Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)-"GI Jews: Jewish Americans in World War II" begins as many Holocaust documentaries do, with a history of the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany mixed with what is now standard archival footage of Brownshirts and Kristallnacht. Throw in interviews with some Jewish celebrities-in this case, Carl Reiner and his friend Mel Brooks wearing his old Army jacket-and it has all the workings of a typical PBS documentary. But the film, which premiered April 11, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Da...
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (JTA)-At a windswept harbor of this Nordic capital, a bearded man wearing a black hat dips eating utensils into the icy water while hissing from pain induced by the bitter cold. Perplexed by the spectacle, a caretaker helpfully offers to let the man and his three companions use a washing basin to clean their dishes instead of precariously bending over the freezing water. "Thank you, but we need to do it in the sea," one of the men, 27-year-old Avi Feldman of New York, tells...
Dori Gerber will join Michelle Zaltsberg as co-chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando has announced. The JCRC, a funded committee of the Federation, advocates on behalf of the Jewish community through government, education, media, and interfaith engagement. "Dori is a human ray of sunshine," said Zaltsberg, who is in her second year as JCRC co-chair and first year as the JCRC representative on the Federation's board of directors. "More...
Many in the American Jewish community are aware of two outstanding examples of individual courage, daring and initiative demonstrated by gentiles in the Holocaust. They are the German industrialist Oskar Schindler and the Swedish consul in Hungary, Raoul Wallenberg. Both have been the subject of films, memorial commemorations, and have had their likenesses portrayed on postage stamps, statues, and the honor of being celebrated at the Yad Vashem Institute in Israel. There are other individuals...
Tee it up for a good cause at the 6th annual Pavilion Golf Society golf tournament taking place Sunday, May 6, at the Rosen Shingle Creek Golf Club. Hosted by The Jewish Pavilion and benefiting the Orlando Senior Help Desk, this popular tournament offers golfers a mimosa breakfast followed by a round of golf on the resort's challenging Arnold Palmer-designed course. Following completion of the 18 holes, participants will be treated to a gourmet lunch and live auction. Registration costs $130...
The Congregation Ohev Shalom Sisterhood is presenting Mahjong Tournament 2018 on Sunday, April 29, from 11 a.m.—3:15 p.m. It will be held at the synagogue, located at 613 Concourse Parkway, South, Maitland. The cost is $36 and includes snacks and a hot lunch. There will be prizes and raffles. Beginners are welcome. To participate, please RSVP no later than Monday April 23 to Debbie Bellinkoff, 407-739-7130 (she will also give you her address to mail a check made out to COS Sisterhood). For questions, please contact Debbie or Es Cohen, 4...
Does anyone have a copy of the book “The Migden Families from Tarnopol and Allied Families” by Carl Richard Migden? Heritage received a phone call from Steven Migden who lives in New York and he is trying to find a copy of the book. It is not available on Amazon or Google any longer. It seems to be out of print, although it was written in 2001. Carl R. Migden is a resident of Central Florida but is no relation to Steven Migden. If you have any information about the book, please call the Heritage at 407-834-8787....
The Kinneret Council on Aging provided a Passover seder for the residents of Kinneret Apartments that was shared with family, friends and area youth. The seder was celebrated on the second night of Passover with over 50 participants. Partnering with the event was Central Florida Hillel, as well as KCOA staff and volunteers who provided table service that made each resident feel both special and appreciated. Dinner was provided by Kosher Central out of South Florida. "The seder provided our...
(JNS)—As American society has become more polarized in recent years, the debate over gun control has reflected this reality, with leaders and lawmakers on both sides firmly entrenched in their positions. Yet the recent school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 dead—14 of them teenagers—has transcended the usual debate on gun control as an entire new generation, fed up with violence in their schools, has launched a social movement for change. While school shootings seem to be a uniquely American phe...
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Zionist Organization of America has filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of President Donald Trump’s most recent ban on travel from a number of predominately Muslim countries. The group, which has been an outspoken supporter of many of Trump’s policies, in its brief said the action did not amount to a “Muslim ban” or violate the Constitution. On Wednesday, ZOA released a statement announcing its Feb. 28 filing of the brief. ZOA cited terror attacks by immigrants in Boston, San Bernardino, Orlando and Manha...
In a Twitter post on Wednesday, former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani stated that Israelis have a right to live in their own land, The Jerusalem Post reported. “...Israelis have a right to live in their land in peace and safety, this is my conviction. I’ve had this conviction for many long years, and I still do,” Hamad wrote in Arabic, the Post said. Hamad also called on Qatari leaders to improve its relationship with other countries in the region. “What we need now in our Gulf,” he said, “is to advise each other...
In an interview by Jeffrey Goldberg published Monday in The Atlantic, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Israelis have a right to their own land. Apparently pushing for a two-state solution, he said, “I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations.” Ties between Israel and the Gulf states have improved over the past year, triggered by the common Iranian threat. “We have religious conce...
(JNS)—Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman made history after telling The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg that his country recognized the right of the Jews to “their own land.” Though he added that the Saudis also care about the rights of Palestinians and the fate of “the holy mosque in Jerusalem,” the message he was sending to Muslims and Arabs was loud and clear. As far as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—the state that has styled itself the defender of Islamic holy places, and thus the self-styled moral leader of the Arab and Muslim worl...
The world has changed. Our needs have changed. Our vision of the future has changed. Schools haven’t been keeping up. If our children are our future, then the way we run our schools reflects our dreams for the future. There was an era when American parents dreamed of their children going to college, earning a good degree and supporting a family with all the good things America could provide. For that, all that was needed was a school that gave your kids that entry pass to college. Principally, your children needed information and the skills t...
(JNS)—The risk of the “March of Return,” organized by Hamas last Friday, is that of a new kind of mass terrorism, a new kind of war. The whole world knows that this organization’s foremost aim, together with the death of the Jews and the conquest of the West, is a strategic turn taking place with these mass marches. It’s a terrorist spark in the haystack of the Middle East. Yet the United Nations again blames Israel by engaging in its favorite sport—blaming Israel, even if it was unable to pass a condemnation this time. U.N. Secretary-G...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—All too often, when I ask campus organizations that are pro-Israel and deeply Zionist why they avoid using the “Z-word” in their messaging and literature, I’m told, “Zionism doesn’t poll well.” True, not polling well is one of today’s great sins. But imagine what our world would be like if our ancestors feared the polls. The American Revolution wouldn’t have polled well. Suggestions that Northerners crush slavery in 1860 wouldn’t have polled well. And proposing a new Jewish state in 1897 wouldn’t have polled well either. A...
Seventh-three years ago this week, three young men who were neighbors of my family, borrowed weapons from Soviet troops occupying post-war Poland, and returned to their hometown to escort the remaining Jews out of Kanczuga for the last time. The three young men had survived the war that ended three months earlier, but the anti-Semitism that fueled the Holocaust was alive and well. They had returned to Kanczuga because of threats of a pogrom, to murder the remaining surviving Jews who had returned to Kanczuga. The pogrom started a day before....
NEW YORK (JTA)—Engaging young people in their 20s and 30s, the so-called millennial generation, is a high priority for Jewish philanthropists. Some funders have banded together to create new initiatives, including free trips to Israel, with the express purpose of drawing members of this generation into Jewish life. Others have gravitated to the so-called innovation sector, supporting millennials who dream up new programs to entice their peers into some form of Jewish participation. But for all the energy and money expended on such programs, o...
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...
Amid uncertainty over the future direction of US policy in Syria, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley issued a stinging rebuke on Wednesday to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime over its continued use of chemical weapons. “We must not forget that while we sit here debating chemical weapons, there are people on the front lines in Syria who are facing the terrifying reality of those heinous weapons,” Haley declared at a meeting of the UN Security Council marking the first anniversary of the massacre at Khan Sheikhoun in northwestern Syria...
(JTA)-Lightning struck Zach Braff in 2001. The up-and-coming Jewish actor, who had appeared in a few films-perhaps most notably a small role in Woody Allen's "Manhattan Murder Mystery"-landed the lead role of John "J.D." Dorian in the hospital-based sitcom "Scrubs." Along the way to starring in 175 episodes of the show, which became one of the most beloved comedies of the 2000s, Braff wrote and directed "Garden State," released in 2004. The indie dramedy film, which also starred 23-year-old...
NEW YORK (JTA)—A new study will provide free testing for three mutations that substantially increase the risk for developing breast, ovarian and prostate cancer among people with Eastern European Jewish ancestry. The BRCA Founder Outreach Study (BFOR), which was launched last week, will test 4,000 men and women in four U.S. cities—New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Boston—for mutations in the BRCA gene that are more common among those with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Those who test positive for one of the mutations will receive genet...
My heart is broken... Everyone in Central Florida probably remembers the Pulse Nightclub shooting tragedy where so many precious lives were lost. My friend Eddie Sotomayor Jr. was the first to be shot that fate-filled day more than a year ago. (Seems like yesterday to me.) The NOOR SALMAN trial ended recently and she was found not guilty by the jury. (Life goes on... but not for my friend, Eddie.) Another tragic life lost... (Actually, six million lives lost.) I recently watched a rerun of the...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially canceled an agreement made with the United Nations that would have relocated thousands of African asylum seekers to Western countries. The cancellation on Tuesday afternoon came a day after the agreement was first announced and hours after the prime minister said he would freeze the deal in order to consult with members of his government coalition as well as the residents of southern Tel Aviv, where many of the migrants live. “In the past 24 hours, I have held many con...
(JTA)-In "7 Days in Entebbe," which hits theaters on Friday, Daniel Bruhl plays a German leftist terrorist tortured by the fact that he's hijacking a plane full of Jews and taking them prisoner. The movie, about the 1976 Israeli rescue operation that freed the mainly Jewish and Israeli hostages of a hijacked plane in Uganda, focuses on the conflicted experiences of the two Germans-played by Bruhl and Rosamund Pike-who allied with Palestinian terrorists to hijack the Paris-bound plane. Even as...
