Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Last October, local Chabads hosted a Mega-Challah Bake, re-introducing the joy of challah-making and uniting over 200 Jewish women of all backgrounds. This year the Challah Bake is expanding its impact with Loaves of Love, which joins the Chabad community with the Jewish Pavilion and Kinneret. Loaves of Love intertwines three Jewish agencies and their supporters, much like the three (some use six) strands of dough coming from different directions that are braided together to form a beautiful...
The community is invited to attend a Book Launch Party Sunday, Sept. 27 from 2 p.m.-5 p.m. at the Roth JCC in Maitland, to celebrate the publication of three new books by best-selling local author/artist Joanne Fink. Two of the books, Zenspirations® Birds & Butterflies and Expressions of Faith, are part of the popular Zenspirations® Create, Color, Pattern, Play series of adult coloring books, which debuted in 2013. Fink shares, "I've been astonished-and delighted-at the worldwide...
At a recent community forum sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, Rep. Alan Grayson (D, Fla., 9th District) stated that he was not sure how he would vote on the Iran nuclear deal. In an e-mailed letter, Rep. Grayson wrote the following: I will be voting in favor of the Iran nuclear agreement. The reasons are many and varied, but the reason that weighs most heavily in my mind is the proverbial worst-case scenario: Scene 1: Congress rejects the deal. International sanctions fall a...
NEW YORK—Birthright Israel, the organization responsible for sending over 500,000 young Jewish adults on a free 10-day trip to Israel to learn about their heritage, will launch an improved application portal for its 2015/2016 Winter season, which opened Sept. 8. The Winter season follows Birthright Israel’s largest Summer trips with nearly 30,000 participants. To register, visit www.Birthrightisrael.com/go. Birthright Israel will also be introducing several new opportunities for participants this year. The Birthright Israel Academic pro...
(JTA)-Donald Trump has called the Iran deal "terrible" in recent months. But in an interview on Sept. 3, the current Republican front-runner revealed some gaps in his knowledge of the Middle East. Trump spoke with Hugh Hewitt, a popular conservative radio host, who asked the real estate mogul some "commander-in-chief questions" about the region. When asked about the two militant groups, Trump said the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah does not matter to him yet. "[The difference] will...
(JTA)-Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor running for the Republican presidential nomination, has been called out for exaggerating his role in the rescue of Ethiopian Jews in the 1980s. Bush takes credit on his campaign website for Operation Joshua, a U.S.-led transfer of Ethiopian Jews from Sudanese refugee camps to Israel in 1985. The website says: "In the 1980's thousands of members of the Jewish community had fled their homeland due to famine for a refugee camp in Sudan. Jeb, hearing of...
(Washington, D.C., Sept. 11, 2015)—B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement: B’nai B’rith International commends the U.S. House of Representatives for passing a resolution of disapproval regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program. This is a strong message to Iran that our elected representatives have listened to the American people, debated and ultimately spoken out against the deal. We are pleased to see that a majority of the House agrees that the Iran nuclear deal is unlikely...
Robert G. Petree died on Tuesday Aug. 25, 2015. He was born in Winston Salem, N.C., on June 26, 1933, and resided in Winston Salem; Louisville, Ken.; Silver Springs, Md., and most recently Lake Mary. He attended American University, George Washington University College of Law, the Judge Advocate School of Military Law of the University of Virginia, and graduated from Duke University College of Law. He was a member of the Florida Bar, Federal Bar Association, and the Bars for U.S. Court of...
LAKE MARY-Mark (Mordechai) Halawa was born and raised in Kuwait as a Muslim. Although his family was secular he was taught to hate the Jewish "animals and killers." As an adult he traveled to Canada to the University of Western Ontario in Canada. It was there that Halawa discovered his Jewish roots due to a chance encounter with a rabbi. That meeting changed his life forever as it started him on a path of self discovery and learning. Currently, Halawa is studying part time in Jerusalem,...
The Jewish Pavilion and VITAS Healthcare will offer a free Grief Support Group for people who have lost spouses, children, parents or loved ones. This is a six-week program beginning Wednesday, Oct. 7 from 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m., and continuing on Oct. 14, 21, 28, Nov. 4 and 11. The Support Group will be led by Rabbi Maurice Kaprow and held at Brookdale Island Lake, 160 Islander Court, Longwood. Rabbi Kaprow is a retired U.S. Navy chaplain and now a chaplain at VITAS Healthcare and has led bereavement groups for many years. He recommends for those...
On Sept. 17, the Regents of the 10-school University of California (UC) system discussed a statement of principles against intolerance. Alarmed by a rash of anti-Semitic incidents on UC campuses, a large number of Jewish scholars and activists have urged that the Regents adopt, in the context of their deliberations, the U.S. State Department’s working definition of anti-Semitism as an essential step in dealing with this grave problem. What the incident count at UC schools demonstrates is that the intellectually modish anti-Zionism that a...
The State Department said Iran’s support for terrorism was “undiminished” in 2014. The U.S. remains very concerned about the activities of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and its terrorist proxies in the Middle East. New York Democrat Eliot Engel said “How can we trust Iran when over the decades, I’ve heard ‘Death to America!’ shouted routinely at Muslim Friday prayers, and at commemorations of the U.S. Embassy takeover and many other demonstrations. The regime refuses to shelve the slogan.” A letter signed by 200 former military leaders who under...
The numbers are large, and projections are that the stream of refugees from the east and south will remain at flood stage. Some are predicting another historic migration, such as that which brought tribes from Asia to Europe long ago, and the great movements after World War II. Projections range to over a million this year, from east across Turkey and from Africa across the Mediterranean. Leaders are doing what they know best, i.e., talking. Also typical for a situation of crisis is that each is speaking differently, changing details from time...
Dear Rep. Shultz, Your credentials are that you are the Representative, 23rd. District of Florida; DNC-Chair; and your Jewish accomplishments: A driving force behind “Jewish Heritage Month.” NEVER AGAIN! are words that I grew up with. As a Jew I know the horrors of the Holocaust, and I was taught to never let it happen again. All Jews were taught this. Barak Hussein Obama, who was raised Muslim (and arguably still is) clearly hates Jews and Israel. He can smile and talk about support for Israel all he wants, but his actions do not align wit...
(Kveller via JTA)—I used to have the right idea for Yom Kippur. I liked the notion of an entire month to clean up my messes from the past year, and I worked hard to deliver carefully worded apologies. The promise of a clean slate appealed to my resolution-making personality. And I appreciated the fact that the obligation to make life improvements deeper than, say, eating better, differentiated the Jewish New Year from the secular one. I was a High Holidays superfan. This year, however, I’ve found it difficult to focus solely on my faults, my...
BUDAPEST (JTA)—As our car rolled slowly toward Budapest, we saw a huge group heading in the opposite direction on the highway just outside the city: Hundreds of people quietly walking in the breakdown lane, marching toward freedom and peace. I couldn’t tell if the other drivers were lifting their heads or not, but I couldn’t look away, paralyzed by a scene that reminded me of the stories my grandfather told me about his march from Budapest to the concentration camp at Mauthausen. Barbed wire fences are again being built in Europe to stop the fl...
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...
The Zionistas, at their program about BDS last week, honored Christine DeSouza, news editor of the Heritage, with a certificate and the book, 'Ally,' by Michael Oren, for her support and work for the State of Israel. Shown here is Chris DeSouza flanked by Zionistas founders Diana Scimone, Judith Shujman, Eva London Ritt and Sandi Solomon....
“Silence is consent,” said Alan Kornman as he addressed about 50 people at a recent Zionistas-sponsored lecture held at Oakmonte Village in Lake Mary. Kornman, who is the regional coordinator of the United West—Uniting Western Civilization for Freedom and Liberty, enlightened the group about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. “BDS is ‘Jew hatred’ in a different package,” Kornman told the attentive audience. A resolution to condemn BDS and the increasing incidents of anti-Semitism has been initiated and passed in five state...
Switzerland this week voted to buy six Israeli surveillance drones made by Elbit in a deal worth $256 million. The deal went through despite a campaign by protestors not to buy Israeli-made products because of alleged human rights abused against Palestinians. The deal came the same week that an exhibition in Rishon Letzion showed off the latest in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, also known as drones. Israel has long been in the forefront of manufacturing drones. “This is a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft which can fly for three times the t...
Dr. Richard (Ruben) Turk, age 74, of Orlando, passed away on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, at Florida Hospital—Orlando. A New York native, he was born on Nov. 5, 1940, to the late Murray and Sarah Angowitz Turk. Dr. Turk was a chiropractor in Central Florida for over 25 years. Following his chiropractic training, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Reserves. He enjoyed traveling, reading the Orlando Sentinel, and was an avid car connoisseur. Dr. Turk was the beloved husband of Maria G. Turk, his wife of over 25 years who survives him. H...
(JTA)-"Our technology has exceeded our humanity," Albert Einstein allegedly once lamented. But filmmaker Tiffany Shlain-who utilizes an online, collaborative process and distribution method she dubs "cloud filmmaking"-says it's possible that technology, used correctly, can enhance our humanity. As a testament to Shlain's methods, as well as her rise to becoming one of the most influential filmmakers in the American Jewish world, her latest film, "The Making of a Mensch," will be shown in more...
"They're as good as dogs"?... (I don't think so!) I read this in the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and found it very (very) interesting. I think you should read it too: "An Israeli company called X-Test is harnessing the keen sense of smell of these furry creatures (would you believe, they are referring to mice?) to sniff out explosives, drugs and foreign substances at border crossings and airports. These specially trained mice will be carried in cages to discreetly smell people and...
HAIFA, Israel—Just weeks before millions of Jews around the world begin fasting for the Yom Kippur holiday, Rambam Health Care Campus’ Director of Geriatrics Tzvi Dwolatzky, M.D. is cautioning Jews around the world to carefully prepare before fasting, warning that without proper preparation, people increase their chances of falling ill as a result of the fast. “There is a marked difference between the intended feeling of being uncomfortable with not eating or drinking for 25 hours and actually becoming ill as a result of not getting enoug...
(JTA)-Pawel Sawicki gets to his desk every morning by 7, but he works no regular office job. Sawicki is an information officer at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Memorial and Museum, the sprawling complex in southern Poland that encompasses the largest and most notorious Nazi death camp. More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered there. "I look out my window and see barbed wire and barracks," Sawicki told JTA. "It's never just a job. You have to find ways to deal with the emotions."...
