Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 1936
(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...
(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) — 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) — 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) — Nearly 80 members of Congress from both parties are calling for the Trump administration to end a freeze on security funding for religious institutions. The halt to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, or NSGP, began recently as part of an overall funding freeze on FEMA, the federal disaster relief agency. Synagogues, schools and Jewish community centers have long relied on the funding, which goes to religious institutions of all kinds, to pay for measures like security cameras or bollards to protect their buildings. “At a time whe...
(JNS) — The U.S. Department of Education sent notices to 60 universities on Monday warning that they could face consequences if they fail to meet their obligations, under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, to protect Jewish college students from harassment. Linda McMahon, the U.S. education secretary, stated that university leaders must do more to combat Jew-hatred on campus. “The department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eru...
(JNS) — The University of Pittsburgh, a more than 235-year-old public school in Pennsylvania, placed the campus Students for Justice in Palestine chapter on “interim suspension of registration” on Tuesday, the Pitt News, a student publication, reported. “Individuals acting on behalf of SJP” engaged “improperly” in “communications to members of the conduct hearing board,” Jamey Mentzer, associate director of student conduct at the highly-ranked university, reportedly wrote to the student group’s leaders. “This suspension has no specified end dat...
(JNS) — Egg prices remain high in much of the United States following an avian flu outbreak that led to the loss of many egg-laying chickens and has caused an ensuing egg shortage a month before the holidays of Passover and Easter in April, when eggs take center stage. Limited supplies as a result of what is commonly called the “bird flu” are related to the loss of many egg-laying chickens. According to CBS News, more than 148 million birds have been ordered euthanized since the current strain of bird flu was first detected in 2022. Curre...
Last night [March 11] House Republicans passed a government funding bill that fails to protect the programs American families depend on and fails to deliver the lower costs they’re counting on. I voted no—and I wanted to tell you why. This bill threatens to cut funding from a whole host of critical government programs—everything from healthcare and nutritional assistance to veterans benefits and disaster relief. It slashes resources from care for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances, and it risks throwing thousands of senio...
(JNS) — The wave of impending U.S. government layoffs has touched cities, suburbs and rural areas across the country. One demographic, in particular, is bracing for impact: Jewish day schools in and around Washington, D.C. Jewish Insider reported that “local schools, synagogues and social-service agencies are making plans to support laid-off community members and their families,” and wrestling with how fewer students and dues-paying members will upend their bottom lines. “It’s day schools, it’s camps, it’s early childhood, JCC memberships,...
(JNS) — Legislation to fund an account that pays compensation to American victims of terrorist attacks was reintroduced Tuesday. The American Victims of Terror Compensation Act, which has Democratic and Republican sponsors in both houses of Congress, is designed to guarantee that victims who win judgments against Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and other state sponsors of terror can be compensated. “While we can never bring back the loved ones lost in state-sponsored terror attacks like 9/11, we must ensure they have the support they need to...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — A pro-Israeli Hollywood collective known as “The Brigade” has issued a strongly-worded response to a campaign urging Oscar attendees to wear red pins in support of Gaza. In a statement shared on Monday night, the collective—comprising approximately 700 producers, actors, agents and filmmakers—criticized the symbolism and timing of the Artists4Ceasefire initiative, which was sent to Hollywood celebrities on Feb. 20, the same day Hamas returned the bodies of the Bibas children. “In 2000, Palestinian terrorists...
In March 2014, RAISE (Recognizing Abilities and Inclusion of Special Employees), a Federation of Greater Orlando program, was launched with five employees who worked part-time, two days a week for three hours at The Roth Family JCC and JFS Orlando. Ten years later, RAISE launched its program in Teaneck, New Jersey, which is now beginning its second year with four employees, and this year RAISE officially launched at Shalom Orlando in Austin, Texas. Interestingly, the launch is during Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month....
(JNS) — The nation’s chief law enforcement officer threatened Thursday to expel foreign students engaging in antisemitic protests on college campuses. “All of our students deserve to be safe,” Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, said at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 20. “These students, who are here on visas who are threatening our American students, need to be kicked out of this country,” Bondi added. Many college campuses erupted in protests...
(JTA) — Most American Jewish adults are altering their behavior due to fears of antisemitism, according to a new survey commissioned by the American Jewish Committee and published Tuesday. When asked in late 2024, about 56 percent of respondents said they changed their behavior in the preceding 12 months, up from 46 percent in 2023 and 38 percent in 2022. This figure includes respondents who said they avoided wearing clothing or displaying items that might identify them as Jewish, such as Stars of David; chose not to post content on social m...
(JTA) — After Oklahoma approved a request by the Catholic Church to open a charter school in 2023, lawsuits quickly followed. Courts at both the state and federal levels ruled against the church, finding that a publicly funded school promoting religion would be unconstitutional. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has taken up the case, signaling that the justices are willing to consider overturning a longstanding legal precedent protecting the separation of church and state. If the court allows St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School to become...
(JNS) — The Cleveland Jewish News Foundation’s “Educate the Educators” initiative aims to combat antisemitism and misinformation spread on college campuses around Ohio by sending a free copy of the award-winning Cleveland Jewish News each week to top college officials. Mark Bogomolny, board chair of the foundation, said the first round of newspapers was sent the week of Nov. 19, 2024, to 92 schools and universities, including public, private and technical schools across Ohio. Some of the recipients include Oberlin College, Case Western Reserve...
At the recent Jewish Chamber Breakfast on Feb. 6, a brief news clip was shown highlighting the opportunities available to Jewish business owners, including newly available minority grants. The news clip explained that the U.S. Department of Commerce has now officially recognized Jewish-owned businesses as minority business enterprises. This designation will enable Jewish entrepreneurs access to federal programs, contracts, loans and grants that previously were not available to them. In the past, Jewish businesses were not eligible for minority...
(JNS) — Several American Jewish groups congratulated U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance on his inauguration on Monday and stated that they look forward to working with him on a variety of issues, including fighting Jew-hatred. B’nai B’rith International cited collaborating on “combating antisemitism, safeguarding Jewish communities, ensuring Israel’s security, strengthening the vital U.S.-Israel alliance and other key policy priorities.” The American Jewish Committee mentioned working together “to strengthen Is...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — American students volunteering in Israel launched an initiative to show appreciation to wives of IDF reservists serving in Gaza and Lebanon. The project is a collaboration between the IS-Resilient organization and the OU-JLIC (Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus) student association. The volunteers, mostly university students, visited the homes of soldiers from reserve units stationed on the Gaza and Lebanon fronts. With the wives managing their households alone, the students provided them with much-needed support b...
(JTA) — A performer unfurled a banner showing the Sudanese and Palestinian flags and the words “Sudan” and “Gaza” during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Sunday. The performer, who was not immediately identified, was detained on the field and will be barred from all NFL stadiums for the rest of his life, the NFL said in a statement. The football organization and Roc Nation, which produced the halftime show, said the flag had not been part of any plan or rehearsal. “The individual hid the item on his possessio...
One of the flight attendants killed in the recent plane crash in Washington, D.C., was an alumnus of a Jewish youth group with a passion for travel and a talent for comedy. Ian Epstein, one of the four flight attendants on American Eagle Flight 5342, was an alumnus of the pluralist Jewish youth group BBYO, the group posted to Facebook on Thursday. He is one of 67 victims of the crash Wednesday night over the Potomac River, in which an army helicopter collided with a passenger plane. "Our hearts...
(JNS) — Harvard University has resolved two federal lawsuits alleging antisemitic discrimination on campus with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education. As part of the agreement, Harvard will incorporate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, and the contemporary examples appended to the definition, when evaluating whether alleged discrimination violates the university’s non-discrimination and anti-bullying policies. Harvard Unive...
(JTA) — Police in Tennessee are investigating whether an antisemitic manifesto posted online was written by a teenager accused of carrying out a fatal school shooting in Nashville on Jan. 22. The alleged shooter at Antioch High School appears to have posted a livestream of the shooting as well as content on his social media accounts prior to the attack, in which one student was killed. The material was removed after its connection to the shooting became known. According to The Tennessean newspaper, the materials attributed to the shooter, i...
