Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's Jerome J. Bornstein Leadership Development Program has 11 new alumni. Members of the 2015-16 Bornstein class were honored in a graduation ceremony at Central Florida Hillel last month. Federation officers and Board members, along with several Bornstein alumni, were on hand to celebrate with the graduates. The Bornstein Leadership Development Program is designed to develop future leaders for the Central Florida Jewish community. Those selected for the... Full story
Following six days of devastating fires that ravaged Israel, Jewish National Fund (JNF-USA) is stepping up fundraising efforts to raise the many millions of dollars needed to help the nation recover. Since Tuesday, Nov. 22, approximately 10,000 acres of forests have been destroyed by fires. Some 137 people have suffered fire-related injuries. At least 569 homes burned down throughout Israel and in Haifa alone, more than 700 homes were damaged, 37 were destroyed, 400 are uninhabitable, and... Full story
The Kinneret Council on Aging (KCOA), a nonprofit agency that provides ongoing programs and services to residents of Kinneret Apartments, has announced a restructuring of the meal service program to better meet the needs of its residents. Effective Dec. 12, the enhanced plan expanded the food offerings to serve the changing resident population. As the resident population at Kinneret has remained more active while becoming more diverse, the onsite paid meal service has declined in participation... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Add sweeping school reforms-and with them, funding for private schools that Orthodox groups embrace and secular Jewish groups fear-to the campaign promises that Donald Trump plans to fulfill. Last week, just before Thanksgiving, the president-elect named Betsy DeVos, a billionaire education reform activist and champion of charter schools and public funding for private schooling, as his education secretary. As leader of the American Federation for Children, a group that promotes... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-Call them Israel's American volunteer fire brigade. Dozens of firefighters from across the United States put their lives on hold-leaving behind jobs and families-to help subdue the wildfires that swept Israel over the past week. While they all share a love of Israel, only a handful of them are Jewish. "We're just firefighters. When guys hear about a situation like this one, where the Israelis are working as hard as they can, they want to come help," said Billy Hirth, a Protestant... Full story
More than 5,600 Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic rabbinic emissaries and communal leaders from 90 countries, hailing from as far away as Bangkok and Kenya gathered for the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries, held in the Queens borough of New York on Nov. 25. The event is considered the largest Jewish gathering in North America. This year's conference carries an added significance as the North American Jewish community marks 75 years since the Lubavitcher Rebbe-Rabbi Menachem M. Schn... Full story
The State of Israel's humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of the casualties of the civil war in Syria will be presented on Monday, Dec. 12, 2016 at 7 p.m. at Congregation Beth Am in Longwood as representatives from Amaliah and Friends of Ziv Medical Center make their only visit to Central Florida. Speaking at Congregation Beth Am will be Yuval Rabin, chairman of the Amaliah Board and son of the late former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Moti Kahana, and America-Israeli philanthropi... Full story
One of the objectives of local award-winning author Yvonne David's story-become-play "Out of the Apple Orchard"-which premieres on Monday, Dec. 19, at the Orlando Repertory Theatre-is to bring attention to the reality of hunger in America, as well as within the Central Florida community. "It's an excellent vehicle for making the public aware of the severity of food insecurity for people who are suffering with hunger," David said. For this reason, David has made sure that the net proceeds from... Full story
Once again this year, Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando will deliver Kosher prepared meals to older adult shut-ins just prior to Chanukah at no cost to the recipients. The food will be prepared by Kosher Gourmet in Kissimmee and will be delivered by volunteers on Dec. 22 or 23. If you know of any older adults living on their own in need of this service, please contact them and ask them to call JFS at 407-644-7593, or you may call JFS and share the person’s name and contact info. A JFS staff member will contact him or her. This s... Full story
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's Choices 2017 is just a few months away-Thursday, Feb. 9, at Congregation Ohev Shalom in Maitland. Keeping with tradition, Choices co-chairs Leigh Norber and Heidi Zissman, along with several Choices ambassadors and some Federation staff members, spent the day Nov. 28 on the Maitland Jewish Community Campus filling out "Save the Date" cards that were mailed to friends, family and colleagues in the community. Formal invitations will hit the mail in... Full story
Congregation Ohev Shalom’s Sisterhood invites you to participate in their 5th annual Mahjong Tournament for another exciting event filled with food, fun and friends. This year’s event is scheduled for Sunday, Dec.18. Ohev’s Mahjong tournament Is a fun-filled afternoon that includes a delicious lunch, snacks, prizes and more! This year’s co-chairs are Debbie Bellinkoff and Es Cohen. Both are thrilled about the tournament. “Last year we had nearly 80 ladies participate in the tournament. One lady actually came from Melbourne (Florida)! The recog... Full story
Can you feel the center collapsing all around you? Looking to the left and to the right—politically and religiously, here and in Israel—I see the gap widening at an increasingly rapid rate. The search for The Golden Mean, the desirable balance between extremes in our lives and worldview advocated by the Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, the 12th-century philosopher), seems unattainable. The demographic decline at the center of the American Jewish community has been well documented. National and local studies have shown that we are moving in two o... Full story
Donald Trump is sending mixed messages, some of them more troubling than others. Americans might wonder why others are paying attention. The answer is simple. The U.S. aspires to influence the world, or at least large parts of it. And large parts of the world aspire to be helped, protected, left alone, or be led by the U.S. example. Soothing words heard from Trump reflect his winding down from the shrill rhetoric of the campaign. He won’t bother with criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, and thereby he removes one potential political and m... Full story
The New Israel Fund recently received a grant to “research and report on anti-Semitism on U.S. campuses.” On the surface, this appears to be a welcome development—a progressive group being mobilized to confront a major social malady plaguing institutions of higher education. Beneath the surface of the Sept. 27 grant, however, are vested interests seeking to use this issue to cover up their role in fomenting the atmosphere that is hostile to Jewish students. The NIF is being paid by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF)—a main backer of the ant... Full story
It’s always interesting when Jimmy Carter raises his head from the depths of his presidency in exile, like a perennial groundhog. The main difference is that when groundhogs raise their head, it forecasts either more winter or an early spring. In Carter’s case, it’s always gloom and blame of Israel. As President Reagan famously and appropriately quipped, “There you go again.” It’s novel for Carter to use the anniversary of the UN Partition vote to be heard from most recently. He’s too smart to make errors of the magnitude that he has in his NY... Full story
During the past few years, the resettlement of refugees has been one of the key issues in international politics. Thehorrendous conflict in Syria has forced more than half the country from their homes, with 4.8 million refugees fleeing to neighboring countries and 1 million applying for asylum in Europe. The United Nations has taken the issue very seriously, trying to persuade countries around the world to commit to take in and resettle refugees. At the end of an international conference on the refugee crisis, which took place in Geneva this... 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
On Wednesday, Nov. 30, Jewish high school students from all over metro Orlando gathered in Nate's Shul in Longwood for an evening of volunteering to help Israeli children with special needs. The teens were treated to a delicious Kosher Israeli dinner thanks to Eric Kessous of Kosher Gourmet in Kissimee. The event was a partnership between CTeen of Orlando and the Orlando chapter of the Jewish National Fund. Following the Shawarma and desserts the teens were addressed by Orlando JNF Past Presiden... Full story
Hillel students from Rollins and UCF met with Federation Executive Director Olga Yorish and Eric Sugarman from Federation as part of Hillel's Bars & Mitzvahs series. The goal of B&M is for upper classmen to learn more about the organized Jewish community and ways to stay involved after graduation, as well as meet with professionals in the for-profit sector to network and get advice on how to find a job after graduation.... Full story
Celebrate Shabbat with the synagogue that feels like family. The Shabbat evening service led by Rabbi Karen Allen is on Friday, Dec. 9th at 7 p.m. The service will honor the new members who have joined the congregation during 2016. An Oneg Shabbat will follow the service. The synagogue is located at 315 North 13th St. in Leesburg, with the entrance on Center Street. Celebrate Chanukah (in advance) on Dec. 18 at 2 p.m. at Congregation Beth Sholom. Because Chanukah falls during the school vacation, they will hold the Chanukah party early. There... Full story
Nearly 70 people took part in a Thanksgiving mitzvah on Nov. 20 as part of the Second Annual Shalom Families/PJ Library Family Mitzvah Day at Build-A-Bear in Altamonte Springs. Shalom Families is a program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. Each of the 18 families who participated in the event donated at least one bear and made a card for a child at Nemours Children's Hospital in Lake Nona. In all, 29 bears were donated and delivered to the Child Life Specialists at Nemours on Nov.... Full story
ISRAEL21c—When Avram Hershko was a post-doc fellow at the University of California in San Francisco from 1969 to 1971, he made an unexpected discovery that led to his receiving the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology tells ISRAEL21c that he was interested in examining the mechanism that causes protein degradation in living cells. He assumed it had to do with running out of energy. Surprisingly, his experiments revealed the opposite: Proteins need energy to fall apart. “It was ser... Full story
We all mourn... I received this during last month from the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and pass it along in part to you: "World Jewish Congress president Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder remembered former Israeli president and prime minister Shimon Peres, who passed away on Sept. 28 at the age of 93, as 'one of the greatest human beings I have ever known, an astute statesman, a great intellectual and strategist, a seasoned diplomat and a peace-maker. He did Israel proud, and he made Jews in... Full story
On a recent Friday night, love and warmth permeated throughout the room. The Jewish Pavilion partnered up for an intergenerational Shabbat dinner with Horizon Bay Lake Orienta and Our Jewish Orlando. A handful of young Jewish professionals came to share a Shabbat with the residents at Horizon Bay on Boston Avenue. The chefs wanted made sure it felt like "home," cooking everyones' favorite Jewish dishes. Resident Bill Frigen summed up the night perfectly when asked how he enjoyed it. "What an... Full story
Walter Goldstein, Jewish Pavilion program director, wished "a great big happy birthday to our Ms. Lillian celebrating her birthday with us this month." She received a hand made blanket donated by Jo Fisher and a small tin of butter cookies. She was very generous and tried to share her cookies every time she opened the tin to have one.... Full story
