Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(Kveller via JTA)-My dear innocent child, Something terrible happened. A very bad man took a gun and went into a place where there were many kind, innocent, loving people, and he shot them. He killed many and injured even more. No, none of our family members were hurt. No, no one we knew personally was there. No, that bad man is not alive anymore. "Why would one person hurt other people?" you asked me. I don't know. But he did. He hurt people who are gay and people who are straight. He hurt Jews...
(JNS.org)—World Jewish groups and Israeli leaders condemned the terror attack on Sunday, June 12, inside the LGBT nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Fla., in which a terrorist shot and killed at least 49 people and wounded 53 others. In what was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, 29-year-old terrorist Omar Mateen dialed 911 during the attack to express support for the Islamic State terror group as he used an assault rifle to gun down the victims. “On behalf of world Jewry, I condemn this horrific act of terror and wish to express the Jew...
When our synagogue heard about the horrific tragedy that took place at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, it was at the same time that we were celebrating the festival of Shavuot, which celebrates God's giving of the Torah. As Orthodox Jews, we don't travel or use the Internet on the Sabbath or on holidays, such as Shavuot. But on Sunday night, as we heard the news, I announced from the pulpit that as soon as the holiday ended at 9:17 p.m. Monday, we would travel from our synagogue in Northwest...
(JNS.org) Israel is reportedly set to build a massive underground and aboveground concrete wall around the Gaza Strip in order to prevent infiltration by Hamas terrorists using cross-border attack tunnels. The wall, which will cost around NIS 2.2 billion ($567 million), will stretch along Israel’s entire 60-mile border with Gaza and will be built tens of meters under and above ground, according to Yedioth Ahronoth. “We have no desire to rule over Gaza, and as long as there is no alternative government there, we have no business being the...
Former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali died Friday June 3, 2016, at age 74 after being hospitalized in Phoenix with a respiratory ailment. While the cause of death was not disclosed, Ali had been living with Parkinson's disease for many years. As expressions of grief and support have poured in from all over the world in the wake of his death, so have stories of Ali's complicated relationship with Zionism and the Jewish people. Muhammad Ali was born in Louisville, Ky., as a...
Once controlling an empire spanning every continent, the United Kingdom has been undergoing an identity crisis in recent years. In 2014, Scotland, which has been part of the United Kingdom for over 300 years, held a referendum on whether to remain part of the country. Now in 2016, after years of discontent with the European Union (EU), the British people will decide on whether or not to leave the 28-country bloc in a June 23 referendum. For the British-Jewish community, which has faced growing...
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org)—At a meeting of Likud party ministers on Monday, June 13, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced questions regarding the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, two weeks after saying the initiative included some “positive elements” and that Israel is “willing to negotiate with Arab states’ revisions to that initiative so that it reflects the dramatic changes in the region since 2002.” One Likud minister asked Netanyahu what he would do if Arab states were not willing to revise the initiative. “If the Ara...
When Susan Silverman landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, she was on a mission. When she left, it was with a new member of her family, a little boy she and her husband, Yossi Abramowitz, named Adar. "We were matched with our son Adar on the holiday of Purim, which means lots," says Silverman, a Reform rabbi. "We were taking a chance, throwing lots, in building a family-because having kids means you take risks in terrifying ways, because the world is a dangerous place and, with kids, you put your...
Temple L'Chayim recently held their annual congregational meeting to celebrate the start of their second anniversary in Clermont, Florida. The newly elected Temple L'Chayim Executive Board is led by Jay Kosner, president; Richard Walpow, vice president of Membership Recruitment and Fundraising; Jack Colton, vice president of Internal Communications; Larry Oskin, vice president of External Marketing, PR and Communications; Susan Colton, treasurer and Ruth Baker, secretary; as well as Nathan Axel...
Eliezer Sepulveda is a senior student at Hebrew College, in Newton Massachusetts. He is also the leader of Shoresh Education Center in Orlando, which, until four months ago had been Congregation Shomer Ysrael, the first Hispanic Jewish synagogue in Orange County. In April 2015, Heritage reported about the small synagogue of about 30 very committed members. Sepulveda and about 20 members attended the Discover Judaism course, taught by Rabbi Kay at Congregation Ohev Shalom. There were so many students that Rabbi Kay set up a special conversion...
Dear Ira, You’re right: “I’m sure to hear from Americans who don’t like what I write about the US. They can insist that they are not living in a bubble, but admit that there is no reason to go to places that are unattractive, i.e., outside their bubble.” And your perception of this being a “la la land” by virtue of having a large underclass relative to other societies, will only hold water when its backed by statistics that weigh the size of the country (330MM) in its relationship to other countries. Frankly, I’m rather surprised that...
There is an old Jewish joke (are there any new Jewish jokes?) about a young man rushing in to his grandmother’s kitchen in 1969 and exclaiming “Bubbe! We just landed a man on the moon!” The grandmother stopped chopping liver and looked up. She asked “Is that good for the Jews or bad for the Jews?” There was a time for us as a people where everything was measured against that standard. Supposedly, less than a century after the Holocaust, a little less than 70 years after the founding of the Third Jewish Commonwealth in Israel, that should no...
We’ve known for some time that American society looks as much like a Third World country as a First. Sure, it has a GDP that is still larger than China’s, and it is viewed, especially by Americans, as a world leader in just about everything good. However, its social gap is the largest among western democracies. The U.S. has what sociologists call the “underclass,” with gangs, drugs, 14-year-old mothers and 30-year-old grandmothers, not too far from nice bubbles of the well-to -do. The country is either enviable or deeply troubled, dependi...
Sunday morning as I walked home from the synagogue after spending all night in study and prayer at our annual All-Night Tikkun Leyl Shavuot, I arrived home to hear the tragic news of yet another terrorist attack at a nightclub in Orlando, targeting the LGBT community. The news Sunday morning was shocking and unspeakably tragic. The city of Orlando now has the sullied distinction of forever being mentioned alongside Virginia Tech., Aurora, Sandy Hook, Charleston, San Bernardino and so many other places in our country where mass shootings have no...
Egyptian Muslim President Gen. Abdul Fateh al-Sisi’s address to Egypt’s religious leaders at Al-Azhar University on Jan. 1, 2015, called for Muslim religious officials to lead a “religious revolution” to stop Muslims throughout the world from killing and causing destruction. This starkly contrasts with President Obama’s angry tirade on June 14, 2016, condemning those who criticize the president and his administration for refusing to use the term “radical Islam.” Pres. al-Sisi courageously and properly urged Muslim religious leaders that...
Dear Editor: By now, everyone has heard the news of the massacre in a gay nightclub in Orlando. The terrorist is a Muslim fanatic who hated homosexuals. Nothing can obscure this fact or show more clearly the madness of extreme Islam. ISIS has spared us all the meaningless controversy of our law enforcement agencies, government and media whether the atrocity was an “act of terrorism” or a “hate crime.” Nevertheless, the madman is still referred to by all dutifully as “the suspect.” The month my wife and I were in Israel (May) was Gay Pride M...
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...
"When it comes to apartheid, Israel sucks." It's a key quote delivered by American comedian Brad Stine, a devout Christian and a featured personality in a new documentary film called "Hating Israel: In Search of the Truth Behind BDS." The premiere of the 90-minute film produced by Laurie Cardoza-Moore, founder and president of the Christian Zionist organization Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), was held in Jerusalem on June 8, in front of an audience of Knesset members, Israel...
By Ben Sales NEW YORK (JTA)-When the 2015 movie "Freeheld" came out, featuring Steve Carell as the real-life LGBT rights activist Steven Goldstein, Goldstein sang its praises to publication after publication. How did he really feel? "It was painful to watch," he told JTA last week. "I detested the movie from the first time I saw it. The portrayal of me in the movie was downright anti-gay. The movie was a grotesque stereotype." The movie tells the true 2005 story of a terminally ill lesbian...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-An exhibit over 20 years old against an iPhone: Docents at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum are increasingly noting the battle with hand-held devices to keep the interest of young people. Now a $20 million gift to help revitalize the Washington, D.C., museum will aim to assist the docents while focusing on the challenges posed to democracies by rapid changes in technology. Allan and Shelley Holt announced their grant for the Washington, D.C., museum on Monday, June 13, in...
Who carries a gun?... (If you do, please don't tell... and don't shoot!) What kind of introduction to a column is this, you ask? Well, my answer is, knowing that I write this column well in advance of publication, the worst massacre in U.S. history happened just yesterday in Orlando. What a nightmare this year has been for me. First, many months ago, losing Irv, my spouse of 55 years. Then a few days ago, hearing from my cousin that his dearest friend committed suicide and now this disaster....
Sometimes we sow seeds in life and don't get to appreciate the harvest. Recently I had the privilege to experience the result of my sowing seeds close to a decade ago, and seeing the full impact of the harvest today. In what seems like a lifetime ago, I had connected with Avi Liberman, a well-known comedian whose career was (and is still) taking off. During the beginning of what's known as Israel's "second intifada," Liberman resolved that his response was to fight terror with laughter. He...
NEW YORK (JTA)-First there was "Tinder for bras." Now there's a Yelp for sheitels, the wigs worn by many married Orthodox Jewish women. ShayTell may be the first-ever online customer review site for wigs. It's certainly the most cleverly named. And if you've never considered the demand for such a site, consider this: When was the last time you bought, say, a computer, without knowing a thing about its quality, components and warranty? That's a predicament facing many observant Jewish women,...
Some of you might have seen the piece I wrote for The Washington Post describing our visit as a congregation to The Fireplace on Monday night. (See page 1 of the Heritage). I received an enormous amount of feedback about our story--emails and messages of support from all over the world. Clearly the visit resonated with people. When we announced that we were doing it, we thought it was going to be a small local thing just to connect on a human level with some members of the gay community in DC. But it grew and grew. Just to show you the impact...
