Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 26 - 39 of 39
(JNS) — A Massachusetts state senator is under fire for comments he made legitimizing Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization, as well as a call to replace Israel with a binational state. In a statement posted on his website on May 28, State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, a Democrat who serves the Middlesex and Worcester district, commented on the recent 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, urging “much-needed dialogue around this very serious and consequential conflict.” “Against the backdrop of hundreds of human lives lost over th...
Russian tea biscuits are so much a part of Cleveland's landscape that locals are surprised to learn that these rugelach-like pastries are from their hometown. As a Clevelander, I didn't discover the truth until I moved to several cities and Russian tea biscuits were nowhere to be found, prompting me to do a little digging online. I discovered that the pastry's origin story - a story that feels more like a legend - is connected to the Cleveland Jewish community. Even though Salon published a...
Chew on this: One of America's most iconic gum brands was originally a Jewish-owned tobacco business. In 1891, Morris Chigorinsky emigrated from Russia to the United States, where in the early 1900s he assumed control of the American Leaf Tobacco Company. But by 1938 - by then Chigorinsky had changed his surname to Shorin - the business was flailing. His four sons decided to save the family from certain penury by starting a new penny candy business, Topps Chewing Gum Inc., with the name...
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned violent rhetoric on “every side” of the political spectrum Sunday but also claimed that Israel’s incoming government, which will replace him, is the result of “the greatest electoral fraud in the history of the country.” Netanyahu’s speech came as the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service warned of a rise in rhetoric that encourages violence. A pro-Netanyahu lawmaker compared two of his rivals to “terrorists” facing a “death sentence,” and members of the incoming coalition have...
Robert (Bob) Picheny was born in Brooklyn, New York, June 7, 1944. He grew up in Brooklyn and Long Island where he met and married his wife, Sandra. The newlyweds moved to Orlando five months after their wedding. They lived in Central Florida their entire married life, first in Altamonte Springs and later in Lake Mary. Bob was an entrepreneur who owned several businesses. He started his career with several roles in New York City, including as vice president for a wholesale business. Bob opened a retail store (S & R Shopper’s Haven) on Orange A...
(JNS) — A dozen Jewish Democratic lawmakers have issued a statement strongly condemning recent remarks made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who equated Israeli and U.S. actions to terrorist groups like Hamas and the Taliban. In a tweet on Monday, she wrote: “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan and the Taliban.” Her tweet also included a link to a video, where she questioned U.S. Secretary of St...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — After a dozen Jewish Democrats in Congress asked Rep. Ilhan Omar to clarify remarks in which she grouped Hamas and the Taliban with the United States and Israel, she complied — but not before she got something off her chest. An insinuation in the request that she was covering for terrorists was Islamophobic, Omar said in a tweet, and she exhorted her colleagues to call first next time. “On Monday, I asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken about ongoing International Criminal Court investigations,” Omar said Thursday afterno...
(JTA) — Motorcyclist Steve Goode is on the way to Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But on a recent phone call from a hotel room, he doesn’t know exactly where he is. “Indiana, in … what the hell town am I in?” he says with a laugh. Turns out he’s in Richmond, Indiana, a few days into a 75-day trek called the Great American Deli Schlep, during which he will stop at 42 Jewish delis across the United States to raise awareness about hunger and food insecurity. He started out at Manny’s Cafeteria and Delicatessen in his native Chicago,...
Israeli haredi publication blurs face of Labor Party’s female leader (JTA) — A haredi Orthodox publication in Israel published a photo on its website Monday that blurs the face of the Labor Party’s leader, Merav Michaeli. Bechadrei Charedim did not explain its decision on the photo, which was used with a story about Israel’s incoming government, but the reason was likely because Michaeli is a woman. Haredi Orthodox publications have blurred, photoshopped or otherwise excluded photos of women from their pages for years. Most famously in the Uni...
(JNS) - Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters prevented the unloading of an Israeli container ship from Asia at the Port of Oakland, Calif., on Friday, with the cooperation of the local longshoremen's union, which refused to unload the vessel. The protest was sponsored and organized by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, a pro-Palestinian BDS group operating in the Bay Area. In a Sunday Facebook post, the group, which claimed "thousands" streamed to the protest throughout Friday, praised...
(JNS) - Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, told a group of students and academics in Gaza on Saturday that the terrorist organization has the capability to demolish Tel Aviv and that Israel had only destroyed 3 percent of Gaza's tunnel network last month during "Operation Guardian of the Walls." "God has decreed that we must attack Tel Aviv, and there are other capabilities we have not revealed," said Sinwar, adding that Hamas and its terrorist partners could launch 130 missiles at the city...
(JTA) - Perhaps it's beginners luck: Russian-Israeli tennis player Aslan Karatsev, playing mixed doubles for the first time, has reached the finals of the French Open with partner Elena Vesnina. Maybe not: At the Australian Open in February, Karatsev had an amazing run, reaching the semifinals before losing to the eventual champion, Novak Djokovic. That was his first Grand Slam tournament in singles or doubles. Karatsev and Vesnina now have their sights set on playing mixed doubles at the Tokyo...
(JTA) - When Daniela Weiner heard about a virtual bake sale against antisemitism, the Chicago pastry chef and food photographer didn't think twice about joining. Weiner is not Jewish. But she has participated in benefit bake sales before, raising $1,500 last year for racial justice causes, and she also knew that some of her Jewish friends in the food world were alarmed by a recent spate of antisemitic incidents. "Seeing a friend talk about this, crying on social media that she is afraid ... I...
(JTA) - If anyone can pull off a bluegrass song about Anne Frank, it's Nefesh Mountain, a husband-and-wife duo from New Jersey that has been a standard-bearer of Jewish bluegrass for years. The group has appeared in Rolling Stone and national bluegrass magazines and worked with some of the most respected bluegrass session players as they have put an Americana spin on Jewish prayers such as "Mi Chamocha" and "Modeh Ani" and released other songs that tap into Jewish traditions. "What we're doing...
