Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - Israel appears set to head back to the polls after a "change coalition" has failed to hold its razor-thin majority, barely a year after its formation. Elections are likely to be held on Oct. 25, just after the conclusion of the Jewish High Holidays. The elections would be the fifth in just three-and-a-half years. Meanwhile, according to the coalition's complicated rotation agreement, Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid will tentatively become a caretaker "transitional" prime minister wit...
(JTA) - The Jewish Agency's nominating committee recommended Doron Almog, a storied retired general and a longtime advocate for people with disabilities, to lead the body that bridges Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. The nomination Thursday of Almog, 71, now goes to the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors, where it is all but assured of approval. The nomination follows an extended period of consideration since May 2021, when the last chairman of the agency, Isaac Herzog, announced his successful...
In response to the Mapping Project of Boston, Sam Friedman, chief development officer of Shalom Orlando, gave a statement on behalf of the now-merged Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando and The Roth Family JCC. “Shalom Orlando stands in solidarity with the Jewish community of Boston and is grateful to Rep. [Darren] Soto [of Kississimmee] for his support in investigating the antisemitic Mapping out of Boston,” Friedman said. “We further urge all of our elected officials to remain vigilant against the growing threat of antisemitism and thank...
(JNS) - A 30-member Simon Wiesenthal Center international delegation met with Pope Francis on Wednesday to present a facsimile of an original four-page 1919 document authored and signed by Adolf Hitler, in which he openly espouses the destruction of the Jewish people by "a government of national strength." The facsimile, whose original is displayed at the SWC's Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, was presented by Simon Wiesenthal Center founder and CEO Rabbi Marvin Hier and Dawn Arnall,...
For 50 years, Roe v. Wade has been the “settled law” of the United States. Today, in its decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, revoking the Constitutional right of a woman to terminate a pregnancy and sending the authority to regulate reproductive rights back to the states. Judaism cherishes human life, requiring Jews to set aside all ritual and religious obligations to preserve it. At the same time, Judaism recognizes that a fetus is not an independent individual, and the life and welfa...
Get ‘em while they’re in season! From apricots and peaches, to blueberries and strawberries, and even to cantaloupe and watermelon, the summer means plenty of delicious fresh fruits to enjoy. Did you know that these tasty healthy options can actually help your mental health? Fruits are nutrient-packed, containing important vitamins and minerals that help reduce the causes of stress, anxiety, and depression. Added bonus? They’re sweet, so it doesn’t feel like you are depriving yourself of an e...
The Jewish Pavilion hosted Shabbat services at Oakmonte Village Siena. They were led by Randi Cunningham, a long-time volunteer, and consisted of singing, prayers, and challah. Cunningham started by passing out Shabbat pamphlets containing prayers and led the six residents sitting around the table in prayer to light the candles. The residents joined as Cunningham led them in singing prayers such as the Aleynu and Shema, even harmonizing during parts of the prayers. After prayers were sung the...
(JNS) — Two Biden administration nominees for top posts related to the Middle East came under fire for alleged anti-Israel bias by Senate Republicans in their confirmation hearing on Thursday. The hearing, held in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, comes at a critical time as U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Israel and Saudi Arabia next month while the United States is struggling to repair its frayed relationship with the Arab kingdom amid skyrocketing gas prices. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took issue with Tamara Cofman W...
(JNS) — With the dramatic announcement on June 20 by coalition leaders Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid of their intention to dissolve Israel’s government, the nation began bracing itself for its fifth round of elections in three years. A proposed date of Oct. 25 has already been set. However, elections could still be avoided if opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu succeeds in forming a government before the Knesset is dissolved. Can he do it? Netanyahu currently controls 55 Knesset seats. He needs 61, a bare minimum majority in Israel’s 120-s...
(JTA) — The global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement targeting Israel has disavowed a controversial website mapping Boston-area Jewish groups a day after lawmakers urged a federal investigation of the project’s potential to be used by extremist groups. The announcement by the BDS movement on Wednesday aimed to distance the group from the Mapping Project, an anonymous collective of Boston-area pro-Palestinian activists. The project lists the names and addresses of Massachusetts Jewish groups, including schools, community funds and syn...
(JNS) — Much has been written in recent days about a Boston BDS group’s online map of Jewish sites across Massachusetts. The “Mapping Project” ostensibly revealed the monstrous connections between Massachusetts institutions and the alleged evils of Zionism and Israel, which would have been bad enough, but it also gleefully included synagogues, Jewish sites and Jewish schools at best tangentially related to the Jewish state. The takeaway was clear: Jews equal Zionists. And since Zionism is evil, the Jews are evil. And now, says the map, you kno...
(JNS) — This week, the U.N. Human Rights Council published an 18-page report on the May 2021 conflict between Hamas and Israel. From the outset, Israel knew the report’s conclusion was predetermined and rightly refused to cooperate with a biased investigation, labeling it “a moral stain on the international community and the U.N.” This assessment has proved correct. The inquiry that led to the report — the first such inquiry to be open-ended — is led by Navi Pillay, a former UNHRC high commissioner who has spearheaded more investigati...
(JNS) — The moment that some Israelis have been dreading and others happily anticipating finally arrived on Monday. Though the announcement by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid of a call for the disbanding of the Knesset was virtually a foregone conclusion, it came as a bit of a surprise. Earlier in the day, it was reported that Bennett had bought his teetering coalition an additional week. This was attributed to the fact that Likud Party and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu was postponing a no-confidence m...
(JNS) — As I was researching the Six-Day War fought 55 years ago, I stumbled across an article written by Christopher Sykes, the son of Sir Mark Sykes, the British diplomat who negotiated the Sykes-Picot agreement with François Georges-Picot. Christopher was a diplomat, soldier and foreign correspondent who wrote about the war in the February 1968 issue of Encounter. He made several keen observations that are relevant today. Sykes said that he had firm convictions about “the rights and wrongs of the opening of the June war; the need for a unit...
(JNS) — According to the Washington, D.C.-based White House Historical Association, the 1978/79 U.S. policy on Iran, that embraced Ayatollah Khomeini, betrayed the pro-U.S. shah and failed the pro-U.S. Sunni Arab regimes, was based on a superficial view of Middle East political, religious, cultural and historical reality. “In January 1979, the Shah fled into exile, and the theocratic regime of Khomeini took power. There was little informed understanding in the U.S. government about the political implications of this fundamentalist regime. Gar...
MORNING MINYANS (Please note, because of the coronavirus, some minyans have been canceled or held virtually.) Chabad of North Orlando and Chabad of Altamonte Springs are holding in-person minyans. 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. Congr...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Maine parents seeking funding to send their children to religious schools, a development that a dissenting Jewish justice, Stephen Breyer, suggested could open the door to broad public funding of parochial schools. Ruling Tuesday in Carson v. Makin, the 6-3 majority favored parents in Maine who objected to a state policy that funded private school education for students who lived in districts without public schools, but explicitly excluded religious schools on church-state grounds. T...
(JTA) – For years, Steven Spielberg intended to direct a movie about Edgardo Mortara, a 19th-century Italian Jew who was kidnapped by the Catholic Church and raised Christian, eventually becoming a priest, while his Jewish family lobbied to free him. But Spielberg is no longer making the film after having trouble casting the role of the young Mortara. Instead, viewers' best chance to see Mortara's story onscreen will now be via a separate Italian production helmed by director Marco Bellochio (...
(JTA) — In a live streamed address to students, faculty and staff at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Israel to join the network of countries around the world that have placed sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. “We are grateful to your great nation. But we would like to also get support from your government,” Zelensky said. “Tell me, how can you not help the victim of such aggression?” In his address, Zelensky recognized the connected histories of Ukraine and Israel, noting the Ukrai...
(JNS) - When it comes to novelist A.B. Yehoshua, who died on June 14 at the age of 85, it's difficult to separate his romances from his political activism. Despite his extreme views on Jewish identity, the Holocaust and the Palestinian conflict, he was pragmatic in his opinions, taking in the reality on the ground. Born on Dec. 19, 1936, to Yaakov Yehoshua - a multi-generation Jerusalemite - and Malka, who immigrated to Israel from Morocco four years before his birth, he was named Avraham...
BUDAPEST (JTA) — Antisemitic sentiment is especially prevalent in Italy and Hungary, according to multiple surveys. But a first-of-its-kind index combining different measures of Jewish experience found that they are also the best countries in Europe for Jews to live in. The index, unveiled Monday, is based on a study that combines polling data and policy information to create a single quality-of-life metric for Jews in the 12 European Union countries with sizable Jewish communities, according to Daniel Staetsky, a statistician with the L...
I never cease to be amazed … I refer to Jewish people — so talented! How about John Garfield. (Those of you who are as old as me will remember him and what a fine actor he was!) He always played brooding, rebellious characters. He was active from 1932 until his untimely death from a heart attack in his late 30s. His real name was Jacob Julius Garfinkel. He was born in March 1913 and died in May 1952, much too young! John was the father of three children. (I remember him well and, I repeat, what a fine actor he was!) And speaking of fine … How a...
(JTA) - Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? ShvomBob Kvadrat-hoyzn, of course. And now the Jewish world knows how to say "SpongeBob SquarePants" in Yiddish, thanks to a translation of the animated kid show's theme song by Eddy Portnoy, the academic advisor and director of exhibitions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in Manhattan. Last week, Portnoy's college-aged daughter put "SpongeBob" on TV, and Portnoy was inspired. He typed up the lyrics on his Notes app and posted the...
(JTA) - "Ella Fitzgerald, wherever you are, I apologize in advance." Billy Crystal gave this year's Tonys a jolt of Jewish shtick when he coaxed the audience into a call-and-response "Yiddish scat" routine, as part of a live performance to promote his Broadway musical, "Mr. Saturday Night." In a good-faith mockery of Fitzgerald's own famous "scat" routine, Crystal, in character as his show's fading comedian star Buddy Young Jr., let loose on the Sunday night telecast with a series of...
