Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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China has been accused of committing genocide against the Uyghurs. Here's what you need to know, and what you can do about it. Some people are refusing to watch the Winter Olympics this year because of concerns over China's dismal human rights record of the Uyghurs, a persecuted minority in China. The US, Britain, Canada, and other nations have refused to send officials to the Games in a quasi-boycott. A recent British report accused China of committing genocide against the Uyghurs. Here are som...
(JNS) — When Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid took office in June, his first call to an American organization was not to one of the legacy Jewish groups or umbrella organizations of American Jewry. It was to Democratic Majority for Israel. DFMI is an advocacy group that supports pro-Israel policies in the Democratic Party and pro-Israel Democratic candidates. During that call, Lapid emphasized reinvigorating Israel’s ties with the Democratic Party. Of course, it’s no coincidence that DMFI...
(JTA) — Police in Orange County, Florida, arrested three men accused of violence and theft during a neo-Nazi rally in Orlando that made national headlines. Local media identified the men as Joshua Terrell, 46; Jason Brown, 47; and Burt Colucci, 45. Terrell and Colucci are charged with battery, but officials said that charge could later be elevated to a hate crime. Brown is charged with theft. The rally on Jan. 29 at an overpass drew about 20 people identifying with the neo-Nazis, who shouted slurs at passersby. The arrests appear to be r...
(JTA) — Emma Saltzberg knew she might invite criticism by competing on “Jeopardy!” From her years of experience in progressive Jewish groups, including IfNotNow, a group founded in 2014 to galvanize American Jews to oppose Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, she knew that her appearance on one of the most popular TV shows in the United States would likely generate negative comments from those who believe criticizing the occupation is antisemitic. So when those comments started to appear on social media, especially after IfNotNo...
(JNS) — The Biden administration’s nominee Deborah Lipstadt to lead the U.S. State Department’s office that monitors and combats antisemitism appeared in the Senate on Tuesday for her confirmation. Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Lipstadt made the case that antisemitism is on the rise. “Increasingly, Jews have been singled out for slander, violence and terrorism,” she said. “Today’s rise in antisemitism is staggering.” Her confirmation has been delayed for several months reportedly over concerns raised by Republicans of...
Are you from Central Florida and want to know more about your Jewish roots? Are you trying to understand how Judaism can fit into your own life and provide meaning everyday? Are you interested in being a part of a Jewish family that is having fun and spiritually growing together? JOIN Orlando is an Orlando Jewish Organization that was started over eight years ago and has developed a full and robust calendar of programs, classes, guest speakers, holiday get-togethers, and trips. Its outstanding staff focuses on youth, teens, families, men, and...
On Sunday, March 13, the Men's Club of Congregation Ohev Shalom will host Dr. Steve Selznick who will discuss "Preventative Health Care from sunrise to sunset of your life." Dr. Selznick is a graduate of Des Moines College of Osteopathic Medicine & Surgery. He served his residency at Pensacola Education Program and is board certified and a fellow in Family Medicine and certified medical director and arbitrator by Florida Supreme Court, and a national expert witness for medico-legal cases....
(JTA) — A Jewish woman in Chattanooga, Tennessee, says her child was taught “how to torture a Jew” in a public school Bible class. The woman, Juniper Russo, wrote about the incident in a Facebook post that is no longer public. In it, she alleged that the teacher engaged in “blatant Christian proselytizing” in a Bible history class that was meant to be “non-sectarian.” Hamilton County Schools, the Chattanooga public school district, is investigating the incident. Michael Dzik, president of the Jewish Federation of Chattanooga, told the Jewi...
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — New York City saw nearly three times as many antisemitic hate crimes in January 2022 compared to the same period a year ago, prompting concern from local lawmakers. City Council member Julie Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, hosted a virtual “Antisemitism Town Hall” Wednesday night that featured remarks by Sen. Charles Schumer and fellow Council member Eric Dinowitz. The event, co-hosted by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, drew some 200 attendees and brought together politicians and representatives from...
(JNS) — The blowback over a biased report by Amnesty International on Israel continues nearly a week after its release as 469 organizations and more than 4,000 individuals signed a strongly-worded letter on Monday urging U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to make sure the report is not used to attack Israel within the United Nations. Besides the 4,000 individual signees, the letter was signed by 172 Jewish Federations and Jewish Community Relations Councils. “The Amnesty report traffics in false claims against the sole Jewish state, dist...
U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) paid $170,000 to a political consultant who has repeatedly called Israel an apartheid state, Fox News reported on Tuesday. According to Fox, since March 2020, Tlaib’s re-election campaign has paid $147,000 to Unbought Power LLC, a political and advocacy consulting firm based in Orlando, Fla. and headed by Rasha Mubarak. Mubarak’s website describes her as a “Palestinian Muslim American community activist.” A separate $23,000 was paid to Unbought Power by Tlaib’s PAC, Rooted in Community Leadershi...
Obama's career of political activism began in some ways when he met Eileen Hershenov. He graduated from Columbia University, and as David Remnick put it, "got it into his head to become a community organizer." After a brief stint working for a living, he answered an ad and joined Ralph Nader's left-wing New York Public Interest Research Group. His supervisor at the time, Eileen Hershenov, describes having "some really engaged conversations about models of organizing." After a year, Hershenov...
(JNS) — It hasn’t been a good year for school boards. In the last 12 months, many of the local bodies that govern public schools have been taking a beating over policies dealing with the COVID pandemic that many parents believe are hurting their children. Many boards have also faced furious pushback from the public about their willingness to go along with teachings on critical race theory that seek to divide Americans against each other. In those instances, much of the mainstream media rallied to the defense of the education bureaucrats aga...
As I was checking out of the grocery store on Friday morning and thanking a Palestinian Arab worker for helping to bag my groceries so efficiently and quickly, then wishing him and the Palestinian Arab cashier a Shabbat Shalom, I was pulled aside by the store manager and reprimanded. “Don’t you know, sir, that we are an apartheid state, and we are neither to show any interest in or empathy for the Palestinian Arabs workers, and certainly not treat them with kindness or respect because everything in our interaction with them needs to be abo...
In the Feb. 4, 2022, issue of Heritage, the upcoming meeting with Anti-Defamation League Southern Division Senior Associate Director Eric Ross was announced. I, as the editor, saw it as an opportunity to bring attention to many changes in the organization and that the community would have this opportunity to ask questions. Unfortunately, my attempt to bring awareness was interpreted by some as causing provocation, which was never my intent. The use of opinion, however, in an informational article was inappropriate and I apologize for it. Becaus...
MORNING MINYANS (Please note, because of the coronavirus, some minyans have been canceled or held virtually.) Chabad of North Orlando and Chabad of Altamonte Springs are holding in-person 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. Congregatio...
(JTA) — Tinder says it has banned Shimon Hayut and all of his known aliases. But it’s hard to imagine anyone swiping right on the Israeli who masqueraded as a son of the Russian-Israeli diamond dealer Lev Leviev while allegedly defrauding women he met on the dating app, now that millions of people have seen a Netflix documentary about his crimes. “The Tinder Swindler,” released last week, offers a dramatic reconstruction of the shocking story that emerged in early 2019. Under the alias Simon Leviev, Hayut would wine and dine Scandin...
(JNS) - In its annual strategic survey released in recent days, the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies pointed to a central understanding that has rippled through the region. The United States is focusing its attention and resources on dealing with China (and, more recently, Russia), and is unwilling to be significantly involved in further conflicts in the Middle East. Washington's enthusiasm for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran is one such signal of this intention...
(JNS) — Yet again, those who wanted to learn about Maus had to leapfrog obstacles. This time, it wasn’t the limitations of parental consent. It was the limitations of technology. More than 10,000 viewers flooded into an online discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Art Spiegelman on Monday to hear him speak about last month’s removal of his iconic Holocaust graphic novel Maus from a Tennessee school board’s curriculum. The public response to the Zoom session, hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, was greater than th...
Memories ... Memories ... My late mom, born in Canada, once told me that she was a terrific dancer and even won a silver cup for winning a Charleston contest! Okay! That's where I got my dancing talent. (I was a professional dancer in New York before I became a mom ... then gave it up and became a singer.) I was successful in each field ... working with very famous people. As a dancer living in Brooklyn, N.Y., I performed on Broadway. As a singer, I worked in Las Vegas and all over the States an...
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Five Orthodox Jewish New Yorkers have joined a suit challenging the city’s vaccine requirements for indoor spaces. Two of the plaintiffs are rabbis at yeshivas. The suit, filed Feb. 7 in New York, challenges the “Key to NYC” program and a recent Covid vaccination mandate for religious and private school employees. The mandate was opposed by many haredi Orthodox yeshivas and groups representing them, including Agudath Israel of America. Three of the Jewish plaintiffs are parents suing on behalf of a total o...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett have ordered the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria's supreme planning council to halt discussions on the authorization of construction to connect Ma'ale Adumim to Jerusalem in the E-1 corridor. Construction had been planned for some 3,000 acres of largely government-owned land and was to include some 3,500 housing units. The committee began to discuss the plan, which had been frozen for...
(JNS) — The Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum sent a request on Jan. 16 under Israel’s Freedom of Information Act to Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, asking for information and details on his agreement to transfer hundreds of millions of shekels to the Palestinian Authority. The problem, according to Kohelet, is that such a move violates Israeli law, which directly prohibits money transfers to the P.A. as a consequence of its pay-for-slay policy that awards Palestinian terrorists with money if they kill Israelis. In his meeting las...
Richard Earl Gardner, age 75, of Apopka, Fla., passed away on Friday, Febr. 4, 2022. Richard was born to Harry and Mildred Gardner on April 15, 1946, in Newark, N.J. He served in the United States Marine Corps until he was honorably discharged in 1966. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Seton Hall University in 1968, and a JD from John Marshall Law School in 1975. He served as a volunteer paramedic for the Randolph, N.J., Rescue Squad and served with the N.J. State Police Marine Bureau on Lake Hopatcong. Richard...
Thought nonbinary gender was a modern concept? Think again. The ancient Jewish understanding of gender was far more nuanced than many assume. The Talmud, a huge and authoritative compendium of Jewish legal traditions, contains in fact no less than eight gender designations including: • Zachar, male. • Nekevah, female. • Androgynos, having both male and female characteristics. • Tumtum, lacking sexual characteristics. • Aylonit hamah, identified female at birth but later naturally developing male characteristics. • Aylonit adam, identified...
