Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Israelis standing beside the graves of Israeli soldiers at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on Memorial Day, May 11, 2016....
KRAKOW, Poland-More than 10,000 young adults from 42 countries participated in the 28th Annual March of the Living through Auschwitz-Birkenau, the world's largest Holocaust commemoration. The March brings together both Jews and non-Jews (40-percent of participants) to mark the annual Yom Hashoah-Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day. Included this year were several UCF students and Hillel staff. It was the culmination of a week of events, which included visits to the ghettos, monuments and concentr...
Marcia Jo Zerivitz, founding executive director of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, has demonstrated vision and leadership throughout her life to expand knowledge, enrich collective historic memory and cultivate diversity. Zerivitz has been a Florida community trailblazer for more than half a century, serving national, state and local organizations. She observed that the Jewish community in Florida had a major challenge-its continuity-and decided to focus on collecting and preserving for...
May is Jewish American Heritage Month in the United States, and the Museum of Seminole County History is proud to display the great impact of Jewish contributions to Seminole County History in a special exhibit located in its front parlor. This display, running through May 28, features Moses Levy and several other influential families and their lives in Seminole County. As the western hemisphere neared the second decade of the 19th century, Caribbean Spaniards grew more and more certain that the Spanish Crown would cede its colony of Florida...
Why should the casual observer care about the seemingly obvious need to prosecute and convict Nazi war criminals, whether it be during the Nuremberg trials of the 1940s or similar proceedings in more recent years? "The Nuremberg trials only convicted the leaders and a relatively small number of people," retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz told JNS.org. "Even for the trials that occurred thereafter, we're talking about just hundreds of people... and for years they were...
(JNS.org) The United States has announced a $50 million humanitarian aid program for the Gaza Strip. According to U.S. officials, the aid—which will be distributed by the U.S. Agency for International Development in conjunction with Catholic Relief Services—will be dispersed over five years to provide basic humanitarian assistance and create jobs. U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem Donald A. Blume said the effort is meant to address “the dire needs that are obvious in Gaza,” the Associated Press reported. The announcement of U.S. aid comes a...
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the 10th-most-admired person in the United States, according to the "World's Most Admired 2016" YouGov poll that gauged the popularity of famous people in 30 different countries. U.S. President Barack Obama topped the chart, Pope Francis came in second, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders was sixth, and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ranked eighth. Netanyahu ranked higher...
On Sunday, May 1, volunteers came together to serve the greater Orlando community and to perform tikun olam, "repair of the world." Mitzvah Day, a first-time, large-scale, community-wide event was coordinated by The Roth Family Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando and engaged hundreds of volunteers in a variety of projects at agencies throughout the city. There were projects for four different age demographics: families with young children, college students, young adults and middle/high...
At the Oviedo High School senior awards ceremony on May 5, Sam Goldstein, 17, was recognized as valedictorian with a 4.76 GPA, and was also named Outstanding Senior Student of the Year and received the Science Senior Award. Goldstein also was the winner of a Lundy award as "Most Likely to Cure Cancer." Goldstein, son of David and Simone Goldstein of Oviedo, was nominated by OHS for the Lombardi Scholarship for the University of Florida, and was one of 22 finalists in the State of Florida for...
Tonight, at 8 o'clock, the sirens around Israel were sounded. Everywhere. Not for rockets from Gaza, or Lebanon, or any other place of hate in the Middle East. For the soldiers who died defending Israel, for the victims of terrorist attacks, and for their families and their communities. Today is Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day. There are no sales, and there are no barbecues. There are candles and ceremonies and tears. There are memorials on Memorial Day. It sounds obvious, but to this...
JFS Orlando recently received a $40,000 grant through the Orlando Sentinel Family Fund, a McCormick Foundation Fund. The grant will support the organization's Family Stabilization Program. The Family Stabilization Program strives to improve a family's overall stability and self-sufficiency through financial education workshops, employability workshops, mental health counseling, individual financial counseling and providing case management to help improve their educational or employment status....
The last time I wrote about Donald Trump in this column was back in December 2015, when the Republican presidential primary race was in full swing. Then, I voiced concern about what the Middle East policy of a Trump administration might look like, pointing out that his failure to address Iran’s hegemonic ambitions, along with his deference to Russian autocrat President Vladimir Putin, was perilously similar to the approach of President Barack Obama—whom the New York billionaire reviles. Six months later, and in the face of endless hig...
Israel’s Yom Ha’atzmaut—Independence Day—is particularly meaningful to my family. My uncle brought his family to the country from Poland in 1936, and he and my aunt fought on the streets of Tel Aviv in the War of Independence in 1948. My grandmother’s sister and her husband escaped the Nazis, making aliyah in the 1930s. My brother, sister, first cousin, and their families all have made aliyah. Two nephews and a niece are now serving in the Israel Defense Forces. As I was growing up, Israel was an ever-present part of my life, and my father co...
It seems appropriate to call these two contenders for the world’s most powerful office by their first names. Even this far away from their campaigns, where the news is usually about something else, we’ve been listening for more than a year to a great deal of commentary, along with video clips of them speaking in numerous settings. Neither seem up to the best who have reached the office they seek. Indeed, there is enough in both of their records to suggest that they may compete for the lowest ranks of presidential esteem. So first names app...
Islamophobia: dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force. When UCF students walk toward the Student Union, they are greeted by a cacophony of music and welcomed by tables of students. Among the student organizations manning these tables are the Catholic Ministry, Knights for Israel, College Republicans and so on. As students continue to walk, they are handed pamphlets from religious, political, recreational and student government organizations. Students can walk inside the Student Union and witness many...
As the British began to dismantle their Mandate (The British Mandate) and leave western Palestine, Israel’s War of Independence began (November 30, 1947‑ May 14, 1948). During the war, Palestinian Arabs became belligerents in the conflict, and by its end, rather than accept a Jewish state after five-and-a-half months of warfare, Palestinian Arabs called upon their brethren from seven surrounding countries to invade and crush the nascent Jewish state. Six thousand Jews—1 percent of Israel’s Jewish population—lost their lives during the War o...
Sophie Wortsman. 16. Toronto. Student. Benji Zoller. 18. Dallas. Student. Sam Peltz. 83. Florida and New York. Survivor. Jacob Kamaras. 30. Houston. Journalist. We all shared the same experience on May 5—the 28th annual March of the Living, a 1.86-mile walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau as a tribute to victims of the Holocaust. But we took vastly different journeys to get there, and we arrived at the former death campsites with divergent emotions. Worstman—who marched with a sign bearing the name of her great uncle, Holocaust victim Abraham Rotenb...
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 I...
Speaking through her tears it was not clear whether Eliana, 15, was crying tears of sadness because of her loss, or tears of joy because she was in a place where she could express herself, and cry openly. "Before coming to Camp Koby I was so broken. This was my first sleep away camp and on the first day I couldn't eat. But I felt an immediate connection. I have met so many amazing people. There's so much effort put in to help us. It gives energy and strength to continue with everyday life." She...
Jewish leaders in the United Kingdom have voiced their displeasure with the Labour Party amid an anti-Semitism scandal within its ranks that continues to engulf the country's second-largest party. With the reported suspension of at least 50 Labour members for anti-Semitic comments over the past two months, British-Jewish voters are also indicating that the scandal may have damaged their perception of the liberal party. Although the Labour Party's candidate for London mayor, Sadiq Khan, defeated...
"Heeeeeere's Johnny"... Just recently I watched a two-hour special on the life of television Tonight Show host for 30 years, Johnny Carson. Not only am I missing all the years of watching him and his guests I actually recognized them! (Not like the guest stars who appear on our current Tonight Show. The audience goes wild and I go who????) Well, for those who get Antenna TV on their sets, you can still watch Johnny Carson's Tonight Show seven nights a week... 11 p.m.-midnight Monday thru Friday...
(Kveller via JTA)-Traditionally, we say the Mi Sheberach prayer for those who are ill and those recovering from illness or accident. For example, I added the name of my friend's daughter to the list to be recited at my synagogue following a terrible accident in which she was burned. As the Mi Sheberach was recited this past Shabbat at my synagogue, I had an epiphany. I wondered aloud to my husband, what about those with mental illness? Do we ever think of adding their names in hopes of recovery...
(The Nosher via JTA)-I had my first proper halva experience at The Halva Kingdom in the Machane Yehuda shuk in Jerusalem. I'd never really liked halva before that-the one or two times I had tasted it, the texture was weird and crumbly and there was a slightly bitter aftertaste. But in the shuk, surrounded by dozens of varieties of blocks of halva, I couldn't resist trying the sample offered by the charming vendor. You guys, it was so, so good! I was pleasantly shocked at how much I liked it. It...
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA)-After Yvonne van Gennep-Bouma discovered that Holocaust victims used to live in what is now her home, she began to think about them constantly. At night, van Gennep-Bouma imagined the former occupants preparing to turn in. And in the morning, she wondered where they had their breakfast. That was in 2012, she recalled, talking to a visitor in the manicured three-story townhouse in the Hague where she has lived with her husband and three children since 2001. It was als...
INDIANAPOLIS-A noted Indiana University cardiologist, Dr. Doug Zipes, has published his third novel, a historical thriller titled "Not Just a Game." The book follows three generations of Olympic athletes over eight decades, culminating in intrigue and danger at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil. With some historical basis in fact and characters loosely based on real people, Zipes' story chronicles the challenges of Olympic competition experienced by a grandfather, father, and daughter...
