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Dear Readers,
The High Holidays are a time for reflection, forgiveness, and prayer. They are also a time of gathering – with families and friends and congregations – for services and celebratory meals.
Those gatherings are what this special section focuses on – particularly for Sukkot.
On the adjacent page, for example, an article begins about locals and their home sukkahs. While many are crafted from kits, they are all uniquely decorated to suit each family, and all seem to be filled throughout the holiday with friends and family embracing the wonder of the harvest festival.
For those who aren’t connected to someone with a home sukkah, Jewish Tidewater offers plenty of options to participate in community events. Check out the listing on page 24.
The piece on page 23 highlights an effort to engage 10,000 people to volunteer during the High Holidays for Repair the World’s National Days of Jewish Service. During this time of renewal, volunteering to better the world is just one avenue to express Jewish values and to expend some good energy.
If you haven’t committed to a congregation for High Holiday services, check out the listing of area synagogues in the Annual Guide to Jewish Living in Tidewater in the August edition of Jewish News on our website, JewishNewsVa.org. There, you’ll find contact information on every local synagogue. In addition, several congregations have ads within these pages with all the information for joining them this season.
Personally, I’ve always looked forward to this season, and while I fondly recall so many memories of past years, I now look forward to creating new memories and enjoying holiday celebrations with friends and family – old and new. I hope the same for everyone.
All of us at Jewish News wish you a year filled with peace, good health, and ample sweetness.
L’ Shana Tova,
Terri Denison Editor
LOCALS CELEBRATE SUKKOT IN THEIR HOME SUKKAH
Sukkot – also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths – celebrates the fall harvest and commemorates the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the desert after their Exodus from Egypt. The week-long Jewish festival is celebrated by building, dwelling, and dining in a temporary booth called a sukkah, which many families and congregations in Tidewater do each year.
Modern-day sukkahs are comprised of three walls with an organic roof that provides shade but remains partially open to the sky. Today, to make the building easier to accomplish each year,
some sukkahs are constructed from kits purchased online.
Would the Israelites of millennia ago ever recognize today’s sukkahs with their twinkling beer bottles and strands of globe lights? The answer is obvious, but they might be proud to know that homage is paid to their desert dwellings with a variety of family and communal gatherings and celebrations.
Jewish News asked some in Jewish Tidewater to share their inspiration and the joy they experience each year in their home sukkahs during this festive holiday.
The Bridge Family Sukkah
[ Sid Bridge ]
Thanks for your interest in The Bridge Family Sukkah, AKA “The Awesomest Sukkah in Virginia Beach.”
I like to keep things user friendly when it comes to Sukkah building; when we moved to Virginia Beach, some friends came over and added a framework to our backyard deck.
The way our deck is constructed, all I must do is roll out my bamboo matt schach (for the sukkah’s roof) and hang up my lights and decorations. It’s a ready-made sukkah attached to my house.
Our Sukkah is decorated mainly with a seemingly endless stream of novelty lighting. Every year we try to add something new and different, whether it’s twinkling beer bottles, glowing cacti, luminescent guitars, sparkling lanterns... we have it all. Plus, long strands of globe lights and rope lights for plenty of illumination. The middle of the walls still get adorned with the decorations our kids made when they were in grade school, so there are plenty of “traditional” Sukkah decorations as well.
We eat all our meals in it during the holiday, and we host an annual get together for members of our synagogue, KBH. We try to hang out in it when we would otherwise be hanging out inside. I've never been out-doorsy enough to sleep in it, though.
Sukkos is all about trusting in G-d and enjoying some time outdoors together. As with any Jewish holiday, I think it’s super important to make sure things are fun. A sukkah should be a fun place to spend time so everyone will want to be a part of the holiday. My kids like to pitch in when it comes to hanging the lights, setting it up, and enjoying time together when the weather permits.
The Leon Entertaining Sukkah
[ David Leon ]
I bought my sukkah from Sukkah.com, the metal tube version.
My daughters and I decorate with string lights (Christmas lights), pinecones, and plastic fruit.
We use our sukkah mostly for entertaining, and it feels good having it up in my backyard. I also like that it sets an example for my girls to create fun, positive Jewish memories and experiences.
Sid Bridge in his sukkah.
David Leon’s sukkah
High Holiday 5786
The Rubins’ Enlightening Sukkah
[ Shikma and Danny Rubin ]
We love Sukkot and find it’s a wonderful way to be with friends and family. We like to host dinners, and we realize many people have never been in a sukkah. It’s fun to introduce the holiday to new people, explain the significance, and share a meal together.
We string lights across our sukkah in various directions and string other holiday-themed decor. Over the years, we have also hung our kids’ Rosh Hashanah-inspired art on the walls.
We use our sukkah most often for dinners with friends and family. We also try to eat breakfast when we can and be in the sukkah as much as possible.
We use a kit which has made it easy to build and take down the sukkah year after year.
5786 - 2025
Dinner in the Rubin’s sukkah in 2024 with the Rubin, Unger, and Eskinazi families.
Barb’s Dream Sukkah High Holiday 5786
[ Barb Gelb ]
Sukkot is my favorite holiday, and it has always been a dream of mine to have a large sukkah and invite people over to share in the celebration. Several
years ago, my husband, Kenny Weinstein, made that dream come true for me.
Rabbi Levi Brashevitsky helped us figure out what we needed, and we purchased a very large sukkah kit. I like to decorate with a lot of lights and fall decorations, and I have fun making the table decorations.
Barb Gelb and her daughter, Zoe.
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A BISSEL of YIDDISH | A BISSEL OF YIDDISH FOR YOM KIPPUR
A combination of High German and Hebrew, Yiddish is a language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews.
In Tidewater, the Yiddish Club is embracing Yiddish culture, language, and history with music, film, poetry, and literature at its monthly meetings. For information, go to www.Jewishva.org/YiddishClub.
Through A Bissel of Yiddish, Jewish News hopes to introduce and remind readers of a few Yiddish words and phrases. Bissel is Yiddish for ‘little,’ by the way.
Harry Graber is researching and compiling each installment.
YIDDISH WORD FOR THE HOLIDAY
Daven
A Yiddish verb that means to pray, “Daven” is most often used when referring to reciting the Jewish liturgy. The word is widely used by Ashkenazic Jews.
YIDDISH PHRASES FOR THE HOLIDAY
“Yom Kippur is our Day of Atonement, the most serious day of the year, when we do a 24-hour fast, refrain from normal joys of life, focus on the spiritual tasks of life, focus on living a life that God would
have us live.” – Rabbi Jonathan Miller
Oif Yom Kippur mir davened eyn mir unheybn mit Kol Nidre mir zugen Yizkor, Al Chet, Viddui, Avinu Malkenu tfiles eyn tzim sof mit Neilah.
On Yom Kippur we begin with Kol Nidre, say Yizkor and Al Chet, Viddui, Avinu Malkenu prayers and end with Neilah.
Erev Yom Kiper vern alleh ganovim frum.
On the eve of Yom Kippur all thieves become pious.
Chris Sisler, Vice President, Member of Ohef Sholom Temple, Board member of the Berger-Goldrich Home at Beth Sholom Village, James E. Altmeyer, Jr., President, James E. Altmeyer, Sr., Owner
Repair the World’s National Days of Jewish Service (NDJS) is in full swing through Oct. 10 with opportunities designed to engage 10,000 individuals in meaningful volunteer service. During the Fall NDJS, Jewish individuals and organizations, alongside their neighbors in communities across the world, will engage in service events centered on the Jewish High Holidays and commemoration of the October 7th attacks.
“Volunteering connects Jews, especially young adults, with Jewish life, building purpose, community, and belonging,” says Melissa Levine, senior director of field activation, Repair the World. “The NDJS brings thousands of people together across differences to live their Jewish values while tackling issues like food insecurity, homelessness, and educational inequity. As we enter the High Holiday season, we’re channeling themes of renewal into meaningful action and showing up in service to create a brighter future.”
Jewish organizations can apply for microgrants for the remainder of the year
to host impactful service experiences that strengthen communities meeting pressing needs. In addition, individuals can receive volunteer stipends as Michael Kay Jewish Service Ambassadors to lead their peers in meaningful action.
Following the Fall NDJS, the initiative continues with MLK Day(s) of Service (January 15-19, 2026) focusing on “Justice, Equality, and Civil Rights,” and concludes with Spring NDJS opportunities (April 1-30, 2026) themed “Rooted in Tradition and Branching into Action,” incorporating Passover themes, Holocaust remembrance, and environmental stewardship.
Across all three NDJS activations, Repair will engage 10,000 volunteers across the Jewish service movement, uniting the global Jewish community through shared values of service, solidarity, achdoot, and mutual strengthening, hitchazkut.
Organizations and individuals ready to transform their communities through joyful Jewish service can learn more and get involved at werepair.org/get-involved/ campaign/ndjs/.
As the Jewish community prepares to welcome the new year, JBI Library is helping to ensure that people who are blind or have low vision can fully participate in every aspect of the High Holy Days.
JBI offers a wide range of downloadable High Holy Day materials for synagogues, families, and individuals, making key texts and prayers easily accessible and helping create a meaningful experience for all. Selections include Selichot, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur machzorim (Orthodox, Conservative,
and Sephardi versions), Yizkor, Tashlich, Sefer Yonah, Ecclesiastes, and family-friendly resources such as A Time to Grow: A PJ Library Family Guide for Starting the Jewish New Year.
Synagogues can further support accessibility by providing large-print or braille prayer books, training ushers to help those with vision loss, and ensuring placement of large-print and/or braille signage around buildings and entryways. JBI Library is available for consultation with organizations to help provide materials
and advise on steps that can assist people with vision loss feel included and valued during the holidays.
For more than 90 years, JBI has been dedicated to supporting people of all ages who are blind, have low vision, or have a print disability so that they may fully participate in Jewish life—from education and community to prayer and celebration.
All materials are available free of charge through JBILibrary.org or by calling 212-545-8025.
Please join Temple Israel for the 2019/5780 holidays!
Please join Temple Israel for the 2025/5786 holidays!
Celebrate the fullness ofJewish worship with us as togetherwe find spiritual meaning in the words of our sages. Youwill finda heartygreetingfroma warm congregationthatembracesboththetimelessandtheinnovative.
Come join us and let us welcome you home.
High Holiday 5786
Celebrate the fullness of Jewish worship with us as together we find spiritual meaning in the words of our sages. You will find a hearty greeting from a warm congregation that embraces both the timeless and the innovative. Come join us and let us welcome you home.
Celebrate the fullness ofJewish worship with us as togetherwe find spiritual meaning in the words of our sages. Youwill finda heartygreetingfroma warm congregationthatembracesboththetimelessandtheinnovative.
Come join us and let us welcome you home.
Sukkot 5786
Jewish Tidewater celebrates Sukkot with an array of events throughout the region. All listings are open to the public.
Chabad of Tidewater
Community Sukkot Dinner and Dessert in the Sukkah
Monday, October 6, 7:30 pm
Suggested donation $18/person
Simon Family JCC
Pizza in the Hut with Tidewater Shinshinim
Sunday, October 12, 1 – 3 pm
$5/person, $18/family
Visit: jewishva.org/shinshinim.
RSVP: www.chabadoftidewater.com/ sukkotdinner.
7255 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA 23505
757-489-4550
7255 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA 23505
Brownies in the Booth Dinner in the sukkah, brownie bar, lulav and etrog, playground, fun, and games
Temple Emanuel
First Night Sukkot service and desserts in the Sukkah
757-489-4550
www.templeisraelva.org
www.templeisraelva.org
Tuesday, October 7, 5 pm
Suggested donation $10/person
RSVP: www.chabadoftidewater.com/ brownies.
CTeen in the Sukkah
Dinner, lulav and etrog, games, and prizes
Middle and high school students
Sunday, October 12, 5 -6 pm
$10
RSVP: www.chabadoftidewater.com/ cteenrsvp.
Ohef Sholom Temple
Shake it in the Sukkah
Get immersed in the spirit of Sukkot by mixing up festive drinks that to tantalize taste buds. Join in the lively conversations and indulge in delicious treats. Babysitting is available upon request.
Ages 18+
Wednesday, October 8, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
RSVP by Wednesday, October 1 at 757-625-4295.
Monday, October 6, 6 – 7:30 pm
Contact: 757-428-2591 or office@tevb.org.
Burgers & Brews in the Sukkah
Thursday, October 9, 6 – 8 pm
$15 for burgers ($20 nonmembers)
$20 for burgers and beer ($25 nonmembers) Kids under 13 are free
Veggie burgers available
RSVP required. Contact: 757-428-2591 or office@tevb.org.
Pizza dinner in the Sukkah and Family Shabbat
Enjoy pizza, play fun holiday-themed games, create Sukkot crafts, and listen to Israeli music –all in the spirit of connection and celebration.
Friday, October 10, 6 – 8:30 pm
$15 for 13-year-olds plus; $7.50 for 6–12-year-olds; Free for 5 years and under Add $5 for nonmembers.
RSVP required. Contact: 757-428-2591 or office@tevb.org.
