Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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With the New Year comes the opportunity to reflect on the past year and assess our impact. Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando has always stood by our community during life's most difficult moments. It has been no different this past year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although JFS closed our building to the public, we have continued to operate to make sure those who are hungry get food, clients can meet with counselors virtually, and folks who are looking for spiritual guidance can speak...
(MJL via JTA) — Here are some important Hebrew words and terms you may encounter over the High Holiday season. Akedah — Pronounced ah-keh-DAH. Literally “binding,” the Akedah refers to the biblical story of the binding of Isaac, which is traditionally read on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Chag sameach — Pronounced KHAG sah-MAY-akh. Literally “happy holiday,” a common greeting on Rosh Hashanah and other Jewish holidays. Elul — Pronounced el-OOL (oo as in food). The final month of the Jewish calendar, it is designated as a time of reflect...
L'Shana Tova! What a year it has been. Each year, Rosh Hashanah gives our students an opportunity to renew our commitment to our heritage. We, at Jewish Academy of Orlando, are so grateful to be back safely and in person with all of our students and our Jewish community. "We engage as a united family, providing a safe environment to celebrate our shared heritage and Jewish identity through Mitzvot (good deeds), Tzedakah (acts of righteousness), and Gemilut Chasadim (acts of loving kindness), as...
One of my favorite traditions from my childhood was every Shabbat drizzling honey on my challah and then dipping it in a thimble-sized "cup" of Mogen David wine. When I was finally old enough to realize that this ritual was unique to my family, I learned that it was a delicious custom handed down by my grandparents. My mom explained that just as we dip apples in honey on Rosh Hashanah to express our hope for a sweet and fruitful year, our family welcomes each Shabbat with a similar hope for a...
One of the more wonderful parts of being Jewish is living in "Jewish time." It's having Rosh Hashanah in September, instead of waiting four months to define the end of a hard year by bringing in the sweet promise of goodness and redemption. As 5781 rolls over to 5782, we will all be looking to repeat some of the wishes that we had this time last year. • The wish for Covid-19 to stay put and not join us as a most unwelcome guest in the coming year. • The wish for loved ones, friends and col...
The Jewish month of Elul is traditionally a time for personal reflection and spiritual preparation for the New Year. It offers a structured opportunity to examine what is holding us back from being who we really want to be. If we use the period of Elul to take concrete steps toward becoming advocates for change, together we can make a difference. Relationship With God Tradition: The word Elul can be understood as an acronym for the Hebrew verse Ani L’dodi V’dodi Li — “I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me.” Suggestion: Think about your r...
By Shannon Sarna Hummus, a Middle Eastern chickpea and tahini dip, has been adopted and Americanized in every possible way in recent years. Americans haven’t just embraced hummus, they have found truly appalling ways to make it their own. Here are the most horrifying flavors we could find. Snickerdoodle Hummus Snickerdoodle cookies are delicious, with their chewy texture and cinnamon sugar flavor. But in hummus form like this variety from Delighted By? Hard pass. Cake Batter Hummus Birthday cake is one of the world’s most perfect foods. It does...
(JTA) — When the world shut down last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Natan Sharansky figured his experience as a Soviet political prisoner meant he had a thing or two to teach the millions of people who were suddenly confined to their homes. So he recorded a video providing his advice that went viral among the many Jews around the world who have long seen him as a sage figure. Nearly a year and a half later, Sharansky, 73, announced on Facebook that he and his wife, Avital, had contracted the disease. The Israeli couple had both been v...
(JTA) — A woman is suing Bob Dylan for sexually abusing her when she was 12 under a New York law that temporarily lifted limitations on such lawsuits. The woman, identified in court documents as JC, says the Jewish rock star groomed and exploited her in his room at the Chelsea Hotel over six weeks in 1965, USA Today reported on Monday. She says she suffered physical and psychological harm. A lawyer for Dylan vigorously denied the charges, the newspaper reported. The Chelsea Hotel was at the time a hideout for bohemian artists and musicians. D...
In 1789 Ben Franklin wrote in a letter to a friend, “… in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” He may not have been the first to make this reference but it is an expression that has stood the test of time. Even with the certainty of these two things it is often surprising how hard we try to put them off and not think about them. In this season of reflection, as we conduct an accounting of our souls (cheshbon hanefesh), it is a good time to reacquaint the community with our local Hevra Kadisha of Central Flori...
The following synagogues provided information about their High Holiday services to the Heritage by press time. For information about services at other local synagogues, contact the individual congregations. For tickets or information, contact the individual synagogue. Chabad of Altamonte (Orthodox) Masks will be required at all services. Masks will be removed during Kid-dush lunch. RSVPs are required. Rabbi Mendy Bronstein Chabad of Altamonte 195 S Westmonte Drive #1126 Altamonte Springs, Fl 32701 www.jewishaltamonte.com Mon. Sept. 6, Erev...
Question: Is there a reason we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, and why don’t we use a trumpet or some other instrument? I know it’s traditional, but is there a reason that the shofar is so special? Answer: Well, I don’t want to toot the shofar’s horn too much, but it really is pretty special. Allow me to explain. In the Torah, we’re given a commandment that on the first day of the seventh month (Tishrei) “you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts.” (Leviticus 23:24) These loud blasts, or teruah, were...
(JNS) - American Jews are often criticized these days for distancing from Israel as a result of political considerations. To counteract that trend, the "Israel trip" has become a central way to positively interact with the Jewish state and all it has to offer. But due to the coronavirus pandemic and the inability of traveling there this High Holiday season, Israel-loving foodies say it's more vital than ever to find new ways to connect. Bringing Israeli cuisine to the Rosh Hashanah or Sukkot...
(JNS) — As Israel observes the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, it’s difficult to forget the capitulation of the Iraqi army to ISIS in 2014 or the EUBAM observers who fled as Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007, not to mention visions of the United States fleeing Saigon in the spring of 1975 as part of the collapse of the Vietnam War. Noting the coincidental, yet equal number of years separating each of the Middle Eastern incidents in which Islamic fundamentalists defeated their adversaries, Eran Lerman, vice president of the Jer...
(JTA) - Amid the Taliban's total takeover of Afghanistan this week, some had specific concerns about one person: that country's last remaining Jew, 62-year-old Zebulon Simantov. Simantov, who has in recent years lived in Kabul's only synagogue, said earlier this year that he would leave before the Taliban arrived, possibly for Israel. He has also said that the Taliban jailed him during the fundamentalist Muslim group's last hold on power in Afghanistan, and that they tried to convert him and reg...
(JNS) — Iran’s efforts to produce enriched uranium metal have progressed, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency report released on Monday. According to the report, which was issued to member states, Iran has produced 200g of uranium metal-enriched up to 20 percent, Reuters reported. In response, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price called on Tehran to “cease its nuclear escalations and return to negotiations.” “Iran has no credible need to produce uranium metal, which has direct relevance to nuclear weapons development,” sa...
(JNS) - A historian is claiming that Alexander Hamilton, the country's first treasury secretary who was instrumental in the ratification of the Constitution and whose popularity has risen in recent years due to the musical "Hamilton," had Jewish ties as a child in the Caribbean. "The balance of evidence suggests that Hamilton in all likelihood had a Jewish identity in his youth in the Caribbean," said Andrew Porwancher, a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma and author of the book...
(JNS) — Archeologists have uncovered in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem the first evidence of the capital being hit with an earthquake that was mentioned in the Bible, reported i24News. According to the first verse of the book of Amos, the earthquake occurred during the time of the Kingdom of Judah in the eighth century BCE. The Israel Antiquities Authority said last week that while evidence of the earthquake has been discovered across Israel, archaeologists have never unearthed markings of the destruction that prove the natural d...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — While most of the foreign policy world is focused on President Joe Biden’s moves in Afghanistan in the wake of the stunning turn of events there, the first anniversary of another important Middle East development quietly took place last week. The first part of the Abraham Accords, the historic cooperation agreements between Israel and several of its Arab neighbors, brokered in large part by the United States, turned one year old on Friday. The United Arab Emirates signed a treaty to normalize its relations with Israel for...
(JTA) — Dozens of progressive Jewish leaders have signed a letter condemning the Israel lobby AIPAC for social media ads targeting Reps. Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the group of progressive Congress members known as “the Squad.” J Street, a liberal Israel lobby and rival of AIPAC, spearheaded the letter. In its ad about Omar, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said the Minnesota Democrat sees “no difference between America and the Taliban, between Israel and Hamas, between democracies and terrori...
(JTA) — For the second year, COVID-19 has made it so Jews who want to attend High Holidays services must undergo a complicated risk calculation. Is it safe to go to synagogue for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? Should I bring my children? Is the shofar — the horn whose blasts punctuate the holy days — a potential vector of disease? Last year, five months into the global pandemic that has killed more than 4.5 million people globally, the answers were fairly straightforward, if dispiriting: Stay home, or at least stay masked and very far apart...
(Israel Hayom) — A controversial Israeli documentary about an Israeli attorney who represents terrorists received a double Emmy nomination on Wednesday. “Advocate,” from directors Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaiche, follows Israeli self-described “human-rights lawyer” Lea Tsemel as she navigates the Israeli judicial system in defense of Palestinian security prisoners, including terrorists indicted for the murder of Jews. The film is up for Emmy awards in the Best Documentary and Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary categorie...
