Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 89
It's unbelievable to see what happened to my city, my friends, my community. Hurricane Ian decimated Fort Myers Beach, along with homes, businesses, roads and vehicles, and left much of the area unrecognizable. It has been described as an apocalyptic scene. The death toll is currently at 109 deaths in the United States, the vast majority in Florida. Two Holocaust survivors in their 90s are among the many Southwest Floridians displaced by Hurricane Ian last week. The couple lived in a mobile...
(JTA) - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ratcheted up the fight over the state's new 15-week abortion ban Thursday when he suspended a Tampa-area state attorney who had vowed not to prosecute violations. The move also vaulted yet another Jewish figure into the fight's foreground. Andrew Warren, the state attorney for Hillsborough County, had joined more than 90 other attorneys nationwide in pledging not to prosecute individuals who seek or provide abortions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's...
(JNS) — Antisemitic fliers claiming that Jews control the media were found outside homes in Minnesota, Georgia, New York and Florida in recent days, and are being attributed to the same group that marched with swastika flags in Tampa, Fla., on July 23. “Six Jewish media corporations own 96 percent of the media,” read the fliers, which were contained in plastic bags weighed down with corn kernels and included photos of several Jewish media insiders with a Magen David, or Star of David, on their forehead. It included the web address for the a...
Dr. Gunther Jikeli, director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism at Indiana University will address the question of “Anti-Antisemitism: Online, Offline and What To Do About It” in the Virginia Room on the second floor of the Ringhaver Student Center at Flagler College, 50 Sevilla Street, St. Augustine, Florida 32084 at 4 pm. Thursday, Aug. 25. This event, sponsored by Flagler College and Dr. Larry Kanter, is open to the public. All are welcome. No prior arrangements are necessary. There is no charge for this event. For...
(New York Jewish Week) - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke about the success of the Jewish community in the Sunshine State and the need to fight "wokeness" in an address to a conservative Jewish group in New York City. "They can't cancel me," the Republican governor began his speech, delivered before an audience of approximately 700 at the Tikvah Fund's Jewish Leadership Conference, held at Chelsea Piers. "I'm gonna speak my mind. When the left is having a spasm, that just tells you that in...
SARASOTA, Fla. (JTA) — A synagogue in Florida filed a lawsuit this week to challenge the state over a new law prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks. Under current law, Florida allows abortions up to 24 weeks. Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor of Boynton Beach claims the new law, which has been signed by Republican Governor Ron De Santis and is set to take effect on July 1, violates the religious freedom rights of Jews. The lawsuit, which was filed Friday in Leon County Circuit Court, claims that the act “prohibits Jewish women from practicing their...
(JNS) - A fire ripped through Chabad-Lubavitch of the Panhandle, in Tallahassee, Fla., gutting the newly renovated building and consuming the Torah scrolls. The Tallahassee Fire Department confirmed that firefighters were dispatched to the Chabad center at 3:21 a.m. on Sunday. "Crews found fire showing and heavy smoke coming from the eaves," the fire department wrote in a statement. The cause of the fire, which ravaged the 11,000-square-foot building, is under investigation. No injuries were...
(JTA) - In a purge following accusations that textbook publishers were trying to "indoctrinate" students in allegedly liberal concepts, Florida rejected dozens of math books from being used in the state's schools. One of them contained a string of Jewish jokes - including one that a conservative activist flagged as antisemitic: "Why do Jewish divorces cost so much? Because they're worth it." The joke is attributed to Henny Youngman, the late Jewish comedian, and was included in the book...
The St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society will explore the history of Temple Bet Yam in the synagogue’s facility at 2055 Wildwood Drive, St. Augustine, Florida 32086, on Wednesday, May 11, at 2 p.m. Founded in 1993, the establishment of Bet Yam is a local expression of a seismic shift within the world of American Jewry toward a more liberal understanding and interpretation of Jewish Heritage. The program will include presentations by Temple Bet Yam founders Shelly and Marty Cohen, Carol Gladstone, Joan Guglielmo, and Donna and Elliott P...
(JTA) — A woman was killed at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center in Florida’s Miami-Dade County on Sunday in what police are calling an act of domestic violence. Police said the woman was killed by her husband while she attended her daughter’s swimming lesson. In a statement, the community center said police believed there to be “no known threat to the Jewish community.” That weekend a number of the Greater Orlando Federation and The Roth Family JCC staff members were at the Michael Ann Russell JCC for the Florida JCC Professional...
(JNS) — A fraternity at the University of South Florida was suspended after photos circulated of a Feb. 11 event in which members of the group, including a Jewish student, reportedly had swastikas drawn on their “shirts or body parts.” Noting that the school’s rules against hazing and alcohol were violated at the off-campus “bid party” by the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, university officials said in a letter to the president of the fraternity that “the continual operations of the organization at USF likely pose an ongoing threat, disruption, o...
St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society presents a teaching among the most under-told stories in history — the Jewish history of St. Augustine. This important event shares the story of the Jewish people in the New World. The event is open to the community and is free. Register online via jcajax.org or call 904-730-2100, ext. 233....
(JNS) — Jewish groups and some politicians are decrying neo-Nazi activity that took place in Orlando, Fla., over the weekend, even as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis alleges his political enemies are trying to use the incident to “smear” him. On Saturday, some two dozen neo-Nazis from two hate groups, Goyim Defense League and National Socialist Movement, rallied in Orlando, calling Jews “the devil” and saying, “Jews rape children and drink their blood,” according to the watchdog group StopAntisemitism.com. They also hung flags with swastikas and bann...
(JTA) - Nikki Fried, the outspoken Jewish Democratic candidate running for governor in Florida, compared her rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis, to Hitler in an interview, prompting DeSantis supporters to defend his record on Jewish issues. Fried, Florida's current agriculture commissioner and a former marijuana lobbyist with ties to the state's Jewish community, made the comparison in an NPR interview on Friday. "He is doing everything possible to take power away from local governments, taking away...
(JTA) — Just ahead of Chanukah, the Jewish Federation of Broward County in Florida tried to purchase an ad on Facebook, a simple post calling attention to the problem of antisemitism as a part of a new nationwide campaign called “Shine a Light.” But Facebook’s automated system rejected the ad without explanation, leading federation officials to suspect the post was accidentally ensnared by a filter designed to block hate speech. “Unfortunately, Facebook inexplicably rejected our ads, presumably because they contained the words ‘hate’ and ‘anti-...
Michael A. Igel, chair of the Florida Commissioner's Task Force on Holocaust Education and Board Chair of The Florida Holocaust Museum, strongly denounces educators who claim there are two sides to the Holocaust. This comes on the heels of a Florida principal being reinstated despite refusing to acknowledge the Holocaust as a historical fact, and a Texas school administrator instructing teachers to balance Holocaust education with books denying the atrocities. Igel issued the following statement...
(JNS) The Florida State Board of Education adopted new civics and Holocaust-education standards for Florida’s public schools in July, which had been pushed by the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis. The new social-studies standards spell out what students should learn about civics and the Holocaust in their classes from kindergarten to 12th grade. Florida has required that students be taught about the Holocaust since 1994, but there had been no standards detailing what specifically should be covered and in what grade. The new standards aim to provi...
(ORLANDO, FL) — Investing two years of research and commitment, Laurie Cardoza-Moore, founder and president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations is grateful as both Civics and Holocaust Standards submitted by PJTN were approved late last week for adoption and use in Florida classrooms. She noted on the vote, “Our work in preserving America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and values in our children’s Civics education amid the national push towards Critical Race Theory will benefit the more than 1.8 million students in Florida classrooms — as will th...
(JNS) — The state of Florida notified Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, on Tuesday that it has 90 days to cease its “boycott of Israel” or face a ban on contracts and investments with the Sunshine State. The move is in response to the July 19 announcement that the ice-cream maker will stop selling its product in areas it calls “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” which includes the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem. It comes after Florida state officials held talks with Unilever’s investor-relations department on July 28 an...
(ORLANDO, FL) – Investing two years of research and commitment, Laurie Cardoza-Moore, founder and president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, is grateful as both Civics and Holocaust Standards submitted by PJTN were approved late last week for adoption and use in Florida classrooms. She noted on the vote, "Our work in preserving America's Judeo-Christian heritage and values in our children's Civics education amid the national push towards Critical Race Theory will benefit the more than 1.8...
This article will be updated as more names are identified by authorities in Florida. (JTA) - The Champlain Towers South building collapse is a national tragedy, one that has claimed nearly 20 lives so far and left over 140 still missing in the rubble as of Thursday. Among other groups, it struck a unique nexus of the American Jewish community in South Florida, home to a mix of Latin American immigrants, Israelis and retirees from the Northeast. The town of Surfside, the site of the collapse, is...
SURFSIDE, Fla. (JTA) - Nachman Shai's first visit to the United States as Israel's new minister for Diaspora affairs was not under normal circumstances. "In hard times, in times of disaster, we have to stand shoulder to shoulder with Americans," he said in an interview on Sunday in The Shul, the Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue located about a mile from the remains of the collapsed Champlain Towers building here that has left over 150 people unaccounted for. Shai, 74, was previously best known as the...
(JNS) - Controlled explosives on Sunday brought down the rest of the condominium in Surfside, Fla., that collapsed on June 24, leaving more than 140 people dead or missing. The confirmed death toll rose to 24 on Saturday with 121 still missing at the site in the heavily Jewish area. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava signed an emergency order to bring down the building due to the approach of Tropical Storm Elsa, which is expected to hit the Florida coast on Tuesday. Officials feared...
(Israel21C via JNS) - "I saw in the news that you were coming from Israel for us, and I was waiting for you," said a tearful young woman in Surfside, Florida, to members of the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit from United Hatzalah of Israel. "People kept coming up to us and saying how happy they were that we arrived," said Batya Jaffe, who was on the scene with her therapy dog, Lucy. They were part of the six-person PCRU team that landed in Miami Sunday morning, along with a search-and-resc...
(JNS) - A rescue delegation from the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command is using visual intelligence techniques and information received from families of the victims to precisely map out the wreckage of a condo that crashed in a Miami suburb last week. This mapping-out method is enabling rescue teams to more quickly reach the remains of victims and identify them accurately, military representatives said on Wednesday. In recent days, additional members of the Home Front Command joined the...
