The Guide to Jewish Living in Tidewater 2023
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New Gaga pit assures more game time
Originating in Israel, Gaga is a sport like dodgeball, played in a circular pit where players hit and roll the ball to eliminate opposing players. The Simon Family JCC built its first Gaga pit nearly 10 years ago to entertain students and campers on the Sandler Family...
JFS Biennial Meeting: New leadership, awards, and farewells
This year marks 75 years of commitment by Jewish Family Service to serve the community. For more than three quarters of a century, thousands of people have received help from the family services agency. Part of the agency’s success is the legacy of its board of...
Summer Camp opens at JCC with spirit and fun
Off to an exceptional start, Camp JCC’s campers and counselors are quickly finding their rhythm – building solid relationships throughout the camp community. One key to Camp JCC’s initial success is the dedicated team of counselors who seamlessly settled into their...
Delegate Anne Ferrell Tata honored
A luncheon to honor and express appreciation to Delegate Anne Ferrell Tata for her leadership and efforts in passing the first piece of legislation in Virginia aimed at fighting antisemitism – adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working...
Dear Readers: Senior Living
Dear Readers, What age qualifies as a senior? It seems like the answer depends on where you inquire. AARP, for example, says its organization is dedicated to people 50 and over. According to Medicare, however, a senior is 65 years old or older. But anyone 55 can...
A family’s reunion to celebrate a portrait’s rebirth
A portrait of Lewis Nusbaum (1830-1902) has been restored to its original condition thanks to the skill of the Chrysler Museum’s conservator, Mark Lewis, and the generosity of several of Nusbaum’s descendants. In June, many of those descendants gathered at Ohef Sholom...
Virginia Beach School Board votes “no” on library changes
The Virginia Beach School Board met on Monday, June 12 to vote on, among other topics on their agenda, potential changes to the library media centers in each of the division’s schools. The vote on the proposed change to the school’s library policy in Virginia Beach...
Dear Readers: Health Care in the Jewish Community
Dear Readers, One of the most accurate truisms, in my opinion anyway, is “If you have your health, you have everything.” Of course, until we or someone close to us faces a medical challenge, the saying seems to be reserved for “older people.” It is in fact, true for...
Steven Warsof: An Inside Business 2023 Healthcare Hero
Inside Business presented the 2023 Healthcare Heroes Awards to “recognize outstanding individuals and organizations that are making a noteworthy difference in healthcare across Hampton Roads” on Tuesday, June 20. The breakfast event took place at the Westin Virginia...
Mazel Tov to Jewish Tidewater’s Graduates!
Graduation season began again this year with plenty for Jewish Tidewater’s graduates and their families to celebrate, and Jewish News celebrated plenty with 34 graduates from high schools, colleges, and myriad graduate programs in the June 12, 2023 edition. Here, we...
Celebrate Community with the 2023 Biennial
Wednesday, June 14, 6:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus In our Jewish community, we seize every opportunity to honor our past as we plan for the future. We remember our past leadership throughout our community who set the bar for high achievements for contributing time...
Donors and philanthropic accomplishments celebrated at 2022 Simon Family Legacy Celebration
Tidewater Jewish Foundation celebrated donors, community milestones, and philanthropic accomplishments at the 2022 Simon Family Legacy Celebration on Sunday, May 17 at the Sandler Family Campus. The first in-person event in three years, the celebration highlighted the...
Yom Hashoah Commemoration returns to the community
This year’s Yom Hashoah Commemoration, honoring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, as well as liberators and righteous gentiles, was the first in-person gathering for the purpose since 2019. After cancelling the public commemoration in 2020 and having a...
Stay Alive
Karina Filonenko evacuated from Ukraine to Poland with her two children just after the start of the war. A challenge for each person who lived in Ukraine after February 24, is to ‘stay alive.’ Could you ever expect that in the 21st century, the word “genocide” will be...
Leia Morrissey receives Stein Family Scholarship from TJF
The annual Stein Family College Scholarship of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation is awarded this year to Leia Morrissey, a soon-to-be graduate of Granby High School in Norfolk. Morrissey is the 15th recipient of the four-year scholarship, which provides up to $20,000...
Tom Purcell competing for Mr. Health and Fitness
Muscle and Fitness magazine’s Mr. Health and Fitness competition is underway with the Simon Family JCC’s Tom Purcell a strong competitor. Purcell, the JCC’s Wellness and Fitness director, says “My goal each day is to help others obtain good health.” A 56-year-old...
Mah Jongg is back after a two-year absence
Since its inception in 2011, Beth Sholom Village’s The Janet Gordon Annual Mah Jongg Event and Luncheon never missed a year…until COVID-19 hit. An event that Mah Jongg playing women have looked forward to and enjoyed, it has evolved from a tournament with competitive...
Senior Seder returns with appreciative participants
More than 40 seniors enjoyed matzah and music as they celebrated Passover at a festive community Seder at the Simon Family JCC on Tuesday, April 12. Chazzan David Proser of KBH Synagogue led a beautiful model Seder with the musical accompaniment of Dave Flagler, JCC’s...
Matching Gift announced for UJFT Ukraine Emergency Fund
The Tidewater Ukraine Emergency Fund has raised and distributed more than $280,000 as of Tuesday, April 19. The money has been sent to United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s overseas partner agencies, the American-Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and Jewish...
Where are the headlines?
Words matter. So do images. We see and feel the impact of words and images in cascading form in this age of technology driven social and journalistic media. As we were reminded at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, people, nations, and institutions pay the price when...
TJF Community Impact Grant helps Toras Chaim with new updated textbooks
To do a job well, one must have the proper tools. A carpenter might need a specific saw for a type of wood to be cut, a photographer might need a special lens to capture a tiny creature, and educators need the most up-to-date information and methods to teach and...
Lessons learned from moms
What one (or two) thing(s)—of the probably many—have you learned from your mom? We posed the question to several women, and not surprisingly, their responses are filled with respect, admiration, love, and even some humor. How fortunate these women are to have had such...
Unorthodox takes a Southern spin in Tidewater
A live recording of “the universe’s leading Jewish podcast” had everyone laughing at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday, April 7. The Unorthodox podcast team visited the “Paris of the mid-Atlantic,” as Tidewater was referred to by host Liel Lebovitz,...
Tidewater Ukraine Emergency Fund raises and distributes dollars
The severity of the war in Ukraine, its inhumane treatment of civilians, and devasting destruction, is apparent to anyone watching or reading the news. What is not found in the main-stream media, however, is that at the start of the war, Ukraine was home to more than...
Tidewater Chavurah acquires Torah scroll
Through the efforts of its rabbi, Ellen Jaffe-Gill, Tidewater Chavurah has received a Torah scroll to use during Shabbat and holidays. Rabbi Jaffe-Gill acquired the scroll through the Jewish Community Legacy Project, an organization that helps small congregations with...
Congressman McEachin visits Sandler Family Campus
The first Virginia Congressman to sign the bipartisan Pascrell-Latko letter, demanding increased funding to protect synagogues and houses of worship, Congressman Donald McEachin visited the Sandler Family Campus for a quick conversation and lunch with a diverse group...
JFS continues mission for mental health and wellness
Support is urgently needed. Throughout the past year, Jewish Family Service, in partnership with United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, has been highlighting the importance of mental health and wellness through a series of events. These events are part of JFS’ 18th...
Community invited to participate in 2022 Holocaust Commemoration events
Reading of the Names on Zoom Wednesday, April 27, 10 am–2 pm Contact hhorwitzintune@yahoo.com to reserve a spot. Yom Hashoah Commemoration Wednesday April 27, 6:45 pm Congregation Beth El Masks are required. The Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of...
Ketanji Brown Jackson brings up a Black-Jewish civil rights alliance in confirmation hearing
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Whether he meant to or not, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz gave Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, an opportunity for a breather in the middle of a contentious day of confirmation hearings on Tuesday, March 22. Cruz, who...
Passover 5782
Dear Readers, This might be the year that we all get to dust off most of our Haggadahs, and maybe even polish the silver as we return, hopefully, to some more traditional Seders. While last year’s smaller outdoor Seders were a welcome step forward from the previous...
Ma Nishtana or Why is this year different?
Instead of asking, “Why is tonight different from all other nights?” the first of the traditional four questions asked by the youngest child at the Seder, Jewish News asked local rabbis, “Why is Passover this year different from the last two years?” With the pandemic,...