Other News

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...

Four players went home Saturday night, Feb. 10, with large, smart TVs, including Cantor Elihu Flax, who beamed over his 55-inch television that marked the midpoint game of Congregation Beth El’s 19th annual Ben Gordon Family Bingo Night. But the TV winners and many...

Beth El Sisterhood hosted Manicures and Mitzvahs at Changes Salon Thursday, Feb. 8 in support of Dress for Success. Twenty women enjoyed pampering, socializing, and a delicious food spread. Francesca Litow says it was a “Wonderful opportunity to pamper ourselves,...

Though Leia Morrissey is in eighth grade, she knows she can make friends with anyone at any age. It’s a skill she picked up by participating in Better Together, a program that brings teens from area synagogues together with seniors at Beth Sholom Village. Now in its...

One of my favorite memories of Passover is hearing my grandfather tell stories about how his mother used to make the gefilte fish. I assumed like all families that they just went to the store and bought theirs. He explained to me that on the morning of Passover my...

Only one?? Impossible! I have so many great Passover memories because it has always been my favorite holiday, starting as a child sitting around my Aunt Florence’s dining room table in Baltimore with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins on my father’s side. I can’t...

Every year for Passover, my family would drive 90 minutes to attend a seder at my aunt and uncle’s kibbutz. They lived on Kibbutz Beth Alpha, near Jordan, and we lived in Haifa. Hundreds of people attended, filling many long tables. The kibbutz created their own...

Elijah Arnowitz is a seventh grader who is already dreaming about camp this summer, which will be his fifth, at Camp Ramah New England. “It’s torturous to think about it because I miss it so much!” Elijah says. What does he like about camp? “Bunk activities, Shabbat...

Every summer, 1,500 Jewish campers from more than 20 countries attend Camp Szarvas in Hungary. Funded in part by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the camp’s mission is to create an opportunity for young Jews from around the world to meet,...

Close to 200 people interested in seeing the three newest films of survivor Alfred Dreyfus, liberator William Jucksch, and rescuer Dame Mary Barraco, attended a screening last December at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. These first-hand...

( JTA)—They volunteered. They played soccer. They went to camp. They were sweet, mature, and easygoing. They were just beginning their lives, or helping others on their way. And one may have died so that others could live. Jewish students and staff were among the 17...

Dedicated to offering programs throughout the year that raise awareness and bring people with disabilities, their families, and those who love them, into their Jewish communities in meaningful ways, for Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, National Jewish Disability...