Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - Although American actor Christopher Reeve sustained a life-altering injury that left him paralyzed below the neck, the actor maintained his positive morale and unselfishness, according to Dr. Steven Kirshblum, who is featured in the new documentary film "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story," out in theaters nationwide. Initially after a fall from his horse at an equestrian competition in Virginia on May 27, 1995, Reeve asked his wife, Dana, if they should let him go. But she told him...
(JNS) - Joe Berlinger says he was troubled when he read reports of a 2018 study from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which showed one in 10 millennial Americans thought that Jews were responsible for the Holocaust, and half could not name a single concentration camp. So Berlinger, a two-time Emmy Award winner and Oscar-nominated film director who has covered serial killers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy, in addition to world events such as the...
(JNS) - More than 80 years ago, Disney's "Pinocchio" won two Oscars. Another film with a hefty nose is a pundit-and bettings-site favorite for this year's Best Picture, although its proboscis has drawn criticism for antisemitism. Early on in the film "Everything Everywhere All at Once," the main character, Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) calls Jenny Slate's character "Big Nose." The credits initially referred to the character as "Big Nose" but were changed for the digital release. "Big Nose"...
(JNS) - On the last night of Hanukkah, more than 150 people got to listen to two exceptional Jewish musicians at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan, with some dancing in the aisles. It was part of Yiddish New York, a festival now in its eighth year that offers live performances, online lectures, workshops and films. Michael Winograd, a virtuoso on the clarinet and a composer who also plays saxophone, treated the crowd to songs he said he never intended to perform. "I had a cancellation i...
(JNS) — Freddie Roman, a Jewish comedian known for his impeccable timing and his performances at Borscht Belt hotels, died on Saturday in Boynton, Florida at 85. He was the creator of the “Catskills on Broadway” musical and one of the show’s four performers. “I had the pleasure to perform with Freddie Roman many times, including with Sid Caesar, Pat Cooper and Dick Capri,” Jewish comedian Modi Rosenfeld, who performs under the moniker Modi, told JNS. “No matter who you were, he made everybody feel special and he was always encouraging.” Comedia...
(JNS) "Money doesn't buy you happiness," says Jesse Eisenberg, as Dr. Toby Fleishman. "Oh, of course it does," Claire Danes says, as his wife, Rachel, in the FX series "Fleishman Is in Trouble," available on Hulu. The miniseries is based on the eponymous New York Times best-selling book by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who wrote the series and is the showrunner. In it, Eisenberg delivers his best performance other than when he played Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network." Toby meets Rachel at a...
(JNS) - Adam Sandler recounted a funny remark from a celebrity mentioned in his famous "The Chanukah Song" when he spoke to a crowd at the 92nd Street Y (now called 92NY) in Manhattan on Tuesday night. Following a screening of his new film "Hustle," Sandler said he showed his daughters the spot on 56th and Broadway where he stood in front of a diner and had the idea for the tune. "I am so proud of that song, I love it," Sandler said, explaining that he excitedly wrote the song at the NBC...
(JNS) — “We stand with Israel because her cause is our cause,” former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said, addressing Tuesday night’s Iranian American Jewish Federation of New York gala in Manhattan. “Her values are our values. Her fight is our fight. We stand with Israel because we believe in right over wrong, in good over evil. We stand with Israel because like millions of Americans through all generations, we hold fast to that ancient promise, that those who bless her will be blessed,” he continued. When Steven Khadavi, president o...
(JNS) - Which is more important: pastrami or making love? This was a question that George Costanza, played by Jewish actor Jason Alexander, grappled with on a hilarious episode of "Seinfeld." And, of course, there's the episode set in Mendy's, where Jerry argues with an annoying guy named Kenny Bania about whether or not soup and a sandwich constitute a meal. In "'I'll Have What She's Having': The Jewish Deli," an exhibit at Manhattan's New York Historical Society, one can watch a number of simi...
(JNS) - Jewish actress Mila Kunis has charmed millions of fans around the world, but did she charm her way into America? After a screening of her new film "Luckiest Girl Alive" at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan on Sept. 29, the star who rose to fame playing Jackie Burkhart on "That '70s Show" told the crowd that, as a child, she strolled into the office of the woman who was to decide if her family would be allowed to go to the U.S. They'd been at the American embassy in Moscow for about 16...
(JNS) — A son of Holocaust survivors is demanding an apology from Facebook for blocking ads for his newly-released film “Beautiful Blue Eyes.” British filmmaker Joshua Newton said the tech giant’s move hurt his film, which was released in 143 theaters earlier this month. When his ads featuring the late actor Roy Scheider were flagged with a message that they violated Facebook’s policy against content that “includes direct or indirect assertions or implications about a person’s race,” Newton assumed it was an algorithm error. He grew increasing...
(JNS) - If he isn't already, Rabbi Ari Sitnik will soon be the most-seen rabbi in the history of the internet, all because of a single video. The Brazil-born Sitnik, 52, appears at the beginning of Drake's new music video for his song "Falling Back," which has already garnered more than 11,000,000 views on YouTube. The video begins with former NBA center Tristan Thompson telling the Canadian-Jewish rapper and singer (whose real name is Aubrey Drake Graham) in a side room that he can call off...
(JNS) - It's not quite New Kids on the Block getting back together, but it's still meaningful. When Blue Fringe released "My Awakening" in 2003, frontman Dov Rosenblatt had no idea that it would sell more than 15,000 copies and that his Jewish rock group that formed two years earlier would take the Jewish music world by storm, performing at Irving Plaza, Makor Center and B.B King Blues Club in Times Square, as well as venues around the world. The singer, guitarist and founder of "Blue Fringe"...
(JNS) - Being a Mossad operative in Iran isn't a job for the faint of heart. Viewers get a sense of such intensity watching "Tehran" on Apple TV+, a show that will keep them on the edge of their seats. In Season 1, Israeli actress Niv Sultan proved as Tamar Rabinyan, a young Jewish woman born in Iran but raised in Israel, that she was able to hack almost any computer system, shoot anyone and happily risk her life for Israel. In the first episode of Season 2, she has to save the life of an...
(JNS) - When Michael Aloni's agent told him about "The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem," he was a bit confused. "Since when is there a beauty pageant in Jerusalem?" Aloni recalled asking at the time, at an event last week at Temple Emanu-El's Streicker Center in New York City. He'd just finished filming the third season of "Shtisel" and had shaved off his beard. He said he read the best-selling novel by Sarit Yishai Levi, on which the show is based, in less than two days and cried while reading it....
(JNS) - David Rudolf is one of the most heralded defense attorneys in America with numerous awards. More importantly, he says, is that he has helped fight for innocent people and tried to make sure that everyone gets a fair trial. "That's a central part of Jewish tradition and heritage to defend people and fight the abuse of power," Rudolf told JNS by phone. The native of Hewlett on Long Island, N.Y., started out as a public defender in New York City, later moving to North Carolina to be the law...
(JNS) - The small Jewish boy from Berlin stood a few meters from Adolf Hitler. He waved the salute, ran away and told his parents. Shaken and called crazy for wanting to leave to go to a desert - this was years before Kristallnacht in November 1938 - the family decided to leave Germany and head to Palestine. Ronen Israelski tells this story about his father in his award-winning documentary "The Day I Met Hitler." Israelski grew up in Herzliya, Israel, and moved to Canada in 2015 when his father...
(JNS) - If Danielle Finn had to choose between her faith and her dreams, it would have been a bummer. In her initial tryout on Zoom, the 17-year-old senior at Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles told producers of "American Idol" that she observes the Sabbath. As she progressed during in-person auditions on a Friday when she was one of 59 contestants to be judged, she and her family knew that there was a problem. "We were a little bit freaking out, that I wouldn't be able to compete," Finn told...
(JNS) - The first joke Gilbert Gottfried remembers making is when he was on his couch at about 4 years old. "When does the roller coaster start?" he recounts himself saying in his memoir "Rubber Balls and Liquor." It may not have seemed so funny then, but give it time. The legendary comedian had a brilliant and bumpy ride of ups and down. Gottfried was irreverent, hysterical, controversial, and if you saw his act, you'd hear big laughs mixed with murmurs by audience members wondering if he'd...
(JNS) - With larger numbers of family and friends expected at Passover seders this year as COVID numbers have gone down, hosts seem to be going all out this year with the homemade cooking, especially since the first night of the eight-day holiday falls over Shabbat. Hosts likely won't be making homemade matzah. But America's gefilte fish experts are offering a workshop they say doesn't require so much work. On April 10, the Gefilteria's Jeffrey Yoskowitz and Liz Alpern will host a virtual...
(JNS) - When the pandemic hit, Edward Ilyasov was in a bit of a pickle. The 29-year-old resident of Queens, N.Y., had submitted his letter of resignation with plans to travel the world, starting with Israel. His last days at his well-paying job in finance were supposed to be during the latter part of March 2020, and he planned to paint a person a day as he gallivanted. Yet with restrictions on travel due to COVID-19, he realized that he'd have to scrap his artistic dream. His employer allowed...
(JNS) - It was basically the complete opposite of what they expected. A group of German Jews who fled Hitler and Nazi Germany, and who signed up to be American soldiers, wanted to exact revenge. Instead, they were told to be nice to the Nazis, play sports with them and keep them happy. Arno Mayer thought he was on the side that was gonna "beat the s**t out the Germans," he explains in the newly released Netflix documentary "Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis." Peter Weiss also expected to...
(JNS) - Snir Dayan and Amit Skornik were hoping for a quiet bagel breakfast last week on a typical day in New York City. But instead, a group of pro-Palestinian protestors tried to punch some holes in them close to 52nd Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan in front of Ess-a-Bagel. It was one of several recent attacks against Jews in New York City by Palestinians or Palestinian supporters, but this time, it turned out a bit differently. Dayan, 27, and Skornik, 26, were trained in Krav Maga, and...
