Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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It was a rally of solidarity and unity between Christians and Jews who gathered at Lake Eola Park on Sunday afternoon to show support for Israel. Organizers of the Stand with Israel Rally, Idit Lotringer, director of the Israeli-American Council Orlando and Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, were thrilled with such short notice about the turnout of more than 200 people who peacefully and enthusiastically showed their support for Israel after a crushing 11...
Since the current round of fighting broke out on May 10, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad had fired nearly 3,500 rockets at Israel, the Israeli military said on May 18. Of those, some 500 have fallen inside Gaza, according to the IDF. Israel’s Iron Dome defense system intercepted approximately 90 percent of projectiles heading for populated areas in Israel.The barrage continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. The following is a compilation of articles from JNS and JTA that covered the 11 days of combat: • Israel says that it...
In April 2014, Recognizing Abilities and Inclusion of Special Employees, better known as RAISE, was launched as a work and social skills training program for adults with special needs. Since then, the program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando has continued to grow and expand, impacting employees, their families, volunteer job coaches, staff and our community. The program provides paid employment at local Jewish agencies along with one-on-one job coaching and transition to employment....
(JNS) — During his first public speech since the start of the latest escalation of rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli retaliation, Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh on Tuesday declared “victory” over the Jewish state. The Hamas head said that Israel’s cancelation of its traditional Jerusalem Day flag march, and the delay of a court ruling over home ownership in eastern Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, were expressions of this victory, according to Israel’s Channel 12. “Jerusalem is the central axis of struggle, and we will n...
Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, is asking Florida citizens who want Holocaust education in public schools to support the importance of teaching about the Holocaust and the ramifications of antisemitism. The Florida Department of Education invited PJTN to draft K-12 Holocaust Standards for consideration for adoption. Cardoza-Moore’s team of Holocaust experts worked diligently for four months to draft Holocaust Standards that address the rising threat of antisemitism. (See Heritage article “Laurie Car...
Timucua Arts Foundation announced today the welcomed the appointment of philanthropist and community leader Geanne Share as president. Share previously served as Timucua's vice president, is a long-time member of the Orlando Ballet board of directors, as well as a board member of Temple Israel Winter Springs, the Jewish Pavilion, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. Share served as president of Kinneret Apartments Affordable Senior Housing from 2015 to 2017, and currently serves as past...
JFS Orlando is excited to introduce Aaron Bernstein, its new director of development. “Aaron brings with him a wide array of experience and knowledge in the nonprofit sector and the business world, along with a unique energy we think will greatly benefit JFS,” said Philip Flynn, JFS Orlando executive director. Prior to establishing his own business development consulting firm, Bernstein was the founder and president of an international bilateral chamber of commerce serving on its Board for 3 y...
The Rosen JCC’s Town Square is excited to announce a partnership with Little Radical Theatrics of Orlando. Little Radical Theatrics is creating a new theater program which values diversity, education and community. They offer Youth Theater programming and All Ages Community Theater productions beginning in the fall of 2021. The inaugural Youth Theater production will be “Frozen Jr.” for first through sixth graders. No audition is required, this is a tuition-based program and space is limited. The inaugural All Ages Community Theater produ...
(JNS) — The Anti-Defamation League is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of men who assaulted patrons at a Los Angeles restaurant on Tuesday night in what is being looked at as a hate crime. “We are outraged over reports of this anti-Semitic assault and thank the Los Angeles Police Department for investigating the incident as a potential hate crime,” said ADL Los Angeles regional director Jeffrey I. Abrams. “These acts of hate have no place in our community, and we hope this reward will bring about information that w...
A senior Hamas leader who helped found the Iran-backed terror group in Gaza came out of hiding, saying that while he thinks the recent ceasefire will hold, his organization remains totally committed to replacing Israel with a Palestinian state, Sky News reported Monday. “I think nobody on both sides is looking for escalation,” Mahmoud al-Zahar told Sky News’ Mark Stone, who interviewed the Hamas co-founder in Gaza after top leaders of the terrorist group emerged from hiding following their rocket attack on Jerusalem May 10 that sparked 11 da...
(JNS)— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized to foreign diplomats that the Israel Defense Forces go to great lengths to target its enemies with great precision and to avoid collateral damage. Speaking to more than 70 diplomatic representatives from several countries, including the United States, the European Union, Russia, China, India, Germany, Austria, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Canada and Italy, the Israeli leader said that Hamas “indiscriminately targets everyone.” “They murder everyone—any civilian they can get their han...
(JNS) — Israeli Ambassador to the United States Gilad Erdan called out Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Monday after she tweeted a defamatory post against the Jewish state. On Twitter, she wrote: “Al-Aqsa is the 3rd holiest site in Islam, & people praying during the holiest days of the holy month of Ramadan have been beaten, gassed, shot, & killed by Israeli forces. They are denied medics & forced to use prayer mats as stretchers. A place of peace desecrated by violence.” She added that “American taxpayer money is being used to commit human-r...
In the The New York Times (May 14), U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders wrote an essay entitled “The U.S. Must Support an Evenhanded Approach in the Middle East” (and, unusually, 24 hours later, retitled “The U.S. Must Stop Being an Apologist for the Netanyahu Government”). Whatever the title, the thrust of the senator’s comments remains exactly the same. Given the timing, this presumably means an appeal to the United States to move to the 50-yard line in the latest round of Hamas-triggered conflict with Israel. Forgive me, an evenhanded approach?...
By Jim Shipley Did it start with George Floyd? Back to Michael Brown? Has it been hidden in the police files of dozens of municipalities for years? Statistics are proving as they have for decades that, yes, we are still a racist society at heart. Decades of ignoring it, shoveling it under tons of paper work, claiming that we are better, all turns out is nonsense. Black men, women and even children are being gunned down by uniformed policemen throughout the country. The police forces, specifically in major cities are under tremendous pressure....
As Hamas creates a war crime with every rocket it fires into Israel solely for the purpose of killing civilians, a biased media, along with supposedly creditable human rights organizations, BDS backers, Students for Justice in Palestine and naive progressives including many progressive Jews, are accusing Israel of provoking the current breakout of hostilities by another false accusation of Israeli apartheid of Arabs This latest provocation, according to these purveyors of false accusations against Israel is the alleged attempt to arbitrarily ev...
(JNS) — Everything about the murder of Israeli teenager Yehuda Guetta shatters the myths and lies that are used by groups like J Street to promote the Palestinian cause. In a fair world, the killing and its aftermath would be an utter public-relations disaster for the Jewish left. But in the real world, things likely will turn out rather differently. Let’s start with the ironic timing. Last week, J Street announced its support for legislation by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) to penalize Israel for arresting teenage Palestinian terrorists. But...
(JNS) — So tell me, what should Israel do? You, who march through the streets of Italy, the U.K. or Germany with Palestinian flags and shout slogans accusing Israel of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, as well as being an apartheid state. You, who defend Hamas in Paris, Berlin, London and Rome, hurling countless accusations against Israel on social media, including demented conspiracy theories that suggest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the diabolical Prince of Evil, started the current war — in agreement with Hamas — i...
For the first few days after Hamas started raining thousands of rockets on Israel — all of them aimed at civilians — Biden kept silent. Finally, on Wednesday, Biden said “my expectation and hope is that this will be closing down sooner than later but Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory.” Saying this ought to have been a no-brainer, but it was obviously an effort on Biden’s part. Biden instantly caught flak from the Squad. Even though, thanks to the influx of Ethiopian Jews, the...
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. Congr...
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Many thousands of people protested against Israel in major European cities over the weekend as the latest Israel-Gaza conflict reached new heights. Several events featuring antisemitic rhetoric and rioting. In Brussels, London and Vienna dozens of men were filmed at rallies on Saturday shouting in Arabic: “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.” The chant relates to an event in the seventh century when Muslims massacred and expelled Jews from the town of Khaybar, located in modern-day Saudi Arabia. It is wi...
(JTA) — Blintzes are one of Shavuot’s most popular dishes. Long associated with Ashkenazi cooking, the light and airy hug of the blintz pancake envelops pillowy fillings such as whipped farmer’s cheese or fruit compote. To call it a crepe is like calling chicken soup consommé. It sounds more fancy, but it lacks the tradition and warmth. For Florence Tabrys, a Holocaust survivor, blintzes were a lifeline to her former life near Radom, Poland. I spoke to Florence when writing my first book “Recip...
(JTA) - Charles Grodin, the deadpan Jewish comic actor who starred in such blockbuster films as "The Heartbreak Kid" and the children's movie "Beethoven," died Tuesday at his home in Wilton, Connecticut. He was 86, and the cause was bone marrow cancer, according to reports. Grodin was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household in Pittsburgh but became less observant in his adult years, although he and his second wife - in his words, "a nice Jewish girl from Kansas City" - observed holidays at home....
(JNS) - Journalists are expressing their outrage that the 12-story Al-Jalaa building housing the Gaza headquarters of Associated Press and Al Jazeera was targeted during retaliatory Israeli airstrikes on Saturday. Al Jazeera Jerusalem bureau chief Walid al-Omari said that by striking the building, Israel was acting "not only to sow destruction and killing, but also to silence those who broadcast it." Not exactly an objective assessment. AP CEO Gary Pruitt released a statement expressing that...
Heritage Florida Jewish News is accepting nominations for the 2021 Heritage Human Service Award, which will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando this summer. “For more than 30 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,” said Jeff Gaeser, editor and publisher of the Heritage. Last year’s recipient was Hank Katzen. Former recipients have inclu...
How lucky I am ... I've had five careers in my life so far... wife, mother, dancer, singer and journalist. Of course, the most important were wife and mother! Especially, the way my husband of 55 years, Irv, was an aerospace engineer, and our 3 sons, (in order of age) are a Navy commander, a psychologist and a marketing manager. Yes, I'm proud! I was only a professional dancer for three years and then a wife, mother and professional singer. And, as a singer I met and was lucky to know singer...
