Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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TEL AVIV (JTA) — When Yityish Aynaw immigrated from Ethiopia to Israel at age 12, she was thrust into an Israeli classroom. An orphan lacking Hebrew skills, Aynaw says she relied on other kids and her own sheer ambition to get through. Ten years later Aynaw, 22, is the first Ethiopian-Israeli to be crowned Miss Israel—a title she hopes to use to showcase Israel’s diversity. “Israel really accepts everybody,” she told JTA. “That I was chosen proves it.” Ethiopian and other African-Israe...
A national anthem written more than 50 years before the birth of the state for which it was composed, “Hatikvah” has served as a source of hope and inspiration for Jews who have found themselves in the most dire of circumstances. During the darkest hours of the Holocaust, Jews defied their tormentors by singing the song’s powerful lyrics. Filip Muller was a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz—a Jewish slave laborer who was kept alive because he helped take corpses from the gas chambers to the crematoria...
Growing up in Montclair, N.J., Jason Klein found a role model in Rabbi Perry Rank of Congregation Shomrei Emunah. “He really had a way that was very charismatic and warm and connected with children and adults,” said Klein. “I always looked forward to events at the synagogue.” Now a rabbi himself, Klein is thinking a lot about role models these days. Earlier this month, he was elected president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, making him the public face of the youngest of Judaism...
WINTER PARK—The City of Winter Park and the Multifaith Education Project announced the 10th annual Trees for Peace Interfaith Tree Planting Project, Tuesday, April 9, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, 1050 W. Morse Blvd. Mayor Kenneth Bradley will begin the ceremony at 11:30 a.m. and the program will be led by Louise Franklin Sheehy, director of the Multifaith Education Project. Over 100 Christian, Jewish and Muslim students and faculty, representing The Geneva Christian School, The Jewish Academy and The Leaders Preparatory School, will join to...
BERLIN (JTA)—I was 23 when I first met my cousin Gilbert Michlin. He was sitting at a brasserie near his office in Paris wearing a dark suit with a folded handkerchief poking out of the breast pocket. His short, dark hair was perfectly combed. He said, in charmingly accented English, “There is one thing I must tell you: I was in Auschwitz.” Of course, I already knew. But I had never met a survivor before, let alone our French cousin, who had been a slave laborer for Siemens at the death camp....
Journalist Steven Pressman first learned of the 50 children rescued by Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus in 2002 from his wife Liz Perle, the Krauses’ granddaughter, who had possession of a formerly hidden and unpublished manuscript written by Eleanor decades earlier. That manuscript spelled out in detail the Krauses’ mission to rescue Jewish children shortly before the outbreak of World War II, launching Pressman on an extensive quest for more information that took him to Europe and to archives in Jer...
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—In a dark glass building here, Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter shows that his memory is crystal clear and his voice is strong. His responses seem a bit delayed—not that different from other survivors I have known who are reluctant to speak openly about their experiences—but he’s doing just fine for a 3-D image. In the offices of USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies, Gutter, who as a teenager had survived Majdanek, the German Nazi concentration camp on the outskirts...
Heritage Florida Jewish News is accepting nominations for the 2013 Heritage Human Service Award, which will be presented in August at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. “For more than 25 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, time, energy, and effort to the Central Florida community have been honored with the selection and presentation of this award,” says Jeff Gaeser, editor and publisher of the Heritage. Last year’s recipient was Dr. Zena Sulkes. The Heritage is accep...
Rabbi Joshua Neely of Temple Israel continues his series of community discussions entitled, “Conversations With the Rabbi,” at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 14 at the SoNapa Grille. This month’s topic is “Israel’s New Government: Where Do We Go From Here?” After many weeks of wrangling and wrestling, Israel has a new governing coalition under Prime Minister Netanyahu. The politics behind this radically different government have surprised many. Temple Israel invites everyone to find out what happened and to discuss what may happen next. No RSVP is nec...
Music directly accesses the emotional part of the brain. Music is a language that hearts and souls can speak. The holidays are a time when individuals want to get into an emotional and spiritual frame of mind and these songs unlock something inside. For seniors in long term care, hearing tunes from the 1930’s as well as Yiddish and Jewish music brings back fabulous memories of their youth. They love the music because they love the memories. The songs remind them of family, childhood, a time w...
The 11th annual Youth Theatre production of Congregation Ohev Shalom is “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” It will be performed at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 14 and 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, April 17 at Congregation Ohev Shalom, 613 Concourse Parkway S. in Maitland. The show performed by 41 4th-12th graders retells the story of Joseph, portrayed by Yoni Robuck, the favorite son of Jacob, portrayed by Alex Andino, being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers Joseph eventually rises to pow...
Some months back, Charles and Roz Schwartz were coming home from a trip to Israel when they found themselves surrounded by young adults who were returning from a Birthright Israel mission. Charles was smitten, instantly enamored, impressed with the enthusiasm every single one of the young men and women expressed. By the time he got off the plane, he’d made a vow to himself to help Birthright in some way. For those of you who don’t know, Birthright Israel began with a simple, if bold con...
We did not intend to flee Jerusalem when the great man arrived, but we saw no reason to change our plans when we heard about his trip. On the basis of previous presidential visits, we knew that the city would be dysfunctional. Our visit to Greece provided insights into the functioning of empires, even if it kept us away from the flood of interpretations about what Obama said and did not say None the less, it is possible to conclude from a number of sources about as much as it is possible to know at this point. At least to some extent, the...
As we mark Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) on April 8 for the 60th consecutive year—this somber day was first placed onto the Jewish calendar in 1953, at the instigation of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion—we again ask ourselves a deceptively simple question: Why do we still remember the 6 million Jews who perished in the Nazi Holocaust, along with millions of others? There is no better day than Yom HaShoah to explore these issues. Unlike the various other Holocaust Memorial Days that take place during the year, most...
There is a narrative that has been gaining adherents in America, that it is within Israel’s control to make peace with the Palestinians. If only it were so. The story says that the issue is territorial, and the “occupation” and/or settlements are the root cause of the conflict. Unfortunately it is the Palestinians who need to be confronted with a reality check. The same people, who feel that Israel can magically create peace by itself, also feel that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is a man Israel can trust and is a partner for p...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Three weeks ago, JTA reported on a new alliance between Jewish leaders and domestic gas and oil companies. Called the Council for a Secure America, the alliance is based on a “common interest” between American Jews and domestic energy companies to “increase domestic oil and gas production and to decrease U.S. reliance on imported oil from the Middle East,” the report said. But the alliance represents neither the Jewish community nor its interests. To say that reducing our dependence on foreign oil is our No. 1 priority is not onl...
Every now and then I like to take a break from dissecting the Jewish world’s problems and solving the Middle East crisis by writing a humor piece. I can’t remember the serious columns I write from one week to the next, but I’ll never forget having compared the Muslim Brotherhood with the Temple Brotherhood, or having composed the award-winning poem “I’m a Jew Who Went to State School and I Don’t Care What You Think.” I write a lot of humor for my blog, JustASC; this week I had fun with President Obama’s visit to Israel and wrote a respons...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 a.m. 407-354-3660. Congregation Ahavas Yisrael—Monday - Friday, 7 a.m.; Sunday, 8 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., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, APRIL 5 Light Shabbat candles at 7:27...
Robert Kaplan, seventh grader and July Crawford, third grader, join together to lead Adon Olam for close to 40 residents at the weekly Shabbat service. Kaplan was recently a bar mitzvah at Congregation Ohev Shalom and chooses to continue his involvement in the community by volunteering with the Jewish Pavilion. He led the service along with the assistance of Crawford who sang a delightful arrangement of familiar songs for all join in. Crawford is shown here serving Passover candies and...
“You could literally feel the warmth and joy in the room” at the first Shabbat service conducted by the Jewish Pavilion at the Mayflower says Judy Procell, program director. “The residents continuously told me how happy they were to be able to celebrate Shabbat in their independent living community among their friends. “Sydney Meyer commented that this was the first time he was able to say kaddish for his wife who recently passed.” “While many residents in independent living belong to a synago...
More than 200 guests attended the recent Kinneret Council on Aging’s 2013 8 over 80 Honorary Dinner at Kinneret Apartments to honor Claire Mercer; Anita Hara; John Lowndes; Bunny Rosen; Gloria Newberger; Madeline Wolly; Irv Shargaa; Charlotte Rotenberg. This event was the largest fundraiser held at Kinneret since the Gala began more than 12 years ago. “This event was so warm and inclusive,” said Faye Novick, Kinneret Council on Aging vice president and event chairwoman. “It was a true communi...
See something? Say something… This saying really doesn’t apply here… but if the following email (or photo) I recently received, rings a bell in any way… do say something to someone, please. Especially, contact HANAN SHOMRONY via the email address below: “My name is Hanan Shomrony and I’m searching for my brother. He was born in 1946 , his parents’ first born, in Europe after the Second World War. In 1949, when he was 2 ½ years old, he and his parents made aliya to Zfat in Israel. He was hospita...
The foreign policy positions of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), which have already generated some concern in the Jewish community, might remain a topic of debate among Jews for another several years after poll results indicating that he will be a significant factor in the 2016 presidential race. Rand Paul—the son of 2012 presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)—in mid-March won a presidential straw poll of 3,000 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) participants, edging U.S. Sen. M...
VANCOUVER, Canada (JTA)—When Austrian and German Jews escaped Nazism by fleeing to Britain during the 1930s, the last thing they expected was to find themselves prisoners in Canada, interred in camps with some of the same Nazis they had tried to escape back home. But that’s what happened to some 7,000 European Jews and “Category A” prisoners—the most dangerous prisoners of war—who arrived on Canadian shores in 1940. Fearing a German invasion, Britain had asked its colonies to take some German...
A generation ago, kids Matt Nadel’s age would be content collecting baseball cards. But in 2013 Matt is making baseball news. Making and reporting it. At 14, Matt is the youngest “pro blogger” on MLB.com, writing not about his favorite contemporary players, or even those his dad, Steve, followed as a kid, but back to the days of Ruth, Cobb and Mathewson. “It gives me a much more thrilling feeling to study the background and history of the game,” said Matt, an eighth-grader at Golda Och Academy in West Orange, N.J. who lives in Springfie...
