Jewish News

Monday, May 14, 6:30pm Jewish Education Night at the Simon Family JCC honors Jewish educators in area schools. Several categories of awards are given, including the announcement of the Jewish Educator of the Year. Free. RSVP to Miriam Brunn Ruberg, 321-2328 or mbrunnruberg@gmail.com.

Sunday, May 20, 10 am Light Brunch followed by film and discussion at the Sandler Family Campus.

As Israel prepares to begin its 65th year of modern-day independence, there can be no disputing that this nation remains confronted with a myriad of challenges and threats to its very existence. But despite the perceived pall of fear and tension which seem to hang eternally over Israel, I can confidently say, as someone who [...]

Jazz Jews Mike Gerber Five Leaves Publications, 2009 628 pages. Fifty-eight year old Brit Mike Gerber has done a superb job of assembling information and opinions, and stating them in a readable manner. This book is of special interest to jazz fans, including fans of traditional jazz/Dixieland fans, but also will be of much interest [...]

A Prayer for the Departed Bill Broder The Ainslee Street Project, 2011 230 pages ISBN 978-1-46113893-8 Your reviewer owes an apology to author, Bill Broder, having received A Prayer for the Departed more than six months ago and allowed it to remain at the bottom of a short stack of unread books. Broder, a fellow [...]

It was a night to remember. The congregation laughed, cried and wept. Purim night at Temple Israel featured talented Megillah readers and a troupe of young Purim players who spoke in “Fakespearean prose.” The adults offered a creative interpretation of the Book of Esther in Bye Bye Boychik, a takeoff of Bye Bye Birdie. From [...]

October 2011 marked the rebirth of Shir Darom, the Jewish Community Chorus of Hampton Roads, under the direction of Madeline Rossettini. Founded in 1998, Shir Darom, or Song of the South, has recently performed at the Simon Family JCC’s American Jewish Composers series and its Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, at Old Dominion University’s International [...]

The head men’s basketball coach at Virginia Tech, Seth Greenberg, has been named the head coach for the USA Open Men’s Basketball Team competing at the 19th World Maccabiah Games in Israel, July 2013. Greenberg just completed his ninth season as head coach at Virginia Tech where the Hokies have made five consecutive and six [...]

Tal Markowich, youth director at the Matnas, has written about a very special project they have been working on in the youth department. Developed in cooperation between the Pardes Katz community and BMC Software, the project provides one-on-one tutoring for 13 seventh and eighth graders of the local “remez” (middle school). BMC is a multinational [...]

NEW YORK (JTA)—Regina Spektor has a cold—or as she calls it, “a nondescript New York disease.” The singer is onstage at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York headlining a benefit concert for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, or HIAS, which helped resettle her family in New York more than 20 years ago. Though the [...]