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Calling all kings, queens, and righteous men! The joyous holiday of Purim begins this year on Saturday evening, March 23, or 13 Adar II, in the Hebrew calendar. Celebrating the Jewish victory over Haman, the reading of the Megillah teaches about acts of bravery in the...
October 7th changed a lot about Jewish life in Israel and the diaspora. Conversations that used to be challenging have become even harder. Students have become confused, conflicted, and pulled by various narratives not knowing what to think. Jewish students have...
On the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 7, a delegation of committed and proud Jews – ranging from ODU students to retirees – boarded a double-decker bus at the Sandler Family Campus in Virginia Beach destined for Richmond. There, we met up with other Jewish delegations...
Thursday, March 21, 5:45 pmThe Westin Virginia Beach Town Center Laura Geringer Gross is one of this year’s honorees for The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities’ (VCIC) 60th annual Tidewater Humanitarian Awards. Individuals and organizations who have made...
The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Philanthropy meeting on Thursday, Jan. 18 featured Eliza Prince, JDC senior development officer. Prince has been with JDC for a few months and works out of the Washington, DC area, serving several Jewish communities...
Beth Sholom Village hosted its biennial meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 16, setting the stage for the organization’s transformative journey in healthcare for Jewish seniors in Hampton Roads. The event celebrated the non-profit’s rich history, as well as marked a significant...
Terri Denison The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the leading Jewish humanitarian aid organization, announced that Tidewater’s Annie Sandler — a noted Jewish, civic, and global philanthropic leader— is its new president, following a unanimous vote...
Stephanie Peck The new school year began for BBYO with a new Tidewater city director, Evan Gordon. Forty teens are registered between the two chapters, OD (AZA for the boys) and Simcha (BBG for the girls). Last fall, BBYO Tidewater held two events to begin their year....
Sarah Cooper Tidewater residents are discovering the joy of celebrating Jewish values and culture through PJ Library Get Together grants. Many know that PJ Library sends free, award-winning books that celebrate Jewish values and culture to families with children from...
Nofar Trem United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is taking Israel Club on the road with Shinshinim Naomi Friedland and Maya Ostrov bringing their love and knowledge of all things Israel directly to area families’ homes. During Israel Connection Club, participants...
Ally St. Pierre At Strelitz International Academy, students become International Baccalaureate® learners starting as early as six weeks old. A huge part of an IB® education is the IB® Learner Profile Traits, which include being principled, open minded, an inquirer,...
Betty Ann Levin With Jewish communities around the world, we are sharing our Hanukkah lightings with friends, family, and our community. This Hanukkah, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is again joining with myriad other Jewish and non-Jewish organizations to...
United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival hosted a successful event with New York Times bestselling author Lisa Barr, who discussed her latest book Woman on Fire at the Chrysler Museum of Art. The event was in...
A small but mighty group of Federation donors recently returned from a magnificent week-long journey through time and space to ancient and modern Israel. From Feb. 28 to March 9, participants of the 2023 UJFT Community Mission to Israel wandered through history,...
Dear Readers, Calling the current climate in Israel “complicated” could be the understatement of the century. Never do I recall major Jewish organizations, donors, and celebrities making public statements against Israel’s domestic policy. Or tens of thousands of...
The supreme governing bodies of the Technion, the Council acting on behalf of the International Board of Governors, and with the approval of the Technion Senate, resolved to confer upon Avraham Ashkenazi the Technion Honorary Fellow Award. The ceremony is slated to...
During my formative years, the 1960s, my parents instilled in me a love of both Judaism and Israel. As a college student, I volunteered on a kibbutz one summer, working in the fields and hitch-hiking around Israel. I married a non-Jew, who later converted to Judaism...
I ran into my dear friend Amy Lefcoe last spring at the Simon Family JCC and asked her, “So, when are we going back to Israel?” “Hmmm, let me think about that,” Amy replied. As always, Amy worked her magic and created what would fast become one of my most memorable...
Dear Friends, Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) celebrates freedom as we recall the Exodus from Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. Family and friends at a seder, springtime, renewal, and freedom are just a few of the images that come to mind when we think about this most...
In her third floor speech since becoming a Congresswoman representing Virginia’s Second District, Congresswoman Jen Kiggans spoke about the importance of supporting Israel. The speech took place on Friday, March 10. The speech follows: Madam Speaker, I rise today to...
The recent terrorist murder in Israel of two Jewish boys from Har Bracha in the Arab village of Huwara fills the Jewish world with sadness. Yet, it is the extrajudicial response by religious settlers to the killings which resulted in widespread civilian destruction in...
Anyone who has traveled by the Pembroke Square area in the last few weeks might have seen exciting developments taking place on the corner by Target. Aviva Pembroke, the premier senior community that is being created in partnership by Beth Sholom Village and Pembroke...
We joined the Tidewater delegation for Jewish Advocacy Day in Richmond on Wednesday, Feb. 8. In the morning, we all met to ride the bus to Richmond at the Simon Family JCC—you could feel the excitement. After six months of working with the community, meeting people,...
NADIV, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s young men’s Giving Circle, recently completed this year’s giving process at the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center in Portsmouth. On a Sunday evening in February the members were hosted for a dinner, learned about the...
Luca Calliott proves that one can never begin reading the Jewish News too early.
Almost 50 early morning risers boarded a bus to Richmond for Virginia’s annual Jewish Advocacy Day on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, the delegation joined nearly 200 citizen...
International Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed this year by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission with the publication of To Life: The Past Is Present, Holocaust Stories of Hampton Roads Survivors, Liberators, and Rescuers. This collection...
Dear Readers, Longevity unwittingly turned into the theme for this issue’s Mazel Tov section. Doing so makes perfect sense, and frankly, I wonder why we’ve never done it before. After all, when celebrating at weddings we hope the marriages will be “forever” and when a...
Jewish News: When and where did you meet? Minette and Charles Cooper: In New York on a blind date through Marjorie Quarte, a senior in Minette’s house at Smith College who was dating Charles’s brother Joel. JN: Charles, how did you convince Minette to move to Norfolk?...
Caught on Camera: Dani Weinstein says she wants to read Jewish News to see who she knows in each issue.
Next month, Sandy Goldberg, account executive at Jewish News, turns 80. If he hadn’t shared the news, no one would know. He’s always active…traveling with his wife Anne, busy with his family, entertaining, exercising at the Simon Family JCC, and working the phones and...
Tidewater’s ShinShinim, Aya Sever and Alma Ben Chorin, have been busy this winter spreading Israeli culture and education throughout the community. In addition to leading programs at the Simon Family JCC, they have engaged with students at Strelitz International...