Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) — Thirty years after Roald Dahl’s death and months before the expected release of a new movie about his life, the family of the children’s author has apologized for his anti-Semitic comments. Dahl was openly anti-Semitic during his life, telling the New Statesman in 1983 about the Jews, “Even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.” Those comments and others have colored Dahl’s legacy, even as children continue to enjoy the stories he wrote during his 50-year publishing career, including “Charlie and the Chocolate F...
(JTA) - As Israel received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Twitter that he aimed to be the first person in the country to receive the inoculation. "We brought the vaccines to Israel! I intend to be the first in Israel to get vaccinated, to set an example for all Israeli citizens," Netanyahu tweeted. Recent surveys of Israelis found that a majority are fearful of the vaccines and would not want to be included in the first set of...
(JTA) — Jewish groups in Quebec are expressing dismay after the province announced a plan to allow small gatherings at Christmas but said gatherings during Chanukah would remain prohibited. The plan would permit Quebecers to have gatherings of up to 10 people per day for four days in late December, in a concession to the fact that families would likely gather even as COVID-19 cases surge. Gatherings were not permitted during Canadian Thanksgiving last month, but people got together nonetheless and cases soon surged throughout the country. Premi...
(JTA) - Alex Trebek, the beloved baritone host of "Jeopardy!," died of pancreatic cancer Sunday at 80. In his 36 years as host of the immensely popular game show, Trebek encountered his share of Jewish moments. We've rounded up a few especially notable ones from the last decade here. 2011: A rabbi appears on her ordination anniversary Rabbi Joyce Newmark, a Conservative rabbi from Teaneck, New Jersey, won $29,200 during her appearance on the show, which aired on the 20th anniversary of her...
(JTA) — Weeks after voting to rehire a principal who told a parent he “can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event,” a Florida school board has reversed course. The Palm Beach County School Board voted a year ago to fire William Latson, who had been removed from his post after the 2018 comments came to light. Latson sued, saying he had been wrongfully terminated, and in August, a judge concluded that he should have been reprimanded but not fired. The board voted earlier this month to rehire him rather than face a protracted and cos...
(JTA) - For many Jews, a high point of services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is the Unetaneh Tokef prayer, which wonders who will live and who will die in the year ahead. This year, that question will take on added resonance, as the High Holidays fall six months into a global pandemic that has reshaped lives, battered institutions and killed hundreds of thousands of people, including many in Jewish communities. At the same time, the prayer will be experienced in dramatically new ways: on the...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Purim celebrations at Oakland Hebrew Day School on Tuesday included a surprise, un-festive addition: farewells to two young Israeli women whose work in the Northern California school was being cut short by the global coronavirus pandemic. The women were assigned to work at the school as part of their national service, an alternative to Israeli army service chosen by many Orthodox girls. They were ordered to return to Israel immediately, along with 2,000 other participants in the program run by Israel’s National Civic Service Aut... Full story
