What’s Happening

Sunday, December 4, 5 pm, Congregation Beth El Congregation Beth El’s 2022 FUNdraiser will bring music from the Rocky Mountains of Vail, Colorado, to the shores of Norfolk, Virginia. Cantor Michelle Cohn Levy of B’nai Vail Congregation and Coleen Dieker, an...

Thursday, November 3, 12 pm The first session of the Israel Today series, On Assignment with Lahav Harkov, took place on Thursday, October 6, and was an exciting and informative conversation about the upcoming Knesset elections, related polling, and more. Harkov,...

Sunday, November 13, 1 - 4 pm, Simon Family JCC Gather friends and family and head to the Simon Family JCC for an afternoon of fall-themed games, music, crafts, and a sweet treat. See familiar faces, meet new and friendly people, and while Tidewater’s ShinShinim lead...

Dan Grunfeld Wednesday, November 2, 7:30 pm, Free Alla Shapiro, MD Monday, November 7, 12 pm, Tickets include lunch Letty Cottin Pogrebin Thursday, November 17, 7:30 pm, Free Family is at the forefront in the minds of the first three authors of the United Jewish...

Conversation with author Mira J. Amiras and illustrator Josh Baum on Malka’s Notebook: A Journey into the Mystical Aleph-Bet Tuesday, November 29, 12 pm, Watch from home, Free Mira Z. Amiras was raised on her father’s tales of the Hebrew aleph-bet letters and their...

November–December Workshop: Monday, December 12, 12 pm Illustrations from Malkah’s Notebook will be on exhibit in the Leon Family Gallery at the Simon Family JCC. A hands-on creative workshop with Mira J. Amiras and local artist and Jewish educator, Sharon Serbin,...

Wednesday, November 30 7:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Jewish Community Relations Council will host the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia’s United Against Hate program next month. This exciting program...

Wednesday, October 26, 7:30 pm Sandler Family Campus Veteran educator and Israeli map expert Joe Perlov will offer the opportunity to go back in time to the founding of the State of Israel as he guides an interactive exploration of the nation’s map. Perlov’s...

Tuesday, November 1 6 pm (Dinner), 6:30 pm (Show) Ohef Sholom Temple Benji Lovitt presents a hilarious picture of Israel by deconstructing cultural differences and the immigrant experience in Israel. Audiences laugh out loud as he sheds light on embarrassing Hebrew...

JCC’s Leon Family Gallery Exhibit through October. Interdisciplinary artist Shony Rivnay’s art is on display in the Leon Family Gallery. The exhibit is presented by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC,...

Community conversation: Monday, November 7, 12 pm Sandler Family Campus Russian speakers conversation: Monday, November 7, 2 pm Sandler Family Campus   While the world watches, fighting has continued around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine since...

Holocaust Commission pick for Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival Wednesday, November 2, 7:30 pm Sandler Family Campus   Basketball was first included as a medal event in the Summer Olympics in 1936 in Berlin. During those Olympics, Hitler showed...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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....

Friday, November 15—Saturday, November 16 A global, grassroots movement that brings Jews from across the world together around the shared heritage of Shabbat, The Shabbat Project was introduced in South Africa in 2013 to astonishing effect. In the days that followed,...

 Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival The Cast—Amy Blumenfeld Monday, November 18, 7:30 pm Simon Family JCC, free The Face Tells the Secret—Jane Bernstein Monday, December 16, 12 pm Beth Sholom Village, $12 includes lunch Two outstanding novels have been...

Saturday, November 16, 6:30 pm The 19th oldest Reform congregation in the nation, Ohef Sholom Temple is celebrating its 175th Anniversary in style with a Gala at the temple. The evening includes cocktails, dinner, wine, open bar all night long, dancing, a piano bar,...

Vaad of Tidewater Sunday, November 3, 5 pm Sheraton Waterside Naomi Nachman, author and social media influencer, will host four local teams of professional and home cooks in an all-out battle of kitchen supremacy for the title of Tidewater Chopped Champions at Vaad of...

Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival Monday, November 4, 6 pm Sandler Family Campus, free The human vocabulary cannot articulate what Christopher Noxon illustrates on the subject of history and hope in Good Trouble Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook....

Lunch & Learn with Amy Lefcoe Wednesday, September 25, 12 pm Simon Family JCC, free In a world with increasingly more questions than answers, more and more people are seeking the serenity that comes from a relationship with G-d. Explore this unique opportunity to...

Joint High Holidays services will be held this year with Tidewater Chavurah and Congregation Beth Chaverim. Both congregations, without their own buildings, will worship and enjoy the holidays together. Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill and Jim Hibbard will officiate. The Beth...

Leon Family Gallery Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus Through October The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was established on November 27, 1914 following the merger of two American Jewish relief committees, the Central Relief Committee for the Relief of...

Thursday, September 26, 7:30 pm Sandler Family Campus Everyone has an important story—a story that impacts the community. Together, Tidewater’s Jewish community has a story of transformational impact both locally and globally. The inaugural IGNITE 2020! will be a time...