American Jewish food is most typically defined as pastrami sandwiches, chocolate babka or bagels and lox. But I am here to argue that the greatest American Jewish food may actually be the humble hot dog. No dish better embodies the totality of the American Jewish...
Other News
Archives
With a nod to Carl Reiner, My Favorite Year recalls the infancy of TV sketch comedy
Social distancing and staying inside is hard. Thankfully, accessing good things to watch during this time is not. This is another installation of a column on Jewish movies and TV shows to stream in quarantine. My Favorite Year Available for rent: Amazon Prime, Apple...
Community Relations Council
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...
The Joy of the J – You can’t keep a good senior down
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...
Mystery Wine Night a huge hit for YAD during quarantine
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...
A hero lost, but forever loved: Stan Smolen
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...
STEAM fuels the ORT mission. Opportunity and adaptability propel it forward.
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....
Hundreds of layoffs with more to come: We’re tracking coronavirus job losses in the Jewish world
(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...
Summer camp is canceled. Here’s how Jewish parents can rise to the challenge.
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...
CRC and Holocaust Comission Update: Never Again Education Act Passes Congress!
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...
Be a video star
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...
La Promenade: Virginia Beach lifestyle carousel plays a strong retail game
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...
Local teen elected to BBYO International board; area chapters shine at BBYO Eastern Region Spring Convention
BBYO International Convention 2017 and Eastern Region’s Spring Convention served as dynamic meeting places and real-world classrooms to provide teen leaders opportunities for shared leadership resources and new skills to help change the world. The record-breaking...
Jewish groups urge Congress to preserve anti-Semitism monitor
Jewish defense groups urged Congress to preserve the State Department’s anti-Semitism monitor. Representatives of the Anti- Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Secure Community Network testified Wednesday, March 22...
Over 100 leaflets with hand-drawn swastikas left at Virginia Tech Chabad
More than 100 leaflets with hand-drawn swastikas were found dropped on the front yard of the Chabad Jewish student center at Virginia Tech. The leaflets were discovered at the student center located across the street from the Blacksburg university on Saturday, March...
Jewish groups offer mixed responses to David Friedman’s confirmation as Israel envoy
Jewish groups offered varied reactions, including disappointment, tepid congratulations and enthusiasm, to the confirmation of David Friedman as U.S. ambassador to Israel. On Thursday, March 23, the U.S Senate confirmed Friedman, a longtime lawyer of President Donald...
Nikki Haley: Trump will not allow UN resolutions condemning Israel
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The Trump administration will not allow a repeat of last year’s United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its settlements, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told AIPAC. “Never again do what we saw with resolution 2334 and make anyone...
Three times AIPAC speakers weren’t so bipartisan this year
WASHINGTON (JTA)—“Many voices, one mission.” If AIPAC’s 2017 annual policy conference slogan, popping up on the conference app on activists’ smartphones, isn’t clear enough, the morning pick-me-up video it runs before conference business begins is pretty...
Jewish groups, including those targeted, welcome arrest of bomb threat suspect
Organizations targeted by recent bomb threats and other U.S. Jewish groups welcomed news of the arrest of a suspect—an Israeli with American citizenship who reportedly is Jewish. The Anti-Defamation League, whose headquarters in New York and at least three satellite...
Virginia General Assembly honors Shames
Col. Edward Shames, pictured here with his letter of commendation from the Virginia General Assembly, was so honored on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Shames, a member of the legendary “Band of Brothers,” brought more of his men home than any other American...
Beyond the Book Festival’s guest author connected with audience
Poised and charming and offering insightful discussions, Jessica Fechtor, a guest author and speaker for the Beyond the Book Festival, established immediate rapport with her audience while reading from her book, Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals That Brought Me...
The Society of Professionals’ POUR-tastic wine event
Beginning with a pop and a fizz, the Society of Professional’s Pour wine event gathered local Jewish professionals and friends at the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront on Sunday, March 5. Overlooking the ocean, participants were led through progressive Kosher food and...
From the Hal Sacks Jewish News Archives
April 13, 2007 At the recent B’nai B’rith Youth Organization’s International Convention held in Houston, Texas, Virginia Council BBYO received an International Programming Award for the Lost Boys of the Sundan program held last fall. April 11, 1997 In an article by...
Passover
April 3, 2017, Passover Section
Standing Again As One
There is a midrash that, when standing at Sinai to receive the Torah, each person received their own personal revelation but responded in one voice, saying, “Na’aseh v’nishma”—“We will do and we will hear.” It is in that exquisite moment that we became one People....
What’s your Israel story?
As if Israel Today’s Mishy Harman’s performance wasn’t captivating enough, the event last month also included a presentation by Sheena Jeffers and Jennifer Chapman, founders of Story Exchange, a community engagement project aimed at sharing human experiences via art....
Mishy Harman: The story he told
Mitch Albom, author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, once wrote, “There’s a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking.” Mishy Harman, the...
Kahbaid weekend brought message of honoring parents and appreciating Beth Sholom Home to entire community
The fifth commandment is clear. “Honor your father and mother,” as is the reason, according to the Torah (Exodus, Chapter 20). “So that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your G-d gives you.” If that’s true, then we all gained a few more years on this...
Hands United Building Bridges (HUBB) to be honored at Tidewater Humanitarian Awards Dinner
Thursday, March 30, 5:45 pm The Westin, Virginia Beach Town Center Created in the spring of 2015 as a constructive response to the racial violence and civil unrest that took place in Ferguson and Baltimore, Hands United Building Bridges is comprised of Jewish,...
Camp
March 20, 2017 Camp Section
Israel Today’s Princess Shaw receives standing ovations
Sporting a street-smart bravado and phosphorescent red hair topped with a black fedora, little could hide Samantha Montgomery’s (a.k.a. Princess Shaw) raw edgy talent and endearing awkward vulnerability. The special guest and singer songwriter received a standing...
Retired! Martin B. Mandelber
Baltimore native Marty Mandelberg moved to Norfolk in June 2005 with his wife, Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg. He immediately went to work at PayDay. For Ohef Sholom Temple’s Religious School, he became the eighth grade teacher, focusing on the Holocaust. He also began...