Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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By (JNS) - Twenty years ago, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Sbarro restaurant at the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in the center of Jerusalem. Fifteen people were murdered, including seven children, and 130 people injured. Dozens of families were destroyed in the blast. The survivors have moved on, each in their own way, one day at a time. The nails and bolts packed into the bomb to increase its destructive properties have been removed with multiple surgeries over the...
(JNS) - A number of Jewish groups have significant concerns about how Israel's conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip this spring will correlate into anti-Jewish sentiment on North American college campuses as the fall semester begins. Most colleges are resuming in-person and on-campus classes after nearly three semesters of virtual learning as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. Even with the rapidly spreading Delta variant, universities are getting ready to start in full force, at...
Submitted on behalf of the Holocaust Center's Board Officers The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida announced on Aug. 12, 2021, that Executive Director Pam Kancher, who has led the organization since 2006, will be stepping down at year-end. Kancher is credited with building the Center's reputation for innovative programming, convening inspired partnerships and community collaborations, as well as nearly tripling the Holocaust Center's budget, and more than doubling the...
(JTA) - "Jeopardy!" is getting its first-ever Jewish host as Sony Pictures Television announced that actress Mayim Bialik will host some of the game show's new prime time specials. Following longtime host Alex Trebek's death last fall, Bialik served as one of the show's celebrity guest hosts for two weeks in June. In her new role, the star of "The Big Bang Theory" will host new spin-off series, including a college tournament next year. Mike Richards, one of the show's executive producers, will...
Nathan Velez, 16, received one of the 7,000 backpacks filled with school supplies that were recently provided for economically disadvantaged children by the Jewish Federation of Volusia & Flagler Counties. The Jewish Federation delivered the high-quality backpacks and school supplies in early August to schools across Volusia and Flagler counties. Students returned to school in Volusia County on Aug. 16. In Flagler, schools opened Tuesday, Aug. 10. "I want to thank all the donors who contributed...
Jewish Academy of Orlando welcomed many new "Bees" this school year. Here are a few photos before the start of school. Jewish Academy of Orlando serves central Florida students of all faiths from kindergarten through fifth grade. The school delivers a whole-child education fostering academic excellence and character education rooted in Jewish values. Jewish Academy of Orlando is accredited by the Florida Council of Independent Schools. To learn more about Jewish Academy of Orlando, please...
Rabbi Mendy Bronstein is excited to announce that this October, right after the holidays, Chabad of Altamonte Springs will be opening a new preschool called Jewish Beginnings Early Learning Center. "Judaism teaches that the formative years of early childhood are vitally important. A child is viewed as a seed that we nurture with the utmost care, since the seed's every experience will shape and color the quality of its matured self. We recognize that each child has his or her unique needs,...
Dr. David Bortnick will explore the role of Jews in the U.S. Civil War at a gathering of the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society to be held at the St. Johns County Library Main Branch, 1960 N. Ponce De Leon Blvd. St. Augustine, Fla., 32084 on Tuesday, Oct. 12 at 2:30 p.m. This event is open to the public, all are welcome, there is no charge and no advance arrangements need be made. Bortnick, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida State University and holds a doctorate in Marriage and Family Living and a second doctorate in...
NEW YORK — Avi and Becky Katz, long-time Jewish communal leaders, have established a multi-year, multi-million national initiative with NCSY,the flagship youth movement of the Orthodox Union, to support Jewish identity programs for public school teenagers. Their $3 million dollar gift will focus on the OU’s national Jewish Student Union program and will be called the Katz Family Initiative Driving Impact in JSU. JSU is NCSY’s network of extracurricular Jewish “clubs” that take place in public high schools across the USA and Canada. Through i...
(Jewish Journal via JNS) — Several U.S. Ben & Jerry’s franchisees have sent a letter to the company calling on them to rescind their July 19 decision to stop doing business in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The letter was signed by franchisees in Seattle, Boston, San Francisco and St. Louis, among other major cities, that operate 30 stores and generate $23.3 million in combined revenue. “There is a danger that the pursuit of social justice will descend into political correctness or result in the adoption of overly simplistic solutions...
(JNS) — Ongoing Arab protests in recent weeks in the West Bank against the Palestinian Authority over the killing of opposition activist Nizar Banat by security forces have led to heavy criticism of the P.A. for suppression. According to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute published on Tuesday, the protests have expressed deep dissatisfaction over ongoing corruption and the absence of democracy. The unrest followed the decision this spring by P.A. head Mahmoud Abbas to postpone elections out of a fear of losing to other f...
(JNS) — Next month, Americans will mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The trauma lingers in the memory of everyone who was then alive. But while that day of terror will never be forgotten, as an event that informs foreign and defense policy, it is fast becoming as irrelevant as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The last American troops are withdrawing from Afghanistan as Washington is reacting with indifference to the evidence that the Taliban — the group that hosted and enabled the 9/11 attackers — will soon be back in charg...
(JNS) — In July, the United Church of Christ’s General Synod passed a “peacemaking” resolution that declared Israel guilty of sins against the Palestinian people. The resolution repeats the narrative broadcast by Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, who have been demonizing Israel for decades. Predictably enough, the resolution, which was passed with 462 yeas, 78 nays and 18 abstentions in an online vote, made no mention of any sins perpetrated by the Palestinians or their leaders in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. Fo...
(JNS) — In the aftermath of the recent uproar over the Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream company announcing it would boycott the “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” it is worthwhile to take a closer look at that term. In 1964, Ahmad el-Shukairy convened a conference at which he created a terrorist movement called the Palestine Liberation Organization. The PLO undertook to perpetrate terrorist acts against Israeli civilians to “liberate Palestine.” At the time, Jordan occupied Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”) and Egypt-occupied Gaza. Yet, the PLO’s...
(JTA) — Jewish culture is deeply rooted in traditional core values, structures and norms often held by our American Jewish organizations. At the same time, today’s American Jewish community is more diverse and represents more backgrounds than ever. Yet this diversity is not equitably reflected in our communal spaces. Based on national and local population studies, my organization found in 2018 that one in seven Jews in the United States identifies as a person of color. Other recent estimates have varied, but one thing is clear: Jews of col...
(JTA) — Ten years ago, I sat shocked watching a new music video from one of my creative Jewish heroes, Matisyahu. Newly married and studying in yeshiva, my husband and I were trying to figure out how to uplift the art world in alignment with our Orthodox Torah ideals. Yet here was my icon, Matisyahu — who rose to fame singing about his faith and wearing the black hat and modest suit of a Hasidic Jew — dancing around in a Santa suit for his “Miracles” video with a shot of an immodestly dressed woman and a guy dressed up as Antiochus using the...
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...
(JTA) — Many people have curbed or curtailed their big Shabbat dinners during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not the cast of “The Real Housewives of New York City.” On the episode that aired Tuesday, the cast of the Bravo reality TV series about socialites in the city is shown attending a drama-filled event described as “Black Shabbat” by its host. Eboni Williams, the show’s first Black cast member, hosted the dinner at the home of Archie Gottesman, a founder of JewBelong, a nonprofit that set out to “rebrand Judaism” and recently took out billbo...
I'm writing this from Miami, 10 minutes from the beach. There are many reasons to be here - the beach, the sun, the culture. And there are many reasons not to be here. As my grandma keeps calling to tell me, COVID rates are skyrocketing in Florida, and maybe it's not the best place to be right now. But none of these considerations really mattered to me. I came for a reason nobody should have to come for: to be at the shiva of a former student of mine, Ilan Naibryf, who was one of the victims of...
(JNS) - Three Israeli documentary filmmakers arrived home safely from Nigeria at the end of last week, after what they described as 20 "hellish days" detained under inhumane conditions by the government's Department of State Services security agency. Rudy Rochman, David Benaym and Noam Leibman had set off for the African country as part of their "We Were Never Lost" documentary project aimed at telling the stories of disconnected and lesser-known Jewish communities around the world. However,...
(JNS) — Representatives from the U.S. and Israeli Air Forces met last month to discuss a remarkable development: what the Israel Defense Forces described as “updated orders for the cooperation between the two nations’ air-defense systems during emergency situations.” The Israeli delegation was led by Brig. Gen. Gilad Biran, commander of the IAF’s Air Defense System, and the American delegation was led by Brig. Gen. Greg Brady, commander of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, which is based in Germany. “The purpose of the meeting was...
Eretz Israel ... Oops ... How did I miss writing about May 14 1948? YEAH! Israel is officially a state! Have you ever been to Israel? I have! It is our PROMISED LAND, YES! I left my heart there ... Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Masada, the Dead Sea. the Golan Heights and on and on. A return trip to Israel is definitely on my Bucket List! More about famous Jews who have my heart ... WOLF BLITZER, for one. He is a noted American journalist, television news anchor and author who has been a CNN reporter...
(New York Jewish Week/JTA) - Kathy Hochul, who is set to succeed Andrew Cuomo as governor of New York, is no stranger to the New York Jewish community. Cuomo resigned Tuesday, a week after a state investigation concluded that he sexually harassed 11 women. He had faced intense pressure to step aside, including from President Joe Biden, or face impeachment. Cuomo enjoyed a warm working relationship with Jews across the denominational spectrum. As Cuomo's surrogate, Hochul has made it a point to...
(JNS) - Many in the Jewish world are sharing in Israel's record-setting four medal wins at the just-concluded 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Leading the pack were rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram and men's gymnast Artem Dolgopyat, both of whom captured gold medals during the two weeks of competition. Additionally, Israeli Avishag Semberg took home a bronze for taekwondo, while the Jewish state's mixed judo team also celebrated with a bronze-medal win. Team Israel Olympic baseball members had hoped...
Morris Barocas, 94, of Orlando, passed away on Thursday, July 22, 2021, at his residence. Mr. Barocas was born in New York on May 29, 1927,, to the late Joseph and Rebecca Azar Barocas. After serving two tours in the United States Navy, e and his family relocated to the Orlando area in 1980 from Newburgh, New York. Mr. Barocas is survived by his loving wife of 69 years, Selma (Lebowitz) Barocas; his son, Jerry Barocas of Dunedin, Fla.; his daughter, Renee (Barocas) Schiller of Winter Park, Fla.; his grandsons, Colin Barocas of Largo, Fla.,... Full story
