Jewish News

Bound In The Bond Of Life (Pittsburgh Writers Reflect on the Tree of Life Tragedy) Edited by Beth Kissileff and Eric Lidji University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020 242 pages   The utterly shocking and deeply unsettling 83-minute attack on Shabbat morning, October 27, 2018, on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, resulting in the [...]

Thousands of people visited the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community for a celebration of Yom Ha’Atzmaut on Sunday, May 1. The Israel Independence Day celebration was the first large-scale in-person event for the holiday since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “There is no replacement for the feeling [...]

Many communities have a rabbi. In the times of the Talmud, that term was deemed somewhat narrow for the many responsibilities devolved on the community leader. Another term was needed and coined: Mara D’asra, literally ‘leader of the community.’ Such a leader is Rabbi Sender Haber who recently announced his retirement from B’nai Israel Congregation. While [...]

An active Holocaust Commission has been part of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater for more than 30 years. Among its numerous programs and projects, the Commission established a Speakers’ Bureau comprised of local Holocaust survivors. Escorted by Commission members, survivors regularly shared their stories throughout Tidewater and beyond. Today, many of these stories live through [...]

Dear Readers, My first connections with Jewish News took place in the mid-1970s when, as an active teen in Tidewater’s Jewish community, my name and photo would sporadically appear on its pages. As I renewed my activity in the community as a young adult, I’d find my name mentioned for serving on one committee or [...]

In the paper’s 75-year history, surprisingly few have served as editor. In fact, many of the first editions list no editor at all, but rather the executive of the Norfolk Jewish Community Council (in one instance Sydney S. Abzug) and in others, just editorial boards, comprised of men (they were all men) such as Stanley [...]

Panel moderator Joel Rubin may have summed it up best, when he said, “The wind is definitely blowing in the right direction…” for the region’s new offshore wind farm, whose turbines will soon be generating power to light up area homes, power area businesses, and reduce the area’s collective carbon footprints. On Tuesday, May 3, [...]

Tidewater Jewish Foundation celebrated donors, community milestones, and philanthropic accomplishments at the 2022 Simon Family Legacy Celebration on Sunday, May 17 at the Sandler Family Campus. The first in-person event in three years, the celebration highlighted the continued success of the LIFE & LEGACY program, new initiatives such as the Jewish Future Pledge, and the [...]

This year’s Yom Hashoah Commemoration, honoring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, as well as liberators and righteous gentiles, was the first in-person gathering for the purpose since 2019. After cancelling the public commemoration in 2020 and having a livestreamed commemoration in 2021 with survivor Marion Weinzweig speaking from her home in Arizona, this [...]

(JTA)—In the 1920s, the National Council of Jewish Women helped establish the first 10 birth control clinics in the United States, which later became Planned Parenthood clinics. Now, with the right to abortion under threat, the group is partnering with the National Abortion Federation to raise funds for people who need help to end pregnancies. [...]