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Recent weeks have been extremely difficult for our country. The Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is appalled and angered by the death of George Floyd at the hands of officers in the Minneapolis Police Department. Our...
When the Simon Family JCC opened on Monday, June 8, seniors bounced back in real numbers. Even with the necessary implemented regulations and other logistics, “overjoyed” was the overall response. In particular, Silver Sneaker students say they are thrilled to be...
A Zoom chat room of Young Adult Division (YAD) members was filled with clinking glasses, generous pours, and lots of laughter on Thursday, May 21. That’s because YAD hosted its first-ever, Mystery Wine Night. YADians conducted blind taste tests of four wines and...
When my sister Lynn and I were young, Daddy was our hero. As we grew up and learned his stories we realized he was an American hero, too. Our precious father, Stan Smolen, died last month at the age of 95. He was a veteran of WWII who served his country proudly. He...
Remaining relevant in a world of clashing ideologies and mixed agendas, crisis upon crisis, decade after decade, is the most striking feature of a legacy organization such as ORT. Fixed, yet flexible, the foundation of ORT’s high-tech educational mission is relevance....
(JTA)—The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is recording layoffs and furloughs at Jewish organizations as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This story is updated regularly and serves as a running log of layoffs and furloughs imposed at Jewish nonprofits. May 14: 60 laid...
SHORT HILLS, N.J. (JTA)—The announcement that Jewish summer camps will be closed this year has been tough on parents around the country. If we could just have this one little remainder of normalcy, we told ourselves, we’d be fine. But as with virtually every other...
The U.S. Senate adopted the House version of the Never Again Education Act (H.R. 943/S. 2085), an important Holocaust education bill, which will provide expertise and resources to states, localities and schools on Wednesday, May 13. The bill has now passed Congress...
Due to the COVID-19 virus, Beth Sholom Village residents are not allowed visitors. Want to let these residents of BSV know that they are being thought of and missed? Create a short video (30 seconds—1 minute) of greetings and good wishes or share a special talent...
On a ‘typical’ lockdown Saturday morning before Mother’s Day, a store manager places orange traffic cones strategically in the parking lot outside Nothing Bundt Cakes at La Promenade in Virginia Beach. The popular cake boutique preps for the pre-Mother’s Day surge...
The annual Stein Family College Scholarship of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation was recently awarded to Emily Myers, a soon-to-be graduate of Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach. Myers is the 12th recipient of the four-year scholarship, which provides up to $10,000...
For the first time in 19 years, Tidewater’s Jewish community conducted a survey to gather information to build a stronger, more dynamic Jewish community. The survey took place in February. The last survey, the 2001 Jewish Community demographic Study, revealed where...
Sitting in front of my grandparents’ black and white television set watching Abba Eban’s unforgettable speech before the United Nations General Assembly is certainly one of my most distinctive memories of the Six-Day War. Just 10 years old and not able to fully...
(JTA)—The first thing Carl Reiner does every morning is pick up the paper and read the obituary section to check if he’s named there. “If I’m not, I’ll have my breakfast”—or so he says in the charming and appropriately titled HBO documentary If You’re Not in the Obit,...
When the seniors at Beth Sholom Village and the teens at Ohef Sholom Temple met for the first time last year at an Oneg Shabbat, there were jitters on both sides. But when the two groups came together a few weeks ago for their end-of-year banquet, those jitters were...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Shavuot is the “Rodney Dangerfield of Jewish holidays,” says Rabbi Shira Stutman of Washington, D.C.’s Sixth and I synagogue. Meaning: It gets no respect. Considered by Jewish tradition to be on par with the fall and spring festivals of Sukkot and...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—David Rubinger’s iconic photograph of three paratroopers at the Western Wall is the defining image of the 1967 Six-Day War. The men in the photo—Dr. Yitzhak Yifat, Tzion Karasenti and Chaim Oshri— have proudly served as symbols of the historic Israeli...
Next week we will hold our biennial meeting of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and the Simon Family JCC, where I will transition out of the board presidency and introduce John Strelitz as the incoming president. John’s presidency will continue a Strelitz legacy...
The community gathered on Wednesday, May 3 to celebrate the Simon Family JCC with One Night of Israeli food, wine, and music. The fundraising event, hosted by John Stein of Baker’s Crust, featured Israeli chefs Guy Marom and Nir Margalith of the travel and catering...
Staycation, May 29, 2017
I remember having the family for dinner and walking into the den where Joyce and Leonard (Strelitz) were on the phone with national UJA office people in New York—there was no CNN back then. I felt a nervous immediacy being in the room with people getting news directly...
On May 23, 1967 Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran – the entrance to the Red Sea, ordered the UN force to leave Sinai, and moved six divisions (130,000 soldiers) into Sinai. This was against the agreement with the U.S. and United Nations after the 1957...
It took over our lives. I remember going to the Federation, which was located in the Center, from morning until late at night. We were raising money…on the phones constantly. Personally, I was getting my house painted and Morty and I would go home and have no place to...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—“You make us better,” James Comey told the Anti- Defamation League in his final public speech as FBI director. Judging from the applause in the conference room at the venerable Mayflower Hotel here, the feeling was mutual. Mired in investigations of...
(JTA)—Jewish groups largely came out against a new executive order allowing clergy to endorse or oppose candidates from the pulpit, fearing that it will erode the separation between church and state. The order, which President Donald Trump signed Thursday, May 4 at...
The annual Stein Family College Scholarship of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation was awarded this month to Sydney Levine, a soon-to-be graduate of Frank W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach. Levine is the ninth recipient of the four-year scholarship of up to $10,000 per...
Chefs Guy Marom and Nir Margalith of Puzzle Israel, an adventure tour and catering company, spent a week in Tidewater sharing their love of food and celebrating Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s 69th birthday. Sous chef Neta Margalith, joined her brother and Marom for a busy...
Sunday, April 30 was a beautiful day all around—not just the weather—as more than 1,200 people attended the Simon Family JCC’s annual Israel Fest to experience the culinary, cultural, and artistic gifts of Israel. Attendees at the celebration were treated to fresh...
May 15, 2017, Health Care Section
NEW YORK (JTA)—Think “Albert Einstein,” and certain images or phrases likely come to mind: “genius,” “kooky,” “wild hair,” “theory of relativity,” “E=mc2”—maybe even “Zionist.” Sex and violence? Not so much. Then there’s Genius—National Geographic channel’s first...
( JTA)—Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States soared 86 percent in the first three months of 2017 after rising by more than one-third in 2016, according to the Anti-Defamation League. There has been a massive increase in harassment of American Jews, largely since...
Early in her teen years, Zoe Martina Siegel knew that all was not right with the world. Her consciousness rose and she began to speak out. In fact, her Norfolk Academy senior speech was about reproductive rights and how politicized they are. It’s not so surprising,...