Other News

A Norfolk Academy senior, Shelby Brown is an active member of BBYO’s Kruger chapter. She has held several offices both locally and regionally, and has participated in leadership conferences such as CLTC and Kallah. Still, for Shelby, something was missing in her Jewish experience.

While Izzy Ezagui, author of Disarmed: Unconventional Lessons from the World’s Only One-Armed Special Forces Sharpshooter, helped kick off the Lee and Bernard Jaffe* Family Jewish Book Festival at United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Campaign Kickoff, he also made a variety of stops around Tidewater.

Following UJFT’s Annual Campaign Kickoff and the inspiring speech by Izzy Ezagui, YADians continued the celebration outdoors, under the stars.

Almost immediately after Hurricane Maria barreled into Puerto Rico a year ago last month, disaster relief groups rushed to the shattered island to help with rescue and cleanup.

(JTA)—One of the largest donors to the Republican Party in New England is calling on voters to support Democratic candidates in the upcoming elections— and Seth Klarman put his money where his mouth is.

(JTA)—For months author J.K. Rowling has been warning about the dangers of anti-Semitism in England, sparring on Twitter with critics who either downplay the phenomenon or say its proponents are confusing criticism of Israel with Jew hatred.

Stephanie Ben Simon has joined Ohef Sholom Temple as director of Education and Engagement (DEE). As DEE, Ben Simon will develop and oversee a dynamic program of education and engagement for the entire congregation, creating educational opportunities in alignment with the temple’s values at every stage of the life cycle. In partnership with OST’s clergy and lay leadership, she says she is developing membership and programming plans with the goals of attracting prospective members, integrating new members into the Ohef Sholom community, as well as engaging existing members.

(JTA)—Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a video of himself blowing a several-foot-long shofar.

Zuckerberg executed a perfect tekiyah- teruah-shevarim combination on the twisted ram’s horn as one of his daughters is heard crying in the background.

This past summer I spent a month in Israel with 32 of my best friends, while meeting 52 new friends, on the most amazing trip of my life. We did all the typical activities you do when traveling to Israel, like floating in the Dead Sea and climbing Masada, but the fact that I was doing it with 84 other 16-year-olds, some whom I knew and others whom I was getting to know, made it all the more special and meaningful.

(JTA)—For years, American Jewish groups have agitated for more religious pluralism in Israel. And year after year, the Israeli government has acted as if the country’s demographic and political realities make any kind of substantial reform impossible.

The latest version of an annual survey disputes that claim: It shows that Jewish Israelis disapprove of how their government handles religious issues. It shows that they want more liberal religious policies. And it says they want American Jews to intervene in the debate.

A Jew makes news, but does that make it Jewish news?

Take the case of Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty Tuesday, August 21 to fraud and campaign finance improprieties, directly implicating his former boss, President Donald Trump. Cohen, whose father survived the Holocaust, began his education at a yeshiva day school but transferred to the Lawrence Woodmere Academy. He once described himself as an “agnostic Jew.”

But little else in his story connects him to Jewish life in an interesting or newsworthy way.

On April 17 an explosion at the Selden Arcade caused damage to the d’ART Center and artists’ studios. The City of Norfolk closed the Selden and repairs are now underway. As one of her initial priorities as incoming executive director at Temple Israel, Nancy Tucker...

Dear Readers, Ten thousand baby boomers are turning 65 each day in this country. That’s a lot of daily additions to the ‘senior pool,’ though I bet that most celebrating those birthdays cannot believe they’re actually ‘seniors.’ That said, the ‘Seniors of 2015’ remain...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—From the man who married her grandmother to the man who married her daughter, from working a room full of bar mitzvah guests on behalf of her husband’s political career to headlining major pro-Israel events during her own, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—How often do you get the opportunity to pack “109 years,” #LoveWins and the rainbow colors into 140 characters? That’s how the American Jewish Committee celebrated the Supreme Court ruling Friday, June 26 extending marriage rights to gays throughout...

NEW YORK (JTA)—When Stephen Kaufer, the CEO of TripAdvisor, an $11 billion company that runs America’s leading user-generated hotel review website, thinks back to all the places he has visited, one stands out as his favorite. Jerusalem. “Oh my gosh, looking at all of...

NEW YORK (JTA)—On Saturday, June 6, a brawny three-year-old colt named American Pharoah took to the Belmont Stakes racetrack and became the first Triple Crown winner since 1978. The win has not only rocked the sports world, but is also a triumphant stand for Ahmed...

Perfect weather, a great crowd, terrific music, delicious food and a wonderful time at “Woodstockley Gardens” combined to make Ohef Sholom Temple’s Congregational Picnic a resounding success. Held on Saturday, May 9 in neighboring Stockley Gardens, the area was...

Ohef Sholom Temple’s Long Range Plan in 2006 envisioned engaging a full-time educator for its Religious School, but it wasn’t until 2013 when the Religious School Strategic Plan called for putting the vision into action. Throughout 2014, Linda Fox-Jarvis, then...

Dynamic conversations and religious discussion riveted the Klezmer Room at the Sandler Family Campus with participants of The Mothers Circle. Over the last nine months, 10 women who were not raised Jewish, but are married to Jewish men, de-mystified Judaism, learned...

NEW YORK (JTA)—If there’s one thing that can be said of longtime Anti-Defamation League leader Abraham Foxman, who is stepping down this month after nearly 30 years at the helm, it’s that he never holds back from speaking his mind. In an age of canned, anodyne...

When a former Naval officer called and asked for a speaker on a topic of interest to former U.S. Military officers, I knew I wanted the very best. Having just heard a presentation by Dr. Edward Karotkin to the 400 Club on his recent work at Zvi Medical Center of Bar...

Jewish Americans have made their marks in many fields. Entertainment is certainly among them. To celebrate the accomplishments of Jewish composers George Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Stan Getz, Herb Alpert and Neil Diamond, Temple Israel presented “Let’s...