Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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NEW YORK (JTA)-An estimated 25,000 people marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and held a rally on Sunday to protest rising anti-Semitism in and around New York City. The rally comes following a spate of attacks on Jews-including, most recently, a stabbing attack at a rabbi's home in the New York City suburb of Monsey and a shooting in a Jersey City kosher supermarket that claimed four lives. There has also been an unending stream of verbal and physical assaults on Jews in neighborhoods of Brookly...
Running now through Feb. 9 at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater is the one-woman play "Becoming Dr. Ruth" by Mark St. Germain. Catch it if you can because many performances are already sold out. Everyone knows Dr. Ruth Westheimer from her career as a pioneering radio and television sex therapist. Few, however, know the incredible journey that preceded it. From fleeing the Nazis in the Kindertransport and joining the Haganah in Jerusalem as a scout and sniper, to her struggles to succeed as a...
In partnership with the Pardes Institute of Judaic Studies, Temple Israel is offering a five-week course open to the entire community and led by Rabbi Joshua Neely called “Mahloket Matters: How to Disagree Constructively—The Beit Midrash Way.” The first of the hour-long weekly session starts on Thursday, Feb. 6 and runs from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Temple Israel Library at 50 S. Moss Road in Winter Springs. The final session is Thursday, March 5. No matter their political beliefs, most people agree...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-After a six-month search, the Jewish campus group Hillel International is sticking to the path hewn by its previous CEO in choosing a close associate as his successor. Hillel's board announced Tuesday that Adam Lehman, the group's former chief operating officer and interim CEO, will succeed Eric Fingerhut, who became head of the Jewish Federations of North America over the summer. In choosing Lehman, the board has issued a vote of confidence in how Fingerhut has shaped the...
The Playwright's Round Table Launch 2020 will feature "Rosa & Leo" as one of eight original, Ten-Minute plays from emerging playwrights at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre in Loch Haven Park, Jan. 17-19 and Jan. 24-26. Directed by Kate Thomas-Denson, "Rosa & Leo" is about a couple who secretly fell in love in a Nazi concentration camp and rediscover each other on opposite sides of the world five decades later. Mark Davids and Cindy Karr play the title characters. "Rosa & Leo" was written by Adam...
JCC Maccabi Games informational meeting Learn about the JCC Maccabi Games that will take place Aug. 2-7 at an informational meeting for teens and their parents on Wednesday, Jan. 22 from 7 p.m-9 p.m. in the Roth Family JCC Youth Meeting Room. The JCC Maccabi Games is the largest sports competition for Jewish teens in the world. Team Central Florida has a rich tradition at the Games. And it isn't all sports! There is a Star Reporter track for teens who are interested in social media/journalism....
Boots on the Ground Theater is presenting “Aliyah” at its charity gala on Jan. 25, 7 p.m., at KDS One Studios, 3601 Vineland Road, Suite 10, Orlando. “Aliyah” is a short experimental documentary that tells the story of a Holocaust survivor whose daughter is now a refugee displaced by the conflict in the Ukraine. The film combines original choreography, newly composed music, and hundreds of hours of on-the-ground interviews, all to answer the question, why are Jewish people leaving Ukraine? Jewish history in Ukraine is marked with persecu...
(JNS)-The wave of Iranian ballistic missiles that struck two military bases in Iraq early on Wednesday that house U.S. personnel was a clear Iranian attempt to conclude the current phase of escalation with Washington. The missiles failed, intentionally or not, to cause any casualties, after days of warnings by Iranian officials saying that U.S. military targets would be hit-possibly an early warning designed to decrease the chance of victims when the strikes actually came. Still, they were an ex...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, whose home was the site of a stabbing last month on the holiday of Chanukah, delivered an invocation at Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address. Joseph Gluck, the man who stopped the attacker by throwing a coffee table at his head, was also in attendance and received a standing ovation. The attacker injured five people at Rottenberg's home in Monsey, New York, on Dec. 28, including the rabbi's son. One of those wounded, Joseph Neumann, remains...
(ISRAEL21c)—Israeli NGO IsraAID has sent a relief team to assess needs in Puerto Rico after a deadly 6.4 magnitude quake hit the Caribbean island on Tuesday. The quake, which killed one and flattened buildings in the southern part of the island, was the latest in a series of 100 or so tremors that have hit Puerto Rico over the last 10 days and show no signs of stopping. It was strongest quake to hit the island since 1918 and has caused widespread damage to a nation still recovering from Hurricane Maria in 2017. IsraAID, which has been o...
(JNS)—A horrific attack on the Jewish community in Monsey, N. Y., took place on Saturday, the seventh night of Chanukah, when a machete-wielding assailant entered and began wildly stabbing at worshippers during a crowded holiday celebration in a rabbi’s home. It’s the most recent in a series of attacks on Jews in and around New York City over the past several months. Last week alone, during the festival of Hanukkah, New York City’s Jews were reportedly attacked in hate crimes taking place almost every day. No one seems to know why this is happ...
(JNS)—For many in the Middle East, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, the Islamic Republic’s elite extraterritorial black-ops arm, embodied Iran’s desires, aspirations and directives with respect to the country’s operations worldwide. He was also the man who controlled the purse strings with respect to funding the weapons that have so often ignited the region. For Iran’s friends and foes alike, Soleimani was second only to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—an ailing, elderly man who sits in an ivory tower in Tehran, detached fr...
On Jan. 3, 2020, as their motorcade was exiting the Baghdad Airport, Major General Qasem Soleimani, the leader of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, along with other high ranking members of the IRGC were killed by an American drone missile attack. Also killed in the attack was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chairman of one of Iraq’s notorious non-state militias, the Popular Mobilization Forces, a group controlled and armed by Iran. Not unexpectedly, the left has been in an uproar, calling the attack and resulting f...
(JNS)—Israel and many Jewish organizations around the world have responded strenuously to counter the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement. They have taken a strong defensive position, arguing that Israel is being unfairly singled out. But how has Israel fared, and what is the best long-term strategy to combat anti-Israel boycotts? There is a case to be made that, thank God, Israel has fared well in many sectors, and that the best long-term business strategy may be to increase labeling and sharing successes. There are between 550 and 630 m...
(BESA Center via JNS)—Like clockwork, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent observation that “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law” was immediately denounced by the Jewish left. The head of the Reform Movement in North America, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, said that the U.S. government’s new position on Israeli settlements will undercut the fight against BDS and the delegitimization of Israel in the United States, specifically on college campuses. It’s not clear w...
NEW YORK (JTA)—On Sunday, I joined tens of thousands of Jews and non-Jews who marched from downtown Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge in a show of commitment to fighting the recent violent rise of anti-Semitism. Last week, I stood in Jerusalem with thousands of Jews at the Siyum HaShas, a celebration of the seven-plus year achievement of the completion of the study of the entire corpus of the Talmud. Our gathering was just one of dozens held around the world. As I reflect on these two massive displays of Jewish unity, I cannot help but t...
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. Temple I...
The St. Johns County Commission will proclaim January 2020 as “St. Johns County Jewish History Month” at its regularly scheduled meeting, 9 a.m. Jan. 21, in the County Commission Chambers, 500 San Sebastian View, St. Augustine 32084. The Proclamation is being made at the request of the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society. The proclamation presentation is open to the public at no charge, all are welcome, no advance arrangements need be made. Florida Jewish History Month has been observed since 2003, when Governor Jeb Bush signed a bill dec...
The Jewish Academy of Orlando has extended recess for all grades to 45 minutes. In addition to extended recess time, lunch for all grades is 30 minutes, and a mid-morning break of 15 minutes is included in the daily schedule. In recent years, many schools have lessened the amount of time that students spend in free play. In fact, experts find that the decrease may be significantly impacting the social and emotional development of our children. Comparatively speaking, recess only became mandatory in Orange County in December 2016, according to...
Spotlight: Rabbi Joshua Neely, Temple Israel, Winter Springs, Florida "The past is never dead. It's not even past."-William Faulkner "My passion is teaching," Rabbi Joshua Neely told me as we talked about why he chose his career path. "Becoming a rabbi for me seemed to be a logical choice. I've always been very inquisitive. Still am. At a young age, eight, nine years old, I was asking questions about life and Judaism. I've always been this way," Neely said. "Perhaps, my mother's questioning...
Anti-Semitic violence in 2019... So far, 2019 seemed to be the worst year for anti-Semitism throughout the world. Let's hope 2020 is not as bad (or worse)! I've listed some of the incidents by month but, because of space, left many out: January: Swastika was sprayed on Terenure Hebrew Congregation in Dublin, Ireland. Vandals smash windows of Choral Synagogue in Ukraine. Swastika spray-painted outside Temple Beth Torah in Ventura, California Hundreds of stickers "Jews are poisoning our children"...
(JNS)-Faculty who support the academic boycott of Israel are actively promoting BDS directly to students in their classrooms, according to a report released on Wednesday by the campus watchdog AMCHA Initiative, providing the first empirical evidence of such activity. The study, which examined 50 syllabi at 40 public and private colleges and universities over an 11-year period, revealed that academic BDS-supporting instructors had an average of 78 percent of their course readings authored by BDS...
The definition of volunteer work refers to activities performed willingly and without pay to produce goods or provide services for others outside the volunteer’s household or family. However, when we witness the interactions of the volunteers that work with the Jewish Pavilion, this general definition falls short. Our volunteers go beyond merely visiting our senior residents, they bring their hearts, smiles, caring words and humor. The volunteers are the backbone of our organization and many o...
The audience can feel Susan Bernstein's passion as she starts her presentation. She is there to share the knowledge she has gained throughout her life. A lifelong educator, Bernstein loves to tell stories. She continues the tradition of the early Jews sharing history in both the written word and the voices of all that came before her. Bernstein is the lesson she teaches, as she lives her life by the examples she shares. Besides a strong Judaic background, Bernstein also has a strong musical...
Sunday, Jan. 19: Annual congregational meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 25: Service at 10 a.m. led by Rabbi Karen Allen. The Service will be followed by a Kiddush, allowing attendees to mingle with both old and new friends. This will be a celebration of Sidney Cullen’s Bat Mitzvah. Sunday, Jan. 26: Congregation Beth Sholom Men’s Club will meet at 10 a.m. at the synagogue. Congregation Beth Sholom is located at 315 North 13th St. in Leesburg. All members are invited and experience the friendly environment of Congregation Betah Sholom. More inf...
