What’s Happening

Steeple to Steeple: Saturday, May 13, 9 am - 3 pm The Zelma G. Rivin Wonderful Wednesdays Summer Music Series: Begins on Wednesday, July 19, 7:30 pm Dinner and auction: Sunday, August 27 Every May in Olde Town Portsmouth there is the event known as Steeple to Steeple....

Sunday, April 30, 1-4 pm, Sandler Family Campus On May 14, 1948, Jewish communities in Tidewater and around the world rea-lized their dream of securing a state that ensures Jewish safety and security. In the 75 years since then, Israel has become a beacon of...

Sunday, May 7, 2:30 pm, Sandler Center She was born to play Rachmaninoff” may seem trite, a well-worn phrase used to describe an artist with an extraordinary gift for interpreting the works of that composer. But for pianist Olga Kern, her first experience with...

Sunday, May 7, 10 am Rodef Sholom, Newport News Beth El Men's Club's Blue Yarmulke Person-of-the-Year is Cantor Elihu Flax. He, along with the honorees from Temple Israel in Norfolk and Rodef Shalom in Newport News, will be honored at a brunch followed by the award...

Sunday, April 23, 11 am, Sandler Family Campus The most common thing you may have heard about the 2023 Janet Gordon Mah Jongg Day & Luncheon in support of Beth Sholom Village? The tournament is back! After a 3.5-year hiatus, the event planning committee is...

2023 Holocaust Day of Remembrance Sunday, April 16, 6:45 pm Temple Israel, 7255 Granby Street, Norfolk Yom Hashoah, a time to remember and reflect on the Holocaust, will take place in Tidewater on Sunday, April 16 at Temple Israel in Norfolk. The entire community is...

Thursday, April 20, 7:30 pm, Zoom Old Dominion University’s Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, and ODU’s Women’s Studies present a talk by Anne Gessler, PhD. Gessler’s talk explores the period between 1900...

By visiting Jewishva.org/IsraelFest and registering for the free Israel@75 challenge this April, community members of all ages will automatically get access to a VIP prize, which they can pick up at the community Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration on Sunday, April 30. A new...

Next class: Sunday, March 26, 10 am Ohef Sholom Temple, free The Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is partnering with Ohef Sholom Temple to offer the course, The Foundations of Jewish Family Living. These classes take place on...

Monday, April 3; Reception: 6:15 pm, Lecture: 7 pm Brock Commons, Virginia Wesleyan University In a world that seems to be defined by conflict and seemingly endless divisions, music continues to function as a steady thread through individual and shared...

Sunday, April 16, 6:45 pm, Temple Israel The Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater invites the community to attend the annual Holocaust Day of Remembrance, Yom Hashoah. The commemoration will feature a speaker, candle lighting ceremony, and...

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...

Course begins: Thursday, December 1, 12–1 pm Simon Family JCC Four weekly sessions: $60 Rabbi Michael Panitz and Sierra Lautman Last month, in a course offered by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Konikoff Center for Learning, Origins: Ancient Jewish History in...

Sunday, December 11, 1–4 pm, Simon Family JCC Families with children of all ages are invited to begin their Hanukkah festivities early at the Simon Family JCC with a special Sunday Fun Day. Toddlers through teens will enjoy Hanukkah-themed crafts and glow-in-the-dark...

Saturday, November 19, 6–10 pm Sandler Family Campus Kids Night Out is back with a thankful theme! Parents with Simon Family JCC family memberships can drop off their children at the JCC and then enjoy a night out on their own! Children, ages four through 12 years...

Sunday, Dec. 4, 11 am, Masonic Temple Brith Sholom’s December’s social event will feature its deluxe brunch catered by Beth Sholom Village and a performance by a jazz trio. The 504 Trio’s musicians play and sing New Orleans Jazz with songs such as When the Saints Go...

Thursday, November 17, 7:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy Letty Cottin Pogrebin Post Hill Press 432 pages, 2022 The 2022–23 Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival continues with author Letty Cottin Pogrebin, who will...

When it comes to bias and discrimination, what actually changes people and cultures? Thursday, December 8, 7:30 pm Sandler Family Campus Bias robs individuals of their futures, organizations of talent, science of breakthroughs, and communities of justice. The End of...

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...