Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 551 - 575 of 4270
(JTA) — Leonard Cohen’s momentous trip to the Sinai Desert to perform for Israeli soldiers in the wake of the Yom Kippur War is being turned into a dramatized TV series. “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai” will be written by Yehonatan Indursky, a co-creator of “Shtisel,” the landmark Israeli drama about an Orthodox family in Jerusalem, according to Variety, which reported the news on Monday. The limited series, an adaptation of journalist Matti Friedman’s 2022 book of the same name, will film in Israel in 2024. It’s being co-produced by...
(JTA) — The eight crazy nights of Chanukah came early for Adam Sandler when the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Tuesday that the comedian and actor would be honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at a ceremony in March. The prize is presented annually to individuals “who have had an impact on American society” similar to that of the 19th-century novelist and humorist, “who startled many while delighting and informing many more with his uncompromising perspective on social injustice and personal folly.” Sandler,...
(JTA) – As “The Daily Show” looks ahead to a future without host Trevor Noah, at least three Jewish comedians are waiting to take his place — at least temporarily. Al Franken, Sarah Silverman and Chelsea Handler are among the extensive list of guest hosts Comedy Central has lined up to hold down the fort in 2023 following the Dec. 8 departure of Noah, who had taken over the show in 2015 after longtime Jewish host Jon Stewart called it quits. Noah, raised in South Africa, had a bar mitzvah and was raised by a single mom who converted to Judaism...
(JTA) – Once more for the record, Dave Chappelle: Jews don't actually run Hollywood. But anyone paying attention to pop culture in 2022 saw a lot of Jewish creativity. This year saw several big, distinctly Jewish releases across multiple media, ranging from acclaimed movies to popular TV shows to theater, books and viral TikToks. And amid endless debates over who has the right to tell (and be cast in) Jewish stories, it was notable just how many of the biggest pop-culture events of the year f...
Medical Alert systems should provide reliable, 24/7 monitoring by trained monitoring agents, allowing seniors and their caregivers to live with less worry, at home or on the go. An Alert system should provide the following: If there is an emergency, you should be able to push the button on your pendant or wristband. Systems with Fall Detection will automatically send an emergency alert to the company if a fall occurs. A monitoring center should receive the alert, and a trained monitoring agent should respond to over the base unit’s voice c...
Oy vey! - also: Oy vavoy! Oy vey iz mir! Oy gevalt! Or quite simply: Oy! - is an iconic Jewish expression that conveys the weariness of a people overly familiar with hardship and oppression, as well as the resilience of a people that finds hope and sometimes even humor in catastrophe. It's both heavy and light. It's tragic and funny. It's so much better with a thick Yiddish accent. But where did it come from? The word "oy" goes back thousands of years, all the way to the Hebrew Bible. In that cl...
(JTA) — Jewish eras can be defined by events (the fall of the Second Temple, the Inquisition, the founding of Israel) and by ideas (the rabbinic era, emancipation, post-denominationalism). It’s too early to tell what ideas will define this era, although a look back at the big debates of 2022 suggests Jews in North America will be discussing a few issues for a long time: the resurgence of antisemitism, the boundaries of free speech, the red/blue culture wars. Below are eight of some of the key debates of the past year as (mostly) reflected in...
(JTA) - Mat Ishbia, a billionaire mortgage lender who in high school was named Jewish athlete of the year by his hometown Jewish newspaper, has reportedly reached a $4 billion agreement to purchase the NBA's Phoenix Suns and WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. Ishbia is buying the teams from Robert Sarver, who cited his Jewish identity when he announced in September that he would sell the basketball teams he has owned since 2004. Sarver, a real estate businessman with a net worth of nearly $1 billion,...
(JNS) - Israeli archaeologists have discovered a small hoard of silver coins in the Judean Desert dating to the reign of Antioch IV, the ruler of the Seleucid Empire at the time of the rebellion of the Maccabees. The coins, 15 in all, were in a wooden container hidden some 2,200 years ago and uncovered during excavations at the Darageh Stream Nature Reserve overlooking the Dead Sea last May. The unique, lathe-turned wooden jar was discovered in a crack in the cave. When the lid was removed, pack...
Adult Day Care is a community-based program. There are more than 4,000 centers across the country with more than 78 percent operating on a nonprofit basis. All medical model adult day health care programs are affiliated and licensed under nursing homes. If you are considering an adult day health care program, here are some tips to help you get started in choosing the one best suited for your loved one. Select a daycare model: Decide whether you want a medical or social model. Medical Model Adult Day Health Care Program: The medical model...
(JNS) — Thirty-two percent of American Jews do not have time to be involved with Jewish organizations and institutions, and 28 percent do not consider those organizations a high priority on a personal level, according to a report published on Wednesday by the Ruderman Family Foundation. The report—titled “The American Jewish Community: Trends and Changes in Engagement and Perceptions”—is based on two surveys commissioned by the foundation and conducted by the Mellman Group in December 2019 and November 2021. Lack of time was the top obstacle...
(Jewish Journal via JNS) - I hope the Jew haters who bully a young Steven Spielberg in his new movie "The Fabelmans" get a chance to see the film. In fact, I hope Kanye "Ye" West, Kyrie Irving, Jew-hating white supremacists and any sect who believes American Jews are not the "real Jews" also see the film. I want them to see the film for many reasons, but primarily because of the young Spielberg's reaction to being called a "kike" and a "Christ killer" and getting beaten up by ignorant,...
(JTA) - Michelle Williams is one of the only non-Jewish actors with a starring role in "The Fabelmans," director Steven Spielberg's autobiographical film based on his Jewish family. But it turns out that Williams, who plays the Spielberg character's mother, has a Jewish family of her own. She told the Wall Street Journal that she and her Jewish husband, director Thomas Kail, are raising their two young children with Judaism and that she is studying the religion herself. "I can't teach it to...
(JNS) "Money doesn't buy you happiness," says Jesse Eisenberg, as Dr. Toby Fleishman. "Oh, of course it does," Claire Danes says, as his wife, Rachel, in the FX series "Fleishman Is in Trouble," available on Hulu. The miniseries is based on the eponymous New York Times best-selling book by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who wrote the series and is the showrunner. In it, Eisenberg delivers his best performance other than when he played Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network." Toby meets Rachel at a...
How are your relationships with friends, loved ones, or others around you? Are there people you wish you were closer to? The holidays can be the perfect time to nurture those relationships. It can be as easy as a phone call, grabbing a cup of coffee together, an afternoon walk in the park, or even sending them a surprise holiday gift. Make it a priority to show them that they are important to you and that you cherish them in your life. Remember that strong and healthy relationships can boost your overall well-being! Consider meeting with a JFS...
As a journalist in Israel in the 1980s, I'd covered the Lebanon War and violence in the West Bank. But I'd always felt like an outsider. Last month, I returned to Jerusalem after nearly 35 years away. This time, though, I wasn't just an observer. Dancing around a Torah scroll at a tiny Haredi yeshiva, I was a participant. That Torah was saved thanks to Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese official who rescued thousands of Jews from the Nazis - including my grandparents. For two days in...
(JTA) – Indy's going to sock it to the Third Reich once more. The fifth movie in the Indiana Jones series will plop Harrison Ford's heroic archaeologist into "a castle swarming with Nazis" in the year 1944, according to new plot details revealed in Empire Magazine this week. Digital de-aging technology will be used to make Ford appear young again for the opening sequence before the film transitions to the year 1969. Leaked set photos had previously hinted that Nazis would be involved in the s...
(JTA) - Given his place in the international literary canon, it's hard to believe that there has never been a widely-released documentary made about the Jewish Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow. That's about to change, as PBS debuts "American Masters: The Adventures of Saul Bellow" on Monday night. The documentary, which was filmed by Israeli director Asaf Galay between 2016 and 2019 and features what is being touted as the last interview Philip Roth gave before his death in 2018, digs deep into...
(New York Jewish Week) — It was a stupendously bad idea to arrive at the press preview for the New-York Historical Society’s new exhibit, “‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’: The Jewish Deli,” on an empty stomach. The exhibit — which originated at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles and opens in New York on Friday, Nov. 11 — traces the mouthwatering history of the Jewish deli, beginning with the first waves of Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These new Americans created a “fusion food born of immigration,” acco...
(JNS) — “Today, Theodor Herzl is best known for his beard, not his books,” laments Gil Troy, editor of “The Zionist Writings of Theodor Herzl,” in his introductory essay to a new edition of Herzl’s diaries. Troy, a professor of history at Canada’s McGill University now living in Israel, wants to make Zionism’s founders come alive for the next generation. His latest effort is a three-volume collection of Herzl’s writings. The brainchild behind the series is Matthew Miller, owner of Koren Publishers, a Jerusalem publishing house producing m...
(JTA) - It seemed like the last keg had been tapped for Shmaltz Brewing Company, until a rabbi-in-training stepped in for a Jewish renewal project. The Jewish craft beer label, best known for its He'Brew: The Chosen Beer line of drinks, shut down last year after 25 years when its founder, Jeremy Cowan, said he wanted to focus on his other businesses. But now it's been sold to a new owner: Jesse Epstein, a 26-year-old Reform rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College who first got into home...
As this year comes to a close, it might be time to glance in the rear view mirror. How was your year? Did you have several accomplishments you're proud of, or maybe you made a few mistakes you wish you could fix? Perhaps there was a significant loss or disappointment that still weighs heavy on you. Whether good or bad, looking back can help you learn where you are, know where you still want to go in the future, and gain the resilience we need to move forward and continue to live life to the...
(JNS) — It has been proven that the Birthright program produces lifelong connections between young Jews and Israel. Studies also show that participants are more likely to build Jewish families. But could it produce the next Jewish comedy star? The new Birthright Israel Labs initiative is holding a competition to find Jewish comedy’s next breakout performer. The winner gets a coveted slot at the all-Jewish Chosen Comedy Festival in Miami on Dec. 14, joking it up alongside some of the business’ more well-known comedians and musicians. “I’ve...
(JTA) — Bucking weeks of public pressure from Jewish groups, celebrities and the Brooklyn Nets, Amazon will not stop selling an antisemitic documentary on its service that was promoted by NBA star Kyrie Irving. The company’s CEO Andy Jassy, who is Jewish, said Wednesday that Amazon had no plans to remove or add a disclaimer to “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” whose Amazon link Irving ignited a firestorm by tweeting about it earlier this month. Amazon had previously considered whether to add a disclaimer. “As a retailer of content to...
(JNS) - Adam Sandler recounted a funny remark from a celebrity mentioned in his famous "The Chanukah Song" when he spoke to a crowd at the 92nd Street Y (now called 92NY) in Manhattan on Tuesday night. Following a screening of his new film "Hustle," Sandler said he showed his daughters the spot on 56th and Broadway where he stood in front of a diner and had the idea for the tune. "I am so proud of that song, I love it," Sandler said, explaining that he excitedly wrote the song at the NBC...
