Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Holocaust Center founder Tess Wise, who as a teen escaped from a Nazi labor camp and who dedicated her life to fighting antisemitism and the ultimate consequences of hate, passed at the age of 99 on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. Wise and her late husband Abe were partners in philanthropy, innovating and supporting numerous charities and institutions throughout Central Florida. But it was her dedication to using personal and world history to ensure the Holocaust was not forgotten and to create a more...
Coming Nov. 12 – 15 is the 24th annual Central Florida Jewish Film Festival. This year's shows are back to the normal in-person viewings at the Enzian Theatre, except the opening night film, "Greener Pastures," and the closing night film, "Persian Lessons," which will be shown at the Orlando Science Center Digital Adventure Theater. Also back is the Mensch Pass (limited quantity) for $118, which includes all six programs and First Priority Seating with doors opening 30 minutes early; the S...
The Roth Family JCC auditorium was filled to capacity at the annual RAISE (Recognizing Abilities and Inclusion of Special Employees) Meet & Greet in September with nine new employees and their families, job coaches, and members of the Jewish community who support RAISE. The growing success of the program was evident as Founder and Director Loren London shared that as the program has expanded, Shalom Orlando hired RAISE Director of Employment & Education Rachel Slavkin, M.Ed., to be the RAISE...
(JNS) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned on Thursday just 45 days after assuming office, amid a political firestorm set off by her economic plan that was panned by investors, sent the pound and stocks tumbling and created chaos in her Conservative Party. Truss, who goes down as the shortest-serving prime minister in Britain's history, was under increasing pressure from fellow lawmakers following Wednesday's resignation of Home Secretary Suella Braverman, and after she last week sacked h...
On Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, the Kinneret Tenant Association held its Grand Re-Opening and honored 101-year-old Jean Dolen by renaming the Delaney Café, the Jean Dolen Café. Dolen was a long-time resident of Kinneret, only moving away to be closer to her "kids" in 2021. "She will always be 'our Jean'," said Sharon Weil, executive director of nonprofits operation, Kinneret Council on Aging. During the program, Board member Neal Blaher presented the KTA with a check for $1,800 from the Kinneret C...
He was a NYC private investigator, who, by a twist of fate, became a fearless Nazi hunter. Undercover, he pursued them relentlessly across the USA, Canada and Europe. He helped track down nearly 200 Nazis, collaborators and war criminals, coming face to face with dozens of them, recording interviews and even obtaining confessions from them. Steven Rambam is the founder and CEO of Pallorium, Inc., a licensed Investigative Agency and security services provider, with offices and affiliates...
A request went out on social media - "Does anyone have a boat, raft, canoe that I can use?" asked Rabbi Yanky Majesky of Chabad of North Orlando. With just a few hours left for the Sukkot holiday, Rabbi Majesky had that much needed canoe to row to the home of a family stuck on the second floor of their home because of the flooding caused by Hurricane Ian on the St. John's River. He came to them to perform the mitzvah of waving the lulav and etrog on Sukkot. Jon and Mary Lou Klein, their son Joe...
(JNS) — Israel has rebuffed repeated Ukrainian requests to supply the war-torn country with its Iron Dome system and other military equipment. This week, Israel’s refusal came into the spotlight as Russia attacked Ukraine’s civilian centers using Iranian “kamikaze” drones. Ukraine said on Tuesday that it will formally request Israel to supply air defense systems. It had made informal requests until now. Israel has provided Ukraine with humanitarian aid, including a fully staffed $6.5 million field hospital. But its desire to maintain a delicat...
NEW YORK — The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity is launching a new impact-driven philanthropic strategy to advance human rights around the world. The Foundation, led by Elisha and Marion Wiesel, will adopt a hybrid approach that will not only grant funds but also work with organizations directly as partners, offering access to innovative thinking partners and acting as an emblematic megaphone to champion their cause. The Foundation’s recalibrated grant-making program will seek to fund organizations that embody Nobel Peace Prize winner Eli...
(JNS) — Rapper Kanye West’s anti-Semitic social media posts and interviews continued to be condemned on Wednesday. In a statement, the co-chairs of the Bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations called his comments dangerous. “This kind of inflammatory rhetoric and perpetuation of stereotypes fuels violence amid a rise in anti-Semitism and racism throughout our country,” wrote Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.), who is African-American, and Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), who are both Jewish. “Words h...
(JNS) — The latest brouhaha surrounding former U.S. President Donald Trump pertains to comments he posted on Sunday about—and directed to—American Jews. “No president has done more for Israel than I have,” he wrote on his platform, Truth Social. “Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.” All true, other than the “surprisingly” part. The majority of Jews in the United States wouldn’t support a Republican if their...
While almost every federal election is generally perceived as “the most important election the American people have ever faced.” this year’s midterm elections should accurately be described as one of the most confusing and potentially dangerous ever faced by Jewish Americans. For starters, there have never been so many candidates in this year’s national, state and local elections who believe the elections are rigged and fraught with fraud. These candidates and their supporters are continuing to persist, in spite of the overwhelming evidenc...
I have been a Ken Burns fan for years. His technique and artistry have taken everything from Country music to the Civil War, from disjointed history to present day entertainment and handled it superbly. His loving treatment of Country music was praiseworthy. From the Civil War to Jazz, he has documented American history in an entertaining, frank and historically accurate manner. In undertaking “The Holocaust” he has tackled a major challenge. This sensitive subject, written about, discussed, argued over and never forgotten is at the same time e...
(Jewish Journal via JNS) — Something remarkable, perhaps even miraculous, is happening halfway around the world. For more than 43 years, post-revolutionary Iran has been forbidden to the millions who escaped from the country. But today, due to the unbelievable courage and sacrifice of thousands of Iranian protesters, the prospect of the regime actually crumbling has Iranians in the diaspora bursting with anxious anticipation, wondering if they’ll be able to return to a free Iran. There’s so much at stake. In the words of one Iranian American fr...
(JNS) — For more than 50 years, Israel’s critics have claimed that if Israelis would just agree to create a Palestinian state, the Palestinians would live in peace with them. Well, last month, Israel’s prime minister offered to create a Palestinian state. How did the Palestinians respond? Is the long-promised peace at last dawning upon the Middle East? Not quite. At the United Nations on Sept. 22, Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced his willingness to create a non-terrorist Palestinian state. Did the Palestinian Arab leadership respond by an...
(JNS) — Should Israel align with the West and aid Ukraine its fight against the ongoing Russian invasion? Should Israel remain neutral because it needs to coordinate with Russia in Syria in order to defend Israel’s northern border? Perhaps the most important question, however, is should Israel consider Ukraine and Russia’s treatment of the Jewish people and Israel in making its decision? Ukraine, to say the least, has a problematic record in regard to the Jewish people and Israel. During World War II, one-fourth of the Jews murdered in the H...
MORNING MINYANS Chabad of North Orlando and Chabad of Altamonte Springs are holding in-person minyans. 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...
(JTA) — Australia’s new left-leaning government is reversing the decision made nearly four years ago under a conservative administration to move the country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced in December 2018 that Australia would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The move put him in line with then-U.S. President Donald Trump, who had made a similar announcement a year earlier, pleasing his base, and had already opened an embassy in Jerusalem. But it made Morrison an outlier among the vast ma...
(JNS) The Biden administration's ambassador to Israel Tom Nides has a tough act to follow. Predecessor David Friedman was the Trump administration's point person for major U.S. policy shifts in Israel's favor, including the move of the embassy to Jerusalem, recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights, and the signing of the historic Abraham Accords by Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. For Israel's center-right majority, the Trump administration provided a...
(JTA) - Three weeks after a prominent pro-Israel activist accused the University of California, Berkeley of creating "Jew-free zones," two trucks rolled into town to address the controversy. One of them displayed a massive picture of Adolf Hitler. "All in favor of banning Jews, raise your right hand," read the billboard on the side of the truck. The truck had been dispatched by a political advocacy group called Accuracy in Media, which has a history of finding ways to provoke liberals and progre...
(JNS) - The United States is applying pressure on the Palestinian Authority to increase security coordination with Israel, as part of a larger effort to reduce violence in Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank, a former Israeli defense official tells JNS. A senior P.A. delegation arrived in Washington in early October, headed by Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee. The delegation met with senior American officials including National Security Advisor J...
ANTAKYA, Turkey (JTA) - Jews have lived in the city of Antakya, known in ancient times as Antioch, for over 23 centuries. And the city wants visitors to know that. A symbol composed of a Star of David entwined with a Christian cross and Islamic crescent has practically become the city's logo, as it's plastered all over town, especially on restaurants peddling the southern Hatay province's patently spicy cuisine. "I was born in Antakya and I will die in Antakya," said Selim Cemel, a Jewish...
(JNS) - Meet the Israeli elections candidates: 1. Benjamin Netanyahu - Likud Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister and now head of the opposition, will attempt to win his sixth term as premier. He is credited with transforming Israel's heavily regulated economy into a capitalist, high-tech powerhouse. The most recent polls suggest that this time he will have enough Knesset seats to form a government. In the recent string of four rapid-fire elections, his right-wing bloc...
(JNS) — The Lions’ Den terror group, recently formed in Nablus, comprises dozens of gunmen and is not very well organized. Nevertheless, the group’s activities serve the purposes of established terror factions like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which are amplifying its influence, according to a senior Israeli terrorism expert. The group has also been punching above its weight in terms of influence on the Palestinian street due to its shrewd use of social media, according to Dr Michael Barak, a senior researcher specializing in terro...
I asked for forgiveness, they've accepted my apology, now what? The journey of forgiveness doesn't end there. You think you've figured out the patterns and triggers that caused the issue in the first place. Now it's time to take the next step ... reconciliation! Listen to one another to adjust where you can and try to not let the issue happen again. If you and your partner keep having a fight about finances, try building out a budget together or talk about their perspectives. Be honest with...