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Looking for a seat at a seder or a way to learn more about Passover in Tidewater? Check out this listing to see all that is taking place for the holiday around town. ✡Chabad of Tidewater Passover SedersSeders are led by Rabbis Margolin and BrashevitskyFirst Night...
My family’s winter visit to Israel was a gift for my 50th birthday. This trip held special significance as my mother, born to Holocaust survivors, accompanied me, along with one of my brothers who hadn’t set foot in Israel for 31 years. Our journey was not a typical...
For day campers, camp instills lessons, skills, and experiences that are not found in most classrooms . . . including learning new games, spending days with new friends, perfecting the best- looking roasted marshmallow, and just plain having lots of fun.Overnight camp...
Calling all kings, queens, and righteous men! The joyous holiday of Purim begins this year on Saturday evening, March 23, or 13 Adar II, in the Hebrew calendar. Celebrating the Jewish victory over Haman, the reading of the Megillah teaches about acts of bravery in the...
October 7th changed a lot about Jewish life in Israel and the diaspora. Conversations that used to be challenging have become even harder. Students have become confused, conflicted, and pulled by various narratives not knowing what to think. Jewish students have...
On the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 7, a delegation of committed and proud Jews – ranging from ODU students to retirees – boarded a double-decker bus at the Sandler Family Campus in Virginia Beach destined for Richmond. There, we met up with other Jewish delegations...
Thursday, March 21, 5:45 pmThe Westin Virginia Beach Town Center Laura Geringer Gross is one of this year’s honorees for The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities’ (VCIC) 60th annual Tidewater Humanitarian Awards. Individuals and organizations who have made...
The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Philanthropy meeting on Thursday, Jan. 18 featured Eliza Prince, JDC senior development officer. Prince has been with JDC for a few months and works out of the Washington, DC area, serving several Jewish communities...
Beth Sholom Village hosted its biennial meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 16, setting the stage for the organization’s transformative journey in healthcare for Jewish seniors in Hampton Roads. The event celebrated the non-profit’s rich history, as well as marked a significant...
Terri Denison The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the leading Jewish humanitarian aid organization, announced that Tidewater’s Annie Sandler — a noted Jewish, civic, and global philanthropic leader— is its new president, following a unanimous vote...
Stephanie Peck The new school year began for BBYO with a new Tidewater city director, Evan Gordon. Forty teens are registered between the two chapters, OD (AZA for the boys) and Simcha (BBG for the girls). Last fall, BBYO Tidewater held two events to begin their year....
Sarah Cooper Tidewater residents are discovering the joy of celebrating Jewish values and culture through PJ Library Get Together grants. Many know that PJ Library sends free, award-winning books that celebrate Jewish values and culture to families with children from...
A small but mighty group of Federation donors participated in the 2023 UJFT Community Mission to Israel, February 28 through March 9. During the week-long journey, they wandered through history, culture, and time. . . soaking in all there was to see, hear, taste,...
Tidewater’s annual Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration took place on the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community on Sunday, April 30. This year’s event celebrated 75 years since the establishment of the modern state of Israel. Despite the rainy...
A small but mighty group of Federation donors participated in the 2023 UJFT Community Mission to Israel, February 28 through March 9. During the week-long journey, they wandered through history, culture, and time. . . soaking in all there was to see, hear, taste,...
The annual Stein Family College Scholarship of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation is awarded this year to John Weber Williamson, a senior at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake. Williamson is the 16th recipient of the four-year scholarship, which provides up to...
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...