Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)-The shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue that has left 11 people dead has been described as "horrific," "heinous" and "devastating" by Jewish leaders, politicians and Israeli leaders. "Our hearts are broken," the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh posted on Facebook, saying it was making an exception and using social media on Shabbat. The federation's president, Jeff Finkelstein, in an interview on CNN praised the quick reaction of the police and local government and said of the...
Jews and Christians are instructed to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122). For those who love and support Israel, and are looking for a way to show that support, there will be a Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast Nov. 14-16 at the Rosen Plaza, located at 9700 International Drive, Orlando. This will be the third worldwide prayer breakfast since it began in June 2017 at the Israeli Knesset, and the first in Orlando. The first Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast was sponsored by Speaker of the Knesset...
Jewish Academy of Orlando will host its annual gala with a Roaring Twenties theme at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2018, at The Ballroom at Church Street. The event will honor Nina and Dr. Ron Oppenheim. The Roaring Twenties Gala is the school's biggest fundraiser of the year. Proceeds fund new curricula, field trips, new programs, and provide scholarship funds. Gala tickets include signature cocktails, dinner, music by Two Left Feet, and a silent auction for $125 per person. Guest are encouraged...
A night of laughter and joy was turned into a night of terror and death at the home of Michal Solomon in Neve Tzuf during the summer of 2017. On Wednesday, Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m. at The Roth Family JCC, Solomon will be the guest speaker at an event, hosted by Staci and Dr. Daniel Layish. She will share the harrowing story of the night her family was attacked by an Arab terrorist, who was drawn to their home because he "heard laughter." With her quick thinking, Solomon was able to escape to an...
The 20th annual Central Florida Jewish Film Festival brings five special movies and two shorts to the Enzian Theater Nov. 10-12. The opening features, "Wig Shop" and "Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel," will be held at the Orlando Science Center at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Once again, the Heritage was privileged to review the movies to give our readers a synopsis of each presentation. "Wig Shop" (in English and Yiddish with subtitles) and "Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel" (in English)...
The Jewish National Fund is hosting a special event on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. with guest speaker Chloe Valdary, director of Partnerships and Shillman Fellow at Jerusalem University. Valdary is a Christian. She is black, and she is a "rising star of pro-Israel campus activism," according to The Times of Israel. As the spokesperson for the Israel education program at Jerusalem U, her support for Israel not only cuts against arguments of Students for Justice in Palestine, but also against much black...
The Tribe is a project of The Roth Familly JCC for Jewish 20- and 30-somethings. Chelsea Quereau, the JCC’s Young Adult coordinator, plans on bringing a wide variety of programs for young adults to the community. The Tribe, which started with the Twelve24 Christmas Eve party and the Party of 8 series, will host monthly happy hours and other social, cultural, philanthropic and athletic events. Planned events include a Party of 8 on Nov. 3, 7:30 p.m. at the Roth Family JCC; Happy Hour events on Nov. 14 and Dec. 6; and the annual Twelve24. F...
The Jewish Federation of Brevard presents 2018 Taste of Jerusalem on Sunday, Nov. 11, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Wickham Park Community Center in Melbourne. There will be live entertainment, traditional Jewish food, dancing, Chanukah gift displays to do your shopping for the holiday, bounce houses, petting zoo and silent auction. Admission and parking are free. Wickham Park Community Center is located at 2815 Leisure Way in Melbourne. For more information, visit www.jewishfederationbrevard.com....
Robert Gregory Bowers, opened fire with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons during worship services inside Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday, killing eight men and three women before a tactical police team tracked him down and shot him, according to state and federal affidavits. He expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and later told police that "all these Jews need to die," authorities said. Officials released the names of all 11 of the dead, all of them middle-aged or elderly. The victims...
(JTA)-When a gunman entered The Tree of Life Congregation and killed 11 worshippers on Saturday, he also struck at the heart of Pittsburgh's Jewish community-the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. Squirrel Hill, in the eastern part of Pittsburgh, has been the center of the city's Jewish life since the turn of the 20th century, when wealthy Jewish families began settling there. While the Jewish communities of other cities have moved neighborhoods or migrated to the suburbs in the ensuing...
Nikki Fried is running for commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services on the Democratic ticket. Her opponent is Republican Matt Caldwell. "Fried brings a wealth of ideas to propel the department forward and to better fulfill its role," said the Miami Herald in its endorsement of her. Nicole "Nikki" Fried was born and raised in Miami and graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree, a master's degree and a law degree. She is a lifelong Democrat, an...
Our youngest, now midway through his first semester of college, has made a rapid and positive transition to his new life. Friends, classes, study time and party time all seem to have fallen into place. And we find ourselves adjusting as well to our quieter space and a slower pace, and as much as I still don’t like the emptiness, and infinitely prefer his presence to his absence, there is also the inevitability of the situation—the growth into adulthood and separation and individuation we all...
This coming Tuesday Americans will go to the polls, to elect a new House of Representative and one-third of the U.S. Senate. This election has been called by the political pundits and media talking heads the most important election in American history. As a side note, I do not remember an election in my lifetime that has not been so categorized by the media. The fact is every American election cycle is important, not only to Americans, but to people world-wide because America’s policies both at home and abroad effect vast numbers of the world’s...
(JNS)—Jordan’s King Abdullah II, in what has been described as a “sharp tone,” announced this week that he would annul an appendix to the 1994 Israeli/Jordanian peace treaty under which certain parcels of lands in the border regions—the Naharayim (Baqura) area near the Sea of Galilee and Zofar (al Ghamar), some 80 miles north of Eilat in the Aqaba region—were to have been leased to Israel in perpetuity. Jews have farmed these lands since 1926, when the then-British Mandatory power authorized it, along with the establishment of a power stati...
Over the years, it has become apparent in the college community that Zionism is not only disapproved of, but discriminated against, with such outstanding remarks against Israel’s very existence. The already confirmed annual Students for Justice in Palestine Conference at University of California, Los Angeles in November expresses blatant discrimination against Zionists and Jewish students alike. As an organization, SJP goes out of their way to vehemently express their disgust and hatred toward Jewish students and pro-Israel organizations. These...
(JNS)—It seems pretty clear to me that I care about my Reform and Conservative brethren in the United States more than much of their own rabbinic and lay leadership. They could have asked people like me—someone who represents the majority of Israelis and who wants the State of Israel to have a strong Jewish identity—to attend and talk, but they didn’t. I have many family and friends who are Reform and Conservative Jews in America, and they want to be proud Jews. They also want to feel connected to their homeland, Israel. Yet, their own rabbini...
(Mida via JNS)—The recent Gaza hostilities against Israel constitute a continuation of an intractable conflict with seemingly no end in sight. Ultimately, it is rooted in the Jewish people’s unique relationship with power and its unwillingness to use it. Israel and the Israel Defense Forces have effectively neutralized two main predicaments plaguing the Jewish people for 2,000 years: homelessness and defenselessness. Against all odds, the Jewish people created one of the finest and best fighting forces in the world, the IDF, which, like oth...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) 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., 407-298-4650. GOBOR Community Minyan at Jewish Academy of Orlando—Monday – Friday, 7:45 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Tem...
Each year, Jewish teens across our community come together to join in a worldwide day of Jewish youth community service, called J-Serve. This unique, teen-led program provides participants a unique opportunity to band together through service as a united global network committed to fulfilling the Jewish values of gemilut chasidim, acts of loving kindness; tzedakah, just and charitable giving; and tikun olam, the responsibility to repair the world. J-Serve is an annual day that our Orlando teens care deeply about. In order to make our day of...
By Josefin Dolsten (JTA)—As news spread of the shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Jews—and Americans of all backgrounds—across the country were reeling from the shock. With 11 confirmed casualties, it is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history. The alleged gunman, a 46-year-old white male named Robert Bowers, shouted “All these Jews need to die,” according to reports. JTA took a look at other times that U.S. Jewish institutions were targeted and the attackers’ affiliations. 1999 Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shoo...
Jared Dylan Shear, son of Jana and Evan Shear of Longwood, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018, at Congregation Ohev Shalom in Maitland. Jard is in the seventh grade at Lake Highland Preparatory School where he is a member of the Lake Highland JV golf team and the student council. His hobbies and interests include playing golf and lacrosse, attending Gator games, watching the NY Yankees, playing Xbox and hanging out with his friends. He is also a member of...
Jewish Pavilion program directors touch many lives, and many in the community reacted with shock and concern upon learning recently that Walter Goldstein, the program director for south Orlando, was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer. Goldstein has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from Orlando's Jewish community and from staff and residents of so many of the eldercare communities. The process of seeking healing with an aggressive treatment schedule has left Goldstein with...
A great loss... I'm referring to the passing of Ruth Mogul, a member of our Jewish community who I've known for more than half a century. She was one of the most beautiful people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, both on the inside and on the outside. I'm sure many others feel the same way about her. She endured many hard times in her life, I'm sure, one of them being the loss of her sister, Joyce Siegel (my very best friend) and her beloved son, but I can honestly say that I've never seen...
By Ben Sales (JTA)—On Saturday, a gunman entered the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh and killed 11 people, wounding six others. It was the worst recorded anti-Semitic act in American history. Here’s how the tragedy happened. (This account has been reconstructed from JTA’s reporting, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The New York Times and the “Today” show. Some of the times are approximate.) Before the shooting Robert Bowers, the alleged gunman, is a truck driver from the Pittsburgh area who lives in a one-bedroom apartment about a half-ho...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Among the 36 Jewish Democrats running for the U.S. House of Representatives in November, 18 are incumbents and an equal number are challengers. Three Jewish Democrats are leaving the House: Sandy Levin of Michigan is retiring, Jacky Rosen of Nevada is running for the Senate and Jared Polis of Colorado is a candidate for governor. Additionally, two House candidates, both Democrats, have Jewish fathers and say that shaped their outlook, but they do not identify as Jewish. At...
