Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Several years ago, Mark Stone had the idea to walk across America to raise awareness of the need in America for more people to give blood. Now, a few years later, Stone is revisiting this idea with a lot of more vigor. As a representative of Congregation Ohev Shalom's Men's Club, he ran three Blood Drives a year for 25 years. He doesn't just encourage others to give blood, he himself is a dedicated blood giver. As of a few weeks ago, he donated his 88th pint of blood, making him an 11 Gallon...
(JNS) - The U.S. Senate voted 53-46 on April 9 to confirm Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, to be U.S. ambassador to Israel. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the lone Democrat to back Huckabee, who has mounted two presidential campaigns since leaving office, and has been a TV and radio host since 2008. Every Republican voted to confirm Huckabee except Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who did not vote. Ahead of the vote, Republicans said that Huckabee would be a more pro-Israel diplo...
(JTA) - Florida's Todd Golden became the first Jewish coach in 37 years to win March Madness, the NCAA men's basketball tournament, since 1988. The Gators edged Houston 65-63 in the final on Monday night. Golden's championship capped an especially Jewish- and Israeli-inflected Final Four. Along with Florida, Duke and Auburn were coached, respectively, by Jon Scheyer and Bruce Pearl, both of whom are Jewish. Houston player Emanuel Sharp is the son of longtime Maccabi Tel Aviv player Derrick...
On Wednesday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m., Chabad of North Orlando is honored to host Irving Locker at Nate's Shul ,1701 Markham Woods Road in Longwood, for a special presentation of his remarkable journey. This event is an opportunity to hear firsthand from a true hero who has spent his life ensuring that the sacrifices of the greatest generation are never forgotten. Irving Locker, a name synonymous with courage and resilience, was one of the 156,000 soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on...
It all started when Russell Kropp, a student at Trinity Prep, decided that his bar mitzvah project would be to bring joy to seniors by having them see a musical performed by the students at Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park, Florida. The first event happened in the fall, when Russell and his mom, Rachel, contacted Cantor Nina Fine to help connect them with seniors to bring to the show, “Something Rotten,” which Russell and Cantor Fine’s son, Dylan, were performing in. Cantor Fine reached out to Susan Godorov at Kinneret Apart...
On Sunday, May 18 from 5-9 p.m., Temple Israel’s Roth Social Hall will transform into a casino, where you can test your luck at the tables, win prizes, and even renew your wedding vows. “It’s Vegas, Baby!” is a fundraiser you’ll want to take a gamble on! Play poker, craps, blackjack, roulette, and more while enjoying drinks and heavy appetizers. Off the tables, you’ll find a human slot machine and horse races. Take a break for some romance and renew your vows at the Oy Vegas Wedding Chapel, officiated by Rabbi Joshua Neely under the chuppah...
(JNS) — Yarden Bibas, whose wife and children were murdered by Hamas terrorists, discussed for the first time the horrors of captivity in Gaza, speaking to CBS‘s “60 Minutes” along with former hostages Keith Siegel and Tal Shoham. Bibas said he chose an American news outlet for his first interview because he wanted the White House and U.S. President Donald Trump to hear his plea to bring a stop to the fighting in the Gaza Strip. Israel resumed airstrikes on March 18 after a two-month ceasefire. “Please stop this war and help bring all the h...
(JTA) — A Pennsylvania man will be charged with terrorism and attempted murder after allegedly firebombing the official residence of Gov. Josh Shapiro, hours after Shapiro and his family hosted a Passover seder there. On Saturday, Shapiro posted a picture of a table set for the seder on social media, with the message, “From the Shapiro family’s Seder table to yours, happy Passover and Chag Pesach Sameach!” On Sunday, he shared that Pennsylvania State Police officers had awoken him and his family at 2 a.m. to alert them that an arsonist had set...
(JTA) — Nearly 1,000 active and retired reservists in Israel’s Air Force have called for their government to strike a deal to release Israeli hostages in exchange for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, arguing that the fighting endangers the captives’ lives as well as innocent civilians. In response, the Air Force said it would dismiss any active-duty reservists who signed the letter, accusing them of using the force’s “brand” to voice their opinion. “Refusal to serve is refusal to serve — even if it implied and in polite language,” Prim...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said that he couldn’t understand why Israel ever gave up the Gaza Strip. During a press conference in the Oval Office on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the president said, “They took oceanfront property and they gave it to people for peace. How did that work out? Not good.” Netanyahu traveled from Hungary to Washington, D.C., on Sunday for an unplanned visit to resolve a tariff dispute. Referring to Netanyahu, Trump said he knew that “this man” would never have done it. “He w...
(JTA) - Picture a Jew in Miami. Is the person you're thinking of older? Perhaps a retiree from New York - complete with the accent - who lives in a condo on the beach? According to a recent Jewish population study of Miami-Dade County, at least part of that snapshot is becoming outdated. The southeast corner of the Sunshine State is growing - and getting younger. The new document, released Monday and titled "Jewish Miami: A 2024 Community Study," found that the Jewish population of Miami-Dade...
Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando is proud to announce that the 2025 Kobrin Family Scholarship application is now available. Established in 1990, this college scholarship is awarded to a qualified, full-time, graduating high school student in the Jewish communities of Orange, Osceola or Seminole County who will be attending the University of Central Florida. The scholarship is available in the amount of $2,500 per year for a maximum of four (4) years. Scholarship recipients must maintain a 3.1 GPA each year while at UCF in order to...
The Restock & Rebuild Challenge began on April 7 and runs through May 4. Every donation to Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando during the Restock & Rebuild Challenge is being generously matched dollar for dollar by The Weiner Family and The Winter Park Wealth Group, with a total match of up to $40,000. JFS Orlando continues to meet the increasing needs of our community by food assistance in the Pearlman Pantry to those seeking help coping with the stress of near poverty through JFS’s Counseling services or working to improve their l...
Jewish Family Services Orlando programs have helped countless families for decades are in danger of being shuttered and President Philip Flynn III is heartsick. Over 20,000 people each year rely on JFS's Family of Services. These vital programs keep those most vulnerable in the community from homelessness with the Family Stabilization Program, address food insecurity through the Pearlman Food Pantry, provide mental health counseling through the Counseling, Growth, & Development program, and...
(JNS) — Below is the full text of the statement delivered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on April 7, 2025: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Donald. I want to first thank you for inviting me again to the White House. You’ve been a remarkable friend of the State of Israel. You stand by us, you’re standing with us, you’re a great, great champion of our alliance and you actually do things that you say you do. And I think people respect that enormously. I certainly do, and th...
(JNS) — In early March, during a family trip to Tel Azekah near Beit Shemesh, three-and-a-half-year-old Ziv Nitzan from Moshav Ramot Meir stumbled upon an extraordinary piece of history — an ancient scarab amulet dating back approximately 3,800 years. The young girl’s discovery was purely accidental, according to her sister, Omer Nitzan. “We were walking along the path when Ziv bent down and picked up a particular stone,” she said, according to a press release published by the Israel Antiquities Authority. “After rubbing off the sand, we sa...
IDF dismantles kilometer-long Hamas tunnel in Gaza By JNS Staff (JNS) — The IDF announced on Monday that it had destroyed a kilometer-long (0.6 miles) Hamas tunnel in the Beit Lahiya area amid its ongoing operations in northern and central Gaza. Separately, Israeli troops also uncovered a rocket production workshop, as well as launchers, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Dozens of terrorists have been eliminated, the military added. “IDF troops will continue to operate against terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to protect the citiz...
(JNS) - The Western Wall Heritage Foundation removed tens of thousands of prayer notes from Judaism's second-holiest site on April 2 in preparation for the Passover holiday, which starts on April 12. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites, oversaw the annual extraction of prayer notes, which will be buried alongside disposed sacred writings according to Jewish customs. "The removal was carried out according to halachic guidelines, using gloves and disposable wooden...
Temple Israel Sisterhood has recently taken their sense of camaraderie and creativity to new heights by organizing a series of exciting crafty events, including glass blowing at the Orlando Glass Blowing Center, pottery painting, and painting by numbers. These activities offered members a unique chance to come together, tap into their artistic side, and enjoy some much-needed relaxation. Glass Blowing at the Orlando Glass Blowing Center: A Spark of Creativity One of the most exciting and dynamic...
By Mike Wagenheim (JNS) — Former hostage Amit Soussana was decorated with an International Women of Courage Award by the U.S. State Department on April 1 as she called for a global effort to free the remaining captives held in Gaza. Soussana, who was sexually assaulted after being taken from her Kibbutz Kfar Aza home during Hamas’s rampage through southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was the only one of the eight award recipients asked to give a keynote speech. “While I am here, my friends remain in the darkness, 543 long days and nights,” said So...
(JTA) — As Sen. Cory Booker broke the record for the longest Senate speech and made clear he was going for 25 hours, Jewish social media lit up with jokes. “This is the closest Cory Booker will get to experiencing Yom Kippur,” tweeted Sami Sage, the co-founder of Betches Media, in one representative post. As Jews do on Yom Kippur, Booker fasted during his entire Senate speech, consuming only a few sips of water. He also apologized for his and his party’s errors that allowed Donald Trump to retake the presidency. And with the help of his Dem...
(JNS) — America’s youngest adults continue to be an outlier in their views of Hamas and Israel, according to a poll released on Monday. The Harvard Harris poll for March found that 48 percent of American 18- to 24-year-olds say they support Hamas over the Jewish state, making them the only age demographic for which Israel did not enjoy at least double-digit support over the terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. By contrast, 93 percent of Americans 65 and older say they support Israel compared to just 7 percent who say they support Hamas. Ove...
(JNS) — A 2,200-year-old pyramid-shaped structure from the days of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid rulers is being unearthed in the Judean Desert in one of the richest and most intriguing archaeological excavations in the area, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday. The mammoth structure discovered just north of Nahal Zohar near the Dead Sea is made of hand-hewn stones, each one weighing hundreds of kilograms, the state-run archaeological body said. Two millennia old historical documents written in Greek on papyrus, bronze coins, w...
(JNS) — Chocolate bars under the three-year-old snack brand Feastables, founded by YouTube star MrBeast, are now certified kosher by the Orthodox Union. Jimmy Donaldson, 26, who goes by MrBeast, boasts the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, with 375 million followers as of March 2025. The Orthodox Union certification of the bars as kosher and dairy began in February stateside. The company expects to roll out kosher bars in Canada and Mexico this spring and in Europe and Australia in the fall. “As the fastest-growing global chocolate brand, we...
(JTA) — The Nova music festival, where more than 350 people were murdered on Oct. 7, 2023, has quickly become one of the most visited tourist destinations in Israel. More than 200,000 people per month visited the site, at Kibbutz Reim near the Gaza border, on average over the last six months, according to Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund. If sustained, that pace would put Nova on track to draw more visitors than the Dead Sea or Tel Aviv’s Anu Museum, which focuses on the Jewis...
