Other News

Being in Israel for my year abroad was such an amazing opportunity. Attending a year in seminary gave me the chance to form long-lasting friendships with girls from all over the world, including Mexico, Panama, London, and Switzerland. I was able to broaden my...

NADIV, established in 2016, is United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Young Adult Division’s Men’s Giving Circle. While NADIV is rooted in networking opportunities (which still holds true today) it has evolved to a giving circle that is connecting its participants in...

On Tuesday, Jan. 25, Toras Chaim converted its auditorium into a job fair for the school’s Career Day. Several stations were set up with local business people and professionals volunteering to share the highlights of their professions and the importance of getting an...

In celebration of trees, PJ Library in Tidewater visited Norfolk Botanical Garden for a guided tour on January 9. Families learned about the trees, plants, and flowers that are native to Tidewater and enjoyed a read-aloud of the book, Trees Make Perfect Pets by Paul...

BBYO has maintained an active presence for its members, overcoming many obstacles this winter. The cold, the snow, and the impacts of the Omicron COVID-19 variant were among the challenges the teens faced. The Winter Regional Convention in Durham was cancelled...

To better protect the members of the Jewish community who worship and attend area synagogues, day schools, and other Jewish agencies in Tidewater, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater with support from a Tidewater Jewish Foundation community impact grant, joined with...

(JTA)—All four hostages at a synagogue in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area were declared “out alive and safe” by Texas Governor Greg Abbott at 9:33 pm CST on Saturday, January 15, following a 12-hour standoff with an armed assailant in an unfolding saga that...

On January 14, 2022, the UJFT Community campaign stood at $4,595,000 from 1,000 individual gifts. This total is about $88,000 ahead of where the campaign stood on the same day last year. And even better: there are a good number of potential gifts still “out there” in...

The word kosher is associated with dietary provisions one chooses to follow in support of deeply held religious beliefs. The role of the VAAD (Hampton Roads’ kosher supervisory resource) is instinctively tethered to Jews’ freedom to enjoy kosher meals in restaurants,...

Now in its 29th year, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater’s Annual Hanukkah outreach programs helped local Jewish families in financial need. Because of safety concerns with COVID-19, families received assorted gift cards for each child, along with a small bag filled...

Leaders at Kehillat Bet Hamidrash/Kempsville Conservative Synagogue worked on 2020 High Holiday plans for more than two months to create a safe and meaningful holiday experience for their congregants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, on September 18, just as Rosh...

WHEREAS, the clergy, leadership and congregation of Christ and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Norfolk, Virginia, are committed to striving for justice and peace among all people and respecting the dignity of every human being; WHEREAS, we as a congregation are blessed...

On Monday morning, October 29, Norfolk Academy Headmaster Dennis Manning spoke to Upper School students and faculty about the necessity to respond to evil by “exercising moral agency” in the world. An excerpt: We have a local, regional, and school  history, all of...

Old Dominion University hosted a gathering on Monday, October 29. The program, attended by several hundred people, was sponsored by the Institute of Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding, ODU Hillel, Student Engagement and Enrollment Services, and the University...

(JTA)—Earlier this year, our colleagues at the three leading Jewish newspapers in the United Kingdom published the same front-page headline and joint editorial voicing concern over rising anti-Semitism in Britain’s Labour Party. Today we have found a mournful occasion...

I’m a single mother of a young child. I work full time and attend college classes in the evening. I have some wonderful neighbors and friends who help with watching my child when I am away. My child’s father doesn’t have a job, and is not able to pay any child support...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—There are 55 candidates for Congress who identify as Jewish. Among them are 41 Democrats: five are running for the Senate—three incumbents and two challengers. Among the 36 in the U.S. House of Representatives, 19 are incumbents and 17 are...

The murders at Parkland High School last winter changed my life. It really hit home after that tragedy when my local dance group watched a video of another team from Florida that originally included 15-year-old Jamie Gutenberg, who was murdered along with 17 other...

A Norfolk Academy senior, Shelby Brown is an active member of BBYO’s Kruger chapter. She has held several offices both locally and regionally, and has participated in leadership conferences such as CLTC and Kallah. Still, for Shelby, something was missing in her Jewish experience.

While Izzy Ezagui, author of Disarmed: Unconventional Lessons from the World’s Only One-Armed Special Forces Sharpshooter, helped kick off the Lee and Bernard Jaffe* Family Jewish Book Festival at United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Campaign Kickoff, he also made a variety of stops around Tidewater.

Following UJFT’s Annual Campaign Kickoff and the inspiring speech by Izzy Ezagui, YADians continued the celebration outdoors, under the stars.

Almost immediately after Hurricane Maria barreled into Puerto Rico a year ago last month, disaster relief groups rushed to the shattered island to help with rescue and cleanup.

(JTA)—One of the largest donors to the Republican Party in New England is calling on voters to support Democratic candidates in the upcoming elections— and Seth Klarman put his money where his mouth is.

(JTA)—For months author J.K. Rowling has been warning about the dangers of anti-Semitism in England, sparring on Twitter with critics who either downplay the phenomenon or say its proponents are confusing criticism of Israel with Jew hatred.

Stephanie Ben Simon has joined Ohef Sholom Temple as director of Education and Engagement (DEE). As DEE, Ben Simon will develop and oversee a dynamic program of education and engagement for the entire congregation, creating educational opportunities in alignment with the temple’s values at every stage of the life cycle. In partnership with OST’s clergy and lay leadership, she says she is developing membership and programming plans with the goals of attracting prospective members, integrating new members into the Ohef Sholom community, as well as engaging existing members.

(JTA)—Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a video of himself blowing a several-foot-long shofar.

Zuckerberg executed a perfect tekiyah- teruah-shevarim combination on the twisted ram’s horn as one of his daughters is heard crying in the background.

This past summer I spent a month in Israel with 32 of my best friends, while meeting 52 new friends, on the most amazing trip of my life. We did all the typical activities you do when traveling to Israel, like floating in the Dead Sea and climbing Masada, but the fact that I was doing it with 84 other 16-year-olds, some whom I knew and others whom I was getting to know, made it all the more special and meaningful.

(JTA)—For years, American Jewish groups have agitated for more religious pluralism in Israel. And year after year, the Israeli government has acted as if the country’s demographic and political realities make any kind of substantial reform impossible.

The latest version of an annual survey disputes that claim: It shows that Jewish Israelis disapprove of how their government handles religious issues. It shows that they want more liberal religious policies. And it says they want American Jews to intervene in the debate.

A Jew makes news, but does that make it Jewish news?

Take the case of Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty Tuesday, August 21 to fraud and campaign finance improprieties, directly implicating his former boss, President Donald Trump. Cohen, whose father survived the Holocaust, began his education at a yeshiva day school but transferred to the Lawrence Woodmere Academy. He once described himself as an “agnostic Jew.”

But little else in his story connects him to Jewish life in an interesting or newsworthy way.

Over the past month, JFit at the Simon Family JCC, has established new programs and classes—including a massage therapy service. “I’m always looking for new opportunities for the JCC to improve our services, whether it’s a new program, equipment, or talented...