Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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The Kinneret Council on Aging, a nonprofit agency that provides ongoing programs and services to residents of Kinneret Apartments, has announced the honorees for their 2022, "8 Over 80" Honorary Gala to be held on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. "This is our community's premiere event honoring older adults and we are truly inspired by the number of outstanding individuals, who continue to contribute to our community and promote the Jewish tradition of Tikkun Olam," said Ali Polejes KCOA Board president....
(JNS) - Ukrainian, Israeli, American and European leaders joined together online on Dec. 15-16 for the third-annual Kyiv Jewish Forum to discuss the historic relations between the Jewish and Ukrainian peoples, the rise of global antisemitism and the looming threats to both nations. "We know what it's like not to have our own state," said Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, referring to both Ukrainians and Jews. "We know what it means to defend one's own state and land with weapons in hand...
(JTA) - Every year brings the deaths of Jewish icons who leave behind outsized legacies, from the realms of art and culture, government, business, philanthropy and beyond. Here are 18 whom we lost in 2021 presented in alphabetical order. Sheldon Adelson Few people have exerted as significant an influence on American and Israeli politics as Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate who gave lavishly to Republican candidates and Israeli causes. The founder and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp...
The Jewish Pavilion has added a new marketing director, office manager and receptionist to its organization. The new marketing director at the Jewish Pavilion, Alicia Lovejoy, participated in the year-long Momentum journey to Israel in November 2021. Momentum transformed her life and inspired her to bring Jewish values and practices home to her family. Alicia wanted to continue her spiritual and cultural journey in Central Florida upon returning. The Momentum community trip leaders from the...
Networking is a great way to expand your business and meet new friends. To this end, the Jewish Chamber was formulated to connect like-minded individuals for business and social purposed. Over 20 people — mostly young adults — gathered to enjoy a post Chanukah breakfast at Toojays Deli on Colonial on Dec. 16. In addition to enjoying a great breakfast, participants had the opportunity to speak about their businesses and forge new contacts. To learn more about the Jewish Chamber, visit htt...
JFS Orlando’s Pearlman Emergency Food Pantry is proud to announce its partnership with the newest Sprouts Farmers Market location at Colonial Plaza, and since the beginning of December 2021, JFS is picking up food donations from this Sprouts location twice a week. Currently, the Pearlman Emergency Food Pantry is stocked through a combination of food purchases from Second Harvest Food Bank, and food donations from the community, including other grocery partners like Fresh Market and Publix. Now, by adding donations from Sprouts at Colonial P...
(JTA) — Shimon Peres will soon receive a major honor for a non-New Yorker: the late Israeli prime minister will have a New York City street corner named in his honor. The intersection of West 95th Street and Riverside Drive will be renamed “Shimon Peres Place” after the New York City Council approved nearly 200 new street names last week to honor various people. The news was reported by Patch. Peres, who died in 2016, served three times as Israel’s prime minister in addition to serving as president of the country from 2007 to 2014. In 1949, h...
(JTA) — A Muslim civil rights leader who stirred outrage when she said “polite Zionists” like Jewish federations “are not your friends” continued her critique of “Zionists” as she announced that she is going on a sabbatical. “I am still in the middle of a prolonged Zionist onslaught,” wrote Zahra Billoo, director of the San Francisco office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in a Facebook post on Sunday. She added that she believes there is an “Islamophobic, pro-Israel campaign” to “place moles in our organization and others...
(JTA) — Students at a Washington, D.C., elementary school were instructed by a staff member to reenact scenes from the Holocaust Friday, according to The Washington Post. When the third-grade students asked why the Germans killed Jews, the staff member said it was “because the Jews ruined Christmas.” The student at Watkins Elementary School were supposed to be working on projects in the library Friday when the staff member told the students to reenact scenes from the Holocaust. The woman reportedly told one student, who is Jewish, to play...
ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A recent story involving a third-grade teacher who made their students simulate episodes of the Holocaust has rightfully sparked comment from around the nation. The incident, which involved a staff member having their students mimic digging mass graves and shooting their peers, highlights the need for proper educational materials surrounding the Holocaust. Students, especially those at a young age, need to understand the atrocities of the Holocaust in a responsible way that teaches them how to recognize and understand t...
(JNS) — Looking back at 2021 in the hope of having something sensible to say about the past year, I found myself musing on a perennial question. Is history a story of progress, in which greater numbers of human beings become healthier, happier, more affluent, more tolerant and more educated with each year? Is it a story in which we learn from our past errors and those of our predecessors in order to not repeat them? Or is history a series of random cycles, in which health, happiness and wealth are at best fleeting experiences in a world w...
As the holiday season concludes with this evening’s New Year’s celebrations and tomorrow’s recovery, the same old problem of 2021 confronting the Jewish people is carried over into 2022, namely global antisemitism. As we move into the new year, virulent antisemitism continues to grow unabated here in America and throughout the world. How long must we deal with the endless and meaningless apologies for the use of antisemitic tropes, for physical attacks on Jewish citizens and for attacks against Israel based on knowingly false accusations that...
Antisemitism is alive and well in the United States. Everything from shootings in a Kosher food market in New York to marches with Neo-Nazis chanting “Jews Will Not Replace Us” to cold-blooded killings in a synagogue. Now it has entered the halls of Congress. Meet “The Squad” (although I’m sure you have heard of them): From New York, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez; from Minnesota, Ilhan Omar; from Michigan, Rashida Tlaib. And on the Right we have the Supreme Whacko: from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene. Interesting that they are all women. And excep...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s announcement on Sunday evening of additional steps to confront the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus illustrates how easily government policies can be inherently contradictory. Even when giving the benefit of the doubt to hysterical health authorities — and refraining from the natural inclination to suspect ulterior motives for fanning the flames of a crisis — it’s hard not to be disdainful of the double-speak surrounding anything coronavirus-related. This isn’t exclusive to Israeli dec...
(JTA) — When I finished rabbinical school in 2018, I entered the “real world” with $40,000 in student loans. I acted fast, prioritizing repayment over everything else. Within six months, I paid nearly $10,000 to eliminate interest, and I continued allocating three times my expected monthly payment. Interest didn’t get much chance to build, and when we hit the pandemic pause, I was on track to clear my loans in two years. I am unbelievably lucky. My parents were able to help me with undergrad (due to generational wealth resulting from many Jews...
(JNS) — To the casual observer of news from the Middle East, it would appear that the biggest story coming out of Israel lately is what some outlets are describing as a surge in settler violence against Palestinians. According to B’Tselem, an anti-settler group that is nonetheless treated as if it is an impartial and objective source by Western publications, the number of attacks by Jews living in West Bank settlements on neighboring Arabs is allegedly up by nearly 50 percent in the previous year. In this telling, radical Jews — motiv...
MORNING MINYANS (Please note, because of the coronavirus, some minyans have been canceled or held virtually.) Chabad of North Orlando and Chabad of Altamonte Springs are holding in-person minyans. 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. Congr...
(JTA) — The U.S. State Department has included extensive reporting on West Bank settler attacks on Palestinians in its annual terrorism report, a sign of how seriously the Biden administration is treating the phenomenon. The 2020 report on terrorist violence, released Thursday, includes three paragraphs reporting settler violence, the most it has included in years. The attacks have become a point of contention between the Biden administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, disrupting efforts by both sides to k...
(JNS) - When the pandemic hit, Edward Ilyasov was in a bit of a pickle. The 29-year-old resident of Queens, N.Y., had submitted his letter of resignation with plans to travel the world, starting with Israel. His last days at his well-paying job in finance were supposed to be during the latter part of March 2020, and he planned to paint a person a day as he gallivanted. Yet with restrictions on travel due to COVID-19, he realized that he'd have to scrap his artistic dream. His employer allowed...
More than 3000 people joined the IAC National Summit and 125 participants joined the Orlando-Tampa delegation this year at South Florida, The Diplomat Beach Resort. The Summit featured a one-of-a-kind combination of inspirational sessions, insightful dialogue, thought-provoking panels, and professional networking, creating the spirit and atmosphere of Israel for three dynamic, stimulating, and energetic days. Speakers included world leaders, Israeli and American thought leaders, decision makers, change makers and cultural icons from business,...
More Jewish super-talents ... ADAM SANDLER is a talented actor-comedian who has starred on television and in many movies. He, of course, is Jewish and born in Brooklyn like me! His ancestry is Russian like me! At the age of 6, he and his family moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he grew up. (Not like me.) As a teenager, Adam attended the Jewish youth group BBYO. He graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in Manhattan. Of course, he became famous as a member of the...
DUBAI — As dozens of Jewish organizations plan delegations to the United Arab Emirates following the signing of the Abraham Accords, Visions of Abraham, a nonprofit working to create and promote educational initiatives relating to interfaith programming between Muslims and Jews, has launched. The group aims to provide an in-depth look at the impact of the Abraham Accords. The organization specializes in creating bespoke and immersive tours of the UAE and its Jewish community. UJA-Federation of New York and the Joint Distribution Committee r...
BERLIN (JTA) - A German Protestant minister has handed over segments of a long lost Torah scroll to the city of Görlitz in southeast Germany, 83 years after his father, a town policeman, came into possession of them. While it is not unheard of for German non-Jews to turn over religious objects that have been lost or hidden since the Nazi period, the Torah scroll fragments took an unusually circuitous journey before coming to light last week. The Torah had not been seen since Kristallnacht, the...
NEW YORK — The Religious Zionists of America has undertaken a groundbreaking partnership with Amazon.com to make its “Tzurba M’Rabanan” text available in English throughout Amazon’s entire distribution network. This latest venture follows the dramatic growth of the contemporary Halacha learning program, which has seen a near doubling of interested participants and increase in weekly learning groups across North America this year. The “Tzurba M’Rabanan” learning method encompasses the full range of sources pertinent to any Jewish law, inc...
Dr. Morton Arthur Diamond, FACC, FACP, beloved father of Dr. David and Orly Diamond of Winter Park, passed away peacefully at his home in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, on Dec. 16, 2021, aged 83. Born in Monticello, N.Y., on June 17, 1938, to the late Paul and Ann Diamond, he was raised in the Village of Wurtsboro, population 300, where the extended Diamond family, having immigrated from Nezhin, Ukraine, resided since the purchase of the family farm by his grandfather (Solomon Diamond) on Lincoln’s birthday, Feb. 12, 1912. He was immensely proud of his r...
