Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 43
(JTA) – Real estate developer Hank Katzen has a conviction: If you build it, they will come. Except this is no baseball field in an Iowa cornfield. It’s a $60 million, 600,000-square-foot luxury dormitory at the nation’s second-largest college campus, the University of Central Florida. When it opens in August, the new dorm will push the bounds of cushiness. Every room has en-suite bathrooms and flat-screen TVs. Suites have island kitchens with stone countertops, washer-dryers and walk-in closets...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Yosel Tiefenbrun looked in the mirror and he liked what he saw. The 23-year-old Chabad rabbi and apprentice at Maurice Sedwell, a bespoke tailor’s shop on London’s Savile Row, was wearing a vintage double-breasted jacket with gold buttons, tasseled Barker shoes, a claret bow tie and matching handmade hat and square handkerchief. Then he ran out the door to attend the “Oscars of tailoring”—the Golden Shears Award ceremony honoring the best in British fashion. Several of his colleag...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—When it comes to the latest Arab peace initiative, two questions are circulating in Washington: Why Qatar? And why now? The three answers: Because Qatar is rich; it is scared; and why not? Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister and foreign minister, in recent weeks has driven the revivification of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, moderating it slightly to hew closer to the outlines touted by the Obama administration since 2011. The updated v...
Hal Bookbinder, a world-renowned expert in genealogy, will be the guest speaker at the next monthly meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando (JGSGO). “The Changing Borders of Eastern Europe” will be presented at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 19 at the Social Hall in the Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation, 11200 S. Apopka Vineland Road, Orlando. The event is open to the public at $5 for nonmembers and free for members. Few Jews lived in Eastern Europe 1,000 years ago. Yet, it was to...
By Ben Sales JERUSALEM (JTA)—Haredi Orthodox youths mobbed the Western Wall plaza by the thousands to protest Women of the Wall as they held their monthly prayer service. The youths, many of them students from haredi Orthodox yeshivas, filled the Western Wall Plaza by 6:40 a.m. on Friday, May 10, about 20 minutes before Women of the Wall, a women’s prayer group that holds monthly services at the site, also called the Kotel, began praying. Because haredi Orthodox women had packed the wom...
DAKAR, Senegal (JTA)—Struggling to be heard over a flock of bleating sheep, Israel’s ambassador to Senegal invites a crowd of impoverished Muslims to help themselves to about 100 sacrificial animals that the embassy corralled at a dusty community center here. The October distribution, held as French troops battled Islamists in neighboring Mali and one month after Muslim radicals killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, is held annually in honor of Tabaski, the local name of the Muslim Eid al-...
The Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando will host its annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 28 at the Roth JCC in Maitland. The meeting will be themed to “JCC Fever” in honor of its 1973-founding and 40th anniversary. Awards will be presented, there will be the discharging and installing of the board of directors, an introduction of the new Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando executive director, Olga Yorish, and performances by TheatreSouth and the Honorable Menschen Choir. Dinner will be provided, free with RSVP, by Brown’s Deli....
Sam Glaser, named one of the top 10 Jewish artists in the United States by Moment magazine, will perform Saturday, May 18 in a free concert at Congregation B’nai Torah, 403 N. Nova Road in Ormond Beach. Beginning at 8 p.m. there will be a workshop: Discovering the Architecture of the Human Soul. The concert follows at 9 p.m. Glaser’s soulful music has become part of the fabric of Jewish life in communities worldwide. He has appeared at such venues in Los Angeles as the Greek Theater, Universal Amphitheater, Staples Center and Dodger Sta...
The Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the J Ball at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 18 at the Rosen Plaza Hotel. The J Ball will be honoring Susan and Jerry Roth. Space is still available for walk-ups, however babysitting is now closed. There will be food, dancing, caricatures, photo ops, games, casino, silent auction and more. For more information, call the JCC Welcome Center at 407-645-5933....
Congregation Ohev Shalom held Kitah Zayeen/7th grade graduation on May 8. The class of 5773 shared their thoughts on what it means to be created in the image of God, what it means to be a Jewish adult and their thoughts on Anne Franks quote: “How wonderful that no one need wait a moment to improve the world.” The presentation included songs that related to the students’ words. Congregation Ohev Shalom religious school is currently taking registration for the 2013-2014 school year. Stude...
Fulfilling community service hours is easy when college students engage with the Jewish Pavilion. Students have the opportunity to assist in the office and visit with seniors in long-term care. Pictured are volunteer Laurel Cohen with Ilene, and volunteer Scott Feinberg with Sam. The Jewish Pavilion volunteers were visiting Horizon Bay Altamonte Springs. Call 407-678-9363 to volunteer or e-mail info@jewishpavilion.org....
During his visit to China last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recalled that the city of Shanghai was “one of the few places that opened its gates” to Jews fleeing Hitler. Officials of the Chinese Communist government, standing nearby, beamed with pleasure at the expectation that people all over the world would read how their regime rescued Jews. But is it true? As the prime minister noted, the port city of Shanghai was a haven for many European Jewish refugees during the Hitler years, at a time when most other countries, inc...
In a crummy economy, people are always looking for good investments—a promising stock, a real estate opportunity, a star mutual fund. It’s really not that different in the “mitzvah economy”—donors and do-gooders are also looking to squeeze the maximum amount of goodness out of every charity investment. On that note, I’d like to share with you a mitzvah that has a ridiculously low investment and an incredibly high return. It’s a mitzvah called shmooze. I think of this mitzvah every time I’m stuck in freeway traffic and I call my mother in Montr...
By Ira Sharkansky The latest numbers about the 2-year-old Syrian civil war are 80,000 deaths, one million refugees over the borders in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, and a total of four million displaced Syrians either over the borders or away from their homes in Syria. As always, we must be suspicious about round numbers published by organizations with an interest in portraying the carnage. Nonetheless, by all the indications, the death, dislocation and destruction have been great. Perhaps greater than Afghanistan, and more than in every other...
What’s your definition of a “major national Jewish organization”? Could it be made up of less than 20 people? Don’t laugh. Consider the case of the American Jewish Congress. The storied organization, dating back to 1918 and led in its early years by such illustrious figures as Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Felix Frankfurter and Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, suspended its activities in the summer of 2010, having lost virtually all of its money and staff in the Madoff scandal. But while many mourned the loss of a once proud, grass-roots defense...
How much Islamophobia is just enough? That’s probably the least sensitive way to pose a question that has been bothering me lately. The Boston Marathon bombings gave a new boost to the cottage industry of “anti-jihad” activists, like Pamela Geller and Daniel Pipes, who have thrived since 9/11. The anti-jihadis exploit an incontrovertible fact—that a radicalized form of Islam has spawned repeated terrorist attacks around the world—to concoct an indictment of Islam and all of its practitioners. Every good question they ask about, say, the prior...
In a recent, exhaustive study of anti-Semitism, the German scholar Clemens Heni explains the significance for Christian theology of the story of Ahasver, a Jewish shoemaker in Jerusalem who, legend has it, refused Jesus a resting place as he made his way to Golgotha bearing the cross on his back. Ahasver’s punishment, says Heni, was to wander the world for eternity, an image that formed the basis for what the Nazis famously called “der ewige Jude”—“the eternal Jew.” “The attribute ‘eternal’ cries out for redemption,” writes Heni. “For Christia...
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, MAY 17 Light Shabbat candles at 7:52...
Talia Joy Castellano, of Goldenrod, a one time member of Congregation Ohev Shalom, has been fighting cancer for nearly seven years and last August she was told she has a new second kind of cancer. The 13 year old was already a YouTube sensation with her makeup tutorials. When she delivered the news about this new form of cancer, she said, “Life is like a journey. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. And I guess my journey is nearing the end.” This video went viral and Talia went from 25,...
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...
Gertrude Alpert (nee Levin) of Altamonte Springs died on May 5, 2013. She was 92 years old. Mrs. Alpert was born on Oct. 12, 1920 in Chicago, where she lived until she retired to Florida with her husband, Sol, who predeceased her. An avid poker and bingo player, she was employed as an accountant/bookkeeper prior to becoming a mother/housewife. She was an athletic individual who enjoyed bowling. She was an enthusiastic golfer and even recorded a hole-in-one during a tournament in Wisconsin. Family and friends said she was known for her keen wit...
Charlotte Ettinger Getz Rotenberg, of Longwood, passed away on Friday, May 10, 2013 at her residence. She was 89 years old. Mrs. Rotenberg was born on Jan. 11, 1924 in Miami Beach, the youngest of five children: Bea, Mimi, Martha and Leon Ettinger. Growing up she spent time between Miami and Toledo, Ohio. A graduate of Frances Shimer Junior College in Mount Carroll, Ill., she went on to become a student at the University of Michigan. She married Donald Getz in 1943 and headed to California where...
Shiny clothes, reflective signs and routes painted in ultra-colors brightened the nighttime sky of Beersheba, the capital of the Negev, on May 2 as the city hosted Israel’s first Glow Run, the newest trend in the running world scene. The event was a resounding success, bringing 5,400 runners from all over the country and 700 soldiers together in the desert city of Beersheba, an even bigger turnout than expected. Jews, Arabs, new immigrants, veteran Israelis, students, and others who share a l...
Israel’s Cabinet approves reduced defense cuts JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s Cabinet unanimously approved a proposal to moderate cuts to the defense budget as part of sweeping austerity measures. The Cabinet opened its 2013-14 budget talks on Monday with discussions on defense. Following a meeting of the security cabinet that lasted much of Sunday, Treasury Minister Yair Lapid agreed to a reduction in the defense budget of 3 billion shekels, or $840 million, with another 1 billion shekels, or $280...
Alana Reese Halperin, daughter of Cindy and Scott Halperin of Longwood, Fla., will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah on Saturday, May 25, 2013 at Congregation Beth Am in Longwood. Alana is an A-honor roll student in the gifted program at Teague Middle School in Altamonte Springs, where she was selected as a member of the National Junior Honor Society. She participated in Odyssey of the Mind, a creative problem solving competition, and is also involved in Upstanders, a club that promotes...
