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...

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...

Sunday, Feb. 10, 11 am What does an African American, an evangelical Christian and a Jewish college student have in common? They are the featured speakers at this year’s AIPAC brunch at Ohef Sholom Temple. As in years past, the Ohef Sholom Temple Men’s Club,...

Sunday, Feb. 17, 10–11:30 am With Purim approaching on Feb. 24, thoughts turn to the great heroine of the Tanakh, Queen Esther. Esther had the courage to use her position to save the Jewish people. Few people have the opportunity for such dramatic heroism today, but...

Tidewater’s first through 12th graders are invited to participate in an Israel Poster contest sponsored by the Community Relations Council of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Students and teachers can find a list of cool facts about Israel at...

Sunday, Feb. 10, 11 am The Changing Face of Pro-Israel Activism in America is the theme of this year’s brunch and briefing at Ohef Sholom Temple. The congregation will again open its doors and invite the community to join them for this free event featuring guests...

Sunday, Feb. 10, 1 pm Operation Hamantashen, a joint venture of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Young Adult Division and the Simon Family JCC, Children and Family Department, will take place at the JCC for the third year in a row. Last year, more than 100...

Sunday, Jan. 27, 2 pm “It is amazing how small coincidences can bring about a completely different set of events than we might have thought,” says Elena Baum, director of the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. After reading the film...

Thursday, Jan. 24 The Virginian- Pilot’s veteran film reviewer, Mal Vincent has been a part of the Simon Family JCC’s Virginia Festival of Jewish Film since its inception in 1993. Vincent began reviewing movies such as Leon the Pig Farmer (which ran in 1993 and will...

Sunday, Jan. 20, 11 am The adult education committee at Ohef Sholom Temple presents Marty Mandelberg speaking on “Why the Jews,” a session that will trace the history of European anti-Semitism that enabled the Holocaust to occur. Exploring publications, events,...

Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day is Tuesday, Jan. 22 Program begins at 11 am in Richmond Bus departs from Simon Family JCC at 8:45 am Preparations for Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day, or “Date with the State,” when Jews from throughout the Commonwealth descend on the...

Constantly in the public view, there is much more to Israel than meets the eye. To spread the word about the lesser-known details, the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is taking JerusalemOnlineU on the road with five different...

Sunday, Jan. 6, 3 pm A standing-room-only crowd of more than 800 packed the Tidewater Community College’s Roper Theater in downtown Norfolk last March to attend the premiere of the documentary, What We Carry. Featuring the memories, insights and inspirational messages...

Sunday, Jan. 13, 10:30 am The Community Relations Council organizes the Tidewater community each year to prepare for the “Date with a State,” when representatives from Jewish communities across Virginia descend on Richmond to lobby for issues considered pertinent to...

Tuesday, Dec. 25, 7 am–3 pm Switch Day is going Retro. Volunteer at Beth Sholom Village on Dec. 25 and dress up like a “greaser” or pull out a “Poodle Skirt,” “grease your hair,” or put it in a “beehive.” Shifts: 7–9 am 9–11 am 11 am–1 pm 1–3 pm Volunteer...

Applications for a Summer 2013 mission to the Jewish communities of Budapest, Hungary and Prague, Czech Republic are now being accepted by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. The mission, scheduled to depart on Sunday, July 14 and return on Monday, July 22,...