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The Tidewater Jewish community was fired up on Thursday, May 3 for its annual Lag B’Omer Bash. This year’s event, hosted by the Simon Family JCC, the Young Adult Division of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, and Chabad of Tidewater, attracted nearly 200...
The ceremony began on a sunny spring morning beside a single dugout grave and a pile of dirt. On Sunday, April 15, 15 middle schoolers from Ohef Sholom Temple buried 1,000 worn-out prayer books in the Tree of Life section at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk. Everyone...
The Tidewater Jewish Federation Grants process was created to have an impact on the Tidewater Jewish and general community by providing funding for new and innovative projects that focus on the social, welfare, health, education, community relations, and cultural...
Most people would think twice before mixing horseradish and beer. However, Josh Kulp, the rosh (head) of the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, covered both topics during his weekend visit to Norfolk in March as scholar-in-residence for Congregation Beth El and Temple...
Co-founder of Israel’s first music television channel, Israeli journalist, culture critic, and DJ, Eyal Rob brought the Tel Aviv music scene to Tidewater last month. His visit concluded the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s...
For anyone who ever wondered if a Yeti coffee cup really does keep coffee hotter than other competing cups, Shayna Friedman, a fourth-grade student at Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, answered this question through her Science Fair project. On Thursday, April 17, Hebrew...
Natalie Portman said she wouldn’t attend a prize ceremony in Israel because of her feelings about its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and “atrocities” committed on his watch, but emphasized that she would not shun Israel itself. The Jerusalem-born director and...
NEW YORK (JTA)—One of the first scenes in a new documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg features the Supreme Court associate justice, then 84, vigorously lifting weights, doing leg exercises and holding herself in a plank position. The much buzzed-about workout routine...
On Sunday, April 29, BINA students turned the field at the Simon Family JCC into a new form of a rainbow. The girls had a Color Run to raise money to use for conventions and programs with other communities. Most of the student body (along with a few future students)...
The following letter was sent last month to Elena Baum, director of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission: I am writing to you from Princess Anne Middle School. I am a school counselor here and wanted to reach out to you to thank you personally...
In May 1967, the world heard the song Yerushalayim Shel Zahav, Jerusalem of Gold, for the first time as Shuli Nathan stood on stage and sang the words written by Naomi Shemer. At the time, the Old City of Jerusalem was still under control of the Jordanians, and the...
A contemporary mixed media artist known for her emotive figurative and expressionist paintings, Holly Berger Markhoff’s stunning paintings are now on exhibit at Richard Stravitz Sculpture & Fine Art Galleries in Virginia Beach. Influenced by the elongated figures...
Navigating effective ways to provide high quality community healthcare services to patients at risk both in America and northern Israel is among the major learning insights of medical students participating in the exchange program between Eastern Virginia Medical...
“I can’t thank this community enough for supporting the Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma* and Howard Laderberg,” said William Laderberg at the closing night of the film festival on Sunday, Jan. 25. “Thanks to them, their outpouring of support and...
(Kveller via JTA)—Since the news of the recent Disneyland measles outbreak and the subsequent chatter on Facebook began, I discovered I have at least four Facebook friends (and likely a few more) with healthy, non-immunocompromised, vaccine-aged children who have...
I arrived back in the United States on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at about 5 in the morning. I was excited that the next day I would be having sushi with my friends and telling them all about my trip; my spiritual journey. I had about a 10-hour layover at JFK to reflect on...
Tidewater received a visit from the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Washington regional director, Alan Ronkin on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 22 and 23. As I prepared for Alan’s visit and mentioned AJC to community members, many responded with “what is AJC?” I went...
Journal entry Dec. 6, 2014 And so it begins…. On an adventure to Poland and Israel courtesy of Lois and Larry Frank of Atlanta and the JCPA, based on a recommendation from United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Robin Mancoll. The itinerary looks amazing and...
KRAKOW, Poland (JTA)—What kept you alive? Did your non-Jewish friends reject you? Could you ever forgive? Those were some of the questions posed by Jewish young adults to Holocaust survivor Marcel Tuchman on Monday, Jan. 26 at the Galicia Jewish Museum here. “What...
The recent assassinations of French citizens were horrendous acts of barbarity. In addition, they also were violent attacks on our concept of civil liberties. Most of us love our freedom of speech, lots of it and for very good reasons. And many of us enjoy social...
Dana Cohen does not seem to like to be the center of attention, though that was the case on Friday, Jan. 9, as it was “Dana Cohen Day” at Indian River High School in Chesapeake. Master teacher Craig Blackman, the Holocaust Commission’s Esther Goldman Education...
The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater will lead a mission to the Jewish community of Argentina in the fall. Beginning in Buenos Aires on Thursday, Oct. 15, the mission will include visits with Jewish community leaders and opportunities to see Federation’s Campaign...
Amidst horrific reports of anti-Semitic violence emanating from Europe, and just one day before hostages were killed at a kosher French market, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater presented a timely program, The Rise of Anti-Semitism: A Resurgence of Evil. More...
(KVELLER/JTA)—I grew up in a public school that had enough Jewish kids that I felt represented. I went to Hebrew school twice a week and had a chavurah, or fellowship, through my Reform synagogue with kids my age. A portion of my family was Orthodox. I was surrounded...
The past few weeks have seen people rise up to protest the killings in France and all that they portend for civilization. There seemingly was no doubt that people understood that what occurred was reprehensible and a frighteningly fundamental attack on freedom and on...
Jessica Willingham, RN, BSN, administrator at the Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater, achieved certification as a Hospice and Palliative Care Administrator last month from the National Board for Certification of Hospice and Palliative Nurses...
Wednesday, Feb. 4, Richmond The annual Community Relations Council’s delegation to Richmond for Jewish Advocacy Day is always a great event, and this year, it is more imperative than ever to have a good community turnout. Between the conflict with Hamas last summer...
Three cantors and a rabbi walk onto the bimah…. No, it is not the start of a bad Yiddish joke. But there were a few of those quips when Congregation Beth El hosted its largest fundraiser on Dec. 14 since its 150th anniversary celebration in 2000. Rabbi Jeffrey...
A place where philanthropy, volunteerism and shared commitment come together to make a difference in the community and around the world, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater launched a new initiative, The Corporate Partners Circle, in the summer of 2014. Its...
No one is more surprised that this happened, than I am. Several weeks ago, a speaker came to the B’nai Israel Congregation for a United Jewish Federation of Tidewater-funded Scholar in Residence program. Allison Josephs is the founder of Jewinthecity.com, a...
(JTA)—What made headlines (in Israel, the U.S. and around the world) in 2014? Test your knowledge with JTA’s annual news quiz: 1. Palestinian officials apologized to Czech authorities after the Palestinian envoy to Prague, Jamal Al-Jamal, was killed in an explosion in...
(JTA)—An attack on the Paris headquarters of a French satirical magazine has left at least 12 people dead, including the Jewish caricaturist Georges Wolinski. Two of the reported fatalities in the Wednesday, Jan. 7 attack were police officers, according to the French...