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Earlier this month I attended my sixth American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference. Once again, the conference exceeded my expectations, bringing community and student activists from all 50 states together to learn about and advocate for issues...
Four players went home Saturday night, Feb. 10, with large, smart TVs, including Cantor Elihu Flax, who beamed over his 55-inch television that marked the midpoint game of Congregation Beth El’s 19th annual Ben Gordon Family Bingo Night. But the TV winners and many...
Beth El Sisterhood hosted Manicures and Mitzvahs at Changes Salon Thursday, Feb. 8 in support of Dress for Success. Twenty women enjoyed pampering, socializing, and a delicious food spread. Francesca Litow says it was a “Wonderful opportunity to pamper ourselves,...
Though Leia Morrissey is in eighth grade, she knows she can make friends with anyone at any age. It’s a skill she picked up by participating in Better Together, a program that brings teens from area synagogues together with seniors at Beth Sholom Village. Now in its...
One of my favorite memories of Passover is hearing my grandfather tell stories about how his mother used to make the gefilte fish. I assumed like all families that they just went to the store and bought theirs. He explained to me that on the morning of Passover my...
Every year I am reminded of the enthusiastic and spirited seders we had in South Africa with our extended family. Most of these family members are now dispersed around the world. We have five grandsons for whom I create fun and meaningful seders. This includes...
My family has incorporated different Haggadot versions over the years, but we are always sure to use my Grandpa Jack’s original Haggadah, which has a burnt cover from when he nodded off during the seder and accidentally singed the book edges in the table candles. I...
March 5, 2018
Only one?? Impossible! I have so many great Passover memories because it has always been my favorite holiday, starting as a child sitting around my Aunt Florence’s dining room table in Baltimore with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins on my father’s side. I can’t...
Every year for Passover, my family would drive 90 minutes to attend a seder at my aunt and uncle’s kibbutz. They lived on Kibbutz Beth Alpha, near Jordan, and we lived in Haifa. Hundreds of people attended, filling many long tables. The kibbutz created their own...
Elijah Arnowitz is a seventh grader who is already dreaming about camp this summer, which will be his fifth, at Camp Ramah New England. “It’s torturous to think about it because I miss it so much!” Elijah says. What does he like about camp? “Bunk activities, Shabbat...
Every summer, 1,500 Jewish campers from more than 20 countries attend Camp Szarvas in Hungary. Funded in part by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the camp’s mission is to create an opportunity for young Jews from around the world to meet,...
Super Sunday, January 25, 2015 • 9 am–1 pm • Volunteers needed for two shifts Planning a successful fundraising event often involves many hours spent strategizing and meeting inside boardrooms or offices. In the case of Super Sunday, the largest, single Tidewater...
Staring into Syria from the border of Israel’s Golan Heights last summer, Mark Dubowitz encountered an unnerving sight—the black flag of ISIL, also known as ISIS or the Islamic State. With civil war and humanitarian atrocities raging just a few clicks away in...
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (JTA)—Jewish campus groups were ready for the painful national dialogue that took place in the wake of murky rape allegations at the University of Virginia. That’s because organizations like Hillel and historically Jewish Greek houses such as...
A look back at some of the notable activities of Tidewater’s Jewish community in 2014 Saturday, January 18 The Simon Family JCC’s Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Howard and Alma* Laderberg, held its Opening Night at the Sandler Center for the Performing...
On the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 3, the Community Relations Council and community partners presented the second of its Israel Today lecture series to a packed audience on the Sandler Family Campus. While additional chairs had to be set up just before the program...
Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, 7:30 pm Sandler Family Campus The increases in anti-Semitic acts taking place around the world have sounded alarms in both the Jewish and secular communities. Consider that just last week, Spanish prosecutors were investigating the actions of...
On September 21st, as the summer phase of the war with Hamas was coming to an end, respected author and The Times of Israel correspondent Yossi Klein Halevi published a column for the upcoming High Holidays entitled, “At Rosh Hashanah: Grief, fear, hope.” In it, he...
Dear Readers, Remember last year when we ate our latkes with cranberry sauce, as the first night of Chanukah landed on Thanksgiving? This year’s holiday seems ‘more on time,’ starting on the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 16, just as schools are about to close for the...
Wednesday, Feb. 4 Wednesday, Jan. 7, noon—Informational meeting Wednesday, Jan. 28, 6:30pm—Briefing session For years, members of Jewish communities from across the Commonwealth have come together at the State Capitol in Richmond to collaborate on Virginia Jewish...
On Tuesday, Nov. 11, the Tidewater Jewish Foundation honored veterans at its annual Veterans Day service. Approximately 70 people attended— including a local group of Ukrainian immigrants who attend every year. Although a rainy day kept the entire service indoors, the...
Congregation Beth El’s Men’s Club had approximately 30 people attend a program to honor Jewish War Veterans and support its local chapter. Several bicycle enthusiasts ventured out on the traditional 15-mile round-trip route between Beth El and Ocean View along Granby...
On a chilly Sunday morning, more than 60 women came to the Sandler Family Campus to hear from guest speaker Julie Kohner, creator of Voices of the Generations. As the second in a series of “Women’s Cabinet PLUS ONE” events, participants were welcomed by Cabinet...
Confession : My son did not go to Jewish preschool. In fact, when he turned 2½ we moved. Although our new home was close enough to the local Jewish preschool, my daughter was to be born during the High Holy Days, and I could not conceive having a newborn and wrangling...
Those serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, Veterans of both the U.S. military and the Israel Defense Forces, teens, seniors, students, professors, Christians and Jews comprised the audience of about 600 for the premier of the new documentary, Beneath the Helmet: From...
For the past several years, the volunteer committee in charge of planning the Tidewater Jewish community’s annual phone-a-thon has asked itself the same question: “Is calling people on their telephones, asking for donations to help their fellow Jews, still relevant?”...
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a unique ability to inspire uniquely powerful emotions within members of the Jewish community. A collective national narrative of expulsion, persecution and extermination gives us good reason in our kishkas to advocate for the...
Joy Wolfe MBE, chairman of StandWithUs UK, shares her concerns about the growing threat of anti-Semitism in Europe, with a particular focus on the UK where she lives. Throughout history, we Jews have been targeted and faced difficult times. In 2014, it appears that...
Yakir Daniel’s dream, as a Jewish Agency Israel Fellow at George Mason University Hillel, is “to build a bridge between students and Israel” and not only enhance their connection with the Jewish state, “but also the connection between Jewish values and Jewish life.”...
by Dianne Ashton CHERRY HI LL, N.J. ( JTA)— As Chanukah nears, let the grousing begin. Too much is made of a holiday that Judaism ranks as a minor festival—one whose rite takes no more than five minutes to complete each night—some American Jews will say. Some will...
The first annual Tidewater Mitzvah Day VA took place almost two months ago on Sunday, Sept. 21, but the community’s good deeds accomplished that day continue to positively affect others. On Wednesday, Oct. 29, an Israel Defense Forces soldier visiting the United...