Now in its 26th year, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater’s Chanukah Gift Program helps local Jewish families in financial need with gifts and gift cards for their children, and VISA gift cards for those without children. During Hanukkah 2018, JFS received donations...
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The light above all lights
For years, 43rd Street at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront’s North End neighborhood has drawn thousands of spectators to its famous displays of holiday lights. When Dr. Mark Lipton moved to the street earlier this year, he knew there was an expectation to put up a...
Seniors Club celebrates winter holidays with music
Approximately 50 seniors gathered at the Simon Family JCC on Wednesday, December 19 for the Seniors Club lunch, installation of the 2019 board, and singalong with Michal Newman, Hebrew Academy of Tidewater music teacher and musician. Seniors throughout the community...
Four truths about the college application process
1. It’s not the same as it was when we were applying. Today’s college process hardly resembles what many of us experienced. We applied to the colleges we had heard about through neighbors and family. We took the SATs cold: being in school five days a week was...
Adding memories to my heart
I have been fortunate to travel to Israel three times in my life; once with the Jewish Federation of Philadelphia during my senior year of high school, once in 2015 with the Tom Hofheimer Hineni! mission and then again, this past summer, with the UJFT Journey Home...
VCIC makes history with Hampton Roads office on Virginia Wesleyan University campus
For the first time in its 83-year history, Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (VCIC) has expanded its physical presence beyond its Richmond home base, establishing an office on the campus of Virginia Wesleyan University in Virginia Beach. The opening of the...
Our Community—Connected, Supportive, and Vibrant
Several times throughout his recent busy visit to Tidewater, Rick Recht publicly proclaimed his admiration for our Jewish community. A popular musician who travels throughout the nation, he spoke of our community’s inclusivity—how much we did together, regardless of...
Grandparents: Got any advice?
Leading up to the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival and the arrival of Jane Isay, author of Unconditional Love: A Guide to Navigating the Joys and Challenges of Being a Grandparent Today, who has plenty of advice on grandparenting, Jewish News asked...
Two year-end giving strategies to consider before December 31
Yes, it is December and I’m sure you have been inundated with “Giving Opportunities,” but how will the new tax laws for 2018 impact your taxes and your charitable giving? Millions of Americans will take the increased standard deduction and lose the incentive to...
More than 2,000 handmade Jewish stars hung throughout Pittsburgh
More than 2,000 handmade Stars of David were hung throughout Pittsburgh. The stars, created by more than 1,000 volunteers from around the world, were hung on Saturday, Nov. 17 by 40 volunteers. Each star—some crocheted, some made with leather—had a heart in the...
How a rabbi saved four Torah scrolls from being destroyed in the California wildfires
(JTA)—The death toll and damage continue to rise in California in the wildfires ravaging the state. Like other Californians, Jewish residents evacuated their homes and are dealing with the devastating fallout of the fires. Synagogues, camps, and a day school have all...
End of Year giving opportunities for you and your family
At this time of year, most think about other people, friends, and family. This year, I hope you will also think about your community and the many ways to make a difference. Several exciting programs and matching gift opportunities are available through Tidewater...
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...
An unprecedented experience at 2nd Annual National Israeli-American Council Conference
Washington DC.—For a vibrant 48 hours, 1,300 Israeli-Americans and Americans who are passionate for the State of Israel, gathered for the Second Annual National Israeli American Council Conference at the Washington DC Hilton in October. At this conference,...
