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The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater has a special bond with its Israeli sister city, Kiryat Yam. The coastal city is just 12km north of Haifa, and like Norfolk, is also known for its mermaids. After a mission trip to Israel in 2016, UJFT’s Young Adult Division’s...
Legal Matters, July 16, 2018
When Alisa Kosovsky got to Beth Sholom Village, she immediately walked over to sit with Lillian Kozak. The two are decades apart in age, but as close as ever. One is on the precipice of starting her life independent of her family—in college. The other is looking back...
Philanthropy was so intricately woven into the fabric of Reba and Sam Sandler’s family, that it should be no surprise that their children continue on their parents’ path. Perhaps one might suggest however, that equally important to their own generous gifts is that...
When Jewish Family Service of Tidewater’s nurse’s aide Tiphaney Powell speaks about her clients, she does so with a great deal of respect, love, and admiration. After all, when your clients are two 93-year-old women and a 96-year-old man, a lot of life lessons may be...
I recently returned from leading my 38th Birthright Israel trip. Virginia-based students on this trip were from William and Mary, Christopher Newport University, and Old Dominion University. Students always ask if the trip gets old for me. After all, we go to mostly...
She speaks with a slight, but distinct, accent whose origin I had long suspected, but, given her age and all that implied, been hesitant to ask. One night at dinner, though, I posed the simple question to 95-year-old Elsie Hirsch, “Where are you from?” She looked at...
On April 20, 2006, President George W. Bush proclaimed May to be Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM). The announcement was the crowning achievement in an effort by the Jewish Museum of Florida and South Florida Jewish community leaders. Their dedication resulted in...
Some children get overwhelmed when exposed to certain sensory experiences and react with behavior that’s not always conducive to social situations. Now, there’s a solution for these children on the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. Called the Calming Cove, this new...
The Women’s Cabinet of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater recently hosted its annual spring lunch for cabinet members and others at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach. Featured at the event was Jewish American Philanthropist Jane Weitzman (wife of...
A heartwarming graduation ceremony for Hebrew Academy of Tidewater’s Class of 2018 took place on Tuesday, June 5. Almost all of the graduating class had attended the school since they were toddlers, so it was a bittersweet finale to their wonderful years at HAT. The...
June 25, 2018 Senior Living
Supporting myriad programs, including Magical Chairs, clinics and exchanges The first part of this series ( Jewish News, March 23, 2015) described how the Tom Hofheimer Fund brought Israeli reconstructive plastic surgeons to Tidewater to study with local specialists....
NEW YORK (JTA)—In 20 years, there will be more Muslims in North America than Jews, according to a new Pew Research Center report. The report, which was released Thursday, April 2 also found that more American Jews are leaving Judaism than non-Jews are joining the...
A few weeks after Ben & Jerry’s founders indicated that marijuana- infused ice cream may one day join its product line, the company’s kosher-for-Passover charoset flavor has been generating buzz. In case your memories of last year’s seder are blurred by too many...
Passover is bad enough without having to feed your kids, too. And breakfast during Passover can be pretty tricky: no toast, no oatmeal, no (palatable) cereal and no traditional syrup-drenched pancakes. Aside from making matzah brei every day, the options are somewhat...
Hebrew Academy of Tidewater and the Strelitz preschool logged another successful event with this year’s 8th Annual Book Fair. Raising more than $6,000, the March affair was filled with great excitement, bringing students and families together over a love of reading....
The Young Adult Division’s Girls Night Out and Guys Night Out programs joined forces for a fun and friendly night of bowling competition on Saturday, March 21. For more than two hours, three teams of young adults went head to head to see who could make the most...
Two Israeli Scouts (Tzofim) will play an integral part of all eight weeks of Camp JCC this summer. These teenage girls, Hagar Sella and Shay Lopatner, are eager to join campers and counselors in Tidewater and are already working hard to be part of the Camp JCC staff....
Home of the only established Reform Jewish congregation on the Peninsula, Temple Sinai has been added to the Virginia Historic Register. At a joint meeting of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources State Review Board and the Board of Historic Resources, the...
Mary Catenaccio is a lively, mobile and very vocal 106-year-old resident at Beth Sholom Village. That information alone is a good enough story. However, as with many BSV residents, there is so much more to Mary. Russian Jewish immigrants, Mary’s parents moved to the...
Dr. Ofer Merin speaks to Tidewater community Israel has long been known as a lone democracy in a region torn apart by ethnic and religious conflict. But what might be less known is Israel’s unparalleled efforts of sending medical rescue delegations to disaster zones....
It must be in her DNA. Leyla Sandler, LCSW, spends her life helping others, whether in her “day job” or when she has “time off.” Sandler’s “day job” is spent as an investigative social worker on child abuse cases in Washington, D.C. Her recent “time off” was spent...
The Tidewater Jewish community joins with the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington in their statements of condemnation following the Virginia State Bar’s decision to cancel their Midyear Legal Seminar...
(JTA)—Last summer our family went to southern Europe on holiday. During our stay at a hotel, our son Dylan went to the swimming pool. A short time later he came running back to the room, upset. A man at the pool had started hurling insults at him. My first instinct...
The Virginia State Bar canceled its plans to hold a legal seminar in Jerusalem, citing “unacceptable discriminatory policies and practices pertaining to border security.” The Midyear Legal Seminar trip to Jerusalem had been scheduled for November, according to the...
Dear Readers, Passover begins this year on Friday evening, April 3. Nineteen years ago, the first seder also took place on April 3. Why do I remember? My daughter, who will be 19 on April 4, was letting me know in her own gentle way that she was ready to make her very...
There have been funerals of significant Jewish business and philanthropic leaders over the years in Hampton Roads, but not of many prominent political figures who observed our faith. Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf was one of the few. The memorial service in...
It was a night of reconnecting as women from past Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project Israel trips came together at the home of Marcy Mostofsky to make mishloach manot (gifts of food between friends) for the residents of Beth Sholom Home to be delivered on Purim. The...
Want to be a better problem solver? Play chess. That’s what Hebrew Academy of Tidewater students do who participate in the Chess Club, under the guidance and expertise of local master chess player, Rabbi Michael Panitz. Rabbi Panitz, who volunteers his skills at HAT,...
Millions of Americans who live on the brink of hunger are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet as the winter’s record snowfalls hit many parts of the country. Nearly 70 percent of the households served by Feeding America report that their most common...
For the past 113 years, through several generations of change, the Relief Committee of Hebrew Ladies Charity Society (HLCS) has honored its mission of meeting the needs of local Jewish families requiring urgent financial assistance. The organization has provided food...