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...
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Manicures and Mitzvahs highlights Dress for Success
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,...
Teens bond with seniors in Better Together Program
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...
Gefilte fish and the bathtub
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...
Making it fun and meaningful for the younger generation
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...
Our burnt Haggadah, gefilte fish that attracted neighbors, and puppets
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...
Passover
March 5, 2018
A Great Passover Memory
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...
Kibbutz seders were fun!
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...
Grants available for first time campers to Jewish overnight camps
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...
Jewish camp in Hungary is first introduction to Judaism for some campers
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,...
A national audience for What We Carry
Close to 200 people interested in seeing the three newest films of survivor Alfred Dreyfus, liberator William Jucksch, and rescuer Dame Mary Barraco, attended a screening last December at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. These first-hand...
Surge in anti-Semitism
From Paris to Germany to Santa Barbara to Atlanta and unfortunately, most places in between, overt anti-Semitism has returned. This month in the U.S., for example, Sears’ website touted rings with swastikas, cars were blown up near synagogues and more than one Jewish...
Dr. Einat Wilf brings young, passionate perspective to year’s first Israel Today Forum
Thursday, Oct. 30, 7:30 pm by Laine M. Rutherford The Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and community partners present the first speaker in the 2014-2015 Israel Today Forum: the Honorable Einat Wilf at the Sandler Family Campus...
SNL’s Top 10 Jewish moments
by Jana Banin HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (JTA)—Last month marked the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, which is entering its 40th season. Happy birthday guys! To mark the occasion, we’ve assembled a list of our 10 all-time favorite Jewish moments on SNL (they’re like...
Religion and death and dying discussed at ODU
by Joe Hades, visiting professor at Old Dominion University A lecture on Religion, Ethics and Dying: Controversies and Perspective, took place on Thursday, Sept. 4, at Old Dominion University. Representing the Catholic and Jewish approaches to death and dying, Dr....
Tidewater Lions take a bite out of the Big Apple
by Amy Zelenka, UJFT Women’s Campaign director On a very special Sunday in September, six women from the Tidewater Jewish community met on the eighth floor of the Marriot Marquis Hotel in Times Square. As they quietly greeted one another, the spaces around them began...
My college graduation gift: the summer of a lifetime
by Hilary Bloch I couldn’t have asked for a better gift to celebrate finishing my years of formal education. I graduated in May from the Sy Syms School of Business at Stern College for Women, part of Yeshiva University in New York City. I didn’t get a car, a new...
Extraordinary Deeds abound during 2015 Annual Campaign Kick Off week
by Laine Mednick Rutherford They thought it could work, but the diverse members of the 1st Annual Mitzvah Day VA organizing committee weren’t 100 percent sure that the community would show up to participate in five planned projects on Sunday, Sept. 21. The committee...
Shining a spotlight on Laura Miller’s international recognition
by Laine Mednick Rutherford Laura Miller is most comfortable working behind the scenes, changing lives in the Tidewater Jewish community, throughout the United States and around the world. She’d prefer to be out of the spotlight, but is aware that can’t always happen,...
Israeli RISCO Group to provide security solutions for ATMs in China
RISCO Group, an Israel based provider of integrated security solutions, has signed a deal with several Chinese banks to provide security protection for tens of thousands of their cash machines (ATMs) across the country. China recently became the world’s largest ATM...
The Jewish imperative to tackle climate change—and four ways to do it
by Yossi I. Abramowitz JERUSALEM (JTA)—Two days before the U.N. Climate Summit, approximately 300,000 demonstrators, including a large multi-faith contingent—descended on New York City to demand urgent action on climate change. The People’s Climate March, which...
L’Shana Tova
Dear Readers, The High Holidays have officially arrived. Synagogues have mailed their tickets, Selichot has taken place and meals have been planned, ordered and reserved. Still, there is more to come. So Jewish News offers another packed High Holiday section that...
Jewish ‘Fifth Beatle’ figures prominently in new book about band’s first U.S. tour
by Tom Tugend LOS ANGELES (JTA)—It was 6 am on Aug. 19, 1964 when the phone rang in the Los Angeles apartment of Ivor Davis, the young West Coast correspondent for London’s Daily Express, circulation 4 million. On the other end was the paper’s foreign editor, who told...
First Book Festival read is now available
by Leslie Shroyer Just arrived for The Lee and Bernard Jaffe* Jewish Book Festival, The Late Starters Orchestra, by Ari L. Goldman, is a quick and inspirational read. It is now on sale at the Simon Family JCC. “Delightful is the best word to describe Ari L. Goldman’s...
Mah Jongg at Beth Sholom Village goes retro
by Marcia Brodie The Annual Janet Gordon Mah Jongg Tournament at Beth Sholom Village proved to be spectacular. After lunch for 120 guests, 91 women played several hours of competitive Mah Jongg. The money raised each year goes directly to Beth Sholom Village. This...
Tangier Island—a proud friend to Israel in the Chesapeake Bay
by Betsy Karotkin In July, Eddie and I set sail for two and one half weeks on the Chesapeake Bay, as we do each summer. I don’t know which of us looks forward to it more. Our days are spent navigating, watching for crab pots (a real hazard to boaters), for shoals, for...
Lady Gaga in Israel
Pop icon Lady Gaga gave a show-stopping performance in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park on Saturday, Sept. 13 as part of her “artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball” world tour. Some 30,000 concertgoers were also wowed with a surprise appearance by the legendary Tony Bennett, who performed...
Ready to read to a Bear Cub?
by Sherri Wisoff The BE A Reader or “BEAR” program is a literacy project that needs more volunteers to read to young children in area public schools. BEAR operates during the 39-week school year, September through June. Children in grades 1–3, are helped to acquire...
HAT and Strelitz preschool usher in the start of a new academic year
by Dee Dee Becker The kickoff of a new academic year for Hebrew Academy of Tidewater and the Strelitz Early Childhood Center preschool took place on Monday, Aug. 25. Filled with excitement and hope for the learning and growth that’s in store, students were welcomed...
A dream becomes a reality
by Karen Lombart For a very long time, Annie Sandler has wanted to share her excitement about the Romanian Jewish community with others in Tidewater. This summer, her dream came true. Learning that the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) was taking an...
YAD Family Shabbat filled with friends, food and fun
The annual Young Adult Division of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s End of the Summer Family Shabbat took place on Friday, Sept. 5, at the Simon Family JCC outdoor water park. With more than 85 people, this year’s YAD Summer Shabbat claimed the prize of...