Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(BURLINGTON, VT) - The Israeli-American Council flew a banner over Ben & Jerry's factory and global headquarters in South Burlington, VT, reading "Serve Ice Cream, Not Hate," the social media hashtag #BDSisHATE, and the American and Israeli flags as part of a campaign the IAC launched today demanding Ben & Jerry's stop their boycott of part of the Israeli population The flyover this past Friday kicked off a global advocacy effort that also features a social media campaign urging people to call...
(JNS) - It was billed as the first Iranian delegation to Israel since the fall of the Shah 42 years earlier. Six Iranian Muslim dissidents, forced to leave their homeland decades ago and who made their way to the United States, came on a three-day solidarity mission last week to show support for the Jewish state following the May clash between Israel and Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip - namely, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad - that have long been backed by Iran. Accompanying th...
On the first Shabbat of August, Friday the 6th and Saturday the 7th, Congregation Ohev Shalom welcomes a new rabbi on its Bima. Rabbi Murray Ezring will serve as spiritual leader of COS, guiding the congregation and serving its needs as it continues its search for a long-term rabbi. "I am very excited to work with Rabbi Ezring!" said COS Board of Trustees president Rachel Gebaide. "I look forward to learning from him and hearing his perspectives. It will be a pleasure to welcome Rabbi Ezring...
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the American Jewish businessmen who founded Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings in 1978, said in a New York Times guest essay on Wednesday that they "unequivocally support" the company's decision last week to no longer sell its ice cream in Judea and Samaria. "We unequivocally support the decision of the company to end business in the 'occupied territories,' which a majority of the international community, including the United Nations, has deemed an illegal occupation...
(JNS) - Dozens of college students from the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel and elsewhere gathered online for the annual CAMERA on Campus conference aimed at empowering young adults to be advocates for Israel in an increasingly hostile environment. As speaker, professor and author Gil Troy told the students, "When you stand up on campus and increasingly in the public square these days, and when you stand up with CAMERA, it takes a huge amount of courage ... All of you have tremendous...
Eve has always been determined and motivated to find a better situation for herself and her two sons. "You just can't give up," she said. She has always believed that good things are supposed to happen to her and that is why she believes it was not by chance that she found JFS Orlando. Although she was looking for rental assistance when she called JFS Orlando, Eve truly wanted to move her family out of their cramped living situation and into the comfortable home they deserved. "I reached out to...
During a special breakfast meeting, Rabbi David Kay of Congregation Ohev Shalom was surprised when he was told that the City of Maitland was honoring him with Rabbi David Kay Day, which was Saturday, July 31, 2021. Mayor John Lowndes read the proclamation that recognized his 17 years of service to COS and the greater community....
(JNS) — A recent mass arrest of Hamas members in the West Bank offers a glimpse into the deceptive nature of the ongoing quiet in the area and how hard the terror organization based in the Gaza Strip is working to puncture the relative calm. At any given time, Hamas is trying to set up terror cells, and only the determined efforts by the Israeli defense establishment prevents these efforts from maturing into waves of shootings and bombings against Israelis. Earlier this month, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet intelligence agency a...
(JTA) — The Jewish highlights of the Tokyo Olympics kicked off with Jewish basketball superstar Sue Bird serving as one of Team USA’s two flag bearers at the opening ceremony, a huge honor. The lasting accolades, though, are the medals that winning athletes take home. Dozens of Jewish athletes are competing in the Games this year, but the fierce competition means that only some will enter the record books as gold, silver or bronze medalists. Here are the Jewish athletes who have clinched a medal, in chronological order. We’ll continue to updat...
(JNS) — A substantial number of professors from the City University of New York have resigned from their faculty union after it passed an anti-Israel resolution and said it would consider supporting the BDS movement. The Professional Staff Congress, the union that approved the resolution, told the New York Post that at least 50 educators have resigned or sent notice that they intend to do so. “With the PSC-CUNY resolution, you have chosen to support a terrorist organization, Hamas, whose goal (‘From the River to the Sea’) is to destroy the Sta...
(JNS) — If you thought that American Jews were going to unite against discrimination in ice-cream sales, you were wrong. The decision of the Ben & Jerry’s company to “end sales of our ice-cream in ‘occupied Palestinian territories’” was widely condemned across the political spectrum in Israel, by many mainstream Jewish groups and by American political leaders. But the notion that this is an issue around which Jews are going to rally is wrong. Even worse, it may be that, like so much else, it will become fodder for partisan squabbling...
(FLAME via JNS) — There’s no doubt that Arabs have lived in the Holy Land for many hundreds of years. You can’t blame them for making claims to some of the land. Arabs today control about 97 percent of the Middle East, and Palestinian Arabs represent about 70 percent of the population of Israel’s neighbor, Jordan. The problem is, Palestinian Arabs flatly deny that Jews have also lived in this land — especially that they have dwelled on their tiny sliver of territory continuously for over 3,000 years. This rejection of Jewish history leads Pal...
KIBBUTZ HANNATON, Israel (New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Like Tikvah, one of the two main characters in my debut novel, “Hope Valley,” I moved to Israel out of Zionist ideology. Growing up, I went to Zionist schools and summer camps, where I imbibed the narrative that after 2,000 years of exile and oppression, even genocide, we, the few, defeated the many evil nations who were out to destroy us, and created a third Jewish sovereignty here on this land promised to us by God. But once living on this land, I slowly began to open my eyes, ears...
(JNS) — Giant fissures are emerging from just beneath the earth’s surface throughout the Middle East and Israel is bracing for the inevitable eruption. The United States had better wake up, too, because the aftershocks will be felt here, and they will not be mild. In a briefing this week to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies’ Professor Manuel Tratjenberg stated that Tehran has accumulated immense knowledge of greater levels of highly enriched uranium and uranium metal production operating more...
Dear Editor: In major recent Jewish publications, much has been written on intermarriage. It is important to respect the love between two people and honor the choices couples make in their lives. With that said, I love Jewish weddings and soon I will be attending my nephew’s rescheduled Jewish celebration delayed by the pandemic. Jewish weddings are joyous, energetic and connect Jews across generations. There is traditional and soulful Jewish music. Many brides adopt the custom of circling the groom seven times. Marriage contracts or Ketubot a...
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...
The Shmitah (Sabbatical) year is a little over a month away. Coincidentally, the Israeli Finance in coordination with the Agricultural Ministry, has introduced reforms that would enable more European produce to be imported into Israel creating unwanted competition for Israeli farmers. In response, Farmers across Israel have blocked roads by dumping massive amounts of unsold crops in major highway intersections on Thursday putting traffic throughout the Jewish state at a standstill for an hour-and-a-half. Thousands of farmers and agricultural...
Leah and Yehuda Smolarcik are moving to Israel from Chicago with their four children this summer. The challenges over the past year and a half of COVID convinced them not to put off reaching for their dream any longer. "My husband and I met in Israel while living there temporarily after college, and we always hoped to return as immigrants," Leah said. "The pandemic made us realize that there is no sure or stable thing anywhere, so we felt now was the time to make the move." The Smolarciks are...
(JNS) - If day one of the Christians United for Israel 2021 summit was about honoring Israel, the next day's focus at the organization's annual conference held this year in Dallas was a call to action. The more than 700 invited CUFI leaders and donors at the two-day conference on July 18-19 arrived early in the morning for the start of the marathon conference day that covered every topic from Iran, BDS and antisemitism among others. Rather than the pep rally for Israel last Sunday, Monday...
Scott and Rhonda Des Islets of St. Petersburg, Fla., formerly of Longwood, Fla., are pleased to announce the birth of their first grandchild, Lumi Lilly Des Islets. The proud parents are Derek and Linda Des Islets of Brooklyn, N.Y. Lumi was born on July 22, 2021....
Some sad news ... Comedian Jackie Mason died. He was in his early 90s. Jackie Mason was born Yacov Moshe Hakohen Maza on June 9, 1928, (according to 1940 NYC census), in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the fourth and last son (and first son born in the United States) in a family of six children of strict Orthodox Jews. Mason came from a long line of rabbis, which included his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and his great-great-grandfather. His father Eli Maza and his mother, Belle...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - Like a well-kept secret, the cisterns of the Temple Mount are concealed, barred and padlocked by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf. In ancient times, the cisterns refreshed pilgrims arriving at the Temple. A few originally functioned as shaft graves or quarries from which stones were carved to build the Temple, filling with water only years later. According to archaeologists' calculations, to transport 26,417 gallons of water from the Gihon Spring 2,624 feet to one small...
(JNS) - Iranian defector Saeid Mollaei, who now represents Mongolia, dedicated his silver medal to the State of Israel after the match on Tuesday at the Tokyo Olympics. "This medal is also dedicated to Israel, and I hope Israelis are happy with this achievement," said Mollaei, according to Israel's Kan news. Earlier this year, Mollaei competed in the Tel Aviv Grand Slam, winning a silver medal for Mongolia. He was warmly received by the Israel Judo Association and its president, Moshe Ponte....
Submitted by the family. The Jeser family has lost its king, its hero. Michael Lieb Jeser was born on Jan. 28, 1976. On Shabbat Va’etchanan, July 24, 2021, Michael lost his four-year battle with esophageal cancer. He leaves his much loved and adored wife, “his Malka,” Laura, and his four-year-old daughter and light of his life, Eleanore. He will be greatly missed by his brothers — his partners-in-crime, Marc and Dave; his sisters-in-law, Elizabeth and Lisa; and his 14 nephews and nieces....
(JTA) - It has been a question insiders have posed all week: Could Ben & Jerry's decision to stop selling its ice cream in the West Bank trigger many or all of the laws that U.S. states have passed in recent years to hurt the Israel boycott movement? Well, five states are already looking into it. Officials in Florida, Texas, New York, New Jersey and Illinois are reviewing whether the move will require divestment from Ben & Jerry's parent company Unilever under their various state laws. There...
