Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 33
Local philanthropist Alan Ginsburg, was completely surprised when instead of arriving at what he thought was a financial meeting with the Catholic Diocese, he was awarded the papal Benemerenti medal, the highest honor that a layperson of any faith can receive from the Catholic pope. The medal was sent from the Vatican to Bishop John Noonan of the Diocese of Orlando, who presented the medal to Ginsburg on Aug. 26 at a surprise luncheon held at the Catholic Campus Ministry Center at UCF. Pope...
(JTA)-The streets of North Miami Beach look different since the murder of Rabbi Joseph Raksin. At Northeast 175th Street and 8th Court, in the heavily Orthodox neighborhood where he was killed, a memorial of candles is arranged in a Star of David that the community keeps lit. Police officers have stepped up their patrols, filling the streets at all hours. Raksin, a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic sect who was in town from Brooklyn, N.Y., to visit his grandchildren, was shot on the...
On Wednesday, Sept. 3, Rabbi Rick Sherwin of Congregation Beth Am in Longwood, Florida will join hundreds of pulpit rabbis from around the country for a one-day symposium on U.S. – Israel relations featuring top thinkers and influential policy makers. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee's third National Rabbinic Symposium, to be held at AIPAC Headquarters in Washington, D.C., will afford Rabbi Rick and the other attendees the opportunity to meet and hear insightful leaders and s...
After hearing of the apparent suicide of Robin Williams, I remembered laughing harder, and deeper than I ever had at a comedian when I first saw him perform at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles in 1977. During his set at the Sunset Boulevard club—where newcomer, Jay Leno, also performed that evening--there were no tedious joke set-ups, or tired shtickiness to his approach to stand-up, just a flinging out of a blend of Shakespearian references, observations, plays on words and thoughts that Williams had spun together in the mad juicer that was h...
Recently, in reaction to the Gaza conflict, George Galloway, a Respect party representative to U.K.'s Parliament announced that the West Yorkshire city of Bradford would be an "Israel-free zone." "We don't want any Israeli goods, we don't want any Israeli services, we don't want any Israeli academics coming to the university or the college, we don't even want any Israeli tourists to come to Bradford, even if any of them had thought of doing so," Galloway stated. Speaking on behalf of the...
PHILADELPHIA (Jewish Exponent) — Hillel, the campus student group, is expressing “outrage” over an attack on a Jewish student at Temple University on Wednesday and is calling on the university to ensure the safety of its Jewish students. At the same time, the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine is condemning the attack and is claiming the alleged assailant was not a member of its organization. Daniel Vessal, an upperclass member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and a fellow with the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Re...
President Obama spoke out against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in his remarks addressing the execution of journalist James Foley on Aug. 19, stating that "a group like ISIL has no place in the 21st century." He went on to say "There has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so it does not spread. There has to be a clear rejection of this kind of nihilistic ideologies... Friends and allies around the world, we share a common security a set of values opposite of what we saw...
This year, those who attend the Jewish Pavilion's Fourth Annual Walk in the Park and Family Festival will have a rare opportunity to be captured in a "Generations Photo" by renowned American-Israeli photographer Rinat Halon. Each family that participates will receive a complimentary "generations" photo by Halon and social media-ready image file will be emailed complimentary of Rinat Halon Photography Communications (RHPC). All proceeds from any enlargements of the "Generations" photos will be...
The Mexican Consulate and Casa de Mexico will host an event with Jewish-Mexican piano virtuoso Daniela Liebman playing with the Orlando Philharmonic on Sept. 6 at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center. Liebman, only 12 years of age, has literally conquered the most important stages throughout the world having performed in Mexico, the United States, Europe and Asia. Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, she started her musical studies at the age of 3 with her father Rob Liebman, classical violinist by profession, two years later she started her training...
Join Shalom Families/PJ Library and Temple Israel as they celebrate Rosh Hashanah on Sunday, Sept. 7 from 10 a.m. until noon in the Savage Chapel at the synagogue located at 50 S. Moss Road, Winter Springs. There will be shofar blowing, apple printing, PJ Library story time and apples and honey for snacks. The story time book will be “Today is the Birthday of the World,” written by Linda Heller and illustrated by Alison Jay. This is an age-appropriate program for six-month-olds through 5 ½-year-olds, and there is no charge to attend. Olde...
Strolling through Jerusalem’s historic Yemin Moshe quarter on a pleasant August morning, my ears caught a ringing, melodic sound emanating from within the walls of the Old City, perhaps half a mile from where I stood. This being a Sunday, the sound I heard was the chiming of church bells, welcoming Christian worshippers to morning services. Normally, there is something joyous about the sound of those bells, particularly in a city that contains the key holy sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But on this day, I felt a profound sadness u...
Hamas won this one. The universal condemnation of Israel in almost every newspaper in the world; the thousands of people taking to the streets of major cities to protest the “senseless” killing of innocent civilians has made great fodder for the 24-hour news cycle. Truth? Who cares about truth? Who cares to take the time to dissect the causes and the actual events on the ground? Blood and crying and mass destruction makes for great video. When people ask where is the video from Israel? Who wants to watch as the Iron Dome saved hundreds, may...
We’re at a junction, as complex as any where two or three major highways come together, with too many signs to be anything other than confusing. On Tuesday we were still in a limping forward cease fire, with confusing signals from Palestinians and Israelis about their willingness to accept the imperfect, along with threats about what could happen. Mahmoud Abbas has been maneuvering for a role in Gaza. He is the most prominent of Palestinians saying that the unity Palestine National Authority must accept what the the Egyptians have offered, a...
Here are some preliminary take-aways from the 2014 Gaza War (which may not even be over yet): 1. Obama, not America, is an enemy of Israel, and an ally of Hamas. Did Winston Churchill ever call and warn Eva Braun to leave the Hitler’s Berlin Fuhrer Bunker before the allies tried to bomb it? The Gaza War has proved President Obama, not America, is an enemy of the State of Israel, and an unwavering ally of the Gaza Hamas-Terror-State. On June 11, 2014, the day before Hamas kidnapped and then brutally murdered the three Israeli teenage civilian b...
Why is the world silent while Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East and Africa? In Europe and in the United States, we have witnessed demonstrations over the tragic deaths of Palestinians who have been used as human shields by Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls Gaza. The United Nations has held inquiries and focuses its anger on Israel for defending itself against that same terrorist organization. But the barbarous slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Christians is met with relative indifference. The Middle East a...
Dear Editor: The article by David Bornstein in the Heritage dated Aug. 15, is another example of someone trying to make sense of the “other side.” Since Judaism values life, the ten commandments, and our whole philosophy of trying to help people and improve the world, it is hard to fathom that there is a religion, Islam, that promotes honor killings, killings of Christians and Jews, and intimidation of all those in Islam who want to convert or all those who do not embrace Islam. The killing of Christians and Jews in nearly every Moslem cou...
Dear Editor: Moving down to the lowest rung of our society are those who lost their job, are poor, homeless, wandering mentally ill, institutionalized and at the lowest level, those warehoused. The latter group is in so-called rehabilitation, nursing home or assisted living facilities. Fifty to 60 percent of the residents in those facilities have no relatives nearby, have outlived their relatives or friends, and consequentially have no advocates or visitors. From day to day all they see are staff uniforms. If they are very lucky, they get...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 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 Israel—Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, AUGUST 29 Light...
On a very hot "Summer Sunday" morning, more than 200 people-including little Macy Lefkowitz and Eli Kuvin shown here-gathered for a pool party hosted by the JCC's Early Childhood Learning Center and JFGO's Shalom Families/PJ Library. The collaborative program featured lots of time for swimming fun, delicious Mexican food and fruit ice pops. PJ Library books were on hand for families to read after lunch-after all, it's important to wait 30 minutes to swim after you eat. What better way to pass...
After a valiant bout with bladder cancer, Jamie Shujman passed away in Altamonte Springs surrounded by his family on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014. Born in Havana, Cuba, to Salomon and Maria Shujman on Feb. 8, 1942, he immigrated to Washington, D.C., on June 12, 1962. Mr. Shujman learned English in night school and went on to graduate from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1967, with a degree in business administration. He worked for American Can Company in New Orleans, La., where he met his wife, Judith. The couple moved to Orlando in...
NEW YORK (JTA)-When it comes to Hasidic characters in movies, film consultant Elli Meyer believes that the real deal trumps a random actor in costume. But that approach isn't without its challenges. Meyer, a New York-based Lubavitcher Hasid, recounted one occasion when he was hired to cast extras for a film but refused upon learning that shooting would take place on Yom Kippur. "Who told you to hire Jews?" one of the producers said, according to Meyer, though ultimately the shooting was...
Shades of ISIS... How hard it is to comprehend... fighting an enemy that prefers death to life. What can you do to threaten them? They feel that death means getting together with 72 virgins, etc. (Well, we could threaten that for every terrorist that hits the dust, we kill his mother-in-law as well. Or we make the terrorists believe there are not 72 virgins, rather one 72-year-old virgin... or we can tell them that upon death, they will be united with 72 nuns holding rifles. This is all sick...
The Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll) that is used at the Jewish Academy of Orlando as well as in the community daily Minyan during services on Monday and Thursday mornings, tore at the end of the last school year. The Jewish Academy invited Soferet Rachel Iris Salston, who is a rabbinical student at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, to repair the Torah scroll to welcome our new school year and teach the students the sacred task of being a "soferet." A "soferet" is the feminine...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-The United Nations probe into the Gaza conflict hasn't even begun, but Israel already is convinced that it won't end well. In a resolution adopted by a vote of 29-1 with 17 abstentions, the U.N. Human Rights Council moved last month to establish a commission of inquiry "to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory." The United States cast the sole vote against. Last week, Israeli Prime...
In translation, that is "happy birthday" in Yiddish, to Morey Solomon, who is one of the oldest volunteers of the Jewish Pavilion. And now the Jewish Pavilion wants to say, "Many thanks to Morey Solomon for leading us in Yiddish class at Chambrel. We have a lot of fun and good laughs while reminiscing and keeping the language current." The students in the class learned how to say "happy birthday" in Yiddish, along with a "bissel of nosh" to celebrate Morey's 88th birthday. The third Thursday of...
