Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 33
The AIPAC Policy Conference is the largest gathering of America’s pro-Israel community, and will be held this year March 24-26 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Through demonstrations of groundbreaking Israeli innovations, keynote speeches by American and Israeli leaders, inspiring moments on stage and intimate educational sessions, Policy conference delegates experience the full scale of pro-Israe activism in three days. The conference culminates with the d...
(JTA)-To the many employees and partners of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who died Wednesday at the age of 67, he was a man of vision whose enormous drive to succeed both facilitated and complicated his relentless efforts on behalf of the Jewish people. As head of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, or IFCJ, the New York-born rabbi raised more than $360 million in donations-mostly from Christians-for projects benefiting needy Jews and Arabs in Israel and beyond. To many thousands of o...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The U.S. Senate approved in a 77-23 vote a bill that codifies $38 billion in defense assistance to Israel and which provides legal cover to states that target the boycott Israel movement. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., had stirred controversy because a number of Democratic senators said that while they oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, they were also concerned that state laws aimed at BDS impinged on speech freedoms. Among the Democratic d...
Join your friends from Temple Israel on their first congregational trip to the land of our ancestors in 10 years. The trip, which takes place from June 16-26, 2019, is open to the whole Central Florida Jewish community and offers something for everyone. The cost is at most $2,500 per person but is reduced by a few hundred dollars for every five people registered. This price is for land only and includes admission to main sites, a daily breakfast, bus transportation and a professional tour guide...
The Meitin Alliance for Growth and Learning, a Collaborative Religious School by Temple Israel and Temple Shir Shalom, presents its annual Purim Carnival on Sunday, March 10 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Temple Israel, 50 S. Moss Road in Winter Springs. The morning will be filled with carnival games, crafts, a bounce house, an obstacle course, a photo booth from FunBox Photos, a slime-making station, a cake walk, a hamantaschen baking contest, and food, including pizza, chips, popcorn,...
Ruth Ort is passionate about hooking people up with a good match. A retired speech pathologist, she has been doing it for years in South Beach and since moving up to Central Florida, she has already found two people’s “soulmate.” In fact, she said she’s only had two “bombs” in all the matches she’s made—which are quite a few. “I think this whole idea is very much an idea that should have been done already,” she told Heritage. “In Orthodox Jewish circles it is a shidduch (arranged marriage) and I am the shadchan (professional matchmaker).” Ort’s...
(JNS)-After a 21-month-long vacancy awaiting the appointment of the U.S. State Department's Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, the Trump administration has picked Iraq War veteran and attorney Elan Carr to fill the position. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the announcement, and with it said that "promoting human rights and religious freedom, including by combating anti-Semitism everywhere it exists, is a U.S. foreign policy priority that furthers our national interests...
Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month is a unified effort among Jewish organizations worldwide to raise awareness and foster inclusion of people with disabilities and those who love them. JDAIM is observed each February. But the truth is, while it brings the issues of disability inclusion to the forefront, inclusion is something we must focus on all year long. In our quest to include every member of our community, we would do well to pay attention to the following ancient examples of accommodation. The Torah begins by t...
(JNS)—Over the past decade, the Boston suburb of Newton has been beset by controversy over how the conflict in the Middle East is being taught in its public schools. The concern over anti-Israel bias in the school system began in 2011, when a Newton resident complained to school officials regarding the use of a supplemental text called The Arab World Studies Notebook, which contained “false and defamatory” anti-Israel sentiment. While the school board eventually removed the textbook, accusations and further evidence of anti-Israel bias withi...
(CAMERA via JNS)—Reflecting a total lack of self-awareness, the trite headline to Michelle Alexander’s 2,281-word op-ed, online and in print on Jan. 19, in The New York Times says it all: “Time to Break the Silence on Palestine.” The notion that the Palestinian issue is ignored, that a “silence” currently surrounds it or has surrounded it in years past, and that pro-Israel advocates muzzle opposing views is a common canard of anti-Israel activists. For example, veteran Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, who regularly accuses Israel of war crimes...
DEARBORN, Mich. (JTA)—On Jan. 31, we at the Dearborn Historical Commission adopted a resolution objecting to Mayor John O’Reilly’s refusal to allow the distribution of the new edition of The Dearborn Historian, which featured an article by Bill McGraw titled “Henry Ford and The International Jew.” The issue was set to be released upon the 100th anniversary of Henry Ford’s acquisition of The Dearborn Independent, a sad but important milestone in our city’s history. We believe that remembering and discussing the history of our city serves a vita...
(JNS)—As part of the Palestinian Authority’s latest ploy to avoid direct negotiations with Israel, it is now absurdly claiming that United Nations Resolution 181, passed by the U.N. General Assembly in November 1947, gave Palestinian Arabs a “right” to a state and the “right” to U.N. membership. In fact, U.N. Resolution 181 merely recommended partitioning the remaining 22 percent of the Palestine Mandate into Jewish and Arab states. (The British previously wrongfully carved off 78 percent of the mandate, which Britain held in trust for reestab...
(JNS)—Is the effort to combat the BDS movement much ado about nothing? Given the abject failure of the campaign to boycott, divest and sanction Israel to harm the economy of the Jewish state or even to get American universities to endorse their efforts, there are those who consider all the fuss made about the issue a mistake. Much of the organized Jewish community has been treating the battle against BDS as a priority. That includes an effort geared towards lobbying state legislatures and now the U.S. Congress to pass laws that prevent those c...
(JNS)—More than three-fourths of American Jews want Israel to be reduced to just miles wide—narrower than Washington, D.C., or the Bronx. How can that be? The answer, of course, is that it can’t be. But J Street is now making that claim anyway, and some media outlets this week fell for it. J Street wants to see an independent Palestinian state established alongside the pre-1967 armistice lines, which means that Israel would be a mere nine miles wide. It would be very helpful to J Street’s efforts if it could claim that most Jews support...
Dear Editor: Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc. is deeply saddened to learn of the sudden and untimely passing of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein z”l, founder and director of the International Fellowship of Christians & Jews. Rabbi Eckstein was a true friend of Hadassah, an ardent supporter, and a generous donor to and champion of Hadassah Medical Organization, and our other projects in Israel. Just two nights ago, he was an honored guest at a Hadassah International event at HMO. On Jan. 2, Rabbi Eckstein (whose last name mea...
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...
CANTON, Mass. (JTA)-At a kickoff party Sunday night at the Orchard Cove senior home in this suburb about 25 miles from Boston, boisterous cheers erupted from a small ballroom. Dozens of residents had begun an evening-long tailgate-style gathering as their New England Patriots started yet another Super Bowl, this time against the Los Angeles Rams. Of course, the residents didn't know that at the final whistle their team would be hoisting its sixth Vince Lombardi Trophy hours later. "Everyone was...
(JNS)-The decision last week by the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council to pass a resolution declaring that any member organization supporting the BDS movement could be expelled from the council has generated a wider discussion among Jewish leaders as to where to draw red lines when it comes to Israel. The resolution-adopted overwhelmingly by a vote of 62-13 with eight abstentions-resolves that no member of the JCRC "shall partner with-in particular by co-sponsoring events primarily led...
Israeli special needs youth... I read this in the World Jewish Congress digest (WJC) and share it with you: "The WJC recently brought a first-of-its-kind delegation of special needs youth from across Israel to Poland for an educational mission to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The mission was arranged by WJC President Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder at the initiative of WJC-Israel Chairman Gad Ariely, in cooperation with the Welfare Department of the Modin-Reut-Maccabim municipality, Akadem...
(JNS)—The University of Vermont chapters of J Street U and Students for Justice in Palestine launched a simultaneous attack on the pro-Israel community at the school last week. On Friday, the two groups released corresponding letters blasting the Hillel on campus for accepting funding from the pro-Israel group Maccabee Task Force, which will use some of the monies to organize a trip to Israel for students. In their letters, which closely followed the same message, SJP slammed the UVM pro-Israel community for “a refusal to listen to Pal...
Jewish Academy of Orlando fifth grade students partnered with Muslim peers from Leadership Preparatory School and Christian peers from Geneva School in, “Trees for Peace,” a multifaith tree planting service held at Mead Gardens. The tree planting is the second of the schools’ 3-part Multifaith Education Program that is now in its 16th year. The students meet at each school to learn about each other’s cultures and religions. The program always includes a “Trees for Peace” component. This year’s t...
NEW YORK (JTA)—When New York State liberalized its abortion law last week, the Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention unsurprisingly released statements slamming the action. And they were joined by two large Orthodox Jewish religious organizations: the Rabbinical Council of America and Agudath Israel of America. The RCA is the umbrella group for centrist Orthodox rabbis. Agudah represents haredi Orthodox Jews. “Jewish law opposes abortion, except in cases of danger to the mother,” read the RCA statement issued Tuesday. “Most authori...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Donald Trump linked his actions on Iran to the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, pivoting during his State of the Union address from his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal to a declaration that anti-Semitism must be confronted “anywhere and everywhere it occurs.” Trump also bookended his speech with references to D-Day, including salutes to troops, among them Jewish-American veterans, who helped liberate Europe, and Holocaust survivors who were liberated thanks to the American-led action. The salutes earne...
Louis Roche Brandes, age 94, of Orlando passed away on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2017, at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Dr. Brandes was born in Bacau, Romania on Dec. 9, 1924, to the late Joseph and Ioila Brandes. He complete his medical studies initially in Romania and moved to Israel in 1948, serving as a medical officer during the War of Independence in 1948. He left Israel in 1950, and moved to Italy where he completed further medical studies becoming a psychiatrist. In 1952, he returned to Israel to live. With the outbreak of the Suez Campaign...
Theresa Braun, age 56, of Orlando, passed away at her residence on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019, surrounded by her family. A native of New York, she was born on Feb. 16, 1962, to Jack and Josephine Panullo Gehebe. Theresa graduated from high school and worked as an editor in the computer industry. On Nov. 14, 1987, on Long Island, she married Robert Braun, her husband of over 31 years who survives her. Die-hard Yankee fans, the family relocated from New York to the Orlando area in 2001. In addition to her husband, Theresa is survived by her son,...
