Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS)-A young Arab girl and her older teenage sister spray-painted the words "slaughter the Jews" in Arabic on Friday on the Kotel HaKatan ("little wall" in Hebrew), a portion of the Western Wall on the Temple Mount about 650 feet north of the Western Wall Plaza and next to the Iron Gate entrance to the Old City. "Last Friday, I was going to pray, walking by the Kotel HaKatan right before Shabbat, around 7:30 or 8 p.m. At the entrance, I saw a small girl writing in Arabic right on the walls,"...
\BUDAPEST (JTA)-More than 2,000 Jewish athletes from 42 countries and thousands of spectators gathered at a stadium in the Hungarian capital for the opening of the 15th European Maccabi Games. With 180 athletes, Israel sent its largest ever delegation to Tuesday's opening ceremony of the event, which is the 15th edition of a tournament that take place every four years at a different European city. This year's games, which takes place at several venues, includes 20 categories, including...
(JNS)-Israel's politics got another major shakeup in recent days-this time on the right, with the announcement of the merger between Ayelet Shaked's New Right Party and Jewish Home. Like similar moves on the left last week, the latest union seeks to boost the election fortunes of the smaller parties on the right in order to cross the electoral threshold and have a stronger hand in coalition negotiations as the September elections approach. "From the beginning, I have said that the person who...
DETROIT (JTA)-For any reporter, careening in a year from reviewing restaurants to covering the presidential debates would be a pretty fast rise. But then again, Jefferson Henry Kraft is only 10 years old. Kraft is the KidScoop Media correspondent covering the Democratic presidential debates, taking place here last Tuesday and Wednesday night. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was fortunate enough to be assigned the "spin room" seat right next to his, and in one of those conversations typical of the...
Spark Orlando, Orlando's organization that inspires and educates Jewish women, is kicking off another year of Jewish programming for the 2019-2020 year. Join in the kick off event on Monday, Aug. 19, at The Roth Family JCC in Maitland with delicious appetizers, great cocktails and inspiration from world-renowned guest speaker Nili Couzens. Couzens is a Momentum trip leader and international guest speaker who has been teaching and inspiring Jewish audiences for over 20 years. Couzens's...
The RAISE program for adults with special needs is now accepting online applications for RAISE employees as well as opportunities to volunteer as a job coach. RAISE is a 6- to 12-month work and social skills training program for adults with special needs offered through the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. RAISE provides paid employment at our partnering agencies. If you know of someone who may benefit from RAISE please apply online by clicking on BEGIN THE APPLICATION PROCESS at jfgo.org/RAISE. If you are interested in volunteering as a...
There will not be a new Hanukkah stamp for this year. This means that individual post offices will have to order them. Previous history has shown that many local post offices do not order Hanukkah stamps on “off” years. If you want to purchase Hanukkah stamps, you will have to go to your local post office and tell them to order Hanukkah stamps now so they will have them in stock in time for this year’s holiday....
Back in 1959, Stephen Tyng Mather High School was built in the West Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, Ill. The student population, at that time, was 95 percent Jewish. Some of the Mather alumni women would get together for a luncheon reunion three or four times a year. This year, they had a surprise guest—Risa Posner Dombrosky, wife of Gil Dombrosky, a Heritage employee. Risa was amazed to see friends and classmates she hasn’t seen since graduation. The three-hour lunch was filled with so...
(JNS)—The United States on Wednesday blocked an attempt by several countries to get the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israel’s demolition earlier this week of illegally constructed buildings on the outskirts of eastern Jerusalem, Reuters reported on Thursday. Kuwait, Indonesia and South Africa circulated a draft statement among the 15-member Security Council on Tuesday warning that the demolition “undermines the viability of the two-state solution and the prospect for just and lasting peace...
(JNS)-Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a libertarian, was the only member of the Republican Party to vote against last week's resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives condemning the anti-Israel BDS movement. Massie, 48, explained his decision in a statement: I voted against H. Res. 246 because it calls for the full implementation of a bill I voted against back in 2014. That 2014 bill spends taxpayer dollars on "green" energy subsidies for another country, despite the fact that we face a debt...
(JNS)—U.S. President Donald Trump vetoed three congressional resolutions on Wednesday that would have blocked billions of dollars in arms sales to countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In messages to the Senate justifying the move, Trump wrote that the resolutions “would weaken America’s global competitiveness and damage the important relationships we share with our allies and partners.” Congress is not expected to have the two-thirds majority required to override the decision. In May, the Trump administration said th...
(JNS)—A bipartisan group organized a private, after-hours tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., for members of Congress on July 16. Jewish Insider first reported the upcoming tour. An invitation was released on Thursday by the organizers: Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Susie Lee (D-Nev.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Elaine Luria (D-Va.). “Now, more than ever, it is important to rededicate ourselves to the work of remembering the Holocaust and learning the lessons of the att...
(JTA)—Earlier this month—or 16 years ago in Trump years—the White House disinvited a cartoonist named Ben Garrison to a meeting of right-wing media influencers. It had been pointed out that Garrison had once drawn a cartoon that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic. The cartoon depicts two administration officials being manipulated by a puppeteer labeled “George Soros,” who is in turn having his strings pulled by a puppeteer labeled “Rothschild.” Soros, the Jewish financier, often figures in far-right anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. But he als...
From the title of this column you might presume that I oppose a two-state solution where majority Arabs and majority Jews live peacefully in separate independent democratic states, with guaranteed equality, and with civil and human rights protection for Arab and Jewish minorities in each state. Since 1967, when Israel was forced to fight a war for survival against an onslaught of regular Arab armies from neighboring states, Israel has found itself in control of the lands west of the Jordan river comprising Judea and Samaria, parts of biblical...
(Israel Hayom via JNS)—At the State Department, human rights have generally been a not-so-high priority. The big kahunas tend to focus on war and peace, allies and adversaries, national security and global economics. So it came as something of a surprise when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week launched a bipartisan Commission on Unalienable Rights. Its task, Pompeo wrote in The Wall Street Journal, “isn’t to discover new principles but to ground our discussion of human rights in America’s founding principles.” Commission members ...
(BESA Center via JNS)—For some time now, Russia has been striving to establish itself as the Middle East’s preeminent great power. Through its military involvement in the Syrian conflict and deep partnership with Iran against the United States, its relations with neighboring countries have gathered new momentum. In 2019, the Taliban and Russia gathered together and called for the withdrawal of U.S. coalition forces from Afghanistan. Meetings were held in Moscow after the failure of direct negotiations between the United States and the Tal...
(JNS)—Britain now has its first celebrity prime minister. On Tuesday, Boris Johnson was elected leader of the Tory Party following Theresa May’s resignation over her failure to deliver Brexit. On Wednesday, Johnson “kissed hands” with the Queen and thus succeeded Mrs. May as Britain’s PM. As with all social or political developments of note, the Jewish world is predictably asking about this one: “Will it be good for the Jews?” Johnson has entertained and scandalized Britain for years through his many scrapes, his jokes, his politically i...
(Jewish Journal via JNS)—It’s almost a boring thought these days to observe that we are bitterly divided by our political tribes. Democrats hate Republicans, Republicans hate Democrats. Need we say more? We no longer want to win arguments; we want to crush our political opponents. It’s not enough to disagree with you; I must reject you, as well. Jews have gotten sucked into this tribal warfare, where loyalty to our political tribes has replaced loyalty to our Jewish tribe. For too many of us, “What’s good for my party?” has replaced “W...
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...
(JTA)—Richard Stone, Florida’s first Jewish senator since the Civil War and an adviser on the Camp David Peace Accords, has died. Stone died on Sunday at the age of 90, his son-in-law Joel Poznansky told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an email. He was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Miami Beach. He graduated from Harvard College and Columbia Law School and worked as a lawyer in Florida prior to entering local politics there. In 1975, he became the state’s first Jewish senator since the Civil W...
(Israel Hayom via JNS)-Hezbollah is reportedly deploying its forces on the Lebanon-Israel border, The Daily Beast reported over the weekend, linking the move by the Iranian-backed Shi'ite terrorist group to the rising tensions in the Persian Gulf. According to the report, while the majority of the deployment has taken place on the Lebanon-Israel border, Hezbollah has also bolstered its forces in the Syrian Golan Heights. A Hezbollah commander The Daily Beast identified only as "Samir" said the g...
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s editor in chief, Andrew Silow-Carroll, and its opinion editor, Laura E. Adkins, shared their thoughts on a recent New York Times article answering “some of the most difficult questions” about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. Andrew Silow-Carroll: Hey Laura, I wonder what you thought about The New York Times explainer on BDS. The Times usually hears it from both sides when they set out to provide what they consider a balanced view of a controversial aspect of the Isr...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The U.S. House of Representatives this week approved a nonbinding resolution that condemns the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel. Much was made of the 398-17 vote, one that earns the hoary journalist adjective “overwhelming.” Democrats and Republicans at long last could bond on an issue, rejecting attempts to boycott Israel. “It’s that bipartisan support for Israel that means the world understands that the United States is strongly in support of Israel,” Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill, the resolution...
Isabelle (Buddye) Laub does volunteer work at Cascade Heights running their little store. She is always busy crocheting gifts for family and friends. Often people forget that the senior residents at assisted-living facilities had exciting lives in their earlier years. They each have a story to tell. Here is Buddye’s story. Buddye was born in Newark, New Jersey, but spent most of her life in Baltimore and Orlando. Her father was an engineer. Her mother passed when Buddye was only seven years old, and she “raised herself.” Her mother called her B...
"Getting old is not for Sissies"... (Betty Davis quote) Despite what you may have seen on the streets, the following combinations DO NOT go together: A nose ring and bifocals. Spiked hair and bald spots. A pierced tongue and dentures. Miniskirts and support hose. Ankle bracelets and corn pads. Speedos and cellulite. A belly button ring and a gail bladder surgery scar. Unbuttoned disco shirt and a heart monitor. Midriff shirts and a midriff bulge. Bikinis and liver spots. Short shorts and...
