What’s Happening

Ben-Gurion Epilogue Screening and discussion Sunday, February 27, 2:30 pm Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center at Virginia Wesleyan University Landis, Coppola, Reitman, and Reiner.What do all of these names have in common? Fans of movies or TV probably know....

Thursday, March 3, Simon Family JCC Joshua Jay, bestselling author of Magic and other books, has performed on stages in more than 100 countries. Next month, he’ll perform in Tidewater as a part of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family’s Jewish Book Festival. Magicians are...

Janet Gordon Annual Mah Jongg Day of play and Luncheon, Sunday, April 3 Beth Sholom Village plans to bring back the Janet Gordon Annual Mah Jongg event in April, with 100% of its proceeds directly benefiting BSV’s residents. As so many things have changed in the last...

Monday, February 21, 10 am–12 pm Simon Family JCC or via Zoom Throughout the second half of 2021 and into 2022, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, in partnership with United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, has focused on changing the narrative from ‘mental illness’...

Registration for Camp JCC summer 2022 is off to a robust start. Enrollment is significantly higher compared to this point last year, with many of the families who have registered new to camp. With early excitement brewing in the community, Camp JCC anticipates being...

Four fascinating films with topics as diverse as a Hasidic rabbi in a dance competition, Christian and Jewish students traversing the city of Rome in search of the truth, a revisiting of a conversation with Israel’s founding father, and a newly restored classic film...

Sunday, March 13, 7:30 pm, streaming on screens, $36 Few acts speak to Jewish audiences more than the Maccabeats, and on Sunday, March 13, Temple Israel will present this amazing a capella group. The performance will be available to view from the comfort and safety of...

A power line-up of events is planned for United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Society of Professionals’ (SOP) 2022 Spring season. Speakers will share best practices for promoting businesses, as well as insider information on the most up-to-the-minute business...

Since 1997, Virginia Arts Festival has brought world class performing artists each spring to venues and stages in Tidewater. The Festival plans to mark this milestone with a season suitably spectacular. Anchoring the celebration are some grand performances: the return...

Tuesdays and Thursdays “It is tough—but rewarding. I am learning to focus, have patience, and to train my brain. I am also getting stronger and having fun!” says Spirit Fighting Arts self-defense student C.J. Fenley about his experience with the new classes offered at...

Tuesday, February 8, 4 pm Simon Family JCC and/or remotely Tidewater teens and pre-teens will not have to travel far to see Israel. In collaboration with Lost Tribe ESports, local teens will be able to learn about fun sites in Israel through games and challenges....

July 31–August 4 The Simon Family JCC Athletics Department is searching for Jewish teen athletes to travel as a group this summer to the JCC Maccabi Games in San Diego, California. Tom Edwards, the Simon Family JCC’s athletics director, is organizing players...

Veterans’ Day Sunday, November 11, 4 pm | Norfolk Academy The Elbert Watson Dance Company presents Angels Watching Over Me: A Tribute to Veterans Through Dance. This performance is free and open to the public. For information, call 757-461-6236.

Monday, November 12, 9:30 am | Sandler Family Campus In addition to honoring veterans who have served in America’s armed forces, Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s 9th Annual Veterans Day service and celebration honors those who continue to do so with dedication and...

With Physical Therapy Month taking place this month, Jewish Family Service plans to recognize the “incredible work of its amazing physical therapists,” says Jan Ganderson, JFS director of nursing. “Hardly a day goes by that we don’t receive a call in our office...

Thursday, October 25, 7 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus The 4th Annual Great Big Challah Bake will be one of thousands of similar events taking place around the world—and one part of The Shabbat Project —bringing Jews from all walks of life and across the...

Tuesday, November 13, 7–8 pm Neville Frankel, author of On The Sickle’s Edge will participate in an interactive discussion by Skype with Ohef Sholom Temple’s Sisterhood Book Club. On The Sickle’s Edge was featured at the Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book...

Leon Family Gallery Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus November and December While continuing to serve as Israel’s pre-eminent research library, The National Library of Israel recently embarked upon an ambitious journey of renewal to open access to its treasures and...

A global, grassroots movement that brings Jews from across the world together around the shared heritage of Shabbat, the Shabbat Project initiative was introduced in South Africa in 2013. In the days that followed, the Jewish world heard, and was inspired by, how the majority of the community kept Shabbat, and how Jews were brought together in unprecedented ways.

An exhibition by the State of Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Highlighting the four central collections at the impressive National Library of Israel, this exhibit will focus on the spiritual realm—with sacred books, sacred places, and mysticism, as well as the ethnographic and secular realm—with Israeli culture, Hebrew/Jewish language.

Current Events with Seniors Thursdays 10:30 am–12 noon 237 Simon Family JCC Join a stimulating discussion on local, international, and world-wide topics. It is always an interesting and fun time.  For further information, call Bernice Greenberg at...

NEXUS Interfaith Dialogue Gender Roles and Religion Monday, October 8, 7:30 pm Virginia Wesleyan’s Batten Student Center, Pearce Hospitality Suite Panelists Rev. Kim Hodges, Pastor of Lynnhaven Colony Congregational, United Church of Christ (Protestant); Rabbi Rosalin...

Join the senior community to celebrate Sukkot this year with Senior Art in the Sukkah.

One hundred years ago, Ohef Sholom Temple moved to the corner of Stockley Gardens and Raleigh Avenue, constructing the congregation’s magnificent sanctuary. While over the course of the century, nearly every other aspect of the synagogue’s structure has undergone renovations and additions, the sanctuary has remained a constant, with only minor adjustments made to assure its use in a contemporary world and restoration efforts rendered to preserve its beauty. It has been a place of worship, celebration, and mourning. For generations, the sanctuary has been home for Ohef Sholom’s congregants.

Wonder Woman On Her Flesh: Queer Jewish Women and Pride Tattoos Thursday, October 4, 11 am–12 pm Virginia Wesleyan’s Blocker Hall Auditorium The pink triangle has gone from a stigmatizing Holocaust symbol to an emblem of LGBTQ pride. Similarly, Jewish women using...

For many Jews around the world, Israel remains central to their identity, inspiring the hopes and dreams of the Jewish people. Every single day, the brave men and women of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) risk their lives to protect those hopes and dreams. Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) is devoted to supporting these defenders of Israel with educational and wellbeing programs and facilities. Since 1981, FDIF has played an important role in ensuring that IDF soldiers are cared for while carrying out their crucial tasks.

Join the senior community for a special workshop with Israel Today’s artist-in-residence Hanoch Piven.

Israel Today’s first ever artist-in-residence, Hanoch Piven, will lead two workshops during Super Sunday. The hands-on family workshops encourage creativity, communication, and self-reflection through the creation of collages with common, everyday objects. Piven conveys the message that playfulness is an important tool to be used to generate a space in which individual self-reflection and growth are possible.

Super Sunday comes early this year, so mark calendars and get ready to “rise up.” Be the secret ingredient which makes a successful 2019 Annual Campaign—make the call, take the call, donate — and make a difference in the lives of Jews at home and around the world