On Monday morning, October 29, Norfolk Academy Headmaster Dennis Manning spoke to Upper School students and faculty about the necessity to respond to evil by “exercising moral agency” in the world. An excerpt: We have a local, regional, and school history, all of...
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Standing with Pittsburgh: Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University hosted a gathering on Monday, October 29. The program, attended by several hundred people, was sponsored by the Institute of Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding, ODU Hillel, Student Engagement and Enrollment Services, and the University...
#WeAreAllJews The Jewish media stand with Pittsburgh
(JTA)—Earlier this year, our colleagues at the three leading Jewish newspapers in the United Kingdom published the same front-page headline and joint editorial voicing concern over rising anti-Semitism in Britain’s Labour Party. Today we have found a mournful occasion...
26 years of brightening Hanukkah for local children and teens
I’m a single mother of a young child. I work full time and attend college classes in the evening. I have some wonderful neighbors and friends who help with watching my child when I am away. My child’s father doesn’t have a job, and is not able to pay any child support...
Jewish candidates in the 2018 congressional elections: The Senate
WASHINGTON (JTA)—There are 55 candidates for Congress who identify as Jewish. Among them are 41 Democrats: five are running for the Senate—three incumbents and two challengers. Among the 36 in the U.S. House of Representatives, 19 are incumbents and 17 are...
A reminder to vote
The murders at Parkland High School last winter changed my life. It really hit home after that tragedy when my local dance group watched a video of another team from Florida that originally included 15-year-old Jamie Gutenberg, who was murdered along with 17 other...
Simon Family Passport to Israel grant recipient, Shelby Brown, traveled to Israel for three weeks
A Norfolk Academy senior, Shelby Brown is an active member of BBYO’s Kruger chapter. She has held several offices both locally and regionally, and has participated in leadership conferences such as CLTC and Kallah. Still, for Shelby, something was missing in her Jewish experience.
Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival: Izzy Ezagui visits Cape Henry Collegiate
While Izzy Ezagui, author of Disarmed: Unconventional Lessons from the World’s Only One-Armed Special Forces Sharpshooter, helped kick off the Lee and Bernard Jaffe* Family Jewish Book Festival at United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Campaign Kickoff, he also made a variety of stops around Tidewater.
The After Party: YAD Kicks off Young Leadership Campaign
Following UJFT’s Annual Campaign Kickoff and the inspiring speech by Izzy Ezagui, YADians continued the celebration outdoors, under the stars.

Callah Terkeltaub is new ARTS + IDEAS manager
“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve our community in a way that brings people from all ages and backgrounds together through art,” says Callah Terkeltaub, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s new Arts + Ideas manager. “There are few organizations that I would have jumped at the chance to work for and UJFT is one of them.”
Here’s how Israelis and local Jews are helping in Puerto Rico a year after Hurricane Maria
Almost immediately after Hurricane Maria barreled into Puerto Rico a year ago last month, disaster relief groups rushed to the shattered island to help with rescue and cleanup.
Two Jewish billionaire donors withdraw support from GOP candidates
(JTA)—One of the largest donors to the Republican Party in New England is calling on voters to support Democratic candidates in the upcoming elections— and Seth Klarman put his money where his mouth is.
United Nations to recognize Yom Kippur as official holiday
NEW YORK (JTA)—The United Nations will for the first time recognize Yom Kippur as an official holiday. Starting in 2016, no official meetings will take place on the Jewish day of atonement at the international body’s New York headquarters, and Jewish employees there...
Education Matters
Great Jewish Books Summer Program opens to applicants Amherst, MA—High school students are invited to apply to the 2016 Great Jewish Books Summer Program, a weeklong residential program at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass. Due to the popularity of the program...
The Hampton Years offers opportunity for education and conversation between local Jewish and African American community
Sunday, Jan. 31, 2 pm, Wells Theater, Norfolk Emerging from Washington D.C.’s Theater J’s Locally Grown Festival in 2013, The Hampton Years by Jacqueline E. Lawton explores the development of great African American artists John Biggers and Samella Lewis under the...
Interpreting our role in ‘Never Again’
Old Dominion University’s Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding offered students the opportunity to visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Twelve ODU students, along with Farideh Goldin, IJIU director, and professor of...
Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater receives accreditation from National Institute for Jewish Hospice
Joining more than 60 hospices nationwide, Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater became the second Hospice in Virginia to become accredited with the National Institute For Jewish Hospice (NIJH). The accreditation links Hospice and Palliative Care of...
Relating the past to the present: Holocaust Commission’s 2016 student competitions
The official start of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission’s 2016 Elie Wiesel Student Writing & Visual Arts Competitions was announced this month. This is the 19th year the Commission has invited students to enter the writing...
HAT and Strelitz students celebrate Grandparents Day
Thanksgiving break was about to begin and excitement filled the air as preschool through fifth graders from Hebrew Academy of Tidewater Konikoff Center of Learning and Strelitz Early Childhood Education Center celebrated during the cherished annual tradition of...
Operation Understanding returns to Hampton Roads in 2016
Founded by Lois and Barry Einhorn in 1998, Operation Understanding Hampton Roads was active until 2006. The program is re-launching in 2016 under the leadership of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, along with coalition partners, the Community Relations...
What Jewish groups have (and haven’t) said about Donald Trump
NEW YORK (JTA)—Donald Trump’s call this month to bar all Muslims from entering the United States “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” has set off a deluge of criticism in America and around the world, from U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan...
What Americans had to say about Jewish war refugees
NEW YORK (JTA)—They were called “so-called” refugees, told they were alien to American culture and warned against as potential enemies of the United States. This heated anti-refugee rhetoric in America was directed against Jews trying to flee Europe, not Mexicans or...
Fiddler on the Roof— and behind the scenes
NEW YORK (JTA)—Ever since Zero Mostel imagined himself as a rich man in the original 1964 Broadway production, Fiddler on the Roof has been a cultural landmark on Broadway and in the Jewish sphere. It’s one of those musicals that always seems to be in rotation. Over...
New teachers bring added enthusiasm to HAT this year
For moms and dads who are into baseball and have a five-year-old child, here is another reason to enroll him or her at Hebrew Academy of Tidewater: There will be an opportunity to talk about the national pastime, baseball, with kindergarten teacher Terri Kraly, whose...
Jewish Book Festival reaches all ages and interests
This year’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe* Family Jewish Book Festival drew a record number of community members into the Simon Family JCC for the author events. Starting with Seth M. Siegel as the opening night and keynote speaker, each author event inspired audiences with...
2015 URJ Biennial makes, celebrates history
The Union of Reform Judaism held its Biennial November 4–8 in Orlando, Fla., and I had the honor of attending as a member of Ohef Sholom Temple’s board of directors. The URJ Biennial experience can be summed up as follows: • Three weeks’ worth of programming,...
Birthright and the Margolin family
When Virginia Beach native, Zalmy Margolin touched down at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv just before New Year’s, 2015, Birthright Israel officially became a family affair. Zalmy, together with his wife Bracha, were the last in his family to arrive as...
Israel Today Series kicks off with discussion of the strong U.S.-Israel commercial relationship
The kick off for the Community Relations Council’s 5th Annual Israel Today Series was a whirlwind spectacular, with Josh Kram not wasting one minute of his day in Tidewater. Kram landed in Norfolk and hit the ground running. First he was brought to the Reba and Sam...
Exciting year-end programs at Tidewater Jewish Foundation
Ending the 2015 calendar year on a very high note, the Tidewater Jewish Foundation recently rolled out several exciting initiatives. These include two matching incentives to help energize philanthropy, including a Legacy Match Life Insurance Program, a Donor Advised...
For Jewish groups, Syrian refugees are a reminder—not a threat
WASHINGTON (JTA)—American Jewish organizations don’t see the Syrian refugees as a threat; they see them as a reminder. With rare unanimity on an issue that has stirred partisan passion, a cross-section of the community has defended the Obama administration’s refugee...
Why no Facebook filter in solidarity with Israeli victims?
SHORT HILLS, N.J. (JTA)—“Show your support for the people of Paris by temporarily updating your profile picture with this new template we created,” read the Facebook-sponsored text promoted not 24 hours after last month’s terror attacks in Paris. The social media...
Help us continue to make miracles
Friends, As the year ends, we look back at events, visitors, and achievements— and yes, the challenges—the Tidewater Jewish community experienced in 2015. Our gratitude toward this community’s commitments, its accomplishments, its devotion and its dedication to...