Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 33
WASHINGTON (JTA)-For Jewish and pro-Israel groups, the congressional year is ending with an odd reversal: the prospect, however fragile, of bipartisan comity on budget issues coupled with a rare partisan disagreement on Middle Eastern policy. The groups that deal with social welfare and justice issues are heartened, albeit warily, by the end-of-year budget forged by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), his...
Dr. Laurence Kotler-Berkowitz, senior director of Research and Analysis, Jewish Federations of North America hosted a community consultation on The Pew Research Center Study of the American Jews and other recent demographic studies of the Jewish community at the Maitland campus on Dec. 12. Prior to joining JFNA in 2000, he held a lectureship at Haifa University and a post-doctoral fellowship at Hebrew University. He graduated magna cum laude in Judaic studies from Brown University; earned an...
The Orlando Chapter of Hadassah will present Saving Heartbeats at its luncheon meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at Congregation Ohev Shalom at 11:30 a.m. The meeting is open to all who are interested in attending. Saving Heartbeats is a CPR class aimed at teaching the basic life-saving techniques to women so they may understand what is needed to act in an emergency situation and hopefully encourage them to follow through and become certified in CPR. This is the second year that Hadassah has offered this program. Two days after last year’s class, H...
The media reported that Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority (PA), rejected the peace proposals submitted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The Palestinians leaked that Abbas sent a letter to Kerry reiterating his complete opposition to the demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This was declared a “red line” that the Palestinians will not cross. This “red line” is not just about semantics, but rather the essence of the conflict. The Palestinian position amounts to denying the Jews the right to establish their state in t...
(Israel21c)-In an upcoming space mission, the Vecoy platform-which tricks viruses into committing suicide-will be tested to see how it works in zero gravity. The Israeli company Vecoy Nanomedicine became a media sensation last year after ISRAEL21c covered the company's virus "decoy" designed to outwit the world's worst viral enemies before they do any damage. The biomed technology platform tricks a virus into committing suicide, a tactic which could eventually neutralize viral threats like...
BERLIN (JTA)—A painting by Marc Chagall discovered in a sensational art trove found in Munich is believed to have been looted by the Nazis from a Latvian Jewish family. According to the German newspaper Bild, evidence was uncovered that the painting from the collection hidden for decades by the reclusive Cornelius Gurlitt, 80, may have been looted during the Nazi invasion of the former Soviet Union in 1941. Experts told Bild that the painting, “Allegorical Scene,” is now worth nearly $1.5 million. The painting was claimed in the 1950s by Savel...
(JNS.org) Boston University international relations professor Angelo Codevilla, who was a senior staffer on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee at the time of the arrest of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard in 1985, wrote a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama calling for Pollard’s release and offering to give expert testimony on Pollard’s behalf. In his letter, Codevilla noted that Pollard is the only person in U.S. history “sentenced to life imprisonment for passing information to an ally, without intent to harm America,” a crime that normall...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Vice President Joe Biden said the White House will work with the Jewish community to help Holocaust survivors living in poverty. Speaking at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Centennial on Tuesday, Biden said the White House will appoint a special envoy at the Department of Health and Human Services to act as a liaison for survivors and the nonprofit community organizations that serve them. A partnership with the AmeriCorps VISTA program to increase the number of volunteers helping Holocaust survivors will be...
On Monday, Dec. 2nd, Chabad at UCF paired with Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and Zeta Beta Tau for a Grand Menorah lighting and toy drive. The toy drive benefitted Jewish Adoptions and Foster Care Options (JAFCO), an organization providing services to abused and neglected children in Florida. More than 200 students attended the event that took place at Light Up UCF outside the CFE Arena. In addition to the a grand menorah lighting, there was food, Chanukah music, and discounted rides....
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's Choices planning is moving at full speed. This year, Choices will feature a Broadway-style revue of the history of our community. The more than 100 performers onstage promise it will be an unforgettable event. Here at work behind the scene are some of the Table captains writing note cards. Also, video filming of the past recipients of the Harriet Ginsburg Women of Choice has started. The videos will be previewed at Choices....
Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando Board members are busy at work to raise funds for the Shaping the Future Annual Campaign. Here are some of them at a recent phone-a-thon....
Two stories were told to me recently by community members, both distinctly different on the one hand, and similar on the other. In both cases the stories are told from the perspective of an elementary school child who was one of the only—if not the only—Jew in his/her class. A mother was trying to explain to her young son why he would be staying home during the High Holy Days. “It’s because we’re Jews and these are very important holidays,” she told him. “We’ll go to synagogue for services an...
By Ira Sharkansky What we can call the Jewish itch is the aspiration for better and more. It is not present in all Jews. We also have those who accept the status quo in the public condition or their personal situation, without question or ambition. The aspiration for better and more is also not exclusive to the Jews. It can be found in all racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural groups. Yet it appears to occur with a higher incidence among Jews. It was apparent in the creation of the Hebrew Bible, the literary beauty apparent in some of its...
There are words, expressions and entire languages that rise, spread and then seem to just disappear. Today it would seem even the email is going out of style, replaced by texting which replaces words with single letters (You = U). This is not a judgment, just a statement of fact. Remember when you sent a “letter” in an actual envelope? When you addressed that letter to a certain someone and wrote on the flap of the envelope “SWAK”? (For those too young to remember, it stood for Sealed with a Kiss). Yiddish was the prime language of Eastern Euro...
I was shocked when I heard AJC’s David Harris radio piece painting Mandela as a saint. I responded by writing: I don’t understand. How can David Harris fawn over Mandela—painting him as a saint—when the AJC canceled an event honoring him in 2000 after Mandela said that 13 Jews tried for “espionage” in Iran were receiving a “fair trial.” How can David Harris fawn over Mandela—painting him as a saint—when Mandela supported Arafat and the PLO. How can David Harris fawn over Mandela—painting him as a saint—when Mandela was a member of the Elders. S...
(The Algemeiner)—Last week I responded to former Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters’ abhorrent statements comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. My dispute with Waters was picked up by several media outlets, especially my accusation that any man who can compare victims to their murderers is bereft of decency, heart, and soul. Waters responded to me, via an interview with The Guardian: “If Rabbi Boteach can make a case for the Israel government’s policies, I look forward to hearing it.” As soon as I read that I challenged Waters to a public debate. A...
Dear Editor: Inundated with stories in the news and social media, I hear about medical challenges and decisions of celebrities and those thrust into the limelight by virtue of circumstance. The human-interest stories also generate vocalizations of fundamentalist religious groups, most frequently in opposition to private, heart-wrenching personal decisions. What is lacking is the Jewish perspective of these medical decisions. But, what exactly is the Jewish perspective? Rabbi Yanky Majesky of Chabad Lubavitch of North Orlando recently offered a...
Dear Editor: On Nov. 15, I had the honor and privilege to listen to one of the best speakers on Israel! Recently a most knowledgeable individual stated that some day Sgt. Benjamin Anthony would be prime minister of Israel. That is how outstanding he is. I want to state how fortunate we in Orlando are to have Alan Kornman in our community who can convey to those not present the words of Sgt. Anthony. Alan brings to your readers the character, knowledge and strength of this young hero of the Jewish People. We are also so very fortunate to have...
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, DECEMBER 27 Lig...
November and December were busy months for the Jewish Federation's business and professional societies-Maimonides Medical, Cardozo Legal, Real Estate and Financial Services. The Federation partnered with Israel Bonds in November to host Captain Hadar from the Israeli Air Force, who shared the complexity of maintaining Israel's skies secure from terrorism. In December, the societies hosted an event with Talia Levanon, executive director of the Israel Trauma Coalition. Levanon shared her...
BALTIMORE (JTA)-Wearing a black jacket and hat with a white shirt buttoned up to the neck, the bearded man sings of poverty and hunger, homelessness and being alone, a family lost. Yet through the pain, the performer of the Yiddish tune "Papirosen" somehow projects contentment as he sits smiling a toothless smile on a bench facing a table of schnapps and snacks at the Belz shteibel in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, N.Y. His singing packs exponential poignancy given that the man in this...
The Jewish Pavilion honored volunteers Toby Vandemark and Faye Novick in early December at the Altamonte Hilton. More than 100 attendees enjoyed a gourmet luncheon, a Chico's fashion presentation and a unique shopping experience with vendors galore....
WADI AL-NAAM, Israel (JTA)-In this unofficial Bedouin town of 14,000 not far from Beersheva in the Negev Desert, families live in clusters of shanties with intermittent electricity provided by generators or solar panels. A communal structure has soft plastic walls and dirt floors, with a small pit at one end for an open fire that provides the room's only heat. Roads in many places are demarcated only by piles of rocks. For decades, Bedouin tribes like those living in Wadi al-Naam and similar set...
Sad opinions... This opinion piece comes directly from a recent World Jewish Congress digest. Read it and weep: "As Hamas rises, peace prospects (in Middle East) sink," says an analysis by two USA Today journalists, MICHELE CHABIN and OREN DORELL state that the ascendancy of the hard-line jihadist movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, will likely scotch any movement toward a two-state solution. Calling Hamas a 'spoiler' for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the journalists say that...
Just as Judaism is an ethical and spiritual lighthouse, so too were The Beatles. Most religions have their roots in spiritual awakening. The Beatles had a powerful appeal to a generation in calling forth a spiritual bonding. They sought out wonder, meaning, and innocence in their lives and music. Similar to Judaism, the religious allure of The Beatles was a vital factor in allowing the group to endure. They were spiritual apostles that evangelized a kind of gospel that resonated with tens, if...
