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A soaring new cantorial voice can be heard at Ohef Sholom Temple. Facilitating meaningful prayer and bringing festive and beautiful music to her congregation, however, are not the only talents Cantor Jennifer Rueben has revealed since her arrival in Norfolk five short...
25 | Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg* and Patricia & Avraham Ashkenazi continues through Sunday, Jan. 28 National and international films, classics, and dramas featuring award-winning Jewish writers, actors, and...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Police in the U.S. Capitol arrested some 100 Jewish activists, many of them clergy, who protested in a Senate office building on behalf of a bill that would protect illegal immigrants who arrived as children. Several dozen of the activists from the...
Sunday, Jan. 28 • 10 am – 1 pm United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s biggest phone-a-thon fundraising day of the year— Super Sunday—raises money for the annual campaign. The annual event supports UJFT’s work, which directly impacts the lives of Jews in Tidewater as...
Year-end is often the most opportune time to consider financial and tax planning strategies. As this article is being written, Congress and the White House are negotiating significant changes in the tax laws that could, if enacted, impact financial strategies and...
I grew up in a not so religious American Jewish household in a heavily Orthodox section of Brooklyn in the 1980s. I felt disconnected from my culture and outcast from the community, even though it surrounded me. Only a few generations removed from an Orthodox...
For more than 20 years, the Virginia Arts Festival has brought renowned artists from around the globe to Hampton Roads. In addition to the packed schedule of world-class performances, the Festival reaches out to students each year. In fact, during the past school...
Over many decades of creating choreography that conveys an emotional story, Elbert Watson, Norfolk Academy dance director, has covered many searing topics. Most notably, he has developed dances that explore aspects of African- American history, from slavery to the...
Jewish Proverb: “Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.” While a Jewish Day School experience is often considered a homogeneous education, within every group of students, a range of abilities always exists. Hebrew Academy of Tidewater’s goal, therefore, is...
Walking through Congregation Beth El’s education wing on a weekday, one might be surprised to hear the sounds of violins. The source of the music is from students who attend the Park Place School, located at Beth El since August. Each of the 66 second through sixth...
In a move long overdue, the United States of America has finally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Congratulations to President Trump, congratulations to people of Israel, and congratulations to everyone who prayed to see this day. Over the past 50 years,...
Sunday, Feb. 4, 2 pm First performance will be tribute to mothers and fathers Lorraine Fink’s iconic artwork hangs on the walls of many Tidewater homes and galleries. A series of designs entitled “Seven Days of Creation” is permanently displayed at the Sandler Family...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Escalations between Hamas and Israel are nothing new. What’s missing this time, analysts say, is the alignment of outside interests that has resolved such fights in the past. Egypt’s government lacks the influence over Hamas of its predecessors and...
By now, the publication commemorating Tidewater’s Jewish community’s 75 organized years should have made it to everyone’s mailboxes, and, hopefully, been opened, browsed though, and maybe even read. We’ve heard from many readers (who must have opened, browsed and...
White City Shabbat set the Guinness World Record for the Largest Shabbat Dinner ever at the Hangar 11 in the port of Tel Aviv when 2,226 attendees were officially inscribed in the Guinness World Record for the Largest Shabbat Dinner on Friday night June 13. Notable...
Nine year awards (from preschool, age two–5th grade)—Mushky Brashevitzky, Shayda Rahimzadeh, Blake Brown, Gabe Foleck, Leo Kamer and Danial Watts James London Memorial Athlete of the Year—Danial Watts Most Improved in General Studies—Shayda Rahimzadeh Abe and Anna...
Memories for a lifetime by Sam Sacks, Virginia Tech, class of 2014 It is incredible what one can experience during 10 days in Israel. Earlier this year, thanks to Birthright and Hillel at Virginia Tech, we were given the opportunity to witness the Land of Israel. Of...
There are many people who have walked through the halls at Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, wherever it has been located. Some are more memorable than others, but few made as “big” a mark on the school as Harold (Hap) Unger. I first met Hap when his daughter Jennifer...
On Monday June 9, JFS held its Biennial Meeting to install the new board president and officers. Dr. Marcia Samuels, outgoing president, welcomed Lawrence Steingold, who will serve as president for the 2014-2016 term. The other members of the executive committee are:...
On Wednesday, June 18, the last Torah on Tap of the season took place at the home of Marcy and Paul Terkeltaub. Co-hosted by Lisa and Murray Rosenbach, the 25 people who attended ranged in age from 24 to ‘80-something.’ Since its inception, the discussions during...
When this year’s nine Melton graduates received their certificates, they joined a group of 180 adults in Tidewater who have completed the first two years of the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning. The students, who took 60 class sessions at the Simon...
Wafting through the air on 31st St. near the corner of Atlantic Avenue, stronger than the smell of the ocean and more enchanting than the aroma of suntan lotion, is the scent of freshly popped popcorn. That memorable smell draws people into Jody’s—the gourmet popcorn...
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—Part God Bless America, part Shabbat Shalom, the Fourth of July this year falls on a Friday. In this land of religious freedom, how do we plan to observe both? As the sun sets over the “fruited plain,” will we be lighting Shabbat candles and...
When Israeli born Cheni Alofer and her husband Sam told their children they were taking a trip to visit family in Israel this June, their son Aaron said, “Will that mean we will miss Camp JCC?” Aaron, a rising first grader at HAT, and his younger sister Natali, will...
This summer will see the arrival of Professor Joseph R. (Joe) Hodes who will begin the Fall semester at Old Dominion University in the History Department teaching three courses. Currently a visiting professor at Tulane University where he has been teaching The Arab...
I grew up in Israel of the 1950’s and 1960’s when peace with an Arab state was even beyond a dream. Thus the opportunity to visit an Arab country moves me deeply. Through the years I have had the good opportunity to go on missions with fellow rabbis to Egypt, Jordan...
Every year comes the bittersweetness of Hebrew Academy’s graduation, a culmination of hard work and determination by children, most who have attended since preschool. While parents and teachers both kvell over the fact that these children have reached this milestone,...
A meaningful day of commemoration and learning on Yom Hazikaron, Israeli Memorial Day, was held on May 5, 2014/5 Iyar 5774 at the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater Konikoff Center of Learning for students and the community. Beginning at 8:30 am, students, faculty, former...
The 2014 Jewish Education Night awards ceremony included the awarding of Jewish Educator of the Year to Zohar Ben Moshe, Hebrew Academy of Tidewater’s Judaic studies teacher. Jewish Education Night is an annual event that pays tribute to all Jewish educators in the...
Congregation Beth El has many programs that are focused on building community within the congregation. One of the newest and most successful of these programs completed its first year with the fourth edition of “Guess Who’s Coming to Shabbas” on Friday, May 16. The...
The Mary and Avalon S. Krukin Award for Senior Adults was presented to Marilyn Moranha at the Simon Family JCC’s annual meeting on Monday, May 19. Morhana received the award because of the time and energy she devotes to the seniors at the JCC. This is her sixth year...
Estate planning is the process by which an individual or family arranges for the administration and transfer of assets in anticipation of their incapacitation or death. When contemplating such transfers, it has been said that every parent has one additional child to...