Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

Articles written by Elizabeth Kratz


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  • New Jersey shul wins $2.5 million in landmark religious-discrimination case

    Elizabeth Kratz|Jan 18, 2019

    (JNS)-It shouldn't take 10 years to get permission to build a synagogue, but it did in Clifton, N.J. Finally, after a mediation overseen by the state's former attorney general, a community in Clifton will be able to worship in peace, in a new building. Synagogue leadership stated repeatedly that they were being illegally discriminated against through an array of arbitrary zoning-code interpretations (which judges ruled as incorrect), arbitrary planning-board requirements and excessive public...

  • Habonim Dror: Building a Zionist education about the 'occupation'

    Elizabeth Kratz|Jul 13, 2018

    (JNS)-Several camp counselors from Habonim Dror were present at an IfNotNow Jewish summer camp counselor training session in Boston on May 27. An organization that seeks to promote sympathy for the Palestinian narrative by encouraging fellow Jews to oppose the Israel "occupation," IfNotNow states on its website that its members "do not take a unified stance on BDS, Zionism or the question of statehood." Yet its critical statements against Zionist-aligned organizations, such as Camp Ramah, tell...

  • Conservative movement severs ties with former youth director over alleged sexual abuse

    Elizabeth Kratz, JNS|Dec 29, 2017

    The congregational arm of Conservative Judaism has severed ties with the longtime director of the denomination's youth movement after receiving "multiple testimonies" that corroborated an allegation of sexual abuse. Allegations about Jules Gutin, 67, who in 2011 completed his 20-year tenure as international director of United Synagogue Youth (USY) and since 2012 had conducted tours of Poland for USY, first came to light Nov. 9 through a Facebook post by a man who claimed that someone who worked...

  • Trump's Israel adviser, Jason Greenblatt, could play a history-altering role

    Elizabeth Kratz, JNS.org|Jun 17, 2016

    It's not really a question of "how" Jason Greenblatt, the real estate transactions lawyer and son of Hungarian-Jewish immigrants who grew up in New York City's Queens borough, became a presidential candidate's adviser on issues related to Israel. For him, it's more a question of "what"-what will he do with the immense opportunity he has been given? Greenblatt-a Teaneck, N.J., resident who in April was named as a primary Israel adviser to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald...