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Jewish News: Where were you educated? Stephanie Adler Calliott: I attended the University of Maryland College Park and had the best four years as a Terp. My college roomies and I are still very close. JN: What was your work history? SAC: When I graduated from college,...
Jewish News: Where are you from and where were you educated? Bernie Mayer: I am from Cincinnati, Ohio. My undergraduate degree was from Miami University (Ohio), and I completed my Master of Science in Social Work at The University of Louisville (Kent School of Social...
Jewish News: Where were you educated? Edward Karotkin: I earned my Bachelor of Science degree at Union College, Schenectady, New York; and attended medical school at Wake Forest, formerly Bowman Gray School of Medicine. JN: What was your work history? EK: I have been...
The B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy Program encourages teens to become involved in tzedakah by establishing a fund for Jewish charitable giving. The program also aims to help teens explore what Jewish values are important to them for positively impacting the world....
Zack Bodner, CEO of the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, Calif., spends much of his time reflecting on how to ensure that Jewish life remains meaningful, relevant, and joyful for future generations. Through reflections and conversations with colleagues and friends,...
The Old Dominion University men’s basketball team played Georgia State on their home turf at Chartway Arena in Norfolk on Thursday, Jan. 19. But for many in attendance, the highlight of the evening came at halftime: When young athletes from the Simon Family JCC Youth...
For many people, discussions about a book conjure notions of a Book Club—a social gathering of friends to converse amiably about a creative, enjoyable read, possibly one that offers an escape from the daily round of life. A group of intrepid readers gathered at the...
With his four-year-old daughter Lea nestled on one side and his two-year-old son Ben snuggling the other, Rabbi Ari Oliszewski leans back in his office chair and smiles. A smile is a simple thing, but to Rabbi Ari, it’s everything. His smile is how he introduced...
Dear Readers, Food, drink, and romance seem to be as linked as love and hugs. Think about it…do you recall many first dates that didn’t involve a drink or a meal? I don’t. Or can you name many meetups with friends and relatives that don’t feature some sort of food...
I think my parents did a very smart thing in giving me a very uniquely Jewish-Israeli name. They made it so that my Jewish identity would be inescapable and ever present, although I also think they didn’t realize how much more challenging they would be making my life....
As we light our menorahs during Hanukkah and approach the end of 2022, I think back on all we have accomplished together. When Russia attacked Ukraine, Jewish Tidewater responded quickly, as we always do, raising almost $800,000 to provide support directly to...
Like so many immigrants who came to America around 1900, it took a great deal of courage to leave home. They came to escape persecution and hunger. They came not speaking English and often going to a kind relative they’d never met. My four grandparents were part of...
Each year, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival celebrates National Jewish Book Month by inviting prominent and emerging authors to share their latest books and projects with the Tidewater...
On Exhibit now through December 12, 2021 in the Glass Gallery at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk: If You Thirst for a Homeland: Flame-worked glass by Dafna Kaffeman. Admission to the museum is free and includes this exhibit.
Giving new meaning to the phrase “open tent Judaism,” United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Division held its annual Lion Tikva Chai Lunch outdoors this year, under a big, wide tent in the “backyard” of the Sandler Family Campus. Utilizing new,...
It was a special day on Sunday, October 24 as the members of Nadiv, the Young Men’s Giving Circle through YAD, led the Jewish community in a cleanup of Mikro Kodesh cemetery in Chesapeake. Together with the Norfolk Kollel and community members of all ages, more than...
Seizing the moment Terri and Lonny Sarfan “We’re going to break the norms this year,” says Terri Sarfan. Playing with the calendar a bit, Terri and Lonny plan to begin their family’s Hanukkah celebration just after Thanksgiving dinner. Terri says they want to take...
For Noa Tishby, it has become a mission to educate and engage with the rampant antisemitism and anti-Zionist corners of Twitter and other social media platforms. On Wednesday, October 13, Tishby shared her expertise with Tidewater’s Jewish community as the first...
In sports terms, one might call Ron Koas a rookie. In rabbinic circles, the 60-year-old is just a late bloomer. He came to Congregation Beth El in July as his first senior pulpit. Raised as a secular Jew in Israel, his roundabout path to the rabbinate included IDF...
A few months into her new job as curator at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Carrie Needell was leafing through an auction catalogue to get a feel for glass artists’ names and work. Not just the ones who had been at it for a while, up-and-comings were on her radar, too. A...
Sam & Reba Sandler Annual Foundation Golf Tournament Continuing a tradition begun 25 years ago, the Sandler family of companies, along with their valued sponsors, vendor partners, and employee volunteers, celebrated a quarter century of giving at the Sam &...
Ruby Lions learn what is taking place throughout the Jewish world The roar of the Ruby Lions could be heard throughout Virginia Beach as United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s women donors giving $10,000 or greater to the Community Campaign gathered to hear from the...
Each year, the Milton “Mickey” Kramer Scholar-in-Residence Fund of the Congregation Beth El Foundation’s Tidewater Together Series shares opportunities for the community to connect Jewishly to a variety of topics. This year, the series impacted the Jewish community,...
A decade ago, Betty Ann Levin, then CEO of Jewish Family Service of Tidewater and David Abraham, CEO of Beth Sholom Village, met together with their organization’s boards of directors to create the Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater (HPCT)...
Jason Hoffman leads a Jewish life. When we caught up for this interview—to chat about his experience with United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Hineni Fellowship—he was hanging around an airport awaiting the arrival of his teenaged daughter, who was returning from a...
Tidewater’s BBYO chapters have enthusiastically begun this school year. BBG (B’nai Brith Girls), which locally consists of Dr. Abraham Cohen and Kruger chapters, and AZA (Aleph Tzadik Aleph), which locally consists of Dr. Israel Brown and Old Dominion chapters, are...
Click here to view the entire Mazel Tov! special section. Dear Readers, In the best of times, planning a milestone event is known to create stressful situations. Throw in a pandemic, along with months of uncertainty, and the stress leaps to a never-seen-before level....
When the Sababa Social Club met in the Sukkah for an introductory artistic salon with the In[HEIR]itance Project, old and new friends gathered, chatted, caught up, and noshed to start the evening. It wasn’t long, however, before Jon Adam Ross, managing director and...
Super Sunday was truly a great community day, and a success by every measure. On Sunday, September 12, dozens of volunteers—members of Tidewater’s Jewish community—came together at the Sandler Family Campus to welcome friends, neighbors, and fellow community members...
In the 1950s and 60s, two Norfolk streets where Wexford Terrace turn into Colony Point, served as an enclave for Jewish business leaders and community builders raising families. Close to Wards Corner and the Norfolk Naval Base, the legacy location attracted many...