Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump and adviser in his first administration, held a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon. A picture distributed by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office showed that Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer joined for the Israeli side, while Kushner was accompanied by Aryeh Lightstone, a senior adviser to Trump's special Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner touched down in Tel Aviv on Sunday...
(JNS) - Gal Pauker, 25, grew up around wine. His grandfather, Gideon Pauker, and three of Gideon's buddies-Gadi Mozes, Haim Perry and Yoram Metzger-started a winery on Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel, where they filled about 1,300 bottles a year with fine wine. It was a joint effort: Gideon planted the vineyard that supplied the grapes, and the friends would harvest together, choose the blend together, and enjoy the wine together. Then Hamas terrorists attacked the kibbutz on Oct. 7, 2023. Of...
(JNS) - Steven Meiner didn't wait long after he was reelected mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., to invite New Yorkers, who had just elected anti-Israel socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor, to move south. "To our friends up in New York. If you crave a law and order city, sunshine, ocean breezes, where economic growth is on the rise, Miami Beach is ready," wrote Meiner, an Orthodox Jew. "No state income tax, year-round warmth, world-class culture and neighborhoods that feel like home." Meiner, who...
(JNS) — Archaeologists in Israel’s Jezreel Valley have discovered the country’s oldest known winepress and other Canaanite items in Tel Meggido, where groundwork on a new road unearthed the artifacts, the Israel Antiquities Authority said on Wednesday. The winepress, which is 5,000 years old, and other items found “instruct us about everyday domestic Canaanite worship taking place outside Tel Megiddo,” said the IAA. The finds will be displayed at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of the Land of Israel in...
Community gathers in celebration at Jewish Pavilion's Harvest and Post-Sukkot Festival The spirit of Sukkot lingered joyfully on Nov. 6 as more than 100 guests came together at Watercrest Winter Park for the Jewish Pavilion's Harvest and Post-Sukkot Networking Festival. The evening radiated warmth, gratitude, and community connection - hallmarks of the Sukkot season. Attendees were treated to a festive atmosphere filled with lively music, delicious cuisine, and beautifully crafted harvest...
MAITLAND - The spirit of generosity filled Congregation Ohev Shalom this past week as hundreds of community members gathered for the ninth annual Men's Night Out, a fundraiser benefiting Jewish youth across Central Florida. The event, hosted jointly by the area's major synagogues, raised money to support children's programs, scholarships, and opportunities for local kids to attend Jewish camps like Camp Ramah or study abroad in Israel. Elliot Davis, one of the program's organizers, shared the...
The Rosen JCC will host its inaugural performing arts event with the acclaimed Orlando Ballet School on Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. at the Pargh Event Center. Following the performance, guests are invited to stay for an exclusive “talkback” session with the dancers. Because it is the first performance in the Pargh Event enter, the event is specially priced at $10 per adult/seniors and $5 per student/child. Donations are encouraged to help the Rosen JCC continue building a vibrant new home for the Arts at the J. Purchase tickets at htt...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces is preparing plans for “a renewed occupation of Gaza and the dismantling of Hamas,” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a member of Jerusalem’s Security Cabinet, told JNS on Monday. “We will be ready,” Smotrich said, speaking with JNS following a faction meeting of his Religious Zionism Party at the Knesset. “Now we have no hostages there and there are far fewer restrictions: fast, sharp, resolute,” he said. President Donald Trump “often used the word ‘violent,’ so I like that word,” Smotrich conti...
(JNS) — Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar reiterated on Monday that Jerusalem will not accept the inclusion of Turkish armed forces in President Donald Trump’s International Stabilization Force for the Gaza Strip. “Countries that want or are ready to send armed forces should be at least fair to Israel,” Sa’ar declared at a news conference in Budapest, speaking alongside his Hungarian counterpart, according to Reuters. “Turkey, led by [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, led a hostile approach against Israel,” the top diplomat stated. “So it...
(JNS) — Hundreds of Jewish community leaders from across the globe will gather in Jerusalem next week for a meeting of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Board of Governors, focusing on reconstruction and rehabilitation plans for northern and southern Israel in the wake of the country’s multi-front war over the past two years. The meeting, held on Nov. 2-4, discussed programs to encourage Jews to immigrate to Israel and to combat growing antisemitism worldwide, the Jewish Agency said in a statement on Thursday. J.A. Executive Chairman Maj. Gen....
(JNS) — An Israeli medical delegation is heading to Jamaica to provide humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean island nation in the aftermath of last week’s Hurricane Melissa, Jerusalem’s health and foreign ministries announced on Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is directing the team to help the local population recover from the devastating Atlantic Ocean storm, which according to Reuters took the lives of 32 people in Jamaica and 43 in Haiti as of Wednesday, with billions in economic damage. The team, led by Health Minis...
(JNS) — Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, said on Monday that it has “recovered the names of 5 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.” “Behind each name is a life that mattered,” stated Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem. “A child who never grew up, a parent who never came home, a voice that was silenced forever.” The memorial stated that many of the remaining names of Jewish victims, estimated to be about a million, will likely remain unknown forever. It added that researchers are analyzing “hundreds of...
(JNS) — The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that it is providing aid to minority communities in southern Syria. “As part of efforts to restore stability to southern Syria, the United States is providing humanitarian assistance to Suwayda, where Druze, Christian and Bedouin communities have faced violence, the destruction of their homes and have lost their livelihoods,” the department stated. “This assistance will support life-saving needs of approximately 60,000 people through targeted provision of food, water, and hygiene items,...
(JNS) - Thousands of Israelis paid their last respects to Israel Defense Forces Col. Asaf Hamami on Tuesday at the Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery in Tel Aviv, two days after his body was released from Gaza by Hamas. Hamami, who commanded the Southern Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces' Gaza Division, was killed defending Kibbutz Nirim from the Hamas-led terrorist invasion on Oct. 7, 2023. He became the most senior officer to have been taken hostage during the massacre. His remains were held...
(JNS) — Hours after Zohran Mamdani, an anti-Israel, self-identified socialist, was elected mayor of New York City, the Anti-Defamation League said that it is launching a tip line for city residents to reported Jew-hatred and a “Mamdani monitor.” The latter will be a “public-facing tracker monitoring policies, appointments and actions by the Mamdani administration that impact Jewish community safety and security.” “Drawing from tipline reports as well as enhanced ADL research capabilities, this Mamdani Monitor will provide transparenc...
(JNS) — As Israel continues to seek renewal and unity more than two years after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, a growing number of Jewish Israelis are turning to Shabbat as a source of strength and spiritual connection, according to South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein. “There’s a spiritual revolution happening in Israel, an outpouring of people wanting a deeper connection to Shabbat, and we’re feeling it on the ground with this year’s record participation in the Shabbat Project across the country,” Goldstein told JNS. The Shabbat Project, l...
(JNS) — Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said on Monday that Israel should demand policy concessions from Western countries in exchange for the life-saving intelligence it provides them. Cohen spoke at the second Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center conference in New York, marking the first time a senior Israeli official has proposed adopting such a policy. At the conference, Cohen revealed cases during his tenure when the Mossad shared life-saving intelligence, including with Australia. “We gave the Australians probably one of the most critical int...
New York gets $14.3 million more to protect nonprofits New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Monday that she secured $14.3 million in supplemental Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding for the state on top of the $44.8 million that it received last year out of $274.5 million in funds for the program nationally. “Keeping New Yorkers safe is my top priority,” the Democrat stated. She added that the federal program provides “essential funding to help thwart domestic terrorism.” “This grant program will enable nonprofit organizations in high-risk...
(JNS) — Israeli security forces on Tuesday enlisted the help of ZAKA’s Diving Unit in the ongoing search for the cellular phone of Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, Israel’s former military advocate general, now behind bars. ZAKA, an emergency response nonprofit, sent personnel to Tel Aviv’s Cliff Beach in a large-scale effort to locate the phone. They are covering an area up to 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from where Tomer-Yerushalmi was eventually located. Even if the phone is never found, cyber experts say some of the material, such as applica...
(JNS) — Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) lashed out at conservative firebrand and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson Saturday, calling him “the most dangerous antisemite in America.” Fine didn’t mince words on the third day of the four-day Republican Jewish Coalition annual legislative conference, taking place this weekend in Las Vegas. “Tucker Carlson is the most dangerous antisemite in America,” Fine told the 1,000 participants, making this year’s conference one of the more well-attended. “He has chosen to take on the mantle of leader of moder...
Zohran Mamdani has been elected mayor of New York City, delivering a decisive win in a three-way race that divided and in many cases distressed the city's Jews. Mamdani received a significant enough majority of votes that major news agencies declared the election less than 40 minutes after polls closed in the city, following the highest turnout in more than half a century. The results mean that Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist who ran on a platform of affordability, will now have a...
(JNS) — The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany on Wednesday settled with Germany’s Finance Ministry a $1.08 billion increase in home-care funding for Holocaust survivors for 2026, the largest budget for survivor home care in the organization’s history. The supplemental payments will go to more than 127,000 Holocaust survivors around the world, according to the Claims Conference. With the average age of survivors increasing from 86 in 2018 to 88.5 in 2024, the health needs of the survivors have become greater, with increased co...
This Sunday, Nov. 9, The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center will honor the memory of victims and survivors of the Holocaust, while also encouraging reflection on how to prevent such atrocities in the future. All are invited to come to the Holocaust Center to observe Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November Pogrom. This event will be held from 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. at the Holocaust Center. Register at hmrec.org/events....
(JNS) — On the first day of the Jewish National Fund-USA’s annual Global Conference, held in the heart of South Florida’s extensive Jewish community from Oct. 23-26, CEO Russell Robinson met with representatives from cities not particularly known as bastions of American Judaism. It’s part of a basic business strategy, Robinson told those in attendance. “If you’re not forecasting where your customer acquisition is going to be, if you’re not looking at your customer base and examining those pieces, you won’t be in business long,” he said....
The Jewish Pavilion Senior Services celebrated another successful year of community generosity with its Annual Online Charity Auction, held from October 19–24. The weeklong virtual event drew more than 500 participants and raised an impressive $37,000 to benefit seniors living in long-term care facilities throughout Central Florida. This annual auction is one of the Jewish Pavilion’s most anticipated fundraisers, supporting programs that bring companionship, cultural connections, and joy to eld...
