(JTA)—Mel Brooks’ new HBO special is a departure from the comedian’s typical belly-laugh fare. In place of the slapstick gallows humor—though there’s plenty of that, too, in Mel Brooks Unwrapped—is a more introspective, documentary-style reminiscence of his nearly...
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Happy Hanukkah!
Dear Readers, The first Hanukkah candle is lit this year on the evening of Sunday, December 22, which means of course, the fourth will be lit on Christmas. While some might say that the Jewish holiday’s overlap with the most major of Christian days might result in...
Hanukkah in Tidewater
Tidewater is fortunate to have so many great Hanukkah events taking place around town this year. Check some of them out here. Saturday, December 14 Ohef Sholom Temple OSTY Chanukah Party Sunday, Dec. 15, 11:30 Am–2:30 pm Simon Family JCC Latkapalooza A day filled with...
Latkepalooza: A family celebration
A community celebration of Hanukkah, Latkepalooza features three children’s books and authors, a camp extravaganza, light lunch and latkes, raffle, crafts, and live music. Latkepalooza 2019 is a family-friendly mini-book festival filled with group activities, camp...
Ohef Sholom Temple celebrates 175 years with Gala
Nearly 300 people arrived at Ohef Sholom Temple on Saturday, November 16 for the Temple’s 175th Anniversary Gala. The evening was beyond expectations, and really offered something for everyone: a jazz quartet to start the party, a dance band, and a piano bar where...
Great Big Challah Bake celebrates five years
The Fifth Annual Great Big Challah Bake offered a chance to learn and experience the joy and mitzvah of making challah. Chaired by darcy Bloch, B’nai israel Congregation invited all Jewish women to participate in this event, which took place last month at the...
Following provocative panel on end-of-life issues, Hadassah seeks to rebuild presence in area
For its first event in Tidewater in recent years, national and regional leadership of Hadassah could only guess what the turnout would be for a program on ethical issues surrounding end-of- life. The event on Sunday, November 3 at the Simon Family JCC did not...
Super Sunday 2020: A perfect vision
Super Sunday is the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s annual phone-a-thon fundraiser dating back to the 1980’s. This year’s ‘community call’ had kid-friendly written all over it. A group of emerging leaders known as the Rishon committee, led by Amie Harrell,...
Leave the Holocaust out of your self-promotion, political agenda and profit-seeking
NEW YORK (JTA)—Here we go again: Just this month, two more cases of the abuse of Holocaust imagery have surfaced and created an international stir. In November, Russian figure skater Anton Shulepov wore an Auschwitz- themed costume during his free skating performance...
Lighting the way, writing our story together
Tidewater’s Jewish community came together on September 26 to find strength in shared values, envision our community’s future, and IGNITE our 2020 Community Campaign. We celebrated our Tidewater community and recognized the individual impact of each gift, as well as...
In the Jewish heart of Pittsburgh, Mister Rogers was actually our neighbor
This story originally appeared on Kveller. I’m sitting in a sold-out first weekend movie premiere of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, delighted by the fact that this movie was filmed in my Pittsburgh neighborhood, Squirrel Hill. it’s an upscale, multicultural...
Are the Jewish mobsters referenced in The Irishman real?
Very minor spoilers ahead for The Irishman—but nothing big, we promise. (JTA)—The irishman, Martin Scorsese’s latest organized crime epic, is now streamable on Netflix. Even if the significant digital de-aging of the actors involved is a bit distracting, the film’s...
Clinton and Trump, meeting with Netanyahu, share commitment to US-Israel alliance
Hillary Clinton said she opposed any U.N. Security Council bid to impose a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just hours after a summit between the Israeli leader and Donald Trump. Netanyahu’s meetings...
Even Israel doesn’t do ethnic profiling the way Donald Trump thinks it does
Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA)—Donald Trump wants to profile likely terrorists the way Israel does it. The problem is, Israel and the United States already profile in similar ways—and neither in the way Trump prefers. The Republican presidential nominee’s proposal to...
Study shows how Jewish vote could play crucial role in key states
Penny Schwartz BOSTON (JTA)—A new study, touted as the first-ever state-by-state, county-bycounty Jewish population estimate, shows how the Jewish vote could play a crucial role in key battleground states. The study, released Thursday, September 21 and conducted by...
Kickoff 2017: Setting the stage for a successful Campaign year
Laine Mednick Rutherford The 275 people who spilled off the stage, into the wings, and out into the theatre at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, September 20 weren’t there to dance or sing or act.They had braved pouring rain and flooded streets to...
Society of Professionals holds first networking event
A new business in the newly created ViBe district of Virginia Beach proved to be the perfect setting for the inaugural event of the newest Jewish group in Hampton Roads. The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Society of Professionals held its launch party on...
Kiryat Yam visits Tidewater
Sherri Wisoff Five Israeli delegates from Kiryat Yam, Tidewater’s Jewish community’s sister city in Israel, spent a whirlwind, and often rain-soaked week in Tidewater last month. During the week of September 18, these young adults visited most of Tidewater’s Jewish...
Joyce Strelitz wins prestigious award at International Women’s Conference
Joyce Strelitz, a longtime Tidewater leader and philanthropist, was honored by The Jewish Federations of North America’s National Women’s Philanthropy with its prestigious Kipnis- Wilson/Friedland Award on Tuesday, September 13. The award was announced at the 2016...
Excitement builds for TJF’s new Life and Legacy initiative
The Jewish experience is nothing if not diverse. Some might only celebrate the High Holy Days, or others might attend shul for Shabbat services every week. Perhaps it is that perfected challah recipe, or just a good bowl of matzah ball soup. From Hebrew school to...
Statewide recognition for the Holocaust Commission
The Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater has been named the recipient of the 2016 Virginia Council for the Social Studies Friend of Education Award. Awarded annually to “a non-profit organization that exemplifies a commitment to teachers...
Shimon Peres, last of Israel’s founders, dies
Ben Sales TEL AVIV (JTA)—Shimon Peres, the former defense hawk turned Nobel Peace Prize winner and the last of Israel’s founders, has died. Peres died before dawn Wednesday, September 28 at 93. The former president suffered a massive stroke earlier last month and was...
5776: The year in review
(JTA)—A stabbing and car-ramming epidemic in Israel that some called a third intifada was among the most dominant Jewish stories of the past year. But 5776 was also notable for the release of spy Jonathan Pollard after 30 years in prison, the communal fallout from the...
Neta Levi, Israeli mixed media artist exhibit at the Leon Family Art Gallery
September 21–October 23 Sandler Family Campus In describing her creative process, Neta Levi says, ”When I’m closing the door behind me to my studio (garage)…I feel like I’m drifting away with my imagination. I celebrate my creativity with endless tubes of color and...
Shabbat Shalom to summer
Freshly cut grass, chlorine, sunscreen, and melted popsicles are the scents of summer usually found by the pool at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. On the evening of Friday, August 29 at the YAD and JCC End of Summer Shabbat Dinner and Pool Party, new aromas...
From the Hal Sacks Jewish News Archives
September 22, 2006 Fourteen teenagers took a weeklong bus adventure as part of the Simon Family Jewish Community Center’s Operation Understanding Hampton Roads. The group visited Atlanta, Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery, and such diverse sites as the Voting Rights...
Making the world a better place
With the approach of the Jewish Holidays, many of us are starting to review our actions over the past year. We reflect on the goals we set for ourselves and assess whether we met them and we begin to contemplate how we can make positive changes going forward. As I...
Diamonds Direct Grand Opening in Virginia Beach features placement of mezuzot
An Israeli-run jewelry store is now open in Virginia Beach, complete with mezuzot adjacent to the front and inside doors. Diamonds Direct is the eighth in a fast growing chain that started in Charlotte in 1995 and has spread across the southeast United States....
Home
Dear Readers, According to Reform Judaism, A Jewish Way of Life, a small handbook that covers topics from What is Torah? to The State of israel to Life Cycle and everything in between, “When establishing a Jewish home, it is important to find a town, city, or neigh...
Area high school and college students share how they spent their ‘Jewish Summers.’
Hannah Cooper Birthright Israel Rafting down the Jordan River. Hiking up Masada. Floating in the Dead Sea. Praying at the Western Wall. Riding a camel. This summer I had the privilege to travel to Israel through Taglit Birthright, an organization that provides...
Report from Israel
I had another rewarding pilgrimage this past July to Israel—the land of my upbringing—spent with my Israeli family led by my mother Chasia (“God spares”), a 94-year-young Polish Holocaust survivor from Sarny, Ukraine who is a remarkable symbol of Jewish endurance and...
Brith Sholom’s “Club 50 Dinner & Dance” celebrates longevity
A celebration of long-lasting marriage, Brith Sholom held its annual Club 50 Dinner & Dance on Sunday, August 21 at Beth Sholom Village. Deemed “a real success,” 135 people attended, including 37 couples married who are 50 years or more. The evening began with...