Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 26 - 37 of 37
Sandi Trainor and her husband, Dick, live downtown in one of the buildings serviced by The Jewish Pavilion. They do not have grandchildren of their own, so they were eager to become “adoptive grandparents,” allowing them to connect to Jewish youth. Sandi said about her experience so far, “Being part of this wonderful program that will allow us to connect with adoptive grandkids makes us feel like we are part of a family and that we are accepted as grandparents.” Some of their more memorable experiences include their weekly virtual visits. “We d...
(JTA) — In the middle of a racy viral Instagram video that preceded his firing from a broadcasting gig at ESPN, NBA legend Paul Pierce spent over a minute lauding the Jewish ritual of a sit-down Shabbat dinner. Pierce is not Jewish, but during the live-streamed video from his house over the weekend — the Hall of Fame finalist gets massaged by scantily clad women and appears to smoke marijuana while flaunting COVID-19 social distancing protocols — he said the family style of meal on the Jewish Sabbath contrasts with his upbringing. At first...
Submitted by the family On Tuesday, April 13, 2021, Brad Warren Catron unexpectedly passed from us. Brad was a loving father, grandfather, uncle, brother, and friend to many. He will be remembered as a great musician with a fierce sense of humor. Brad was an exceptional guitarist, songwriter and singer for over 40 years with a degree in Jazz Improvisation and Composition from NYU and Rutgers University. Born in New York City on July 7, 1952, he cut his teeth on every kind of gig imaginable. Starting out in his early years playing weddings and s...
Ellyn Harber Goldstein, age 81, of Winter Park, passed away peacefully on April 7, 2021, while under Hospice care. Ellyn was born on Jan. 11, 1940, in New York City to Carl and Sallye Harber. She was the fiercely dedicated mother to Jay and Howard, her sons who survive her, as well as a dedicated daughter, sister, aunt and friend. Family came first and was above all else to Ellyn — a value that she instilled in those around her. The empty space left by her absence will be impossible to fill. Ellyn graduated from Ethical Fieldston in 1958 and s...
(JTA) - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he was ready to "remove obstacles" to renewing U.S.-Israel ties, apparently signaling a willingness to stop the payments to the families of Palestinians who have killed Israelis that have proven to be a stumbling block. Speaking Sunday to J Street's annual conference, Abbas also urged the participants of the liberal Middle East policy group's forum to lobby Congress "to repeal all laws that block the road toward enhancing...
(JNS) — Speaking at the virtual J Street national conference on Monday, former Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) indicated that they were willing to place conditions on the aid Congress has promised Israel. “I strongly believe that we must also be willing to bring real pressure to bear, including restricting U.S. aid, in response to moves by either side that undermine the chances for peace,” Sanders said in his virtual speech. “The truth is that the United States gives an enormou...
Hundreds of Palestinians protest barriers in Jerusalem during Ramadan By Ben Sales (JTA) — Hundreds of Palestinians have been protesting barriers placed in the Old City of Jerusalem during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The protests have centered around the Damascus Gate, a landmark and meeting point in the eastern section of the city. Palestinians typically sit on and around the steps leading to the gate following nighttime prayers during Ramadan, a month of daylong fasts that end at sunset. This year, police placed barriers on the s...
(JTA) - Growing up, Passover was always a special time of year for David Teyf. It wasn't just about the holiday. It was also the stories his family would tell about the matzah factory they used to operate behind his grandfather's house in Minsk before they left Soviet Belarus in 1979. Teyf, who was born in that house, was 5 when they left that capital city. Now a successful chef, Teyf has few memories of the matzah factory. Yet he has found himself thinking about it more often lately as he...
(JTA) — In the late 1800s, the Ottoman Empire was looking to conscript men into its army, including the several thousand young Jewish ones who were living in the city of Baghdad. The Jewish community didn’t like the idea of the imperial forces taking away its young men, so it arranged to pay authorities for exemptions. Rabbi Shlomo Bekhor Husin of Baghdad documented the exemptions, carefully jotting each down name in medieval Rashi script. In the following decades, many of those names vanished or morphed as the Jews living there dispersed acr...
(JTA) - It was only about a week into lockdown last spring when Elana Brody took out her keyboard piano for a jam session. It was late at night, so it made sense that the new melody that came to her then was "B'shem Hashem" a part of the Shema. "It was kind of natural to want to sing this prayer because it's a bedtime prayer," Brody said, calling it an "incantation" of sorts. The words call on four angels to surround her - Michael to the right, Gabriel to the left, Uriel in front and Raphael beh...
(Israel21C via JNS) - Jerusalem is a city of history. Much of that history can be found in the ancient structures of the Old City. However, there's an aspect of Jerusalem's history that is much more subtly integrated into its geography: its street names. Many roads throughout the capital city are named after important figures in local and Jewish history. While there are obvious ones, such as Herzl Street and Balfour Street, many names on street signs pay tribute to lesser-known personalities....
(JTA) - At least 45 people were crushed to death and at least 150 wounded Thursday night in a stampede during a celebration that drew tens of thousands of haredi Orthodox Jews to the northern Israeli mountain village of Meron. Meron is home to the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, an ancient sage associated with the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer, which began Thursday night. More than 100,000 people had reportedly traveled to the town, in the largest gathering in Israel since the onset of the...
