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Super Sunday

Super Sunday

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...

Tax laws in flux: Give now!

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...

From Brooklyn to Norfolk State

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...

Beth El welcomes the Park Place School

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...

Israel Today’s Rachel Fish speaks with myriad groups

Israel Today’s Rachel Fish speaks with myriad groups

Educator and editor, Rachel Fish, visited Tidewater in early November, making stops at local high schools, universities, and other public forums along the way. Fish, associate director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University, began her trip...

Jerusalem recognition reaction

Jerusalem recognition reaction

President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States intends to move its embassy to Jerusalem as a recognition of that city’s status as the capital of Israel, has been met with myriad responses—from jubilation to dismay, from pride and relief to anger and...

The Deloreans are coming!

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...

Israel Fest 2014: Amazing Crowds, Amazing Day

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...

Successful Iron Dome program wraps up JCC’s Celebrate Israel series

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...

Tidewater Jewish rock star wows crowd

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...

A shift of outlook is all it took

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...

Simon Family JCC holds Annual Meeting

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...

Beauty and benevolence abound at Women’s Division Spring Luncheon

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...

In Mideast visit, Pope Francis makes symbolic gestures to both sides

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...

A new gauge of global anti-Semitism

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...

UJFT 2014 Annual Campaign coming to a close

As of late May, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater 2014 Annual Campaign received just over $4 million in donations from about 1,500 individual donors. Gifts to the UJFT enrich and touch the lives of Jews, and many others, in Tidewater, in the United States, in...

Winning essays awarded at Ohef Sholom Temple Religious School

For his Bar Mitzvah project, Bradley Friedman chose to administer the First Annual Ohef Sholom Temple Religious School Essay Contest. All students in grades one through 10 were invited to participate. The topic for this year’s contest was: “Our Temple was founded in...

HAT student wins 2014 Israel Poster Contest

Leo Kamer had a selection of cool facts about Israeli innovations to choose from as inspiration for an illustrated entry in the area’s 2014 Israel Poster Contest. The one the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater fifth grader liked the best, though, had to do with a bicycle....

Chinese and Kosher?

After several months of discussions and preparation, Beth Sholom Village was host to a family dinner with congregants of B’nai Israel. The concern that Beth Sholom Village is not at a level of Kashrut for many of the Orthodox community has been around for some time....

Community supports Israel at Independence Day event

The Tidewater community showed its support for Israel at a celebratory event held on May 6 in honor of Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. The Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, in partnership with the Simon Family JCC’s...

Can a relationship celebrate a Bar Mitzvah?

The “Bar Mitzvah boy” did not receive a fountain pen. There was no sheet cake shaped like a Torah scroll. No band played too loudly, and no one raided a 401k plan to pay for the event. And yet, when two of Tidewater’s Masorti/ Conservative congregations, Kehillat Bet...

ADL survey: More than a quarter of the world hates Jews

NEW YORK (JTA)—A lot of people around the world hate the Jews. That’s the main finding of the Anti- Defamation League’s largest-ever worldwide survey of anti-Semitic attitudes. The survey, released Tuesday, May 13, found that 26 percent of those polled —representing...

Jewish groups decry Supreme Court’s town council prayer ruling

WASHINGTON (JTA)—An array of Jewish groups criticized a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing prayers at town hall meetings. The 5–4 decision along conservative- liberal lines handed down Monday, May 5 reversed a lower appeals court decision in favor of a lawsuit...

Madeline Budman

Madeline Budman, who was the 2014 recipient of the Ben Topus “Ruach” Award at NFTY-MAR’s (North America Federation of Temple Youth-Mid Atlantic Region) Spring Kallah, Saturday, April 26. The award is given to the senior who demonstrates leadership while not serving as...