Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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JERUSALEM (JTA)-President Donald Trump visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to go to the holy site. Trump arrived there under heavy security Monday afternoon with his wife, Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner. No Israeli politicians or officials accompanied the family. U.S. officials reportedly had rejected a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the site with Trump. Trump was presented with a Book of Psalms with his...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Shavuot is the “Rodney Dangerfield of Jewish holidays,” says Rabbi Shira Stutman of Washington, D.C.’s Sixth and I synagogue. Meaning: It gets no respect. Considered by Jewish tradition to be on par with the fall and spring festivals of Sukkot and Passover, Shavuot is sometimes ignored because it is six days shorter—the holiday celebrating the biblical giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai is one day in Israel and two outside of it. Shavuot, which this year starts on the evening of May 30, also lacks iconic, family-ce...
NEW YORK & JERUSALEM—Birthright Israel, the world’s largest provider of free cultural experience trips, today announces that a record 33,000 participants will arrive in Israel this summer. The program currently has a waiting list due to overwhelming demand and the organization will surpass the 600,000 participant mark this summer. “We are proud to have drastically increased the number of Jewish young adults visiting Israel every year—from a mere 1,500 prior to the founding of Birthright Israel,” Birthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark said. “We remain...
JTA—The White House used the term “Jerusalem, Israel” in a live video feed of President Donald Trump’s visit to the city, a departure from the policies of past administrations. The caption appeared on the video feed of Monday’s news conference at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence. It came as Trump administration officials continue to differ over whether to describe the contested city as being part of Israel, and as Israeli officials urge the White House to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Obama and G...
It is that time of year once again when Heritage Florida Jewish News is putting out feelers for one outstanding person in the Jewish community who has given his or her time or talent or monetary gifts to better the Orlando Jewish community. Nominations for the 2017 Heritage Human Service Award are now being accepted and the award will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, which will be held Aug. 27. “For more than 27 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, t...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-The new U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, presented his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem. During the ceremony Tuesday morning, Rivlin identified himself as a seventh-generation Jerusalemite and noted."Next week, we will celebrate 50 years since Jerusalem was united, and the Jewish people were able to once again pray at the Western Wall. But Jewish Jerusalem is not 50 years old. Since the days of King David, this city has been our capital. It is time...
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations has welcomed a clarification from President Donald Trump's Administration that it does not regard the Western Wall in Jerusalem as a "part of the West Bank," contrary to earlier media reports. "We were dismayed by press accounts earlier today reporting that, in response to a request that Prime Minister Netanyahu accompany President Trump when he visits the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, unidentified U.S. officials...
JNS.org—Ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Israel, the head of a leading Christian Zionist organization called on the president to fulfill his election campaign promise to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Pastor John Hagee, head of Christians United for Israel,noted in a letter published in the Washington Times that Trump will soon need to decide whether to postpone the embassy’s transfer to Jerusalem by at least half a year. In 1995, Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which calls on the U.S. to move the embas...
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's Jewish Community Relations Council is organizing and hosting a community briefing with Eric Ross, associate regional director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), titled Anti-Semitism Today: A Local and Global Issue, on Monday, June 5th from 7 p.m.-8:30pm in the Roth Family JCC Auditorium-851 N. Maitland Avenue, Maitland, FL 32751. In addition to addressing the unprecedented rash of bomb threats to JCCs and other Jewish institutions during the first...
Dani Shipley, granddaughter of Jim and Rachel Shipley and daughter of Tom and Pam Corey Shipley, went on the March of the Living. The following is her diary of her first week in Poland. April 24, 2017: Day 2-March of the Living No words. Today was a day like no other. Eleven-thousand strong, from all over the world. There's nothing like walking from a concentration camp (Auschwitz) to a death camp (Birkenau). Walking with Japanese flags on both our sides from their delegation, next to the...
The Fifth Annual Pavilion Golf Society was marked by friends, fairways, food, family, and the many fans of honorees, Elise and Dr. Henry Schilowitz. More than 80 golfers were in full swing at The Rosen Shingle Creek's new Arnold Palmer Golf Course, for a morning round of golf to raise funds for the Jewish Pavilion and The Orlando Senior Help Desk on Sunday, May 7. The honoree couple was celebrated with the arrival of out-of-town family including their two sons, daughter-in-law, and grandsons....
By any standards, it was an extraordinary week for U.S.-Israel relations—and that was before President Donald Trump even arrived in Israel for his official visit. It began with what sounded like a brawl between American and Israeli officials laying the groundwork for Trump’s May 22-23 visit. Irritated by an Israeli request that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accompany Trump on his visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem—an image that would send the unmistakable signal that the new U.S. administration regards a united Jerusalem as Israel’s ete...
A disagreement between Jews? Whoda thought? That three Jews in a room could not agree on much—except that they disagree. It is part of our DNA. Look to any Orthodox Study Group and you will see the same arguments dealing with Torah interpretation that have been going on, probably since the original authors sat down in Babylonia. We like to argue. Maybe that’s why the world is so full of Jewish lawyers. We argue about the best Deli in New York or LA or even, God Forbid, Lynchburg, Virginia. Best baseball player ever? Fahget about it! But sometim...
U.S. President Donald Trump’s optimism about Middle East peace might be justified. Perhaps Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ pledge that he will be a “true partner” to Trump in the search for peace is genuine. Or maybe Trump’s negotiating skills—and his lack of interest in the details or his loyalty to formulas like the two-state solution—will provide what is needed to achieve progress. But a statement issued only a few days before Trump’s meeting with Abbas shows that there’s more at stake here than the real estate deal...
(JTA)—Sunday night in Teaneck, New Jersey, Daniel Kurtzer and Ruth Wisse spoke at separate synagogues, roughly at the same time, about a quarter mile apart. Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel and a professor of Middle East studies at Princeton, supports the two-state solution and doesn’t think the Israeli government is heading in the “right direction.” Wisse, a famed Yiddish scholar at Harvard, regards Jewish support for the peace process as “self-delusion” and planned to speak on the topic “Are American Jews their own worst enemies...
(JTA)—The festival of Shavuot, which begins at sundown May 30, focuses on Moses receiving the tablets of the law. But an even more fascinating part of the story is when he shatters them. In an astounding midrash, or rabbinic commentary, Moses’ act is portrayed as the epitome of loyalty to the people, but also teaches God about community and continuity. Descending Mount Sinai, Moses sees the golden calf that the Israelites made while he was gone, a mortal sin according to the Torah he’s carrying, so he decides not to give it to them. The midra...
There is no reason to suspect that President Trump harbors anything but the warmest feelings for Israel. And many of his closest advisers—his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, and Ambassador to Israel David Friedman—have long records of support for Israel. Yet it is possible to do harm without intending to do so, and Trump’s meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas suggests that he may fall into that category. A less egotistical man might have been given pause by the abject failure of so many of hi...
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 Israe...
Israelis celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem's reunification May 23-24. Leading up to the holy city's semi-centennial milestone, here are 50 facts highlighting the rich tapestry of Israel's capital: Reunification 1. Jerusalem Day is an Israeli national holiday commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. 2. During the Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem, Jews were not allowed to access their holy sites, including the Western Wall. History 3. Jerusalem has been...
How great are those who invented the Internet and Facebook! I was born in Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia) and lived there until moving to the U.S. in 1990. Before World War II, the family home was in the small town Zapadnaia Dvina where my grandfather, Josef Gessel (born 1898), lived with his wife and two sons: Isaak (my father, born 1926) and his brother, Michael (born 1928). The town is located in the middle between the Latvian border and the big city Tver. During World War II,...
Caleb Yosef Oxborough, son of Thomas and Beth Oxborough of Sanford, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Saturday, June 3, 2017, at Congregation Beth Am in Longwood. Caleb is in the seventh grade at Sanford Middle School where he is an honor student. His hobbies and interests include spending time and sharing laughs with his brothers and sisters, and volunteering with hunger-relief organizations such as Feeding Children Everywhere and Second Harvest Food Bank. Sharing in the family's...
Nathan Jack Waldbaum, son of Laura and Jonathan Waldbaum of Heathrow, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Saturday, June 3, 2017, at Congregation Ohev Shalom in Maitland. Nathan is in the seventh grade at Markham Middle School where he is a member of the Black and Silver singers, and in drama. His hobbies and interests include tennis and basketball. He is also a member of the Central Florida Delegation of Athletes playing in the Maccabi games this summer. Sharing in the family's...
Gloria Green, a former Jewish Pavilion program director, stopped by to see her friend Sylvia last week at Plantation Oaks assisted-living facility. Green reported that Sylvia is still getting The Heritage that was a donated subscription and was delighted to see a recent article about Keith Dvorchick, an old acquaintance! Sylvia will turn 97 on July 1. The Jewish Pavilion does a wonderful job of bringing Jewish heritage and tradition to seniors residing in assisted-living facilities, but there...
How often do you "give" to another person without expecting anything in return? And, how do you feel when you give freely and with an open heart? When you give... You receive! It's quite simple. Whether you give monetarily, physically or emotionally, you are feeling the "good vibrations" of your actions. Try your best to give something to everyone you meet as you go about your day. It could be a smile, a compliment, food, money, or some simple gesture or loving act of kindness. The Jewish...
Here we go again... The following are two sayings sent to me by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). As disturbing as they are, we have to be aware of the hate: "Wherever you see an Israeli, slit their throat." This was said by Sultan Abu Alainin, Palestinian Authority Central Committee, top adviser to PA head Mahmoud Abbas. If "filthy" Jews and Christians "don't convert to Islam, their life and property are halal (free for the taking) for the Muslims." This was said by American Imam...
