Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 477
(JTA)—One night years ago, when a Jewish man was driving to his parents’ house in Caracas, Venezuela, two cars blocked off the street he was on and held him up at gunpoint. He got into their car and began answering questions: who he was, where he lived, how much money he could give them for his release. After three hours of this interrogation, the kidnappers drove to his house, got $10,000 from his wife through the front door, and let him go. Although he was wearing a kippah, he doesn’t recall the kidnappers being anti-Semitic. Such “expr... Full story
(JTA)-Pete Buttigieg has a word he likes to use to describe Vice President Mike Pence: "Pharisee." Jewish scholars would like him to stop doing that. Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, running a dark horse campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, has advanced the idea of liberal candidates using religious language to talk about their values. The flip side of that, Buttigieg says, is that Republican leaders don't practice the religious values they preach. He... Full story
(JTA)—Just days before Israel was to hold national elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to annex parts of the West Bank as Israeli territory. “I’m going to extend sovereignty,” he said in an interview with Israeli Channel 12 on Saturday night, adding that “I don’t differentiate between the settlement blocs and isolated settlements.” The campaign promise is a last-minute bid to draw right-wing votes in a tight election race. But what does annexing West Bank settlements mean? How would it affect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks,... Full story
(JTA)—Rabbi Mordechai Shain isn’t sure about vaccines. Nearly all of the 400 kids in the school he runs, from 3 months old to eighth-grade teens, are vaccinated. About eight or 10 are not. But he’s skeptical that immunization works at all. “My doctor in shul says everyone should take a flu shot, so a lot of people went,” said Shain, the head of school at the Tenafly Chabad Academy in Northern New Jersey, about 13 miles from Manhattan. “Ninety percent that took a flu shot got flus and the 10 percent didn’t get the flu. … I speak to so many docto... Full story
(JTA)-"This is my anti-Semitic song," Tamer Nafar, a Palestinian-Israeli rapper, said at the opening of a conference on Gaza last month at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "I know it might sound [like] R&B stuff, but don't think of Rihanna when you sing it, don't think of Beyonce," he continued. "Think of Mel Gibson. Go that anti-Semitic. Let's try it together because I need your help. I cannot be anti-Semitic alone." Nafar then launched into "Mama, I fell in love with a Jew," a... Full story
(JTA)-Benjamin Netanyahu appears likely to win a fifth term as Israel's prime minister as right-wing parties apparently have maintained their majority in the nationwide elections held Tuesday. With more than 95 percent of the vote counted, Netanyahu's Likud party and the opposition Blue and White party are virtually tied with more than 1 million votes apiece. According to Israeli news websites, each party is likely to win 35 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament. Despite the tie, Netanyah... Full story
(JTA)—In a reversal of a 2018 policy announcement, Airbnb will not remove West Bank settlement listings from its website. The policy change came after two federal court settlements Monday between the vacation rental company and two groups of American Jewish plaintiffs who had sued the company. One was organized by Shurat Hadin-Israel Law Center, a pro-Israel law organization, and the other was represented by lawyers Marc Zell and David Schultz. A copy of the Shurat Hadin settlement obtained by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency says that Airbnb w... Full story
(JTA) - Benjamin Netanyahu appears likely to win a fifth term as Israel's prime minister as right-wing parties apparently have maintained their majority in the nationwide elections held Tuesday. With more than 95 percent of the vote counted, Netanyahu's Likud party and the opposition Blue and White party are virtually tied with more than 1 million votes apiece. According to Israeli news websites, each party is likely to win 35 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament. Despite the tie,... Full story
(JTA)-President Donald Trump recently signed a proclamation recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Here's what you need to know about the Golan Heights, the 52-year argument over the plateau and why Trump's proclamation is a big deal for Israel's upcoming election. What is the Golan Heights? The Golan Heights is a territory in Israel's northeast corner, on the Syrian border. It's rural, mountainous and mostly empty. Fewer than 50,000 people live there-less than 1 percent of... Full story
(JTA)-It wasn't so long ago that most major Israeli politicians supported establishing a Palestinian state. Now it's not clear that any of them do, including the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu began his political career in the 1970s opposing a Palestinian state, an idea that once had been off the table but was gaining traction. Three decades later, in 2009, he gave a pivotal speech endorsing the idea in principle. In 2015, however, Netanyahu retreated from the idea on the... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-At the end of March, the National Council of Young Israel, an Orthodox synagogue association, will hold a gala dinner hosted by Pete Hegseth, the co-host of "Fox & Friends." The invitation advertises that Rep. Kevin McCarthy and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, both Republicans, will speak. Tommy Hicks, the co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, will receive the Guardian of Israel award. The chairman of the dinner, Rabbi Yechezkel Moskowitz, has tweeted that "#Democr... Full story
(JTA)-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to court on corruption charges-he says he's innocent. Netanyahu was indicted in three cases Thursday pending a court hearing. It's the first time in Israel's history that a sitting prime minister faces criminal charges. Oh, and elections are in fewer than six weeks. What exactly is Netanyahu accused of? How is he defending himself? Does this mean he'll lose the election? Who is Benjamin Netanyahu, and what is he accused of? Netanyahu,... Full story
(JTA)—Deborah Lipstadt, the prominent Holocaust historian, is resigning her membership in her local synagogue because it belongs to a movement that defended an Israeli political deal with the extremist right wing. Lipstadt belonged to Young Israel of Toco Hills in Atlanta, an Orthodox congregation. The broader Young Israel movement, in a statement Monday to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, defended an agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish Power, a far-right political party. Critics of the deal note that Jewish P... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—An American Orthodox Jewish group is defending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to work with a far-right political party. It is the first statement by a major American Jewish organization defending Netanyahu’s decision. Last week, Netanyahu orchestrated an agreement between the extremist Jewish Power and Jewish Home, a religious Zionist party. The merger will increase the united party’s chances of gaining enough votes to enter Knesset, Israel’s parliament. An array of centrist and liberal American Jewish gr... Full story
ORLANDO (JTA)-He's not just a student at the University of Central Florida, he is the student president. Growing up, Josh Boloña was just like a lot of kids in South Florida: He was a Latino immigrant, from Ecuador, in an area with a lot of Latino immigrants. He was a Jewish kid in an area with many Jews. He was a soccer player in a place where plenty of kids played soccer. Then he tried to get his driver's permit. Boloña had an inkling a year earlier that his immigration status was c... Full story
(JTA)-He's spent eight years trying to land a spacecraft on the moon, but when Yonatan Winetraub stood on the launchpad this month at Florida's Cape Canaveral, he was still in shock. "I stood right next to the rocket, and it's pretty big," Winetraub said in a phone interview Wednesday. "In the video, you don't see how big the rocket is and how powerful it is. But when you stand up close it's pretty powerful." If Winetraub sounds like a kid marveling at the thought of space travel, that's... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—When New York State liberalized its abortion law last week, the Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention unsurprisingly released statements slamming the action. And they were joined by two large Orthodox Jewish religious organizations: the Rabbinical Council of America and Agudath Israel of America. The RCA is the umbrella group for centrist Orthodox rabbis. Agudah represents haredi Orthodox Jews. “Jewish law opposes abortion, except in cases of danger to the mother,” read the RCA statement issued Tuesday. “Most authori... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-A decade ago, the publisher of the Jewish Daily Forward asked his board to believe in miracles. "We are supposed to believe in miracles; we are forbidden to rely on them, " Sam Norich wrote in an email to the board of the Forward Association on Dec. 25, 2008. "That means that miracles only happen if we do our part to help them along." And according to the attached minutes of a November 2008 board meeting, the venerable Jewish newspaper could have used a little divine intervention... Full story
(JTA)—J.B. Pritzker’s great-grandfather slept in a train station on his first night in Chicago. Now his billionaire descendant is about to become the governor of Illinois. Pritzker, a Jewish venture capitalist and Democrat, defeated the Republican incumbent, Bruce Rauner, in the November election. Pritzker was sworn in on Jan. 14. He has an estimated net worth of more than $3 billion, but his family wasn’t always rich. Appearing on David Axelrod’s podcast, “The Axe Files,” Pritzker said that his family fled pogroms in Ukraine in 1881 with t... Full story
(JTA)—Israeli police want him to be indicted in three separate corruption cases. He’s embattled from left and right for his attacks on Gaza and his policy in the West Bank. He’s made a point of cozying up to controversial right-wing nationalist leaders, from Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro to Hungary’s Viktor Orban—and especially to President Donald Trump. Many American Jewish leaders say his policies are driving away Diaspora Jews. And if the upcoming Israeli election were to be held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would almost definitely... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-As our train hurtled through the tunnel-my ears popping on the descent-and then burst out into sunlight bathing a landscape of fields and rocky hills, I finally let myself feel impressed. Along with the entire population of central Israel, I've spent years anticipating the high-speed train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which became (mostly) operational in September. When it's fully online, the trip between the cities is supposed to take 28 minutes. That would be a game-changer. Fou... Full story
By Ben Sales NEW YORK (JTA)-The largest baking company in the United States will be removing kosher certification from nearly all of its bread and rolls. Bimbo Bakeries USA confirmed to JTA that it will be removing the certification. The company produces brands including Arnold, Sara Lee, Stroehmann, Freihofer's and others. Two of its major brands, Entenmann's and Thomas, will remain certified kosher. So, kosher eaters, your crumb doughnuts and English muffins are still safe. A couple of rye... Full story
(JTA)-Just like any other Santa Claus, Santa Rick will spend much of the next couple of weeks sitting children on his knee, asking whether they've been good and listening to their Christmas wishes. If it's a Saturday, he may have slept overnight in the building. And he'll only accept payment after nightfall. For Santa Rick's last name is Rosenthal, and he's an Orthodox Jew who does not drive or handle money on Shabbat. But that doesn't stop him from doing his job. "I don't know anyone who... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled that he supported a Palestinian “state-minus,” wherein Israel would maintain a military presence across Israel and the West Bank. Netanyahu also said in a question-and-answer session Wednesday at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America that he suspended the compromise over the egalitarian section at the Western Wall last year because otherwise it would have meant the collapse of his government. Near the end of his remarks, he cited an op-ed publi... Full story
(JTA)—More than 75 percent of Jews voted for Democrats on an Election Day that was also good to Jewish congressional candidates. A poll conducted by GBA Strategies, a Democrat-aligned pollster, and commissioned by the liberal Israel lobby J Street, found that 76 percent of Jewish voters voted for Democrats, while 19 percent voted for Republicans. A CNN exit poll found that the Jewish split was 79 percent to 17 percent. According to The New York Times, 51 percent of American voters overall cast ballots for House Democrats, versus 47 percent for... Full story
