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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...
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...
The scene outside the large group exercise room in the Simon Family JCC’s gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11 am is quiet and generally serene. Members of all ages are concentrating on their weightlifting sets and getting heart healthy on the various cardiovascular...
It’s the end of a “double chai” era. Thirty-six years in which Alene Jo Kaufman led, taught and touched the lives of hundreds of the community’s children and families at the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater Konikoff Center of Learning and Strelitz Early Childhood Center...
Sunday, May 4 was a picture-perfect morning with clear blue, sunny skies and comfortable temperatures for the more than 450 runners and walkers who gathered at 24th Street Park at the Virginia Beach oceanfront for Jewish Family Service’s 10th Annual Run, Roll or...
Two of the suitcases Elena Barr Baum will take with her to Israel when she travels there in July are pre-packed, and not her own. They belong to the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, and are filled with reproductions of mementos...
The membership of Temple Sinai of Newport News has approved hiring Severine Sokol as its new rabbi. After a congregational meeting April 27, where Sokol was approved unanimously, Congregation president Paul Brindza praised Temple members for their support in bringing...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Eric Cantor’s defeat in one constituency, Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, triggered mourning among another: Republican Jews. Since 2009, Rep. Cantor (R-Va.) has been the only Jewish Republican in Congress. After the 2010 GOP takeover of the...
The seventh edition of Jewish Major Leaguer Baseball Cards—a 50-card set largely focused on events in baseball involving Jewish players over the last four years is now available. The 2010 edition, the fifth update, was thought to be the last. But popular demand,...
Saturday, June 14, 7 pm, Ohef Sholom Temple “Go back to the ’80s” at Ohef Sholom Temple’s annual casino-style event, which will feature the ‘80s tribute band, The Deloreans. It’s been said, “when you go to a Deloreans show, you feel like you’re actually back in the...
The Simon Family JCC’s Annual Israel Fest, presented by Charles Barker Automotive, was the biggest to date, with about 1,800 people enjoying the many activities on Sunday, May 18. This was the most extensive, expansive and enthralling Israel Fest at the JCC, featuring...
A presentation describing the engineering mechanics behind the Iron Dome anti-missile system used by Israel to protect its citizens could have been overly complicated or less than entertaining. In a program about the subject, held at Regent University Theatre on...
Ohef Sholom hosted “Cantor Wally Live!” an outdoor celebration of Jewish music last month. A picture perfect day, families with young children gathered outside to hear Cantor Wally play original and classical Jewish tunes on the steps of Ohef Sholom’s sanctuary...
The moment that shifted my outlook on Israel was when I had the honor to attend a presentation by StandWithUs. Hen and Shay, who toured the United States as part of “Israeli Soldiers Stories,” spoke at my school. Their testimonies touched my heart in a way I never...
Community leaders, members and staff gathered for the 61st Annual Meeting of the Simon Family JCC on Monday, May 19. The meeting recognized Terri Sarfan for her successful two-year term as president, welcomed Marty Einhorn as incoming president, and bestowed awards on...
The beauty, subtlety, elegance and graciousness of the Jewish women gathered in the sun-lit room at the Museum of Contemporary Art on May 20 outshone the stunning Dale Chihuly glass chandelier that hung from the ceiling of the gallery. More than 70 attended the annual...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Perhaps the most lasting image from Pope Francis’ trip to Israel and the West Bank will be the pontiff praying, eyes closed, with his head against a wall. It wasn’t the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest site and a necessary stop for visiting...
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Anti-Defamation League’s Global 100 Index of Anti-Semitism is the broadest public opinion survey of attitudes toward Jews ever conducted. It is one of the most important efforts we have undertaken in our history as an organization. The survey was...