Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Students at the Jewish Academy of Orlando have been back to school for one week now and are really cracking the books, working hard. But first some fun with selfies! Jewish Academy of Orlando serves central Florida students of all faiths from grades kindergarten through fifth. 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. Beginning...
(JNS)-A total of 41 Democrats and 31 Republicans are in Israel on overlapping party tours to get a firsthand view of the complex security challenges Israel faces and to express their unconditional, bipartisan support for the Jewish state. The delegations are touring Israel's borders and gaining insight into Israeli advances in areas of defense, agriculture, commercial technology, and water desalination and conservation. In addition, the groups met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,...
According to a newsletter sent to all COS members via email, Congregation Ohev Shalom experienced a ransomware attack on its main server on Monday, Aug. 5. Ohev administration contacted the Maitland Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. Taking the lead in the investigation, the FBI does not believe the synagogue was targeted by an anti-Semitic group. “Nothing was ‘taken’ or ‘captured,’” clarified Steven Hornik, Ohev president. Certain data and files on the main server were encrypted and aren’t accessible. T...
Israel has decided to bar two Muslim pro-BDS members of Congress from entering Israel over fears of provocation that they would cause and their unwillingness to coordinate with Israeli authorities, according to multiple reports. Officials had reportedly been examining the official wording of the decision with legal authorities. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri announced the decision late Thursday afternoon. According to a press statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan...
Jerusalem, ISRAEL—Masa Israel Teaching Fellows, a Masa initiative in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Education, is set to launch its ninth year of programming. Two hundred English-speaking young Jewish professionals will arrive in Israel from around the world at the start of the academic year. Three of the fellows are from Oviedo, Maitland and Sanford. This program testifies to the growing commitment of world Jewry to Israel with the number of participants increasing five-fold over the last eight years. Fellows will teach English in ele...
From Israeli dance instructor to cantorial soloist, Debbie Meitin has proven that her talents span across many disciplines. Meitin's Judaic foundation began as a young adult growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, where she sang and performed as a member of the youth choir in her synagogue, and actively participated in USY in high school. And while studying for a degree in medical technology, Meitin stayed active in Jewish life as a member of the Hillel chapter at Michigan State. While attending USY and...
Dr. David Diamond was appointed on Aug. 8th by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the Florida Board of Medicine. Dr. Diamond is a co-medical director of Florida Radiation Oncology, an independent cancer treatment center in Winter Park. The Florida Board of Medicine is the state agency tasked with protecting and enhancing the public's health, safety, and welfare by establishing and maintaining standards of excellence used in regulating the practice of medicine through licensure, discipline and education. Dr....
If you would like to know more about JFS Orlando and everything this agency does, take a tour of its center and hear about the people who have been helped. Join staff members for coffee, a light breakfast and a tour at the next Coffee Connections on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 8 a.m. JFS Orlando is located at the George and Madeline Wolly Center, 2100 Lee Road, Winter Park, FL 32789....
(JTA)—Israel’s decision on Aug. 15 to ban Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering the country has quickly prompted a wave of impassioned responses from across the Jewish community. Pro-Israel groups, including AIPAC, and prominent Democratic lawmakers are already objecting to the move. AIPAC’s statement, along with others from establishment Jewish groups, criticized Omar and Tlaib’s support for the movement to boycott Israel. But like others who have their differences with the two House reps, AIPAC said that Israel should nonethe...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Twenty-one right-wing Israeli lawmakers rebuffed a House bill that endorsed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while rejecting efforts to boycott the Jewish state. In a letter addressed to U.S. Reps. Brad Schneider, Lee Zeldin, Jerry Nadler and Ann Wagner, the co-sponsors of the bill and staunch supporters of Israel, the Israeli lawmakers asserted that a Palestinian state is “far more dangerous to Israel” than BDS. House Resolution 246, which passed 398-17 last month, condemned the Boycott, Dives...
(JNS)—The California Board of Education has announced it will scrap its current draft ethnic-studies curriculum and develop a new model curriculum following outrage by California lawmakers, activists and Jewish and pro-Israel groups for its “blatant bias against Israel.” The California State Board of Education stated that “the current draft model curriculum falls short and needs to be substantially redesigned.” “Following the Instructional Quality Commission’s review and response to all public comments, a new draft will be developed for...
(JNS)—The furor in recent days over a viciously anti-Semitic article in a left-wing Belgian newspaper centered on the writer’s use of a mangled quote, attributed to the French-Jewish songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, about the impossibility of a God who could give his “chosen people,” so-called, such “ugly noses.” This boilerplate anti-Semitism, in keeping with the rest of the article by columnist Dimitri Verhulst, is the reason why the Flemish-language paper that published it, De Morgen, is now the subject of an investigation by the Belgian pol...
If I were Israel’s prime minister, I’d have let repugnant U.S. Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib come to Israel, despite their hateful agenda and itinerary that would have been an unabashed anti-Israel propaganda tour. Israel is a strong country, vibrant democracy, and can stand up to the debate. There would have been no problem calling them out and challenging their anti-Semitic and anti-Israel lies at their every interview, comment, and tweet. We not only missed that opportunity, but we put the ball in their court to play a one...
On the front page of the Aug. 2nd edition of this newspaper, a small article with large implications appeared with the headline, “A debt-free Federation is in sight.” I do not know if the article was written by a Heritage writer, was sent to the Heritage as a news release by the Federation or was authored by a public relations guru. The article was upbeat and was accompanied by a photo of the current executive director who categorized the event of satisfying the debt as “transform[ing] a daunting challenge into a most rewarding trium...
(JNS)—Many parents of my age remember striving to be able to send their children to summer camp. Now, as grandparents, we see our own children doing the same. I believed then, as I do now, that summer camp is a time when children make new friendships—many of which last into their adult years—grow emotionally and learn what we call “people skills.” Somewhere in the boxes that accumulated over the years in our basement are videotapes of our five children at summer camp. We see our kids in various activities—playing baseball and basketball,...
(JNS)—The slaughter of 19-year-old yeshivah student and Israel Defense Forces’ recruit Dvir Sorek from the Judea and Samaria community of Ofra was not exceptional. Palestinian terrorists with hatred in their hearts and weapons in their hands are integral to the Jewish state’s otherwise vibrant landscape. But this particular tragedy struck a nationwide nerve even among those who blame the so-called “occupation” for Palestinian violence, and consider citizens like Sorek to be illegally and immorally living in territory that should become pa...
Dear Editor: In Mel Pearlman’s Aug. 9, article, “The myth of the two-state solution,” he says, “I support the two-state solution I described in the beginning of this column, but it will never become a reality if the nations of the world continue to engage in fantasy diplomacy and the pandemic of the new and old anti-Semitism currently infecting the world is not eradicated.” It is impossible to eradicate all forms of anti-Semitism. The Jewish people have been persecuted for 4,000 years with no end in sight. Many people would like to believe t...
Dear Editor: In today’s Heritage Florida Jewish News (Aug. 9, 2019), the obituary titled “Richard Stone, Florida’s first Jewish senator since Civil War, dies at 90,” Josefin Dolsten of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency wrote that David Levy Yulee, the first Jewish senator from Florida, who served from 1855 to 1861, converted to Christianity. Actually he served from 1845 to 1861. More important, there is no proof that David Levy Yulee ever converted. Not only was he Florida’s first senator and Florida’s first Jewish senator but he was the first J...
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...
Applications for Jewish Educational Loan Fund’s interest-free loans for higher education (college, graduate school and vocational programs) for Jewish students in the Orlando area (Orange and Seminole Counties) for the period January through August 2020 will be open September 1-30. JELF, in partnership with The Roth Family JCC of Greater Orlando, provides interest-free last dollar loans for higher education to Jewish students in need bridging the gap between a student’s total financial resources and the cost of attending school. To qua...
(JNS)-Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas avoided answering whether or not he believes that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state and seemed "aggressive" in talks with U.S. lawmakers regarding the Trump administration's policies, according to members of Congress who just returned from a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank. Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), told JNS that she "didn't walk away from the meeting with Abbas feeling particularly...
Congregation Sinai helps the community celebrate all Jewish holidays with special events, educational programs and services. Congregation Sinai classes are open to the general public. Numerous services and events are open and free to the community. Jewish Youth Education: Sunday School at Congregation Sinai is now open for registration and in session most Sundays throughout the school year. Sessions are held between 10 a.m. and noon most every Sunday morning. Sinai readily accommodates children of a variety of ages from preschool to bar/bat...
(JTA)—When Israel announced that it would deny entry to Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the decision struck many as an unprecedented step. But Israel has blocked multiple lawmakers from coming in recent years. The difference this time is that it’s lawmakers from the United States who are being declared persona non grata. That’s a significant difference, given the closeness of the U.S.-Israel relationship—a link so crucial to Israel that the country’s diplomacy vis-à-vis the United States is often conducted according to its own set of rul...
(JTA)-One of the most befuddling questions surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein saga is why Leslie Wexner, a billionaire entrepreneur, entrusted all of his money to Epstein, a secretive financier with no college degree. For those immersed in the Jewish world, there's an added question: How did Wexner-a prominent philanthropist seen as a champion of Jewish learning and ethical teaching, whose foundation has trained waves of rabbis, Jewish professionals and volunteer board leaders-end up so enmeshed...
Sylvia Stone, age 92, of Winter Park, passed away on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2019, at Regents Park Health Care Center in Winter Park. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Sylvia and her late husband, Simon, whom she married in April 1946, relocated to the Orlando area in 2011. During her working career, she was an administrative assistant in manufacturing. Sylvia is survived by her sons, Mark Allen Stone (Susie) of Longwood, Barry Ronald Stone (Dagmar) of Hanover, Penn., and Arnie Stone (Helaine) of Ft. Mill, S.C. She was the proud grandmother of six...
