What’s Happening

Friday, August 18, 5 pm The annual End of Summer Shabbat dinner and pool party has expanded this year to include more games, more food, and more fun. Young at heart participants will enjoy a surf n’ slide, a water balloon challenge, and a tzedakah dive. For adults,...

2017–2018 Israel Today series begins with David Hazony, managing director of The Israel Project Tuesday, September 12, 7:30 pm Sandler Family Campus After returning from an eight-month stint teaching English in Myanmar, I had to figure out my next move. I thought a...

August, Leon Family Art Gallery A Vintage Jewish fashion photography exhibit from the collection of Beit Hatfutsot, The Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, and the Bernard H. and Miriam Oster Visual Documentation Center, will be on display in the Leon Family Art...

Sunday, Sept. 10 and Sunday, Sept. 17 Sandler Family Campus A two-part program on intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews, Making Jewish Choices, presented by Tidewater Chavurah, will take place at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. The first session will present...

Thursday, August 3, 6:30 pm Hilarity is coming to the Simon Family JCC when comedian, writer, and actor Elon Gold performs at Laughter on the Lawn. Gold, born in the Bronx and currently living and working in Los Angeles, is “a favoured son in the proud tradition of...

Friday, July 21, 5:15–6:15 pm Ohef Sholom Temple Experience inner peace, soul nourishment, and personal transformation through the vibration resonance of chanting texts and quartz and gemstone singing bowls. A brief teaching, chant practice, sound healing, and time...

Sunday, July 9, 10 am Just as Hans Christian Andersen’s Rumpelstiltzken spun straw into gold for the miller’s daughter, every year Congregation Beth El spins its members’ gently used clothing, jewelry, and other items into funds to support the synagogue’s operations....

Shira Low Itzhak, a United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Women’s Cabinet member, will undertake a grueling bike ride on July 19. Along with 250 other women, she will ride 75 miles from New Jersey through the Catskill Mountains of New York. The World’s Greatest Finish...

Friday, June 9, 7 pm The Tidewater Chavurah will hold its second Friday of the month Shabbat service at the home of Hal and Elaine in the Great Neck Meadows area of Virginia Beach. Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill will lead the service, with prayers and joyful songs. An Oneg...

Opens: Friday, June 2, Leon Family Art Gallery Opening reception: Tuesday, June 6, 5:30–8 pm Artist Elizabeth Passerieux will exhibit her work in the Leon Family Art Gallery on the second floor of the Simon Family JCC. Passerieux was born in Montpellier, France in...

Thursday, June 1, 7 pm The near-record audience turnout for In Our Hands: The Battle for Jerusalem on May  23, has prompted a one-night encore in cinemas nationwide. The film marks the 50th anniversary of Israel’s Six-Day War and brings to vivid life onscreen the...

Monday, April 1–Friday, April 5 The Kids Connection at the Simon Family JCC, the Before and After School program, is offering a Spring Break Camp, featuring fun indoor and outdoor activities, art, free swim, sports, group games and much more. Full day camp is 6:30 am...

Thursday, April 11, 5:30–8 pm An exhibit and panel discussion at Old Dominion University will explore what happens when the rule of law is obliterated. The exhibit, Lawyers without Rights, was created by the German Federal Bar and has been shown in more than 80 cities...

Wednesday, March 20, 7 pm Israel and the West with Rabbi David Barnett Benjamin Netanyahu and many others have noted that most of the Arab world “does not hate the United States because of Israel, but rather hates Israel because of the United States.” Indeed, on the...

Thursday, March 21, 5:45 pm The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities has selected two members of the local Jewish community to be among those receiving its prestigious Humanitarian Awards this year. Robert “Bob” Nusbaum and Marian Bear Ticatch will be honored at...

March 5-16 When Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman started writing the book for the award-winning Broadway musical Jersey Boys, they didn’t think they had much in common with pop sensations and real-life, New Jersey natives Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. “Marshall...

Wednesday, March 13, 7 pm Ohef Sholom Temple’s Adult Education committee presents “The History of Jewish Music” with Cantor Wally. A look at the Bible shows that the most ancient descriptions of song originate with the Jews. From the ram caught in the thicket near...

Sunday, March 17, 12–2 pm Preparing for Passover can be both intense and exhilarating for women. The to-do list fills with chores including; cleaning the house from top to bottom to rid it of chametz (leavened products), hauling out the special Passover china, ironing...

Monday, Feb. 18, 7 pm Sometimes we don’t know what to think. Is Israel really a land of war, borders, politics, and falafel? With half a dozen siblings who have chosen to begin their married lives in Israel, I know that there is so much more. When I visit Israel I...

Saturday, March 9, 8 pm Impressions—like it or not, you’re a role model with Rabbi Gavriel Friedman, is a “must see” for parents, young adults, and anyone interested in an entertaining and engaging evening with a positive message. Sponsored by United Jewish Federation...

Sunday, Feb. 17, 10–11:30 am Ask a woman about a great female role model, and she might answer Golda Meir, Eleanor Roosevelt, or Hillary Clinton. Ask her again, but this time make it more personal, as it pertains to how she thinks and feels, and the answer may be...

Sunday, Feb. 24 10:30 am at Ohef Sholom, 3 pm at Beth Sholom Village Does Cookie Monster love triangular Hamentaschen as much as circular cookies? Is Oscar grouchy about the Jewish people when he dresses up as Haman? And, can Big Bird rule over ancient Persia? Find...

Saturday morning Shabbat services at Congregation Beth El start at 9:30 am. For those who arrive 30 minutes earlier, they are treated to a stimulating and inspirational session of Torah Talk led by Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz. It’s a chance to nosh on cake, coffee and tea...

Saturday, Feb. 23, 7 pm Let’s do the time warp again…at Temple Israel’s “Rockin’ Hora Purimshpiel.” The Purim skit, accompanying Temple Israel’s Purim service and the reading of Megillat Esther, will be based on the classic movie musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show,...

Sunday, Feb. 24, 4 pm Although she has never been bullied, Arianna Gershon was moved by discussions at BBYO over the past year to spearhead an event at the Simon Family Jewish Community Center and make it her senior project at Norfolk Collegiate School. The Bully...

Friday, Feb. 1—Sunday, Feb. 3 Focusing on themes of freedom, “Let My People Go!” is Virginia Chorale’s third concert program this season. For “Let My People Go!” Charles Woodward, artistic director and conductor, selected songs associated with freedom movements from...

Thursday, Feb. 21, 7:30 pm Moderated by Eric Michael Mazur, Gloria & David Furman Professor of Judaic Studies Hosted by Virginia Wesleyan College See leaders from the Tidewater Jewish community fight to settle this age-old question: “Which is better, the latke or...

Sunday, April 14, 1–4 pm • Simon Family JCC parking lot No need to get out of the car. Drive through and your car will be unloaded! www.jewishva.org/recycle Items accepted for recycling: Cell phones, VCRs, PC towers/ desktops, circuit boards, keyboards, iPods/MP3...

Opening reception: Sunday, Feb. 10, 3–6 p.m. The Mike Kantor who worked in Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan after he graduated from college could hardly have pictured himself as an aspiring artist in his 60s. But that is how Kantor identifies himself these days,...

Saturday, Feb. 23, 6:30 pm Be Happy! It’s Adar! Purim is coming with a busy night at Beth El. The Megillah reading and costume parade begins at 6:30 pm. A children’s program will take pace in Barr Hal with refreshments, a balloon artist and a magician after their...