Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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In his first musical theater role, Eric Gutman's only lines were "Woof, woof." He was in the second grade and had been cast as Dorothy's dog Toto in his elementary school's version of "The Wizard of Oz." That's when Gutman realized that he loved to perform. After graduating from Western Michigan University with a degree in musical theater performance, Gutman began pursuing his dream-to perform on Broadway. And then, one day, while working a desk job, Gutman got the call: He would be part of the...
The Holocaust Center's immediate past president, Jeffrey Miller and his husband, Ted Maines, will receive this year's Kenneth F. Murrah, Esq. Award for Outstanding Philanthropist at the Association of Fundraising Professional's annual National Philanthropy Day breakfast, held on Nov. 18, at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes, located at 4012 Central Florida Parkway, Orlando. The breakfast and program begin at 8 a.m. Nominated by the Holocaust Center for their long-standing support, leadership...
The Rosen JCC has named Joel Berger as the executive director effective Nov. 14, 2016. Berger will be responsible for overseeing all operations of the Rosen JCC, including developing and executing strategic plans to grow JCC membership, programs, funding and facilities. Bonnie Rayman, who was the Rosen JCC's first executive director, resigned July 22 to move back to South Florida for a job opportunity and to be close to her family. Assistant Director Eric Lightman took over as interim executive...
Special to the Heritage Florida Jewish News First of two parts Just seven months after its launch, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando’s Campus 2020 campaign has raised more than $1 million in pledges and matching funds that will go toward eliminating the $4.5 million in debt carried by the Maitland Jewish Community Campus, which is owned and managed by the Federation. The goal of Campus 2020 is to retire the debt before Jan. 1, 2020, resulting in annual savings of more than $380,000 to the Jewish community. The campaign has been in its m...
One of the leaders in the fight against breast cancer is Dr. Tamar Peretz Yablonski, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, whose tenacity and determination to find a cure inspires her and countless others. "My parents always taught me to fight, to look on the bright side," Yablonski, director of Hadassah Medical Center's Sharett Institute of Oncology in Israel, told JNS.org. As Hadassah continues its important research work in finding a cure, the organization celebrates 20 years since its...
(JTA)-For years, I've told anyone who would listen that the Cubs were the team of the Jews. I've written two blog posts about it during the past month alone. Long suffering. Faithful. Bound to tradition. Hoping for redemption, to no avail. It was all there. Until now. For the first time since my great-grandfather's bar mitzvah, the Cubs are World Series champions. So as I was leaping around my living room at 12:30 this morning shrieking in joy, an uncomfortable thought passed through my head:...
At every stage in life people are asking the same questions. What do I want to do for the rest of my life? And how do I get there? Young adults in their 20s are looking for a career that will make them feel fulfilled. Those in their 30s to 50s may be unsatisfied with their current career or think they could do better. Those who are 60 or older are thinking about an encore career-something meaningful to do after they cut back or retire. At some point, people begin to realize that there is more...
The Blue Card, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding Holocaust survivors in the United States, is hoping to spread awareness of the many living survivors who are still in need of help. As the anniversary of Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass,” came on November 9 to 10, it should be noted that of the approximately 100,000 Holocaust survivors living in the United States today, around one-third live at or below the poverty line. It is estimated that 61 percent of the Holocaust survivors living at the poverty line live on...
The Holocaust Center's "I Remember" series continues with Pierre Haskelson on Sunday, Nov. 20, at 2 p.m. Pierre was born in Paris, France. His family owned a cutlery business producing the silver chemical finish for silverware. In addition to being a businessman, Pierre's father Jacques was also a member of the French army. When Jacque s was ordered to report to southern border to defend against the German invasion, he and his wife made an escape plan. Pierre was five when his mother and...
You probably haven’t heard of Karlheinz Kopf. He’s one of three Austrian politicians currently sharing that country’s presidency following the departure of the previous incumbent in July. Kopf just returned to Vienna from Iran, where he distinguished himself by calling on the United States to ditch those sanctions against the Tehran regime that have remained in place since the Iran nuclear deal was signed last year. And that wasn’t the half of it. Frankly, Kopf’s statements during his visit might have been drafted by his Iranian hosts. As...
My father, Haim Hendrick Roet, a Holocaust survivor from the Netherlands, addressed the United Nations General Assembly in January, during its annual Holocaust memorial ceremony with this poignant cri de coeur: “Looking back 70 years,” he said, “it is heartbreaking that as a world, we did not learn enough from the Holocaust.” Eight months later, speaking from the same U.N. podium, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani embodied all that my father had decried, demonstrating once again that Iran failed to learn past lessons. “Zionist pressure groups,...
We don’t live in a world of clear contrasts, whether we call them blacks and whites, or good and evil. Israel’s relations with its neighbors have evolved over the course of 70 years to something that is far more subtle and nuanced than what is expressed by intense nationalists or far leftists here, Arabs or Palestinians of various shades, or by overseas friends and antagonists, each with their favorite solution. We should start from the realization that there is no solution. Peace is not on our doorstep, no matter what we do. There is no cha...
In one of the immortal lines of “Godfather 2,” mafia boss Michael Corleone discusses the fate of his brother, who betrayed him, with his enforcer. “I don’t want anything to happen to him while my mother is alive,” Corleone said. Message received. The brother was murdered after their mother’s funeral. Last week it was reported that the Obama administration has delivered a message to the Palestinian Authority. The administration has warned the PA that the U.S. will veto any anti-Israel resolution brought before the UN Security Council bef...
WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA)—At a summit meeting held last week at the National Museum of American Jewish History, several hundred communal professionals, rabbis, scholars, philanthropists and young intermarried couples gathered to discuss engagement of interfaith families in Jewish life. There is widespread communal agreement that intermarriage has reshaped the landscape of American Jewish life, but a lack of consensus regarding how best to respond to this development. At the forefront of the controversy has been rabbinic officiation at intermarriage...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) 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 I...
Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic are the authors of "The Whole Spiel: Funny essays about digital nudniks, seder selfies and chicken soup memories," from which this excerpt is taken. When you want another piece of that delicious noodle pudding, do you ask for kugel (COO-gul) or kigel (KEE-gul)? How you pronounce it is a clue to where your ancestors came from. Galitzianers called it kigel and preferred it sweet. They came from southeastern Poland and the western Ukraine, which included the cities...
CHICAGO (JTA)-The same week Tamar Manasseh's African-American son was going to become a bar mitzvah, gang violence killed two 13-year-old black boys who were also from Chicago's South Side. As she picked out the bar mitzvah suit for her son, Manasseh couldn't shake the image of the slain boys' mothers, who were likely also picking out suits-for their sons to be buried in. Manasseh, a lifelong Chicagoan who attended Jewish day school and is now studying to be a rabbi, has always been proud to be...
Robert Lewin Dorman, son of Brian and Amy Dorman of Longwood, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Nov. 19, 2016, at Congregation Beth Am in Longwood. Robert is in seventh grade at Sanford Middle School where he is an excellent student. His favorite classes include aeronautics and civics. When Robert is not watching NASCAR races, he can be found on the soccer field, watching Shark Tank or playing NASCAR video games. Since Robert is obsessed with NASCAR, specifically Jeff Gordon, it...
Marc Homburger Jacobs, son of Dr. Eve Homburger and Brad Jacobs of Maitland, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Friday, Nov. 18, 2016, and Saturday, Nov.19, 2016, at Congregation Ohev Shalom in Maitland. Marc is in the seventh grade at Milwee Middle School in their pre- engineering Magnet Program, where he is a member of the BETA Club, Engineering Club, secretary of the Optimist Club, and plays in Jazz Band as well as Symphonic Band. Marc is a Boy Scout and enjoys reading, playing...
Orly Waisman and Dr. David Adam Diamond are to be married Nov. 13, 2016, at Young Israel of Bal Harbour in Bal Harbour, Fla. Rabbi Sholom Ber Dubov of Chabad of Greater Orlando and Rabbi Isur Dovid Silverman of Chabad of Harbor Islands will officiate. The bride-elect previously worked in interior design and management while residing in Panama. She graduated from the Moral Y Luces Herzl-Bialik School in Caracas and received her bachelor's degree in industrial design and marketing from the...
Today is Veteran's Day... I am the proud widow of a Korean War Army veteran who was buried with full military honors at the National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida. I am the proud mother of a Lt. Commander in the Navy who also served in the Army for many years, including a tour in Iraq during the worst of it. I am also the proud mother of a psychologist who worked with Navy recruits at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois. And I am the proud mother of a third son who served in the Navy on a...
Many thanks to volunteers, Judy Suberman and Susie and Mark Stone, for leading the prayers and songs of the holidays. Suberman enjoys teaching the Jewish customs to all of the residents and expanding their awareness of the meaning of the prayers. Susie Stone sure can blow shofar and bring a smile to all. The staff of Atria Park Senior Living are to be commended for their support and participation in Jewish Pavilion programming. Let's meet under the Sukkah again next year!...
Thanksgiving in grade school was always about the same each year. We'd make a turkey by tracing the shape of our hands on brown construction paper (I can still picture the thumb as the head, with the other fingers spread out as tail feathers), then we'd go around in a circle and say something we were grateful for. I recall being thankful for my family, my bike, weekends with NO homework, and later my new Atari game. Even back then, I always wondered, what about those other 364 days a year?...
Christine DeSouza, news editor at the Heritage Florida Jewish News, was awarded first place in the Arts, Entertainment & Review Reporting category of the 2015 Florida Press Association's Better Weekly Newspaper Contest. DeSouza received the award for her review of Bethanne Weiss' book "Move Your Assets: From the Chair, Not the Bank!"-headline title: "Inspiring book gets readers off their 'soft seat' and on to their 'zany feet.'" The Heritage has received 45 FPA awards-two first place...
There are more than 2,000 homeless families and individuals in the city of Gainesville, and just a few short weeks ago, UF Hillel in collaboration with Jewish Student Union, celebrated the Jewish holiday of Sukkot by making bagged meals to help feed the hungry and the homeless at Gainesville's local shelter, St. Francis House. UF Hillel started off the holiday season by giving back to the community they call home with an event called 'Harvest For The Hungry'. With an influx of volunteers,...
