Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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“In Judaism, prophets were considered visionary not because they predicted the future, but because they saw possibilities. Roz has always been someone with the ability to both see possibilities and then take that all-important step and make them happen,” said David Bornstein of his cousin Roz Fuchs, this year’s recipient of the Heritage Human Service Award. From an array of multi-colored glass vases arranged neatly on a bookcase to the artwork on the walls and the simple arrangement of chairs and couches all brought together by a 1920...
(EJP via JNS)-A member of the European Parliament has called on the European Union to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. "It is in the interest of the European Union to stop considering the Golan Heights as an 'occupied territory' and to recognize Israel's sovereignty over this territory," said Fulvio Martuscello, Italian MEP who chairs the European Parliament delegation for relations with Israel. The E.U. considers the Golan Heights as "occupied territory" by Israel since...
Heritage Florida Jewish News founder, Eugene "Gene" Starn of La Posada, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., passed away peacefully on Saturday, July 14, 2018, surrounded by family and friends in the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center Hospice Unit. Starn was born May 17, 1924, in Youngstown, Ohio. He was the son of Harry and Helen Starn. Starn had journalism in his blood at a young age. When he was 14, Starn published the Hobby News, a neighborhood "scandal sheet." At 17, he was editor of the Voice of South...
When Gloria Danvers was preparing to move her mom to Central Florida to live with her, she had a lot of questions she needed answered in order to make the transition successful. Her mom, Ann, was a smart and active woman who was still working at her medical transcriptionist business at the age of 82, but she had been having health problems and it was clear that changes needed to be made. Danvers, a Winter Park hypnotherapist who also has a St. Augustine office, knew she needed good advice. "I...
Temple Israel will be temporarily transformed into a comedy club on Saturday, Aug. 25, as Orlando’s famous SAK Comedy Lab entertains the crowd with a personalized, one-hour show. Start the night off with dessert, coffee, and schmoozing in the social hall at 8 p.m., followed by a brief but beautiful Havdalah service led by Rabbi Neely in the sanctuary. Stay in the sanctuary after the service, and grab a seat for the comedy show from 9 to 10 p.m., complete with an MC and music. The show is $10 per person and appropriate for children 10 and up. F...
Congregation Beth Sholom of Leesburg invites the community to a very special warm, joyous, and festive Shabbat service on Friday, Aug. 10 at 7 p.m. This uplifting service of music and song, led by Rabbi and Cantor Karen Allen, who will be playing her keyboard, features world-class violinist Zoriy Zinger. Zinger was a soloist in the Russian Symphony Orchestra before reaching fame in America. Rabbi Allen and Zinger have collaborated in numerous venues, including several concerts. Beth Sholom's...
The Jewish Pavilion strives to include the family members of seniors in its local facilities so that they can engage in Jewish Pavilion life with their loved ones. We always wish to invite family members to our programs, as they are wonderful opportunities to bring children and grandchildren together with their elders and continue celebrating our meaningful and rich traditions, together. If you have any elderly family members in a living community here in Central Florida.. Please reach out to...
(JTA)-Mark Zuckerberg says he wants to give everyone in the world a voice. But what happens when some of those wishing a voice are Holocaust deniers? That question was posed to the Facebook founder in an interview Wednesday with Recode, a tech news site, about the social network giant's role in fighting false news and ensuring the safety of users. Zuckerberg's answer placed two values in tension: On the one hand, he said, Facebook prioritizes allowing people to express themselves-even if, he...
By Ariel Kahana (Israel Hayom via JNS)—Members of the U.S. Congress are demanding the State Department make public a key report that includes precise figures on the number of people who became refugees in the 1948 War of Independence. The existence of the State Department assessment, compiled and classified under the Obama administration, was first disclosed by the Washington Free Beacon six months ago. Lawmakers say the report could impact how the United States views the refugee issue when the actual number of refugees is made public and is s...
(JNS)—In a rather rare judgment, a Jerusalem District Court just issued a lien on two large ships that are part of a Gaza-bound flotilla set to arrive in Israeli waters later this month, with the intent that the sea vessels can be sold, with proceeds going to families of Israeli victims of Hamas-sponsored terror attacks. The strategy to seek a lien on the ships in order to benefit the victims was introduced to the court by the Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center’ NGO on behalf of two Israeli families (Weinstein and Gavish) who for years have bee...
(JNS)—A law banning groups grounded in the criticism of Israel Defense Forces’ soldiers and the operations of the IDF passed on Tuesday in the Knesset. Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Shuli Mualem-Refaeli, the Jewish Home Party co-authors of the bill, said the law would also apply to institutions that attempt to delegitimize Israel abroad. The bill passed its second and third reading by a vote of 43-24. It was specifically aimed at Breaking the Silence, an organization that questions the actions and morality of the IDF, particularly in...
Did US President Donald Trump commit treason in Helsinki when he met Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin? Should he be impeached? That is what his opponents claim. Former president Barack Obama’s CIA director John Brennan accused Trump of treason outright. Brennan tweeted, “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki [with Putin] rises to and exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors.’ It was nothing short of treasonous.” Fellow senior Obama administration officials, including former FBI director James Comey...
Jews used to be used to losing. The poor shlep. The cringing schlemiel. The Hebrew prayers that call for God’s help; God’s blessing. While Jabotinsky was exhorting the Jews of Eastern Europe to either leave for what was then Palestine or arm themselves, most Jews shrugged and continued to live their miserable lives. Some listened to Jabo. The rest shrugged and sighed. And 20 years later - died by the millions. Out of the Holocaust the Third Jewish Commonwealth was born. They took in millions of Jews. Some fleeing persecution and death, oth...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—There are many problems with the Nationality Law nearing passage as the Knesset wraps up its summer session on Sunday, not the least of which is that there is no reason for it. No Israelis challenge the Jewishness of the state, thus the law is unnecessary. Unfortunately, something unnecessary can also be harmful. The language of the bill, which is officially called “Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People,” gives constitution-like force to the notion that Israel is a state for the Jews, from its flag and n...
(JNS)—On being designated prime minister of Poland this past December, Mateusz Morawiecki made the extraordinary statement that he and his government want to “transform [the European Union], to re-Christianize it.” Struck by this grand vision of Poland’s destiny, and particularly interested in the near-total ban on Muslim migrants (Morawiecki again: “We will not accept migrants from the Middle East and North Africa in Poland”), I just spent a week in Warsaw to understand why that country differs so sharply from Western Europe and what this i...
For the past century the American Jewish Congress has stood as a staunch, robust opponent of any and all who would harm our people. While this is our primary mission, we are equally duty bound to call out friends and family should they stumble in their uncompromising defense of the Jewish people. In this vein, and with a heavy heart, I feel it is my obligation to critique the State of Israel for signing a joint statement with Poland praising the latter’s efforts to end a dispute over Holocaust legislation that would have criminalized i...
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...
NEW YORK (JTA)—A prominent Jewish philanthropist says he was aggressively questioned by Israeli airport security after going on a Jewish tour of Palestinian areas of the West Bank. Meyer Koplow, chair of Brandeis University’s board of trustees and a longtime donor to pro-Israel causes, was delayed for 30 minutes by a security agent at Ben Gurion International Airport Sunday before being allowed to board his flight. Koplow’s visit to Israel included a trip to the West Bank with Encounter Programs, a nonpartisan organization that brings Jews...
On July 20, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong made history by becoming the first person to set foot on the moon. His timeless and famous remark at the time, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” will go down as one of the most iconic phrases of all time. Yet, when Armstrong visited Israel in 1994 he was brought to a place in the Old City of Jerusalem and asked Meir Ben Dov, his host and noted archeologist, if Jesus himself actually would have walked there. “I told him, ‘Look, Jesus was a Jew,’” recalled Ben-...
(The Nosher via JTA)-Harissa is a spicy, rich-flavored North African chili paste and it is one of my favorite condiments to use in the kitchen. It is traditionally made with roasted red pepper, chiles, garlic, and a mixture of spices, depending on the family and exact origin. You can easily find several varieties in the supermarket (usually in the ethnic foods aisle), but I prefer making my own, in part so I can control the level of spice. A traditional Nicoise salad features baby potatoes,...
(JNS)-In its desperate effort to break out of isolation and prevent the Gazan economy from collapsing, Hamas is marching Gaza to the very brink of war with Israel. All of Hamas's recent actions are designed to use blackmail, terrorism and the threat of war to force a change, as well as get major funds flowing into the Gaza Strip. These efforts began several months ago with mass marches on Fridays and border-infiltration attempts. That ended with a high number of casualties on May 14, but failed...
The future is here... I am so proud of Israel and all of its fabulous accomplishments. For instance, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is the epicenter of a talent and technology boom that is transforming the world: The Advanced Technologies Park (ATP) is a public-private partnership with Ben-Gurion University (BGU), the Beer-Sheva municipality and Gav-Yam Negev. Tenants include EMC, Oracle, Deutsche Telekom, Elbit, Jerusalem Venture Partner's Cyberlabs, Hewlett Packard, Allscripts, WeWork, as...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decried the “occupation of Palestine” during a television interview. Appearing July 13 on PBS’s “Firing Line,” Ocasio-Cortez, 28, also described herself as “a firm believer in finding a two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, upset 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in last month’s primary in New York’s 14th Congressional District, which straddles Queens and the Bronx. Although she has commented...
(JNS)-The first four female tank commanders in the Israel Defense Forces have successfully completed their grueling training course and will now begin their operational duties. Several additional female soldiers will serve in other duties in tanks. The new female commanders and tank crew members will conduct critical border-defense missions, though they will not belong to brigades that would maneuver deep into enemy territory in case of war. Sgt. Charlotte Feld-Davidovici of Tel Aviv, who moved...
(JNS)—Three-dozen far-left pro-BDS Jewish groups from around the world have signed a statement rejecting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism over its alleged conflation of anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel. The statement, spearheaded by the anti-Israel U.S.-based group Jewish Voice for Peace, said that the IHRA definition, which has been adopted by a number of Western countries, “is worded in such a way as to be easily adopted or considered by western governments to intentionally equate legitimate...
