NEW YORK (JTA)—During a combative news conference in early August, White House adviser Stephen Miller told reporters that the United States should prioritize immigrants who speak English. “Does the applicant speak English?” Miller asked, describing a bill to reduce...
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What it’s like to be Jewish in South Korea
Though the Jewish community in South Korea is small, Jews visiting the country to compete in or watch the Winter Olympic Games won’t have to skimp on kosher food or Shabbat programming. The country’s Chabad emissary is setting up a pop-up restaurant in Pyeongchang...
Arielle Di Porto brings stories of Aliyah to Tidewater
United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Cabinet recently hosted Arielle Di Porto from the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). Di Porto gave a stirring presentation about JAFI’s important work of rescuing Jews throughout the world. Director of the Aliyah division...
Dr. Steven Warsof appointed honorary member of Israeli Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology
EVMS Professor of Obstetrics, Dr. Steven Warsof, was made an honorary member of the Israeli Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology for his long-standing volunteer efforts at the Azoraeli School of Medicine of the Galilee at Bar Ilan University in Sfat Israel. The award...
Mazel Tov
Mazel Tov, February 5, 2018
HAT and Strelitz celebrate traditions with grandparents
While many people were busy preparing turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater Konikoff Center of Learning and the Strelitz Early Childhood Education Center celebrated the time-honored tradition of Grandparents’ Day on Wednesday, Nov. 22....
Latkepalooza: A festive evening of music, crafts, programs, and food
On the second night of Hanukkah, December 13, more than 150 children and adults gathered at the Sandler Family Campus to celebrate the Festival of Lights. The 5th annual Latkepalooza, co-sponsored by the Simon Family Jewish Community Center and PJ Library, included...
Portnoys agree on their legacy
When talking with Erinn and Dr. Felix Portnoy, the commitment and love they have for the Jewish community is obvious. As parents of very young children, they feel compelled to step up and provide for the Jewish future of the next generation, and are thrilled to be...
Jewish volunteers serve Christmas dinner
For almost a quarter-century, about 20 Jews in Tidewater have engaged in a beloved Christmas tradition: serving Christmas dinner at a homeless shelter in Norfolk. For at least 20 years, they ensured that residents of the Dwelling Place, an emergency shelter that has...
HAT graduate moves home to serve community as rabbi
There’s a new rabbi in town. Just before Hanukkah, Virginia Beach native Rabbi Zalman Margolin moved from Brooklyn with his wife Bracha and their two children to expand Chabad of Tidewater with a new presence near the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. “We are delighted to...
Delta employees detail a pattern of anti-Semitic abuse at airline
NEW YORK (JTA)—It wasn’t long after Nahum Amir began working for Delta Airlines as a mechanic that he says his manager started calling him “the Jewish guy.” Then Amir says the manager accused him and other Jews of “killing kids in Gaza.” During the same period, Yaron...
Investments & Giving
Investments, January 22, 2017
There’s a party going on right here
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...
Alene Jo Kaufman retires from HAT
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...
Jewish Family Service wraps up 10th Annual Week of Healthy Living
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...
Holocaust Commission program to be featured at Yad Vashem conference
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...
Temple Sinai names new rabbi
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...
Cantor’s loss leaves Jewish Republicans bereft
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...
Jewish Major League baseball cards feature current and classic players
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,...
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....
TJF celebrates 30th anniversary, Simon Family Legacy Society and retirement of its president and CEO
The Tidewater Jewish Foundation celebrated its 30th anniversary, acknowledged the members of the Simon Family Legacy Society and honored Philip Rovner on his retirement from the Foundation after 18 years of service on Thursday, April 24. Approximately 150 people...