Friday, August 19, 5 pm, Simon Family JCC Join PJ Library and PJ Our Way in Tidewater and the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Young Adult Division for this end-of-summer celebration at the Simon Family JCC’s outdoor water park. In addition to extending a warm...
What’s Happening
Archives
Hampton Arts announces celebratory 35th anniversary season
The curtain rises on a dynamic season as Hampton Arts celebrates 35 years of presenting performing and visual arts. Bold and exciting programming brings the very best to venues both historic and new, including The American Theatre, The Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts...
Educators’ conference: Words still matter
Thursday, August 4 8:30 am–3:30 pm Great Neck Middle School (tentative) Online option available The 15th Biennial Educators’ Conference will take place next month. Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission, along with Echoes &...
Wonderful Wednesdays at The Jewish Museum and Cultural Center
Wednesday, July 6, 13, 20 and August 24, 7 pm The Jewish Museum and Cultural Center sponsors The Zelma G. Rivin Wonderful Wednesdays Summer Music Series each summer with a diverse lineup. This year is no exception. All concerts are held at The Jewish Museum, also...
Jewish geography: Who Knows One?
Thursday, June 30, 7:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus Who Knows One?, a live show combining Jewish geography and six degrees of separation that began online at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, will take place live in Tidewater. Founded and hosted by Micah Hart, the...

Opening the doors of conversation: a reflection of rising tides and tensions in Tidewater
Exhibit: June 8–July 31, Leon Gallery at the Sandler Family Campus As sea levels rise, so do tensions within the community. That is the idea that local artist Renée Calway is portraying in her exhibit, Rising Tides, Rising Tensions. The exhibit, which is inspired by...
It’s time to get back to Camp JCC
As Camp JCC prepares to open for the summer of 2022, the word that keeps coming to mind is “Back.” Beyond the anticipation of being “back” at Camp JCC, who and what are “back” at Camp JCC is exciting. The campers are back. Enrollment requests poured in this year, and...
Come see how we’re all connected— and share a few laughs along the way
Thursday, June 30, 7:30 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus “Jewish Geography” is a concept many Jews know well—conversations in which one person finds out whose sister went to sleepaway camp with whose cousin, and which suburban temple in Illinois shares a family...
Paper Midrash dynamic duo to visit Tidewater
Sunday, July 10–Tuesday, July 12 This summer, dynamic duo Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik and Rabbi Shawna Brynjegard-Bialik will visit Tidewater live and in-person for three days through the Milton “Mickey” Kramer Scholar-in-Residence Fund of the Congregation Beth El...
National Senior Health + Fitness Day
Wednesday, May 25, 9 am–2 pm Simon Family JCC The 29th annual celebration of National Senior Health + Fitness Day will include group fitness classes, raffles, games, prizes, and featured speakers. Free and open to the public, registration is not required. For more...
Carwash for Team Virginia Beach
Sunday, June 12, 1–3 pm, Sandler Family Campus A fundraiser car wash to benefit #TeamVB that is going to San Diego, Calif. this summer for the JCC Maccabi Games, will take place on Sunday, June 2. The #TeamVB delegation is comprised of seven local teens. At the...
Local art and Judaica collector offers a unique experience to tour museum exhibit
Friday, June 10, 10 am, Chrysler Museum of Art Clay Barr will conduct a special tour of The Guiding Hand: The Barr Foundation Collection of Torah Pointers, now on exhibit at the Chrysler Museum of Art, through United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Konikoff Center...
Israel Today, Yaakov Katz: Jerusalem Post’s editor-in-chief
A conversation with Herm Shelanski, Vice Admiral USN, Ret. Monday, December 9, 7:30 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus Yaakov Katz’s book, Shadow Strike, tells the never-before-told inside story of how Israel stopped Syria from becoming a global nuclear nightmare...
The Face Tells the Secret, Jane Bernstein Monday, December 16, noon, Beth Sholom Village
A story of a woman who discovers love and learns how to open herself to life’s happier relationships, Jane Bernstein’s The Face Tells the Secret is, as Sherry Lieberman, notes, “a definite page-turner.” Lieberman is the Simon Family JCC Book Club leader. Bernstein...
Jewish Museum and Cultural Center: “Saturdays At Seven”
For its 10th Annual Chevra Cinema Series, the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center is featuring “Saturdays At Seven.” These four Saturday evening films, beginning at 7 pm, will have an introductory commentary by the cinema specialist who chose the evening movie. The...
Save the Date, for a Date with the State: Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day
Wednesday, February 5, 2020 Members of Jewish communities from across the Commonwealth go each year to the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond to collaborate on Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day, also known as Date with the State. This annual event is a powerful forum to...
Jewish Museum and Cultural Center: “Saturdays At Seven”
For its 10th Annual Chevra Cinema Series, the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center is featuring “Saturdays At Seven.” These four Saturday evening films, beginning at 7 pm, will have an introductory commentary by the cinema specialist who chose the evening movie. The...
Had Israel not carried out this mission, what would the Middle East look like today?
Israel Today: Yaakov Katz, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post and author of Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power Monday, December 9, 7:30 pm Sandler Family Campus, Free “On September 6, 2007, shortly after midnight,...
A page-turner about family secrets The Face Tells the Secret
Monday, December 16, noon, Beth Sholom Village Jane Bernstein The Face Tells the Secret by Jane Bernstein is a story of a woman who discovers love and learns how to open herself to life’s happier relationships. The main character, Roxanne, a single 40-year old product...
Sarah Hurwitz: New Heights for the Milton “Mickey” Kramer Scholar-in-Residence Fund and Tidewater Together
Sunday, December 8, 10 am, Temple Emanuel, Free The Storyteller’s Story—Michelle Obama’s trailblazing speechwriter forges new path, again Sarah Hurwitz was Michelle Obama’s speechwriter. Now she’s dubbed Judaism’s speechwriter. If grace and gravitas were a big box...
Simon Fink’s Where We Disappear: Virginia Premier
Sunday, November 24, 8:15 pm, NARO Cinema, Norfolk Norfolk native Simon Fink’s Where We Disappear first premiered earlier this year in Los Angeles, more recently in Indianapolis, and now, at the NARO Cinema in his hometown. The film is a provocative survival story...
Tidewater Reads!
Local Authors Present Sunday, November 17, 1 pm Sandler Family Campus Local authors will share their stories and expertise: • Lisa Barr, Outsmart your Pain • Alan Bartel, Family, Faith and Love: Beyond Immigration • Abbot Granoff, Crowns of Gold • Michael Weissman,...
Fiddler on the Roof
Tony Award®-nominated Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof Tuesday, November 19–Sunday, November 24 Chrysler Hall A beloved theatrical classic from Tony Award-winner Joseph Stein, and Pulitzer Prize-winners Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, Fiddler on the Roof is the...
2019 Latkepalooza
Latkes, books, music, crafts and camps Sunday, December 15 | 11:30 am–2:30 pm Sandler Family Campus Three children’s authors, a light lunch and latkes, crafts, visiting overnight camp representatives, and tons of activities combine to create a celebration of Hanukkah...
Shabbat Project 2019
Friday, November 15, 6–9 pm B’nai Israel Congregation For the past five years, the Tidewater community has joined this global Shabbat Project movement. Last year, 200 people came together for a beautiful and inspiring Friday night dinner in Ghent. The Tidewater...
Strelitz International Academy Open House
Friday, November 15, 8:30–9:30 am Strelitz International Academy Kindergarten–5th Grade Hear about the school’s new International Baccalaureate® candidacy program, meet middle school alumni, learn about its K-5 affordability program, and explore the primary years...
The Annual Great Big Challah Bake
Wednesday, November 13, 7 pm B’nai Israel Congregation Women of all ages are invited to Tidewater’s fifth annual Great Big Challah Bake, a partnership between B’nai Israel Congregation and the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. The event will be just one of...
Mah Jongg event benefits Beth Sholom
Sunday, November 3, 11 am - 3:30 pm, Beth Sholom Village The 11th Annual Janet Gordon Mah Jongg Day of Play & Luncheon is right around the corner – and it’s an event not to miss – one that really puts the "fun" in fundraiser. More than 125 Mah Jongg players of all...
Super Sunday 20/20—The Vision is Clear
Sunday, November 17, 9:30 am–1 pm Sandler Family Campus Super Sunday, as always, is being planned by a group of up and coming visionary leaders. Now called Rishon: Emerging Leaders, the group has spent the last few months learning about the Jewish community and...
‘The Aussie Gourmet’ prepares for Jewish Norfolk
Naomi Nachman hosts the Vaad of Tidewater’s Chopped Competition Sunday, November 3, 5 pm, Sheraton Waterside On the precipice of Naomi Nachman’s visit to Norfolk, I had the opportunity to speak with her about her extensive travels, love of food, and what to expect at...
Author shares stories of challenges and chutzpah!
Wednesday, November 6, 7:30 pm Sandler Family Campus I first heard Inbal Arieli speak in January during the International Lion of Judah conference in Florida. She was one of an interesting group of panelists who shared their stories—all ground-breaking women in...
Temple Israel’s Second Saturdays engage and entertain
Temple Israel’s unique hour-long Second Saturday programs are excellent and uplifting experiences For nearly seven years, synagogue past president and former local TV interviewer Joel Rubin has led a once a month interactive conversation on a Jewish related topic....