Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Shalom Orlando launched Shayna's Village at the Heller Family Grove, formerly the Jewish Community Center's youth wing, on Wednesday, July 31. Channel 2 News and the Orlando Sentinel covered the grand opening. Shayna's Village, formerly the Shayna Cai Presser Parenting Center, was created to honor Shayna Cai Presser with Presser-Cohen family's continuing generosity. Now the completely revamped one-of-a-kind Shayna's Village offers a new level that focuses on children with special needs. It will...
(JTA) - Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor who burst into national view after calling Republicans "weird," will be Kamala Harris' running mate on the November Democratic ticket. Multiple outlets reported the choice early Aug.6, hours before Harris was set to appear with her pick at a Philadelphia rally. Harris' decision ends speculation that Josh Shapiro, the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania, could be in line for the role. Walz and Shapiro were reportedly the two final choices narrowed from a...
The Heritage Florida Jewish News received two awards, including one first place honor and one second place honor, at the Florida Press Association Annual Best Weekly Newspaper awards banquet July 26 in Orlando. The awards honor work published during 2023. Marilyn Shapiro won second place in the Feature Story-Profile category for her article titled “What goes around eventually comes around,” in the Feb. 10, 2023, issue. The judge’s notes stated “Comprehensive research enabled the writer to create an interesting and compelling feature profile...
(JNS) — With the assassinations of Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Mohammed Deif in Gaza, along with Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr in Lebanon, coupled with a major strike on the Houthis’ oil refineries in Yemen, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has clearly decided to escalate towards actually winning the war against Iran and its terror proxies. The timing is important. First, Israel has largely completed its intensive operations in Gaza, severely diminishing Hamas’s capacities and punishing the Palestinians living there for supportin...
"Raise your hand if you are a Zionist. This is your chance to get out!" These now infamous words shouted on a packed New York Subway car on Oct. 10, 2024, sent chills down the spines of Jews across America. Anti-Israel protests have wracked cities and college campuses and violence against Jews has increased dramatically all over the United States. Headlines like, "FBI Director Warns Antisemitism in US Reaching Historic Level." "A New Wave of Antisemitism threatens to Rock an Already Unstable...
The ZOA Law and Justice center has assisted numerous Florida municipalities in putting together resolutions standing up for Israel and criminalizing acts that support terror. “Recently, it was brought to our attention that the city of Miramar, Florida is trying to pass an extremely antisemitic resolution. We’ve created a petition to fight against it and we need your help,” said Allison Zur, regional director of ZOA-Florida. To view and sign copy and paste in your browser “Zionist Organization of America/Mayor Messam: Abandon Dangerous Resolut...
Jake Gould, who was appointed to the board of the Jewish Federation of Volusia & Flagler Counties in March and has been working on young professional programming in the Greater Daytona Beach area, announced that they are hosting their first large-scale kickoff event on Sunday, Aug. 25, from 7-9 p.m. It is an Israel Bar Night at the rooftop bar of the Streamline Hotel, 140 S Atlantic Ave, Daytona Beach. There will be kosher Israeli appetizers, and Israeli music. This is an opportunity for young Jews all across North Florida, including...
(JNS) — U.S. border agents have arrested three Palestinian Arab illegals at the southern border on suspicion of terror ties. One of the men had “salacious photos” on his phone, including one picture of a masked man holding a rifle, federal law enforcement sources said, according to The New York Post. Federal authorities also caught one illegal immigrant from Turkey who is suspected of ties to terror groups. “The migrants were among groups of dozens of migrants who turned themselves in to border agents at the San Diego sector,” sources t...
(JTA) — Evan Gerhskovich, the American Jewish Wall Street Journal reporter who has been held in Russian prison for more than a year, is now free, the White House announced Thursday. Gershkovich, 32, was freed as part of a massive, 26-person prisoner exchange that included several prominent people jailed by Russia. The list of those released includes Russian-British activist and journalist Kara-Murza, who is also Jewish, as well as former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. The secretive swap occurred in Ankara, Turkey, between Russia and the United S...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — A Lufthansa flight from Munich to Israel made an unscheduled landing in Larnaca, Cyprus on Thursday morning due to heightened tensions in the region. The airline gave passengers the option of disembarking in Larnaca but did not offer them any assistance in completing their journey to Israel and informed them that their luggage would be returning to Munich with the plane, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News. Some 20 Israelis disembarked without their luggage, with the rest returning to Munich, according to the rep...
(JNS) — Reports from watchdog group Middle East Media Research Institute show a boisterous anti-Israel demonstration in Times Square on the evening of July 31 against a Jewish-organized rally to support the Israel Defense Forces. The New York Post reported that about 300 people attended the rally, which featured a speech by Jonathan Conricus, former spokesperson for the IDF during its ongoing war with Hamas in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel. The Post wrote that the demonstration was reportedly organized by the r...
(JNS) — The Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon resumed its attacks on northern Israel late Thursday night, firing a large volley of rockets at civilian communities in the Jewish state’s Western Galilee. The rocket assault ended a 48-hour lull that followed Tuesday’s Israeli airstrike in Beirut in which Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s No. 2, was killed. Air-raid sirens were activated in Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra, Hanita, Shlomi, Matzuva, Liman, Betzet, Shlomi, Snir and the Achziv Miluot industrial zone, according to the Israel Defense...
While it’s not always appropriate to criticize a politician for something they don’t say, during the past several months, given the vile antisemitic protests that have taken place across the U.S. under the veil of “anti-Zionism,” one might have assumed that as a self-declared Zionist, President Biden would have shut down threats against Jews by affirming that he is also a Zionist. “When you vilify Zionists, you vilify me,” he could have said. A modern JFK “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner) moment. One can consider that an oversight, a la...
(JNS) — Forget her awkward off-putting personality and habit of speaking like a dim-witted kindergarten schoolteacher. Those are public-facing problems, and public-facing problems have to be pretty extreme for them to be disqualifying. Dems stuck with Biden until he had a total debate breakdown. Dems would like another Obama, and Kamala isn’t that, but they’d settle for a normal human being who isn’t some nightmarish hybrid of Chauncey Gardiner, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama with none of the positive aspects and all of the negative ones. B...
This article was previously published in the Dec. 22, 2023, issue. It garnered the Sally Latham Memorial Award for Serious Column in the FPA Weekly Newspaper Contest. (Portions of this article are very graphic.) I was talking with my daughter on the phone Friday evening. “What did you do this week?” she asked. I mentioned that I attended a private briefing and screening by the Consulate General of Israel in Miami to see the raw footage of what happened in Israel on Oct. 7. “What are you talking about?” she asked. She hadn’t heard of the Oct....
(Jewish Journal via JNS) — On Saturday, the Golan Heights came under global scrutiny when Hezbollah bombed a soccer field in the Druze village of Madjal Shams, killing 12 children. This is an unspeakable tragedy. It is also a reminder of the terrible and worsening condition of Israel’s north, which has been under attack since Oct. 8. In January, a mother and son were crushed to death when Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile into their home. In early July, a married couple were killed by a direct hit, leaving their three children par...
MORNING 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. 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 Israel — Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3...
(JNS) — Judea and Samaria saw more than 500 Palestinian terrorist attacks each month on average in the first half of 2024, according to figures Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) published on Thursday. In the first six months of this year, first responders recorded 3,272 acts of terrorism in the region, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing, 456 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 299 explosive charges and 109 shootings. Palestinian terrorists have killed 14 people and wounded 155 others in Judea and Samaria since the start o...
(JTA) - A Russian court has sentenced the decorated Russian-Jewish writer Masha Gessen to eight years in prison in absentia over comments made about the country's conduct in the Ukraine war in 2022. The sentence makes Gessen at least the fifth prominent Jewish writer to be targeted by Russia for dissenting comments since the outbreak of war. Gessen, a New York Times columnist and former New Yorker writer who fled the Soviet Union as a teenager and has written and commented extensively on...
(JTA) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly threatened to invade Israel in support of the Palestinians as fears of a war with Hezbollah escalate — a shocking comment from a member of NATO, the international alliance of Western nations. “We must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine,” Erdogan said on Sunday during a party meeting that was televised, according to media reports. “Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them.” He added, “There is no reason wh...
Sandy Cawthern, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, discovered her connection to Judaism at a young age. "I was 9 when Israel was created as a Jewish state for the Jewish people, and we danced the Hora in the playground at my elementary school to celebrate," she recalls. Despite being shy, Sandy found herself drawn to the warmth and community of the Jewish faith. "I find people sitting by themselves and ask to sit with them and ask questions. I love listening to their stories. I find them fascinat...
(JTA) - TV's most Jewish comedy has one more chance to grab some statues on its way out the door. The 12th and final season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry David's long-running HBO sitcom, was nominated for four Emmy awards Wednesday, including best comedy and best actor for David. Since premiering in 2000 the show has received a total of 55 Emmy nominations, but only two competitive wins (for directing and editing). David finally wrapped "Curb" in April with an appearance from his buddy Jerry...
Decluttering a living space can be a daunting task, but with the right approach, it can also be liberating. Here are some practical tips to help you declutter efficiently, along with insights into how organizations like Jewish Pavilion Senior Services and the Orlando Senior Help Desk offer support to elders and their families through this process. 1. Categorize and Conquer: Begin by sorting items in the room into categories such as trash, books, papers, and miscellaneous items. This helps...
(JNS) - MAJDAL SHAMS, Israel - The pictures of 12 smiling children line the shattered gate of a soccer field, above wreaths of flowers. The blackened remains of bicycles lie next to the bomb shelter the boys and girls were rushing to after a siren went off during their weekend game in this windswept Druze village in the Golan Heights. "Donated with love for the safety of the People of Israel," reads a sign on the shelter, pockmarked by the shrapnel from the Iranian-made Hezbollah rocket that...
(JTA) — When he was elected governor of Pennsylvania in 2022, Josh Shapiro declared victory by quoting a famous adage from Pirkei Avot, an ancient code of Jewish ethics. Now, after losing the battle to be Kamala Harris’ running mate, Shapiro has turned to the same adage, attributed to Rabbi Tarfon, a sage who lived nearly 2,000 years ago. “Since I first ran for State Representative 20 years ago, I’ve been called to serve because I want to leave our community, our Commonwealth, and our country better off for our children – and because my faith...
