Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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"With her ever-present beaming smile and cheerful enthusiasm, Susan Bierman has been a pivotal force in the dynamic growth of Orlando's Jewish community," wrote Bierman's nominator for the Heritage Human Service Award. That opening sentence in the nomination entry said it all. Bierman is packaged dynamite in a tiny frame. As Mark Cooper, Federation president from 1984-1986, said, "It was incredible to see someone so small in stature be so enormous in achievements!" Her "can do" attitude, mixed...
"There comes a time when you have to make a decision, either to walk away and hope things fix themselves or take an active role in trying to make a positive difference." This is Abby Sanchez' belief and the reason why she is running for a position on the Seminole County School Board District 3-she wants to make a positive difference. Sanchez, who grew up in a Jewish household in Davie, Fla., has been on the "frontline" of the public school system as an elementary school teacher for 26 years....
Anyone who runs for a county judge position isn't doing it for the money, especially if they are successful as attorneys. This is certainly the case for Eric Dubois, who is an attorney running for Orange County judge. Dubois is a 2015 and 2016 Super Lawyer and holds an AV Preeminent Rating, the highest with Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings, which reflects his respect among his peers and the over 200 endorsements from fellow attorneys and community organizations. In addition to practicing...
In the aftermath of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's selection of Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate, Democratic contender Hillary Clinton tapped U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) as her vice presidential candidate. Kaine, Virginia's former governor, is being touted by his supporters as a moderate Democrat with considerable domestic and foreign policy credentials from his experience serving on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees as well as formerly...
A Jewish family in the UK has just three weeks to find a stem cell donor to save their mother's life after discovering her leukaemia has returned. Sharon Berger, 65, of London was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) in 2012, and was told that the only available cure was a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor. A global search was launched - dubbed the #Spit4Mum campaign - and a matching donor was found within weeks which meant Sharon had an apparently successful transplant in...
During a roundtable with community leaders in Orlando on Friday, Hillary Clinton condemned the terrorist attack against the LGBT community that killed 49 Americans and injured dozens more at The Pulse nightclub in June. Clinton reiterated her commitment to addressing gun violence and disrupting global networks that terrorists use to execute these attacks. Pointing to the need to pull together against hate and bigotry, Clinton said, “We have to stand against hate and bigotry. I was really moved by everyone who stood in solidarity with the v...
This post, which was originally written in Russian, went viral in Israel and around the world. With the author’s permission, it was translated into English by Arkady Mamaysky. Yesterday I witnessed a common scene in Israel: I was standing in line at a supermarket register. In the lane next to mine, a soldier was waiting with a case of water bottles. He was in his field uniform, looking tired and dusty. Obviously, this was not his first day on duty. I live next to the so-called territories and there are many military guards around us. In heat a...
Congregation Beth Sholom, Lake County's oldest synagogue, will celebrate a Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday, Aug. 12, at 7 p.m. Unlike a traditional Shabbat service, the Kabbalat Shabbat features a welcoming of Shabbat with music and song. The service, led by Rabbi Karen Allen's vocals and keyboard along with the music of world-class violinist Zoriy Zinger (formerly of the Russian Symphony Orchestra), is a warm, joyous, and festive Shabbat Service celebrating the Jewish Spirit. Founded in the 1950s,...
The Sisterhood women of Congregation Ohev Shalom had a fabulous evening at the Winey Wench in Altamonte Springs Mall. Chaired by Susan Hochstadt, the event, with more than 20 ladies in attendance, was enjoyed by all, as they drank wine, ate snacks, learned how to paint and kibitzed with friends. Ohev Shalom's Sisterhood has a program every third Thursday of each month....
We live in an era of resurgent, strongman leaders. Some of them, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, carry an aura of invincibility, a sense that they effortlessly control the levers of power at every level of state activity, from parliament to intelligence operations to the military. Some of them cling to power even as the states they created crumble under the weight of corruption, mismanagement, political repression, and economic degradation; Venezuela’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, is a prime example of this. Still others cling to power t...
In last month’s FYI column, we talked about the importance of community-to-community relationships, which are especially critical in a time of increased conflict. Those relationships are built on person-to-person mutual respect and understanding. At this time of so much global and local anguish and anxiety, it is easy to feel that we, as individuals, cannot do anything, that we are powerless to make positive changes in the face of the upsurge of anger, violence and mistrust that has impacted us all. But we can do something. We are not p...
The Jewish community’s polarization in reaction to the selection of Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s running mate illustrates the political chasm that divides American Jewry. Predictably, the J Street lobby, which had shilled for President Barack Obama’s deceptive Iran deal, sprang into support mode. Still touting its role in bringing the deal to a successful conclusion, J Street has been undeterred by recent revelations of Iran’s hunt in Germany for materials to build an aggressive nuclear weapons...
According to U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), I am a termite. Speaking to an anti-Israel group on the sidelines of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, the congressman said, “There has been a steady [stream], almost like termites can get into a residence and eat before you know that you’ve been eaten up and you fall in on yourself, there has been settlement activity that has marched forward with impunity and at an ever increasing rate to the point where it has become alarming.” So much for brotherly love. Why should I care? What diffe...
In the 1930s in Germany, many caved to the dangerous political agenda of the time. They wanted power, peace, and prosperity, to reclaim their country from the ravages of World War I. Christians were no different. But in doing so, they embraced the words of Martin Luther. In 1539, in his book “The Jews and Their Lies,” he wrote, “Next to the devil, you have no more bitter, venomous and vehement foe than a real Jew... Even if the Jews were punished in the most gruesome manner so that the streets ran with blood, so that their dead would be count...
(JTA)—Last week, Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to Poland, visiting Auschwitz—the notorious death camp in Poland where 1.1 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Auschwitz is comprised of two camps: Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II, also called Birkenau. Birkenau is the actual “theater of death,” where the vast majority of Jews were murdered. At Birkenau, there is a large church in what once was the Nazi commandant headquarters. The church is in direct violation of a 1987 agreement signed by four European cardinals and European Jewish lea...
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...
Years later, I can recall the moment when my friend's son got his head stuck between the wooden rails on our staircase landing. While we laugh about the predicament today, at the time it wasn't so funny for the little red-faced toddler who stuck his neck out in the wrong place. (We wiggled him out unharmed, except for the mommies, who became major head-cases during the extrication.) Let's just say that when we first moved into our house 16 years ago, we had quite a bit child-proofing to do....
BOSTON (JTA)-James Schamus remembers the block he faced while writing the screenplay for Ang Lee's 1994 film "Eat Drink Man Woman." Creating the right voices for the film's Taiwanese characters was not going well "and Ang Lee was getting very nervous." In a desperate effort to turn the script around, Schamus, who is Jewish, decided he would "just make them all Jewish in my mind," changing the names to Jewish ones during the writing and then changing them back to Chinese names afterward. The...
The Virgin islands is a favorite tourist spot for Caribbean cruises. For Jewish tourists, there is an extra added attraction in the historic synagogues, cemeteries and active Jewish communities. The former Danish West Indies sold to the United States in 1917 has had a fascinating and little known Jewish presence to the point that in the 1830s some visitors coined the expression that the islands should properly be called “The Jewish West Indies.” Alone of all the Nordic countries, Denmark aspired to become a great maritime power with a col...
"Oh Canada, Oh Canada"... I'm not singing the Canadian anthem. I am a proud American, believe me. But Canada is very special to me. My maternal grandparents fled to Canada from Ukraine because of rampant anti-Semitism. My mom was born in Montreal, Canada. With the Jimmy Dorsey orchestra, I performed in Calgary, Canada, at the world famous Calgary Stampede and also had the opportunity, with my spouse, to visit Lake Louise and Banff, truly beautiful places. Why am I writing about Canada, you ask?...
On July 11, the History Channel reaffirmed its commitment to accuracy and truth by revising its “Albert Einstein: Fact or Fiction?” webpage to replace erroneous wording tending to negatively portray Israel: “Though he (Albert Einstein) was very sympathetic to Israel, he was never an ardent Zionist—he believed in ‘friendly and fruitful’ cooperation between Jews and Arabs.” There were two problems here: the erroneous characterization of Einstein’s attitude toward Zionism, and the erroneous implication that Zionism and Israel from the outset did...
PHILADELPHIA (JTA)-When Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke to the Florida delegation as the national Democratic convention got underway, some delegates cheered. Other delegates booed. The chaos at the Marriott Hotel here demonstrated the degree to which the Florida congresswoman, perhaps the party's most prominent Jewish leader, had become a divisive figure since she emerged a decade ago as the tyro no one in the party could praise enough. Wasserman Schultz, 49, was forced over the weekend to step...
Joseph P. Barack, 72, died after a long illness at Hospice of St. Francis in Titusville, on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Joe was born Nov. 11, 1943, to Florence and Samuel Barack of Pittsburgh PA. He graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in business and worked in the furniture industry for many years. Following his retirement, he enjoyed remodeling houses for a time. After his second retirement, he and his wife Susan bought an RV and enjoyed spending several months each year traveling the U.S. and Canada. They also traveled to Europe...
ANNE KALMAER Anne Kalmaer, age 96, of Menlo Park, Calif., formerly of Orlando, passed away at Sunrise Senior Living in Palo Alto, Calif., on Sunday, July 24, 2016. Mrs. Kalmaer, a native of New York, was born on Jan. 22, 1920, to the late Max and Tillie Datour Schwartz. A high school graduate, she worked for many years in jewelry sales and was the widow of the late Murry Kalmaer who passed away in 1995. Mrs. Kalmaer was also predeceased by her brother, Sigmond Datter, and her sisters, Rose Margolies, Florence Skidmore and Sylvia Peltz. She is...
Ronald Livingstone, age 70, of Apopka, passed away on Monday, July 25, 2016. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland on June 1, 1946, to the late Nathan M. and Ida Rebecca Katzenell Livingstone. On March 31, 1968, in Dublin, Ireland, he married the former Susan Levine, his wife of over 48 years who survives him. The family relocated to the Orlando area in 1985 from Dublin. Ron worked as a public adjuster in the insurance industry. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sons, Avri Louis (Melanie) Livingstone of Winter Springs and Gilad Barak...
