NEW YORK April 16, 2018—In honor of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) has donated an Israeli flag created by Rebecca Affachiner, often called “the Betsy Ross of Israel,” to the...
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2017 Frank Family Fellowship Poland-Israel Mission Report
Last December, I was fortunate to accompany 12 amazing volunteers representing Community Relations Councils throughout the country and the dedicated staff of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs on a 10-day mission to Poland and Israel. The trip was in many ways a...
What does Israel look like to you?— The Tidewater Umbrella Project
As the worldwide Jewish and pro-Israel communities celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is offering a new type of exhibit: The Tidewater Umbrella Project. For the past five years, the Community Relations Council has held the...
Women
Women, April 23, 2018
Sharon K. Nusbaum to receive Ohef Sholom Temple’s Men’s Club’s 2018 Henry B. Kaufmann Award
Sunday, April 22, Ohef Sholom Temple Brunch: 10:30 am. Award presentation: 11 am, $10 per person This year’s recipient of Ohef Sholom Temple Men’s Club’s Henry B. Kaufmann Award is Sharon K. Nusbaum. A long-time Ohef Sholom congregant, Nusbaum is the wife of Bill...
Grateful for Enabling Parents
Judy Sacks Anderson In the summer of 1972 when I was only 17, my parents, Hal and Annabel Sacks, sent my 15-year-old brother, Skip and me to Israel on a sociology trip from Virginia Wesleyan College. We spent a good portion of the summer working on Kibbutz MishMarot...
My Trip to Israel was the Best Trip
Suzanne Barr In 1967, I heard about a United Jewish Appeal Young Leadership Mission to Israel from our friends, Mavolyn and Sonny Lefcoe. I was advised that it would be a hard trip, but I wanted to go anyway. After making some calls, I managed to get on the trip,...
Israel for the first time… a story with sequel after sequel
Amy Zelenka I never get tired of saying that every Israel experience is special— each one meaningful in its own way. Whether it’s with a Birthright trip, bar or bat mitzvah, a Federation mission, or any other means of visiting—a trip to Israel is unique among all...
The Yom Kippur War and orange crates
Steve Snyder In the summer of 1973, shortly after graduating from college, I went to Israel as a volunteer worker on Kibbutz Ramat Hashofet in Northern Israel. I was there from June 1973 to May 1974, working mainly on the assembly line of the Kibbutz orange crate...
Roses, the 1967 war, and a husband
Jennifer Zoberman While attending the University of Arizona in Tuscon, my parents paid for a European trip for me, but I said, “I must go to Israel to help.” So, we lost our trip money. It was not possible to fly to Israel from the U.S. due to the 1967 war, so I flew...
From Cairo to Israel
John Correll Over a three-day weekend in 1990 while on a job assignment in Cairo, Egypt, I decided to visit Israeli friends who lived in the Jewish settlement of Ariel. When the Egyptian taxi driver picked me up from my hotel, he was very talkative and friendly until...
Laura Gross
“Running the Tel Aviv Half Marathon with your daughter—priceless Israel experience!!”
Am Yisrael Chai, The Jewish People Lives: Why today’s anti-Semitism is not the anti-Semitism of 1938
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...
Happy Chanukah
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...
Date With the State—Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day
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...
Tidewater Jewish Foundation honors Veterans
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...
Third annual Tour De Mensch bike ride and brunch honors Jewish War Veterans
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...
Voices of the Generations creator visits Tidewater
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...
Why I halfheartedly sent my child to Jewish Day School for Kindergarten, and enthusiastically stayed for first grade
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...
Tidewater premier of Beneath the Helmet brings pro-Israel communities together
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...
Super Sunday Committee blends tradition and trends for 2015 Phone-a-thon
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?”...
Is it anti-Semitic to criticize Israel?
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...
The alarming rise of anti-Semitism in Europe
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...
Inspired Israeli engages and educates students at George Mason University
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.”...
What makes Chanukah great in America
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...
IDF Soldier surprises Tidewater with a visit to pick up Mitzvah Day bracelets and letters
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...
Multiple audiences learn advocacy tips from First Israel Today speaker
Hundreds of people in Tidewater were recipients of the insights and opinions of former Knesset member and Israeli advocate, Dr. Einat Wilf, during her recent visit. Wilf came to the area on Thursday, Oct. 30, the first presenter in the annual Israel Today Forum, a...
Bonnie and Diana Elozory at Temple Israel
The weekend after Sukkot, Temple Israel’s Scholar-in-Residence program featured Bonnie and Diana Elozory. During Saturday services and Sunday Religious School, the Elozorys shared their life-altering experience of 2013. Judaism and family were always fundamental...
The Sandler it’s a wrap Family Campus Security Department supply drive
Now, through the holidays, in cooperation with Jewish Family Service, the Security department of the Sandler Family Campus is collecting various basic items for the less fortunate. A donation bin is located near the main entrance’s security booth. Essential supplies...
What if your cupboards were bare?
Imagine walking into your kitchen pantry and seeing bare cupboards. What would you do? Having to choose between paying a bill and feeding your family is difficult, but for many, this is a reality. Fortunately, Jewish Family Service helps with its Food Closets. Over...
New book highlights 100 years of UJFT Israel and Overseas Partner, JDC
In honor of its centennial year, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has published I Live. Send Help. This pictorial volume details the intertwined history of JDC and the Jewish people by highlighting the major events, both tragic and redemptive,...
HAT Golf Tournament—Driving for the green
The 26th Annual Hebrew Academy of Tidewater Golf Tournament, more affectionately known as the Bob Josephberg Classic, was a successful and fun event that took place on a beautiful day. Originally scheduled for Sept. 9, the tournament was delayed until Oct. 21 due to...