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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...
Established by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the Virginia Commission to Combat Antisemitism released its report earlier this month, receiving national, as well as international attention. On January 15, 2022, his first day in office, the governor signed Executive Order 8,...
Education Matters (December 19, 2022)
As the executive director at William & Mary Hillel in Williamsburg, Rabbi Gershon Litt’s responsibilities include development, bookkeeping, education, interaction with the university, counseling, and student and faculty meetings. Add all of that to his having...
Happiness was overflowing on Sunday, November 6 as current and former members of Congregation Beth Chaverim gathered at the Sandler Family Campus to celebrate the congregation’s 40th anniversary with food, drink, an abundance of hugs, smiles, laughter, and memoires....
Coastal Virginia Magazine presented the publication’s annual Giving Back Awards at a ceremony last month at MOCA in Virginia Beach. Tidewater Jewish Foundation was one of the 15 nonprofit organizations and seven businesses of various sizes and visions that were...
How often in life is something worth a two-year wait? The Holocaust Commission proved this can absolutely be true. Sponsored by Bank of America and originally scheduled for October of 2020, then postponed twice by the pandemic, Tom Dugan came to town last month with...
Dear Readers, The late, notably irreverent comedian Lenny Bruce once quipped that most Jewish holidays are “observed” rather than celebrated, including Hanukkah. Perhaps when Bruce performed that particular shtick back in 1961 that joke was accurate…Jews solemnly lit...
Eitan Altshuler shares his version and twists on a dessert recipe not widely used in America for Hanukkah Beyond the classics, there are more than a few days over Hanukkah to enjoy a variety of fried foods. The Jews of India like to celebrate by making Gulab Jamun, a...
The food Pantry, operated by Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, was recently expanded by about one-third its size. Prior to its expansion, JFS had two smaller pantries: one for the general community, and the “Milk and Honey” program for Jewish individuals. These two...
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...
Dear Readers, Just as we all need banks and dentists, there aren’t many of us who don’t require an attorney at some point in life…if not really often for some. Fortunately, we have plenty of top legal minds to choose from in Tidewater. Lisa Richmon talks to two such...
Practicing law can be like baking a cake. Both require precise timing and ingredients in exact measure. A dash of restraint goes a long way, too. Just ask attorney Neal Schulwolf who knows the power of pause when a new client reveals his search for a Jewish lawyer....
Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and Rabbi Roz Mandelberg observe the mitzvah of waving the lulav and etrog at a gathering in Downtown Norfolk during Sukkot. The 56th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, Filler-Corn is the first woman and the first Jewish person to...
Type A attorney turned artist: Valerie White’s latest passion is painting, but husband Matt White just might show her up. Valerie puts her whole heart into everything she does: law (let’s become a partner), yoga (let’s do teacher training), real estate (let’s make it...
On the perfectly sunny morning of September 14, Strelitz International Academy’s 33rd Annual Golf Tournament, affectionately known as the Bob Josephberg Classic, took place on the Bayville Golf Club course. The Bob Josephberg Classic is SIA’s biggest fundraiser. This...
(JTA)—When U.S. airspace closed as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, 38 planes were grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, stranding nearly 7,000 international travelers “on the northeast tip of North America.” So begins the story of Come...
Hurricane Ida has torn through much of the Gulf Coast, leaving survivors devastated by its damage. Roofs have blown off buildings, homes and businesses are severely flooded, while power lines are down and phone service and electricity are out for hundreds of thousands...
Sunday, September 12, Sandler Family Campus Each year, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Super Sunday marks the biggest day of impact for Tidewater’s Jewish community. Hundreds of community members participate by answering the call from dozens of...
Sunday, October 3 and Monday October 4 This year’s Milton Mickey Kramer’s Scholar in Residence Fund of the Congregation Beth El Foundation’s Tidewater Together will bring mental illness and addiction out of the shadows and consider ways that Tidewater’s...
Dear Readers, A recent JTA piece by Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein began, “Over the past year, I have led efforts to teach, guide and coach rabbis and other clergy of every Jewish denomination. We have worked with over 500 individual members of the clergy, serving hundreds...
More than 80 people attended Sababa Social Club’s party at the pool. The inaugural event brought friends together —following the past year and a half apart. Sara Jo Rubin, Sababa Social Club’s chairperson, says, “It was wonderful to see so many old friends, as well as...
Dear Readers, The High Holidays are about to arrive and I’m not certain that most of us are fully prepared to greet them. Uncertainty over COVID-19 lingers and might be even more so than in 2020, since at this time last year, we knew that the majority of congregations...
In preparation for Rosh Hashanah and the start of school, local Jewish educators share their learnings and longings for an academic and spiritual refresh. By nature, educators are positive people. Guarded optimism is a precious currency going in, out—and back into a...
The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Cabinet, led by co-chairs Barbara Dudley and Mona Flax, kicked-off the 2022 campaign year by going to camp…at the Simon Family JCC. On a beautiful (albeit rather warm) afternoon, members of the Women’s Cabinet...
SIA becomes first official Primary Years IB Programme in Tidewater Carin Simon After two years of candidacy, Strelitz International Academy (SIA) received full authorization this month as an International Baccalaureate® World School Primary Years Programme. For more...
For two busy years starting in 1986, a young Doron Kissinger Kaynar and his family made their home in Norfolk while serving as the shaliah at the Jewish Community Center of Tidewater on Newport Ave. Thirty-five years later, Kissinger Kaynar traveled from Israel...
When Byron Harrell walked into his first Hineni leadership fellowship event in 2017, he was a rising star financial advisor at Davenport & Co. He was familiar with United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, having gifted money, knowing that it was dispersed to various...