Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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On May 22, the Orange County commissioners approved $1.2 million in tourist-tax grants that were recommended by Orange County's Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Council, to the Orlando Science Center, the Orlando Ballet and the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center. The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida received $500,000 to help with the costs of the first phase of renovations, which is estimated to cost $1 million. "We are honored to have the support of the...
By Pamela Ruben How far would you go to help a worthy cause? So far, no distance is too great for Orlando real estate attorney Andy Reiff. Over the past 26 years, Reiff has logged over 4,000 miles on his 26-year-old Trek 2100 racing bike, raising over $100,000 to help improve the lives of those stricken with chronic diseases, like multiple sclerosis and diabetes. For more than a quarter of a century, the 59-year-old biking enthusiast has participated in "Bike MS: The Citrus Tour," which raises...
Since 2014, Orlando has been excluded from the list of cities that receive federal funding for security protection against terrorism-even after the Pulse Night Club terror attack and the numerous Jewish day school and JCC bomb threats. That has now changed with the Department of Homeland Security's Urban Area Security Initiative grant for the fiscal year 2018. Orlando nonprofits can now apply for security grants through the $50 million program, in addition to $1.5 million in guaranteed funds...
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 2018 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 on Aug. 7. “For more than 28 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, time, energy and e...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Now beginning its second decade, the Schusterman Visiting Israeli Artists Program will bring 10 prominent Israeli artists for residencies at top universities across the United States for the 2018-2019 academic year. The University of Central Florida is one of the 10. Among the artists are Taiseer Elias, the leading figure in classical Arab music in Israel, and Moshe Zonder, the head writer for the popular television series, Fauda. Coming to UCF is Meital Raz, from Jan. 2, 2019...
Melvin Weissman didn't have to fight in World War II. As a machinist for an essential industry, he needed permission from his company to even enlist. He was first rejected by the army as he had flat feet. But the 22-year-old was determined to fight for his county. Undeterred, Melvin, along with several of his friends, tried to enlist in the United States Army Air Corp. This time, he was accepted, flat feet and all. When he said good-bye to his family, Weissman was overcome with emotion. "I knew...
George Braunstein is a member of a storied group whose numbers dwindle as each Memorial Day passes: Jewish American veterans of World War II. As he approaches his 95th birthday, the Kinneret resident is proud to have been one of the interview subjects of the recent documentary "G.I. Jews," which aired on PBS in April. Although his interview was not included in the final documentary, it was used as a promotional teaser and can be found on YouTube. A frequent and lively participant in Jewish...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D- Calif., said she was "deeply disappointed" in Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, for stopping the U.N. Security Council from investigating Israeli actions on the border with the Gaza Strip. "I'm deeply disappointed in Ambassador Haley's decision to block a U.N. inquiry into yesterday's events," Feinstein, who is Jewish, said Tuesday in a statement. "Without question there should be an independent investigation when the lives of so...
(JTA)—Philip Roth, whose notorious novels about the sex drives of American men gave way to some of the most probing examinations of the American Jewish condition in the 20th and 21st centuries, has died. He was 85. His death was confirmed to The New York Times by his friend Judith Thurman. Early in his career, Roth drew outrage with sometimes stinging depictions of Jewish life, as well as his graphic portrayal in his breakout 1969 novel “Portnoy’s Complaint” of the protagonist’s sexual desires. Some worried that his work would endanger...
Paraguay made history on Monday when it moved its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, just days after the US and Guatemala made the same move. Paraguay's President Horacio Cartes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and several heads of state from both countries were present at the momentous ceremony. At the ceremony, Netanyahu lauded Cartes as "a great friend of Israel and a great personal friend of mine. You're an unbelievable friend, and I have to say that this...
(JNS) What do you do about a relative who loves you but won’t listen to your concerns? That’s the likely American Jewish reaction to news about a new poll of Israeli opinion that signals both good and bad news to those who care about the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. The good news is that overwhelming majorities of Israeli Jews believe that they are part of one Jewish people, rather than only possessing an Israeli (as opposed to fully Jewish) identity. They think that American Jewish support “is essential” for their securit...
It’s painfully shocking that Anti-Defamation League head Jonathan Greenblatt recently wrote on ADL’s website: “it is a horrific tragedy that so many people have been killed and wounded at the Gaza border.” (“ADL Statement on Violence at Israel-Gaza Border,” May 15, 2018.) This broad statement was not limited to the tiny minority who were not members of a terrorist group. (And even that small minority joined the violent riots whose goal was to breach Israel’s border fence to descend upon nearby Jewish communities, schools, and day care centers...
(JNS)—In a welcome statement issued this week, the U.S. State Department drew attention to the continuing persecution of the small Baha’i religious minority in Yemen by Iran-backed Shi’a rebels. The rebel Houthis “have targeted the Baha’i community in inflammatory speech along with a wave of detentions, ‘court summons,’ and punishment without a fair or transparent legal process,” the statement observed. These and similar actions over the past 12 months “appear to be an effort to pressure Yemeni Baha’is to recant their faith.” Like the Yezidi an...
By David Ellenson and Joshua Holo (JTA)—At the 2018 commencement of the Skirball Campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, graduation speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon spoke out strongly, even provocatively, against Israeli policies in *Judea and Samaria. In the same address, Chabon also articulated deeply Jewish and Zionist commitments (not merely abstract or literary in nature, but specifically religious, communal and even tribal). Not surprisingly, responses have mirrored the r...
(JTA)—I never did anything like that with liver, but when I read “Portnoy’s Complaint,” I knew it was about me. Not the actual me, because I would never do any of the things that Alexander Portnoy confesses in the 274-page rant about lust, parental guilt, lust, neurosis, non-Jewish women and lust by Philip Roth, who died Tuesday at 85. The misogyny threaded throughout the book and its constant, universal treatment of women as either sex objects or domineering authorities, or both aimed to shock in 1969 and is reprehensible. But the deeper...
(JNS)—The Gaza border conflict is being fought on two battlefields simultaneously. One is the battle at the border fence, where the aggressors use Molotov cocktails, pipe bombs, rocks, sling shots, burning tires and flaming kites. The other is the battle for the hearts and minds of the American public, where the aggressors use distortions, omissions, fabrications and innuendo. In the battle for public opinion, Israel faces two formidable opponents: the far-left wing of the Democratic Party and a large number of major news-media outlets. The t...
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...
The Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Orlando is holding its meeting at the Roth Jewish Community Center Senior Lounge in Maitland, on Tuesday, June 5 at 7 p.m. Three presentations will summarize Y-DNA, mtDNA and autosomal DNA, their strengths and pitfalls. These will be followed by an open forum taking questions from attendees submitted in advance or from the floor. Panel members are Elaine Hatfield Powell, Barry Sieger, Diane Jacobs, and Chuck Goehring. Powell is president of the Central Florida Genealogical Society. She has been a genealog...
(The Nosher via JTA)-These bourekas are a mix of New York Jewish and Middle Eastern Israeli food cultures. It sounds a little crazy, but it's incredibly good: The flavorful seasoning blend, slightly sweet from the dried onion and garlic, balances out the salty, briny feta interior, and the cream and cottage cheese in the filling. A little bit of spinach, a personal must for me in cheese bourekas, adds color and flavor. Best part? These bourekas, made with store-bought puff pastry, are...
The Beitar Jerusalem soccer team has announced that it has begun the process to add President Donald Trump's name to its club title in honor of his actions on behalf of Israel and his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Beitar Jerusalem owner Eli Tabib said Sunday that he is renaming the team "Beitar Trump Jerusalem" to thank the American president for moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to the capital. "For 70 years, Jerusalem awaited international recognition, until President Donald...
I never met Mitchell "Mike" Flint, but before I had even heard of him, I knew about him and his legendary sense of being on the right side of history in the establishment of the State of Israel. When I read about Mitchell, Jewish and Israeli newspapers were filled with accounts of his life in obituaries that heaped praise on his heroism, and that of others like him. There's a Jewish tradition to comfort the mourning surviving family members of one who dies and I was able to connect with one of...
Members of the Flagler Palm Coast Amateur Radio Club, Daytona Beach Amateur Radio Association, St. Augustine Amateur Radio Society, Flagler Emergency Communications Association, American Legion Amateur Radio Club 5th District and Flagler County Assist REACT Team 4800 will be participating in the national Amateur Radio Field Day exercise, June 23-24 for 24 hours beginning at 2 p.m. at Hammock Community Center, 69 MalaCompra Road, Palm Coast, Florida 32137. All are welcome to visit the station site during the 24 hour event and, under the...
Finally, some justice... I read this in a current issue of the World Jewish Congress digest and pass it along: "Polish Deputy Prime Minister PIOTR GHLINSKI has personally informed the WJC that the Polish government will invest 100 million zloty ($28 million USD) to restore the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery. Glinski relayed the decision to WJC CEO and Executive Vice President, ROBERT SINGER, during a special meeting at the cemetery itself in mid-December. Singer travelled to Warsaw as part of a...
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando has announced the fifth year of the Jewish Teen Education grant program and is accepting grant requests for the 2018-19 academic year. Through its JTEN (Jewish Teen Education Network) program, the Federation offers grants to synagogues and community agencies that provide Jewish educational opportunities for middle school and high school students in Central Florida. JTEN also sponsors Community-wide Teen Education Days and provides resources and networking opportunities for Jewish educators. The previous...
In the spirit of Philip Roth's The Plot Against America and Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay comes this meticulously-crafted novel, "My Mother's Son" by David Hirshberg (Fig Tree Books LLC). The story is told by a radio raconteur revisiting his past in post-World War II Boston, the playground and battleground for two brothers whose lives are transformed by discoveries they never could have imagined. From the opening line of the book, "When you're a kid, they don't...
