Southeastern Virginia: Chesapeake • Norfolk • Portsmouth • Suffolk • Virginia Beach
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Dear Readers, A couple of weeks ago, it seemed that everywhere I turned, people were talking about graduations. Were there more than usual, or were we all just so excited to have proper ceremonies at the appropriate time and not the drive-by celebrations of 2020?...
SIA graduates will attend the following middle school programs this fall: Cape Henry Collegiate, Norfolk Collegiate School, Norfolk Academy, Old Donation School, and Princess Anne Middle. SIA is an International Baccalaureate World School. Back row: Leia Silverstein,...
While every day is a great day to honor, appreciate, and love our dads (and the dads in our lives: grandfathers, sons, uncles, friends, and neighbors), this Father’s Day there’s even more reason to enjoy the holiday. It is the first summer in recent years that it’s...
On the sunny morning of Friday, May 27, a group of 50 community members gathered to commemorate the upcoming Memorial Day prior to the long weekend’s start. Hosted by the local Navy Chaplains, along with the Jewish War Veterans (Post 158), the Board of Rabbis and...
The heat of the day didn’t stop Jewish Tidewater’s volunteers from coming out on the morning of Sunday, May 22 to Mikro Kodesh Cemetery in Chesapeake. That morning, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Young Adult Division, together with Chabad of Tidewater and...
Many communities have a rabbi. In the times of the Talmud, that term was deemed somewhat narrow for the many responsibilities devolved on the community leader. Another term was needed and coined: Mara D’asra, literally ‘leader of the community.’ Such a leader is Rabbi...
An active Holocaust Commission has been part of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater for more than 30 years. Among its numerous programs and projects, the Commission established a Speakers’ Bureau comprised of local Holocaust survivors. Escorted by Commission...
Dear Readers, My first connections with Jewish News took place in the mid-1970s when, as an active teen in Tidewater’s Jewish community, my name and photo would sporadically appear on its pages. As I renewed my activity in the community as a young adult, I’d find my...
In the paper’s 75-year history, surprisingly few have served as editor. In fact, many of the first editions list no editor at all, but rather the executive of the Norfolk Jewish Community Council (in one instance Sydney S. Abzug) and in others, just editorial boards,...
Panel moderator Joel Rubin may have summed it up best, when he said, “The wind is definitely blowing in the right direction…” for the region’s new offshore wind farm, whose turbines will soon be generating power to light up area homes, power area businesses, and...
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...
After a national search, the Tidewater Jewish Foundation is ready to welcome Naomi Limor Sedek as its new president and chief executive officer. Coming from Nashville, Tennessee, Sedek’s lifelong work and passion for the promotion of Jewish life at the Jewish...
Tidewater’s Jewish community lost a giant on Saturday, June 6 with the passing of Kurt Rosenbach. Kurt was equally a man of vision and action. More than all of his volunteer service—often as founder or chair, he continued to press the community to realize financial...
Tidewater Jewish organizations secure more than $20.6-million in legacy commitments through LIFE & LEGACY® initiative Three hundred and twenty-five local donors have made 550 legacy commitments to support the Tidewater Jewish community since LIFE & LEGACY...
As we began to plan for a very different looking summer and reaching out to families in new ways, we realized that our plans and the work we were doing weren’t just for the families, they were for us, too. Being stuck at home has been emotionally draining for all of...
The Jewish Changemakers Fellowship is a three-week online leadership experience, July 6–July 24, free of charge for current and aspiring Jewish leaders, 20–25 years old, focusing on career development, networking, and making a difference in the community. Young adults...
Freedom and fulfillment can be dubious soulmates. Being free doesn’t necessarily mean getting up in the morning with no place to be and no one to answer to. That would be the antithesis of rewarding for certain local seniors who continue to blaze new trails and seek...
At Beth Sholom Village, cleanliness is paramount. The recent renovation at the skilled nursing and rehab center located in Virginia Beach, completed days before lockdown in March, has already impressed visitors and residents. With the cosmetic and functional changes...
Sandy Finberg Tabachnick grew up in Ashland, a small town in northeastern Ohio that was also home to Ashland College, a college founded by the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The Finbergs were one of 10 Jewish families in this small town of 15,000 and Sandy and...
Monday–Thursday: 5 am–7 pm Friday: 5 am–6 pm Saturday–Sunday: 8 am–6 pm After the first successful week of operations during Governor Ralph Northam’s Phase Two of reopening, the Simon Family JCC made the decision to expand its hours and to remove the...
Not quite what we’d envisioned As the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s 2020 Community Campaign draws to a close, many of us will look back on it as “one for the record books.” The 2020 Campaign—Our 2020 Vision, as we called it—did not turn out to be anything...
Tires on cars, in parking lots, is so 2019. Pandemic life touches just about everything and everyone. Some of the efforts to adapt produce marvel-inducing change. When COVID-19 struck and Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s ruling made it no longer possible to use the...
Community leadership calls for more than soliciting donors and volunteers who buy into your vision. Patti Wainger and Dorianne Villani recently passed an overnight crash course on the contact-free fight against local food insecurity. Together with members of their...
The final stages of the new mikvah project at 425 Washington Park are nearly complete, with late June as the projected opening. Then, with a little bit of mazel, and a lot of rain, the existing Norfolk mikvah will get its much-awaited renovation. Staying the course on...
Applications accepted beginning June 15 COVID-19 might have stalled summer plans, but that doesn’t mean that summer has to come to a standstill. Jewish Federations of North America just announced the launch of Jewish Changemakers, an opportunity for Jewish adults, age...
The phrase “we’re in this together” has never rung truer than in the last two months. Our Jewish Tidewater community continues to rise to the extremely difficult challenge that the COVID-19 has presented all of us. Consider these examples: Beth Sholom Village is...
Last month, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Tidewater Jewish Foundation established the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund of the Tidewater Jewish Community to support individuals, agencies, and synagogues through financial difficulties caused by the pandemic....
Camp Katan (lower camp) is canceled for 2020; Camp Gadol (upper camp) delays start until July 6 Parents try to drill it into their children’s heads. The best decision is not always the easy one. Doing the right thing for the right reasons takes grit. “Faced with the...
Medicine is science and science is predictable, but treating real people is well…complicated. Patients are teachers. That’s the big takeaway here. Each patient experience might start out routine and mundane, but years of experience prove the unforgettable ones are...
Wednesday, June 3, 7 pm David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, will brief Tidewater’s Jewish community on the rise of global anti-Semitism. The event is presented by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Community Relations Council and Holocaust...
Growing up in Martinsville, Virginia, Barbara Dudley knew Judaism was an integral part of her life—and that her parents’ strong sense of Zionism guided their involvement in Jewish philanthropy. As a young girl, each year she attended Kol Nidre services with her father...