Primary Years students at Strelitz International Academy had excitement in their eyes as they entered the room for the Shavuot Mitzvah Fair on Friday, June 3. Richard Glasser’s family dedicated the unique holiday celebration in his memory. His brother Michael,...
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ShinShinim are coming to Tidewater
Aya Sever of Kefar Sava, located 15 miles north of Tel Aviv, and Alma Ben Chorin, of Hertzliya, will fly into Norfolk this August to live in Tidewater through summer 2023. Both 18, Sever and Chorin are two of the 200 Israeli high school graduates that are among...
Sandy Koufax honored with a statue at Dodger Stadium
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—For Jewish sports fans around the world, Sandy Koufax has for decades occupied an unmatched legendary status. Now, 57 years after the Hall of Fame pitcher sat out a World Series game to observe Yom Kippur, Koufax has officially been immortalized with...
I left Israel to give my kids the American dream. Is this it?
On the day when the shooting happens, I finally unlock what some say is the most vital part of the American dream. My husband and I have a house in the suburbs now, big trees towering above —no picket fence, but a wide expanse of green and room for the pattering of...
Junior’s, NYC’s iconic Jewish cheesecake emporium, buys back guns to protect the city it loves
(New York Jewish Week)—When Alan Rosen, the third-generation owner of Junior’s Restaurant, read the headlines back in April about a 12-year-old Brooklyn boy who was shot and killed while eating in the backseat of a car, the only thing he could think was, “enough...
A new podcast chronicles the little-known stories of boxers from the Holocaust era
(JTA)—In the early 1930s, Victor Perez was on top of the world. The Tunisian Jewish boxer, who fought under the ring name “Young Perez,” became the World Flyweight Champion in 1931 and 1932 after moving from Tunis to Paris. He became a bona fide celebrity, dating...
Fishing Derby 2022 reels in some big ones
The Simon Family JCC’s Annual Catch and Release Fishing Derby at Lake Sandler took place Sunday, May 22. The Annual Fishing Derby is the only day of the year that Lake Sandler is open to the public for fishing—and word is out that it’s a great place to “reel ‘em in.”...
TJF Community Impact Grant helps William & Mary Hillel with new mental health and wellbeing cohort
Mental health and wellbeing has received a larger spotlight over the past few years. With the COVID-19 pandemic, quarantines, lack of in-person contact, and day-to-day stress, it’s no surprise that everyone from Olympic athletes to college students have made mental...
JCC Seniors Club has it all
If fun, community, food, entertainment, and friends that are all at least 55 years old are of interest, now is the time join the JCC Seniors Club. The Club’s May meeting hosted Frank Sings Frank with Frank Cubillo singing many of Frank Sinatra’s greatest hits. Patsi...
Authors pitch their books and presentations over Zoom
The virtual conference of the Jewish Book Council Network recently took place with lay leaders and staff of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater attending. The JBC Network, which includes roughly 120 member organizations across North America, provides an annual...
Judaism through the Arts offered at United Jewish Federation of Tidewater
A new six-week class on Jewish art through United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Konikoff Center of Learning has received the support of an anonymous donor, making the classes free for all who attended. The classes were a part of the curriculum offered by Jewish Art...
A fun day of baseball for BBYO at Harbor Park
BBYO celebrated the end of the school year at Harbor Park watching the Norfolk Tides on Sunday, May 15. BBYO members, prospects, and their families enjoyed lunch and plenty of cold soft drinks on a private patio during this warm afternoon. While not the final program,...
Eurovision in Israel: Celebrating global connections through music
Tel Aviv lit up with magic during the week of May 13 for the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest. With all of Europe’s eyes on Israel, Tel Aviv did not disappoint. In 2018, Netta Barzili, representing Israel, was announced the winner of the 63rd Eurovision Song...
Where We Disappear, Simon Fink’s directorial debut set to premiere in Los Angeles
Friday, June 21, 7 pm The feature film, Where We Disappear, directed by Norfolk native Simon Fink, is getting its world premiere in Los Angeles at the historic TLC (Grauman’s) Chinese Theatres. The film is the official selection of the 2019 Dances With Films festival....
Temple Israel bonds over kabobs
No great community event ever happens without mountains of work being done behind the scene. The recent Israel Fest was certainly no exception. Norfolk’s Temple Israel offered festivalgoers a tasty—and healthy!—reprieve from the heat of the day in the form of cool,...
Community meets with Congressman Donald McEachin
At a meeting with Jewish community leaders last month, Representative Donald McEachin of Virginia’s 4th congressional district, said that his “passion and love of Israel comes from learning from his father (who was an army veteran), that you don’t abandon your allies,...
The UK is finally taking Labour’s anti-Semitism seriously
(JTA)—On a recent speaking tour in North America, I was asked repeatedly about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn’s Labour has become an existential threat to British Jews, and audiences smartly inquired what could be done to stop growing...
A lost song and a grandson’s tribute
In Vilden Vald—Aaron Tessler ft. Zemiros Choir The Holocaust’s devastation brought about not only the decimation of the Jewish people in body, but also immeasurable losses to Jewish culture. Countless and precious pieces of memory, history, and tradition disappeared...
Ambassador casts a new light on Israel
Ambassador Ido Aharoni spoke at Ohef Sholom Temple as part of the Community Relations Council of the United Federation of Tidewater and community partners’ 8th annual Israel Today series on Wednesday, May 8. As a member of Israel’s Foreign Service for 25 years, and as...
Temple Israel holds first Women’s Seder
After a great deal of thought, discussion, planning, negotiating, shopping, cooking, and implementing—not to mention the counting, hard boiling and peeling of no fewer than 96 eggs—Temple Israel held its first Women’s Seder on April 24, 2019. TI member Shirley...
Armed Forces Shabbat at Ohef Sholom
Congresswoman Elaine Luria was Ohef Sholom Temple’s guest speaker for Armed Forces Shabbat on Friday, May 17. She spoke of her experience commanding combatant ships in the Navy, and how this, along with her strong Jewish upbringing, led her to her current position...
More than pain, this book is also about lifestyle
Outsmart Your Pain! The Essential Guide to Overcoming Pain and Transforming Your Life Lisa Barr, MD Illustrations by Tim Sovine Synergy Health Quest, LLC, 2018 ISBN 13: 978-1-7320011-0-7 In the opening pages of Outsmart Your Pain!, Lisa Barr, MD, says, “The science of...
How stuttering helped me accept and embrace my adversities
Growing up in Toronto, I could have seemed like an ordinary kid. But there was something that made me sharply stand out. I stuttered. A lot. It began when I was three years old. My parents were told to ignore it—as “merely a stage in a child’s speech development,”...
Holocaust victims and survivors remembered by City of Virginia Beach mayor
Elie Wiesel poignantly stated, “to forget the Holocaust is to kill twice.” Thus, “we must bear witness [for] the living and the dead.” As Lisa Bertini, Holocaust Commission chair, said at the annual Yom Hashoah commemoration on May 1 at Temple Israel, “…for the...
Shalom Tidewater welcomes new and old to Jewish community
New to Tidewater? Lived here all your life, but are looking to get more involved? The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater would like to offer a special welcome. Through Shalom Tidewater, Carly Glikman, outreach manager, personally delivers welcome information and...
Amy Weinstein is new director of philanthropy at Beth Sholom Village
The new director of philanthropy at Beth Sholom Village is familiar to many people in the Hampton Roads Jewish community. Amy Weinstein spent six years at United Jewish Federation of Tidewater as director of the Young Adult Division, then two years as director of...
How Jewish organizations train people to prevent shootings like the one in Poway
(JTA)—Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein said his Chabad of Poway could not afford to hire an armed guard. Had it been able, or if the government had helped the synagogue bring in one, he believes the deadly attack there Saturday, April 27 could have been averted. “If I had the...
New York Times says its controversial cartoon shows ‘numbness’ to anti-Semitism
The New York Times editorial board said in an editorial published Tuesday, April 30, that the newspaper’s publishing of “an appalling political cartoon” is “evidence of a profound danger—not only of anti-Semitism but of numbness to its creep.” The newspaper also...
HAT’s Science Fair 2019
Fourth and fifth grade students at Hebrew Academy of Tidewater spent myriad hours of study and planning to prepare for the school’s recent Science Fair, the capstone of weeks of hard work. Almost 100 visitors attended this year, along with HAT’s familiar and dedicated...
In re-electing Netanyahu, Israelis chose stability
(JTA)—After the smoke clears from this contentious Israeli election, which amounted to a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure, the question remains: How did he win again? As Israel’s former U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren said, “Our economy is...
Simon Family JCC Book Club celebrates 10 years and 100 Books
On Monday, March 18, the Simon Family JCC celebrated the JCC Book Club’s 10th anniversary and 100th read with book club author, Marilyn Simon Rothstein. Rothstein visited the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus as a part of her Jewish Book Council book tour and the Lee...
Tidewater Chavurah got baking for Purim
Members of the Tidewater Chavurah got together at Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill and Spencer Gill’s home to bake Hamantashen in preparation for Purim. A variety of fillings were used including lemon, poppy, apple, blueberry, pumpkin, and chocolate. A multi-generational event,...
