(JTA)—Israel must grant citizenship to Jews who converted to Judaism in Israel under non-Orthodox auspices, its Supreme Court ruled Monday, March 1, possibly igniting another round in the long-running government battle over who the state should recognize as Jewish....
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Whale watching and Shabbat
Actually standing in a boat looking at a whale in the water, it’s not hard to imagine how one swallowed Jonah. Encouraging her students to be inquisitors, Morah Nicole’s class at Strelitz International Academy has become enthralled with all kinds of whales. That’s how...
Simon Family Passport to Israel: Funds available for teen trips to Israel Application deadline: Monday, March 15
Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s Simon Family Passport to Israel Fund, which provides grants for trips for teens to Israel, is accepting applications for the program until March 15, 2021. The program provides funds to enable and encourage Jewish students to participate...
An anniversary of caring: Pam Blais delivers to caregivers
Anniversaries are sometimes faced with mixed emotions. For some, there’s pure joy in recalling a wedding anniversary or the day children or grandchildren were born. Conversely, some bring sadness, reminders of the loss of loved ones or of a catastrophic event such as...
B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy: Putting the Mitzvah in Bar and Bat Mitzvah
Around the time of their bar or bat mitzvot, teens explore what it means to become an adult and active member of the Jewish community. They study Torah, learn to lead services, perform mitzvah projects and begin their journey into Jewish philanthropy. The Tidewater...
BINA High comes back from 100% virtual with caution and success
The BINA curriculum actively encourages high school students “to develop their love for Hashem, His Torah, and the Jewish people.” The close-knit BINA staff partners with parents to help each student actualize her potential in a supportive and challenging academic...
Ohef Sholom Temple is turning plastic bags into benches
It seems they’re everywhere. Plastic bags are choking sea life, clogging up waterways, and blowing in the wind through streets and yards. Ohef Sholom Temple is helping to do something about it. OST joined the Trex Community Challenge two years ago. Trex is a company...
Swordfish team swims through its first winter season, sets records, wins meets
The Simon Family JCC Swordfish swim team is in its first-ever winter season, having started practices on November 9 in preparation for virtual swim meets from December through February. Jacob Gynan, the JCC swim coordinator, is the team’s head coach, with Leia...
These 7 US bakeries will ship hamantaschen directly to you
It’s always great to bake hamantaschen and share them with friends and family. But this isn’t a normal year, of course, and it may be harder to find the time to bake hamantaschen because your kids are home doing remote school; or you’re worried about getting the...
We’ve lost almost an entire year: COVID-fatigued communities prepare for a distanced Purim
(JTA)—In any other year, the mask-decorating party planned for later this month at Congregation Beth El Ner Tamid in Broomall, Pennsylvania, would make perfect sense: Costumes are part of the ritual for festive Jewish holiday of Purim, which begins Feb. 25. This year,...
Has your tax situation changed? Looking for a new tax-wise strategy this year?
As you collect your 2020 income tax information and prepare to file a return, are you: • Realizing that your tax situation may be different from previous years? • Interested in learning about a way to support your community in a tax-wise manner? Tax law changes last...
Some of the Jews Joe Biden has tapped for top roles in his administration
(JTA) President-elect Joe Biden filled the months before Inauguration Day lining up a slate of Cabinet secretaries, assistants and advisors, many of them Jewish. Biden’s choices reflect a diverse cross-section of American Jewry and possess expertise gleaned from...
United Jewish Federation of Tidewater celebrates the new Campaign year and Israel @70
Community Relations Council’s 7th annual Israel Today series also begins The kickoff of the 2018 Annual Campaign of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater was held Tuesday, Sept. 12 on the Sandler Family Campus. Leaders from synagogues, Jewish agencies, and the...
Puerto Rico’s Jews turn to helping neighbors ravaged by Hurricane Maria
(JTA)—After he bribed three van drivers to load their vehicles with aid supplies and drive him and his crew from the San Juan airport, Eli Rowe felt his humanitarian mission was off to a good start. Gas was scarce in Puerto Rico, but now all the food, medicine and...
Jewish groups in aftermath of Las Vegas attack call for tougher gun control laws
Jewish groups responded to the mass shooting in Las Vegas by condemning the violence and calling for gun control legislation. At least 59 people are dead and more than 500 wounded in the attack at a country music festival outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on...
A klug zu Columbus! Happy Frobisher Day!
When, in their Lower East Side tenements and chained to their sweatshop sewing machines, our immigrant grandmothers were fed up with the arduous task of making ends meet, they would offer the following mild curse: A klug zu Columbus—A pox on Columbus (for having...
Jane Gardner presents inspirational message of hope
With a calmness and gentleness in her voice that defied the remarkable struggle she has faced, Jane Gardner told her story, “Live Each Day,” to a packed house at the Kaufman Theater at Chrysler Museum on Sunday, September 17. The former television news anchor has...
Virginia Beach recruits visit Virginia Holocaust Museum
The Virginia Beach Police Department continued their commitment to “Never Again” with their Recruit Class 63 during a recent trip to the Virginia Holocaust Museum. Organized by the Virginia Beach Law Enforcement Training Academy, Sergeant Bryan S. Marshall says that...
A story of connections
On the Sickle’s Edge Neville Frankel Dialogos, an imprint of Lavender Ink, 2016 ISBN: 978-1-944884-10-9 474 pages, $16.95, paperback Stories based on family history are a strong current in Jewish literature. It is by remembering and retelling that we honor our loved...
Home
Home, October 9, 2017
Beth Sholom Kahbaid Campaign passes $2-million mark as extensive renovation gets underway
You won’t see anything just yet by walking into the building off Auburn Drive, but there is a major renovation underway at the Berger-Goldrich Home at Beth Sholom Village. Some of the rooms on the Sholom Unit are vacant, with those residents having been shifted to...
American Jews weigh in on Trump, anti-Semitism, Netanyahu in poll
WASHINGTON (JTA)—American Jews overwhelmingly disapprove of President Donald Trump in just about every area, scoring him lower than his predecessor even on topics like Israel, where Jewish approval of Barack Obama was relatively low, according to an American Jewish...
In call with Jewish groups, Trump does not take questions
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The debate has gone on for weeks among rabbis and Jewish leaders: If President Donald Trump does not formally renounce white supremacists, is it still worth engaging in a conversation with him? This was on much of the Jewish community’s mind since...
Memorial to Israel’s Olympic athletes murdered in Munich dedicated
A decades-long injustice to the memory of Israel’s Olympic athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games was rectified this month with the dedication of a permanent memorial to their memory in the very same Munich Olympic Park, where...
Catch-And-Release Fishing Derby reels in the fun at Sandler Family Campus
The first-ever Catch-and-Release Fishing Derby at the Simon Family Jewish Community Center took place on Sunday, September 17. With more than 60 official registrants and many more family and friends as supporters and participants, the turnout exceeded expectations for...
3rd Annual Great Big Challah Bake
Thursday, October 26, 7 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus Want to enjoy the fragrance of yeast rising, laugh, and share community with hundreds of women, and then experience the deep satisfaction of baking a challah for Shabbat? This year, the 3rd Annual Great Big...
Commander Harold (Hal) Howard Sacks, U. S. Navy Retired August 2, 1930–September 8, 2017
With the passing of Hal Sacks, Jewish News has lost a friend, advocate, historian, and visionary—along with a writer and book review editor. As a friend, Hal was always available for advice—and not timid about offering it up—even when it wasn’t requested. As an...
High Holidays
High Holidays, September 25, 2017
Betty Ann Levin named UJFT executive vice president
After a national search, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s board made the decision to “go local” with the appointment of Betty Ann Levin as executive vice president upon Harry Graber’s retirement in May 2018. Currently executive director of Jewish Family Service...
Brandon’s story: thee of a special needs Jewish learner
In the beginning… We got the first diagnosis in 2003. ADHD. Nothing to worry about there, right? Lots of kids have ADHD. Heck, even I have ADHD. But as time went on, we knew that there had to be more than just that. So, in July 2006, when Brandon was six years old, we...
Donor saves JFS thousands through coupons
Not everyone who donates to Jewish Family Service gives in monetary form. At least, not directly. Janna Kestenbaum has been giving of her time and efforts to JFS for years through couponing. About once a quarter, Kestenbaum brings her coupons to JFS and goes shopping...
David Hazony thinks that Israel can save American Jewish life
His must- read essay in Tower Magazine, “Israeli Identity and the Future of American Jewry,” outlines the scope of the assimilation problem we are facing. Hazony says: Oblivion knocks. The two obvious alternatives—aliya and Orthodoxy— require so radical a change in...