Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 38
TEL AVIV (JTA)—As the budding protest movement in Turkey against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan struggles to gain a foothold, Israel is watching the developments with some measure of ambivalence. On the one hand, Erdogan has led Turkey away from a close alliance with Israel, using his perch to castigate Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians and curtailing once-cozy military ties with the Israel Defense Forces. A popular uprising that leaves Erdogan politically wounded could be w... Full story
McROBERTS, Ky.—The morning mist hovers over the narrow valley in the lush Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. A creek rushing by the side of the main road passes through the town of Neon in once prosperous Letcher County, deep in the state’s coal mining region. The empty storefronts reflect the industry’s losing battle with mechanization, depleted coal deposits and cheaper-to-mine western coal. Up the road a piece, people sit in rocking chairs on the porches of mostly rundown homes watch... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Rabbi Shmuel Pappenheim of the haredi Orthodox organization Eda Haharedit shares little common ground with Reform Rabbi Uri Regev, a religious pluralism activist. But when news broke last week that Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, was arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering, Pappenheim and Regev had the same reaction: Who cares? For Pappenheim, the chief rabbi is a political figure who has scant influence as a religious leader. And to Regev, he rep... Full story
BRUSSELS (JTA)—Bulgaria claims it has previously undisclosed evidence that further implicates Hezbollah in a deadly terrorist attack last year on Bulgarian soil, JTA has learned. A Bulgarian representative to the European Union said Wednesday that investigators have discovered that a Hezbollah operative was the owner of a printer used to produce fake documents that facilitated the July 19 bombing of a bus filled with Israeli tourists in Burgas. Five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver were killed in the attack. The disclosure was made at a m... Full story
A new law being proposed by an Israeli parliamentarian would give preferential treatment in housing, employment and higher education to anyone who served in the army or did alternative national civilian service. The bill, which has been approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, has sparked controversy over whether it discriminates against groups such as Arab citizens of Israel and ultra-Orthodox Jews, neither of whom do military service. “This important bill gives those who serve the appreciation they deserve,” coalition cha... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Liberal Jewish groups fired a verbal barrage against a restrictive abortion bill passed by the Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives, calling it “egregious,” “outrageous,” “an affront,” and “deeply disappointing.” Such strong language is unusual in any case for groups that must engage with Congress, but especially when a bill is dead in the water. The bill, passed last Tuesday in a 228-196 vote, would ban abortions after 20 weeks, a time when the bill’s sponsor, R... Full story
BRUSSELS (JTA)—When guards dragged Shin Dong-hyuk from his North Korean cell in 1995, he was pretty sure the end was near. Dong-hyuk, then just 13, was born in the prison known as Camp 14, not far from Pyongyang. Camp 14 is part of a network of political prisons believed to be the largest in the world, where an estimated 150,000 dissidents and their families live in conditions reminiscent of Holocaust-era concentration camps. As he was brought to the camp’s execution field, Dong-hyuk rea... Full story
The cease-fire that ended the 1967 Six Day War left Israel in possession of territories roughly twice the size of the country at the time. Since then, those territories—the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights—have been the subject of negotiations, the keys to peace treaties and the flashpoints for war. Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt under the 1979 peace treaty, and disengaged from Gaza in 2005. However, her presence in the other territories continues to spark emotionally charged debate. Are these territories... Full story
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the St, Augustine Accord Freedom Trail and the Civil Rights Museum of St. Augustine all were present in force as the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society (SAJHS) led a commemoration of the largest mass arrest of rabbis in the United States on June 18, 1964. SAJHS came only to help create a place of sacred memory on the site where 16 rabbis, 49 years ago stood up for the ethics and behavior mandated by Jewish tradition. The Jewish community of St.... Full story
The Roth Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando will honor community leaders Keith and Julie Levitt at this year’s 30th Annual Beat-the-Heat 5K Road Race. This year’s event will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday July 24, beginning and ending at the Roth Jewish Community Center campus. When one mentions the Levitt family, three thoughts come to mind: the JCC, running and helping children. Keith, who grew up in Maitland (son of Ken and Jackie who have also been extremely active in the JCC), has... Full story
I sometimes joke that my synagogue is not just Conservative with a capital C, but with all the other letters capitalized as well. It prides itself on the dozens of Conservative rabbis and JTS faculty members in the pews, on the number of its kids who attend Solomon Schechter and Camp Ramah, on its tight bond with the Masorti movement in Israel. I guess that would make me a movement man, except I’ve always been catholic (small c) in my Jewish choices. I grew up in a Reform synagogue, joined a havura in my 20s, and then a Conservative shul a... Full story
Jews were a peoplehood long before we were a religion. I’ve said many times, I know a lot of ex-Catholics, but I never met an ex-Italian. When we became a religion we suddenly had a bunch of rules to follow and the peoplehood and the religion kind of merged. For a long time people left us alone and we did pretty well. Then along came the Babylonians and then the Romans and pretty soon we were for the most part out of our native land and this great Diaspora was created. We lost our Temple and most of our social organizations that held us t... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—When two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in April, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital found themselves well prepared for the aftermath. Two years earlier, Israeli medical experts had helped update the hospital’s disaster response plan to deal with mass-casualty incidents. Drawing from expertise honed over decades of treating victims of terrorist attacks, Israeli doctors and nurses shared best practices with their American counterparts, including how to distribute the wounded to hospitals and... Full story
Summer is here and kids are getting ready to go off to camp, where they’ll swim, play games, do arts and crafts and, probably, complain about the food. Or, if they’re in the Gaza Strip, they’ll smear green paint on their faces, brandish mock rifles and pretend to kill Israeli soldiers. That’s right, folks, it’s time once again for summer camp Hamas-style, where, in addition to fun and games, youngsters receive paramilitary training and ideological indoctrination that, according to one organizer, will prepare them to fight for the liberation of... Full story
Remember the opening of the “Mission Impossible” TV show? The assignment was recorded on a tape that self-destructed so no record of the conversation would exist. That gave everyone deniability if the mission went awry. It’s far more difficult, though, to make a thing disappear in contemporary society. Between email, text messages, online stores, GPS trackers and reward cards, it’s possible to track our movements and purchases. I’ve joked that if you want to keep a purchase secret, go to a store and pay for the object in cash without using the... Full story
Jerusalem—In the hour she spent with 150 young Jewish entrepreneurs and social activists from around the world last Wednesday morning at the annual ROI (Return on Investment) Summit here, new Knesset member Ruth Calderon chose to teach a Talmudic text, coax thoughtful comments about it from her audience, apply the discussion to modern-day situations, and then welcome questions about current affairs. It was a vintage performance by the academic-turned-politician, encapsulating who she is, what her priorities are, and, as she left the stage to e... Full story
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 a.m. 407-354-3660. Congregation Ahavas Yisrael—Monday - Friday, 7 a.m.; Sunday, 8 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 Israel—Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, JUNE 28 Light Shabbat candles 8:09 p.... Full story
Herman Wouk dreamed of writing a novel about the biblical Moses since the 1950s. In 2000, he noted that “‘The Lawgiver’ remains unwritten. I never found the way to do it.” When trying to work on the manuscript, he was never able to answer some basic questions: From whose point of view should it be told? How can anyone portray not only the greatest leader in Jewish history, but the miracles performed by him under God’s command? Yet, even in his 90s, Wouk never stopped thinking about the novel. That led him to finally write a version of “The L... Full story
A year after finishing last in the Israeli Premier Basketball League, the Maccabi Haifa Heat won its first championship in a stunning turnaround for the team and its owner. Former MetroWest (N.J.) resident Jeffrey Rosen, who bought the team in 2007, was reveling in the afterglow, the recipient of hundreds of congratulatory phone calls and messages. “The feeling is just fantastic,” Rosen said in a phone interview, and Haifa “is just charmed by the surprising win. Having a good season would have been gratifying, but to have a chance at—an... Full story
Garret Matthew Furman, of Deltona, passed away Sunday, June 16, 2013. He was 38 years old. Mr. Furman was born in Miami, Fla. to Stuart Furman and Miriam Furman on August 3, 1974. He was a devoted husband and father and a loyal friend to many. He served proudly in the U.S. Navy and among other things was an experienced and enthusiastic chef, a skilled network technician and an accomplished sales professional. Mr. Furman is survived by his wife of 16 years, Sarah Furman; son, Ethan Furman;... Full story
Gladys “Hap” Leckart, passed away Saturday, June 22, 2013. She was 91 years old. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on February 22, 1922, she moved to Norfolk, Va. and then to Miami Beach. Mrs. Leckart married her beloved husband, Larry, in Miami in 1947. They settled with their two daughters, Stacey and Janice, in Orlando in 1956, after Larry opened the legendary Ronnie’s Restaurant. Mrs. Leckart was known for her wit, class, generosity and her Cabbage Soup recipe that was on the menu at Ronnie’s. She was a member of Temple Israel. She was predece... Full story
Seymour Meister, of Orlando, passed away on Friday, June 21, 2013. He was 81 years old. He was born in Newark, N.J. July 2, 1931, to the late Morris and Sarah Buchinsky Meister. An avid Gator fan, he graduated from the University of Florida and was a registered pharmacist in the Orlando area for many years. Mr. Meister served in the U.S. Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. In July 1957, in Orlando, he married the former Theodora Redner, his wife of nearly 56 years, who survives him. They relocated to Orlando from Jacksonville in 1960. In addition to... Full story
Fairlie Michaelson, of Altamonte Springs, passed away on June 19, 2013. She was 91 years old. Born in Manchester, England on December 15, 1921, she married her adoring husband Dan, a United States soldier, and came to the states in 1945. They made their home in New York where he was a pharmacist and she was a mother and homemaker. They retired to the Orlando area in 1980 and enjoyed boating and the outdoors until August 1982 when he passed away after an extended illness. Mrs. Michaelson remained in the area and kept busy travelling with...
Edgar Zets, of Maitland, passed away on Friday, June 21, 2013 He was 89 years old. Mr. Zets was born in Pretoria, South Africa to the late Alec and Eva Miller Zets. He attended school in South Africa and married the former Naomi Jackson in Cape Town, in January 1951. They were married for more than 61 years when Mrs. Zets passed away in March. Mr. Zets’ career was primarily in hotel management. In 1988, they relocated to the Orlando area to be closer to their sons and family. Mr. Zets is survived by his sons, Gary (Eleanor) Zets of Maitland a...
PHILADELPHIA—The fireworks over the July 4 Alicia Keys concert in Tel Aviv continue to go off. The latest development: Israeli consulates across the United States are encouraging the singer-songwriter’s fans—and fans of Israel in general—to post to her Facebook page and tweet support for her decision to stand up to the efforts to get her to cancel her appearance. Keys, who has been one of the most popular recording artists in the world ever since the release of “Songs in A Minor” in 2001, has sold over 35 million albums and is currently t... Full story
