Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Members of the Jewish Pavilion are invited to attend "JP Connections: Honoring our Volunteers," a luncheon for volunteers and women who support the nonprofit, on Thursday, Dec. 5, at 11 a.m. at the Hilton Orlando/Altamonte Springs. Participants will enjoy a gourmet meal, a Chico's Fashion Show and a mini-holiday bazaar. Vendors will be selling jewelry, purses, scarves, Judaica and other gifts for the holidays. Participants who purchase raffle tickets will have the opportunity to win gifts from...
The Kinneret Council on Aging has announced the honorees for their 2014 “8 over 80” event to be held on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014. “We were thrilled with the support we have had from the community and were truly inspired by the number of outstanding individuals over the age of 80, who continue to contribute to our community,” said Faye Novick, 8 over 80 chairwoman. The honorees for the 2014 event are: Barbara Weinreich, Robert Petree, Bill Kahn, Don Kaplan, Helen Tishman, Rose Savage, Ruth Goldhar, and Gordon Kotzin. “It is truly a privilege...
Join Rabbi Karen Allen on Friday, Nov. 22, at Congregation Beth Sholom for the Rabbi’s Torah Roundtable, a lively discussion of contemporary issues in the context of Jewish tradition. The program will begin at 4 p.m. with conversation and light refreshments. This informal and interactive forum is a unique opportunity to talk with the rabbi and explore together the meaning of the Torah portion that will be read during Shabbat service on the following morning. On Saturday, Nov. 23. at 10 a.m., Rabbi Allen will lead Shabbat morning service. A K...
On Dec. 9, all eighth- to 12-grade Jewish teens and their parents in the Orlando area are invited to come hear Angela King, a former racist skinhead and now founder of Life after Hate, at the Jewish Academy of Orlando at 7 p.m. as part of the Beit Hamidrash program. As a teen in South Florida, King became confused about the conflicting messages she was receiving about race, sexuality and religion. Ultimately, she felt embraced by a group of racist skinheads, and became deeply involved with them. After spending a decade of her life with the...
Chanukah on the park has become the Chanukah tradition for the entire Orlando community. This year, Chabad will be hosting “Chanukah on the Park” with the Grand Menorah Lighting on Saturday night, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m. The Menorah lighting will celebrate the fourth night of Chanukah and will be followed by “Maos Tzur” and other Chanukah favorites including the Chassidic dancers. The feature presentation will be entertainer Dr. Laz, described as the Rockin, Rappin, Reggae, Rabbi. “The Jewish rock concert is one of a kind,” said Ed Leibowitz,...
The Roth Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando, in cooperation with 6th-degree Black Belt Sei Shihan Gil Alstein and his Seido Karate Organization, will host its annual Karate Tournament on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 1:30 p.m. The tournament will be held in the Roth JCC’s Ginsburg Family Gymnasium, featuring boys and girls, ages four and up, from the JCC and other local karate establishments. A portion of the proceeds from this year’s event will benefit the fight against Breast Cancer. “This is a great opportunity for children to showcase their...
These will be the sounds you'll be hearing at the Roth Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando's 10th annual "Maj Madness" mah jongg tournament to be held Sunday, Dec. 8. The festivities will begin at 9:15 a.m. with registration and coffee, and games will begin 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 $35 per person ($25 for JCC members) and includes lunch,...
In December, Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's Maimonides Medical, Cardozo Legal, Financial, and Real Estate societies will be hosting a dinner in support of the 2014 Shaping the Future: Annual Campaign. The event will be on Thursday, Dec. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Congregation Ohev Shalom, 613 Concourse Parkway South, Maitland, 32751. The dinner will feature special guest speaker, Talia Levanon, who is the director of the Israel Trauma Coalition (ITC). The ITC is a collaborative network committed...
Here, in a nutshell, are the principles driving the Obama Administration’s Middle East policy. Screw the Syrians. Don’t upset the Iranians. And stop those damn Israelis from wrecking Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations. We are coming to the end of year marked by shameful climb-downs in the face of our enemies and utterly unreasonable demands made of our allies. In Syria, Obama temporarily toyed with the idea of launching air strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, before being seduced by a Russian proposal to have that same reg...
There was so much Jewish outrage in the wake of professor Steven Hawking’s decision to join the academic boycott against Israel, it’s hard to know where to start. The most dramatic expression of that outrage could be found in the many commentaries and Facebook posts suggesting that if Hawking is going to boycott Israel, then why not also boycott the Israeli computer chip that enables him to communicate despite his severely handicapped state? As Rabbi Shmuley Boteach wrote on JPost: “Why would one of the world’s leading academic minds condemn th...
Israelis and Americans are going through a couple of bad patches with Barack Obama. The two issues are as different as they could be, but are united in reinforcing distrust of duplicity at the top. Americans’ problems are currently focusing on the limping roll out of what is linked directly to the president via its popular label of Obamacare. In particular, lots are remembering a presidential promise that they could keep their present insurance if they liked it, as they read the letters of cancellation received from their insurance companies. O...
The Jewish Daily Forward 2013 ’Top 50‘ represents their annual survey of the 50 men and women who’ve made “a significant impact on the Jewish story” over the past year, and is informed by ”rules require that every one is an American citizen whose actions speak with a Jewish inflection.” Their 2013 list includes such prolific Jewish voices as Philip Roth and Ruth Wisse—as well as a former Guardian columnist we’ve commented on quite frequently: Their selection of Glenn Greenwald is explained thusly: The biggest story of 2013, and possibly the...
NEW YORK (JTA)—As the extent of the catastrophic damage and tragic death toll continues to grow in the Philippines, a particularly heroic piece of history should be recalled by the global Jewish community, which owes a debt to the island nation. Seven decades ago, a Philippine president, a globetrotting Jewish family named Frieder and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, my organization, helped save the lives of more than 1,000 Jews who otherwise would have almost certainly died in the Holocaust. Thanks to their initiative, t...
A tried-and-true method for lobbyists whose cause is opposed by the U.S. president is to bypass the White House by going to Congress. It worked for Jewish activists in 1943. But will it work in the current battle over sanctions on Iran? Seventy years ago, the Holocaust rescue activists known as the Bergson Group found themselves stymied by an administration that did not want to take action to save Jewish refugees from the Nazis. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his aides insisted that rescue was not possible until the Nazis were...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 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 Israel—Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22 Lig...
Join Rosen Plaza and Chabad of South Orlando for their first Grand Menorah lighting and Chanukah family celebration on Sunday, Dec. 1 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Rosen Plaza Hotel, 9700 International Drive, Orlando. Enjoy a community event featuring a variety of family-themed activities including food stations, dreidel spinning contests, Chanukah arts and crafts, traditional entertainment, and raffles and prizes, all in an interactive streetmosphere. Food stations include kosher cotton candy, delicious sufganiyot (donuts), and a Latke...
Hadassah of Williamsburg is having a general membership meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 1 p.m. The children of the Orlando Torah Academy will perform Chanukah songs. Members, associates and quests are cordially invited to attend this holiday celebration. Delecious refreshments will be served. For more information, please call Eleanore at 407-351-9189 or Helene at 407-352-0535....
“Blacks have known slavery and so have Jews,” Julian Bond reminded some 150 delegates at the annual meeting of the Southern Jewish Historical Society. “But we cannot build a common future on our common graves,” the co-founder of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee told the crowd. Bond, who became the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and served 20 years in the Georgia State legislature, was the keynote speaker at the Historical Society’s annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. The meeting location was chosen to h...
William Leon Metz of Maitland passed away on Nov.11, 2013, at his residence. He was 87 years old. Mr. Metz was born in New York City on May 1, 1926, to the late Morris L. and Esther Kessler Metz. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn and served in the U.S. Army during WWII. Following the war, Bill graduated from City College New York in 1950 and began a career in the housing industry. He established himself first in New York and from 1960, in Central Florida. Metz’ companies built numerous subdivisions in the Cocoa area d...
Dr. Marvin M. Nathan of Winter Park, passed away on Saturday, Nov.9, 2013, at Hospice of the Comforter in Altamonte Springs. He was 98 years old. Dr. Nathan was born in Onancock, Va., on May 23, 1915, to the late Jacob and Elizabeth Greenberg Nathan. As a youngster, he moved with his family to Ocilla, Ga., where he excelled in school and was admitted to the University of Georgia at 17 years of age, with the plan to go directly into medical school. Following the untimely death of his father, he left school (with the assurance of the Dean of the...
More than 400 Jewish National Fund (JNF) supporters attended the 2013 JNF Tree of Life™ Award dinner at the Rosen Plaza Hotel on Nov. 6 to honor Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer with the Tree of Life™ Award, presented by JNF Orlando Board of Directors member Jim Pugh, in honor of his outstanding community involvement, dedication to the cause of American-Israeli friendship, and devotion to peace and security of human life. Receiving the Guardian of Israel Awards were Sy and Debra Israel, Mark and Car...
Just as it is important to always remember the Holocaust by retelling those events through living survivors, books, films and various programs, it is equally important to teach the history of modern-day Israel accurately, and make sure it remains factual so that its history does not become distorted to fit a particular political agenda. On Nov. 4, approximately 35-40 people attended a program on Israel in World Relations, held at the University of Central Florida. Sponsored by the Knights For...
NEW YORK (JTA)-We were sharing a pastrami sandwich and pickles at the Los Angeles landmark Canter's Deli. I was 24. She was nearly 50 years older, with a piercing voice as loud as her flaming red wig. Her name was Eva Rubenstein Grant, and she was a little-known nightclub manager the morning of Nov. 24, 1963, when her brother left the apartment they shared in Dallas and blasted his way into infamy by fatally shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. It was history's first live televised murder. Eva worked...
Markus Zusak's acclaimed novel, "The Book Thief," could neither compare with nor replace the first-person reality of "The Diary of Anne Frank." The success of the 2006 book does demonstrate, though, that younger generations will identify with and embrace a contemporary, accessible introduction to the Holocaust. The moving film adaptation of "The Book Thief," opening Friday, Nov. 15 and appropriate for adolescents, tilts slightly more toward a coming-of-age story than a Holocaust film. There's no...
Knights for Israel is a new pro-Israel group at the University of Central Florida. It has been established to be a beacon for pro-Israel advocacy on campus. Along with advocacy, its mission is to provide students with education on various issues in Israel as well as pioneering interrelations between the UCF campus and Israel. “With the help of our current president, Kelly Truitt, we aim to establish an active group of students who support Israel by organizing political, cultural, and social events on campus. Our chief goal is to promote p...
