Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)-It was the threat that European authorities dreaded-and Europe's Jews suffered the first blow. The suspect arrested in the attack last month at the Jewish museum in Brussels that left four dead was a French-born jihadist who had returned home from fighting in Syria. Now European Jewish institutions are left to reckon with the danger of European jihadists coming home from Syria with deadly new skills, extremist fervor and malicious intentions. "There has been a change and it requires us to...
Shown here are friends playing mahjong while celebrating the 97th birthday of May Gitles (center). Mrs. Gitles enjoys the company of these Jewish Pavilion volunteers, each week along with the strategies and enjoyment of a game of mahjong. For the people living in senior living communities, a game of mahjong may not be so easy to come by. Volunteers are welcome to join in this game and others in Maitland, Altamonte Springs and Sanford. Call the office at 407-678-9363 for more information on where a game is taking place....
Take heart, anything can be overcome... To prove it, this blurb is from NBC news: FRANKFURT, Germany-"At first glance, the afternoon gathering of nearly 30 elderly people in the cozy wood-paneled room of an apartment complex could be perceived as an ordinary 'coffee klatch.' But, the women and men that gather here in Frankfurt over coffee and cake once a week all share one common experience: the horrors of the Holocaust. For many of the estimated 40,000 Jewish survivors still living in Germany,...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Sol Lapidus earned the Order of Lenin, the Soviet Union's highest medal, for his role as a partisan fighter in the Belarussian forest during World War II. Lapidus proudly wore the bronze-and-red medal pinned to his suit jacket last Wednesday at the United Nations, where he joined approximately 150 mostly white-haired Jewish Red Army veterans, their lapels festooned with similar decorations. The small army of aged veterans had gathered to make history again, to announce what was...
(JNS.org) National Basketball Association (NBA) star Pau Gasol met with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem on Sunday along with a group of Jewish and Arab basketball players. The 33-year-old Los Angeles Lakers forward/center was making his first trip to Israel, for a basketball workshop meant to promote peace and coexistence. "I am extremely happy to be here," the Spanish-born Gasol said, Reuters reported. "I believe sport is an amazing tool for bringing people together." Gasol is a...
Jewish Pavilion volunteers help bring the Jewish community to the doorsteps of seniors in long-term care. Recently, volunteer Cathy Swerdlow presented residents at the Mayflower Retirement Community with an informative session about the culture, language, holidays and geographical facts about Israel. Many residents expressed to Nancy Ludin, executive director of the Jewish Pavilion, and to Swerdlow how pleased they were with the event and information imparted. Shown here is Jewish Pavilion...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Which way will Presbyterians go this time? That’s a question Jewish groups and their Presbyterian allies are nervously asking as they work to head off divestment efforts within the church targeting Israel. The fear is the efforts could pass this time after a narrow defeat two years ago. A successful divestment vote at the biennial Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly this month could precipitate a rupture between the mainline Protestant denomination and the Jewish community, they warn. Jewish-Presbyterian rel...
Jews account for a mere 170 of 18,174 athletes who have played in the major leagues (through the 2013 season, according to baseball-reference.com). So it’s not surprising that the new exhibit “Chasing Dreams: Baseball & Becoming American” at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia provides a reason to kvell. While it may not have the grandeur of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in terms of the number of items on display, to paraphrase from a famous line in the 1952 film Pat and Mike, what’s there is choi...
The history of the knish represents more than just the lineage of a fried, dumpling-like food. It demonstrates the often-central role of food in communities and cultural legacies. Laura Silver knows that all too well. She has consumed knishes on three different continents, and her exhaustive research on the iconic potato treat has resulted in her new book, "Knish: In Search of the Jewish Soul Food," which was released in early May. When she started her knish book project, Silver had no plans...
By June Glazer Most people who donate to Jewish National Fund (JNF) for tree planting in Israel do so in honor or in memory of loved ones. So, too, with Ron Werner, board president of JNF's Mountain States region, who, on his own and with his family, has planted more than 1,500 trees. However, his most recent donation of an additional 1,000 trees, together with his partner, Jim Hering, may be a rare instance when those loved ones are canine. In late May, Werner and Hering donated a grove in...
Complaints about Hitler video led to firing, Jewish banker claims (JTA)—A former executive at BNP Paribas North America Inc. filed a federal lawsuit alleging that he was fired by the bank after complaining about a training video that featured Nazi imagery. Jean-Marc Orlando said in the suit filed Friday in Manhattan U.S. District Court that he was terminated as managing director in the bank’s fixed-income division in New York after complaining about the video portraying the head of a competing bank as Hitler, Reuters reported. Orlando, who was...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-With their bar mitzvahs soon approaching, Sam Goldberg and Joshua Levine, embarked on a melodic act of chesed. Over the winter, Goldberg and Levine, both 13 and seventh-graders at The Moriah School in Englewood, N.J., met with their music teacher and spent a collective 75 hours in a local studio to record an album they titled "Tikun Olam." The goal of the album, they said, was to raise money for Leket Israel, an organization that serves as Israel's national food bank and food...
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA)-The new Palestinian unity government brought together rivals Hamas and Fatah, but it has opened a divide between allies Israel and the United States. "I'm deeply troubled by the announcement that the United States will work with the Palestinian government backed by Hamas," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press. The Obama administration's announcement this week that it would continue working with and funding the Pa...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Its leaders call it a “historic development,” a “paradigm shift” and a “change in the relationship” between Israel and Diaspora Jewry. But when it comes to the details of the Joint Initiative of the Government of Israel and World Jewry, key questions have yet to be answered, including what it will do and who will fund it. Conceived last year as a partnership between the Israeli government, the Jewish Agency for Israel and major Diaspora Jewish bodies, the initiative aims to strengthen Diaspora Jewish identity and connections b...
