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Laughter, camaraderie, and the unmistakable spirit of Tidewater’s Jewish community filled the Sandler Family Campus’ Fleder Multipurpose Room on the evening of May 15. The occasion was the Simon Family Legacy Society’s celebration event dedicated to honoring those who...
Biden affirms commitment to Israel and fighting antisemitism The White House’s Rose Garden provided the festive backdrop for the celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month on Monday, May 20.Approximately 250 – 300 people attended the event at the invitation of...
The best of friends starting in kindergarten, Todd Copeland and Sam Brooke went to school together, spent time in each other’s homes as young friends do, and even travelled to Israel together. But they wouldn’t have old age together, as Sam passed away in 1993, around...
“When the kids are laughing that dad doesn’t know what is going on, you’ve arrived. If kids think dad is cool, something has gone terribly wrong,” Jerry Seinfeld once mused.Describing their dads ahead of Father’s Day, these adult children may have once subscribed to...
United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Philanthropy Spring lunch took place last month in the Fleischman Lounge on the Sandler Family Campus. This annual lunch serves as a ‘Thank you’ event for members of Women’s Philanthropy who are volunteer campaign...
Resilience and determination. These two words are perfectly fitting for Evgeniia (Jenny) Kosatykh, the 2024 recipient of the Stein Family Scholarship. Kosatykh’s remarkable journey from war-torn Ukraine to the halls of Frank W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach is an...
Volunteers are heavily relied on to help with the continued success of Jewish Family Service of Tidewater’s programs. The community of volunteers makes an incredible impact on the lives of the people served by the organization, with thousands of volunteer hours logged...
It was Saturday night.One of my lecturers and I were on a Zoom call with a bubbly and cheerful English lecturer from Mexico planning a collaboration between our students. My phone rang and I saw it was my administrative coordinator, calling at 9 pm – which only means...
Most first trips to Israel don’t begin with a tour of carnage, but Congresswoman Jen Kiggans’ did. In addition to meeting with families of hostages from the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, Kiggans and the other 14 members of Congress on the AIPAC trip spent time at Kibbutz...
Rugelach baking evening unites Jewish women in Tidewater Last month, 25 Jewish women met one evening at the home of Betsy Karotkin, UJFT Women’s Philanthropy chair, to meet and greet one another and to discuss the significant impact of Jewish women – all while...
Ambassador Brad Gordon briefed the Tidewater community on current events surrounding the Israel-Hamas war and the impact of the conflict on the region and Washington, D.C. The March event brought 300 people to the Sandler Family Campus to learn more about the war and...
Passover is a uniquely Jewish holiday, with four cups of wine, matzah, 10 plagues, and the central Seder plate. Though traditions and rituals vary among families and different cultures, the Passover story, retold each year, celebrates freedom during the Exodus from...
Thursday, May 25, 8:30 am, Jewish War Veterans Flagpole, Sandler Family Campus The Board of Rabbis and Cantors of Hampton Roads and the Jewish War Veterans (Post 158) will host a community Memorial Day Weekend observance to start the weekend in appreciation of those...
Bob Lehman loves orchestrating Shabbat dinners – of all sizes. His latest, held last month at the Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club, welcomed 78 guests for an evening of conversation, blessings, and a delicious meal that took place under a tent over the course of three...
The year was 1959 and three young couples in Norfolk were about to add to their growing families. Who knew the women would deliver their babies on the same day at the same hospital, creating lifelong friendships for their newborns? It was the beginning of annual...
Dear Readers, Celebrating women - moms, mentors, colleagues, and friends - is always important, but especially appropriate as we approach Mother's Day next month. I’ve been fortunate to have had some pretty spectacular women in my life. . . starting with the first one...
Kim is Mother. Kim is a season unto herself. Kim is a sister of perpetual action. She is always working on the next chapter and never plays by the book. She bore and broke out three children in her own image–a storyteller, a dancer, and a loyalist–mothered them,...
If I had to sum up my mother in one word, it would be generous. My mom, Ellen Wagner, is generous with her love, her time, and her knowledge. She is always willing to open her home to anyone who might be alone for the holidays, she has a hard time saying no to...
My mom raised me with help from her mom, my Bubbie, at a time when there were not as many successful single parent households as there are now. She always wanted me to succeed without regard for what I may have been missing in my life and never wanted me to use what...
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.