Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(Jewish Exponent)—“It was a beautiful day. I was so excited to run and having such a good run. The crowd was unbelievable. The whole experience was amazing. It was almost magical.” That’s how the Boston Marathon began for Rabbi Benjamin David, head rabbi at Adath Emanu-El in Mount Laurel, N.J. It’s not how it ended. David, 36, had completed the marathon and was back at his hotel when the twin explosions went off Monday afternoon near the finish line. The apparent terrorist attack killed at...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Natan Sharansky said the implementation of his plan to expand the non-Orthodox prayer site at the Western Wall could begin in as little as one month. In an interview April 11 with JTA, Sharansky sounded cautiously optimistic about his proposal to create an egalitarian space equal in size to the current men’s and women’s sections combined. The Jewish Agency for Israel chairman was charged last year with finding a solution to mounting tensions over women’s prayer at the Western...
The Roth Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando will honor community leaders Robin and Rich Lerner at this year’s annual golf tournament. This year’s event will be held Sunday, May 5 at the Shingle Creek Golf Club. You may know Rich Lerner for his work as an essayist and reporter for the Golf Channel. What you may not know is that he and his family have a lifelong connection to the J. He met his wife, Robin in preschool at the J in their hometown of Allentown, Pa. His Russian Jewish imm...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—A legislative effort led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to enable Israelis to enter the United States without visas may be stymied by the government—Israel’s government. The hitch is Israel’s inability or unwillingness to fully reciprocate, something required for visa-free travel to the United States. Israel, citing security concerns, insists on the right to refuse entry to some U.S. citizens. AIPAC is pushing for an exemption for Israel from this rule. But con...
It started around the time of his bar mitzvah at age 13, when Tomer Hen decided it was time to open his first business. “I wanted to be independent and not take money from my parents,” Hen told The Media Line. “I was too young to get a job so I started an online business. First, I started selling stuff from my room on Ebay; then I started buying Dead Sea products and Israeli army T-shirts. Soon it became larger than I expected and I was making $200 a month at 14-years old.” Today, at 19, Hen is a millionaire and owns three homes—one in Dallas,...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—If you have nuclear weapons, all sorts of bad behavior will be tolerated. That’s the lesson some are worried Iran may be learning from North Korea’s increasingly confrontational stance against South Korea and the United States. Pyongyang has stepped up its belligerent rhetoric in recent days, threatening to strike targets in South Korea and America, shuttering the joint North-South industrial park at Kaesong and warning foreigners to leave South Korea to avoid possible nucle...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Meredith Ross will never forget when she first laid eyes on Lior, her partner for the past seven years. Lior, an infantryman in the Israel Defense Forces, was escorting Ross’ Birthright Israel group on a free tour of the Jewish state when his friend, a fellow soldier, was killed. Lior was leaving to attend his funeral and had come to say goodbye. The two 18-year-olds spoke for just five minutes, but it was enough. “I remember borrowing someone’s phone to call my mother in the U.S...
Jewish National Fund’s Women for Israel in Orlando will host a Wine and Trivia Night at a private home in Orlando at 7 p.m. April 30. JNF believes in the power of women’s giving. With two major donor societies—Sapphire Society and Chai Society—and the Women’s Alliance, JNF has a giving level to suit every woman. JNF’s Women’s Campaign for Israel brings together strong, like-minded women who connect to JNF and the land and people of Israel on many levels—professional, emotional and ideological. Through the Women’s Alliance, JNF gives donors of a...
“You are who they were.” This is just one of many quotes Laurence Morrell uses with his middle school students at the Jewish Academy of Orlando. Morrell, a longtime and enthusiastic genealogy hobbyist, also the past president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando, is volunteering his time and knowledge to teach 11 JAO middle school students the basics of genealogy research. When asked why, Morrell answers with a gleam in his eye and a broad smile. “Because it’s importa...
The Roth Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando’s 39ers seniors group looks forward to announcing their new slate of officers for the coming 2013-2014 year at a celebratory installation party on May 20. The installation party will feature Carol Stein, The Piano Lady. Carol is well known in the community for her superb musicality and generous nature, and especially at the JCC, where she has performed many times says an event planner. Carol has offered to perform for the group to show her a...
The medical and legal professional societies of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando are getting together for a kosher and Israeli wine tasting event at Tim’s Wine Market on Orange Avenue on April 25 at 6:15 p.m. The event is to celebrate Israel’s 65th Independence. In addition to the unique selection of wines, the event will feature jazz music and delectable hors d’oeuvres. The event is open to everyone in the community. The Maimonides Medical Society is an affinity group for Jewish physi...
Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News, has a problem. Either he doesn’t know what he’s talking about or he’s lying about the security fence that Israel built to protect its citizens from suicide bombers coming from the West Bank during the Second Intifada. I came to this troubling conclusion during a talk he gave at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in New Canaan, Conn., on Sunday, April 7, 2013. Invited to speak at the church by his pastor the Rev. Peter Walsh, Fager showed an audience of more than 200 of his fellow parishioners a segment about Palesti...
Charged by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come up with a Solomonic solution to the growing controversy over women’s prayer at Judaism’s holiest site, Natan Sharansky, the chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel, is prepared to recommend a bold plan to allow any and all Jews to pray at Jerusalem’s Western Wall. After extensive private consultations and meetings here this week with high-level communal and religious leaders from the major streams, Sharansky told The Jewish Week in an exclusive interview that the talks “gave me great e...
Here’s a Jewish joke I just made up: The pro-Israel activist goes to see a doctor. The doctor says, “I have some good news and some bad news.” The pro-Israel activist says, “Just give me the bad news.” If that made you smile, even a little, then you probably read a lot of Jewish websites or the fund-raising letters that come from Jewish organizations. The tone is relentlessly gloomy. They portray an Israel that is besieged militarily, isolated diplomatically, divided internally. Even the good news is served with a dose of medicine. “Sure, Is...
Here’s a term that rarely crops up in discussions of American policy towards northeast Asia: the Korea Lobby. And as for the pejorative term “Korea Firsters,” that isn’t one I’ve come across. It’s not as if a cluster of organizations working to enhance our relationship with South Korea, or highlight the danger posed by the communist North, doesn’t exist. There’s a group called Korean American Civic Empowerment, whose website boasts a photo of its supporters with the refreshingly combative U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). The group works...
Apparently, there are smart people out there who still believe it’s up to Israel to revive the dead Middle East peace process. Just last week, over 100 prominent American Jews released a letter, sponsored by the Israel Policy Forum (IPF), urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take “concrete steps” to entice the Palestinians back to the peace table. Hmm, haven’t we seen this movie a few too many times? Somehow, I doubt that any of these prominent Jews would negotiate against themselves for years to buy a house from an owner who did...
Dear editor: The big news is that the Reconstruction Movement has a new leader who is gay [Heritage Florida Jewish News, April 5]. Rabbi Klein does not think that synagogue worship is all that important, and he was disappointed to find the College Hillel wasting valuable time with religious services on Saturday mornings. The students could be doing more important things to save the world. Really? It is interesting that the article about Mr. Klein points out that there are 100 Reconstructionist congregations and 300 Reconstructionist rabbis....
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 19 Light Shabbat candles at 7:35...
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...
TAMPA—Get advice on negotiating the Jewish holidays off at your first job. Learn tips about how to live inexpensively in Israel for a year. Get insights into how to share living space with someone who keeps kosher when you aren’t. You can do all of this and more on Better Than Bubbe (www.betterthanbubbe.com). The website is part of a global outreach and engagement initiative made possible by the Schoenbaum Family Foundation, and the Tampa Orlando Pinellas Jewish Federation Alliance. Better Than Bubbe expands beyond the solid, old-fashioned adv...
Scholars to St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society: The British have burned the documents you seek. In 1586, again in 1668 and yet again in 1702, British raids on St. Augustine led to the burning of records of births, marriages and deaths in the oldest city’s archives. A group of scholars recently gathered at Flagler College to report to a public forum arranged by the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society (SAJHS) indicated that these records would certainly be critical in identifying early M...
The Israel Independence Day Family Festival, presented by the Roth Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando, will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 21 at Cranes Roost Park in Altamonte Springs. The event will feature food, activities, shopping, and performances, such as the one pictured here featuring Isabel Libow and Tuval Basher of the Jewish Academy of Orlando. For more information, visit www.orlandojcc.org....
Maria A. (Marianne) Byer, of Estero, Fla., died on Monday, April 8, 2013. She was 77 years old. Mrs. Byer was born in Germany on July 22, 1935, and moved from there to Orlando in 1956. For many years she worked in the medical records department of local hospitals. She was the widow of the late Abner Byer, who passed away in 1981, and was also predeceased by her daughter, Christine Ann Reinking, in 2008. She is survived by her former husband William (Barbara) Reinking of Bonita Springs. Graveside funeral services were held at Ohev Shalom...
Beth Worman of Ormond Beach, Fla., and Dustin Rose of San Diego, Calif., were married March 17, 2013 in Lake Mary, Fla., surrounded by family and friends. The bride is a graduate of Seabreeze High School, Daytona Beach and The University of Central Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree in event management. The groom is a graduate of Steamboat Springs High School, Steamboat Springs, Colo., and has a Bachelor of Science degree in aviation business administration from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical...
Morgan Ray Ulch, the son of Heidi and Richard Ulch of Altamonte Springs, Fla., will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Saturday, April 27, 2013 at Congregation Beth Am in Longwood. Morgan is in the seventh grade at Rock Lake Middle School. Morgan plays flag football with the City of Altamonte Springs league and golf with his father. He enjoys League of Legends, padded weapon fighting, playing with his dogs (Hobbes and Gadzookes), and hanging out with friends at the park. His interests...
