Thomas Mills Tidewater Jewish Foundation awarded a $7,500 Community Impact Grant in March to Toras Chaim to renovate their auditorium. Serving Tidewater’s Jewish community for almost 20 years, the school has undergone an extensive beautification project. Renovations...
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Camp JCC campers make mitzvot the center of their camp experience
Michelle Fenley Two special groups of Camp JCC campers demonstrated this summer that joy can be found through doing mitzvot. Despite the limitations that COVID‑19 placed on summer experiences, the two oldest groups of campers at the Simon Family JCC’s summer camp...
Sprint 8 Challenge finishes strong with lost weight and gained energy
Earlier this summer, 14 members of the Simon Family Jewish Community Center participated in the Sprint 8 Cardio Challenge. “I wanted to challenge our members to change how they’re doing cardiovascular exercise with a clinically tested workout that provided real...
Peace in Israel is fragile but support is stronger than ever
Lisa Richmon The pandemic surges and lulls before it rises again, but attacks on Israeli peace remains a front burner issue that never lets up. United Jewish Federation of Tidewater continues its partnership with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, known...
Tokyo Olympics: All the Jewish athletes to watch
Emily Burack (JTA)—The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are finally happening, a full year after they were planned. And yes, they’re still being called the 2020 Olympics, even though they’re happening in 2021. The Jewish athletes competing this year—and there are many—are the...
Jewish life at Beth Sholom Village
Rabbi Adam Ruditsky Beth Sholom Village is not just a long-term care facility or rehab, an assisted living or memory care, but it is a dwelling place for Jewish life. At least that was so for Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, z’’l, who said: “A test of a people is how it...
Mitzvah of the Month at Temple Israel provides help to many throughout the community
Temple Israel participated in another successful Mitzvah of the Month in June by conducting a Jewish Family Service food drive titled, “Bare Necessities.” Members of the congregation donated money, food, and products that families need to survive the summer....
Birthright Israel is back
Taglit-Birthright Israel is proving it can survive a bout of logistics hiccups such as those presented when tourist travel in and out of Israel is prohibited. Trips may get canceled or re-scheduled, but what’s immune to change is the program’s Why. Existing to connect...
Ben & Jerry’s stopped using social media after violence erupted in Israel. Why?
(JTA)–Pro-Palestinian activists were swarming the social media comments sections of Ben & Jerry’s to demand the company boycott Israel. In response, Ben & Jerry’s appears to have indeed entered a boycott—of social media itself. The international ice cream...
The Pew study cheat sheet: 10 key conclusions from the new survey of American Jews
Ben Sales (JTA)—Meet America’s Jews: They’re older, more educated, richer, and less religious, on average, than the rest of the country. They’re overwhelmingly white, though Jews under 30 are more diverse. Most of them care about Israel, though one in 10 support the...
Adult programming at the Simon Family JCC to return in-person
For more than a decade, the JCC Book Club has met, and in that time, has read more than 150 books. There’s no surprise, then, that this group did not let the pandemic slow them down. Not only did the group continue to read and meet over Zoom, but the JCC Book Club...
How an IRA Charitable Rollover gift can reduce taxes
For those who are 70½ or older who have an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and want to make a lasting impact on Tidewater’s Jewish community, an IRA Charitable Rollover with the Tidewater Jewish Foundation might be worth considering. By tapping into this asset,...
CRC, HUBB, and VCIC present Marshall, conclusion of Building Bridges Week
The 25th Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg* and Patricia & Avraham Ashkenazi, began with a free, pre-festival event at TCC Roper Performing Arts Center featuring the movie, Marshall. Presented in honor of Martin...
Tidewater celebrates Purim
Purim, is a joyous holiday celebrated every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar. This year, on February 28. It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot to destroy all the Jews, as recorded in the Megillah (book of...
For Jews in the Netherlands, Catholic Carnival feels like ‘hardcore Purim’
TILBURG, Netherlands (JTA)— Although he lives in a city with only a few dozen Jews, the Israel-born photographer Idan Hemo and his family enjoy each spring what he calls “hardcore Purim” street festivities. “Everyone dresses up, including and especially the adults, in...
Why show Animal House at a Jewish film festival
Wow! It is truly remarkable that the Virginia Festival of Jewish Film presented by Alma and Howard Laderberg* and Patricia and Avraham Ashkenazi has been around for a quarter of a century. That’s a long time to bring culture and entertainment to Tidewater by showing...
De Mommas and De Poppas’ tribute to parents draws big crowd to Beth Sholom Village
A cast of community members sang, danced, and joked about mothers, fathers, and kids during the A’Bisl Theater’s tribute to the Fifth Commandment during a spirited variety show at Beth Sholom Village on Sunday, Feb. 4. More than 200 people packed into the Pincus Paul...
UJFT’s Society of Professionals gets first look at Cavalier Hotel
The grand reopening of Virginia Beach’s historic Cavalier Hotel will take place in March, but United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Society of Professionals (SOP) received a special “sneak peak” on February 1. Axel Suray, executive vice president of Gold Key PHR,...
YAD MomME Time takes on Hiddur Mitzvah Project
As part of the Gary Rosenthal Hiddur Mitzvah Project, members of UJFT’s Young Adult Division’s MomMe made mosaic Shabbat candlesticks on Wednesday, Jan. 24 during a Tikkun Olam event at the Simon Family JCC. Gary Rosenthal is best known for his unique line of Judaica...
Dr. Bern Wollschlaeger captivated community with his personal story of discovery and transformation
More than 160 members of the community, including religious school students from Ohef Sholom Temple, Congregation Beth El, Temple Israel, and KBH attended a powerful and timely presentation by Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger on Sunday morning, Jan 28 at Ohef Sholom. Author of...
Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she will serve as long as she has ‘steam’
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told a Jewish audience that she would serve on the U.S. Supreme Court as long as she felt up to it. Ginsburg, appearing Thursday, Feb. 1 at a Forward event at Adas Israel synagogue in Washington, D.C., appeared to confirm...
Retirement
Retirement, February 19, 2018
William L. Nusbaum to receive Humanitarian Award
Thursday, March 22, 5:45 pm The Westin, Virginia Beach Town Center The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities has selected William L. Nusbaum to be among those receiving its prestigious Humanitarian Award this year, at their 54th annual dinner. The Tidewater...
Ready to graduate, Amanda Gladstone appreciates Stein Family College Scholarship
Amanda Gladstone, recipient of the Stein Family College Scholarship in 2014, has one semester left at Virginia Tech and radiates enthusiasm when she talks about her experience there. To say she loves Virginia Tech would be an understatement. A senior in marketing, she...
Caleb Peck establishes B’nai Tzedek Fund to continue helping homeless people
Taking action to help others is not new for Caleb Peck. His mom, Stephanie, tells the story of when Caleb was three years old he saw a homeless person and was genuinely concerned about why there wasn’t a place for him to live. He used to say that when he grows up he...
A little book with big Jewish appetizer ideas
Back in December when I was reading Jewish News (not much of a surprise there, I know!), an image in the advertisement for the Gift Shop at Decorum caught my attention. It was of a small book, Little Book of Jewish Appetizers. I had one within a few days. The book...
A Jewish journalist is confronting Trump’s immigration advisers with their own immigrant histories
NEW YORK (JTA)—During a combative news conference in early August, White House adviser Stephen Miller told reporters that the United States should prioritize immigrants who speak English. “Does the applicant speak English?” Miller asked, describing a bill to reduce...
What it’s like to be Jewish in South Korea
Though the Jewish community in South Korea is small, Jews visiting the country to compete in or watch the Winter Olympic Games won’t have to skimp on kosher food or Shabbat programming. The country’s Chabad emissary is setting up a pop-up restaurant in Pyeongchang...
Arielle Di Porto brings stories of Aliyah to Tidewater
United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Cabinet recently hosted Arielle Di Porto from the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). Di Porto gave a stirring presentation about JAFI’s important work of rescuing Jews throughout the world. Director of the Aliyah division...
Dr. Steven Warsof appointed honorary member of Israeli Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology
EVMS Professor of Obstetrics, Dr. Steven Warsof, was made an honorary member of the Israeli Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology for his long-standing volunteer efforts at the Azoraeli School of Medicine of the Galilee at Bar Ilan University in Sfat Israel. The award...
Mazel Tov
Mazel Tov, February 5, 2018
HAT and Strelitz celebrate traditions with grandparents
While many people were busy preparing turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater Konikoff Center of Learning and the Strelitz Early Childhood Education Center celebrated the time-honored tradition of Grandparents’ Day on Wednesday, Nov. 22....
