
DATE: Saturday, November 29, 1997           TAG: 9711290208

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NIA NGINA MEEKS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  103 lines

JEWISH FEDERATION MOVE MEETS NORFOLK, BEACH FAITHFUL HALFWAY

When the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater moved its operations from Norfolk to Virginia Beach earlier this year, two things happened.

One, the Jewish Family Service of Tidewater got more room to handle its increasing caseload.

Two - and more intriguing - the federation quietly followed a path already cut by South Hampton Roads' Jewish families, specifically Reform and Conservative adherents.

The emerging demographic pattern means more religious opportunities at the Beach. And more work for Norfolk rabbis who want to keep their worshipers.

This is the latest stage of migration for area Jews. Turn-of-the-century immigrants established neighborhoods in Portsmouth and Norfolk's Berkley and Church Street corridors, then moved inward to Ghent and Wards Corner. They established temples of worship at each stop.

For the past 20 or so years, their offspring - and other incoming Jewish families - have been heading for the Beach and filling up the three congregations there.

Beach residents such as David Brand enjoy having local upstarts serve their needs.

``We felt we were going to make our home in Virginia Beach,'' Brand said. ``It was important to do what we could do in strengthening those Jewish organizations where we live.''

His synagogue, the Oceanfront's Temple Emanuel Synagogue, began as a resort congregation. Now, 50 years later, the Conservative congregation has about 260 families, Rabbi Elliot Marmon said.

Congregation Beth Chaverim, a Reform synagogue, spent its early years meeting in Methodist and Catholic churches. It now has about the same membership size as the Oceanfront synagogue.

Based on survey data and mailing lists, Mark L. Goldstein estimated that 18,000 to 20,000 Jewish people live in South Hampton Roads, more than half in the Beach. Goldstein is the executive vice president for the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, which funds Jewish social programs.

Some Beach people, like Sharon Grossman, don't mind the trek to Norfolk, opting for the heritage, size and stability of institutions there.

``I'm from Petersburg, where there were like 100 Jewish families,'' said Grossman, a member of Temple Israel, a Conservative congregation in Wards Corner. ``We had a small temple. We didn't even have a cantor (music minister). Norfolk was like a mecca.''

For services, yes; for households, not necessarily. Which is partly why the federation chose a location central to both Norfolk and the Beach, off Route 44 near Witchduck Road.

The move put it closer to the Beth Sholom Home of Eastern Virginia for seniors and the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater for students.

Before relocating, the federation, known to some as the ``central address of the Jewish community,'' made Wards Corner its home, alongside the Jewish Community Center of Tidewater. The center has been considering a complex along the Route 44 corridor for about a decade.

``What we're looking to do is serve the substantial Jewish population that has been residing in the Beach,'' center Executive Vice President Martin J. Trachtenberg said. ``They deserve to have the same services that the folks in Norfolk have.''

The Norfolk center would retain more of the senior-oriented activities for its aging Jewish population. A future Beach center would feature summer day camps and the like for the youthful Jewish families there. Both sites would include popular programs such as preschool and day care.

When the federation followed its clientele from Portsmouth to Norfolk in the 1940s and '50s, the Jewish population in that first city diminished.

Rabbi Michael E. Panitz of Norfolk doubts the same will happen in his city. He is president of the Hampton Roads Area Board of Rabbis.

Thousands of Jewish people live and worship in the city. The Orthodox population in Ghent remains solid, as many devout Jews do not drive on the Sabbath and live close to their temples. Other Jews continue to move into the area as well, Panitz said.

Norfolk synagogues report stable membership. While rabbis aren't worried about losing members, they aren't taking their members for granted.

``We all want to flourish and wish each other well,'' Rabbi Israel Zoberman of the Beach's Beth Chaverim said. ``But there is a certain amount of built in competition.''

Norfolk synagogues such as Panitz's Temple Israel have been responding by reaching out to their Beach membership, sometimes physically. Adult classes, for instance, are taught in homes of Beach members.

No matter who moves where, the mission is the same, Panitz said.

``Religion ought to be a unifying force, not a dividing one,'' he said. ``We want them to be religious wherever they are.'' ILLUSTRATION: LOCAL JEWISH INSTITUTIONS

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Fund-raising entity was

established in Norfolk, 1937. A separate federation existed in

Portsmouth. They merged in the '80s to create a regional

organization. Moved this summer to Virginia Beach.

Beth Sholom Home of Eastern Virginia. Seniors complex was

established in Virginia Beach in 1978.

Hebrew Academy of Tidewater. Private school was established in

Norfolk, 1955. Moved to Virginia Beach in 1975.

Jewish Community Center of Tidewater. Multipurpose facility was

established in 1951 in Norfolk, at current location since 1966.

Looking to launch a site in Virginia Beach.

Jewish Family Service of Tidewater. Established in Norfolk, 1865.