Other News

Members of the Tidewater Chavurah got together at Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill and Spencer Gill’s home to bake Hamantashen in preparation for Purim. A variety of fillings were used including lemon, poppy, apple, blueberry, pumpkin, and chocolate. A multi-generational event,...

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation recently added several objects of Judaica to its collections: a sterling silver and gold Kiddush cup and a silver and gold yad (Torah pointer). These mark the first such objects in the Foundation’s holdings and reflect the...

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...

AMSTERDAM (JTA)—Like many voters in democratic national elections, I almost always hope that whoever is elected will be able to serve out their full term—even if they weren’t my pick. This is especially true in my native Israel, whose infamously brittle coalitions...

A personal trainer for 16 years, Simon Family JCC trainer Susan Vann-Spruill says it is important for gym members to approach fitness with a plan. Without one, she says, the results are often minimal or worse. “Many people come to the gym regularly without a real plan...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—It looks like Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating alleged improprieties associated with Donald Trump’s presidency and election campaign, is wrapping up his report. Or maybe not. Mueller has over his near-two-year run led a leak-free...

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...

A component of many medical conditions, pain is complex. It is not just one thing—and the process of teasing out the one core issue at the root of the pain is challenging. In the first half of Outsmart Your Pain!, Lisa Barr, MD, reveals how stress and pain can become...

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...

LOS ANGELES (JTA)—It’s a story that would not sound too out of place in 2019: New York’s leading newspaper accuses the president of the United States of corruption and the latter sues the paper’s publisher for libel. Striking back, the publisher declares in an...

(JTA)—With the announcement in January that it had picked Robert Kraft as its 2019 laureate, the Genesis Prize seemed poised for a calmer year. Last year the foundation that awards the “Jewish Nobel,” as it’s called, picked actress and director Natalie Portman as an...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...