Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS)-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conveyed his condolences to the American people on Sunday night after back-to-back mass shootings rocked the cities of El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, over the weekend. "In the past 24 hours, we have witnessed two murderous attacks in Texas and Ohio," he wrote on Twitter. "On behalf of all government ministers and all citizens of Israel, I send condolences to the bereaved families, best wishes for recovery to the injured, and solidarity with the...
Many people in the Jewish community know Bethanne Weiss as an accomplished physical fitness guru and author of the book "Move Your Assets: From the Chair, Not the Bank," which garnered her the nickname the Asset Queen. Now she is moving her assets from the bank to take on the role of executive producer of the short film "Resemblance," which is in production in Oviedo and directed by writer, producer Kevin O'Neill. Last March, Heritage wrote about the upcoming movie, which is about Dachua...
It has been a year of unprecedented change for the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. Much of that change—and what it means for the larger Central Florida Jewish community—will be discussed Sunday, Aug. 25, during JFGO’s 2019 Annual Meeting at The Roth Family Jewish Community Center in Maitland. The annual meeting comes nearly seven months after the Federation and JCC entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, agreeing to share certain staff and services while both organizations continue to operate independently. The shared services have...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-A 19-year-old yeshiva student was found stabbed to death in the West Bank's Etzion settlement bloc. Dvir Sorek of the Ofra settlement was reported missing on Wednesday evening, hours after he had said he was returning from a shopping trip to Jerusalem to buy a book for his rabbi as an end-of-year gift from his class. His body was found at about 3 a.m. Thursday on a road leading to the Migdal Oz settlement where he attended the Machanaim yeshiva, reportedly clutching the books he...
By Hope McCormack Cascade Heights has the privilege of having a wonderful Shabbat service almost every week. The third week of July was no different. The service was led by Program Director Susan Bernstein who started the service with everyone's favorite song Bim Bam that transitioned effortlessly into Hee-Nay Ma Tov. She is a wonderful guitar player and everyone enjoyed her playing along to the prays. Bernstein told the story of Joseph and how his brothers sold him into slavery because of his v...
Soak up the last bit of summer with Temple Israel's sixth annual Sha-Ba-BQ on Friday, Aug. 23 at 6 p.m. at 50 South Moss Road in Winter Springs. This special indoor and outdoor celebration features great food, drinks, music, and children's activities, all for free. Grab some delicious kosher barbeque hot off the grill, pile on the sides, and then cool off as you dine inside the air-conditioned Roth Social Hall. Check out the kids' crafts and games inside the classrooms before heading to the...
For more than 50 years, Dr. Harry Rein, Esq. has served our community as the only doctor-lawyer-judge in the United States. His unique expertise in both the medical and legal fields have made him a highly sought-after speaker and witness. In addition to his professional career, Rein has been a longtime leader and supporter of the Jewish community. Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, at The Roth Family JCC as we pay tribute to Dr. Rein's career with a...
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...
(JNS)-Fifty-eight Jewish organizations gathered in New York City on Wednesday for a "National Consultation on Responses to Antisemitism" to address ever increasing anti-Semitic incidents in the United States, Europe and around the world. Organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations and hosted at the offices of UJA-Federation of New York in Midtown Manhattan, the consultation was attended by Jewish leaders and included two members of the U.S. Administration,...
(JTA)-After three and a half years as editor in chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Andrew Silow-Carroll will be the next editor of the New York Jewish Week. The veteran journalist will succeed Gary Rosenblatt, who announced last month he will step down at the end of September after 26 years as editor and publisher of the Jewish Week. Silow-Carroll, 58, has spent over 30 years in Jewish media. He was previously the CEO and editor in chief of the New Jersey Jewish News and managing editor of...
(JTA)-Those close to Dvir Sorek, the 19-year-old student who was murdered Thursday in a West Bank terrorist attack, described him as a unique young man. One of his friends from the West Bank settlement of Ofra, where Sorek's family lives, described him to Ynet as "an upstanding person, a poet, a musician with a special connection to nature." This is perhaps the reason that he chose to give an unusual goodbye gift to his teachers at the West Bank religious seminary, or yeshiva, he attended:...
(JTA)—President Donald Trump said “hate has no place in America” in an address to the nation following the mass shootings over the weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Trump pledged additional resources to the FBI to investigate domestic terrorism. He called for strengthening detection of early warning signs of shooters and for better background checks on gun owners. The president also condemned video games and social media for encouraging violent tendencies. He said “those who commit hate crimes and mass murders should face the death p...
(JNS)—In the wake of the latest mass shootings to afflict America, some Jewish organizations and their leaders joined in the effort to place at least some of the blame for these atrocities on President Donald Trump. Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union of Reform Judaism reacted to the slaughter in El Paso, which was reportedly the work of a white-nationalist racist who claimed to be reacting to the “invasion” of the country by Hispanics, by pointing the finger directly at the president: “When will this president stop demonizing asylum seekers and imm...
(JNS)—Given the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, I decided to reflect upon my own personal immigration story. At the outset, I want to compliment the president for sticking to his guns and doing more than any president of the United States to correct a very complex minefield of an issue. It is also important to point out over and over again that U.S. President Donald Trump made it patently obvious from the get-go that building a wall at the border with Mexico was one of his priorities. He was elected with this signature campaign promise. T...
At the beginning of a recent trip to the U.S. I was privileged to find myself in the office of my Congressional Representative, Bonnie Watson Coleman, (NJ 12th District) discussing legislation related to providing security in the Middle East against the rising tide of Islamic extremism, and combatting anti-Semitism. I left the meeting hopeful, and grateful as an American to have the privilege to express my views with my elected representatives. Last week, my hopes were dashed when, in one of the most sweeping, nearly unanimous, and indeed...
NEW YORK (JTA)—By the end of this year, my research and travels in the Middle East will have brought me through Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Kurdistan, as well as many visits to Capitol Hill. What I’ve learned from security, defense and intelligence officials is this: When Israelis and Arabs talk off the record, what they say differs markedly from their public statements. America policymakers are too often unaware of what Israeli and Arab experts and official say behind closed doors, even to one...
(Jewish Journal via JNS)—At a time of rampant assimilation and declining synagogue attendance, how do you get more Jews to connect to their tradition? In recent years, the non-Orthodox streams of Judaism have tackled this challenge with renewed vigor. Much of the innovation has centered on making Judaism more relevant and meaningful. This can take many forms, from a focus on social justice and repairing the world, to musical and uplifting prayer services, to connecting with nature, to online education and entertainment, to radical inclusion a...
BALTIMORE (JTA)—As Americans of conscience, many of us are deeply troubled by the hyperpartisan tone that seems to color almost every news story and cycle. The sensationalism that is so often present within our nation’s discourse undermines our collective ability to assimilate information and reach well-reasoned conclusions. At times, the only voices that we hear are the loudest and most outrageous. If this were not challenging enough, we also live in times in which mass shootings are becoming more common, race relations are growing more fra...
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. Tem...
(JNS)—A bipartisan group of 88 U.S. senators signed a letter on Monday to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asking him to “act boldly and with urgency to help Poland resolve this issue comprehensively” of compensating Holocaust victims whose property was stolen by German Nazis. Crediting Pompeo with raising the issue in a statement in February about the matter, the senators said they were “deeply troubled” with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki responding that the issue has been “resolved.” “Now is the time, while the last Holocaust s...
LANSING, Michigan (JTA)-Tom Dalton could be the poster boy for Elissa Slotkin's path to a second term and, she would argue, to Democrats keeping the U.S. House of Representatives. The 67-year-old Vietnam navy vet routinely votes Republican-but says he would not hesitate to vote for Slotkin, a Democrat, if he had the opportunity. "Seeing what's happening today in the news, all you hear is negative this and negative that, I would love to know if there's a lot more of what I saw today," he said,...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Israel's upcoming elections in September-just five months after the last ones in April-are essentially a do-over. In the April election, the right wing won a majority. But because Israel has a parliamentary system, a bunch of small right-wing parties had to agree to join a governing coalition. They were too divided to do that, so now Israel is trying again. Unsurprisingly, people have basically the same opinions they had earlier this year. In other words, polls haven't shifted...
(JTA)-Out of all of the unrealistic scenes in "The Red Sea Diving Resort," the most absurd one might be when Ben Kingsley, playing a supposedly gritty Mossad agent, shows up in the desert wearing a suit and a jaunty ascot around his neck. "The Red Sea Diving Resort"-about how a crew of Israeli spies smuggled thousands of Ethiopian Jewish refugees out of Sudan while running a beachfront hotel-could have been a good movie. But at a time when Israeli commando thrillers are the new fad ("7 Days in E...
(JTA)—Not long after news that a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, left at least 22 people dead, reports started swirling that the suspect had posted a manifesto on 8chan, an online forum. Law enforcement officials are investigating a document posted there that is believed to be authored by the suspect, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius. The text contains racist rhetoric, blaming immigrants and Latinos for taking away jobs from Americans. It was uploaded fewer than 20 minutes before the shooting, according to CNN. This isn’t the first tim...
(JTA)—Before he killed at least 22 people at a Walmart on the southern border, the gunman in El Paso posted a white supremacist manifesto on the fringe social network 8chan denouncing a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” The U.S. Justice Department announced that it would treat the shooting as a “domestic terrorist case.” “It appears to be designed to intimidate a civilian population,” U.S. Attorney John Bash said at a news conference Sunday, referring to the shooter’s motives. “And we’re going to do what we do to terrorists in this country, which i...
