Jewish News

Dear Readers, Passover begins this year on Friday evening, April 3. Nineteen years ago, the first seder also took place on April 3. Why do I remember? My daughter, who will be 19 on April 4, was letting me know in her own gentle way that she was ready to make her very first appearance. [...]

There have been funerals of significant Jewish business and philanthropic leaders over the years in Hampton Roads, but not of many prominent political figures who observed our faith. Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf was one of the few. The memorial service in her honor on Monday, March 16 following her death on the previous [...]

It was a night of reconnecting as women from past Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project Israel trips came together at the home of Marcy Mostofsky to make mishloach manot (gifts of food between friends) for the residents of Beth Sholom Home to be delivered on Purim. The evening also included lively discussion regarding the Torah mitzvos [...]

Want to be a better problem solver? Play chess. That’s what Hebrew Academy of Tidewater students do who participate in the Chess Club, under the guidance and expertise of local master chess player, Rabbi Michael Panitz. Rabbi Panitz, who volunteers his skills at HAT, has been teaching students of all ages to play chess for [...]

Millions of Americans who live on the brink of hunger are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet as the winter’s record snowfalls hit many parts of the country. Nearly 70 percent of the households served by Feeding America report that their most common spending tradeoff was between paying for utilities or food, according [...]

For the past 113 years, through several generations of change, the Relief Committee of Hebrew Ladies Charity Society (HLCS) has honored its mission of meeting the needs of local Jewish families requiring urgent financial assistance. The organization has provided food to Jewish families in need for the High Holidays; Chanukah money for parents to provide [...]

The Baseball Haggadah: A Festival of Freedom and Springtime in 15 Innings by Rabbi Sharon Forman Illustrated by Lisa J. Teitelbaum 54 pages 2015/5775 A Reform rabbi and a mom of “dedicated little leaguers,” Rabbi Sharon Forman has created a Haggadah that covers all of the bases: it is readable, respectful and fun. Last Passover, [...]

The Young Adult Division of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater threw the craziest Purim party in town on the evening of Saturday, March 7. Nearly 200 revelers joined in the circus-themed fun and dressed up to walk the red carpet at the Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community. Beth Gerstein and Ashley [...]

Thousands of pro-Israel activists gathered in Washington, D.C. March 1-3, 2015 for the largest-ever American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference to reaffirm the broad bipartisan consensus in support of the U.S.-Israel relationship. With violence spreading throughout the Middle East and Iran continuing its march toward a nuclear weapons capability, a record crowd of [...]

Documentary premieres to standing room only crowd As somber music plays in the background, the prow of a boat cuts through dark waves in the dramatic opening scene of a new documentary about the Tidewater Jewish community. A narrator’s voice begins over an illustrated map of Europe: “They came across a vast ocean…Ahead, only distant [...]