Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 924 - 948 of 1890
SHARON, Mass. (JTA)-When Neil Morris heard the news that his hometown schools were closing for at least two weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, his first thought was about the kids who would lose access to their free or reduced lunches. Morris, the owner of A Perfect Taste, a kosher catering company, called his friend and fellow Sharon resident Avi Shemtov, a chef and owner of Simcha, a restaurant here where both grew up. Both are passionate about reducing food waste and curbing food... Full story
(JTA)—On a typical day, the art center at Kohelet Yeshiva High School in suburban Philadelphia is filled with students working on a range of projects—from making ceramic bowls on the pottery wheels to creating wooden sculptures. They use the 3-D printer and laser cutter to build parts for the robotics team. But since the school went virtual more than two weeks ago, the 1,300-square-foot center has been used to make an entirely different project: face shields for medical professionals treating coronavirus patients. Since starting production las... Full story
(JTA)—Forget about “The Chanukah Song.” Actor Adam Sandler’s latest earworm is a tribute to doctors and nurses and an exhortation for people to stay home to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Sandler debuted “Quarantine Song” from his home during a guest appearance Thursday on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” Fallon was broadcasting from his home as well. Sandler pulled a hoodie over his baseball cap and put on sunglasses (so viewers would not see him reading the lyrics, he said) before he began strumming on his guitar. “Doctors and nurse... Full story
(JNS)-The worldwide pandemic COVID-19 is wreaking havoc in its relentless sweep across the planet, not only in terms of health needs and care, but in economic terms as well. It has quashed the booming stock market and decimated unemployment lows, with such turmoil expected to continue for the next few weeks and maybe months. While the long-term impact of the coronavirus is yet to come, Jewish communal organizations are already hearing from small business, individuals and groups that have... Full story
(JNS)-It wasn't so long ago when life was so over-the-top busy that you longed for some quiet unstructured time with your children. The coronavirus pandemic has granted that wish. And then some. With no end in sight of QT (Quality Time), many schools have come to a parent's rescue with online classes through a range of technologies many of us had never heard of two weeks ago. Ironically, those screens that were once the bane of a parent's existence-the computers, lap tops, cell phones and... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—It’s the ninth question on the census, and for many Jewish respondents, it’s a surprising—and sometimes unwelcome—invitation to consider who exactly they are. For the first time, the U.S. Census question on race is asking white and African-American respondents to dig deeper and fill in more detailed origins. “Mark one or more boxes AND print origins,” the printed form says. For white, it adds, “Print, for example, German, Irish, English, Italian, Lebanese, Egyptian, etc.” The request for “origins” has existed for decades f... Full story
By Philissa Cramer, Gabe Friedman, Ron Kampeas (JTA)—When Bernie Sanders announced on Wednesday that he was suspending his presidential campaign, he closed the door on the last sliver of possibility that America would elect its first Jewish president in 2020. That leaves Jewish White House history to be made. Here are 10 people who could be positioned to make it—one day. (Don’t read anything into the order—it’s alphabetical.) Mark Cuban Mark Cuban shares at least a few qualities with Donald Trump: He’s a wealthy businessman who has made a flas... Full story
NEW YORK CITY—UJA-Federation of New York announced an additional $11 million in assistance to help those most affected by Covid-19 including single parents, low-income college students, and families struggling to provide dignified Jewish burials. In addition, a combination of loans and grants will be distributed to 22 regional Jewish Community Centers that provide human services and Jewish engagement opportunities to New Yorkers. “Ten days ago, we allocated over $23 million in our first wave of emergency funding for essential food programs and... Full story
(JTA)—Among the mysteries of the coronavirus is that some patients suffer and ultimately die from the disease while others experience the symptoms as akin to a mild cold. Rabbi Daniel Nevins is in the latter category. The dean of the rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Nevins was laid up for a few days earlier this month with a fever and some aches, and then recovered. Nevins was tested for the coronavirus on March 12 and a week later got back a positive result. A week after that, he was tested again. Friday morning, he got t... Full story
(JTA)—As the world shut down around it, the Brooklyn headquarters of the worldwide Chabad movement carried on as usual—until late Tuesday night, when its neighborhood’s rabbinic leadership ordered synagogues closed to combat the spread of the coronavirus. All week, men came and went from the massive building in the Crown Heights neighborhood, crowding in for prayer services and study sessions. After news broke that the headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway would close amid global efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus, there was a final... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The White House has come to an agreement with Democrats and Republicans on a $2 trillion stimulus package, the biggest in U.S. history, in response to the major economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus. Congress passed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act as an emergency relief package in response to the needs created by the coronavirus public health crisis and associated economic fallout. The emergency relief package provides tax rebates, expanded unemployment benefits, and numerous tax-relief provisions aimed at shoring up i... Full story
(JNS)-A rabbi who survived World War II and the Holocaust and in January delivered the opening prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives died on Tuesday-14 days after his 91st birthday-after being hospitalized with COVID-19. Yeshiva World News first reported the death of Rabbi Avraham Hakohen "Romi" Cohn as a result of complications due to the coronavirus. Cohn was born in 1929 in Pressburg in what was then Czechoslovakia. In 1942, when the Nazis invaded, his parents managed to smuggle him ove... Full story
(JNS)—Let’s talk business, shall we? Let’s talk about how businesses are operating in the age of corona. What is open: supermarkets, small grocers, hardware stores, office-supply stores, pet stores, pizza places, some restaurant takeout, gas stations, beer distributors. Beer distributors? My husband tells me that is an essential business; after all, it’s basically food and beverages. He’s not such a drinker, but recognizes that others are. Now, that distinction was not so apparent at first to the nice man named Izzy who runs the nearby la... Full story
This story originally appeared on Alma. At Zoom University Hillel, there are no comfy places to study or free snacks. There's no director or rabbinic intern or student board. But there are memes, words of comfort and a sense of community as strong as any university's Hillel house. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced nearly every college to transition to online courses and, in most cases, move students out of their dorms and back to their homes. College students naturally have taken to Facebook... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Some 38,000 people work at Jewish community centers across North America, staffing preschools, camps, gyms, classes, activities for seniors and more. Because of the coronavirus crisis, a lot of them are going to lose their jobs. “The cuts are going to be painful and deep,” said Doron Krakow, CEO of the JCC Association of North America. “They are going to go into what I would call a hunker-down mode, which means that they’ll be subject to the kind of staff reductions that we are reading about affecting other industrie... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-For the past three years, Esther Possick has avoided the hassle of hosting Passover at her Long Island home by traveling to kosher hotels in foreign locales. In 2017, she spent the holiday at a resort in Stresa, a resort town on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy not far from the Swiss border. The following year she tried out Rimini, a coastal city on the Adriatic. Last year she opted for a program in Spain. This year, she was planning to spend the holiday at a seafront hotel in... Full story
(JTA)-Larry Rothwachs, a rabbi in Teaneck, New Jersey, walked into the meeting Wednesday night between local Jewish leaders and health officials with one set of ideas about how his community should respond to the coronavirus. He walked out later that evening certain of another one: that drastically curtailing Jewish traditions and rules is essential to stem the spread of the deadly disease. "I don't think everybody was on the same page coming in. I was not on the page I am at right now,"... Full story
(JTA)-On a typical Friday, some 200 people show up for services at Temple De Hirsch Sinai, a Reform congregation in Seattle. But last week, there was no one in the pews as Rabbi Daniel Weiner welcomed Shabbat in the synagogue's smaller sanctuary. Instead, some 1,500 people watched Weiner lead the prayers on their computers. The synagogue hasn't been holding any services for 10 days due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has claimed 21 lives in Washington State and thousands around the world. Tho... Full story
Adam Hoffman isn’t your average American Jewish teen. The grandchild of Holocaust survivors on his mother’s side, he’s a sixth-generation Texan on his father’s side. An Orthodox native of Houston and graduate of Jewish day schools, Hoffman, 19, is now a freshman at Princeton University in New Jersey. What makes Hoffman really unusual, however, is his success bringing together Democrats and Republicans in this deeply polarized political era—despite, or perhaps because of, his public identification as a political conservative. (He’s president o... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-The run-up to Passover is the busiest time of the year for Masbia, a nonprofit that operates three kosher soup kitchens in Brooklyn and Queens. The organization has to order all kosher-for-Passover food and scrub one of its locations' kitchens so it can prepare food without any trace of bread or other leavened products. Right before the holiday is also when most people show up to stock up on groceries-swelling from 2,000 families in a typical week to about 4,000. "Before... Full story
(JNS) Democrats blocked a bill on Wednesday in the U.S. House of Representatives that would have prohibited U.S. support for the anti-Israel BDS movement. The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, introduced by Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), would have expanded the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to include prohibiting U.S. support for foreign boycotts of Israel from groups including the European Union and the U.N. Human Rights Council. Lawmakers defeated consideration of the bill by a tally of 219-194. “We cannot be quiet when it comes to combating a... Full story
(JNS) WASHINGTON—The theme of this year’s AIPAC Policy Conference was billed as “Today. Tomorrow. Together,” the essence of which seemed to be lost in all the political noise associated with 2020 Democratic presidential candidates deciding on whether or not to show up at the annual event. The conference, however, has long been geared to deliberate concerns and boost relations between Diaspora Jewry and Israelis, and use the time to salve some of the more contentious issues associated with the two largest Jewish communities in the world.... Full story
Local resident Dr. David Diamond, his wife, Orly, and his children attended the 2020 AIPAC Policy Conference, held the first week in March. They all got "up close and personal" with several congressmen and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. Diamond shared that his daughter Aviva was able to get some one-on-one time with Rep. Dan Webster (FL-11 District) to discuss security assistance to Israel. Other agenda items discussed at the conference included extension of the Iranian Arms Embargo... Full story
(JNS)-The Boston-based Jewish Federation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), recently honored a local activist with ties to the anti-Israel group IfNotNow. Nadav David is listed as one of CJP's 2020 "Chai in the Hub" honorees, which the organization describes as "young adults are doing amazing things personally and professionally to better Greater Boston's Jewish community." In his CJP profile, David works as a financial coach with Compass Working Capital and as a community organizer. Among... Full story
(JNS) WASHINGTON-Making the case for U.S. President Donald Trump's re-election, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence warned on Monday that if elected, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) would be the complete opposite of Trump as it pertains to the U.S.-Israel relationship. "We must ensure that the most pro-Israel president in history must not be replaced by one who would be the most anti-Israel president in the history of this nation," said Pence at the annual AIPAC Policy Conference, where he slammed... Full story
