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Rabbi Batya Glazer has been building relationships between the Jewish community and representatives of faith and ethnic communities through dialogue, working in coalition, and educational programming for years. She says she finds these relationships to be “an...
Not many people (if any) have fields to harvest or vineyards to glean, but as Jews, can still perform the mitzvah of Pe’ah by feeding the hungry—and Temple Israel does, generously and often, in gifts to Mazon, the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund, and its annual High Holy...
Kehillat Bet Hamidrash, Kempsville Conservative Synagogue, also known as KBH, is a small, do-it-yourself Conservative Synagogue. Its modest building is home to 60 plus family units. Throughout the pandemic, the leadership has faced many of the same challenges as the...
We are thrilled to bring the Florence Melton School of Adult Learning back to Tidewater as part of the Konikoff Center for Learning. Over the past year, I have spoken to many Melton graduates who had wonderful things to say about their time with the mini-school when...
Women from Tidewater and beyond gathered on Thursday, November 5 on Zoom for the 6th Annual Great Big Challah Bake. Part of the global Shabbos Project, the local event was a collaboration between B’nai Israel Congregation and the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater....
The holiday season may be difficult this year with the pandemic altering many family plans and traditions. Navigating the challenges will most likely take more patience and flexibility than usual. For those facing their first holiday season without a loved one, this...
(JTA)—Nearly half of Americans don’t know what the phrase “anti-Semitism” means. That’s one takeaway from two surveys published last month by the American Jewish Committee. The surveys asked Jews and the general American public about anti-Semitism in the United...
Following the expansion and restructuring of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces’ (FIDF) executive office and welcoming Steven Weil as the new national director and CEO in mid-September, FIDF has formed the new Eastern Region. Seth Baron, who for the past seven...
The Glasser name stands for character and charisma—and juxtapositions. Jacob ‘Jake’ Glasser, the firm’s newest member, is the son of Lori and Michael Glasser, and nephew of former partners Stuart Glasser and Richard Glasser (of blessed memory). Named “Best Lawyers in...
The new administrator of The Terrace Assisted Living, Allison Whiteman, is very familiar to Beth Sholom Village. A gradute of Virginia Wesleyan College (now Virginia Wesleyan University), with a degree in Recreation and Leisure Studies, Whiteman knew she wanted to...
(JTA)—Jewish voters are set to vote 75% to 22% for Joe Biden, according to a poll by the American Jewish Committee. The poll released Monday, Oct. 19, shows the Democratic nominee expanding his support among Jewish voters from a 67–30 split in a poll last month and it...
(JTA)—On Thursday, Oct. 15, the FBI had a message for Jewish institutions across the country: Prepare for the possibility of violence on Election Day. That was the main takeaway from a webinar hosted by the Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for...
Father's Day, June 12, 2017
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...