Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS)-Israel's 15-month political stalemate, which led to three election cycles within the course of a year, has come to a close with the signing of a unity government deal between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the Likud Party, and Blue and White Party head Benny Gantz. The two sides are calling it a "national emergency government" in large part to manage the ongoing coronavirus crisis, which has stymied Israel along with the rest of the world. Both leaders posted tweets... Full story
(ISRAEL21c)-Israelis receiving daily coronavirus check-ins via text message can thank local startup Diagnostic Robotics for developing the cutting-edge questionnaire that is tracking the spread of the virus with uncanny precision and generating actionable recommendations. "Last Saturday night, we saw worrying data coming from Migdal HaEmek, Tiberias and Ashkelon," Kira Radinsky, the company's cofounder and chief technology officer, told ISRAEL21c. "On Monday morning, the government issued a... Full story
(JNS)—Seven Jewish foundations joined together to launch the Jewish Community Response and Impact Fund, which will provide more than $80 million in interest-free loans and grants as thousands of Jewish nonprofit organizations are experiencing unprecedented needs due to the coronavirus pandemic. The challenges have affected every sector of Jewish communal life, including organizational closures, staff layoffs, canceled programs, a pivot to online education, an anticipated increase in financial-aid needs, a decrease in fundraising and and o... Full story
Heritage Florida Jewish News is accepting nominations for the 2020 Heritage Human Service Award, which will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando in August. “For more than 30 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, time, energy and effort to the Central Florida community have been honored with the selection and presentation of this award,” said Jeff Gaeser, editor and publisher of the Heritage. Last year’s recipient was Dick Weiner. Former recipients have inclu... Full story
“These are interesting times, with things changing on a daily basis and so much more that is unknown than is known,” said Keith Dvorchik, CEO of The Roth Family JCC as he shared some things the JCC is working on. Getting back to work slowly The Roth Family JCC has received Paycheck Protection Program funding and because of this, they can bring back the staff in a “strategic fashion,” according to Dvorchik. On April 27, the ECLC supervisors, JCC department directors and accounting staff remotely went back to work. On Monday, May 4, the majorit... Full story
Jewish Academy of Orlando observed its annual Holocaust remembrance day remotely. Fourth and fifth grade students participated in a morning of music, prayer, and remembrance. Head of School Alan Rusonik said, "It was important to us to deliver a developmentally appropriate program that was meaningful to our students." The morning began with, "Eli, Eli," a song based on the poem written by Holocaust hero, Hannah Senesh. Fourth grade parent, Heidi Zissman stated, "I appreciated that the program... Full story
The Jewish Pavilion provided free lunches to 400 healthcare workers in Orange and Seminole counties as a way of thanking them for the wonderful care they have provided to our seniors in elder-care communities. Special thanks to the Pargh Foundation for initiating and funding this project.... Full story
(JNS)—The American Jewish lobby group J Street last week endorsed former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden for president—the first time in its history in which the organization has formally endorsed a candidate for the White House. “At a time when the threats to our core values both at home and abroad have never been more serious, all of us in the pro-Israel, pro-peace community know that the path to a better future begins with defeating Donald Trump at the polls,” said J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami in a statement on Friday. “To help achieve t... Full story
(JTA)—The nominating committee of US Jewry’s foreign policy umbrella has tapped as its next chair the immediate past chairwoman of the lead Jewish immigration advocacy group—one that has clashed repeatedly with the Trump administration. Dianne Lob of HIAS is the pick of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the umbrella group announced Friday. The chair is the lay leader of the Presidents Conference. HIAS and the Trump administration have clashed repeatedly over the administration’s restrictive immigra... Full story
A worldwide shortage of Covid-19 testing materials is slowing down the rate of testing and increasing the rate of infection. Coming from Israel, one answer to the problem is a faster and cheaper test using materials commonly found in diagnostic labs. The test was developed by Prof. Nir Friedman at Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Life Sciences and School of Engineering and Computer Science and Prof. Naomi Habib at the university’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Science. Testing for Covid-19 currently involves ext... Full story
(JNS)—Jewish nonprofits have received at least $264 million in loans under the $2.1 trillion coronavirus relief package passed by Congress and enacted into law last month, according to the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). According to a JFNA survey, 579 got loans approved from the Small Business Administration. The average loan was between $5,000 and $4.9 million. The median loan was $256,000. There were 1,331 responses to the JFNA survey. The results come as the U.S. Senate passed another funding bill on Tuesday afternoon t... Full story
(JNS)—Israel’s yearlong government standoff is finally over, and the only real winner is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Although there were moments when it seemed as if there was no way he could hold onto office for long, Netanyahu again proved that it’s a mistake to underestimate his political acumen or survival instincts. But there’s something else about this outcome that Netanyahu’s American detractors need to understand. The agreement does reaffirm the conventional wisdom that views Netanyahu as a ruthless, skilled and self-inte... Full story
ZOA urges Joe Biden to retract his profuse praise of extremist anti-Israel J Street and to reject J Street’s and far-left Israel-bashing socialist Senator Bernie Sanders’ endorsements. ZOA also urges Biden to retract his anti-Israel video remarks at AIPAC last month, condemning and threatening Jewish communities and lawful Israeli sovereignty in Judea-Samaria. (Biden failed to attend AIPAC in person.) Biden’s remarks and embrace of these radical endorsements do great harm to bipartisan support for Israel. Inappropriately, during his pre-recorde... Full story
(JNS)—The coronavirus pandemic has given rise to some of the most complex and significant medical-ethics dilemmas in recent history, namely the question of triaging ICU care and, by extension, deciding who shall live and who shall die. As society begins to contemplate how to readjust to the new normal and eventually lifts isolation measures, new and similarly challenging ethical questions will arise. One such question that has not yet received much discussion, but which I believe requires our community’s attention, revolves around the rush to... Full story
Israelis and Zionists around the world marked Yom HaZikaron this year starting on the evening of April 27. Yom HaZikaron LeHalalei Ma’arakhot Israel ul’Nifge’ei Pe’ulot HaEivah, literally: Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Terrorism is Israel’s Memorial Day, and it is not celebrated with barbecues, but with tears of ultimate grief. And as so many Israelis mourn for their precious fallen fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, and friends and comrades, it is not the same for Jews outside o... Full story
(JNS)—Holocaust survivors do not need annual ceremonies to remind them of the Nazi atrocities that they endured or of the family members that Adolf Hitler’s henchmen slaughtered during World War II. No, those memories are just as inked in their hearts and minds as the numbers tattooed on their forearms. Indeed, it is not those people who require the admonition “Never Forget,” but rather the rest of the world. It is also a mantra for subsequent generations of Jews to repeat and forge a collective memory of events that we did not experie... Full story
At first I was not going to watch this presentation because 1) I did not know most of the participants, and 2) the fact that it was in support of the WHO was a ‘turn off.’ However, the fact that it dealt with the Coronavirus and that it was simulcast on the three major broadcast networks and streamed online all over the world was enough of an influence to get me to watch it. And I’m glad I did—IT WAS JUST OUTSTANDING!—with one major reservation—see below. The good, the bad, the ugly... and the outstanding The Good: The production was first c... Full story
Dear Editor: In the 17 April 2020 edition of the Heritage Florida Jewish News in the article by Stephen M. Flatow (“J Street’s line: Virus, shmirus; let’s focus on the Palestinians”) he takes J Street to task for advocating help to the Palestinians to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. While I certainly recognize that Mr. Flatow has many issues with certain policies of J Street, it is short sighted to complain about asking support to help the Palestinians avoid or at least minimize the effect of COVID-19. He implies that J Street is asking that th... Full story
(JNS)—Nearly two-thirds of American Jews believe that they are less safe today than a decade ago, according to a new survey by the Anti-Defamation League on Jewish encounters with anti-Semitism in the United States. The survey found that 54 percent of American Jews have either experienced or witnessed an incident they deem was motivated by anti-Semitism, while 63 percent of Jews say their communities are “less safe” than they were a decade ago. “Our tracking has shown that lethal and nonlethal anti-Semitic attacks have been on the rise in rece... Full story
(JTA)-Sometime in March, the Chesed Shel Emes Jewish burial society in Brooklyn added a new responsibility to the sacred tasks its 700 volunteers had committed to uphold: paperwork. Bodies were piling up because of the coronavirus pandemic, and helping funeral homes with their clerical work had grown just as essential to ensuring respectful Jewish funeral rites as washing and guarding bodies before they were buried. Between Purim on March 10 and Passover, which ended last week, the burial... Full story
Back in 2012, when Deborah Feldman's memoir "Unorthodox" came out, several people recommended I read this tale about a young woman leaving the Hasidic Satmar sect. I didn't follow the advice, but I should have. It's an important and engrossing autobiographical work. "Unorthodox" has inspired an incredible new Netflix miniseries by the same name. Starring Shira Haas of "Shtisel," this is reverent and beautiful television. Haas plays Esther "Esty" Shapiro, a woman struggling to find her place in... Full story
Stuck in the House... By now I'm sure I proudly mentioned that I was a Navy mom several times. I must do it again! Being stuck in the house, what put a smile on my face (almost continuously) was watching certain TV movies. "On the Town," about three sailors in Manhattan, was one of them. My eldest is a Navy commander, my middle guy is a psychologist who worked with recruits at Great Lakes Naval Base and my youngest served in the Navy on a minesweeper in the Persian Gulf. Frank Sinatra, Gene Kell... Full story
Passover is over, but I still will be using up my leftover Matzah meal, potato starch and other Passover items. Matzah meal is a great binder for hamburger, meatloaf, salmon cakes, and more. I make the vegetarian Lasagna, Matzana, all year. Make potato pancakes as a side dish or for breakfast or use the starch as a thickener like cornstarch for sauces and stews. Finely crunch the Matzah squares in the food processor for a streusel topping for an apple crisp or as bread crumbs to coat fish. Use your imagination to create your own special... Full story
(JNS)-What's with this weather, anyway? I mean, the majority of us have accepted our lives as indoor cats right now, but a little sun wouldn't hurt, especially in the U.S. Northeast, where as of today, the highest cases of COVID-19 can be found in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. I'm not thrilled to be part of this group, but that's what it is. Since I work remotely in my basement directly under a window, I theoretically monitor the weather around the clock (as well as... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—An Israeli falafel shop owner broke down in tears in a television interview on Sunday that resonated across the country as a symbolic encapsulation of the economic toll that the coronavirus is taking on small businesses. “Look at my wallet, it’s empty,” said the shop owner, Yuval Carmi, pulling out his wallet during the Channel 13 interview. “I don’t have a shekel in my pocket.” He added: “I’m embarrassed to face my children, to tell them I have nothing I can buy for you. I have nothing to give them. I have nothing to give t... Full story
