Southeastern Virginia: Chesapeake • Norfolk • Portsmouth • Suffolk • Virginia Beach
Archives
This year’s Yom Hashoah Commemoration, honoring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, as well as liberators and righteous gentiles, brought the community together around not just awareness and sadness, but honor and hope for the future. Yom Hashoah co-chair Elka...
At the Strelitz Early Childhood Education Center, Passover learning includes all of the children. In the infant program, for example, one child, attracted by a dimpled faux matzah ball, crawled to an eye-level poster with matzah balls attached by Velcro… and pulled...
(JTA)—From his birthplace in Boston to New York, Berlin, South Africa, China, and Israel, Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990), the larger-than-life conductor, pianist, composer, educator and bon vivant, is being celebrated in a two-year bonanza of concerts, stage...
NEW YORK April 16, 2018—In honor of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) has donated an Israeli flag created by Rebecca Affachiner, often called “the Betsy Ross of Israel,” to the...
Last December, I was fortunate to accompany 12 amazing volunteers representing Community Relations Councils throughout the country and the dedicated staff of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs on a 10-day mission to Poland and Israel. The trip was in many ways a...
As the worldwide Jewish and pro-Israel communities celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is offering a new type of exhibit: The Tidewater Umbrella Project. For the past five years, the Community Relations Council has held the...
Women, April 23, 2018
Sunday, April 22, Ohef Sholom Temple Brunch: 10:30 am. Award presentation: 11 am, $10 per person This year’s recipient of Ohef Sholom Temple Men’s Club’s Henry B. Kaufmann Award is Sharon K. Nusbaum. A long-time Ohef Sholom congregant, Nusbaum is the wife of Bill...
Judy Sacks Anderson In the summer of 1972 when I was only 17, my parents, Hal and Annabel Sacks, sent my 15-year-old brother, Skip and me to Israel on a sociology trip from Virginia Wesleyan College. We spent a good portion of the summer working on Kibbutz MishMarot...
Suzanne Barr In 1967, I heard about a United Jewish Appeal Young Leadership Mission to Israel from our friends, Mavolyn and Sonny Lefcoe. I was advised that it would be a hard trip, but I wanted to go anyway. After making some calls, I managed to get on the trip,...
Amy Zelenka I never get tired of saying that every Israel experience is special— each one meaningful in its own way. Whether it’s with a Birthright trip, bar or bat mitzvah, a Federation mission, or any other means of visiting—a trip to Israel is unique among all...
(JTA)—In the United States, the magic number on Election Day is 270, the number of Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency. In Israel, it’s 61, the number of seats needed to capture a majority in the 120-seat Knesset—and with it, the premiership. With...
Tom Hofheimer and the Medical Mission We begin with this brief introduction to honor the memory of Tom Hofheimer, which coincides with the 30th anniversary of his passing and the 30th anniversary of the Tom Hofheimer Foundation and its various versions since its...
For four days, Jews in Tidewater— and beyond—are invited to be part of the 2nd Annual Tidewater Together, a journey of Jewish insight, understanding and growth. Tidewater Together’s goal is to welcome all Jews, inclusive of race, class, gender and practice, to...
Friday, March 27, 12:30 and 7 pm, Old Dominion University Professor Michael Brenner will speak twice for The Sonenshine Lecture Series as part of the Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding at Old Dominon University. Jewish Life in Contemporary...
Wednesday, April 15, 6:45 pm, Congregation Beth El Presented by the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, the annual Yom Hashoah commemoration honors survivors, liberators and righteous gentiles. The event also applauds winners of its...
Sunday, May 3 The 11th Annual Run, Roll or Stroll, which will take place at 24th Street Park in Virginia Beach will include an 8K run, a 5K run, 5K walk and a 1 mile run/ walk, plus fun activities for all ages. Don London of The New 101.3 radio station will provide...
What is a “chalutz? ” This is the question that Leon Covitz posed at the recent Jewish Education Council Educators’ Professional Development workshop on Tuesday, Feb. 10. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Covitz is the director of education at Temple Israel and an educator...
The culinary and creative efforts of the Tidewater Jewish community filled bodies and souls over the Purim holiday this year. An estimated 150 people of all ages came to the Sandler Family Campus on Sunday, Feb. 15 to participate in Operation Hamantaschen. The annual...
Dear Readers, Summer Camp has a way of impacting campers and counselors in a way, I believe, that only they truly understand. So many children can’t wait to return each year, and the same goes for the staff and counselors. A perfect example of the phrase, “you can...
In the 1950s, a very determined group of leaders came together with a vision for a Jewish day school for the children of Tidewater. That dream became a reality and the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater opened its doors in Norfolk in 1954–1955. The founding men and women of...
Following a rocky start in the Virginia House of Delegates, Del. Brenda Pogge of Williamsburg accepted a substitute resolution by Senator Adam Ebbin of Northern Virginia, which was approved in the Senate, and made its’ way back to the House where it finally earned...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, in the end, was about reminding Americans that the enemy of your enemy may still be your enemy. He may have lost some friends in the process. Netanyahu spoke before the U.S. Congress on Tuesday,...
Wednesday, March 25, 5:45 pm, Norfolk Waterside Marriott Leah and Richard Waitzer are the nominees to receive the prestigious Humanitarian Award at the Tidewater chapter of the Virginia Center For Inclusive Communities’ 51st annual dinner. The award is presented to...
Sunday, March 1, 2pm, Jewish Museum and Cultural Center Dr. Adam Mendelsohn, associate professor of Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston, will speak about “The Rag Race: the Schmatta Trade,” as the final lecture in the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center’s...
ATLANTA (JTA)—More than 3,000 teenagers from multiple Jewish youth groups gathered in Atlanta over President’s weekend for a series of events aimed at strengthening Jewish identity among teens and rallying philanthropic support for such programs. The main attractions...
More than 30 members of the local Jewish community traveled to the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond to be part of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Community Relations Council delegation for the annual Jewish Advocacy Day on Feb. 4. The Tidewater...
(JTA) - From the window of the Jewish Community of Copenhagen’s crisis center, Finn Schwarz can see his country changing before his eyes. Hours after the slaying of a guard outside the Danish capital’s main synagogue early Sunday morning, Feb. 15, two police officers...
Thursday, Feb. 26, 7 pm, Simon Family JCC “In working with Gidi Grinstein and his team at the Reut Institute these past few years, we have delved into many topics. I believe Gidi is on the cutting edge of modern Jewish and Zionist thinking,” says David Brand....
Saturday, March 7, 8 pm Known for throwing great, community- wide parties, the Young Adult Division of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is planning to hold an extravaganza next month at the Sandler Family Campus. In a nod to the international music fest of a...
An unaffiliated group involved in Jewish fellowship, Tidewater Chavurah has engaged its first ordained rabbi as spiritual leader, Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill. Rabbi Jaffe-Gill will lead Shabbat and High Holidays services using prayer books of the Reform movement. She will...