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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...
(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...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—There are 37 Jewish members of the 117th Congress, which was sworn in earlier this month amid the trauma of an insurrection spurred by President Donald Trump. Of the 37, there are 10 in the Senate and 27 in the House of Representatives—25 Democrats...
Hanukkah around the world together Beth El celebrated Hanukkah each night with collective candle lighting, singing, and sharing that took the congregation around the world and back again. Several members grew up in other countries and shared stories and childhood...
When most people hear the word ‘Hadassah,’ chances are they think of a hospital in Israel. In actuality, Hadassah is so much more. Hadassah’s mission statement describes itself as “a volunteer organization that inspires a passion for and commitment to the land, the...
While the wait for a safe vaccine for all looms large, the range of reactions to COVID-19 is as diverse as the people whose lives are affected. Some seniors in the community have lived in Tidewater all their lives. They’re married with children and grandchildren and...
Prue Salasky spent six months of a 10-month teaching assignment in Bulgaria through the U.S. Fulbright program. Her Balkan adventure, including plans to visit Istanbul, Kiev, Odessa, and Israel, was cut short when Fulbright canceled all its programs worldwide due to...
Women’s American ORT, Organization for Rehabilitation and Training, has always been an educational and vocational game changer for students in the U.S. and around the world. Lifelong volunteer Sara Trub has been ORT-immersed for 48 years. An e-mail she received from a...
Each year the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater sponsors the Elie Wiesel Visual Arts Competition. Hundreds of student artists from Tidewater, as well as nationally, create works of art that respond to various topics and guidelines which...
One year ago, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) released a groundbreaking piece of research—the first-ever survey of American Jews on anti-Semitism in America. Released on the first anniversary of the deadly Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the worst anti-Semitic...
When the COVID-19 pandemic started breaking out across the United States, Pam Blais began receiving a slew of phone calls. A former 18-year-emergency department registered nurse, Blais had countless friends and co-workers that were suddenly thrust to the frontlines...
Now in its 11th year, the Stein Family College Scholarship will begin accepting applications on December 1, 2020 for the 2021-2022 academic year. The annual grant for Jewish students in Tidewater provides a scholarship of up to $10,000 a year for college tuition. The...
On an early Tuesday morning in June, 14 new graduates of the Tidewater Hineni! Leadership Program landed in Israel for the culmination of their two-year program. The 5th UJFT Tom Hofheimer Young Leadership Mission to Israel was underway. Day 1 The mission began with...
Who knew one year ago when we scheduled this issue’s Legal Matters that so many legal decisions and arguments would be taking place—in Israel and in the USA? Consider, for example, Israel’s suspension of the Western Wall agreement (page 16) and, its advancement of a...
Ellie Brooke and Deb Segaloff visited BINA High School to present the Holocaust Commission’s What We Carry program to students on Friday, June 9. The women presented the story of David Katz, a Holocaust survivor of blessed memory. This program was the culmination of...
The Simon Family JCC offers a calendar of bold perspectives and community enrichment for members and guests. With record number attendees for Camp JCC and speakers such as Dennis Ross, the JCC serves as a gathering place for fun, education, and social networking. The...
NEW YORK (JTA)—On Jan. 27, President Donald Trump made Mark Hetfield’s job impossible. Hetfield is the president and CEO of HIAS, an organization that resettles refugees in the United States. A week into his presidency, Trump issued an executive order barring refugees...
NEW YORK (JTA)—The vast majority of Reform and Conservative rabbis affiliate as Democrats, according to a new study. The study, published this month by Yale University, found that more than 80 percent of Reform rabbis, and about 70 percent of Conservative rabbis,...
Words Matter: Now More Than Ever Wednesday, July 26 and Thursday, July 27 The Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s highly praised Biennial Educators’ Conference provides educators with tools, strategies, and techniques to use for...
On Tuesday, June 7, the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater Class of 2017 held a very moving graduation ceremony. Of the 14 students graduating from the school, 12 had attended the HAT since preschool. Next fall, these graduates will attend a variety of excellent schools...
It may have begun on a dark, rainy September night, but the 6th Annual Israel Today series ended with a bang on a beautiful, warm May evening, as the Tidewater community gathered to cook with Chefs Nir Margalith and Guy Marom, of travel and culinary group Puzzle...
Just who qualifies as a ‘senior’ is a bit confusing these days. That’s mainly because the definition of ‘senior’ and who identifies as one, is more of a moving target than ever before. While it wasn’t that long ago that very few people worked beyond 65 years old, or...
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is responding to catastrophic flooding and mudslides in Sri Lanka, the result of the worst storms to hit the island nation since 2003. JDC, together with its local partner Sarvodaya, a Buddhist-inspired...
(JTA)—Try to think of the most famous Israelis in history. Not necessarily the most consequential or “important” ones— like any number of Nobel Prize winners or behind-the-scenes Middle East peace deal negotiators—but those who are most universally recognizable. Most...
Technology is now ubiquitous. Kids seem to be born knowing how to use it. Still, if they want to keep up with the technology curve, they will have to learn to build, program, and code. As a result, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has recently...
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...