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Jewish News: When and where did you meet? Sarah and Bill Keasey: We met online May 5, 2008 on Bikerkiss.com. We both had Harleys. JN: What was most memorable about your ceremony? S&B: The most memorable was to have our wonderful family and friends surround us. JN:...
In August, Pam Gladstone, executive director for Congregation Beth El, turns 80. For more than three of her nearly nine decades, congregants, vendors, and visitors to Beth El have been accustomed to Pam’s friendly greeting at the sanctuary’s door or on the phone....
Two members of the leadership team at Beth Sholom Village were recently recognized with promotions, new designations earned, and for their community-wide work. Mazel Tov Lauren Schoenfeld and Amy Weinstein! Lauren Schoenfeld, LNHA The new administrator of the...
Artist Jean-Pierre Weill recently spoke to Alene Jo Kaufman of KBH Synagogue about his book, Evolve: A Children’s Book for Adults as part of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. The conversation took place on Zoom. Weill, a father of five who was...
The Swordfish winter youth swim team may have been small, but they accomplished big things. Lead by coaches Leia Sabatini and Kayleigh Carnazza, the Swordfish broke 14 team records this season. During their three swim meets, Sawyer White, 9 years old, set three new...
(JTA)—An event that took place at James Madison University on Thursday, Jan. 26 to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day was scheduled to feature lectures about the legacies of Auschwitz and the intersection between white supremacy and antisemitism. There was...
February 5–11 Atlanta, Ga.—A national non-profit public health initiative dedicated to preventing genetic diseases, JScreen’s fourth annual Jewish Genetic Screening Awareness Week is taking place Sunday, Feb. 5 to Saturday, Feb. 11. Initiated in 2020 with...
One of the first items of business when someone is new to a role is to reach out to colleagues in the field to better understand how things work and learn best practices. I was fortunate to have the beginning of my tenure as director of United Jewish Federation of...
The question looms for most everyone in the workforce: When will I know I’m financially prepared to retire? Jeffrey S. Chernitzer, CPA/PFS (Personal Financial Specialist), a wealth advisor with Buckingham Strategic Wealth, agreed to offer Jewish News readers some...
New chapters and challenges seem to have always been the norm for Sandee Lefcoe. During the early years of her marriage, for example, she worked at the University of Virginia Hospital in Recreational Therapy in the psychiatric unit. Then, with one of her best friends,...
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....
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...
We are thrilled to bring the Florence Melton School of Adult Learning back to Tidewater as part of the Konikoff Center for Learning. Over the past year, I have spoken to many Melton graduates who had wonderful things to say about their time with the mini-school when...
Women from Tidewater and beyond gathered on Thursday, November 5 on Zoom for the 6th Annual Great Big Challah Bake. Part of the global Shabbos Project, the local event was a collaboration between B’nai Israel Congregation and the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater....
The holiday season may be difficult this year with the pandemic altering many family plans and traditions. Navigating the challenges will most likely take more patience and flexibility than usual. For those facing their first holiday season without a loved one, this...
(JTA)—Nearly half of Americans don’t know what the phrase “anti-Semitism” means. That’s one takeaway from two surveys published last month by the American Jewish Committee. The surveys asked Jews and the general American public about anti-Semitism in the United...
Following the expansion and restructuring of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces’ (FIDF) executive office and welcoming Steven Weil as the new national director and CEO in mid-September, FIDF has formed the new Eastern Region. Seth Baron, who for the past seven...
The Glasser name stands for character and charisma—and juxtapositions. Jacob ‘Jake’ Glasser, the firm’s newest member, is the son of Lori and Michael Glasser, and nephew of former partners Stuart Glasser and Richard Glasser (of blessed memory). Named “Best Lawyers in...
The new administrator of The Terrace Assisted Living, Allison Whiteman, is very familiar to Beth Sholom Village. A gradute of Virginia Wesleyan College (now Virginia Wesleyan University), with a degree in Recreation and Leisure Studies, Whiteman knew she wanted to...
(JTA)—Jewish voters are set to vote 75% to 22% for Joe Biden, according to a poll by the American Jewish Committee. The poll released Monday, Oct. 19, shows the Democratic nominee expanding his support among Jewish voters from a 67–30 split in a poll last month and it...
(JTA)—On Thursday, Oct. 15, the FBI had a message for Jewish institutions across the country: Prepare for the possibility of violence on Election Day. That was the main takeaway from a webinar hosted by the Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for...
Pandemic isolation affects everyone differently. It’s human kryptonite. Nobody is immune because there is no antidote for the great equalizer—the need for human connection. Since 1946, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater has been fighting isolation-induced illness,...
Matthew Kramer-Morning joined United Jewish Federation of Tidewater as Young Leadership Campaign manager this month. Originally from Northern Wisconsin, Matt Kramer-Morning has a diverse background in the professional Jewish world. Most recently, he served in a...
(JTA)—In the haredi Orthodox world, a gadol is a Torah sage of such outstanding scholarly achievement that their legal conclusions are widely accepted and their words are deemed worthy of close study and repetition. More than just a mere expert, a gadol’s very persona...
(JTA)—There was an audible gasp as she entered the room. Flanked by bodyguards, with her white gloves prominent, Ruth Bader Ginsburg took a seat next to the bride and groom as cameras clicked rapidly. I had never co-officiated a marriage ceremony before, let alone...
Kerri Cohen recently joined United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and the Simon Family JCC as a development associate. Born and raised in Suffolk, Va. she has also lived in Texas, Mexico, and Massachusetts. Cohen holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership...
Doron Almog, a former head of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Southern Command, was one of the heroes of Israel’s 1976 hostage rescue operation in Entebbe, Uganda, and winner of the 2016 Israel Prize for lifetime achievement. But the thing he says he’s most proud of is...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Donald Trump spent much of his 20-minute call with American Jewish leaders making the case for more American Jews to vote for him. He closed by repeating a line that has raised their eyebrows before. “We really appreciate you,” Trump said as...
Terminal agitation. That is the hospice verbiage for the loud moans my mom was making from the bed in Sonya’s Margate home. The mattress she occupied was the very one she had slept on for many married years with my father, now of blessed memory. Though she would die...
It is still hard to believe how much our world has changed in the last six months. How many times have we heard ‘unprecedented,’ and the ‘new normal?’ How many times have we heard the word ‘resilience?’ I happen to believe that ‘resilience’ perfectly describes our...
Shalom Tidewater Beth Sholom Village www.bethsholomvillage.com 757-420-2512 In-person services for Beth Sholom Village residents only. Residents will be appropriately socially distanced apart, with two services per day to accommodate all residents in a safe manner....
The arrival of the novel coronavirus brought many unexpected changes. One area that was not changed, however, was the amount of and timing of the entries for United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission’s Elie Wiesel Competition. The deadline was just...