Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)-It's been a busy couple of weeks for breast cancer. Of course, breast cancer is always busy, exerting its sneaky destruction through abnormal cell growth. But now it's October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the scary fact is everywhere again: One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime. This time around, the talk about breast cancer feels more urgent, more ubiquitous and definitely more confusing. Recent headlines have screamed "What If Everything...
NEW YORK—Jewish National Fund (JNF) has announced that while world news may ignore the latest events in Israel over the past month, JNF is responding by encouraging Americans and its donors to stand in support of Israel. Since recent terror incidents began in and around Israel on September 13 (Erev Rosh Hashanah—the Jewish New Year), JNF is leading the way in solidarity and has seen registration pick up in recent days on its missions and tours to Israel. Aliyah, the term used for those people who emigrate to Israel, has also picked up and con...
The Kinneret Council on Aging will celebrate Alison Appelbaum Polejes on Thursday, November 12, from 5-7 p.m. at Ceviche Tapas and Restaurant at 125 W. Church Street in Downtown Orlando. The celebration will recognize the efforts of Alison and her passionate commitment to the Kinneret Council on Aging (KCOA) and the seniors in this community. Polejes began her involvement with KCOA more than 14 years ago. She was a part of the Bornstein Leadership Development Program and had taken a tour of...
The book of Proverbs states: "It (the Torah) is a tree of life to those who hold fast to it, and all of its supporters are happy." (Proverbs 3:18) One explanation of this verse is that Torah is rich with advice and contains many valuable and important life lessons. Each month, the Jewish Academy of Orlando offers a parenting class which is open to its school community and to the Jewish community at-large. The class, titled "Parsha and Parenting" examines the Torah portion (or "Parsha" in Hebrew)...
The Hamas terrorist group is open about its mission of destroying Israel. But the current wave of Palestinian terror consuming the Jewish state has led Israeli leaders to instead blame the unrest on Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas over his failure to condemn terrorism and his incitement of violence, casting doubt on the common assessment of Abbas as a moderate by Western governments and media. Under Abbas, the PA has not held formal elections since 2006 and only maintains control in the West Bank after being ousted from Gaza...
(JTA)-I interviewed Bernie Sanders a couple years ago when word first circulated that the Vermont senator might seek the presidency. Though he knew about JTA going in-and must have known questions about his Jewish background were coming-he didn't want to get into it. I wrote at the time: "But Sanders is hesitant to draw a connection between his Jewish background and his priorities as a senator. With a series of observations about the Jewish history of rootlessness and oppression, Sanders begins...
Each year, the Holocaust Center sponsors a community program in remembrance of Kristallnacht, the “night of broken glass”. It commemorates the night of Nov. 9-10, 1939, when Nazi-led crowds savagely attacked Jewish homes, businesses and places of worship—a night that many scholars identify as the beginning of Hitler’s Final Solution. This year’s program will be the drama Kindertransport by Diana Samuels, produced by The Theater at the J at the Roth Jewish Community Center of Orlando in partnership with the Holocaust Center. The performan...
Recent escalation of violence in Israel has Jews around the world following news developments meticulously and searching for ways to provide support and assistance to their brethren in the Holy Land. The Jewish community of Orlando, home to many Israelis and friends of Israel will unite in a solidarity event on Saturday night, Oct. 24 at 7:45 p.m. at Chabad of South Orlando, 7347 W Sand Lake Road. The event will feature a concert of classic and contemporary Israeli music and a buffet of Israeli food in addition to prayers and speeches expressin...
Congregation Beth Israel of Ocala invites the community to a lecture on Jewish Chinese Culture by Alice Bolocan of the Kaifeng Jewish Heritage Project on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 11a.m. at On Top of the World, Candler Hills Community Center, 8143 SW 90th Terrace Rd., Ocala. Bolocan is a cum laude graduate of Stanford University’s East Asian Studies and Sociology programs, and holds a master’s degree and was a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology and archaeology at Columbia University, where she also received a Certificate from its East Asian Ins...
The First grade class/Kitah Alef of Congregation Ohev Shalom held their Consecration on Monday evening, Oct. 5 as part of the celebration of Simchat Torah. Children sang two songs, received their own Torah and were blessed under the chuppah that was made out of Wimpels they made with their parents. Parents of the class held the Torahs for the first Hakafah as their children led the procession in song and dance....
JFS Orlando Executive Director Eric Geboff is pleased to announce that the organization’s High Holidays Food Drive received more than 3,000 pounds of food and raised over $5,000 to benefit the Pearlman Emergency Food Pantry. JFS Orlando’s High Holidays Food Drive celebrated the Jewish values of tzedakah and tikkun olam by providing food to individuals and families in need. The food drive ran the entire month of September and raised 3,284 pounds of food and $5,377.60. Paper bags, donated by the Winn-Dixie in Fern Park, were given to local Jew...
This November, the Rosh Chodesh Society-the women's division of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI)-launches its newest course, Art & Soul, a new seven-session series for women. Slated to run in more than 200 locations across the globe, Art & Soul draws upon Jewish wisdom on seven art forms - painting, music, literature, dance, architecture, clothing design, and culinary arts - allowing students to gain a deeper appreciation of the inner dynamics of these seven art forms and how they can...
By Ben Cohen/JNS.org In the days that have passed since Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared before the U.N, General Assembly that he was abrogating previous agreements with Israel, Palestinians in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem have carried out dozens of terror attacks, some of them deadly, against Israelis. It’s a situation that has led many analysts to speculate about the possibility of a third intifada (uprising) against Israel, and to worry about where such an enterprise will lead. Not that the first two intifadas we...
NEW YORK (JTA)—(Two weeks ago), I opened The New York Times to Rick Gladstone’s article, “Historical Certainty Proves Elusive at Jerusalem’s Holiest Place,” happy that the newspaper of record would explain to its audience the historical context of this embattled piece of real estate. As I read on, I was horrified. “The question, which many books and scholarly treatises have never definitively answered, is whether the 37-acre site, home to Islam’s sacred Dome of the Rock shrine and Al Aqsa Mosque, was also the precise location of two ancient J...
There are no sure answers to either of those questions. Both Israelis and Palestinians are arguing—with each other and among themselves—if the current uptick in violence signifies an intifada or something less. Politicians, activists, and security professionals are arguing among themselves and with each other about the most appropriate ways to deal with the violence, and how to act in ways not likely to increase the violence. There is wide agreement that we are in a wave of violence, not all that different from previous waves that have bee...
As the Palestinian terrorism continued to grow worse in Israel on the afternoon of Oct. 15, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a Hebrew/English press conference for domestic and foreign journalists at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem. The event was broadcast live online by ynet news, and it coincided with continued terror carried out by Palestinians, including stone attacks on Israeli civilians driving on a highway. Netanyahu and his team took the opportunity to address what he called the two “big lies” being per...
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (JTA)—“Hey, Rabbi,” the bat mitzvah candidate said, “can I tell you about my mitzvah project? I’m raising money to help people join our synagogue if they can’t afford it.” I was impressed. And moved. And shocked. Why shocked? Many religious schools require that bar/bat mitzvah candidates do a mitzvah project. Once upon a time, those projects were all Jewish in nature. Families would plant trees in Israel in honor of their guests or display material from local Jewish organizations on the tables at the celebration. Kids would do...
Terrorists who get caught before they strike don’t usually attract much attention. But the arrest of Mrs. Ayman Kanjou deserves extra attention, because she defies every stereotype we have ever been taught about Palestinian terrorists. Men are presumed the most likely to become terrorists, since in Muslim society they are the ones who enjoy various freedoms, while women are sheltered and carefully watched by their husbands or fathers. They didn’t stop Mrs. Kanjou. Young unmarried men are the ones whom we expect to get caught up in rad...
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...
Although Chef Nathan Shifflett of Longwood didn't come from a Jewish mother, he can sure cook like one. The director of Dining Services at Horizon Bay- Brookdale Senior Living, Altamonte Springs, will showcase his award winning kugel at the Jewish Pavilion's, "A Taste in the Park" on Sunday November 8 at the Maitland Civic Center-Venue on the Lake. At the "Taste", he will serve more than 50 pounds of kugel (also known as noodle pudding) to accommodate hundreds of guests at the special tasting...
Thomas E. Cooper, age 65, of Oviedo, FL (formerly of Randallstown, MD) passed away on Sept. 21, 2015, in Oviedo. Mr. Cooper was born in Baltimore, MD on April 18, 1950, to the late Edward F. Cooper and Olga D. Cooper. He is survived by his beloved wife of 44 years, his "bashert", Sheila Friedman Cooper, son, David (Daun) Cooper, daughter, Nicole (Ben) Knapp, and four grandchildren, Sarah Cooper, Samuel Cooper, Melanie Knapp and Nolan Knapp. Also survived by sisters, Katharine (Lou) Reeves, Anne...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-"No pepper spray, no tear gas, no nightsticks," sighed Itzhak Mizrahi to three disappointed men, as if it were a mantra he'd recited dozens of times. The glass-topped display case in Magnum, the central Jerusalem gun shop Mizrahi has owned for three decades, featured a wide variety of pistols last Thursday. The pepper spray compartment, however, was empty, stormed earlier in the week by nervous Israelis hoping to defend themselves from stabbing attacks. The country is suffering...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israelis seeking an escape from last week’s daily terror attacks couldn’t fly to the moon, but they had a chance to hear from someone who did—Buzz Aldrin. In Israel’s terror-riven capital, the Israel Space Agency—the country’s version of NASA—is hosting this year’s International Astronautical Conference, the premier confab for all things space. An exhibition hall shows off a range of gadgets and robotics, and talks fill the schedule this week with titles like “The State of Space Situational Awareness, Conjunction Warning...
It's about time... I read this recently in the October issue of the World Jewish Congress digest under the heading "New Amnesty International Report Details Hamas Crimes Against Palestinians In Gaza." I pass it along to you: "Amnesty International, not known for its pro-Israel views, recently released a report in which the human rights group turned its attention to the abuses of Hamas. This report found that under the cover of the Israeli military action during Operation Protective Edge last...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Paris that he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to stem the wave of violence in Israel and the West Bank. “Later this week I will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu because he will be in Germany... we will meet there,” Kerry said Sunday at UNESCO headquarters, the French news agency AFP reported. “And then I will go the the region and I will meet with President Abbas, I will meet with King Abdullah [of...
