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JFS receives grant to make Kids Connection inclusive

Jewish Family Service of Tidewater recently received a grant to work in collaboration with Simon Family JCC to develop a fully inclusive after-school program. The grant supports the initial development and implementation of inclusive programming for children with...

CTeens visit Norfolk Police with freshly baked cookies

Imagine a kitchen filled with three groups of teenagers hard at work baking chocolate chip cookies. Imagine they are Jewish teens from across Tidewater, representing a wide variety of schools and cities. And then, imagine they are baking cookies for others. Stop...

Israel ranked 10th healthiest country in the world

Israel is the 10th healthiest country in the world—54 spots ahead of the United States. The Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, published last month, ranked 169 nations based on factors such as life expectancy and access to sanitation and medical care. Countries were...

Time to Write

I formally retired from my Cardiology group after 45 years of practice in July 2018. Fortunate to be able to ease into retirement by ending night and weekend call after 35 years (which is obviously quite demanding and stressful), for the last several years, my...

Time to make “philanthropic” resolutions

As we turn our calendars to 2016, it is easy to think about the age old New Year’s resolutions, such as: • Exercise more • Lose weight • Eat healthier • Save more (get out of debt) • Spend more time with family (worklife balance) • Quit smoking But, have you thought...

Five reasons why children should learn coding

Learning to code is child’s play. Don’t believe it? Ask Rabbi Menda, who will say it’s true. As Hebrew Academy’s savvy Coding Club advisor (and Judaic Studies director), Rabbi Menda teaches students in grades three through five to code—and they’re having a blast...

Operation Understanding Hampton Roads program re-launches

Transformational experience for African American and Jewish teenagers to be coordinated by five community organizations A year long leadership development program for 40 African American and Jewish high school students in Tidewater, Operation Understanding Hampton...

One membership, two locations

Simon Family JCC and Town Center Fitness offer reciprocity Two local gyms are joining forces to create a fitness membership that offers access 365 days a year and 85 group fitness classes each week. Town Center Fitness, formed by Tom Purcell in 2004 as a convenient...

2015 news quiz

The ultimate test of Jewish and Israeli knowledge (JTA)—Bernie Sanders, Jenna Jameson, criminal rabbis: How much do you know about the Jews and their goings-on in 2015? 1. Which U.S. Jewish religious denomination made which landmark decision this year? a. The...

Will 2016 be the year of the female Orthodox rabbi?

WASHINGTON (JTA)—At first blush, it appears like a bombshell: The United States listened in on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s phone calls. But on closer examination, the revelations reported Dec. 29 by The Wall Street Journal might not be so far reaching....

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...

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...

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,...