What’s Happening

Sunday, December 11 1–4 pm Simon Family JCC PJ Library in Tidewater will present Sunday Fun Day Festival of Lights, a special Hanukkah extravaganza, one week before the start of the holiday. The afternoon will include a Hanukkah Glow in the Dark party and obstacle...

Tuesday, December 6, 12 pm Watch from Home—Virtual Is  finding true love a calling or a curse? In Lynda Cohen Loigman’s The Matchmaker’s Gift, Sara Glikman knows her gift as a child in 1910: she is a seeker of soulmates and a maker of matches. But among the...

Tuesday, January 17, 12 pm Watch from Home—Virtual In Jai Chakrabarti’s A Play for the End of the World, Jaryk Smith, a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, and Lucy Gardner, a southerner, newly arrived in New York City in 1972, are in the first bloom of love when they...

In partnership with Simon Family JCC’s JFit Wednesday, January 25, 12 pm Sandler Family Campus The Whole Body Reset: Your Weight-Loss Plan for a Flat Belly, Optimum Health and a Body You’ll Love—at Midlife and Beyond Stephen Perrine and Heidi Skolnik $12 (lunch...

Monday, December 12, 12 pm, Simon Family JCC Inspired by the book, Malkah’s Notebook: A Journey into the Mystical Aleph Bet, this hands-on workshop will take participants on a mystical journey through the letters of their name when spelled in Hebrew. The workshop is...

Registration for Camp JCC Summer 2023 is now open for all sessions and age groups. The summer Camp JCC program, for children from rising pre-K through eighth graders, takes place June 20 to August 11, with a “last blast” program that follows. Special early bird...

Monday, December 5, 7:30 pm Watch from Home—Register for the link to join   Cooking alla Giudia: A Celebration of the Jewish Food of Italy Benedetta Jasmine Guetta Artisan Books 352 pages, 2022 Italian food. Just those two words bring to mind so many wonderful...

Thursday, December 8, 7:30 pm Sandler Family Campus, Free Bias in society is something everyone knows of and has encountered, but what about the unconscious bias within each person that informs everyday actions? Have you ever taken the time to examine the preconceived...

Tuesday, November 29, 7 pm A Torah study class led by Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill, rabbi of Tidewater Chavurah, is finishing up Second Kings in November and plans to begin the prophets for whom books are named, starting with Isaiah. The Torah study is virtual on Zoom and...

Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival Thursday, November 17, 7:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus, free  “What a shanda!” I remember the first time I heard that phrase—it came from Sally, one of the Sisterhood ladies who invited me to join their dinner table...

Presentation: Tuesday, November 29, 12 pm, online Workshop: Monday, December 12, 12 pm, Sandler Family Campus Art on view through December: Leon Family Gallery Part bedtime story, part poem, and filled with highly evocative illustrations, Malkah’s Notebook: A Journey...

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...

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...

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...