A Starry Sky Above The Roman Ghetto Thursday, February 24, 7:30 pm Cinema Café Kemps River 1220 Fordham Drive, Virginia Beach Tickets: $12 Director Giulio Base | 100 min Italy | 2020 | Italian with English Subtitles | Not Rated Led by a talented ensemble of young actors, this inspirational interfaith story is a reminder [...]
Archive | January, 2022
29th Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film • February 24–28, 2022 Presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg

Opinion: From vigils to vitriol, the Texas hostage crisis showed social media at its best and worst
January 20, 2022
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(New York Jewish Week via JTA)—It was the best of Twitter. It was the worst of Twitter. During the long agonizing hours of Saturday, January 15, during which a rabbi and three congregants were held against their will at a Dallas-area synagogue, social media performed perhaps as its creators and optimists always thought it would. It [...]
Virginia Governor signs Executive Order establishing the Commission to Combat Antisemitism
January 20, 2022
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On his first day in office, Saturday, January 15, Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an Executive Order establishing a commission to combat antisemitism in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The order states: “The Commonwealth of Virginia has been a pioneer for religious freedom since the earliest days of our nation. Tomorrow, January 16, 2022, will be the [...]
Painting among the finalists in state-wide competition for Virginia’s most endangered artifact
January 20, 2022
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vamuseums.org A late 19th century oil painting of Lewis Nusbaum, an early member of both Ohef Sholom Temple and Beth El, is a finalist in the Virginia Association of Museum’s annual competition for Virginia’s most endangered artifact. The oil painting is one of many invaluable artifacts, photographs, and documents in Ohef Sholom Temple’s Mollie and [...]
Jewish Family Service bids a fond farewell to Sue Graves, welcomes new development team
January 20, 2022
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Anyone who has ever attended a Jewish Family Service of Tidewater event, participated in Run, Roll or Stroll, ordered a Basket of Hope centerpiece for a celebration, or made a charitable gift to JFS, likely encountered Sue Graves. For more than two decades, Graves has been a staple at JFS as the director of development. [...]
Dear Readers
January 20, 2022
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Dear Readers, Whether one eats to live or lives to eat, food is always a discussion. And, somehow, food is often tied to romance and friendship. Speaking of food and friendship, in November, a friend came to town with three copies of Israeli-born British chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s Test Kitchen cookbook. One was for me (really [...]
Our mothers, ourselves. Shari Berman in the kitchen.
January 20, 2022
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A catering mentor once told Shari Berman, ‘We eat with our eyes.’ As a young kosher caterer, art lover, and teacher, she took his words to heart and allowed her brain to release childhood memories. “When I was in high school, my mother’s culinary talent impressed everyone but me,” says Berman, owner of Cater 613. [...]
Tidewater grateful for ongoing partnership with Secure Community Network
January 20, 2022
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To better protect the members of the Jewish community who worship and attend area synagogues, day schools, and other Jewish agencies in Tidewater, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater with support from a Tidewater Jewish Foundation community impact grant, joined with the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond and United Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula to [...]
All Texas synagogue hostages ‘out alive and safe’ after harrowing 12-hour standoff, suspect is dead
January 20, 2022
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(JTA)—All four hostages at a synagogue in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area were declared “out alive and safe” by Texas Governor Greg Abbott at 9:33 pm CST on Saturday, January 15, following a 12-hour standoff with an armed assailant in an unfolding saga that terrified Jews worldwide. The hostage situation unfolded during Shabbat morning services [...]
‘Quite simply a mensch’: Meet Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, freed after hostage crisis at his synagogue
January 20, 2022
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(JTA)—Over the course of a harrowing 12 hours on Saturday, January 15, the entire world found out just what the Jews of Colleyville, Texas, think of their hometown rabbi. “Our rabbi is a wonderful human being,” Ellen Smith, who grew up at Congregation Beth Israel, said about Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker during an online vigil while [...]
January 20, 2022
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