Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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On a day where snow still covers the Judean hills, a Jewish doctor from Efrat drives into the neighboring Palestinian village called Wadi Nis. He is greeted by the local Palestinian villagers with smiles and warm hellos. "There's the doctor," says one Palestinian woman to another as Dr. Yitzchak Glick lowers his car window to say hello. To the villagers of Wadi Nis and six other Palestinian villages in the Gush Etzion region, the kippah-wearing Dr. Glick is a familiar and welcome face. The...
The pro-Israel campus groups Hillel International and the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) have been denied the right to present a discussion on Israel at the Jan. 9-12 Modern Language Association (MLA) convention in Chicago, JNS.org has learned. MLA's convention includes a roundtable discussion that will feature supporters but no opponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. The discussion-titled "Academic Boycotts: A Conversation about Israel and...
Each year, the Interfaith Council of Central Florida and the Orlando Mayor's Commission on the Martin Luther King Holiday team up for an interfaith multicultural celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. King. This year's event, held on the evening of Sunday, Jan. 12, (the Sunday before MLK week-end), will feature Rabbi David Kay of Congregation Ohev Shalom, as the keynote speaker. "It's a profound honor to be asked to deliver the keynote at this event," Rabbi Kay said. "Dr. King challenged all...
Last month the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando (JFGO) announced a new program, RAISE, that will be offering part-time, paid, work experiences to adults with special needs at participating agencies. RAISE—Recognizing Abilities and Inclusion of Special Employees—scheduled to begin in March, is currently enrolling applicants ages 18 or older. For further information, please visit www.JFGO.org/RAISE.aspx. Interested applicants may apply online at the website. RAISE not only provides a work experience within the Jewish community for adults wit...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-Growing up in the Urals, Pavel Polev was a precocious ice skater and a member of the Soviet Union's national youth figure-skating team. But in 1992, at age 15, Polev's life was upended when he joined the massive wave of Jews immigrating to Israel from the crumbling Soviet Union. After serving a mandatory three years in the Israel Defense Forces following high school, Polev took a job as a custodian. Two decades later, Polev is a successful small-business owner and rising...
Upsurges in Palestinian terrorism have often accompanied progress-and eventual breakdowns-in Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations over the past 20 years. The latest round of talks, brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, is proving to be no different. Palestinian attacks on Jewish military and civilian targets have been on the rise since a Lebanese sniper killed an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier in mid-December. A civilian hired by the IDF was murdered Dec. 24 while repairing...
(JNS.org) The Taglit-Birthright Israel program broke its own record with 39 groups, totaling 1,600 Jewish young adults from across the globe, landing at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Monday. Israeli Tourism Minister Uzi Landau and Taglit-Birthright CEO Gidi Mark attended a ceremony for the trip participants, who came from Australia, Argentina, Russia, the United States, Germany, and Canada, Israel Hayom reported. The participants join the list of more than 350,000 young adults from 64...
"Good Morning, Jewish Pavilion, Wendy speaking how may I help you?" is a common melody each morning at the Jewish Pavilion office. This particular call was directed to the Orlando Senior Help Desk for information regarding one community member's father. "My father has been living alone independently in the area and suddenly took a fall and is now in the hospital needing rehab services and possibly an alternate living arrangement." Sounds familiar to you? It is all too familiar to Emily Newman,...
Temple Israel is holding a Mitzvah Fair where everyone can learn about mitzvot of the home. The Fair will be held on Sunday morning, Feb. 2, right after the 9 a.m. minyan and the World Wide Wrap. Each presentation will be limited to 15 minutes and will be taught on demand as groups form. In order to give people more time to visit each mitzvah module and to allow presenters to visit other modules, there will be two hour-long sessions. During the first hour, mitzvah modules 1-5 will be open for...
Israel ended 2013 in much the same way as previous years: facing a surge of terrorist activity from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. On Dec. 24, Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, a 22-year-old Israeli Defense Ministry worker who was repairing the border fence with Gaza, was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper. Abu Latyef’s murder was followed by a series of rocket attacks that provoked response strikes from the Israeli military—which deemed that the assault directly threatened the 13,500 Israelis living in the immediate vicinity—on weapons manufacturing facil...
At the outset of this new year, I’m reminded of the line from “All About Eve,” the classic 1950 film about ambition and betrayal on Broadway: “Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.” This year portends to be a momentous one for Israel, hinging on its all-important relationship with the U.S. It could bring real progress on the road to peace or lead to at least one and possibly more dangerous military confrontations between Israel and its adversaries. By April, the deadline will be approaching for two major diplomatic...
Was Jesus a Palestinian? That is the latest historical claim of Mahoud Abbas. The status of Abbas is its own problem, due to his term as president of the Palestine. National Authority having run out in January 2009, and there being no subsequent election. His claim about Jesus is even more problematic. While the reliable documentation is sparse, most agree that he was born to a Jewish mother in what was then Judea, three or four years before or after the beginning of what became the Common Era. The area did not become “Syria Palaestina” unt...
On Sunday, Dec. 29, The New York Times published an article regarding the “Open Hillel” vote, which took place three weeks ago at Swarthmore College. It is teased on the front page and appears on page 21 of the A-section; it is also available online. As you know, there have been many articles on this topic, and we expect more. Although this article has been in the works for weeks, the Times does little more than repeat claims made in other publications by a handful of students. Instead of seizing the opportunity to look deeply into this iss...
One hundred years ago, Southern Jew Leo Frank sat in jail, a year after his conviction of murdering a 13-year-old girl and a year before his lynching. To American Jews familiar with the case over the last century, Frank’s slaying has exemplified America’s anti-Semitism. But the Frank affair has received so much attention precisely because of its rarity. Jews have been quite fortunate in America, facing less prejudice than other minorities, and certainly less than they suffered elsewhere. In 1913, the 29-year-old Frank ran a pencil factory in an...
If one would ask a member of any ethnic group who he or she is, the answer would be “I am Italian,” “I am French,” and so on. That person would be surprised if the follow-up question was, “What makes you Italian or French?” When a Jewish person is asked the same question, the answer is, “I am Jewish.” Strangely enough, the follow-up question, “What makes you Jewish?” is considered legitimate, and always concerns two subjects: religion and ethnicity. The following arguments are an attempt to show that being Jewish is first and foremost an eth...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 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., 407-298-4650. GOBOR Community Minyan at Jewish Academy of Orlando—Monday—Friday, 7:45 a.m.—8:30 a.m. Temple Israel—Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10 Light Shabba...
NEW YORK—“We are pleased that we have reached a major milestone with over 100 universities publicly claiming their opposition to the boycott of Israeli universities and academia adopted by the American Studies Association. We anticipate more signing on as offices reopen and presidents return from their holiday vacations. As significant as this is, we have to be vigilant regarding efforts at other such bodies, like the Modern Language Association that will be convening on Jan. 9 in Chicago and will include a one-sided panel entitled ‘Ac...
(JNS.org) Israel’s population grew in 2013 by 1.8 percent, or 147,000 people, bringing the country’s total population to 8.1 million, according to data from the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Immigrant Absorption Ministry. Some 19,200 Jews moved to Israel from other countries. The most significant rise was in the number of immigrants from France, with 3,120 French Jews moving to Israel in 2013, a 63-percent jump from the previous year (1,916). The largest group of immigrants, 7,520, came from the former Soviet Union. Some 2,680 imm...
The Jewish Pavilion thanks Bonnie Friedman and her talented piano students for performing and enhancing the Shabbat program at Chambrel, Friday, Dec. 27. Just when the holidays were past and the special parties and entertainment were over, Bonnie Friedman and Jewish Pavilion program director, Emily Newman, coordinated a musical Shabbat like no other. The residents were seated as they usually do each Friday, greeting one another with "Shabbat Shalom," but, little did they know seven students...
(JNS.org) National Basketball Association (NBA) star Tony Parker apologized for using the anti-Semitic "quenelle" arm gesture. The gesture, which has been described as a "reverse Nazi salute," was made famous by French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala. Dieudonné, who ran for the European Parliament under the "anti-Zionist" party list in 2009 and supports the French far-right party National Front, began openly attacking Jews in 2002. French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said his government is c...
Stiller's Western Wall romancing NEW YORK (JTA)-Ben Stiller revealed to Parade magazine that he has some fond memories from visiting Israel as a teen. The actor and director, promoting his new movie, recalled that at 16 he took a father-son bonding trip to Israel with his father, comedian Jerry Stiller, and found himself in a romantic dalliance there. "I met a girl on that trip and we had a whirlwind romance," Stiller told Parade. "Is it blasphemous to say we ended up making out near the...
PARIS (JTA)-In the elegant silence of a narrow street near the River Seine, David Moyal takes a breath of fresh winter air and enters a noisy restaurant in the French capital. Inside Miznon, he is transported to another world, filled with the cacophony of Hebrew voices and Israeli music. A bustling new bistro that Moyal runs in the 4th arrondissement, Miznon is becoming hugely popular with Israelis and French Jews thanks to its Tel Aviv feel and audacious mission to pack Paris into a pita. Insid...
On Jan. 15, as a part of the Jewish Community Relations Council’s Response to Hunger campaign, there will be a volunteer opportunity for the Jewish community to come together and volunteer their time at the food bank. An estimated 8,000 seniors go hungry every day in Central Florida. One in five of our Central Florida neighbors need food assistance. Second Harvest helps 70,000 meals arrive on the tables of low-income seniors, families and children in our area, each day. The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with a brief educational session about h...
The Flagler-Volusia County of the Jewish War Veterans will hold their first regular breakfast meeting of 2014 at 9:30 a.m., Sunday, Jan. 12 at the Aberdeen Club House, 55 Allwood Drive, Ormond Beach. A traditional New York-style breakfast including orange juice, lox, bagels, assorted cream, cheeses, herring, sweets, coffee and tea will be served. Spouses and guests are welcome. Dr. Ken Nussbaum, who recently returned from a working-trip to Liberia will be the guest speaker. All U.S. and Jewish veterans of allied military forces are invited to...
