Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 38
NEW CASTLE, Pa. (JTA)-It was a frigid 10 degrees on Sunday, the last day of 2017, but some 20 people gathered at Congregation Tifereth Israel's cemetery in this city of 22,000 on the Ohio border. A blue tent and folding chairs had been set up for attendees, and a pit in the ground had been opened. No hearse would be arriving at this unusual burial, which was not for a person. Still, a few attendees choked up when they greeted each other with hugs and wiped tears from their cheeks. This was a sub... Full story
TEL AVIV-As a group of well-wishers waved tiny Israeli flags and shouted "Welcome home," Diane Hewitt of Hoboken, New Jersey, stepped off the El Al jet that had just flown her to Tel Aviv from New York, cradling her 8-year-old blind beagle, Annie, in her arms. A retired jewelry industry executive, Hewitt, 65, had always dreamed of moving to Israel, but she didn't want to leave behind her daughter, Sarah. But after Sarah herself immigrated to Israel a year ago and married an Israeli, there was... Full story
Sam Glaser, one of America's foremost composers, performers and interpreters of Jewish music will be visiting Central Florida Jan. 19-21 as the Artist-in-Residence at Temple Israel and Temple Shir Shalom in Winter Springs. Both congregations invite the community to attend four events: A Reform-style musical service and festive oneg on Friday, Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m. (no charge); A Conservative-style musical service followed by kiddish and study with Glaser on Saturday, Jan. 20, at 10 a.m. (no... Full story
The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center is commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27, with a pair of programs that honor the legacy of the Bielski Partisan group. Film screening and Book Club discussion Sunday, Jan. 21, at 1 p.m. The film “Defiance” by Nechama Tec will be discussed. The film is about the extraordinary experience of the Bielski partisan group and their leader, Tuvia Bielski. The film (based on the book) will be screened at 1 p.m. in advance of the book club discussion at 3:30 p.m. Leading the di... Full story
"How can you hate someone you have never even met?" was a question frequently pondered by 6-year-old Eva Mor, as a young child growing up in Poland in the year's following World War II. Often harassed and bullied on the way to and from kindergarten, or even from a short walk to the park, the child of two Holocaust and labor camp survivors was perplexed by the hate and bigotry directed at the Jewish members of her community well after the war's end. In 1957, the family sought refuge in Israel,... Full story
The Rosen JCC is going back to the '80s with its Decades party on Jan. 27, 2018. The evening will include live music with local cover band Switch, silent auction prizes, food and drink and Good Humor Ice Cream. There will also be a '80s costume contest and an auction to sing with the band. The event will be held at the Rosen JCC, 11184 S. Apopka-Vineland Road, from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Babysitting is also available! Tickets are available at squareup.com/store/rosenjcc/ All proceeds from this... Full story
Super Bowl Sunday is just weeks away. That means the annual World Wide Wrap sponsored by the Men’s Club of Congregation Ohev Shalom is just weeks away as well. Each year, Men’s Clubs from Conservative and Masorti synagogues throughout the United States and beyond present this Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs program to encourage greater participation in the ancient and deeply meaningful ritual of wrapping t’filin. This year, Ohev Shalom Men’s Club member and Jewish Academy of Orlando Head of School Alan Rusonik will start the morning with a ne... Full story
Celebrate Shabbat with the synagogue that feels like family. The Shabbat evening service led by Rabbi Karen Allen is on Friday, Jan. 12th at 7pm. The service will honor the members of our board of directors. An Oneg Shabbat will follow the service. The Rabbi’s Torah Roundtable Discussion Group with Rabbi Karen Allen of Congregation Beth Sholom, will be held on Thursday, Jan. 18th at 1 p.m. at the Sumter County Administration and Library Building (with the golden dome) at 7375 Powell Rd. (near Pinellas Plaza and 466A), Wildwood. The Rabbi’s Rou... Full story
The strange names of the tiles in Maj Jongg are music to the ears of those playing in The Roth Family’s Jewish Community Center 14th Annual “Maj Madness” Mah Jongg Tournament, to be held Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018. The festivities will begin at 9:15 a.m. with registration and coffee and light breakfast and games beginning at 10 a.m. The tournament format will include four rounds following the National Mah Jongg League Official Rules of Play. Open to people of all playing levels, Maj Madness is $36 per person ($30 for JCC members) and includes a lig... Full story
The Palestinians rejected President DonaldTrump's threat to cut US aid to the Palestinian Authority over its refusal to return to the negotiations table, saying their "rights are not for sale." Trump tweeted Tuesday that "we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don't even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel." "We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that,... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—International Jewish student leaders will launch an international anti-Semitism awareness campaign on campuses worldwide and vowed to reject any attempts to deny the Armenian genocide. The World Union of Jewish Students at its 44th World Congress, a five-day assembly that ended Monday, also aimed to seek partnership with organizations fighting for religious pluralism in Israel and committed not to work with members or affiliates of Austria’s populist Freedom Party, or FPO, which is part of the new government coalition. The gro... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Efforts by the Trump transition team to kill a 2016 UN Security Council resolution slamming Israel’s settlement policies were more widespread than was previously known, according to a Wall Street Journal report The report Friday said the effort encompassed a number of transition officials beyond Michael Flynn, the national security adviser-designate who was previously known to have made the effort. Also involved in the effort were Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who directed Flynn to make the calls, and Nikki Haley, the d... Full story
At a press conference at the United Nations on Tuesday, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley fielded questions about the fate of US funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency, the primary UN agency responsible for funneling aid to the Palestinians. In a video posted by Reuters, Haley responded to a question regarding whether the US would continue to fund the agency in light of the Palestinians’ threat to “unleash all the weapons we have in the UN,” by saying, “[President Trump] doesn’t want to give any additional funding, or stop funding,... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—JTA doesn’t give out Person of the Year honors, but if we did I’d be tempted to nominate Michael Kadar, the Israeli-American teenager accused of making hundreds of bomb threats against Jewish community centers in early 2017. As I wrote soon after his arrest: “[T]he JCC bomb threat hoax wasn’t just an isolated swastika daubing—it was an ongoing story affecting Jewish institutions in nearly every American Jewish community. It shaped a communal narrative that something ugly and insidious was happening out there. And it fueled a po... Full story
The Palestinians say “no” ties with the US, “no” meetings with US peace emissaries, and a big “no” to Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. All of these negatives have combined to turn President Donald Trump’s twitter arsenal against the PA. According to the US president, the Palestinians had no legitimate reason to be furious over his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital because Israel would have had “to pay” for his declarations with concessions in future negotiations. The United States currently gives the P... Full story
By Daniel Krygier Like all empires and despotic regimes, the Iranian Mullah regime has a shelf life that it desperately seeks to prolong. The renewed popular protests in Iran against the regime and the deteriorating living conditions in the country could potentially bring profound positive change for Israel, the Middle East and the world. Alongside Turkey, Iran stands out as a Muslim non-Arab country in a Middle East region dominated by the Arab world. Prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Israel and Iran enjoyed close economic and security... Full story
President Donald Trump’s recent announcement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and declaring that the U.S. will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem did not happen in a vacuum or come out of nowhere. It did not happen solely because of Jewish influence, either. It happened because millions of good Christians in America urged the president to do so. But where did this groundswell of Christian support come from? It was exactly 40 years ago when I initiated some of the earliest dialogues ever between evangelical Christians and Jew... Full story
(Kveller via JTA)—My family joined a synagogue a few months ago, and overall it’s been wonderful for us. But after our first family Shabbat service, I realized I had a lot to learn. And I wanted to learn. I wanted to be a good example for both my children, but especially my 7-year-old, who was thriving in Hebrew school. Somewhere during a frantic, late-night Google search for Jewish classes and seminars, I stumbled upon a group called Jinspire. It was linked with the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, a group that offers trips to Israel for J... Full story
On Dec. 14, the star singer-songwriter Lorde tweeted, not uncharacteristically, “my cutie tour mate covered the heart song.” A week later, she was taking a crash course on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By Christmas Eve, she had acquired enough knowledge of Middle East politics to cancel her June concert in Tel Aviv in accordance with the cultural wing of the BDS movement, which seeks to make Israel a pariah state by encouraging musical and other artists to boycott it. Elvis Costello is among the best-known entertainers to refuse to per... Full story
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... Full story
(JTA)-If a Palestinian appears to be committing a terror attack, do they deserve to die on the spot? The answer is yes, says Michael Oren. The former Israeli ambassador to the United States, now a deputy minister in Israel's Cabinet, tweeted last week that the Israel Defense Forces should change its rules of engagement, such that soldiers should "shoot to kill" suspected terrorists, instead of just incapacitating them. "Soldiers who catch terrorists while carrying out attacks must be ordered to... Full story
PARIS (JTA)—When Delphine Horvilleur, France’s best-known female rabbi, began appearing regularly in the media, her friends and relatives feared it would expose her to threats or attacks by anti-Semites. Several years later it appears they were only partially wrong. Horvilleur’s media profile does invite hate speech and abuse online—but mostly from other Jews. Following a reference to Jerusalem during a television interview last month, Horvilleur, 43, has again become the punching bag of the local branch of the Jewish Defense League and a vocal... Full story
Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has announced that he will perform in Israel next June with his band as part of a 2018 European tour. Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band includes fellow rock legends Steve Lukather of Toto, Greg Rollie of Journey and Graham Gouldman of 10cc. The group will perform two shows at Tel Aviv's Menorath Mivtahim Arena from June 23-24, according to Starr's website. Starr's concerts come more than 50 years after the Israeli government barred The Beatles from performing... Full story
Museum of Jewish heritage... The Museum of Jewish Heritage is a living memorial to the Holocaust. I recently received a letter from them and pass it along in part: "Who will share the truth about the Holocaust when the survivors are gone? This is a question that grows more urgent with every passing day... as fewer and fewer survivors remain to bear witness to the darkest chapter in human history. At a time when anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial are on the rise worldwide, including acts of hatre... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Aharon Appelfeld, an Israeli author who published more than 45 books in Hebrew and won his country's top prize for literature, has died. Appelfeld, a Holocaust survivor, died early Thursday. He was 85. His most recent book was published three months ago; his books were translated into many languages. Most of his fiction dealt in some way with the Holocaust, mainly its effect on his sometimes autobiographical characters, and the beginnings of the State of Israel. He fought in Isra... Full story
