Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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A Thank You to German Chancellor... "World Jewish Congress president Ambassadåor RONALD S. LAUDER met recently with German Chancellor ANGELA MERKEL at the site of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp and thanked her for announcing that Germany is committing $66 million to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation to support preservation of the memorial site. (Millions of dollars for each murdered Jew? NOT ENOUGH! NOT EVEN BILLIONS WOULD BE ENOUGH! Am I bitter? I suppose...
Bringing new life to hamantaschen was a challenge. People are dead set on their favorite flavors like classic poppy seed and apricot. Of course, newer directions such as Nutella and rainbow funfetti are a big hit with the kids, but reinventing the grown-up hamantaschen into a decadent cookie you actually crave was very important to me. Then it hit me: alfajores! Alfajores are an incredibly decadent sandwich cookie filled with dulce de leche, a caramel-like spread made from condensed milk. The...
Jewish Academy of Orlando second-graders raised funds in the grade's annual Fun Run to benefit a Habitat for Humanity house. The students later visited the house and presented the check to the organization. The annual program at JAO begins with a cross-curricular study of economics. Students learn about the three basic human needs: food, clothing, and shelter, while also learning the differences between a want and a need. They build their own model houses and conduct a Fun Run to raise money to...
By Marilyn Shapiro Purim is around the corner, and not far behind are costumes and dancing and Purim shpiels and groggers and hamantashen. And, for some, alcohol. According to the Talmud, it is one's duty, to "make oneself fragrant [with wine] on Purim until one cannot tell the difference between Haman and Mordecai." (Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 7b). On this one holiday, alcohol is not the most important element, but many imbibe. As explained by writer Tvi Freeman, Purim is not about drinking....
No successful event is ever accomplished alone. It takes organization and attention to every detail. The Jewish Pavilion Fashion Show held on Feb. 26 was one of those well-coordinated events. Honoree Penny Goldstein and her husband, Steven, sponsored a beautifully presented breakfast from Bagel King. Dillard's went beyond expectations creating an extraordinary gift bag for Jewish Pavilion Pearls members filled with fabulous gifts and an exclusive invitation to a make-up demonstration in April. The models said it was the best experience they...
With costumes, spiels and lots of drinking, Purim, which starts at sundown on Monday, March 9, is one of Judaism's most raucous holidays. You might know about beautiful Esther thwarting evil Haman's plans, the custom of getting drunk and what hamantaschen are. But we're guessing there's a few things about this holiday that might surprise you. 1. Esther was a vegetarian (or at least a flexitarian). According to midrash, while Queen Esther lived in the court of King Ahasuerus, she followed a...
The Heritage staff-left to right, Jeff Gaeser, Christine DeSouza, Kim Fischer, Paulette Alfonso (in red mask), David Lehman and (kneeling in front) Gil Dombrosky (not in the picture are Ruth Sandweiss and Joyce Gore)-wishes everyone a safe and happy Purim holiday, celebrated on the 14th and 15th of Adar (March 10-11). (The celebration is real, the picture is not. But if any Heritage readers know who this photo is really of, we'd love to know!)...
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (JTA)-Two months after his wife was murdered in the attack on this city's only kosher grocery store, owner Moshe Ferencz was back behind the counter this week. The store, which has partially reopened in a new location, still doesn't have regular hours. But the reopening signals an important moment for Jersey City's small but growing community of Orthodox Jews. "Everyone was shocked beyond belief," said Chesky Deutsch, a member of the local Hasidic community who acts as an...
When Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis was sworn in to Washington's Supreme Court earlier this month, she became the second Native American person to serve on a state Supreme Court. "This was never something I really planned on or expected to happen," Montoya-Lewis tells Kveller via phone from her offices in Olympia. Upon hearing of her appointment by Gov. Jay Inslee, her reaction was "disbelief," she says. You see, Montoya-Lewis never intended to be a lawyer or a judge. "My intention when I went to...
MIAMI BEACH (JTA)-Palm trees line the entrance to the Cuban Hebrew Congregation, where on a recent Saturday morning, about a dozen elderly people gathered for services. Congregants greeted each other in Spanish inside the building, whose Western facade features an impressive Gaudi-esque wall with irregularly shaped stained glass windows. At the front of the sanctuary, the flag of Cuba hung from a pole beside those of Israel and the United States. Cuban Jews founded this congregation in 1961 as i...
This is a developing story. NEW YORK (JTA)—More than 50 Jewish community centers in 23 states have received emailed bomb threats since Saturday. None of the threats have been found to be credible, though local law enforcement agencies have been notified. Officials do not know who sent the threats. They targeted Jewish community centers in New York, New Jersey, California, Texas and elsewhere throughout the country. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned from officials familiar with the threats that most of the JCCs affected received identica...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Fans of mainstream Jewish music may find Nissim Black's latest single "Mothaland Bounce" jarring and alien, but they're just not listening with an ear to the rhythm of Jewish history. Set against the aural backdrop of an African basso profundo beat, and framed by scenes of gritty urban blight, the popular African-American-Israeli Hasidic artist boldly intones his rap-staccato credo in a manner that's hard to square with his woolen tzitzit, long Polish bekishe and towering shtreime...
The first ‘Harry Potter’ book is now available in Yiddish By Gabe Friedman (JTA)—As of today, the first book in the Harry Potter series is available in Yiddish. “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”—or “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” as it is known in the United States—was released in Yiddish by the Swedish publisher Olniansky Tekst Farlag on Friday. (Yiddish is an official language in Sweden.) It was translated by Arun Viswanath, 29, the son of an Indian-American father and Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, author of the “Comprehensive...
(JNS)-The University of California San Diego has announced a gift of more than $1.3 million from the Koret Foundation to support joint research on marine archaeology between UC San Diego's Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology and the University of Haifa's Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies in Israel. The three-year award will facilitate scientific exploration of coastal environments in Israel, which offer the most sensitive deep-time records for how humans have adapted to climate and...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-"Where's the Chagall?" asked a visitor to this city's Gordon Gallery on a January morning in 1996, hoping to glimpse one of the prize lots being auctioned days later by the gallery. The painting, titled "Jacob's Ladder," was prominently on display, but still a gallery employee walked the prospective buyer over. When they arrived at the work's designated spot on the wall, all that remained was a bent nail. The Chagall was gone. For nearly two decades, the painting remained...
NEW YORK (JTA)—A delegation of members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations visited Saudi Arabia last week, a first for the umbrella body for U.S. Jews, and a move believed to be the first official visit to the kingdom by an American Jewish organization since 1993. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned that the visit from Monday to Thursday included meetings with senior Saudi officials as well as with Mohammed al-Issa, the secretary-general of the Muslim World League who recently led a delegation to A...
