What’s Happening

Sunday, November 21, 2 pm, online While Meir Shalev is not a household name in the United States, he is one of Israel’s most celebrated novelists. Shalev will join the community for an online conversation as part of the 11th annual Israel Today series in partnership...

Brainstorming session: Monday, December 6 The Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Be a Reader (BeAR) Literacy Program is refusing to hibernate this winter. Instead, it is roaring into new territory. BeAR will host a...

Friday, January 14 and Saturday, January 15 The Shabbos of January 14 and 15, B’nai Israel will celebrate the congregation’s 75th anniversary with a gala kiddush. B’nai Israel Congregation serves the Jewish community however possible. To help enhance this very special...

Wednesday, December 8, 7:30 pm Join Adam Mansbach, novelist, humorist, and poet, for his second visit to Tidewater as he shares excerpts from his new memoir, I Had a Brother Once. The event is presented by the Konikoff Center for Learning at the United Jewish...

Monday, November 8, 12 pm, Online When collective memory and trauma becomes overwhelming, what does one do? What happens when someone becomes too immersed in the history of the Holocaust, or any dark part of history? This is the primary question tackled in Yishai...

Sunday, November 14, 2 pm Sandler Family Campus and online Susan G. Groner—podcaster, author, and founder of The Parenting Mentor—will be at the Simon Family JCC for an interactive parenting workshop. Groner will share wisdom from her most recent book and coach...

Sunday, November 21, 2 pm, online Israeli native Meir Shalev, who has written multiple best sellers, translated into more than 20 languages, will discuss his newest book, My Wild Garden: Notes from a Writer’s Eden. A series of essays, Shalev explores his garden,...

Performances highlight Holocaust Reflections events November 4–7, Ferguson Center for the Arts, Free For the first time on an opera stage, OperaCNU will debut The Trial of God at Christopher Newport University’s Ferguson Center for the Arts next month. Commissioned by...

Tribes, Tribesmen, For the Young at Heart. Silkscreens, collages, photographs, sculptures, and more than 100 ink and watercolor drawings. Dancers, musicians, masked forms, and women morphing into birds. Now in her 10th decade, Lorraine Fink creates works that bear...

Saturday, November 6, 7:30 pm, Chrysler Museum’s Perry Glass Studio The Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, Embassy of Israel and Community Partners’ 11th Annual Israel Today, along with the Chrysler...

Wednesday, October 13, 7:30 pm Free and open to the community with in-person and online options available, RSVP (required) at JewishVA.org/IsraelToday Noa Tishby is the first speaker in the 11th Annual Israel Today Series presented by the Jewish Community Relations...

Saturday, November 6, 7:30 pm, Perry Glass Studio or via Zoom https://chrysler.org/event/visiting-artist-lecture-with-dafna-kaffeman/ Currently on display at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Dafna Kaffeman’s exhibit of exquisitely crafted plant replicas express the...

Wednesday, April 11, 6:45 pm, Congregation Beth El United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission’s annual Holocaust Day of Remembrance, Yom Hashoah will feature Dr. Mark Wygoda, who will share the story of his father, Hermann Wygoda. Known as...

April Courageous Expressions is a mixed media, group exhibition based on a variety of works created by untrained artists from the Israeli Society for Autistic Children (the ALUT Institute), a leading care provider for individuals with autism in Israel. The...

Simon Feil, an accomplished Jewish actor from New York City, is in Hampton Roads performing in Virginia Stage Company’s production of the Pulitzer Prizewinning drama, Disgraced. The play revolves around a dinner party that Issac, played by Feil, attends with his...

Sunday, May 6, 2–4 pm Jane Gardner, survivor of four types of cancer, a former TV anchor, and a former health reporter, will be the guest speaker for this year’s 7th Annual Pink Tea. Hosted by Temple Emanuel, the event continues the legacy of its founder, Renee Heyman...

Thursday, April 19, 6:30 pm, Congregation Beth El On 5 Iyar, 1948 the entire world watched as Israel became an independent nation. On 5 Iyar, 2018 (April 19), the entire world will celebrate as Israel turns 70. Eyal Rob, a screenwriting professor by day and Tel Aviv...

Sunday, April 22, 2:30 pm You have seen them at big football games and concerts, stock car races, and patriotic festivals—“card stunts”—with regular folks holding up colored material to form words, numbers, and symbols. Now it’s Tidewater’s turn. During Israel Fest,...

Sunday, May 20, 1–4 pm, ages 7–15 The Simon Family JCC is the local regional host for the USA Triathlon Youth Aquathlon Splash & Dash for kids ages 7–15. This sports event combines swimming and running. Ages 7-10 have a 100-meter swim and 1-mile run, and ages...

Sunday, April 15, 10 am, Temple Israel Norman Soroko is being honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Seaboard Region, Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, at it’s annual recognition breakfast. Soroko became involved in Men’s Club in the late 1980s at B’nai...

Thursday, April 19, 6:30 pm, Congregation Beth El Celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut with a free and open to the community event. From Holy Land to Club Land: The Evolution of Israel through Music, Rob will bring the Tel Aviv music scene to Tidewater, reflecting the young Jewish...

Tuesday, March 27, 12:30 pm • Sandler Family Campus Based on an installation of 1,000 umbrellas adorning Yoel Moshe Solomon Street in Jerusalem during the summer of 2015, UJFT’s Community Relations Council is launching a similar installation in the Simon Family JCC’s...

Friday, April 13, 7 pm Tidewater Chavurah’s second Friday of the month Shabbat service will take place at the home of Hal and Elaine in the Great Neck Meadows area of Virginia Beach. A “congregation without walls,” events are held in members’ homes or at other...

Sunday May 6, 2–4 pm Temple Emanuel at Baltic and 25th St. Temple Emanuel’s annual Pink Tea to raise money and awareness for cancer screenings will take place in May. All proceeds go to the Beach Health Clinic for cancer screenings. $12.50 per person. Become a “Pink...

Timing is everything. The number of remaining Holocaust survivors is rapidly decreasing. Thirty live in Tidewater. Several were children in Eastern and Western Europe, but many are Russians or Ukrainians who were young children during WWII. Now they are in their 80s...

Friday, April 13, Ferguson Center, Newport News Saturday, April 14, Chrysler Hall, Norfolk The Virginia Arts Festival will open its 2018 spring season with a stunning birthday party for Leonard Bernstein. The Festival is joining arts organizations on six continents in...

Deadline for submissions: Friday, March 30 In celebration of Israel’s 70th anniversary, the Simon Family JCC will be adorned with a sky full of umbrellas to resemble a similar installation in the streets of Jerusalem and other cities around the world. In fact, the...

Thursday, April 19, 5:30 pm Norfolk Waterside Marriott Volunteer Hampton Roads will honor Kurt Rosenbach with the Lenora Mathews Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership in community service. Rosenbach has served the community by being...

14th Annual Grieving Children’s Art Show March Jewish Family Service counseling staff, through the Dozoretz Center for Healing and Jessica Glasser Therapeutic Pavilion, specializes in helping individuals of all ages cope with loss and grieving. One component of this...