Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1637 - 1661 of 1886
(JTA)—While the 2013 Pew survey uncovered some disturbing evidence of lower levels of Jewish engagement among young people, the same survey contains several pieces of good news for Reform Jews—5,000 of whom are gathering this week in Orlando, Florida, for the movement’s biennial conference organized by the Union for Reform Judaism. Since 1990, Reform synagogue members not only grew in number, but they held steady on several measures of Jewish engagement, even as their rate of intermarriage soared and the number with predominantly Jewish frien...
Strained ties between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama in recent years have stood in contrast with a warm relationship between Netanyahu and Congress, particularly in the House of Representatives, which has been controlled by Republicans since 2011. Under the leadership of former House speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the House has steadfastly approved pro-Israel legislation such as financial support for the Iron Dome missile defense system and majority opposition (but not enough to override a...
(JTA)—The Rabbinical Council of America, the main modern Orthodox rabbinical group, formally adopted a policy prohibiting the ordination or hiring of women rabbis. The policy announced last Friday by the RCA came after a direct vote of its membership, according to the organization. The resolution states: “RCA members with positions in Orthodox institutions may not ordain women into the Orthodox rabbinate, regardless of the title used; or hire or ratify the hiring of a woman into a rabbinic position at an Orthodox institution; or allow a tit...
(JTA)-I interviewed Bernie Sanders a couple years ago when word first circulated that the Vermont senator might seek the presidency. Though he knew about JTA going in-and must have known questions about his Jewish background were coming-he didn't want to get into it. I wrote at the time: "But Sanders is hesitant to draw a connection between his Jewish background and his priorities as a senator. With a series of observations about the Jewish history of rootlessness and oppression, Sanders begins...
(JTA)-Dennis Ross' book about the United States-Israel relationship is about to come out, and it includes a bombshell revelation about tensions between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ross, in a passage excerpted from the book Oct. 8 in Politico, says that Susan Rice, the U.S. national security adviser, was so furious with Netanyahu's angry reaction to news of an acceleration in Iran nuclear talks in November 2013 that she told Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defam...
The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) is proud to announce that the United States Department of Health and Human Services has awarded the organization $12 million over 5 years, pending the availability of federal funds, to advance innovations in person-centered, trauma-informed supportive services for Holocaust survivors. This award will help Jewish organizations and the broader Aging Services Network support the compounded and urgent needs of Holocaust survivors, and ultimately, all aging survivors of trauma. “We are honored and h...
On Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, the Pennsylvania Senate by vote of 49 to 0 passed Resolution No. 136 Session of 2015 Printer’s No. 979. The Resolution condemned economic, social, cultural and other boycotts of Israel and growing incidents of anti-Semitism. The House previously passed a similar Resolution. House Resolution 370 Session of 2015 Printer’s No. 1697 was introduced by Matt Baker of Tioga County. The Senate Resolution was introduced by Senator Stew Greenleaf of Montgomery and Bucks Counties. The Resolutions note the historical fact that the...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The Obama administration has awarded $12 million for assistance to Holocaust survivors. The allocation from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Jewish Federations of North America, to be disbursed over five years, is part of an initiative launched in late 2013 by Vice President Joe Biden to address the needs of survivors in the United States, a quarter of whom live below the poverty line. Combined with matching private funds, the approximately $2.5 million per year over the five years “will support $4.1 mil...
AIPAC Assistant Director of Policy and Government Affairs Carmiel Arbit will be in Winter Park on Wednesday, Oct. 28 to give a community briefing on Israel's safety and security in a changing Middle East. As an assistant director of Policy and Government Affairs, Arbit focuses on U.S. policy on the Middle East. She previously worked at the Brookings Institute's Saban Center for Middle East Policy. A co-founder of Key Bridge Strategies, Arbit has consulted for USAID and State Department...
John Boehner, the Republican from Ohio who is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, is quitting politics. According to reports, Boehner is sick of navigating two irreconcilable forces: the Obama White House and conservatives in his caucus. Now that he's going, maybe Boehner will feel free to elaborate on his role in the secret that launched the ongoing U.S.-Israel crisis-and perhaps permanently changed the relationship between the two countries. The question is: Was it a reluctant,...
As has been typical throughout all the years that President Obama has been in office, his latest holiday message to Jews differs significantly from his holiday message to Muslims in troubling ways for the Jewish community. In past years, President Obama’s Rosh Hashanah messages hardly mention the word “Jew” or “Judaism,” while his messages on Ramadan frequently mention the word “Islam” and “Muslim.” In addition, the president has never lectured Muslims on how to behave or urged them to repent for their sins. Yet Obama’s Rosh Hashanah messages f...
(JTA)-As a top pitcher in Major League Baseball for nearly 20 years, Curt Schilling didn't make many errors. On Aug. 25, however, he acknowledged that he made a costly one. On that morning, the three-time World Series champion tweeted an image of Hitler against a dark blood-red background that compared modern Muslims to the German population under Hitler. Schilling deleted the tweet shortly after posting it. "It's said that only 5-10 percent of Muslims are extremists," the graphic read. "In...
At a recent community forum sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, Rep. Alan Grayson (D, Fla., 9th District) stated that he was not sure how he would vote on the Iran nuclear deal. In an e-mailed letter, Rep. Grayson wrote the following: I will be voting in favor of the Iran nuclear agreement. The reasons are many and varied, but the reason that weighs most heavily in my mind is the proverbial worst-case scenario: Scene 1: Congress rejects the deal. International sanctions fall a...
NEW YORK—Birthright Israel, the organization responsible for sending over 500,000 young Jewish adults on a free 10-day trip to Israel to learn about their heritage, will launch an improved application portal for its 2015/2016 Winter season, which opened Sept. 8. The Winter season follows Birthright Israel’s largest Summer trips with nearly 30,000 participants. To register, visit www.Birthrightisrael.com/go. Birthright Israel will also be introducing several new opportunities for participants this year. The Birthright Israel Academic pro...
(JTA)-Donald Trump has called the Iran deal "terrible" in recent months. But in an interview on Sept. 3, the current Republican front-runner revealed some gaps in his knowledge of the Middle East. Trump spoke with Hugh Hewitt, a popular conservative radio host, who asked the real estate mogul some "commander-in-chief questions" about the region. When asked about the two militant groups, Trump said the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah does not matter to him yet. "[The difference] will...
(JTA)-Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor running for the Republican presidential nomination, has been called out for exaggerating his role in the rescue of Ethiopian Jews in the 1980s. Bush takes credit on his campaign website for Operation Joshua, a U.S.-led transfer of Ethiopian Jews from Sudanese refugee camps to Israel in 1985. The website says: "In the 1980's thousands of members of the Jewish community had fled their homeland due to famine for a refugee camp in Sudan. Jeb, hearing of...
(Washington, D.C., Sept. 11, 2015)—B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement: B’nai B’rith International commends the U.S. House of Representatives for passing a resolution of disapproval regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program. This is a strong message to Iran that our elected representatives have listened to the American people, debated and ultimately spoken out against the deal. We are pleased to see that a majority of the House agrees that the Iran nuclear deal is unlikely...
On Aug. 28, 2015, the American Jewish Community participated in the live broadcast of the "Special Address by President Barack Obama" presented by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. The address served as an opportunity for dialogue between the president and the American Jewish people on the issue of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. The event was moderated and hosted jointly by the JFNA's Michael Siegal and the...
(JTA)—Across the United States, Jewish community groups have appeared unsure about exactly how to respond to the Iran nuclear deal. Consider Massachusetts. Three groups in the state last month attempted to coordinate a single statement on the Iran nuclear deal now under consideration by Congress. The underlying sentiment: Working with Congress, the Obama administration should find a way to “address serious questions about the vulnerabilities” of the deal. As planned, almost identical statements were released by the Jewish Community Relations Co...
On Friday, Aug. 14, the nearly 100 executive leaders of the Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA) and the B’nai B’rith Girls (BBG), the high school leadership fraternity and sorority of BBYO, gathered for their annual International August Executives Conference, where they work together to set the priorities for the Movement for the coming year. One of the motions that passed ensures BBYO continues to be fully gender inclusive and pluralistic. The motion from teens across the BBYO International Order asserts: Young people who genuinely identify as Jew...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Bernie Sanders' best friend is a Zionist who teaches Jewish philosophy, he had a formative experience on a kibbutz and "Saturday Night Live" dubbed him the "old Jew." Still, Sanders can't get away from the inevitable "But where is he on Israel?" question, especially now that the Democratic presidential contender, an Independent senator from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, has pulled ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton in New Hampshire, the first primary state. "Do you view your...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The dredging up of the dual loyalty charge-that lawmakers who reject the Iran nuclear agreement and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is lobbying against it, are more closely aligned with Israel than the United States-illustrates just how tense the debate over the deal has become. The charge came to the fore after Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the highest-ranking Jewish Democrat in the Senate, announced last week that he was opposing the deal reached July 14...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Among the expansive field of 2016 Republican presidential candidates on display in the party's first debates, Donald Trump may be the most closely connected to the Jewish people. Trump is from New York, works in professions saturated with Jews and long has been a vocal supporter of Israel. His daughter and two grandchildren are Jewish, the executive vice president of his organization is Jewish-and Trump certainly has chutzpah. But you won't find Jewish donors of influence in...
(JTA)-Got questions about the Iran nuclear deal? Too bad, if you were an AIPAC activist at a briefing this week with top Obama administration officials. At the briefing Wednesday, Howard Kohr, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's director, stopped the proceedings before his activists could ask questions. Why? And what does the leak of the story mean? Did the Obama administration bigfoot AIPAC and muscle into the pro-Israel group's lobbying session only to disingenuously complain when a...
(JTA)—An Albuquerque, New Mexico, man who made anti-Semitic threats against the Jewish owner of a local Jewish deli pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor hate crime. John Ng, 58, pleaded guilty Aug. 6 and was sentenced to four years probation, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico. The FBI arrested Ng in March 2014 for posting threatening, anti-Semitic notes on the door of the Nosh Jewish Delicatessen and Bakery on two occasions in 2014, on Jan. 22 and Feb. 8. He was charged with “in...
