This piece was originally published in Real Clear Defense on January 5, 2019 The Israeli military launched an operation last month to expose and neutralize Hezbollah’s commando tunnels penetrating Israeli territory from Lebanon. According to Israeli officials, the...
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The wisdom behind Israel’s crazy multi-party system
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israeli politics looks like a big mess right now. In the past few weeks, three new parties have been launched and one party has kicked out a former partner. More changes are likely, too. It probably will get messier still if Prime Minister Benjamin...
Thanks to generous donors, Jewish Family Service helped 115 families during Hanukkah 2018
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...
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...
Locals attend AIPAC’s annual Schusterman Advocacy Institute High School Summit
The first day of a three-day-long Israel advocacy summit began before the crack of dawn on Sunday, Nov. 1. A dark and cold morning, the clocks had just turned back an hour and some were still awake celebrating Halloween. However, three Jewish nomads were on a mission...
Tavia Gordon—Tavia ben Yitzhak Pesach v’Malka
February 23, 1929–October 30, 2015 A giant in the community, Tavia Gordon is remembered by Rabbi Jeff Arnowitz and Rabbi Arthur Ruberg. Their eulogies from his funeral at Congregation Beth El are excerpted here: As we gather to remember and celebrate the life of Tavia...
Federation Women’s Luncheon honors new milestone givers
The Women’s Division of the UJFT held its annual Lion Tikva Chai Luncheon on Wednesday, Oct. 28 at the Sandler Family Campus. Guest Speaker Sarah Simha Benkemoun shared her personal Aliyah story with the luncheon participants, explaining her reasons for leaving France...
Hazak gets healthy
Congregation Beth El and Hazak ‘Got Healthy’ on Sunday, Nov. 1 when Hazak hosted a program exploring the benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle to achieve longevity. Approximately 80 people attended. The morning began with a breakfast buffet that included healthy...
15-year holiday tradition of helping others continues at Sandler Family Campus
This holiday season, Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus security manager Jason Capossere is again collecting gifts, food donations, and cleaning and pet supplies to donate through area organizations to people—and animals— in need. This is the 15th anniversary of the...
Congressman Whitman meets with community leaders
Congressman Rob Whitman, 1st District, met with members of the Jewish community at the Sandler family Campus on Friday, Oct. 30. Among the many topics discussed were the Iran Nuclear deal, Israel, the U.S. budget, election of Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House and the...
My son the mentor, author and role model
Danny Rubin is no stranger to the readers of this publication. His picture has graced many a page in the Jewish News because of his volunteer work for the Simon Family JCC, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s YAD, Temple Israel, Beth Sholom Home and other agencies...
CRC partners with Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 11:30 am, Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus The newest partner in the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s annual Israel Today series is the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. A panel of experts will discuss...
Let There Be Water author informs and inspires Book Festival audience
Seth M. Siegel shared his passion for averting a water crisis in this country and around the world with community members on Sunday, Nov. 1 at the Simon Family JCC. Siegel, the keynote speaker for the Lee and Bernard Jaffe* Family Jewish Book Festival, recently...
JFS volunteer provides shoulder to cry on
JFS honors Staci Katz as the 2015 Max Japha Volunteer of the Year Each year, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater honors a volunteer with the Max Japha award to recognize their outstanding volunteer commitment to the agency. Max Japha was extremely active in the Jewish...
Continued commitment at Men’s Major
They enter the room quietly and unadorned in their everyday attire. They are met warmly by their hosts, Steve and Art Sandler and quickly begin looking around for friends to greet and with whom to share the latest news of a business triumph, a special family...
Veterans’ Day 2015
I promised the Jewish News an article on Veterans’ Day long before I had my recent nine weeks in and out of hospitals and, finally, rehab at Beth Sholom. But somehow I never got around to it. So here are my thoughts on Veterans Day—today. I may have mentioned in a...
Colonel Ed Shames: World War II Hero
It is safe to say the bottle of cognac Colonel Ed Shames opened in celebration of his son’s bar mitzvah at Norfolk’s B’nai Israel synagogue in 1961 was unlike any bottle opened for a b’nai mitzvah in Hampton Roads. Shames’ bottle came straight from Adolph Hitler’s...
Tending to President Kennedy and his family aboard the USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.
In September of 1962, while serving as the senior Supply Officer aboard USS Blandy (DD 943) out of Newport Rhode Island, I was detailed to the destroyer USS Joseph P Kennedy Jr. for the duration of the America Cup Races being held that year off Narragansett Bay. The...
Military
Dear Readers, The United States military is practically synonymous with Tidewater. With all branches located here, including and especially, the world’s largest Naval Base, it’s no wonder that nearly everyone—including the Jewish community—has some sort of military...
Wave of terror
As hard as it is to believe, living in the north right along the border with Lebanon/ Hezbollah might be one of the safest places in Israel right now. The current “wave of terror” has not really affected my day-to-day life. There have been no attacks in my area, I...
At Rabin rally, calls to pursue peace and defend democracy
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Some 100,000 people joined together in central Tel Aviv on Saturday, Oct. 31 to pay tribute to slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, but they were divided over what exactly they were rallying for. The demonstration, which marked the 20th anniversary of...
Open letter to Tidewater Jewish community
In 1979, as chairman of the UJFT allocation committee, I was appointed to the “Federation’s seat” on the board of the incipient Beth Sholom Home. My dear friend Morty Goldmeier, of blessed memory, was chairman of the board, ably supported by two other stalwarts, Jack...
Home
Dear Readers, Fall is a favorite season of the year for many, including me. While the spring is when we look to outside, fall tends to be the time to begin spending more of our days inside. (That is, after we get those leaves raked and gardens prepared for the...
Community-building at the heart of the Week of Extraordinary Deeds
The goals of the United Jewish Federation’s 2015 Week of Extraordinary Deeds are threefold: engagement, action, and tikkun olam, or repairing the world. Achieving these goals means event organizers are tackling one of the larger challenges facing world Jewry today:...