Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 28
(JNS) - The U.S. Senate voted 53-46 on April 9 to confirm Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, to be U.S. ambassador to Israel. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the lone Democrat to back Huckabee, who has mounted two presidential campaigns since leaving office, and has been a TV and radio host since 2008. Every Republican voted to confirm Huckabee except Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who did not vote. Ahead of the vote, Republicans said that Huckabee would be a more pro-Israel diplo...
Several years ago, Mark Stone had the idea to walk across America to raise awareness of the need in America for more people to give blood. Now, a few years later, Stone is revisiting this idea with a lot of more vigor. As a representative of Congregation Ohev Shalom’s Men’s Club, he ran three Blood Drives a year for 25 years. He doesn’t just encourage others to give blood, he himself is a dedicated blood giver. As of a few weeks ago, he donated his 88th pint of blood, making him an 11 Gallon Donor. Why is he so concerned about blood? He and h...
(JTA) - Florida's Todd Golden became the first Jewish coach in 37 years to win March Madness, the NCAA men's basketball tournament, since 1988. The Gators edged Houston 65-63 in the final on Monday night. Golden's championship capped an especially Jewish- and Israeli-inflected Final Four. Along with Florida, Duke and Auburn were coached, respectively, by Jon Scheyer and Bruce Pearl, both of whom are Jewish. Houston player Emanuel Sharp is the son of longtime Maccabi Tel Aviv player Derrick...
On Wednesday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m., Chabad of North Orlando is honored to host Irving Locker at Nate's Shul ,1701 Markham Woods Road in Longwood, for a special presentation of his remarkable journey. This event is an opportunity to hear firsthand from a true hero who has spent his life ensuring that the sacrifices of the greatest generation are never forgotten. Irving Locker, a name synonymous with courage and resilience, was one of the 156,000 soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on...
It all started when Russell Kropp, a student at Trinity Prep, decided that his bar mitzvah project would be to bring joy to seniors by having them see a musical performed by the students at Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park, Florida. The first event happened in the fall, when Russell and his mom, Rachel, contacted Cantor Nina Fine to help connect them with seniors to bring to the show, “Something Rotten,” which Russell and Cantor Fine’s son, Dylan, were performing in. Cantor Fine reached out to Susan Godorov at Kinneret Apart...
On Sunday, May 18 from 5-9 p.m., Temple Israel’s Roth Social Hall will transform into a casino, where you can test your luck at the tables, win prizes, and even renew your wedding vows. “It’s Vegas, Baby!” is a fundraiser you’ll want to take a gamble on! Play poker, craps, blackjack, roulette, and more while enjoying drinks and heavy appetizers. Off the tables, you’ll find a human slot machine and horse races. Take a break for some romance and renew your vows at the Oy Vegas Wedding Chapel, officiated by Rabbi Joshua Neely under the chuppah...
(JNS) — Yarden Bibas, whose wife and children were murdered by Hamas terrorists, discussed for the first time the horrors of captivity in Gaza, speaking to CBS‘s “60 Minutes” along with former hostages Keith Siegel and Tal Shoham. Bibas said he chose an American news outlet for his first interview because he wanted the White House and U.S. President Donald Trump to hear his plea to bring a stop to the fighting in the Gaza Strip. Israel resumed airstrikes on March 18 after a two-month ceasefire. “Please stop this war and help bring all the h...
(JTA) — A Pennsylvania man will be charged with terrorism and attempted murder after allegedly firebombing the official residence of Gov. Josh Shapiro, hours after Shapiro and his family hosted a Passover seder there. On Saturday, Shapiro posted a picture of a table set for the seder on social media, with the message, “From the Shapiro family’s Seder table to yours, happy Passover and Chag Pesach Sameach!” On Sunday, he shared that Pennsylvania State Police officers had awoken him and his family at 2 a.m. to alert them that an arsonist had set...
(JTA) — Nearly 1,000 active and retired reservists in Israel’s Air Force have called for their government to strike a deal to release Israeli hostages in exchange for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, arguing that the fighting endangers the captives’ lives as well as innocent civilians. In response, the Air Force said it would dismiss any active-duty reservists who signed the letter, accusing them of using the force’s “brand” to voice their opinion. “Refusal to serve is refusal to serve — even if it implied and in polite language,” Prim...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said that he couldn’t understand why Israel ever gave up the Gaza Strip. During a press conference in the Oval Office on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the president said, “They took oceanfront property and they gave it to people for peace. How did that work out? Not good.” Netanyahu traveled from Hungary to Washington, D.C., on Sunday for an unplanned visit to resolve a tariff dispute. Referring to Netanyahu, Trump said he knew that “this man” would never have done it. “He w...
(JNS) — I watched Eli Sharabi. An eyewitness to horror. A forced journey through hell. I have no right to claim understanding. How can anyone? Empathy is the only tool of the imagination to relate, but for these hostages, there is no precedent. Hearing him, I ask myself — could I remain this composed? He must be numb. How can he process 491 days of forced and torturous containment? He is now a free man in a deal with the devil. “Where are my wife and daughters?” he asks in the Israel hospital intake room. He learns for the first time that they...
(JNS) — It’s been 18 months since Hamas’s invasion of Israel and the barbaric pogrom that followed. Hamas is still holding and torturing hostages. The Israel Defense Forces is still fighting not just Hamas but also Hamas’s allies, all of them guided and supported by the jihadi regime in Tehran. That’s the bad news. The good news: Painfully but steadily, Israelis have been making progress against enemies who intend not to subjugate but to exterminate them. Israel’s first War of Independence, 1948-49, lasted 20 months. This one will take longer...
(JNS) — Ron Tomer, head of the Manufacturers Association of Israel, wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn against the “severe consequences” that would result from President Donald Trump’s slated 17 percent tariff on Israeli exports to the United States. Tomer wasn’t alone in his reaction to Trump’s new trade policy. Indeed, since “Liberation Day” was declared on April 2, forecasts of gloom and doom have been rampant, particularly among those whose view of Trump was already dim. One Israeli economist who rejects the hysteria of his...
(JNS) — Jews have long been champions of freedom of speech in the United States, yet they often have not hesitated to advocate canceling speakers who are antisemitic or virulently anti-Israel. Many Jews feel that those who spread hatred against them or Israel should face consequences, but they are frequently uneasy about the mechanisms used to deliver those consequences. This ambivalence was true before Donald Trump returned to the White House but has become more prevalent since his administration began taking aggressive steps against a...
(JNS) — Each year in the weeks leading up to Passover, I sit down with my children, one on one, for something I’ve come to cherish deeply: preparing a personal d’var Torah, or Torah thought, ahead of our family seder. It’s become a quiet tradition in our home—time carved out not for homework or logistics but for Torah. For ideas. As my son, Jake, and I began to think about the topic for this year’s d’var Torah, we turned to the Haggadah for inspiration. What we struck was the proverbial jackpot of ideas, where Torah and family history are i...
(JNS) — The name “West Bank” conjures up visions of a complex and contentious region of the Middle East. As Mike Huckabee’s nomination to be ambassador to Israel nears confirmation and his unapologetically Christian point of view comes to the fore, there’s increasing discussion of the label itself. The time has come to return to the true, historical, biblical names of Judea and Samaria — names that reflect the deep, millennia-old connection between the Jewish people and their ancestral homeland. Last month, House Foreign Affairs Committee c...
MORNING MINYANS 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 Israel — Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3...
(JTA) - TEL AVIV - As an American immigrant to Israel, Lital Friedman knows a thing or two about pancakes - including that Israel's crepe-style versions don't often stack up favorably against the fluffy style popular in the United States. But she didn't make the trip from Jerusalem to the American-style pancake pop-up in Tel Aviv's Sarona Market for culinary reasons. She came because Keith Siegel's Pancake House honors the former hostage long known for his Shabbat-morning tradition of making...
(JTA) - Picture a Jew in Miami. Is the person you're thinking of older? Perhaps a retiree from New York - complete with the accent - who lives in a condo on the beach? According to a recent Jewish population study of Miami-Dade County, at least part of that snapshot is becoming outdated. The southeast corner of the Sunshine State is growing - and getting younger. The new document, released Monday and titled "Jewish Miami: A 2024 Community Study," found that the Jewish population of Miami-Dade...
(JNS) - Israeli cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen, whose iconic daily cartoons were published by JNS over the last several years, died at Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba on Monday after a lengthy illness at 87. After making aliyah in 1971, the Brooklyn-born Kirschen began sketching his trademark "Dry Bones" cartoons in 1973. The cartoon was internationally syndicated and published in The Jerusalem Post for 50 years, after which Kirschen moved to JNS. The name of Kirschen's comic strip referred to the...
My grandmother, Ida, was a consistent nurturer and protector in my life. Since my parents did not yet have their own place when I was born, her home was my first. And because my mother had surgery and a lengthy hospital stay after my birth, Grandmom started off as my primary caregiver. Family stories have it that Grandmom placed a colorful ribbon in my baby carriage and stroller to ward off evil spirits. As whenever anyone remarked “what a beautiful child” or “look at those dimples!” she wou...
Given that one in five Americans will develop skin cancer by age 70, it’s crucial to understand the basics of skin cancer so you can monitor your own skin for changes. Let’s review the essentials of four types of skin cancer: melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and Merkel cell carcinoma. The positive news is that early detection and treatment by a dermatologist can often eradicate skin cancer with minimal scarring. In essence, skin cancer occurs when cells in the epidermis, the outer skin layer, grow uncontrollably due to...
This is the conclusion of Simonds' journal of the Orlando delegation of the JLI-Land and Spirit trip to Israel. Day 5 (Friday, March 21) City of David – A walking tour of the area that was the palace for King David, and then the Administration for King Solomon when he built the Temple. Amazing history that included a tour of the tunnel that was used to draw water from the river whenever the city was under siege. In fact, it was through this tunnel that David was able to capture Jerusalem. The s...
Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando is proud to announce that the 2025 Kobrin Family Scholarship application is now available. Established in 1990, this college scholarship is awarded to a qualified, full-time, graduating high school student in the Jewish communities of Orange, Osceola or Seminole County who will be attending the University of Central Florida. The scholarship is available in the amount of $2,500 per year for a maximum of four (4) years. Scholarship recipients must maintain a 3.1 GPA each year while at UCF in order to...
