Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 33
(JNS) - Kibbutz Nir Oz announced early Saturday morning that resident Shiri Bibas was murdered while held captive in Gaza, after Hamas said it returned her body to Israel late the previous night. "With pain and deep sorrow, Kibbutz Nir Oz announces the murder of Shiri Bibas, may her memory be a blessing, who was kidnapped from her home," according to a statement from the community. On Thursday, Hamas returned the bodies of the Bibas children, Kfir and Ariel, along with that of octogenarian Oded...
In March 2014, RAISE (Recognizing Abilities and Inclusion of Special Employees), a Federation of Greater Orlando program, was launched with five employees who worked part-time, two days a week for three hours at The Roth Family JCC and JFS Orlando. Ten years later, RAISE launched its program in Teaneck, New Jersey, which is now beginning its second year with four employees, and this year RAISE officially launched at Shalom Orlando in Austin, Texas. Interestingly, the launch is during Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month....
(JNS) - Israel on Saturday, Feb. 22, redeemed six living hostages from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip: Eliya Cohen, 27, Avera Mengistu, 39, Hisham al-Sayed, 36, Omer Shem Tov, 22, Tal Shoham, 40, and Omer Wenkert, 23. Cohen, Shem Tov, Shoham and Wenkert were all abducted during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, while Mengistu and al-Sayed were taken captive over a decade ago. During the release of the hostages, Israeli hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David were forced to watch...
(JNS) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night ordered the military to conduct a "massive" counter-terrorism operation in Judea and Samaria, after three buses exploded near Tel Aviv and bombs were found on two others in what is being investigated as a coordinated attack. Netanyahu also instructed the Israel Security Agency and Israel Police to step up "preventive activities" against possible additional attacks across the country. Following a situational assessment on...
People with Alzheimer’s disease can be especially vulnerable during disasters such as severe weather, fires, floods, earthquakes, and other emergency situations. It is important for caregivers to have a disaster plan that includes the special needs of people with Alzheimer’s or other forms or dementia, whose impairments in memory and reasoning severely limit their ability to act appropriately in crises. In general, you should prepare to meet the needs of your family for 3 to 7 days, including having supplies and backup options if you lose bas...
Shalom Orlando Come in costume to the Orlando Solar Bears hockey game on March 9. The Solar Bears will take on the Greenville Swamp Rabbits at the Kia Center, 3 p.m. Schedule of events include: 1:30 – 2:50 p.m., snacks and children's activities; 2 p.m., doors open, 3 p.m. the game begins, and at 5:40 p.m. the Jewish Academy of Orlando Choir will perform and there will be a parade on the ice. Tickets are $22 each. For more information email Zipporah.Hruby@shalomorlando.org. Southwest Orlando J...
Every Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. fresh Challah is available for purchase (only $10 each) in the JCC lobby and on Wednesday evenings from 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. in the Congregation Ohev Shalom lobby. The Challah is made by RAISE employees taught by Ben Breslauer from B&K Bakery. RAISE n’ Challah is mission driven to provide meaningful work experiences to adults with disabilities. The Challah may also be pre-ordered. If you have any questions or issues with pre-ordering, contact Robin Merkel at 407-621-4036 or robin.merkel@Shalom...
(JNS) — It is for Israel to decide whether to resume the war in Gaza or continue into the second round of talks with Hamas to free more hostages, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 21. Asked by Brian Kilmeade on Fox News whether he was “okay either way,” Trump answered, “I am.” Hamas is “so violent and vicious,” the president continued, “it’s a decision that has to be made; it’s a rough decision. One group [of hostages] came in so bad, it looked like [they came out of] a concentration camp in Germany,” Trump said in reference to Eli Shar...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — French fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent has ignited a firestorm of controversy by selecting Palestinian rapper Marwan Abdelhamid, notorious for his antisemitic statements, as the face of its latest restaurant campaign. This has prompted calls for a boycott from Jewish organizations and customers worldwide. Abdelhamid is known by his stage name Saint Levant. YSL’s new campaign, which debuted Monday evening, promotes “Saint Laurent Sushi Park,” the brand’s new Japanese dining venture in Paris, developed in partnersh...
(JNS) — The nation’s chief law enforcement officer threatened Thursday to expel foreign students engaging in antisemitic protests on college campuses. “All of our students deserve to be safe,” Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, said at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 20. “These students, who are here on visas who are threatening our American students, need to be kicked out of this country,” Bondi added. Many college campuses erupted in protests...
(JNS) — The American comedian Jerry Seinfeld swiftly shot down an anti-Israel activist telling him he doesn’t “care about Palestine” when the online personality attempted to ambush him this weekend with a video, according to a clip posted on social media on Sunday. Instagram provocateur “Subway DJ” requested a selfie with Seinfeld outside an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live.” “Free Palestine,” the activist then said as he flashed a peace sign in the selfie with Seinfeld in the backdrop as the video rolled. “Mayb...
(JNS) — “O God, do not be silent; hold not Thy peace, and be not still,” IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Krim prayed the words of Psalm 83 over the bodies of two murdered children, their mother and an old man, in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Hamas and PLO terrorists had mockingly paraded their coffins to the cheers and jeers of Muslim men, women and children occupying Gaza while upbeat music played, they had mixed up the bodies, locked the boxes and then attached keys that did not work. After inspecting the coffins for explosives, Israel had c...
(JNS) — As the State of Israel stands on the brink of a fateful decision with historic geopolitical implications, some might argue that it’s a decision as significant as the 1947 U.N. Partition Plan. For the first time since the Simchat Torah massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, a bold idea has been put forth that offers a real, feasible and long-term solution to the chronic problem known as Gaza. U.S. President Donald Trump announced an emigration or “relocation” plan earlier this month for Palestinian residents in the Gaza Strip. He argued that war-tor...
President Trump’s recent statements about Gaza have raised many questions: What will be in Gaza? Who will be in control? Who will rebuild? Where will Gazans live? Who will be responsible for ensuring that neither the physical terrorist infrastructure that Hamas built, nor the genocidal Islamic ideology that it represents, will ever threaten Israel, or the well-being of Gaza’s Palestinian Arabs? Trump’s discussion of evacuating Gazans and U.S. controlling Gaza have received wide celebration and criticism. Whether these were meant as a negot...
(JNS) — What kind of a liberation movement purposely, with malice aforethought, murders a 9-month-old infant, a 4-year-old toddler and their terrorized mother? What kind of world praises Hamas’s atrocities? How “civilized” can people in the civilized West be if, in response to the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, they continue to support the rape, torture, murder and kidnapping of civilians from southern Israel? Or, just hours after Hamas announced that it would be returning the corpses of the Bibas children and their mother,...
(JNS) — On Oct. 6, 1943, Heinrich Himmler delivered a chilling speech to Nazi leaders justifying the murder of Jewish children. Eighty years later, on Oct. 6, 2023, Hamas senior leader Yahya Sinwar reportedly issued a similarly horrific order to his followers — not only to kill Jewish children but to kidnap them. This stark parallel underscores the persistent and brutal nature of antisemitic violence, revealing its continued threat in the modern era. In his speech, Himmler rationalized the mass murder of Jewish families, stating: “I would...
(JTA) — Most American Jewish adults are altering their behavior due to fears of antisemitism, according to a new survey commissioned by the American Jewish Committee and published Tuesday. When asked in late 2024, about 56 percent of respondents said they changed their behavior in the preceding 12 months, up from 46 percent in 2023 and 38 percent in 2022. This figure includes respondents who said they avoided wearing clothing or displaying items that might identify them as Jewish, such as Stars of David; chose not to post content on social m...
MORNING MINYANS 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 Israel — Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - The family of Hamas hostages Gali and Ziv Berman has received the first sign of life from the twin brothers in nearly 500 days. The brothers were abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023, along with Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Amit Soussana, who have since been freed. "On one hand, we can breathe a little easier, but we also know whose hands they are in and the grave danger to their lives," said the twins' aunt, Makabit Meyer. "They are alive, and we must...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Intelligence gathered from hostages released from Gaza suggests Alon Ohel, 24, abducted from the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, may lose his vision. According to information disclosed Sunday morning on Kan Reshet Bet radio, reports from captives freed from Gaza indicate Ohel has sustained shrapnel injuries to an eye and can’t even detect shadows with it. Medical sources indicate that based on survivor testimonies, he risks losing vision in both eyes. As discussions continue over the future of the hostage/ceas...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - The purported remains of Oded Lifshitz, 84, one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz, were returned to Israel on Thursday, as part of the first phase of the hostage deal after his death has been all but confirmed a day earlier. Lifshitz was abducted from his home during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack alongside his wife, Yocheved. The body was handed over to Israel on Feb. 19 as part of the latest swap in the hostage deal with Hamas, after which confirmation of its identity...
(JTA) - The oldest hostage in Gaza is not alive, Israeli authorities announced on Tuesday. Shlomo Mantzur was killed 16 months ago, during Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body was taken to Gaza, Israeli officials said they determined after assessing intelligence data gathered in recent months. He was 85 at the time and is survived by a wife, five children and 12 grandchildren. Mantzur, who moved to Israel as a child after his family fled their native Iraq following the 1941...
By Alan Zeitlin (JNS) - The Oscars ceremony at the annual Academy Awards in Hollywood has offered some drama of its own these past few years. There was Will Smith, who slapped the show's host, fellow actor and comedian Chris Rock, on stage. There was last year's British director Jonathan Glazer, who in his speech in accepting the Oscar for Best International Feature Film for "The Zone of Interest" proclaimed a "refute" of his Jewishness, citing the "Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip" as his...
