Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) - When basketball superstar Stephen Curry sunk a series of three-point shots to help Team USA clinch the Olympic gold medal in Paris this summer, it's unlikely the four-time NBA champion was thinking about Abe Saperstein. But as a new biography of the trailblazing Jewish basketball executive suggests, Curry had plenty of reasons to be grateful to Saperstein, who is best known as the founder and longtime head coach of the Harlem Globetrotters. Saperstein, who at 5-foot-3 is the shortest...
(JTA) — Brandeis University President Ronald Liebowitz announced his resignation Wednesday morning after he lost a vote of no confidence from faculty. Liebowitz’s resignation, which takes effect Nov. 1, comes amid steep financial challenges for the historically Jewish university. Brandeis announced in May that it would lay off 60 employees and restructure several programs to cut costs. The motion calling for a no-confidence vote, which was non-binding, cited both the budget crisis and Liebowitz’s handling of student protests over the Israe...
(JTA) — On the morning of Oct. 7, Rabbi Erez Sherman was preparing for the Yizkor memorial service at his Conservative synagogue, Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. He had written a sermon, somewhat presciently, about memory. It was titled “Hard to Say Goodbye.” Then he received a text message from his predecessor, Rabbi David Wolpe, who was three hours ahead in Boston: “Change your sermon.” News had broken about Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel, and while Sherman said he typically doesn’t use technology on Shabbat and holidays, it became clear that...
(JTA) — As Israeli Paralympic rower Shahar Milfelder won her first career medal on Sunday, she was thinking about the families of the six newly confirmed dead hostages. “We had in mind to give pride to the country,” Milfelder said, according to the Israeli news site Mako. “I cried in the morning from the hard news and now I cry from the good news and send the biggest hug I can to the families of the abducted and to all the citizens of the State of Israel.” Milfelder and her rowing partner,...
(JTA) — A group of 99 Jewish clergy from across the United States signed a statement calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining hostages held by Hamas. The signatories of the clergy statement include well-known rabbis spanning the country and the Jewish denominational spectrum. The list includes Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Renewal and Secular Humanistic leaders. The statement comes as a new round of negotiations is set to begin Thursday in Qatar u...
(JTA) — As nearly 30 million viewers tuned in for the waterborne opening ceremony at this summer’s Paris Olympics, it’s safe to bet that most were not thinking of Adolf Hitler. Malcolm Gladwell isn’t most people. Gladwell, the author, journalist and podcaster, explores the 1936 Berlin Olympics on the latest season of his podcast series “Revisionist History.” Gladwell and co-host Ben Naddaff-Hafrey examine the complex cast of characters and political developments that led to Nazi Germany hos...
(JTA) - The 2024 Paris Olympics conclude on Sunday, and at least 21 Jewish athletes from the United States, Australia and Israel will return home with some new hardware: The tally includes six golds (with one athlete winning two), seven silvers and five bronzes. The medal total of 18 is more than all but 15 countries. Israel in particular has racked up a historic medal collection, with seven total medals, its most ever in a single Olympics. Israel won three medals on Aug. 3 alone, its most...
There are veterans like an Australian gold medalist canoe paddler and Israel's powerhouse judo team. There are newcomers, like the youngest American female wrestler ever and Israel's soccer team. And there are athletes competing in events from fencing to beach volleyball to racewalking to air pistol shooting. The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are around the corner, running from July 26 through Aug. 11, and dozens of Jewish athletes will be among the estimated 10,500 competitors representing roug...
(JTA) — An exhibit about Jews in Hollywood that launched at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles following an outcry from Jewish critics is now getting a revision — following another outcry from Jewish critics. The museum opened its first-ever permanent exhibit, a deep-dive on the Jewish pioneers that laid the groundwork for Hollywood, on May 19. “Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital” launched two and a half years after the museum opened without the history of the industry’s Jewish beginnings. Designe...
(JTA) - Donald Sterling hasn't owned the L.A. Clippers for a decade, but on Tuesday, his story is coming back to the spotlight with the debut of FX's new Hulu miniseries, "Clipped." Sterling, born Donald Tokowitz to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant parents, owned the Clippers from 1981 until 2014, when he received a lifetime ban and a $2.5 million fine from the NBA after private recordings revealed him making racist comments about Black people. "Clipped," starring Ed O'Neill as Sterling, Jacki Weaver...
LOS ANGELES (JTA) - Steven Spielberg warned that "the machinery of extremism is being used on college campuses" and lamented those killed in Israel and Gaza while being honored for his Holocaust remembrance work at the University of Southern California. The renowned Jewish filmmaker spoke at a ceremony Monday afternoon in which USC bestowed its prestigious University Medallion on the 56,000 Holocaust survivors who have provided testimony to the USC Shoah Foundation, which Spielberg founded...
(JTA) - Jewish actress and writer Lena Dunham is the latest Hollywood star to discover that her family has ties to the Holocaust on the PBS celebrity genealogy series "Finding Your Roots." Dunham, the sometimes controversial comedian who was born to a Protestant father and a Jewish mother, has previously described herself as "very culturally Jewish," and she stars in a forthcoming film, "Treasure," that features a family grappling with its Holocaust history. But until taping the "Finding Your...
(JTA) - The 2023 MLB season represented a watershed moment for Jewish players and fans, as a record 19 Jewish players appeared in at least one big league game. That record, topping the previous high of 17 in 2022, is likely to be broken yet again this year. The new season begins in earnest March 28, following a two-game series in Seoul Wednesday and Thursday between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. As Opening Day draws near, there are plenty of Jewish storylines to keep an eye...
Spoilers ahead for "Part Nine" of "Masters of the Air" on Apple TV+. (JTA) - When Lieutenant Colonel Robert Rosenthal's B-17 bomber aircraft exploded during his final World War II combat mission on Feb. 3, 1945, he found himself in the middle of a battlefield of dueling Russian and German soldiers. Rosenthal was recovered by the Red Army and transported by the Russians back to his Air Force unit, the 100th Bombardment Group, known as "Bloody Hundredth." The scene is dramatized in the final episo...
ORLANDO (JTA) — Ethan Smith ranks fifth in his New Jersey high school class, scored high on the SAT and aced a full slate of five Advanced Placement tests last year. On Oct. 1, he submitted his application to a nearby Ivy League school, the University of Pennsylvania. Six days later, Hamas attacked Israel, launching a war that has been accompanied by a reported spike in antisemitism in the United States — including on college campuses. About two months after that, Penn President Liz Magill told Congress that calling for the genocide of Jew...
(JTA) - Last summer, Jared Armstrong traveled from his adopted home of Israel back to the United States to confront a problem - running basketball clinics across the country in a bid to improve Black-Jewish relations. Now, following Hamas' Oct. 7 invasion of Israel, the professional basketball player is bringing his clinics to the southern coastal city of Ashkelon, where he lives, aiming to provide kids with a diversion and a chance to have fun as the war continues to rage just miles away in...
(JTA) — Was the first antisemitism-themed ad to air at the Super Bowl tactful or tasteless? How much did it have to do with Israel? And what is “Jewish hate,” anyway? Those are some of the questions that have arisen after the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, the group founded in 2019 by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, placed a 30-second ad during the game titled “Silence” that featured Clarence B. Jones, the longtime advisor and speechwriter for Martin Luther King Jr. (The organization also replayed a different ad it produced...
(JTA) - Jewish billionaire businessman and philanthropist David Rubenstein has reportedly agreed to purchase the MLB's Baltimore Orioles. Rubenstein, a Baltimore native who is best known as the co-founder of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group, is leading a new ownership cohort that includes Jewish former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Orioles Hall of Fame player Cal Ripken Jr. Rubenstein's group will initially purchase a 40% stake in the franchise, taking over from the Angelos...
(JTA) — As reports of antisemitism have surged since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Jewish groups have sought to spotlight the issue through rallies, news coverage, billboards and social media campaigns. Next month, it will receive airtime during the year’s most-watched television broadcast: Super Bowl LVIII. On Wednesday, Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism announced that it purchased a 30-second spot due to air during the big game on Feb. 11. It appears to be the first time ever that a Super Bowl ad will focus on antis...
(JTA) — With the arrival of the Iowa Caucus on Monday, the 2024 presidential primary season is officially underway — and so is the race to win the votes of Jewish and pro-Israel voters. Four Republicans are vying to be the candidate to face off against President Joe Biden. Former President Donald Trump maintains a considerable lead in the polls, while challengers Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis remain firmly in the race. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is still in the mix but is polling below 1 percent. The Iowa Caucus has kicked off the Rep...
(JTA) — The Lincoln Memorial closed temporarily on Wednesday after its steps were vandalized with graffiti reading “Free Gaza” in multiple places. U.S. Park Police are investigating the graffiti, which was discovered Wednesday morning at the Washington, D.C. monument, according to ABC News. Crews were dispatched to clean up the vandalism. The steps of the memorial were splattered with red paint and pro-Palestinian messages, which the National Park Service said could take some time to complete. “National Park Service conservators have begun t...
(JTA) — In Oakland, California, an 11-foot-tall Chanukah menorah was broken and thrown into a lake. In New Haven, Connecticut, a Palestinian flag was planted in a publicly displayed menorah. In Juno Beach, Florida, a menorah made of sand was destroyed. As Jewish communities around the United States celebrated Chanukah over the past week, numerous stories of vandalism and destruction circulated online as public menorahs — many of them sponsored by local outposts of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement — were targeted. Some of the incidents are being...
(JTA) — A 3-0 score is extremely rare in the NFL. But when the Minnesota Vikings beat the Las Vegas Raiders Sunday night in the league’s lowest-scoring game since 2007, the moment held extra significance for the player who scored those three points. Vikings kicker Greg Joseph, one of only a handful of Jewish players in the NFL, had worn cleats before the game that showed support for Israel as part of the league’s “My Cause, My Cleats” program. His shoes displayed Stars of David and the phrases “I Stand with Israel” and “Am Yisrael Chai,...
(JTA) — Rabbi David Wolpe is stepping down from the antisemitism advisory committee at Harvard University, citing “events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony” of the university’s president, Claudine Gay, during a congressional hearing this week on campus antisemitism. “Without rehashing all of the obvious reasons that have been endlessly adumbrated online, and with great respect for the members of the committee, the short explanation is that both events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony reinforced the idea that I ca...
(JTA) - When tickets for Los Angeles' Infinite Light Festival went on sale in October, just a week after Hamas' brutal attack on Israel, sales were brisk. In fact, tickets sold out to the annual Chanukah celebration held by the local Jewish federation's young adult division, NuRoots, faster than in any other year. "I truly believe that that's because people are just craving to be in community, to celebrate, to be given permission to have a sense of joy, and to show up and have fun," Chelsea...
