Other News

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

A meaningful and unique program to allow students to connect with their Jewish heritage, their community and to strengthen relationships across the generations, BINA High School held its first Grandparents & Grandfriends Day on Monday, March 10. It was also an...

Congregation Beth El’s Sisterhood held its annual Sisterhood Shabbat on Saturday, March 28. The Sisterhood chose to emphasize the Women’s League theme for the year of “Mispachah” (family) as the message of the morning. The event was successfully chaired by Brenda...