Southeastern Virginia: Chesapeake • Norfolk • Portsmouth • Suffolk • Virginia Beach
Archives
✡️ Simon Family JCC Seniors ClubModel Passover SederLed by Rabbi David BockmanWednesday, April 9, 12 – 2 pmSimon Family JCCInformation: Mia Klein, programdepartment/seniors program coordinator, 757-452-3184 or MKlein@UJFT.org ✡️Beth ChaverimPassover Community Seder...
The Be A Reader (BeAR) Literacy Project has always been about resilience, adaptability, and community. The program even managed to create a space during the COVID-19 pandemic. As BeAR celebrates 25 years of fostering literacy among young students, it is navigating yet...
(JTA) — Leaders in Israel, the United States, and worldwide expressed their sadness and horror as the bodies of four dead hostages returned to Israel from Gaza on Thursday, Feb. 20.Many of the messages focused on Shiri Bibas and her children Ariel and Kfir, ages 4 and...
(JTA) — The new banners hanging outside a public building in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, channeled the college town’s history of progressive activism.One depicted a member of the Chapel Hill Nine, Black activists whose 1960 sit-in at a local lunch counter kicked off...
Whether identifying as Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox, the Norfolk Mikvah enables every Jew in Tidewater to access the transformative, rejuvenating power of a mikvah.Brides before their wedding, those in the process of converting to Judaism, married women who keep...
As the year begins, many people are recommitting to the charities they hold dear – whether as donors, volunteers, board members, or a combination of roles.In Tidewater, and across the nation, hundreds of thousands of charities contribute to meaningful causes every...
A philanthropic journey is personal and often begins with a simple conversation.For Norfolk native Ellen Rostov Hundley, this journey has been a natural extension of the values instilled by her family and her commitment to community – all culminating in a legacy of...
The dichotomy I recently experienced during my first trip to Israel is a testament to the emotional complexities of the country. Organized by the iCenter in partnership with the JCCA, this journey brought 24 JCC professionals together for a Mifgash (Encounter) that...
Charlie’s Middle Eastern Cuisine opened in Norfolk’s Ghent neighborhood in November. The intimate and friendly kosher restaurant is supervised under the Vaad HaKasharus of Tidewater.Yogev Kremisi, the restaurant’s owner, also owns Dream the La Cream, an ice cream...
Traditions are so important for children – giving them a sense of belonging to something special that becomes part of their identity. Lighting the menorah at Hanukkah, for example, is one such tradition.For 32 years, the Jewish Family Service Chanukah Gift Program has...
The JCC Seniors Club members had an incredible time at last month’s meeting. ‘Patsy Cline’ was back in the building and had everyone singing along and tapping their feet to her timeless tunes.Members also got a sneak peek of this year’s Virginia Festival of Jewish...
Nearly 200 people gathered for a powerful and emotional conversation with Shahar Dekel, a photographer and IDF reservist soldier, and Jay Klebanoff, a former United Jewish Federation of Tidewater president, on Tuesday, Jan. 14. Held at the Sandler Family Campus, the...
Time flies! While it feels like just yesterday the Strelitz International Academy’s Class of 2017 graduated, seven years have passed and these students are graduating from high school.Last month, these alumni and their parents returned to SIA for a special Senior...
In addition to the celebrations of graduation season, education tends to get a lot of attention.Tidewater Jewish Foundation can help donors make a difference in the lives of young people by funding education. While establishing a scholarship fund at TJF is one way to...
In the third quarter of 2023, roughly 150,000 Palestinians from the West Bank were working in the Israeli economy. In Quarter 4, that went down to 17,000. (marketplace.org) The blue ribbon symbolizes support and solidarity for the safe return of the hostages taken by...
Elka Mednick, director The Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater:Thank you for the donation of To Life: The Past is Present. This book will be a useful addition to the Reference collection in Dinwiddie High School (DHS) Library.At DHS,...
In honor of his 50 years in the rabbinate, Rabbi Israel Zoberman has received numerous local, state, and federal recognitions for this milestone achievement.A member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Rabbi Zoberman received an Honorary Life Membership for...
Hundreds of orthodox Jewish families rented homes in the Sandbridge section of Virginia Beach for the duration of this year’s eight-day Passover holiday. Families from outside of Virginia brought their traditions and kosher meals to Sandbridge, with 10 synagogues...
Community members gathered in the beautifully decorated Marty Einhorn Pavilion on the Sandler Family Campus on the evening of May 16 for an Israeli Chef’s Table Experience with visiting Israeli chef, Yaniv Cohen. With his love and extensive knowledge of spices, Chef...
The Be A Reader (BeAR) literacy project, dedicated to fostering a love of reading among 2nd grade students in Norfolk and Virginia Beach’s Title I schools, hosted an end-of-year appreciation luncheon for its mentors last month.Gail Flax, BeAR chair, welcomed everyone...
• 26 Iyar (Hebrew date for this issue of Jewish News) – Israel’s Six Day war began in 1967. (fushionglobal.org) • During the third quarter of 2023, Palestinians working in Israel brought back roughly $1 billion in income. In the fourth quarter, that was around $79...
The 2024 Yom Hashoah Commemoration honoring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, as well as liberators and righteous gentiles, brought the community together around awareness, sadness, honor, hope, and the understanding that each day it is possible to choose to...
The Simon Family JCC hosted its annual Catch and Release Fishing Derby on Sunday, May 5. Nearly 100 anglers of all ages tried their luck at the pond, which was stocked with bass, catfish, and bluegill. The largest catch of the day, according to Tom Edwards, athletics...
Who doesn’t love a good cheesecake?!? For a group of people who are between 75 and 90% lactose intolerant, we must have a lot of chutzpah because we clearly won’t be denied our love of all things dairy. When I moved to Israel, I was actually shocked...
Given our experience as retired American military leaders, we are very concerned about the security impacts of increasingly strained U.S.-Israel ties as Israel becomes a growing source of domestic division. We therefore feel compelled to declare that a strong Israel...
At the risk of sounding cliché – it seems like yesterday. I joined Jewish Family Service of Tidewater in September of 2003 as the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community was under construction. What an honor to attend my first Simcha...
Jewish News is gathering and presenting some basic facts to equip readers during this difficult time with the confidence needed to engage in conversation about Israel and antisemitism. GenocideThis word is being used by protestors on campuses to describe Israel’s...
One of the crown jewels of the Sandler Family Campus sports a blue shirt and an easy smile – on a daily basis. Cecilio Brathwaite, better known as “Jaime” (pronounced Hymie for a Jewish reference), has been employed by the Tidewater Jewish community for 42 years,...
Those of us who attend major civic events, Jews and some non-Jews alike, wait for it. When a minister delivers the invocation, it is often with some religious fervor and a beseeching to the Savior “in whose name we pray.” But at the Hampton Roads Chamber’s recent...
During the Virginia Beach School Board meeting (via a consent agenda) last month, a Resolution was adopted in support of Jewish American Heritage Month, which takes place each year in May. The Resolution was read by Shannon Kendrick School, a member of the School...
The idea of a central Tidewater Jewish community campus had to start somewhere. That place might be traced to Charlotte, N.C. when a then 39-year-old Art Sandler, who was serving as president of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, visited that community and saw...
Twenty years ago, Andrew Fink was instrumental in the land acquisition, construction, and completion of the Sandler Family Campus. His involvement with the Campus continues today as he serves on several committees and boards. Jewish News: You were instrumental in the...