2022 Elie Wiesel Writing Competition winner: “Hatred is all too common”
The first place winner in the Holocaust Commission’s Elie Wiesel Writing Competition for her moving and insightful poem about the Holocaust says she doesn’t consider herself a poet at all. “Honestly, I focus a lot on playwriting and screenwriting,” says Avery Britt, a...
Community Relations Council
Recent weeks have been extremely difficult for our country. The Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is appalled and angered by the death of George Floyd at the hands of officers in the Minneapolis Police Department. Our...
The Joy of the J – You can’t keep a good senior down
When the Simon Family JCC opened on Monday, June 8, seniors bounced back in real numbers. Even with the necessary implemented regulations and other logistics, “overjoyed” was the overall response. In particular, Silver Sneaker students say they are thrilled to be...
Mystery Wine Night a huge hit for YAD during quarantine
A Zoom chat room of Young Adult Division (YAD) members was filled with clinking glasses, generous pours, and lots of laughter on Thursday, May 21. That’s because YAD hosted its first-ever, Mystery Wine Night. YADians conducted blind taste tests of four wines and...
A hero lost, but forever loved: Stan Smolen
When my sister Lynn and I were young, Daddy was our hero. As we grew up and learned his stories we realized he was an American hero, too. Our precious father, Stan Smolen, died last month at the age of 95. He was a veteran of WWII who served his country proudly. He...
STEAM fuels the ORT mission. Opportunity and adaptability propel it forward.
Remaining relevant in a world of clashing ideologies and mixed agendas, crisis upon crisis, decade after decade, is the most striking feature of a legacy organization such as ORT. Fixed, yet flexible, the foundation of ORT’s high-tech educational mission is relevance....
Hundreds of layoffs with more to come: We’re tracking coronavirus job losses in the Jewish world
(JTA)—The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is recording layoffs and furloughs at Jewish organizations as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This story is updated regularly and serves as a running log of layoffs and furloughs imposed at Jewish nonprofits. May 14: 60 laid...
Summer camp is canceled. Here’s how Jewish parents can rise to the challenge.
SHORT HILLS, N.J. (JTA)—The announcement that Jewish summer camps will be closed this year has been tough on parents around the country. If we could just have this one little remainder of normalcy, we told ourselves, we’d be fine. But as with virtually every other...
CRC and Holocaust Comission Update: Never Again Education Act Passes Congress!
The U.S. Senate adopted the House version of the Never Again Education Act (H.R. 943/S. 2085), an important Holocaust education bill, which will provide expertise and resources to states, localities and schools on Wednesday, May 13. The bill has now passed Congress...
Be a video star
Due to the COVID-19 virus, Beth Sholom Village residents are not allowed visitors. Want to let these residents of BSV know that they are being thought of and missed? Create a short video (30 seconds—1 minute) of greetings and good wishes or share a special talent...
La Promenade: Virginia Beach lifestyle carousel plays a strong retail game
On a ‘typical’ lockdown Saturday morning before Mother’s Day, a store manager places orange traffic cones strategically in the parking lot outside Nothing Bundt Cakes at La Promenade in Virginia Beach. The popular cake boutique preps for the pre-Mother’s Day surge...
Emily Myers receives Stein Family Scholarship from Tidewater Jewish Foundation
The annual Stein Family College Scholarship of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation was recently awarded to Emily Myers, a soon-to-be graduate of Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach. Myers is the 12th recipient of the four-year scholarship, which provides up to $10,000...
Jewish Tidewater Community Survey: Results available soon
For the first time in 19 years, Tidewater’s Jewish community conducted a survey to gather information to build a stronger, more dynamic Jewish community. The survey took place in February. The last survey, the 2001 Jewish Community demographic Study, revealed where...
Jewish Tidewater: Taking care of each other
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic engulfing the globe is impacting our every moment. For United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and the Simon Family JCC, it is forcing us to make decisions we never thought possible. It is also challenging us to imagine new ways to...
Asian Americans are facing violent xenophobia during the coronavirus outbreak. Jews have a responsibility to speak out.
NEW YORK (JTA)—In recent weeks, we’ve seen an unprecedented epidemic of the coronavirus spread across the world. Unfortunately, we’ve also seen a spike in anti-Asian violence and prejudice. In the U.S., racist and xenophobic outbursts, assaults and discriminatory...
Rona and David Proser: Celebrating and ensuring Jewish lives in Tidewater
Having lived in Virginia Beach for close to 40 years, Rona and David Prosers’ lives and leadership have been interwoven into the fabric of Tidewater’s Jewish community. Rona taught at Hebrew Academy of Tidewater for 30 years, making a positive impact on the lives of...
Passover in a pandemic: Families on Zoom, solo seders and broken traditions
(JTA)—Rena Munster was looking forward to hosting a Passover seder for the first time. In past years, her parents or another relative hosted the meal. But this year she had invited her parents, siblings, and other extended family to her Washington, D.C., home. Her...
Mazel Tov
Dear Readers, We all love a celebration—no matter the reason or occasion. And, why not? After all, celebrations are generally times for laughter and visits and, at nearly every Jewish event, food. Fortunately, myriad reasons abound to say “Mazel Tov!” and throw a...
UJFT’S Young Adult Division’s Purim in the Wild West
Saturday, March 7, 8 pm, Sandler Family Campus Mozy on over to the Simon Family JCC for the Young Adult Division (YAD) of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater‘s Purim in the Wild West party. YAD wants all young adults, ages 21–45 (and older, if you dare…) to...
Film critic delights in pulling curtain on women who fight for ‘firsts’ and carry other women later
It was the perfect fit. Elizabeth Weitzman, Tricia Snyder, and members of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Society of Professionals got together on a rainy February night, in a trendy boutique backlit with sparkly dresses, puffy winter jackets, iconic...
Game on. Summer Maccabi 2020 is virtually the best year yet for dancers, gamers, and athletes
August 9–14, Pace University, New York City Digital natives, competitive dancers, and athletes who love soccer, basketball, swimming and e-sports will compete in 2020 Summer Maccabi, this year’s Olympic-style competition open to Jewish kids ages 13 to 16. “It doesn’t...