American athletes have won a total of 2,673 medals in the history of the Olympics, so the chances of meeting an American medal winner is low, but not impossible. Given that Israeli athletes have won only 13 medals, what are the chances of meeting an Israeli medal...
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29 years of helping local Jewish children and teens
Jewish Family Service received this thank you note from an 11-year-old girl after Hanukkah last year: Dear JFS Helpers: Thank you for including me in the Chanukah gift drive. I live with my grandma and she and I have to watch how we spend money. My grandma surprised...
How to leverage giving opportunities at TJF
As the end of 2021 approaches, there’s a greater sense of normality: people are returning to society and the workplace. Yet, millions of people across the globe are still being impacted by COVID-19. Still, there is a silver lining: according to Giving USA 2021, a...
New novel, The Serpent Papers, focuses on Vietnam War
The Serpent Papers by Jeff Schnader, an area author and professor of medicine, is set on Columbia University’s campus amidst protests against the Vietnam War. This is the first book written about Columbia’s 1972 demonstrations. For the Vietnam War generation, the war...
All Jewish teens are invited to join BBYO
Tidewater BBYO invites all area Jewish teens to get involved. BBYO provides teens in eighth through 12th grades the opportunity to make friends, gain leadership experience, and have fun being Jewish. All BBYO programming is peer led: the teens plan and create...
First Person: New book provides an interactive manual of important life skills
Your Journey Beyond Breast Cancer: Tools for the Road Louise B. Lubin, PhD Every woman remembers the moment she heard, “You have breast cancer.” These words begin a long winding journey with potential roadblocks and detours. Wherever one may be on their cancer...
Memorial Service at BSV remembers those departed since last year
It is a Jewish custom to remember family members and friends on the anniversary of their passing. A memorial prayer is recited, a candle is lit, and donation is often given in memoriam. After not gathering in person for more than one year, Beth Sholom Village held a...
Weddings 2021: Happy ever after, hitches and all
The 2020–21 wedding theme is a mix of Suspend Disbelief and Hello Fantastical. For three recently married couples, snookered by the pandemic and forced to alter their original dream wedding plans dramatically, getting the last laugh was extra sweet. Erin Leon and...
Bittersweet blessings for Paul Turok’s growing family
Paul Len Turok was born to count many blessings: Building a sweet life with Vivian (Viv); moving from South Africa to Virginia at just the right time; feeling embraced by the local Jewish community; raising two healthy children with good souls and great hair; and...
PJ Library in Tidewater’s Pizza in the Hut: a Sukkot celebration
Tidewater families gathered in the sukkah on the Sandler Family Campus for a Sukkot celebration on Sunday, September 19. The path to the sukkah featured a life-sized book walk of images from The Harvest Blessings by Amy Meltzer, a PJ Library author. In the sukkah,...
Simon Family Passport to Israel recipient Nathan Prince soaks in the Israel experience
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...
Elie Wiesel Competition’s 2021 winners now online
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...
Aaron David Miller discusses the future of the Middle East
For Aaron David Miller, any opportunity to get out of Washington is appreciated, but on Monday, Feb. 12, the treat was for the Tidewater Jewish community. In a packed room, Miller, the vice president of New Initiatives at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for...
A Letter to My Campers After Parkland
This post was originally published in Bossier Magazine, and on the Religious Action Center’s and Union for Reform Judaism’s blogs. It is republished here with the author’s permission. To: G4A, G3B, the Tsofim unit, and all of URJ Camp Coleman: After 17 people were...
VCIC to honor William L. Nusbaum with 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 receive a prestigious Humanitarian Award at their 54th annual dinner this month. The Tidewater chapter of VCIC will...
Last call for Israel stories
As you’ve probably heard by now, Israel turns 70 years old in April. To commemorate this milestone, the April 9 issue of Jewish News will feature all things Israel, including articles about the tiny nation’s beginning, it’s technological, medical, agricultural, and...
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February is National Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion month
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...
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...