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This is an open thank you letter to our community, the Tidewater Jewish community, for its unwavering support and care for Jewish communities around the world. This care takes into account our strong values of tikkun olam, the concept of leaving the world a better...
Dear Readers, Passover is in the air. The kinda light, kinda panic feeling arrives each year along with the blossoms and warmer temps. The sense that something good, something unifying, uplifting, and yes, even that something happy is about to take place, comes with...
Community gathers to celebrate second year of the LIFE & LEGACY™ program Tidewater Jewish Foundation (TJF) honored its community partners and donors at the 2nd annual LIFE & LEGACY event on Monday, March 18. The evening celebrated the success of the...
Its dark and cold, and practically the middle of the night. It’s 4:30 am on Wednesday, January 16 and this morning, I’m standing with a group of eight others, ready to embark on a journey unlike any other I’ve experienced. To be honest, as we load the minibus, which...
WASHINGTON—In a speech on the House Floor on Thursday, March 7, Congresswoman Elaine Luria (VA-02), a 20-year Navy veteran, spoke in support of a House resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry. The resolution passed later that day, 407–23. A...
Among Brith Sholom’s many activities, the club often features informative and engaging speakers at its meetings. Jerry Sandler, program chairman, has arranged speakers from such places as the F.B.I, the Virginian-Pilot, and the Red Cross. And, Congresswoman Elaine...
Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, and community partners’ latest Israel Today expert, visited Tidewater February 19–21, where he spoke to more than 1,100 people. The senior vice...
Camp provides a time and space for fun, as well as for development of confidence and new skills—all in a protected and caring environment. In fact, studies consistently demonstrate the long-term benefits of a summer camp experience for both campers and counselors....
Bertram and Gladys Aaron Endowed Professorship in Jewish Studies Dr. Richard Freund, a prominent archaeologist, historian, and explorer, has been appointed to a new position at Christopher Newport University where he will lead Judaic Studies and build strong ties with...
Forty delegates from Tidewater boarded a bus on the morning of February 6, making their way to Richmond for Virginia’s annual Jewish Advocacy Day with the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Nearly 200 delegates from Tidewater,...
With several workshops and discussions on contemporary Judaica, graphic artist Hillel Smith lectured, inspired, encouraged, and produced art during his mid-February visit. Smith led a lunch discussion on his book, Parsha Posters, as a part of the Simon Family JCC’s...
Moments before writing this, I gave Scott Kaplan, president and CEO of Tidewater Jewish Foundation, an enthusiastic “Mazel Tov!” on hiring a new development associate and LIFE & LEGACY coordinator. “So?” you may ask. The point is, we say “Mazel Tov!” for many...
Thursday, July 24 | 7:00 p.m. Sandler Family Campus 5000 Corporate Woods Dr., Virginia Beach, VA Please join the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, the Community Relations Council of the UJFT, and the entire community, as we gather to show our solidarity with...
News and links to photographs, videos and other information from Israel: THE SITUATION - IDF ground forces entered Gaza just after 10pm Thursday night. A further 18,000 reserve soldiers were called up during the night. In total, 48,000 reserve soldiers have been...
This is the story of a bad ceiling and cooperating congregations. On the Wednesday prior to Kol Nidre, part of Gomley Chesed Synagogue’s ceiling caved in. If that wasn’t bad enough, asbestos was found, which meant the property was not habitable and could not be...
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—In open opposition to Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), which tells us on Sukkot “there is nothing new under the sun,” I decided to build a solar sukkah this fall. To energize my plan, I went to the 99 Cent Store to buy some solar yard lights to adapt for use...
At a recent meeting of Jewish War Veterans Post 158 held at the Simon Family JCC, Lt. Cdr. Oliver Herion gave a lecture on being an Explosive Ordnance Demolition Technician in the navy. One might say the discussion was dynamite! Commander Herion also made an...
Every year it happens in May and early June: Spring, a season of renewal and beauty, which grows from determination and hard work. It is also a season of graduations everywhere…an event that also commemorates growth, hard work and new beginnings. Coincidence? Probably...
The hour before Shabbat is typically a quiet one at the Simon Family Jewish Community Center at the Sandler Family Campus. That wasn’t the case on April 12. Young children and their families prayed, sang, ran, ate, laughed, crafted and ran some more—at a Family...
The Tidewater community showed its commitment to the Jewish practice of tikkun olam—repairing the world—at the 2nd Annual Tikkun Tidewater Community Recycling Day. Held on April 14 in the parking lot of the Simon Family Jewish Community Center at the Sandler Family...
Thursday, May 23, 7 pm Information “hot off the press” is how David Makovsky characterizes what he’ll be discussing at the third and final Israel Today forum at the Simon Family JCC on the Sandler Family Campus in Virginia Beach. Makovsky is flying to Virginia Beach...
Three-dozen women met at Cinema Café in Virginia Beach to make new friends and watch a modernday “classic” on Sunday, April 21. Directed by Barry Levinson, “Avalon” is a coming-of-age story for countless Eastern European Jewish immigrants, who came to the United...
NEW YORK (JTA)—What do Golda Meir, Natalie Portman and Aviva Shalit have in common? They’re all on JTA’s Top Jewish Moms list. With Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 12, we present our select group (in alphabetical order but for our final choice): Bella Abzug The first...
More than 1,000 people attended Israel’s 65th birthday celebration at the Simon Family JCC on Sunday, April 28. The JCC’s biggest party of the year, Israel Festival celebrates Yom Ha’Atzmaut, the official anniversary of the State of Israel. From main stage musical and...
Israel’s history is familiar to Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg. Her mother is from the country, Mandelberg lived there as a student, and she has visited many times. Yet, Mandelberg says she couldn’t help from saying “Wow,” as she watched the film Creation of a State, the...
For some, the annual Tidewater Yom Hashoah—Holocaust Remembrance Day—commemoration ceremony is too intense, too painful, too sad, or not important to their lives, and so they don’t attend. Others, however, see it as vitally important that they remember the people both...
Junior Poetry First Place—Lana Berry, 8th Grade, Norfolk Academy, Norfolk, Charlie Doar Second Place—Stephen Opitz, 6th Grade, Baylake Pines, Virginia Beach, Mary Opitz Third Place—Rice Webb, 8th Grade, Norfolk Academy, Norfolk, Charlie Doar Honorable Mention—Gregory...
Mazel Tov to Tami Arnowitz and Barbara Klaff who were the winners in the Jewish News facebook contest for tickets to see The Odd Couple at Virginia Stage Company. We hope they enjoyed the show!
Saturday, May 11, 8 pm Performing Arts at the J, presented by Leah Wohl*, presents its last performance of the season: Portsmouth native David Krohn, a baritone talent, with Charles Woodward, pianist. “I am thrilled to return to Hampton Roads to perform a special,...
From Rummikub to the ‘God Particle’—A timeline of Israeli innovations NEW YORK (JTA)—While a great deal of international and media focus has been placed on Israel’s military conflicts, the country quietly has become an energetic, ambitious incubator of...
Members of the legal, business, academic, Jewish and greater communities gathered on April 11 at Old Dominion University for a reception and panel discussion of the exhibit, Lawyers without Rights: Jewish Lawyers in Germany under the Third Reich. More than 200 people...
Decades have passed since Leslie Legum and Connie Golden first met one another at Belvoir Terrace, a summer camp for girls in Lennox, Mass. But as the two women pore over a treasured trove of faded camp programs, tattered pictures and a 12-page letter Golden wrote...