Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Providing discreet care tailored to the needs of older adults can significantly enhance their ability to participate actively in life and foster growth and engagement in activities that bring them joy and purpose. Here are some of the benefits associated with high-quality senior care options: 1) Promotion of Social Engagement: Assisted-living facilities play a vital role in facilitating social connections and engagement among seniors, which is crucial for their overall well-being. Studies have shown that isolation can adversely affect health...
(New York Jewish Week) — When downtown steakhouse Delmonico’s opened in 1827, it was the first fine dining restaurant in New York City. Famous for its eponymous ribeye steak and Lobster Newburg, Delmonico’s boasted high-profile customers like Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain. Among them, however, were few Jews. Though New York was home to some 40,000 Jews by the eve of the Civil War, most of them were Spanish, Portuguese or German-speaking immigrants — or their descendants — who strictly adhered to Jewish law. These Jewish New Yorkers kept kosh...
The story of Passover, more than any other Jewish holiday, is all about miracles. A burning bush. A staff that turns into a serpent. Ten plaques, each one worse than the previous one. The parting of the Red Sea. Manna coming down from heaven. Moses receiving the Torah. I have experienced what I consider miracles in my own life. Meeting Larry at a Purim party over 50 years ago. Holding our son and, three years later, our daughter, in our arms. Seeing flashes of ourselves and our children in our three beautiful grandchildren. Just this past...
(JTA) — Those who might have described “Curb Your Enthusiasm” as a kind of “Seinfeld” on steroids got a fitting conclusion on Sunday, as the last episode of Larry David’s landmark 12-season sitcom was essentially a reprise of the much-maligned “Seinfeld” finale 26 years ago. Except one thing. (Spoilers follow.) In the finale, which aired on HBO and Max, Larry stands trial on the charge he was arrested for in the season premiere — handing a bottle of water to a friend waiting to vote, in violation of Georgia law. In the fashion of the “S...
(JNS) - First, the vegetable main course. Then comes the chocolate. The main course is a tasty, room-temperature side dish that you should make in advance so that when you are ready to grill, most of your meal is already prepared. I broil the eggplant slices in the oven, but you also can cook them on the grill before you cook the steak. Roasted Eggplant with Bell-Pepper Vinaigrette (Pareve) Reprinted with permission from "The New Passover Menu" (Sterling 2013). Serves 6-8 Prem time: 10 minutes...
(JNS) - A brand-new Passover Haggadah titled, "Empowering Seder Conversations," published just in time for the holiday, is designed to promote inclusion at the Seder table, making the special evening more accessible for those suffering from aphasia and other neurological challenges. Aphasia is a condition that robs a person of the ability to communicate. It can affect one's ability to speak, write, work with numbers and understand language, both verbal and written. The Haggadah was written by...
There are numerous assistance programs available to veterans who need advanced in-home care. These include: • Aid and Attendance Benefits (A&A) — Available to veterans who receive a VA pension and meet certain other requirements, this program can help to supplement the cost of a family caregiver. • Veteran-Directed Home & Community-Based Services — This supplement to the standard Veterans Health Administration medical benefits program is available in most states (but not all) and provides a flexible monthly budget, which can be used to pay a f...
(JTA) — How might we celebrate Passover differently this year? With so many Israelis brutally murdered on Oct. 7, so many soldiers killed or wounded in battle, so many people — Palestinians and aid workers — dead or suffering in Gaza, we cannot simply celebrate as we did last year. As a community, we need to encourage ritual innovations or special readings to address all these tragic realities. I want to focus on one aspect of a post-Oct. 7 seder: a ritual change meant to call our attention to the more than 130 hostages — men, women and chi...
Local resident Myrna Ossin is the author of 10 books. She has lived in Central Florida for 56 years and has been active in many diverse activities in the area. When one of her friends who planned short day trips for women’s groups mentioned she was running out of ideas, Ossin said she would do some research. She found so many interesting places, she decided to create a book titled “Orlando and Central Florida on and off the Beaten Path.” She also has created a PowerPoint presentation with many...
While hearing aids make sounds louder, cochlear implants make them louder and clearer. They work better in noisy environments than hearing aids. Cochlear hearing implant technology is very reliable and has been around for 40 years. It is not major surgery and can be done on an outpatient basis in a couple of hours. Cochlear implants are often covered by Medicare. There is no age requirement or cut off. While most seniors face major adjustments when transitioning to an elder-care community, Jewish seniors face additional challenges. Not only do...
(JTA) - Jewish actress and writer Lena Dunham is the latest Hollywood star to discover that her family has ties to the Holocaust on the PBS celebrity genealogy series "Finding Your Roots." Dunham, the sometimes controversial comedian who was born to a Protestant father and a Jewish mother, has previously described herself as "very culturally Jewish," and she stars in a forthcoming film, "Treasure," that features a family grappling with its Holocaust history. But until taping the "Finding Your...
(JTA) — When Mel Brooks was filming “The Producers,” he recalled an executive approaching him and saying, “The curly-haired guy—he’s funny looking. Fire him.” Brooks said he would fire the actor, but never intended to actually do it. And when “The Producers” came out, it became a classic in no small part because of that “curly-haired guy” — otherwise known as Gene Wilder. That story is one of many retold about the actor in “Remembering Gene Wilder,” a new documentary about Wilder that, following a run last year on the Jewish film festival ci...
(JTA) — Georgia Hunter was 15 when she discovered that her grandfather was Jewish. The revelation took place a year after his death, while Hunter was interviewing her grandmother for a school project. “A high school English teacher said, ‘Go out and interview a relative to learn a bit about your roots and in turn about yourselves,’” Hunter told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I sat with my grandmother Caroline and I will never forget that hour I spent with her, sitting in her home and discovering that my grandfather was from this town called...
(JNS) — The 19th-century English novelist Charlotte Brontë is best known for her 1847 novel “Jane Eyre,” which is a staple of many U.S. middle and high school curricula. A new journal article addresses a different side of the Victorian writer—her focus throughout her career on Queen Esther, the heroine of the Purim story. Brontë had “a prolonged intertextual relationship with the ‘Book of Esther’” throughout her career, reaching a peak in her 1853 novel Villette, Channah Damatov, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Bar-Ilan Universi...
The scientific definition of laughing is a “successive, rhythmic, spasmodic expiration with open glottis and vibration of the vocal cords.” That doesn’t begin to tell the story of what laughing does for us. The bottom line is that laughing is medically beneficial. Laughter restores a positive emotional climate and a sense of connection between two people. Some researchers believe that the major function of laughter is to bring people together — the more social a person is, the more social support a person receives. Laughter corresponds to soci...
(JTA) - The 2023 MLB season represented a watershed moment for Jewish players and fans, as a record 19 Jewish players appeared in at least one big league game. That record, topping the previous high of 17 in 2022, is likely to be broken yet again this year. The new season begins in earnest March 28, following a two-game series in Seoul Wednesday and Thursday between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. As Opening Day draws near, there are plenty of Jewish storylines to keep an eye...
Coming home to Israel after a trip overseas to anywhere, for any length of time, is always emotional. Choking back tears, in a matter of minutes I see the coast, cities with countless construction sites indicating growth and building for the future, low-lying houses and buildings surrounded by fertile cultivated fields. I anticipate seeing my family and sleeping in my own bed. Touchdown is often greeted with applause. I’ve never landed at any other airport where so many people applaud and get emotional. I’m home. Emotions continue minutes later...
Spoilers ahead for "Part Nine" of "Masters of the Air" on Apple TV+. (JTA) - When Lieutenant Colonel Robert Rosenthal's B-17 bomber aircraft exploded during his final World War II combat mission on Feb. 3, 1945, he found himself in the middle of a battlefield of dueling Russian and German soldiers. Rosenthal was recovered by the Red Army and transported by the Russians back to his Air Force unit, the 100th Bombardment Group, known as "Bloody Hundredth." The scene is dramatized in the final episo...
(JNS) - Before you dress in a green headband or the Jason the Serial Murderer costume, the Ministry of Education is imploring Israeli citizens to think long and hard about how their choices may affect traumatized members of the community. "Everything has changed," says Einav Luke, senior director of the ministry's Psychological Counseling Service. "While it is so important for everyone to continue their lives, and enjoy routines and holidays, this year we also must take the feelings of others...
From the evening of April 22 to April 30, Jews across the world partake in the annual celebration of Passover, a 3,300-year-old story of freedom and sacrifice, commemorating their liberation from slavery in Egypt. It’s one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the Jewish calendar, and PJ Library, one of the leading resources for Jewish families across North America, offers up dozens of ways to help celebrate, whether you need a refresher on a few traditions, you just want to learn more about the history of the holiday, or you’re cel...
We don't get to choose when or where we are born. And it isn't until we are much older that we can begin to make our own life choices. In fact, most of our childhoods are spent doing what we are told, trusting those who care for us. Such was Orange City resident Katherine MK Mitchell's life. She was born in Budapest during World War II, and named Katalin Landstein, Kati for short. She was raised along with her brother, Laci, by her mother and grandmother. Her father died in a labor camp and her...
There are certain signals that might mean it is time to give up the car keys. Unfortunately, very few seniors pay attention to these signs: • You are nervous behind the wheel. • Your reactions are too slow due to your vision. • You have trouble reading street signs. • You’ve had a near mishap, because you didn’t see a pedestrian, an object or another vehicle. • You get lost easily. • Your hearing has decreased • Your legs no longer work perfectly We suggest you start talking about these issues with your elderly parents as early as possible...
(JNS) - When a 27-year-old Israeli university student vacationing in Thailand on Oct. 7 was determined to fly home to join his military reserve unit, he was given an unusual seat on the sold-out and overbooked El Al flight to Tel Aviv: the plane's restroom. "I felt for the first time that it was a war for our existence, and that we need to be here to protect our country," Itay Kahana recounted in an interview with JNS on Sunday after completing nearly five months of reserve duty. "I had no...
Sitting in my comfortable environment in the United States, sharing discussions and expressions of upsets over what was happening in Israel left me with a deep pit of helplessness that could not be abated by writing a donation check or attending speakers. Israelis needed to know my unapologetic support, needed to know that we're not looking the other way, needed to see that we're here on their soil, needed to feel our hugs, and know that they're not abandoned or alone. I'm a first generation...
In October, on a miserable, windy, rainy day, Larry and I found a puddle on our kitchen floor. Looking up, we could see water coming from one of our recessed lights. Damn! We called a roofing company the next day. After spending an hour directing a hose onto spots on the roof, the roofer found nothing. “Just call us if it happens again.” It did. On Dec. 23, on another miserable, windy, rainy day, we had to again pull out the buckets to catch the water dripping from the same spot. As promised, the roofer came back free of charge. This time, he...
