Education, and particularly Jewish education, has been the focus of Sierra Lautman’s professional life for years. Lautman and her family recently moved to Virginia Beach from Pittsburgh, where she was the Religious School director at Adat Shalom Synagogue. Before...
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Patty Shelanski joins UJFT as Arts + Ideas manager
United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s new Arts + Ideas manager, Patty Shelanski, is no stranger to Tidewater. Shelanski and her husband, Herm, recently returned to Norfolk after five years in Washington, DC, and she says, “we are so happy to be back in this...
Protesting rewritten history in Budapest
Wandering through the heart of Budapest, it is easy to stumble across Liberty Square. Entering the Park from the South, you are immediately confronted with a monument for “Victims of the German Occupation of 1944.” Hungary, represented by a helpless angel Gabriel, is...
A life of gratitude and generosity: Joseph Fleischmann
In 1938, Joseph Fleischmann, along with his mother, Ida, and sister, Rachel, fled Nuremberg, Germany. It was the end of a cold November, just weeks after a period of devastating violence known as Kristallnact or Night of Broken Glass. Members of Fleischmann’s family,...
Matthew Cooper: Legal work in Israel
When Matthew Cooper joined American and Israeli attorneys to sue Iran on behalf of terror victims who were harmed by Iran for financial support to terrorist organizations, he certainly stepped up his summer. As a legal intern for the Israeli non-profit Shurat HaDin,...
Nadiv completes third year with a donation to One Happy Camper
The young men’s giving circle through UJFT’s Young Adult Division, Nadiv, finished its third year of existence with banner fundraising. Members of the group—Jewish men in their 20s, 30s and 40s—donated $1,500 to One Happy Camper, a program implemented by Tidewater...
Foster kittens bring smiles to Beth Sholom Village residents
Faces light up when Gabrielle Exum, art therapist, walks around Beth Sholom Village carrying foster kittens. As part of her work, she began fostering the kitties, not just to help them find permanent homes, but also to engage with residents looking for something to...
Art at home For some people, art is décor—either purchased at an art show or gallery or chosen by an interior designer. For others, though, art is personal because it is their own creation. Jewish News spoke with several area artists to learn a little about their...
Evan Roesen: First step toward a bright future
A summer filled with firsts for Evan Roesen meant living in an apartment in Tel Aviv, working in an early-stage startup, and contributing to a marketing plan for Israeli, American, and European schools. Earlier in the summer, Roesen participated in Birthright Israel...
Jared Berklee and fellow BBYO Ambassadors bond in Italy
Tulane sophomore Jared Berklee traveled to Israel for the Alumni Leadership Seminar in Israel (ALSI). He went for training as a lead counselor in BBYO’s Perlman summer program. BBYO is the core influence in Berklee’s Jewish life. “I take pride in being a part of...
Disloyalty: The deep roots of an anti-Semitic accusation
Our American Jewish community has been much agitated in 2019 by accusations of disloyalty. These charges have come from different quarters of the political spectrum, and they carry various nuances. But what do they have in common? For this, we need to understand the...
We put it in writing. Better Together keeps getting better.
Better Together is a partnership program that connects teens with seniors for mutual enrichment and bonding opportunities. Throughout this past year, participating teens from Ohef Sholom Temple, Congregation Beth El, and Temple Israel spent Sundays eating lunch and...
From the Hal Sacks Jewish News Archives
June 23, 2006 Cantor Jennifer Bern-Vogel of Ohef Sholom Temple sang the National Anthem to open the Tides game at Harbor Park. Attendance that night was 8,606, including 118 from Ohef Sholom as part of the Men’s Club Annual Tides Picnic. June 7, 1996 The board of...
Donald Trump’s anti-Semitism controversies: A timeline
NEW YORK (JTA)—Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is facing growing accusations that his campaign is countenancing anti-Semitism— if not encouraging it outright. Trump’s foreign policy slogan, “America First,” echoes the World War II -era...
One dollar goes a long way at United Jewish Federation of Tidewater
“Charity is not something we wait to do when we feel like it. We know if we wait to be inspired the inspiration may never arrive,” says Karen Jaffe, chair of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Annual Campaign. “So we perform acts of righteousness, whether or...
It’s all Come Together
Year-long Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus renovation project is complete For the past 12 months, the sounds of children’s voices and clacking keyboards mingled with those of hammers and drills in the classroom hallways, offices and common areas at 5000 Corporate...
Health Care in the Jewish community
Israeli-developed HyGIeaCare® Center now open in collaboration with Gastrointestinal & Liver Specialists of Tidewater A new HyGIeaCare Center, where patients experience simple and easy bowel prep on the same day as their scheduled colonoscopy, recently opened at...
And the winner is… Brian Cohn, 6th grade student
For the fourth consecutive year, Tidewater students had the opportunity to learn some “cool facts” about Israel and share what they learned by creating original works of art. The 4th Annual Israel Poster Contest, sponsored by the Community Relations Council of the...
The Simon Family JCC celebrates its Biennial Meeting as its staff merges with the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater
Wednesday, June 15, 7 pm The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC are merging. Starting in January of 2016, JCC leadership initiated a plan for the Center and UJFT to combine resources, creating a stronger staff to support both the Federation and...
Local Lions of Judah welcome Jeannie Opdyke Smith to Tidewater
Yom HaShoah speaker Jeannie Opdyke Smith came to Tidewater a little early to meet with a special group of women. Thirty local Lions of Judah (Jewish women advocates and donors of $5,000 or greater to the UJFT annual campaign) met for lunch with Smith to hear in an...
Respect and hope mark community’s 2016 Yom Hashoah Holocaust Day of Remembrance gathering
From Wendy Juren Auerbach’s heartfelt welcome on behalf of the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater to Jay Klebanoff’s respectful closing remarks as UJFT president, Tidewater’s 2016 Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Day of Remembrance was a...
Hebrew Academy students write pen pals in Kiryat Yam
Snail mail. Almost a lost art form, yes? Not for Hebrew Academy of Tidewater students. The sending and receiving of hand-written letters with new Israeli pen pals has become a fun way to broaden world perspectives, develop their cognitive and creative abilities and...
Six ways Israel is counting its blessings on Independence Day
TEL AVIV (JTA)—When Israel entered its 1948 War of Independence, the coastal city of Rishon Lezion was a hardscrabble farming settlement with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. As waves of immigrants inundated Israel in its founding years, many were settled in temporary...
Choose Life
Most rabbis have the luxury of building relationships with their congregants that grow and change over the course of decades. They get to see their congregants’ life cycle events, be with them during times of joy and grieve with them during times of sorrow. The...
From the Hal Sacks Jewish News Archive
May 19, 2006 The Women’s Cabinet Outreach Committee of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, co-chaired by Judy Rubin and Ellen Peck Rosenblum, held two tours of the Chrysler Museum focused on works by contemporary Jewish artists. May 24, 1996 Ada Michaels, who...
Naro Expanded Cinema’s presentation of The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel’s Public Relations War in the U.S. skews the truth
On Wednesday, May 4, the Naro Cinema presented The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel’s Public Relations War in the U.S. This film is an extremely skewed propaganda piece for the ‘Israel as evil occupier camp;’ those who believe Palestinian suffering is primarily...
Preschool hoop house full of hope Enriching the lives of little seedlings
A visit to the Strelitz Early Childhood Education Center’s garden reveals some changes. In fact, some rather sizable changes—an eight-foot tall caterpillar, to be exact. Situated next to the garden beds in the back yard of the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus, the...
Seder at Strelitz
On Tuesday, April 19, the Strelitz Early Childhood Center held an educational and fun Model Passover Seder. Preschool parents were invited to attend with their children. Together, parents and children sang Passover songs, tasted Passover foods, and the children...
Rabbi Arthur Z. Steinberg
February 7, 1938–April 10, 2016 Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg delivered the eulogy for Rabbi Arthur Z. Steinberg at Ohef Sholom Temple. An abbreviated version follows Heart-broken and sorrow filled, as we gather to remember our beloved Rabbi Arthur Z. Steinberg, we reflect...
Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy advisers are exactly who you’d expect them to be—which is now rare
WASHINGTON (JTA)—It’s the season of the unconventional foreign policy adviser: Donald Trump takes advice from his sonin- law and real estate attorney, and Bernie Sanders cites folks who didn’t know they were advising him. In this field, Hillary Clinton’s inner circle...
From the Hal Sacks Jewish News Archives
May 5, 2006 For the second consecutive year, the Week of Healthy Living, Jewish Family Service’s major fundraising event, took place. It included the 2nd Annual Run, Roll or Stroll at Norfolk Botanical Gardens, as well as a variety of speakers and free health...
Judge Marc Jacobson to receive honorary doctorate from Old Dominion University at graduation ceremony
Saturday, May 7 Old Dominion University will present Judge Marc Jacobson with an honorary doctorate at its graduation ceremony next month. Jacobson served as a judge in the Commonwealth of Virginia for 14 years after practicing law for 32 years. He sat on the Norfolk...