Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1245 - 1269 of 1920
(JTA)-Only days after being sworn into the Illinois House of Representatives on Sunday, Rabbi Yehiel Kalish paid a visit to Israel. The father of six said he needed guidance from rabbis in the Jewish state to serve in his new role. "The immediate reaction of the Chicago political world was 'Orthodox rabbi chosen for seat in state legislature,'" he told JTA on Wednesday in a phone interview from Jerusalem. "So that immediately put a microscope on me, and I felt pressure taking the position to...
(JNS)-U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to become attorney general has elicited mixed reviews from Jewish groups. William Barr, who served in the same role under the late President George H.W. Bush, is scheduled to face the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday. "We endorse his nomination for attorney general. We know that he has exhibited sensitivity to protecting religious rights in the workplace," National Council of Young Israel president Farley Weiss told JNS. "He is clearly...
(JTA)—The Southern Poverty Law Center and a major Reform synagogue in New York have disassociated themselves from this year’s Women’s March. Top leaders of the main organization have been accused of engaging in or condoning anti-Semitism, of not cutting ties with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and of failing to heed the concerns of its thousands of Jewish backers. Jen Fuson, a spokeswoman for the Alabama-based SPLC, told the Daily Beast that “other projects were a priority.” She said the organization would be involved in local mar...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Kamala Harris, the junior senator from California, is reportedly set to announce her bid for the Democratic presidential nod. Harris, 54, is a progressive on most issues who draws some ire from the left for her tough-on-crime posture when she was California's attorney general. She pleased Democratic hearts, meanwhile, with her tough treatment of President Donald Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, during his Senate confirmation last year. The daughter of a...
(JNS)-Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) met with Abbas Hamideh, a Palestinian activist who has said that Israel is a "terrorist entity," over the weekend. "I was honored to be at Congresswoman @RashidaTlaib swearing in ceremony in #Detroit and private dinner afterward with the entire family, friends and activists across the country. #Palestine #TweetYourThobe #RashidaTlaib," Hamideh tweeted. Hamideh, executive director of the U.S.-based Palestine Right to Return Coalition, has equated Zionis...
(JTA)—In a tense exchange on “The View,” co-host Meghan McCain confronted Tamika Mallory about her support of Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader known for his history of virulent anti-Semitic comments. Mallory’s response is sure to add fuel to accusations that she is too soft on Farrakhan and has not sufficiently condemned anti-Semitism. “I don’t agree with many of Minister Farrakhan’s statements,” Mallory said in the exchange. “Specifically about Jewish people?” McCain asked. “As I said, I don’t agree with many of Minister Farrak...
(JTA)—Manny Yekutiel opened his eponymous Manny’s in November, calling the Middle Eastern cafe and restaurant in downtown San Francisco a “civic social gathering space.” His goal for the Mission District eatery was “to create a central, accessible and affordable place to go to become a better informed and more involved citizen,” he told the San Francisco Examiner. Manny’s has earned praise for hosting talks with speakers on issues ranging from Black Lives Matter to urban sustainability. But Yekutiel, who is Jewish, is being protested wee...
(JNS)—Senate Democrats are reportedly seeking to block pro-Israel legislation introduced last week that Republican leadership is scheduled for Tuesday. Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) each tweeted opposition to a vote advancing the legislation, citing the partial government shutdown over the past few weeks due to U.S. President Donald Trump not getting funding for a wall along the border with Mexico. The proposed measure rolls four bills that were introduced in the previous Congress, but were not e...
(JTA)—Jewish federal employees who are struggling with expenses due to the government shutdown can now find some relief. The Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington approved an emergency program last week to provide loans of up to $2,000 per household to affected Jews living in the Washington, D.C., area. Several people have applied and two have been approved, the organization’s president, David Farber, told JTA on Wednesday. The association has allocated some $30,000 to the program, and it’s reaching out to local synagogues and J...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Sen. Bernie Sanders said it was "absurd" for Republicans to introduce as the Senate's first bill of this Congress a measure that would protect states that penalize Israel boycotters. "It's absurd that the first bill during the shutdown is legislation which punishes Americans who exercise their constitutional right to engage in political activity," Sanders, I-Vt., said Sunday on Twitter, linking to an article in The Intercept about the legislation. President Donald Trump says he...
(JNS)-It shouldn't take 10 years to get permission to build a synagogue, but it did in Clifton, N.J. Finally, after a mediation overseen by the state's former attorney general, a community in Clifton will be able to worship in peace, in a new building. Synagogue leadership stated repeatedly that they were being illegally discriminated against through an array of arbitrary zoning-code interpretations (which judges ruled as incorrect), arbitrary planning-board requirements and excessive public...
(JTA)-The Pittsburgh Steelers' Stronger Than Hate campaign inspired the city and the world to rally around the Jewish community in the wake of the shooting attack on a local synagogue building that left 11 dead. On Sunday, Dec. 30, the Steelers donated $70,000 to help the Jewish community and the families directly affected by the Oct. 27 attack on Tree of Life Or L'Simcha Congregation building while worshippers were gathered for Shabbat morning services. Prior to the Steeler's home game against...
(JNS)-Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) compared U.S. President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler this week during a sermon he delivered at Atlanta's Friendship Baptist Church. "The Jewish people know a thing about tyranny," said Johnson at the Atlanta NAACP event to commemorate the 156th anniversary of the implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation, which ended slavery in the South during the Civil War. "Hitler did not start the Nazi Party, but he took over the party with charisma and leadership. The...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reintroduced pro-Israel legislation that did not get passed in the last Congress. Rubio, together with Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, on Thursday, the first day of the new Congress, combined a number of Middle East-related bills into a single bill, jump-starting the process. “First item the Senate will take up in the new Congress will be our bill to deal with the crisis in #Syria & support our allies in the Middle East,” Rubio said on Twitter. Among the items is the Ileana Ros-Lehtinen United States-Israel...
(JTA)-What is more difficult to fathom: that former Jewish Major Leaguer Kevin Youkilis has been retired for five years or that his name appears on the current Hall of Fame ballot? "Youk" made his big-league debut with Boston in 2004. Two years later, the team won the World Series for the first time since 1916. He might be best known for having one of the sport's most unusual batting stances, but despite his less-than-Adonis-like physique he was a three-time All-Star who finished in the top 10...
(JTA)-Alfred Bader, a refugee who escaped Nazi-occupied Vienna as a young teen in 1938, and later became a chemist, businessman, philanthropist for Jewish and other causes, and an influential art collector, has died. Bader's charitable giving established a legacy for Jewish education in Milwaukee, including for its day schools. He died Dec. 23 at his home in the Wisconsin city. He was 94. Bader and his family foundation donated millions of dollars to social, medical and cultural institutions in...
(JTA)—New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman wore special cleats in honor of the victims of the shooting attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. As he showed in a tweet, Edelman’s cleats bore the words “The Tree of Life” written in Hebrew, the logo of the Tree of Life Or L’Simcha Congregation—the synagogue targeted in the mass shooting in October—and an Israeli flag, with the hashtag #strongerthanhate. His tweet also listed in alphabetical...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—James Mattis is quitting as defense secretary and his extraordinary resignation letter has brought into the open an argument among conservatives on whether to cut and run in the Middle East or whether to stay with no clear outcome. The argument also touches on two subjects near and dear to the hearts of Jewish political players: how best to contain Iran, and how robust a role the U.S. should play in the region. Mattis did not mention Syria in his letter Thursday, but reports said that Trump’s decision earlier this week to pul...
(JTA)—The American Civil Liberties Union announced that it is suing the state of Texas over a 2017 law prohibiting government contractors from engaging in boycotts of Israel, which is says is an unwarranted violation of Americans’ right to free speech. Signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last May, the bill was the 20th measure enacted on a state level meant to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, or BDS. However, the legal basis of such laws has come under attack and two such bills have thus far been str...
(JTA)—Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced at a Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony that she is descended from Sephardic Jews who fled to Puerto Rico during the Spanish Inquisition. Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat, broke the news to a crowd gathered Sunday night at the Jackson Heights Jewish Center in Queens. It was a party organized by the group Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. “One of the things that we discovered about ourselves is that a very, very long time ago, generations and generations ago, my family consisted of Sep...
By Ben Sales NEW YORK (JTA)-The largest baking company in the United States will be removing kosher certification from nearly all of its bread and rolls. Bimbo Bakeries USA confirmed to JTA that it will be removing the certification. The company produces brands including Arnold, Sara Lee, Stroehmann, Freihofer's and others. Two of its major brands, Entenmann's and Thomas, will remain certified kosher. So, kosher eaters, your crumb doughnuts and English muffins are still safe. A couple of rye...
(JTA)—A Toledo, Ohio-area man was arrested for planning an attack on a local synagogue. Damon Joseph, of Holland, Ohio, was charged in federal court in Toledo on Monday with attempting to provide material support to ISIS. He told an undercover FBI agent that he was inspired by the shooting attack on a synagogue building in Pittsburgh that left 11 worshippers dead. “I admire what the guy did with the shooting actually,” Joseph said of the Pittsburgh shooting to an undercover agent, according to the Department of Justice. “I can see myself...
When Michaela Weinstein first encountered racist and anti-Semitic slurs at her California high school, she felt sick to her stomach. Students at Albany High School, in the San Francisco Bay Area, were drawing swastikas on schoolbooks and posting photos on Instagram comparing black women to gorillas. Even two years later, anti-Semitism has remained a problem at the school: This fall, the outside walls of Weinstein's school gym were spray-painted with hate-filled graffiti. "There were different...
(JNS)-Angie Craig, 46, is a health-care executive who unseated incumbent Republican Rep. Jason Lewis on Nov. 6 and became the first LGBTQ person elected to Congress from Minnesota. JNS talked with Craig by phone. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Q: What is your overall stance on the U.S.-Israel relationship? A: I think with support we'll be an active part of promoting a strong, safe and secure Israel, and be supportive of strengthening the relationship our country shares....
(JNS)-U.S. President Donald Trump nominated State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert on Friday as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, replacing Nikki Haley, who is stepping down at the end of the year. Bloomberg News first reported this development on Thursday night. Nauert, a former Fox News personality, was considered the frontrunner after former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Dina Powell withdrew from consideration. Also touted were U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey...
