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...
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‘Golden Years’ filled with family, travel, and…work
I’m glad to have this opportunity to reflect on my “golden years.” My long-suffering wife of 45 years, Carol, and I are worriers. So, prior to retiring, we spent lots of time worrying about having adequate health care and income so that once we retired we would, for...
What Retirement?
“What will I do?” After more than 40 years as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist/ Laboratory manager, I decided to retire. It was a wonderful career of hospital lab work and work in a private practice with the Group for Internal Medicine, where I had the privilege of...
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, interfaith activist who raised millions in Christian donations for Israel, dies at 67
To the many colleagues and supporters of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who died Wednesday, Feb. 6 at the age of 67, he was a man of vision whose enormous drive to succeed both facilitated and complicated his relentless efforts on behalf of the Jewish people. As head of...
A national Jewish group says community relations are in crisis
WASHINGTON (JTA)—An increase in anti-Semitism, an intensification of anti-Israel activity and decades of neglect have created a crisis in the Jewish community relations field, according to the umbrella group for Jewish public policy organizations, the Jewish Council...
Right-wing killings eclipsed all other extremist-related murders in 2018. The numbers don’t lie.
NEW YORK (JTA)—Every year, extremism takes a deadly toll around the world. No region is immune—not the Middle East, not Europe, and not the United States. In 2018, there were at least 50 Americans killed by extremists from different movements. Many of the victims were...
Amos Oz, iconic Israeli novelist and peace activist
Amos Oz, one of Israel’s most widely read and best-known writers, died December 28, 2018. He was 79. The cause was cancer, the Israeli media reported. Barely older than the country he chronicled in dozens of novels, essays and nonfiction books, Oz represented a...
Here I am!
First Person From YAD Cabinet In late spring of 2018, I received an invitation from Eliot Weinstein, Young Adult Division (YAD) Cabinet chair, and Jasmine Amitay, YAD director, to join the 2018-2019 YAD Cabinet. I had already participated in two of the United Jewish...
Art in the Family at Temple Israel
Like many synagogues, Temple Israel possesses art and artifacts that both enrich and inspire. On Saturday, December 8 and Sunday, December 9, the temple’s Art in the Family program offered a trio of experiences centered around its collection of Jewish-themed art,...
Amy Milligan honored at 35th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast
Amy Milligan, Old Dominion University’s Batten Endowed Assistant Professor in Jewish Studies and Women’s Studies and director of the Institute of Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding, received a community leader award at the 35th annual Urban League of Hampton...
Israeli security as the U.S. leaves Syria
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...
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...
Hebrew Academy implements research based character building program
Like adults, children experience a wide range of emotions during the course of a day—everything from sheer joy to frustration or confusion when things don’t go exactly as planned. While they may understand when and why they are upset, they don’t always understand how...
Family Fun at the Simon Family JCC
In November, the weather tends to cool a bit and family activities start to move indoors. This month, the Simon Family JCC drew crowds for three special events. On Saturday, Nov. 7, families gathered for Hoedown Havdallah, complete with a petting zoo. Children helped...
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...
