Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA & JNS) - Israel's Knesset, or parliament, dissolved Tuesday night after failing to pass the 2020 budget, triggering the need for a new election. The exact date could change through a government vote. However, since a new election must take place three months after the collapse of the Knesset, the next round is scheduled for March 23. The election will be Israel's fourth in two years. The move came after weeks of infighting and paralysis amid the so-called unity government that was formed la...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - The peace deal with Morocco is the fourth accord between Israel and an Arab state to sideline the Palestinian issue. While the leaders of Abu Dhabi, Manama and Khartoum had all pledged their continued commitment to the Palestinians' statehood aspirations, at the end of the day, none of them opted to place Ramallah's interests ahead of their own. As with the peace deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, here, too, the United States, which brokered the accords, hi...
The Central Florida Jewish Community Study, conducted by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, is well under way. If you have received a letter, phone call, email or text from Brandeis, Keith Dvorchik, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, encourages you to respond if you haven't done so already - it isn't a scam, it is the real deal. If you did not receive a survey, please understand the survey is a random sample and was not sent out to everyone. Every...
(Israel21C via JNS) - Immigrants from the Jewish "lost tribe" of Bnei Menashe landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport this week to build a new life in Israel. Hailing from Northeast India, the Bnei Menashe community is said to be descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel - specifically, the tribe of Menashe - that scattered across the globe after being exiled at the end of the First Temple period in the eighth century BCE. The 252 new immigrants, who made their way to Israel this week with...
What do a jean jacket and breast cancer have in common? Dolores Indek and the Jewish Pavilion. Indek made a successful bid at the Jewish Pavilion auction for a custom jean jacket and her support can be seen whether from the front of the jean jacket or the back of it. A little bit of a back story: The Jewish Pavilion had an online auction this year instead of its in-person gala. They received lots of great items and the auction was successful. One item donated in particular caught Indek's eye and...
The Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Orlando will host a zoom presentation of some memorable stories shared by Robinn Magid from the JRI-Poland.org case file that highlight what this database and website might do for your own research. The event will be held via Zoom on Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. For 25 years, JRI-Poland has served as the preferred finding aid for the Jewish records that survive in the archives of Poland today. This vast collection of 6.2 million records includes information about...
(JTA) — Nearly a third of the $900 billion Congress is set to approve in a pandemic relief will go to a new round of payroll protection, and the Jewish Federations of North America is set to reprise the role it played earlier this year and explain how nonprofits can get their share. “We are pulling back together again the team of experts both from within the JFNA and lay leaders who train themselves on the program to offer volunteer support to help fill out forms and connect banks and such,” Eric Fingerhut, the group’s CEO, said in an intervi...
Israel on Monday decided to ban the entry of all non-citizens into the country for the next 10 days in a bid to keep a new mutated version of the coronavirus from reaching the country. It also decided to send citizens to coronavirus hotels to quarantine. “We have, at the moment, a new pandemic that is spreading, with a virus which we do not yet know about. This mutation could also be coronavirus 2,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “Therefore, I decided last night — and we implemented today — to close the skies of the State of Israel. F...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, Dec. 22, Christians United for Israel, the nation’s largest pro-Israel organization, announced that the group had crossed the 10-million-member threshold. “When we set out to create this organization, I could never have predicted we would see such success. But our members don’t just stop at joining the organization, they reach out to their friends and church families, they make their voices heard in our nation’s capital and they are having a tangible positive impact in support of Israel,” said CUFI founder and...
I recently read with dismay two opinion pieces in the Heritage, both of which dealt with the “Uprooting Prejudice” exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Research and Education Center. Pardon the pun, but the exhibit obviously got under their skin, in Rabbi Bernard Rosenberg’s case because it didn’t deal specifically with the Holocaust, and in Alan Kornman’s because, supposedly, the Black Lives Matter movement is anti-Semitic. Let’s peel these back one at a time. The mission statement of the HMREC i...
(JNS) — Anyone who cares about Israel’s security and future should be concerned by the initial buds of an attempt to return to the dangerous path of reliance on international forces to protect the country. These poisonous seeds have begun to crop up with a renewed discussion about the evacuation of Jewish towns in the Jordan Valley and Judea and Samaria. The phenomenon is particularly worrisome, given the approach of the next administrations in Washington. A blatant example of such seeds can be seen in Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gan...
(JNS) — The news that Israel and Morocco are about to “normalize” their relations has been met with jubilation in Israel — and in the Moroccan diaspora. The first direct flight has taken off for Rabat from Tel Aviv, and liaison offices will be opened in both countries, to be upgraded to embassies in due course. A wave of nostalgic affection has swept over Jews born in Morocco. “There’s a special place in my heart for Morocco,” gushes Casablanca-born columnist David Suissa, president of Tribe Media/Jewish Journal, who now lives in California. O...
In the past month, no less than three opinion editorials were generated as a result of an article written by Christine DeSouza for the Dec. 4 edition of the Heritage Florida Jewish News. Her article was to highlight a particular exhibit by John Noltner, titled “Uprooting Prejudice: Faces of Change.” However, what DeSouza uncovered was the depth of conflicting feelings toward the appropriateness of the exhibit’s display within the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center. Lisa Bachman, HMREC’s assistant executive director provide...
(JNS) — The Israeli-Palestinian conflict did not erupt in 1967, nor in 1948. In November 1917, the Balfour Declaration called for the establishment of “a national home for the Jewish People” in Palestine, which was the accepted international name of the Land of Israel since the fifth century BCE. The declaration, by the British foreign minister, stated that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities [Arabs] in Palestine.” The declaration acknowledged the ancient national Jewish r...
MORNING MINYANS (Please note, because of the coronavirus, some minyans have been canceled or held virtually.) Chabad of North Orlando is holding in-person minyans. Chabad of South Orlando — Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. and 10 minutes before sunset; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 8:15 a.m., 407-354-3660. Congregation Ahavas Yisrael — Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m.; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-644-2500. Congregation Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Daytona — Monday, 8 a.m.; Thursday, 8 a.m., 904-672-9300. Congregation Ohev Shalom — Sunday, 9 a.m.,...
(JNS) — An anti-Semitic cybersecurity attack that took place at a Jewish high school in Long Island, N.Y., on Monday has left students on edge and parents contemplating if they should keep their children at home for the rest of the school year. Anti-Semitic images, threats, slurs and songs were posted on the website of North Shore Hebrew Academy High School in Great Neck. They were also included in emails sent to the school’s parents and students on Monday afternoon. Skyler Askari, 15, a 10th-grader at the private high school, told JNS tha...
Chanukah is over for this year ... And what a year it was! 2020 was a nightmare (due to the pandemic) and Chanukah was not celebrated with family this year ... just one son, who lives here to keep me safe, and my dog, Chloe. Of course, we kept in touch with family by phone but cooking for just one son and myself (Chloe was stuck with dog food) isn't quite the same. We had chicken, matzo brei, potato latkes, etc., and lit the candles, of course ... but it was not festive. Maybe next year!...
(JTA) — Gal Gadot may act in American blockbusters these days, but she’s still an Israeli through and through. So there are some quintessential foods she has never tried. Jimmy Fallon took advantage of this fact for a tasty segment with the “Wonder Woman” actress on his late night show last Monday night. Gadot tried for the first time egg nog (she was not a fan of it), a Ho-Ho and Taco Bell, which she absolutely loved, saying “This is the best so far.” In response, Fallon tried two Jewish delicacies on camera: a sufganiyot (jelly donut popul...
(ISRAEL21c ) - Pink, green, orange and blue plastic chairs permeate the intersection between HaShuk and Levinsky streets. Dozens of 20-somethings recline into them, nestled into this corner of Florentin, a southern Tel Aviv neighborhood that remains a cradle for conversations and socializing deep into the autumn months. Wine bottles, many at least half-empty, are littered around the legs of the colorful chairs and the people who have claimed them. A melody from a live trumpet player drifts into...
For his bar mitzvah project, William McNarney collected stuffed animals to give to children at Orlando Day Nursery in Parramore, an early childhood center where many families are experiencing trauma and economic hardship. "They could lose a family member to the virus. A parent could lose work. They could lose the few things that they have," said William, 13, an eighth-grader at Howard Middle School. "This gives them something to hold onto." William, who lives with his parents and sister in...
Congratulations to Jewish Pavilion raffle winner Dolores Indek, who won elongated diamond earrings donated by Addeo Jewelers. Funds will be used to enhance the lives of seniors in long-term care facilities in the greater Orlando area. Special thanks to all participants in the Chanukah appeal raffle. - Nancy Ludin, Jewish Pavilion CEO...
Palestinians urge Biden and Israel to return to the negotiating table By Gabe Friedman (JTA) — In a stark contrast from the last few years of the Trump administration, the Palestinian foreign minister said Saturday that the Palestinian Authority is ready to restart the process of negotiating a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Israel and the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden. “We are ready for cooperation and dealing with the new U.S. administration, and we are expecting that it would re-draw its...
(Israel21C via JNS) - Moringa and turmeric aren't well-known crops in Israel. But when the ones being cultivated at Kibbutz Shluchot in the north of the country reach the market, you can rest assured that they grew in the most supportive and caring atmosphere. For the past nine months, they've been grown by adults with special needs as part of their work at an NGO called Shai Asher that provides them with a meaningful employment experience, constituting a stepping stone toward a more...
Kicking off a master's degree is a high point in any academically ambitious student's life. Between the academic stimulation, making new friends and soaking in the college life atmosphere, the beginning of the school year is usually a moment of great anticipation. While St. Petersburg native Elana Titen is experiencing butterflies in her stomach as she embarks on her MA in public health in Israel, she does acknowledge that this year is unique. Having just started taking classes at the University...
