Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Arab arsonists set fire to the ancient Susya archaeological site in Judea during Tisha B'Av. "This is among the activities of our 'peaceful neighbors' when they aren't building on our land," said Natalie Sopinsky, a resident of Susya. The fire spread threatening the old synagogue ruins. Israel firefighters battled the blaze and saved the synagogue, which had a special place in Jewish history. It served as a refuge for Jews following the revolt against Romans, led by Bar Kochva. The...
(JNS) - A massive fire, followed by an enormous explosion, rocked Beirut on Tuesday, causing a mushroom-cloud-shaped shockwave damaging nearby buildings, including the official residence of the Lebanese president, Michel Aoun. It shattered windows, overturned cars and caused debris to fly across the Lebanese capital. It's unclear what caused the explosion, which occurred between the Port of Beirut and the city's central district. It was initially blamed on a major fire at a warehouse for...
(LOS ANGELES, CA) - StandWithUs is disappointed to learn that a Jewish student at University of Southern California has stepped down from student government as a result of anti-Semitic harassment from her peers. USC student government Vice President Rose Ritch announced her resignation in a statement, writing that she has been "harassed for weeks ... because I openly identify as a Zionist, a supporter of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state." She stated that "an attack on my Zionist...
By Marcy Oster (JTA) — The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia said it will not work with the local chapter of the NAACP over “an alarming amount of bigoted and anti-Jewish sentiments” on his social media channels and the mosque he leads. Rodney Muhammad “still has yet to fully apologize for his most recent actions,” the federation said in a statement updated earlier this week. The statement also said that while the federation would continue to work with the national office of the NAACP and other local chapters, “our obligation to oppose...
Join Avi Melamed, one of Israel's most respected intelligence analysts in Middle East affairs, for the third and final installment in his lecture series hosted by Temple Israel's Adult Education Committee on Sunday, Aug. 30 at 10 a.m. This virtual presentation, titled "Israel as an Obstacle in Turkey's Quest to Revive the Ottoman Empire," is free and open to the community. The program will discuss President Erdogan's aspirations to restore the glory days of the Turkish Ottoman Empire and to rule...
Ronald Scheiman, who tracks the annual Chanukah stamp, stated that there would be a 2020 stamp, the date of issue has not been announced. “However, it should be sometime in October,” he said. The stamp was designed by art director Ethel Kessler with original art by Jing Jing Tsong. The USPS describes the stamp as follows: “The stamp art’s colorful illustration show the nine-branched Hanukkah menorah on the last evening of the holiday. All eight of the candles have been lit, and the child i...
Kudos to Michelle Bilsky, Jewish Pavilion volunteer extraordinaire. Bilsky has been able to continue to provide monthly Shabbat lunches at Lutheran Towers, even during the pandemic, because she works in Human Relations at Lutheran Towers. Her residents are so thrilled to participate in this monthly activity, especially since all other activities have been cancelled. While all of the residents look forward to the Shabbat meal and service, Bilsky feels that resident Jenny enjoys it the most....
(JNS) — Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said on Monday that she would not endorse the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. In fact, it’s not clear that she will be endorsing any candidate at all. “Residents come up to me and say, ‘Rashida, I don’t know. I hear Joe Biden this, Joe Biden that.’ I say, ‘Listen, do we need another four years of Trump? No. Then what I need you to do is go out there and focus on that,’ ” the congresswoman told Newsweek. “If the ultimate goal is to get rid of [U.S. Pr...
(JNS) - A day after two blasts - one of them an enormous - ripped through Beirut, causing untold destruction, it's still not possible to grasp the true scope of the calamity, a former Israeli Military Intelligence chief has said. Speaking by video conference to journalists, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, who served as former deputy commander of the Israeli Air Force and is now executive director of the Institute for National Security Studies, noted that Israel has offered medical assistance to...
(JNS) - Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. announced on Monday that they have agreed to establish a joint venture to produce Iron Dome weapon systems in the United States. Under the name Raytheon Rafael Area Protection Systems, the partnership will produce both the Iron Dome weapon system, which consists of the Tamir interceptor and launcher, and the SkyHunter missile, a U.S. derivative of the Tamir. The two firms expect to agree on a site location by the end...
(JNS) — I have a Jerry Seinfeld question. Why do Jewish celebrities keep whining about their parents? Popular actor-comedian-director Seth Rogen ignited an Internet firestorm with his recent complaint that his parents “fed [him] a huge amount of lies about Israel.” They “never told him” that “Oh, by the way, there were people [Arabs] there.” But Rogen says he now knows the truth and realizes that having a Jewish state “makes no sense.” What actually makes no sense is the notion that his parents said there were no Arabs in pre-Israel Palestine....
(JNS) — Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is now the most popular and dangerous anti-Semite in America. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists are surely a problem for Jews, but polite society rejects them. Their best effort to date — a “national rally” in Charlottesville, Va. — drew a few hundred people, whereas Farrakhan’s rants excite adoring crowds many times that size. His online influence is growing. Unlike alt-right rallies, a Farrakhan event will never be shut down by toughs throwing fists. Unlike the white anti-Semites, Farrakhan has op...
The pandemic has brought about extreme modifications to our everyday living and how we relate to family, friends and community. Government at every level is scampering, and for the most part failing to find effective policy initiatives and to implement programs in order to blunt the disastrous health, economic and social effects brought about by the complete disruption of our normal way of life. The pandemic has also exposed and laid bare the fact that what once was a resilient, respectful, resourceful and thoughtful American population has...
(JNS) — After days of anti-Semitic rants on social media, the “Grime” rapper Wiley has finally been barred from Twitter and Facebook following outrage by Jews and others that he was allowed to use these platforms for his vicious incitement. This episode was particularly chilling. It involved a sustained onslaught of anti-Jewish invective by a prominent public figure who described Jews as “cowards and snakes,” likened them to the Ku Klux Klan and suggested they should be shot. He could do this with impunity because no one saw fit to stop him...
(JNS) — Maybe everything would be better if we could all go for walks in the woods with people who say or tweet hateful and deeply offensive things. Then again, maybe the Jewish community would be better off if those who represent it weren’t quite so eager to ingratiate themselves with those who do not have the best interests of the Jews at heart. There are people who think a simple formula is the path to resolving all conflicts. It was the conceit of a Broadway play about nuclear arms talk called “A Walk in the Woods,” as well as the theory...
MORNING MINYANS (Please note, because of the coronavirus, all minyans have been canceled or held virtually.) 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...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he had agreed to support legislation that would delay the collapse of the government by putting off the deadline for passing the state budget. The bill, proposed by the Derech Eretz faction comprising Knesset members Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser, seeks to extend the Aug. 25 deadline for passing a state budget, buying more time for Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to work out their differences over it. The bill will be brought to the Knesset for a vote on W...
How will I celebrate a milestone birthday during the pandemic? That hoped-for week away with my family is out. A party at my home is out. Heck, my husband, Larry, and I can't even head to my favorite restaurant and indulge in a filet mignon and my free birthday brownie sundae. But there is a silver lining. An Abbotts frozen custard stand is less than 33 miles away from our Florida home. The history of one of my culinary favorites began in 1902 when a young and enthusiastic Arthur Abbott...
Recently I came across photos taken 30 years ago this summer. During that time, I was privileged to greet several planeloads of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union landing in Israel, welcoming them on the tarmac as they began their new lives in their ancient home. Even though some didn’t know it, they were fulfilling dreams of generations of the Jewish people yearning to come home. Having worked for years to help free Jews from the USSR, and dreaming to live in Israel myself, each p...
Paige Isabel Rosenblatt, daughter of Jessica and Seth Rosenblatt of Altamonte Springs, Fla., will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah on Aug. 22, 2020, at the Congregation of Reform Judaism. (Paige's bat mitzvah was originally to be on May 2, 2020 but was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 shutdown.) Paige is in the eighth grade at Teague Middle School where she is a member of the band, Bridge Club and National Junior Honor Society. Her hobbies and interests include art, tennis, reading,...
(Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle via JTA) - Sandy Greenberg recalls walking along Amsterdam Avenue in New York City with his best friend Arthur back in 1959 after they had just completed a humanities class at Columbia University. During the trek, his friend stopped to point out something that caught his eye. "'Sanford, I'd like to show you this patch of grass and I'd like you to really look at it,'" Greenberg recalled Arthur saying. "At first I was stunned, then he was pointing out how the light...
Oy, what memories! ... I'm sure I don't have to tell you that, because of Covid-19, I (and many of you) spend day after day after day at home, watching television and going batty with boredom ... unless you have children in your home and then it's not so bad. But my kids are grown men and, except for my youngest, also a grown man who insists on watching over me in my "old" age, I am alone with my dog, Chloe. So, I watch a lot of television ... mostly "Dr. Phil" and an occasional movie. What a...
(JNS) - Former NFL star running back Larry Johnson has posted a series of anti-Semitic tweets, one of which blamed "the Jewish cabal" for human trafficking, sex trafficking, pedophilia, ritualistic child torture, perversion [and] human sacrifice/murder." One tweet on Sunday responded to ESPN host Max Kellerman who, in response to anti-Semitic social-media posts last month by Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, said in the aftermath of the controversy that "Jews do not have a plan...
Over the past century, Jews and Christians have celebrated the return of the Jewish people to the Biblical Land of Israel, a restoration prophetic proportion. More recently, this return was accompanied by some four-legged friends representing Israel's 3000-year history in the Judean mountains. This is the modern story of Jacob's Sheep. Jacob's Sheep are an heirloom (unaltered) breed of ancient sheep, mentioned in Genesis 30. They originated with Jacob the Patriarch working for his father in...
You've heard of the wandering Jew, but have you heard of the wandering Jewish cookie? As Jews move from country to country, they pick up recipes, spices and dishes along the way. Sometimes, even after a Jewish community is no more, their food remains, an echo of a world that once was. Such is the case of the "Jewish cookie" from Iceland. Recently I learned of a cookbook, "The Culinary Saga of New Iceland, Recipes From the Shores of Lake Winnipeg," compiled by Kristin Olafson Jenkyns, a writer...
