Top Stories
Holocaust remembrance pages — including one about Tidewater’s Kitty Saks — removed in Pentagon’s DEI purge
Grace Gilson(JTA) — When she was five years old, Kitty Saks’ home in Vienna was commandeered by the Nazis, leading her family to flee to Brussels, where she was hidden in a convent until the Allies liberated Belgium. Twenty-seven members of her family were killed in...
Son of Holocaust survivors to speak at Yom Hashoah
Wednesday, April 23, Ohef Sholom Temple, 6:45 pm Dr. Irving Berkowitz is the keynote speaker for the community’s Yom Hashoah commemoration, which is presented each year by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission. Dr. Berkowitz is the son of...
In Virginia Beach, Senator Warner speaks about Israel and antisemitism
U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner met with members of Tidewater’s Jewish community last month to discuss a range of issues, including Israel, the state of college campuses, and antisemitism.The former governor and senior senator from Virginia began the conversation by...
Summer Camp 2025
Summertime is right around the corner, with camps of every sort – day, overnight, specialty, and general – busy planning an exciting 2025 experience for campers. Whether campers stay close to home or embark on a few weeks away for an overnight experience, many...
Vote through May 4 in election for World Zionist Congress – future of Israel at stake
(JTA) — Voting is now open in an election that gives American Jews a rare chance to directly shape Israel’s future.The U.S. election for seats in the 39th World Zionist Congress will help determine the balance of power in the legislative authority of a Zionist...
Trip highlights JDC’s work post October 7
My most recent visit to Israel started with Havdalah services in Hostage Square. The weight of October 7 – the loss, the trauma, the sadness – hangs in the air and seeps into your pores. The realization of the challenges Israelis deal with all day, every day, is...
Five years of Konikoff Center for Learning building bridges
The Konikoff Center for Learning supports Jewish education in a variety of ways in Tidewater. With a goal of nurturing inter-denominational relationships between individuals and synagogues, David Konikoff drives the direction of the Center by sponsoring programming...
Purim party: A time-traveling celebration
The Sandler Family Campus was unrecognizable on Saturday, March 1, as partygoers stepped into Mordechai’s Time Machine for an unforgettable Purim celebration. Immersive décor transported guests across time and space — from a 1920s speakeasy to a garden of Eden. Every...
Buildings honor memories of Bibas boys with orange lights
The Israeli Embassy called for the lighting of buildings in orange in commemoration of the Bibas children, hoping that the illuminations would serve as a powerful gesture of remembrance and solidarity.The symbolic lightings were intended to honor the memories of Ariel...
Virginia’s Speaker of the House shares insights from Israel trip
The Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, Don Leonard Scott Jr., spent a rainy afternoon last month with members of Jewish Tidewater at the home of Laura and Fred Gross. His recent trip to Israel with AIPAC was the focus of the conversation.Jeff Breit, a law...
Advocates receive warm welcome on Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day 2025
My alarm went off on January 28 at 5:30 am. I was already up… It was at least 25 years since I had been a part of the Jewish Community Relations Council’s United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s team visiting our Virginia legislators to highlight the issues of...
Milestone anniversaries worth celebrating
“Love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage. It’s an institute you can’t disparage.”Frank Sinatra first sang these Sammy Cahn lyrics in the 1955 television production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.Here, in Tidewater, several couples celebrating special...
Hostages released under ceasefire deal
Editor’s note: The release of hostages held in Gaza is a developing story. At press time, the number of hostages remaining in Gaza is 79, of whom 23 are set for release during the current ceasefire; 35 are thought to be living. These three articles are just a sample...
JDC updates Tidewater on Ukraine after 1,000+ days of conflict
Now in its third winter of war, the plight of Ukraine’s Jews and Jewish communities is no longer headline news. Israel, hostages, Gaza, a U.S. election, plane crashes, protests, antisemitism, wildfires, and so many other news-capturing events have diverted the world’s...
First meals turn to forever dates
A shared meal can lead to a good laugh, a lifelong romance, or a future business venture – and sometimes, all those things and more. ❦ For these eight couples, first dates that included peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, COVID dating, and dancing at the top of...
32nd Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film
One of the nation’s longest-running Jewish film festivals, the Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg, entertains, educates, and engages the Tidewater community by presenting world-class films, repertory cinema, and programs that...
Hostages Daniela Gilboa, Liri Albag, Naama Levy and Karina Ariev released from Gaza in choreographed ceremony
(JTA) — Hamas released four hostages on Saturday, January 25 in a choreographed ceremony in Gaza, making them the second group of captives to go free in the ceasefire that began earlier this week. The four hostages released on Saturday are Daniela Gilboa, Liri Albag,...
Jewish community springs into action as devastating Los Angeles-area fires widen
(JTA) — Daniel Sher’s voice broke as he related the latest to members of his Pacific Palisades synagogue. Kehillat Israel had just sent a message saying that its building had so far survived the devastating Palisades Fire, but, the associate rabbi noted, so much had...
A tale of two Holocaust Remembrance Days
The calendars we live by help to define us. If your New Year is January 1, that says something about you. If it is 1 Tishre, it indicates that you have a different perspective on our life journey through the corridors of time. If it is both…. as is probably the case...
Brushing up on retirement with the Konikoff brothers
Albert, Stephen, and David Konikoff’s father, Arthur, was an architect, but “because we couldn’t draw or use our hands so well, we went into dentistry!” says Albert, the oldest of four siblings. The brothers also have a sister, Sharon Berger.Now, after decades of...
Jewish Tidewater and beyond in 2024
For the global Jewish community, the year’s beginning contained a heaviness as the war in Gaza continued to escalate, hostages were still held, and antisemitism ramped up to levels not experienced in most of our lifetimes.Campus protests, threats against synagogues,...
Local leader to receive prestigious award
Anyone who’s worked alongside Karen Jaffe on committee or in community leadership will confirm: Karen Jaffe is special. A much-admired leader in the Tidewater Jewish community, Jaffe has been a role model for her family, friends, and an entire generation of emerging...
“Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay…”(and glass…and paper…and felt…)
The center piece of a Jewish gambling game, dreidels are almost as important to Hanukkah as Hanukkiahs and latkes. Each of the four sides of the spinning top contain a specific letter: Nun, Gimel, Hei, Shin (or Po if in Israel). The letters represent the phrase: A...
Frozen Flames proves to be an early hot Hanukkah night
More than 150 members of the 21-and-over Tidewater Jewish community and beyond gathered for Frozen Flames, a celebration of heritage, community, and inspiration on Saturday, Dec. 7. Held at the new Perry Glass Studio at the Chrysler Museum of Art, the event was a...
Hanukkah is coming! Hanukkah is coming!
Thanksgiving and all its preparations and celebrations are nowover – a signal not to take a breath, but rather to focus on the next holiday: Hanukkah. Without missing a beat, it seems, congregations and schools are gearing up for a festive Hanukkah season,...
Linda Fox-Jarvis and Stephanie Jarvis Caskill
Linda Fox-Jarvis never imagined that one of her children would want to join her real estate business. “It is a rewarding career, but it is also a 24/7 job and takes a toll on your family life,” says Fox-Jarvis who has sold real estate since 1982, regularly...
Nancy Evans and Heather Evans
Born and raised in Hampton Roads, Nancy Evans understands the region’s neighborhoods, which helped her from the start of her career in real estate to find homes suitable for her clients. Seventeen years after entering the field, Evans’s daughter, Heather, joined her...
Women’s Philanthropy hosts an Israeli chef at its Annual Lion Tikva Chai Luncheon
United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s 2025 Women’s Philanthropy Lion Tikva Chai Lunch took place on a cool, crisp day in the sunny and bright Fleishmann Lounge on the Sandler Family Campus. This annual lunch is a thank you for all women donors at the $1,800+...
Trump retakes presidency, heralding new era for the United States, its Jews, and its relationship with Israel
(JTA) — WASHINGTON — As midnight arrived on the East Coast, it appeared increasingly likely that Donald Trump would retake the presidency — a victory that would reshape the United States and that could change its relationship with Israel while ushering in an...
Mazel Tov! Beryl + Leonette Adler
Beryl Adler95 years old A retired estates attorney with Pender & Coward, Beryl Adler is a Norfolk native. He attended Taylor Elementary, Blair Junior High School, and Maury High School – all in Ghent. Married for 69 years to Leonette, whom he met at a dance at...