Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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On Friday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day, the students of the Jewish Academy of Orlando participated in its bi-monthly Mitzvah Shabbat. For this edition of Mitzvah Shabbat, the students honored our military veterans. Prior to Mitzvah Shabbat, the students and their families collected personal hygiene products for current military personnel. The students collected toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, shampoo and lip balm and packaged them for our soldiers. In addition, former Jewish Academy student...
NEW YORK (JTA)-After Brett Parker's great-grandfather fled the pogroms in Europe and came to the United States, he opened a drug store where he sold comic books. Each week he would give his grandson, Parker's father, five comic books to take home. Growing up during the early years of Superman instilled in Parker's dad a lifelong love of comics, many of them written by Jews, that he passed on to his son. "Imagine if he kept them," Parker said laughing, picturing the first editions of Superman...
Early this month, late in the afternoon, an intimate gathering was hosted by the Jewish Pavilion at Savannah Court in Oviedo . There, Women of Faith gathered around the simple and beautifully adorned table to usher in and welcome the Sabbath. Prayers were recited over the candles, wine and challah bread. All shared stories of their faith and expressed their gratitude. Upon conclusion... hands touched hands... and all the Women of Faith felt the depth of our connection. The sacred space that was...
Bereishit - Genesis 12:1-3-And the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will aggrandize your name, and [you shall] be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you." This was the inspiration for the Bless Israel Summit held at the...
Tessie Abramson, age 94, of Sanford, passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of Nov. 9, 2016, at Hospice of the Comforter in Altamonte Springs. Born in Norfolk, Virginia, she was one of four children born to the late Jacob and Sadie Cohen. She was married to the late Saul Abramson for 54 years when he passed away in July, 2003. They relocated to Sanford from New York in 1953, and owned and operated Sanford Carpet from 1953 until 1996. It was only then that they retired and sold the company to their son, Ira and his wife Barbara, who...
Donald Kaplan, age 86, of Orlando, passed away peacefully on Saturday morning, Nov. 12, 2016, at Hospice of the Comforter in Altamonte Springs. Don, a native of Bronx, New York, was born on Aug. 6, 1930. He was one of three children born to the late Irving (Isidore) and Ida Sakin Kaplan. Following his high school graduation, Don enlisted in the United States Air Force, retiring as a technical sergeant after 20 years. On Sept. 1, 1951, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, he married the former Marilyn Friedman, his wife of more than 65 years, who...
Ron J. Hutter has written a provocative, entertaining, and thoughtful novel that explores the problem of anti-Semitism in a very original way. In "The trombone man: tales of a misogynist," he uses misogyny both as a protest about the treatment of women in various parts of the world and as a metaphor for what the late scholar Robert Wistrich called "the longest hatred," anti-Semitism. Based on some actual events, "The trombone man" takes aim at populism, political correctness and hypocritical...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Enforce the Iran deal. Violate the Iran deal. Leave it to Congress. Do nothing. President-elect Donald Trump has an array of options before him when he assumes the presidency on Jan. 21, according to supporters and opponents of the deal. Reached last year between Iran and six major powers led by the United States, the agreement rolled back Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The open question—as are so many questions about Trump’s intentions—is what does the next leader of the free world want to do? His p...
Israeli army conscription rate drops 3.5% since 2010 (JTA)—The rate of enlistment into the Israel Defense Forces has dropped by 3.5 percent over the past five years, army sources said. In 2016, the IDF saw the conscription of 72 percent of people who are initially listed as duty bound to serve in the military, Army Radio reported Wednesday. Among the 28 percent who do not enlist are tens of thousands of haredi Orthodox Jews, who once were allowed an automatic exemption from serving until a 2014 law decreed they sign up for the army or other f...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Nick Kroll is serious, which is a tad unusual for a man who has largely made his living by being funny. But being funny for reporters isn't his job, he tells JTA in a telephone interview. "My job is just to answer your questions," Kroll said. "Trying to be funny is tricky. You end up saying things that look different in print. My goal is to produce content that's funny, not be funny in interviews." Kroll, of course, has been creating funny content for a dozen years, most famously...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Offer an open hand or a closed fist-or maybe both. Name names. Don't name names, hint. Quietly adjust wording. Welcome to the second week of the World of Trump, Jewish organizational edition. Week 1 was fraught enough, with Jewish statements marking Donald Trump's surprise election ranging from the confrontational to "it's a new day" accommodation. Then President-elect Trump named Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist. The appointment of Bannon, formerly the CEO of Breitbart, t...
