Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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The Jewish Federation Jewish Community Relations Council members were among more than 100 people who participated in a march through downtown Orlando that culminated with an interfaith ceremony at the United Methodist Church of Orlando on Sunday, Jan. 13. The ceremony, themed "Discord into Symphony," brought together faith leaders of all kinds. Mayor Buddy Dyer welcomed all who participated. The program continued with the audience listening to recordings of some of Martin Luther King Jr.'s most... Full story
Almost every year during Passover, Rafi Layish's family would watch "The Prince of Egypt," an animated movie about the Exodus. He loved it. "It was a really cool movie all around for animation, soundtrack," said Layish. It was also the inspiration for what he wanted to do with his future. He loved the newspaper comics, too. "Pearls Before Swine" was one of his favorites. When he was a child, he and friends would spend hours drawing pages and pages of comics. And even today if he thinks of a funn... Full story
Dr. Reuben L. Romirowsky, an accomplished executive with three decades of leadership roles at Jewish community organizations in New York and New Jersey, has been named chief executive officer of The Jack and Lee Rosen Jewish Community Center. Previously, Joel Berger was the executive director and Eric Lightman was the assistant director. Both are no longer at the Rosen JCC and no reason was given for them leaving. Dr. Romirowsky joins the Rosen JCC from New York's Metropolitan Council on Jewish... Full story
(JNS)-U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to become attorney general has elicited mixed reviews from Jewish groups. William Barr, who served in the same role under the late President George H.W. Bush, is scheduled to face the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday. "We endorse his nomination for attorney general. We know that he has exhibited sensitivity to protecting religious rights in the workplace," National Council of Young Israel president Farley Weiss told JNS. "He is clearly... Full story
The Roth Family Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando and Writer's Block Bookstore of Winter Park present the Central Florida Jewish Book Festival on Feb. 10 and 12. These events are part of a national network of programming sponsored by the Jewish Book Council. This highly popular community-wide event brings together prominent and emerging Jewish writers and non-Jewish writers with Jewish interest subject matter in literature, the arts, philosophy, theology, history and current events to... Full story
Workers busy with new road construction in Beit Shemesh, Israel, have uncovered remains of a city from the time of the first Temple. The Sister City program of Cocoa, Florida and Beit Shemesh invites the community to learn more about these exciting new finds at its annual membership gala, on Monday, Jan. 28 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Central Life Church (behind Temple Beth Sholom), 5995 N. Wickham Road. After a light supper of Israeli food and live Israeli music, guest speaker Meir Malka from Beit... Full story
The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando presents, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Family Tree Maker, But Were Afraid to Ask: A Discussion with Mark Olsen.” Olsen is Family Tree Maker’s representative, and he will speak to the JGSGO and answer questions about the software, and demonstrate how it helps you save and share your family history. The meeting is Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m., at the Roth Jewish Community Center, 851 North Maitland Ave., in Maitland. The meeting is free to JGSGO members. There is a $5 fee for nonme... Full story
The Jack and Lee Rosen JCC is hosting a Decades "I love the '90s" Party on Feb. 2 from 7:30 p.m.- 11 p.m. There will be live music by Anti-Idol, a silent auction, food and drinks and free babysitting. There will even be a '90s costume contest. What did we wear that was outlandish during that decade? The '60s had the hip-hugger bell-bottom pants, Sonny and Cher, and hippies; the '70s had flower-power, mini and maxi skirts; the '80s had large hairdos, disco and shoulder pads, but what is... Full story
(JTA)—Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida would take action against Airbnb for its decision to remove listings of rooms and homes for rent in West Bank Jewish settlements. Airbnb announced in November 2018 that it would remove the listings of some 200 apartments and homes for rent in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but not in Palestinian communities, and said that it consulted with experts to learn about the historical disputes in the region in order to make a decision about whether it should be doing business in “the occupied ter... Full story
(JTA)—The Southern Poverty Law Center and a major Reform synagogue in New York have disassociated themselves from this year’s Women’s March. Top leaders of the main organization have been accused of engaging in or condoning anti-Semitism, of not cutting ties with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and of failing to heed the concerns of its thousands of Jewish backers. Jen Fuson, a spokeswoman for the Alabama-based SPLC, told the Daily Beast that “other projects were a priority.” She said the organization would be involved in local mar... Full story
(JTA)-Actress Carol Channing, who originated the starring role in "Hello Dolly!" on Broadway and won a Tony Award for her portrayal of the boisterous widow, has died. She was 97. Channing was the daughter of a Jewish mother and a Christian father and identified as "part Jewish." At 16, she learned that her father was multi-racial, with an African-American mother and a German father. She wrote in her memoir of her five-year marriage to her first husband, Theodore Naidish, that she learned to... Full story
(JTA)-A Jewish judge in Miami was named to the Florida Supreme Court at the Jewish day school where he attended kindergarten, finishing the ceremony by reciting a Jewish prayer. The appointment of Robert Luck, 39, was announced Monday at the Scheck Hillel Community School in North Miami Beach. Luck's children attend the school. Florida's new governor, Ron DeSantis, was on hand for the announcement, which featured a large Israeli flag displayed behind the lectern, The Associated Press reported.... Full story
(JNS)—Over the past several weeks, much discussion has been made about the events last spring on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Many have equivocated the actions of violent rioters inspired by Hamas (a terrorist organization) and those of Israel’s soldiers charged with defending the sovereignty of a liberal democracy. This abhorrent argument demonstrates a false moral equivalence and, above all, misses the context of the events. Last spring, Hamas-inspired rioters gathered on the Gazan side of the border fence with Israel in wha... Full story
As I mentioned in my column two weeks ago, whenever my wife and I travel overseas we always listen for the sounds of Jewish. In that column I described how, upon boarding our cruise ship on the Friday afternoon before Christmas, I was hoping to have Shabbat services that evening aboard ship. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many co-religionists appear despite their long journeys to the ship and enduring the hassles of the boarding process. What followed was a beautiful pluralistic service led by a very knowledgable self-appointed female... Full story
Civility. It was something basic to our society. We were taught at home to be respectful of other people, specifically those older than ourselves. We were taught to listen to other peoples’ opinions, not interrupt and then offer our own take on the subject—with respect. Recently, times have changed. When it comes to matters Jewish, or the subject of Israel, Jews can tend to be more dogmatic than even the loudest of the chatterers filling the 24-hour news cycle. In the beginning, it was simple. The Jews were a people who had been cast out of... Full story
(JNS)—It may be that supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump and those who back the Israeli government led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are now so closely aligned that the latter have no qualms about the Jewish state being dragged into one of the most contentious American political debates in living memory. But as much as Trump is popular in Israel for his support of the Jewish state, it’s likely that most of its citizens would be just as happy if their border-security policies were left out of the epic struggle over whe... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—My dad, who grew up in a time and place where his Judaism only marked him as an outsider, never really got my professional fascination with all things Jewish. That all changed when nearly 20 years ago I got a job with the Forward, the English-language offspring of the venerable Yiddish daily. He recalled how the Forverts would arrive at his family’s home in New York state’s rural Orange County, one of his parents’ few links to the bustling Jewish community downstate and a window into a wider world. “My father learned to be Americ... Full story
(JTA)—Filmmaker Steven Spielberg told NBC News he thinks society must take the possibility of genocide more seriously now than it has in the past generation. In an interview marking the 25th anniversary of “Schindler’s List,” Spielberg referred to the massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue and warned that “hate leading to genocide is as possible today as it was during the Holocaust.” He was behind the curve. The era of “never again” is ending in Western Europe, fading in North America and never penetrated the Middle East. Relentless de... Full story
Dear Editor: In the Dec. 28th edition, Jim Shipley states in his column that “So far, no Jew has run for president.” Anyone who is not living under a rock would immediately recognize the error of that statement. Several Jews have run for U.S. president—two in just the last presidential election. How could anyone forget Bernie Sanders, who just ran in 2016? Also, Jill Stein was the Green Party nominee in 2016, as well as 2012. In previous elections, Milton Schapp ran in 1976, Arlen Specter in 1996 and Joe Lieberman in 2004. How someone who w... 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 Isr... Full story
(JTA)—J.B. Pritzker’s great-grandfather slept in a train station on his first night in Chicago. Now his billionaire descendant is about to become the governor of Illinois. Pritzker, a Jewish venture capitalist and Democrat, defeated the Republican incumbent, Bruce Rauner, in the November election. Pritzker was sworn in on Jan. 14. He has an estimated net worth of more than $3 billion, but his family wasn’t always rich. Appearing on David Axelrod’s podcast, “The Axe Files,” Pritzker said that his family fled pogroms in Ukraine in 1881 with t... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Kamala Harris, the junior senator from California, is reportedly set to announce her bid for the Democratic presidential nod. Harris, 54, is a progressive on most issues who draws some ire from the left for her tough-on-crime posture when she was California's attorney general. She pleased Democratic hearts, meanwhile, with her tough treatment of President Donald Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, during his Senate confirmation last year. The daughter of a... Full story
For its 25th installment, Choices, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's signature women's philanthropy event, returned to the simple elegance that marked its beginning, with a festive cocktail hour followed by a seated dinner at Congregation Ohev Shalom in Maitland. The 250 women and men in attendance were welcomed to Choices 2019 by Loren London, the woman who brought Choices to Orlando 25 years ago. London is also the first Harriet Ginsburg Woman of Choice Award winner. London, the... Full story
What if a dismembered corpse was discovered underneath your treasured family vacation home? How would you react? For one woman, this really happened to her family. Deborah Vadas Levison, an award-winning journalist, tells the extraordinary account of her parents' ordeals, both in one of the darkest times in world history and their present-day lives. The multi award-winning book "THE CRATE: A Story of War, a Murder, and Justice," which launched last summer, is the true story about Levison's... Full story
Bigotry at its worst... I read this recently and pass it along: "Following outrage from the World Jewish Congress and other leading Jewish groups, the online streaming giant Netflix cancelled the release of a documentary that celebrates the life of Nation of Islam leader and prominent anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan, who has had a long history of bigotry and anti-Semitism, recently delivered vile remarks referring to the 'Satanic Jew and the Synagogue of Satan.' He continues... 'Whenever... Full story
