Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Israel's leadership and Jews from around the world celebrated President Donald Trump's statement that the US officially recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and that plans to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem are in motion. The US "finally acknowledge[s] the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. This is nothing more, or less, than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It's something that has to be done," Trump stated at the White House on...
(JTA)-President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his announcement that he will move the embassy there from Tel Aviv will have a number of consequences for Israelis, Palestinians and the wider region. For Israel, it has finally received from an American president what it has long craved, which is righting the historic wrong of it being the only state whose self-declared capital is not recognized by the rest of the world. Israel's government institutions are...
Congregation Beth Chaim is back, but actually, it never really left. The small Reform congregation, which was located on 434 in Winter Springs, was struggling a few months ago. Funds were tight and its location was in a remote area. Rumors abounded that the congregation had closed its doors for good. It had closed its doors-that is, the doors of the building in Winter Springs. Right after the High Holidays the group of faithful congregants opened a new door in Oviedo, thanks to its cantorial sol...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Hours after ordering preparations for a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, President Donald Trump delayed moving the diplomatic mission to the city by another six months. Trump signed a proclamation at the White House Wednesday saying the United States sees Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and directing the State Department to start planning an embassy in the city. Soon thereafter, he signed another presidential waiver of a 1995 law requiring the embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Under U.S. President Bill Clinton, Con...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—President Donald Trump’s official recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital may have sent shock waves across the Middle East. But here, in the epicenter of a city where fewer than a million people work, eat, pray and shop, the first day’s reaction was muted. The municipality projected images of the Israeli and American flags side by side on the Old City walls. But in Mahane Yehuda, the bustling produce and everything-else market a few miles into the city’s western side, it was another working day. Jews generally welcomed...
On Tuesday, Dec. 5, fifth-grade Jewish students from the Jewish Academy of Orlando got together with Muslim students from Leadership Preparatory School and Christian students from Geneva School for a morning of learning and sharing. The Multi-Faith Education Program began 14 years ago when its founder, Louise Franklin Sheehy, worked to foster a climate of peace among the children of the different Abrahamic faiths. This was the first meeting between the three schools that will take place this...
The Hamas terror organization said President Donald Trump's historic recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital "opens the gates of hell" and has called for another violent uprising against the Jewish state. "Trump's decision on Jerusalem will not succeed in changing the fact that Jerusalem is Arab Muslim land," a Hamas spokesman said Wednesday following Trump's announcement at the White House. Hamas called for Palestinians to take to the streets in a "Day of Rage" on Friday and "respond with...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel said it expects other countries to follow America’s example and recognize Jerusalem as its capital, even as much of the world decried the U.S. decision to move toward relocating its embassy to the city. Speaking at a diplomatic conference Thursday, a day after the historic shift in U.S. policy, which he welcomed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was in contact with countries interested in such actions. “We are holding contacts with other countries who will also recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. I have no d...
(JNS.org) The Israeli Air Force allegedly conducted an airstrike Monday night on a “military scientific research center” in the Jamraya area on the outskirts of Damascus, media affiliated with the Syrian regime reported. “Our air defenses are confronting an Israeli missile attack on one of our sites in the Damascus suburbs and three of the targets were downed,” reported the Syrian state news agency SANA. The Hezbollah-affiliated media outlet Al Mayadeen stated that the Israeli military launched six missiles at the site, and that three of the...
(JNS.org) A war along Israel's northern border could be just "weeks" away, according to Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer. Dermer made the comments in a wide-ranging interview published by Politico on Monday, stating that the probability of direct conflict with the Iranian terror proxy Hezbollah is "higher than people think because of Iran's continued push through the region." "If Iran is not rolled back in Syria, then the chances of military confrontation are growing. I don't want to...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI twice—both times about policy maneuvering with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, during the transition. That last word is key: Flynn twice talked to Kislyak in December 2016 when Trump was president-elect, not president. That was still Barack Obama’s job. One of the things Flynn and Kislyak talked about was Israel. Flynn says that was at the behest of Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kus...
“This is nothing more and nothing less than recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do.” Announced President Trump in his monumental statement today, recognizing Jerusalem as “Israel’s capital established in ancient times.” Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish people since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshipped on the Temple Mount. Jerusalem continued to be the eternal capital of the Jewish nation since King David brought the Holy Ark to rest on the Temple Mount. This was further affirmed by King Solomon when he b...
The Taylor Force Act started out as a powerful and long-overdue tool for pressuring the Palestinian Authority to stop paying terrorists. But the legislation has been diluted, weakened and compromised in so many ways that it is now a pale shadow of its former self. The Taylor Force Act has been gutted. Known in the Senate as S. 1697, the Taylor Force Act is named after a young Vanderbilt University student—and U.S. Army veteran—who was murdered by a Palestinian Arab knife-wielding terrorist in Jaffa in 2016. The lead Senate sponsor is Sen. Lin...
By Charles Jacobs and Ilya Feoktistov JNS.org On July 25, 2017, in what appeared to be an unprecedented event in American Jewish history, a group that came into existence as a front for a terrorist organization that murders Jews was invited to solicit donations at a synagogue. On that date, Rabbi Howard Jaffe of Temple Isaiah in Lexington, Mass., hosted three Muslim leaders, whom he presented to his congregation as wonderful people and friends of the Jewish community. The event was seductively titled “Out of Many, One,” and was billed as an...
In the end, perhaps only a president so completely divorced from diplomatic reality and utterly indifferent to international opinion could do it. Despite the difficulties and the manifest dangers involved with keeping America’s promise—enshrined in U.S. law passed by Congress—to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, President Donald Trump may actually do it sometime in the next week. The Wall Street Journal reported that the State Department had informed U.S. embassies around the world about a plan to make the move and t...
Dear Editor: The Zionistas thank President Trump for boldly recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, thus beginning the process of moving our embassy there. Since 1995, when Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act for the purpose of initiating the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama have consistently waived enacting this law, citing national security interests. But President Trump made the decision to do the right thing and kept his campaign promise, taking steps to move the...
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 Isr...
Larry and I have many "pets" in our home. A butterfly rests outside our front door, and two larger ones fly on our lanai wall. A two-foot bear clutching his "Bear Feet Only" sign greets visitors on the front porch. Pedro the Parrot hangs on a curtain rod. And various bulldogs-stuffed, ceramic, and metal, are stationed around the house in honor of the nickname my boss gave me when I moved from the classroom to an administrative office. However, I would have to say my favorite animals in our...
BOSTON (JTA)-Move over, potato latkes. Make room for dosas. The savory fried Indian lentil and rice pancakes take center stage in "Queen of the Dosas," a gem of a new Chanukah book by the award-winning children's writer Pamela Ehrenberg. It's among eight new Chanukah books for kids-one for each night of the holiday-sure to kindle the flames of imagination in young readers. The bounty of this season's books travel the globe, from city life to wooded forests, with engaging-and many humorous-storie...
Israel does it again... When it comes to science and technology, Israel is leading the field! I read this recently in the World Jewish Congress digest and pass it along: "As highlighted in NoCamels, (the leading news website covering the startup nation, with a focus on Israel innovation in technology, science, design, medicine and cyber) more than 23 million people worldwide suffer from diastolic heart failure, a condition in which the heart fails to pump sufficient oxygenated blood to meet the...
NEW YORK (JTA)-When Chris Doeblin agreed to buy 100 copies of a children's book to help an author friend, he didn't expect to become enmeshed in a controversy over international relations and free speech. But that's what happened after Doeblin, the co-owner of Book Culture, a chain of independent bookstores in New York City, purchased and held a reading of "P is for Palestine," which came out last month. Written by Golbarg Bashi, an Iranian-born author who has held Persian-language readings of...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-The sufganiyah is the plump, shining star of Chanukah in Israel. During the holiday season, the famed jelly doughnut poses in the windows of cafés and bakeries across the country. It sparkles with oil and sugar, and shows just enough filling to keep fans interested. Every year, top chefs compete to give the sufganiyah an edgy new twist, whether its cheesecake filling, mascarpone topping or a chocolate-filled squeeze tube accessory. Israeli TV channels, newspapers and social...
Israel’s Foreign Ministry recently carried out a comprehensive survey of the citizens of 54 countries about their country’s relations with Israel. The main finding is that in a vast majority of those countries, 47 of 54 of them, most of the people surveyed believe that their country would benefit from links with Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to these finding on Sunday as a “gigantic change.” “What is also interesting is that half of the public in the countries in the Middle East that were reviewed, the assets and strength...
Julius A. Haberman, Yehudah Aharon ben Itzhak v’Kayla, age 92, of Summerfield, Fla., passed away on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, at his residence. A native of Milton, Massachusetts, he was born on April 22, 1925, to the late Irving and Kate Schoolman Haberman. He was a college graduate and served in the United States Army during World War II. Mr. Haberman was a successful shoe importer and salesman. He was a past president of Congregation Ohev Shalom and active in B’nai B’rith and the Jewish War Veterans. In 1999, he and his wife, Barbara, who s...
Maxine Hayt, age 80, of Lake Mary, passed away on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017, at Florida Health-South Seminole Hospital in Longwood. A Brooklyn native, she was born on Jan. 3, 1937, to the late Julius and Alice Tamres Tarr. She received her Bachelor in Fine Arts and her Master in Fine Arts degrees from Columbia University. Maxine was a highly regarded artist creating large highly detailed works of New York City’s downtrodden and elderly. Her works were shown in numerous single and mixed shows and she was represented by several New York G...
