The 25th Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg* and Patricia & Avraham Ashkenazi, began with a free, pre-festival event at TCC Roper Performing Arts Center featuring the movie, Marshall. Presented in honor of Martin...
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Tidewater celebrates Purim
Purim, is a joyous holiday celebrated every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar. This year, on February 28. It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot to destroy all the Jews, as recorded in the Megillah (book of...
For Jews in the Netherlands, Catholic Carnival feels like ‘hardcore Purim’
TILBURG, Netherlands (JTA)— Although he lives in a city with only a few dozen Jews, the Israel-born photographer Idan Hemo and his family enjoy each spring what he calls “hardcore Purim” street festivities. “Everyone dresses up, including and especially the adults, in...
Why show Animal House at a Jewish film festival
Wow! It is truly remarkable that the Virginia Festival of Jewish Film presented by Alma and Howard Laderberg* and Patricia and Avraham Ashkenazi has been around for a quarter of a century. That’s a long time to bring culture and entertainment to Tidewater by showing...
De Mommas and De Poppas’ tribute to parents draws big crowd to Beth Sholom Village
A cast of community members sang, danced, and joked about mothers, fathers, and kids during the A’Bisl Theater’s tribute to the Fifth Commandment during a spirited variety show at Beth Sholom Village on Sunday, Feb. 4. More than 200 people packed into the Pincus Paul...
UJFT’s Society of Professionals gets first look at Cavalier Hotel
The grand reopening of Virginia Beach’s historic Cavalier Hotel will take place in March, but United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Society of Professionals (SOP) received a special “sneak peak” on February 1. Axel Suray, executive vice president of Gold Key PHR,...
YAD MomME Time takes on Hiddur Mitzvah Project
As part of the Gary Rosenthal Hiddur Mitzvah Project, members of UJFT’s Young Adult Division’s MomMe made mosaic Shabbat candlesticks on Wednesday, Jan. 24 during a Tikkun Olam event at the Simon Family JCC. Gary Rosenthal is best known for his unique line of Judaica...
Dr. Bern Wollschlaeger captivated community with his personal story of discovery and transformation
More than 160 members of the community, including religious school students from Ohef Sholom Temple, Congregation Beth El, Temple Israel, and KBH attended a powerful and timely presentation by Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger on Sunday morning, Jan 28 at Ohef Sholom. Author of...
Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she will serve as long as she has ‘steam’
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told a Jewish audience that she would serve on the U.S. Supreme Court as long as she felt up to it. Ginsburg, appearing Thursday, Feb. 1 at a Forward event at Adas Israel synagogue in Washington, D.C., appeared to confirm...
Retirement
Retirement, February 19, 2018
William L. Nusbaum to receive Humanitarian Award
Thursday, March 22, 5:45 pm The Westin, Virginia Beach Town Center The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities has selected William L. Nusbaum to be among those receiving its prestigious Humanitarian Award this year, at their 54th annual dinner. The Tidewater...
Ready to graduate, Amanda Gladstone appreciates Stein Family College Scholarship
Amanda Gladstone, recipient of the Stein Family College Scholarship in 2014, has one semester left at Virginia Tech and radiates enthusiasm when she talks about her experience there. To say she loves Virginia Tech would be an understatement. A senior in marketing, she...
Tidewater women join The Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project in Israel
by Amy Lefcoe The water was low, but our determination was high as we kayaked our way down the Jordan River, pushing at times instead of rowing. We had already been in the North for a day but it felt like much longer. We were 200 Jewish women from across the country,...
Report from Israel
by Rabbi Israel Zoberman I have just returned from an extraordinary experience last month in Israel, the land I first came to in 1949 at the tender age of three and a half, already a refugee, from post-World War II Europe. Yet nothing could have prepared me for the...
Facing the music at Pardes Katz
by Marilyn Goldberg Johns A visit to the Matnas (community center) at Pardes Katz, struck many chords with the Tidewater Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project. Located outside of Tel Aviv, Pardes Katz has been an Israeli sister community with Tidewater for more than 20...
A personal visit to see friends and family
Amy Becker — July 16–July 27 Since I am a teacher and had time off this summer, I planned a trip to Israel to see friends and family who had moved there. Leading up to the day of my trip, I sat and thought about whether or not to go. I went back and forth one million...
Stop the Sirens: Israel Under Fire
Since July 7, when Israel initiated Operation Protective Edge, we have been closely monitoring events and praying for an end to the conflict, while mourning each and every life lost. We don’t know how long it will take for authorities to feel that Israelis are safe...
JCC Annual Presidents’ Cup Golf Tournament raises dollars and awareness
The Simon Family JCC 4th Annual Presidents’ Cup Golf Tournament brought golfers together for a worthy cause and an afternoon of recreation, relaxation and a little community education at Heron Ridge Golf Club on Tuesday, June 24. More than 70 golfers gathered to...
Meet the Presidents: Gary Alan Tabakin, President of Temple Emanuel
Profession President, Meyers & Tabakin Furniture Company Education Bachelor of Science in Business, Indiana University, 1977. Master of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin, 1978. Family Married to Kevin; Three children Michael, Amy and Brian with our...
“An Honest Day’s Work” The life of a Jewish immigrant, artist Jacob Pell
Tuesday, July 29 – Friday, August 29, Leon Family Gallery, Sandler Family Campus Several months ago, Yeda Strasser, a beloved member of Tidewater’s Jewish community schlepped a large canvas bag into the Simon Family JCC’s cultural arts department. It was filled with...
Leigh Baltuch receives Endowment Achievement Award
Each year, Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), the organization that unites Jewish Federations and independent Jewish communities throughout the world, presents outstanding leaders with the Endowment Achievement Award. This award is to honor the recipient’s...
Rabbi Zoberman marks 40 years in the rabbinate
An afternoon filled with praise, warmth, dance, song, speeches, proclamations and a packed house, commemorated the 40th anniversary of Rabbi Israel Zoberman’s ordination. On Sunday, June 1, Congregation Beth Chaverim’s sanctuary was standing room only as religious and...
#Firgun: What’s it all about?
During the winter of 2013–2014, I was a participant on a Birthright trip sponsored by the Hillel at Virginia Tech. When I got back to school I knew I wanted to get back to the land of Israel and help develop the country that made me feel so at home. After a bit of...
Hunger Feast: Experiential voyage in Tidewater
Hardly a day goes by when I don’t hear a friend say, “I’m starving” because they haven’t eaten in a couple of hours. I am guilty of it, too. We use this term so lightly because true hunger seems like such a remote problem. We’ve seen the commercials of ‘people in...
Amanda Gladstone is Stein Family College Scholarship’s 2014 recipient
Amanda Gladstone does not know what the term “free time” means. As one of only two Jewish students attending Hickory High School in Chesapeake, she got involved with BBYO to be more connected with her Judaism. And this involvement did not simply entail going to weekly...
Temple Emanuel’s rabbi marks his first year
Last June, Rabbi Marc Kraus arrived in Virginia Beach to become the rabbi at Temple Emanuel. Rabbi Kraus’ wife, Alicia Cohen Kraus, was recently appointed Old Dominion University’s Hillel director. Since their arrival, the couple has hosted more than 120 people for...
ATID program highlights future possibilities for community leaders
The three-year Strategic Plan adopted by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater in 2011 was developed and instituted to unify and strengthen the Tidewater Jewish community. A key initiative of the plan—one of seven—was to establish a community leadership...
Promoting change in struggling communities Max Sandler’s efforts continue
When the Jewish News caught up with Max Sandler two years ago, the Virginia Beach native was adapting to life in Gondar, Ethiopia. Then 26, Sandler had committed to a year living and working in an environment unlike anything he was familiar with, as a Jewish Service...
A Presbyterian disagrees with his denomination’s vote to divest
Let me begin by saying that I am very disappointed with the decision of the General Assembly to divest from three U.S. companies doing business with Israel. I have a great love and respect for the Jewish people, which began even before I was born! I grew up in a...
UJFT Mission to Israel A journey of a lifetime in just eight days
Seventeen members of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Summer mission to Israel recently returned from an action-packed and highly emotional visit. The adventure began in Jerusalem, with a breathtaking panoramic view of the city atop of the Tower of David....
Egypt and United States, usual brokers in cease-fires, may not help this time
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...
Notes and appreciation: 75th Commemorative issue
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...