Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 111
NEW YORK (JTA)-Mandy Silverman remembers being scared of the kitchen as a child. "There was a constant joke in my house growing up that I would mess up instant iced tea," she recalled in a phone interview with JTA last month. But a quick glance at her Instagram feed reveals how things have changed. Her more than 15,000 followers have come to rely on her to post photos of mouthwatering and whimsical challah creations with flavors such as red velvet and marshmallow hot chocolate. Since starting Ma...
(JTA)-Only days after being sworn into the Illinois House of Representatives on Sunday, Rabbi Yehiel Kalish paid a visit to Israel. The father of six said he needed guidance from rabbis in the Jewish state to serve in his new role. "The immediate reaction of the Chicago political world was 'Orthodox rabbi chosen for seat in state legislature,'" he told JTA on Wednesday in a phone interview from Jerusalem. "So that immediately put a microscope on me, and I felt pressure taking the position to...
(JTA)-New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is the winner of the $1 million Genesis Prize, the so-called Jewish Nobel. Kraft, 77, will be giving the money "to initiatives combating anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice as well as attempts to de-legitimize the State of Israel," according to a statement. Genesis Prize chairman and co-founder Stan Polovets in the announcement Wednesday called the Jewish-American NFL owner and businessman "one of the world's most generous philanthropists...
(JTA)—Jewish federal employees who are struggling with expenses due to the government shutdown can now find some relief. The Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington approved an emergency program last week to provide loans of up to $2,000 per household to affected Jews living in the Washington, D.C., area. Several people have applied and two have been approved, the organization’s president, David Farber, told JTA on Wednesday. The association has allocated some $30,000 to the program, and it’s reaching out to local synagogues and J...
(JTA)-This year hasn't been an easy one. From shootings that claimed many innocent lives, including at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, to political turmoil in the United States and abroad, there have been many moments of sorrow. But there were bright spots too. As 2018 comes to a close, JTA looked back at some of the heartwarming stories we reported on this year, from a group of German volunteers who are fixing Holocaust survivors' houses to an Iranian refugee who raised money for Pittsburgh's Tree...
NEW YORK (JTA)-In the span of just a couple days, Chaim Raice went from never having been on a bobsled to being a contender to represent Israel in the 2022 Winter Olympics. And it all started with a Facebook post. Raice, a house builder based in Pomona, New York, was browsing the social media site in November when he saw a post saying that the Israeli bobsled team was in need of another athlete to compete in the North American Cup beginning that month. He thought it was a joke, but he still...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Liana Finck is in the eating area of a grocery store in Southampton, New York, and I've interrupted her beach excursion. Once a week, the Brooklyn-based illustrator rides a train to the east end of Long Island to channel her creative energy. She wakes up at 6:30 in the morning to catch that train and stays until the afternoon. Each year she picks a different beach. "I think of the big picture of what I'm working on, and it's for some reason the only time in the week when I get to...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Apple CEO Tim Cook reiterated the company’s commitment to fighting hate and used a Hebrew phrase to do so. Cook invoked a phrase from Leviticus 19:16 in its original language on Monday at the Anti-Defamation League’s Never Is Now summit on anti-Semitism and hate. “’Lo ta’amod al dam re’eikha.’ Do not be indifferent to the bloodshed of your fellow man,” Cook said after receiving the ADL’s Courage Against Hate Award. Cook, who is not Jewish, said in his address that the biblical mandate moves Apple to speak out on behalf of the ri...
(JTA)-The death toll and damage continue to rise in California in the wildfires ravaging the state. More than 6,400 homes have been damaged and at least 31 people have been killed, according to CNN. Like other Californians, Jewish residents are evacuating their homes and dealing with the devastating fallout of the fires. Synagogues, camps and a day school have all sustained damage. Here are two remarkable stories of people coming together as a result of the fires, including a rabbi who ran into...
(JTA)—Robert Bowers, the man held in the shooting deaths of 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday, belonged to an online community where he frequently railed against Jews and immigrants. That social media site, Gab, has come under closer scrutiny this week. Created two years ago as a haven for far-rightists who felt they were being targeted on mainstream platforms, Gab quickly rose in popularity. But the site wasn’t just home to ideological discussions. Critics say threats of violence and virulent hatred are a common theme of tho...
By Josefin Dolsten NEW YORK (JTA)-Dogs and their owners are a common sight in Central Park on the weekend, but there was something different about the group gathered on the grass on a recent Sunday morning. The approximately 20 people could be seen and heard pointing at the ground while yelling "zits" and "shtai" and urging their dogs to "shpring" over hurdles. A group of befuddled visitors from Canada who stopped by to ask what was going on seemed even more confused when they learned the answer...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, appearing at a Jewish day school in Brooklyn, spoke about her Jewish background and how her family jumped from synagogue to synagogue. "I had a very strange Jewish upbringing actually," Kagan, 58, told journalist Dahlia Lithwick, who moderated the Wednesday evening conversation. "You would think Lincoln Square Synagogue, she comes from a Modern Orthodox family. Actually my family didn't really know what it was." Though Kagan had her bat mitzvah...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Nikki Haley, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations and a strong defender of Israel in the world body, will leave her post by the end of this year. President Donald Trump in an Oval Office appearance with Haley on Tuesday morning praised the former South Carolina governor and said that about six months ago, she told him that she was ready to leave by the end of this year. "She's a fantastic person, very importantly, but she's also somebody that gets it," Trump said. The...
(JTA)-Dafna Michaelson Jenet traces her political career back to conversations around the Shabbat table as a 14-year-old. She remembers hearing her parents and their friends discuss the challenges facing Cincinnati, where they were living. But the conversations would quickly be forgotten once the day of rest came to an end. "I was distressed by this because I truly believed that they had the answer to the problems that I cared strongly about, that were plaguing our community, and they didn't...
TEANECK, N.J. (JTA)-For many Americans, no hamburger is complete without cheese. Whether a slice of no-fuss American or something fancier, the cheese melds the beef patty with the bun into umami-laden perfection. Until now, the cheeseburger was the stuff of daydreams for Jews observing kosher dietary laws that prohibit the mixing of meat and dairy. Sure, there are vegetarian meat substitutes and fake cheeses-made from ingredients such as black beans and brown rice, cashew nuts and soy-but the...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Cantor Philip Sherman gives me a call after having finished two circumcisions before noon on Tuesday. That's a light day, he explains. On Thursday, he will be performing circumcisions for four baby boys; on Friday, he'll do five. Sherman, 62, is a mohel (in fact he was featured as one of "America's Top Mohels" in a 2014 JTA article) and has performed over 20,000 circumcisions, both for Jewish and non-Jewish families. But in between performing multiple circumcisions a day and...
By Josefin Dolsten NEW YORK (JTA)-The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene's new production of "Fiddler on the Roof" enacts a familiar story in an unfamiliar language. The actors sing about joy and hardship, and argue about the importance of tradition, in the language their characters would have spoken in the Old Country. But before rehearsals started in June, the majority of them had no experience with the language. Of the 26 cast members, only three spoke Yiddish fluently. Another nine had...
(JTA)-Jewish tourists from North America are likely to notice one big difference when visiting synagogues around the world. Though a plethora of symbols, such as stars of David and menorahs, may be displayed, national flags are rare inside the sanctuary. Meanwhile, in the United States and Canada, an American or Canadian flag (and sometimes both) are commonly displayed on the bimah, or ritual stage, often alongside an Israeli flag. When did this uniquely North American Jewish custom originate...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Emily Schorr Lesnick and Jamila Humphrie always knew that Judaism would play a part in the life they wanted to build together. But experiences with Conservative Jewish institutions had made the couple feel less than welcome. Schorr Lesnick, 28, remembers encountering homophobia at her Jewish Conservative summer camp. Humphrie, 29, who was raised Christian but does not identify with a religion, felt singled out as a non-Jewish and biracial person when she accompanied Schorr...
(JTA)-A Ugandan rabbi called on Israel to recognize his community after the government ruled against allowing members to move to the Jewish state. Rabbi Gershom Sizomu confirmed a report in Haaretz last week that the Israeli Interior Ministry had denied a community member's immigration application. The Interior Ministry, according to Sizomu, said the decision represented its stance on the Ugandan Jewish community, not just the applicant, Kibita Yosef. Sizomu, who leads the community of...
(JTA)-President Donald Trump's decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital drew wide international criticism, with 128 countries including the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada voting in favor of a United Nations resolution condemning it. But several countries saw Trump's decision in a different light: as an example to follow. Shortly after the United States officially moves its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14, it will be joined by Guatemala and Paraguay. Both c...
NEW YORK (JTA)-In 2008, famed comic book artist Neal Adams and Holocaust historian Rafael Medoff teamed up to create a comic about Dina Babbitt, a Czech Jewish artist forced by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele to paint watercolors of Roma prisoners in Auschwitz. They hoped to bring attention to a little-known figure in the Holocaust. But their work on the comic, published by Marvel, also led them to ponder a larger issue: the surprising degree to which comic books had addressed the genocide in Europe. "We were surprised and impressed to discover...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Though it was raining, students still gathered to celebrate Israel's Independence Day at New York University's downtown Manhattan campus. Passers-by mostly rushed by as organizers blasted pop music, displayed Israeli flags and shouted "Happy Birthday, Israel!" Some stopped to grab a blue-and-white cookie. One person shouted at an organizer of Thursday's event who was draped in an Israeli flag, and someone else criticized the group for a poster featuring a quote by the Rev. Martin...
NEW YORK (JTA)—A new study will provide free testing for three mutations that substantially increase the risk for developing breast, ovarian and prostate cancer among people with Eastern European Jewish ancestry. The BRCA Founder Outreach Study (BFOR), which was launched last week, will test 4,000 men and women in four U.S. cities—New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Boston—for mutations in the BRCA gene that are more common among those with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Those who test positive for one of the mutations will receive genet...
(JTA)—When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked back an agreement with the United Nations last week to resettle abroad at least half of the African migrants seeking asylum in his country, it did not play well with the majority of Israelis. But don’t assume that means the public wants the migrants to stay in Israel, pollsters warn. While most knocked Netanyahu for a lack of leadership, the Israeli public overwhelmingly rejects the idea of granting residency to all or most of the migrants. “They are not ready to have 40,000 peopl...
