Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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At 9:34pm Thursday, I got a strange message from my daughter in our family WhatsApp group. “For all those who asked, I am ok and alive.” Since nobody asked, her sarcasm coupled with a little fear were evident. I had been recording a podcast and didn’t know what she was talking about. None of us did. It seems that there was another terrorist attack, this time in central Tel Aviv. I hadn’t heard. Three people were injured, one shot in the neck and as of this writing in critical condition. One terrorist was killed on the spot but there are rep...
(JTA) — As a Roman Catholic in Warsaw during World War II, Jan Karski could easily have ignored the horrors unfolding behind the walls of the Jewish ghetto. Instead, as a member of the Polish Resistance, he donned a yellow Star of David and infiltrated the Warsaw Ghetto to report on what was happening to the Jews there. Karski’s reconnaissance in the ghetto and elsewhere provided the West with some of the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust. He even met with U.S. President Franklin D....
(JTA) - A new FBI report found that anti-Jewish incidents increased nearly 20% in 2021 relative to 2020, but decreased relative to prior years. The updated FBI statistics released Monday counted 817 anti-Jewish criminal offenses reported by local law enforcement agencies in 2021, up from 683 in 2020 - a year when people largely stayed off the streets for a substantial period due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 numbers, however, represent a 15% decline from 2019, when the FBI reported 963...
Israel’s Supreme Court rules in favor of ‘Utah Zoom weddings’ (JNS) — Israel’s Supreme Court rejected the state’s appeal against registering civil marriages performed online through the U.S. state of Utah. The ruling directs the Population and Immigration Authority within the Interior Ministry to register these marriages, which are generally conducted via Zoom or Skype, as an alternative to a religious ceremony conducted through the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. These “Utah marriages” became popular after a 2020 rule change in the U.S. state made...
(JTA) - The fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic is just days away, as players and fans across the globe prepare for two weeks of competition beginning on Wednesday. Jewish fans may remember that Israel took the WBC by storm in 2017, winning four straight games as an underdog and advancing to the second round before being eliminated by Japan. Team Israel is back for the 2023 WBC, with more current MLB talent on its roster than ever. It will also face its toughest competition yet. First...
(JTA) — Following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, federal regulators have shuttered Signature Bank, whose chairman, Scott Shay, is a major donor to Jewish causes. The New York-based bank was closed on Sunday, two days after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, stoking panic in the markets and assurances from President Joe Biden on Monday that the banking system was safe. Both Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank shut down because of depositor runs on their holdings. In Signature’s case, the run was triggered by concerns that the bank was o...
When Rachel Wojnilower was an undergraduate at American University in Washington, D.C., she did all kinds of activities with her Jewish sorority, Alpha Epsilon Phi. Now 36, Wojnilower has let most of them fade from memory. But in retrospect, one in particular stands out. That's because about five years after graduating, Wojnilower got married and underwent genetic testing along with her husband as they both prepared for future children. They were surprised when they each tested positive as...
(JTA) – With seven nominations for his most personal film ever, this could have been Steven Spielberg’s biggest year at the Academy Awards. But the hot-dog fingers had other plans. “The Fabelmans,” the director’s highly personal dramatization of his Jewish upbringing, didn’t win a single one of the Oscars it was nominated for Sunday night. Spielberg’s film lost out on the biggest categories, including best picture, director, actress, and original screenplay, all to the same movie: chaos-theory multiverse comedy “Everything Everywhere All...
