Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

Articles from the February 26, 2016 edition


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  • Scouts from all over attend Scout Shabbat at Temple Israel

    Feb 26, 2016

    Scouts from the Central Florida Council area took part in the annual Scout Shabbat. The event was co-hosted by Troop 641/Children of Abraham Foundation and Temple Israel in Winter Springs. Scout Shabbat brings together Scouts and Scouters of many faiths in celebration of the birthday of Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement. Rabbi Neely and troop 641 Life Scout Robert Kaplan led the service, with participation from many Scouts and Scouters. “It was a truly amazing evening of fellowship; a time where Scouts and Scouters c...

  • Be bop and croon at Congregation Sinai

    Feb 26, 2016

    Remember Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly, James Taylor and more? Congregation Sinai will present Lynn and Joe Goldovitz and Friends who will perform American folk tunes and pop music from the 50s, 60s and 70s. The event takes place on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. The cost is $18. There will be refreshments. For tickets and/or information, call Gwen at 352-243-4890 or the Temple, 352-243-5353....

  • Beth Sholom Shabbat morning service

    Feb 26, 2016

    Rabbi Allen will conduct Saturday morning Sabbath services at 10 a.m. Feb. 27, at Congregation Beth Sholom in Leesburg. Guests are always welcome at Congregation Beth Sholom, “The Synagogue that Feels Like Family,” located at 315 North 13th Street in Leesburg, with the entrance on Center Street....

  • Scene Around

    Gloria Yousha, Scene Around|Feb 26, 2016

    After years of writing this column... How amazing! About 37 years of writing this column and I am only 45 years old! (Oh shut up!) So sorry I missed last week but recently becoming a widow and then hurting my back on top of that, proved to be too much for me to handle. But the column has returned! Here's to another 37 years! (Oy vay.) I like this Pope... I read in the current World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest the following, found it enlightening and pass it along to you: "Pope Francis welcomed...

  • JCRC forum speaker shares advice on combating BDS movement

    Feb 26, 2016

    More than 60 members of the Greater Orlando Jewish Community participated in "Combating the Delegitimization of Israel," a community education event held Feb. 17 at The Roth Family JCC in Maitland. The event was sponsored and organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's Jewish Community Relations Council. Avi Weinryb, assistant director of Community Strategy and Communications for JFNA/JCPA Israel Action Network, led a 90-minute discussion that included an audience...

  • Local FASTSIGNS® recognized among top centers in the country

    Feb 26, 2016

    Local sign and visual-graphics provider FASTSIGNS® of Orlando-Central, owned by Renee Friedman, was named one of the top centers out of more than 600 locations worldwide at the 2016 FASTSIGNS International Convention, recently held in Orlando. The locally owned and operated, business received the Pinnacle Club Award, which is given to the centers ranked 26 to 125 in the U.S. and Canada for sales volume between Oct. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015. Friedman, who also happens to be the only...

  • How Syria and natural gas are pushing Israel and Turkey back together

    Ben Sales, JTA|Feb 26, 2016

    TEL AVIV (JTA)-After years of false starts, Israeli negotiators went to Geneva last week for talks aimed at ending a long-running conflict with a regional adversary. It's not the Palestinians. It's Turkey. Once a key partner of Israel, Turkey in recent years has been a thorn in its side. It supports Israel's foes, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan often uses international forums as opportunities to slam the Jewish state-particularly its treatment of Palestinians. But in December,...

  • Key to good sex and relationships? Take risks

    Laura Kelly, JTA|Feb 26, 2016

    LOS ANGELES (JTA)—What makes for good sex? It’s an unusual question for the wife of an Orthodox rabbi to talk about publicly, but Doreen Seidler-Feller has made a career of it. A clinical sex therapist and professor at UCLA, Seidler-Feller has been married to Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, the campus rabbi at the UCLA Hillel, for more than 40 years, and she’s been talking about sex for about that long. In fact, the two often host public talks about sex and Jewish tradition, as they did at the Limmud FSU West Coast conference in Pasadena, Calif...

  • BDS South Africa lauds 'cancellation' of water confab

    Feb 26, 2016

    CAPE TOWN (JTA)—The BDS movement in South Africa welcomed the reported cancellation of an upcoming water conference featuring Israel’s ambassador to the country. But Israel’s embassy in South Africa denied the reported cancellation was BDS-related. Israel’s ambassador to South Africa, Arthur Lenk, was reportedly to participate in the conference about South Africa’s water crisis, scheduled for the end of February. The conference was reportedly organized by the Mail & Guardian newspaper. In a statement Tuesday, BDS South Africa lauded the cance...

  • The Supreme Court's Jewish gentile: My memories of Justice Scalia

    Nathan Lewin, JTA|Feb 26, 2016

    WASHINGTON (JTA)-"When there was no Jewish justice on the Supreme Court," Antonin "Nino" Scalia told me, "I considered myself the Jewish justice." After Abe Fortas resigned in May 1969, there would be no Jewish justice on the court for nearly a quarter of a century, until President Bill Clinton named Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the court in 1993. Scalia had been on the Supreme Court since Ronald Reagan appointed him in 1986, so there were seven years during which Scalia saw himself as the court's...

  • Who exactly were Court Jews, anyway?

    Zachary Solomon|Feb 26, 2016

    (Jewniverse via JTA)—If you were a member of the European royalty or nobility in the early modern period, and you were strapped for cash, chances are you’d ask your Court Jew for a loan. The Court Jew—a position of strange esteem dating as far back as the 12th century and spanning nearly all of the Middle Ages—was a banker who reliably lent money to European higher-ups. Typically they were Jews of means who had made their money peddling, or organizing other peddlers, and as Jews were exempt from the Christian sin of usury. It was this exemption...

  • Weekly roundup of world briefs from JTA

    Feb 26, 2016

    Clinton gets key Nevada win, Bush drops out after Trump takes South Carolina WASHINGTON (JTA)—Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders in the Nevada Democratic caucuses, which was seen as a key contest for the former secretary of state in the race for the party’s presidential nod. Donald Trump, meanwhile, cruised to a win in the Republican South Carolina primary, while Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida were battling it out for second place. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the favorite a year ago and the candidate who attrac...

  • Meet the guys helping Israeli entrepreneurs make it big in the Big Apple

    Beth Braverman, JTA|Feb 26, 2016

    NEW YORK (JTA)-The hoodie-clad millennials tap furiously at their laptops. They're perched on colorful couches, or sitting at long, communal tables, munching on Fruit Loops from the built-in dispenser in the open, subway-tiled kitchen. In other words, AlleyNYC is your typical co-working space. There are plenty of international workers here, yet the space is quintessentially New York with its upscale, industrial look and "work hard, play hard" philosophy, complete with biweekly happy hours. Its...

  • Local high school senior recognized at BBYO's International Convention

    Feb 26, 2016

    Forty-one teens from BBYO's North Florida Region (spanning Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Sarasota and Naples) joined more than 4,000 teen leaders, educators, professionals and philanthropists from 48 states and 27 countries for BBYO's International Convention (IC) in Baltimore from Feb. 11 to Feb. 15. The teens heard from distinguished guest speakers and broke a Guiness World Record for the largest Shabbat dinner ever. IC served as a dynamic meeting place and real-world classroom providing...

  • Our Jewish Orlando holds first Shabbat potluck dinner

    Feb 26, 2016

    The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's Our Jewish Orlando (OJO) held its first-ever Shabbat Potluck on Feb. 12 at the home of Aleah Mathews. Seventeen young adults brought main dishes, appetizers, side dishes and desserts, and came together to celebrate Shabbat under the stars after a busy work week. "It was a fantastic evening with old and new friends enjoying a delicious meal together," said OJO Co-Chair Eric Sugarman. The event was organized by committee members Mathews and Lauren...

  • Havdalah for the animals

    Feb 26, 2016

    On Saturday night, Feb. 13, Temple Israel held a Havdalah service in honor of the members' four-legged friends. Under Jewish law, animals have some of the same rights as humans do. They rest on Shabbat; they are forbidden to be muzzled to prevent them from eating while working in the field, just like human workers who must be allowed to eat from the produce of their labor. Children and adults made pet toys and enjoyed a pet parade around the social hall. Toys were tested out on our playground...