Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1304 - 1328 of 1886
(JTA)—A welcome sign at the Hillel at University of Oregon was defaced with a pro-Palestinian message and obscenities The vandalism at the building on the campus in Eugene was discovered Friday. The Hillel posted a photo of the sign in the parking lot on Facebook. One message read: “Free Palestine you f***s.” No other damage or graffiti was discovered on or around the building, according to the organization. Two other Jewish groups on campus were left untouched. In a message to the campus Jewish community Kevin Marbury, a university vice presid...
NEW YORK (JTA)-After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shocked the political world by defeating longtime New York Rep. Joseph Crowley in a Democratic primary last month, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez quickly aligned himself with the former political outsider, saying on a radio show that "she represents the future of our party." If so, that future appears to include the kind of sharp criticism of Israel once considered taboo in both major parties. Ocasio-Cortez ran on a platform of...
Criminal complaints are now being filed by students following the belligerent disruption of a May 17, 2018, Students Supporting Israel [SSI] event at University of California Los Angeles. At least a half-dozen students announced they would visit the UCLA police department to file formal complaints reporting criminal disruption of a meeting, as well as disturbing the peace and conspiracy. The move follows media disclosures that UCLA was reneging on the public pledge by two chancellors in the...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Not an hour after Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement as associate justice on the Supreme Court, the National Council of Jewish Women tweeted its dismay. "Justice Kennedy's retirement could drastically shift the balance of the Supreme Court, and threaten the very rights and liberties we've fought so hard to protect," NCJW tweeted Wednesday. "We need a justice who will stand up for all of our rights, not just the wealthy and powerful." NCJW's is a voice of the Jewish liberal...
BOSTON (JTA)-A century-old synagogue in Boston that now serves as a Jewish cultural center will receive $500,000 from the city for historic preservation. On the recommendation of Mayor Martin Walsh, the City Council last week unanimously approved the grant for the Vilna Shul, Boston's Center for Jewish Culture, under the Community Preservation Act. The funding for the multi-story building, once abandoned but now a landmark and tourist destination, will be used to help make it fully accessible...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-It's like finding out that the White House has a mikvah in its basement and no one knows about it. Up an elegant stairway next to the concert hall at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the "Concert Lounge dedicated by the State of Israel." It's a delicate, quiet refuge from Washington that bursts with, well, Israeliness: Paintings and wooden reliefs feature biblical scenes by Israeli artists who were well known in their time. Forty-seven years after it was...
(JTA)-When Mary McCabe explains America's immigration courts to children who have been separated from their parents, she tries to make it interactive. She draws a sketch of a courtroom and asks kids to identify the figures in the room-like the judge or the lawyers-and where they sit. For younger ones, ages 6 or 7, she brings a box of crayons and a sketchpad for doodling. Older kids sometimes play with a toy that drips colored oil into water. Anything to give them a little diversion from her...
Angry parents and citizens dominated the first hour of a scheduled Newton, Mass., Public School board meeting on Monday night, in an effort to show their disgust and rage at the continued teaching of bias against Israel that has been the focus of controversy in this heavily Jewish suburb for more than five years. Waving signs of “Fire Fleishman!” and “Replace!”, 70 angry citizens protested the mistreatment of the Jewish community by city officials the evening of June 11. Ruth Goldman, chair of the Committee, restricted discussion of the con...
TEANECK, N.J. (The Jewish Standard via JTA)-A sociology professor at William Paterson University of New Jersey in Wayne has been recorded on video espousing a series of anti-Semitic beliefs about Jews. They include the ideas that Ashkenazi Jews are not genetically related to the ancient Israelites; that 175,000 German Jews found safe harbor in the German army during the Holocaust; and that Judaism has degenerated from a universal religion, with roots in ancient Egypt, to a racist religion....
(JTA)-Seven Supreme Court justices sided with a Colorado baker in his legal fight with a gay couple. And seven major Jewish groups weighed in on the decision. Six of the Jewish groups disagreed with the decision. But one Jewish organization, the Orthodox Union, dissented from the rest, calling the ruling a victory for religious freedom. "Too many pundits and politicians have lately engaged in rhetoric that seeks to paint religious liberty in a negative light, especially as they seek to advance p...
(JNS)-Author Michael Chabon ignited controversy in the Jewish world following his May 14 commencement speech at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles with students and prominent Reform rabbis criticizing the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist for his take on Jewish inner-marriage and various Israeli security policies. "Security is an invention of humanity's jailers," he said to the audience of young people. "Anywhere you look, it is and has always been a hand of...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Emily Schorr Lesnick and Jamila Humphrie always knew that Judaism would play a part in the life they wanted to build together. But experiences with Conservative Jewish institutions had made the couple feel less than welcome. Schorr Lesnick, 28, remembers encountering homophobia at her Jewish Conservative summer camp. Humphrie, 29, who was raised Christian but does not identify with a religion, felt singled out as a non-Jewish and biracial person when she accompanied Schorr...
(JTA)-Two congressional races have been beset in recent days with charges of anti-Semitism, and each case-in California and in Virginia-uncovers challenges for Jews in the Republican and Democratic parties. For Jewish Democrats, it's about Israel and the party's left wing. For Jewish Republicans, it's about extremists. In both cases, Jews in the respective parties are grappling with old problems made sharper by recent developments. Democrats for years have had a left wing that tended to see...
(JTA)—Mark Wilf, a real estate developer and owner of the Minnesota Vikings football team, is expected to be named the incoming chair of the Jewish Federations of North America. Wilf has held numerous leadership positions, both nationally and locally, including National Campaign chair, National Young Leadership Cabinet co-chair, and president of his community’s Federation. He also has served as co-chair of JFNA’s National Holocaust Survivors Initiative, where he has helped raise millions in funding for struggling and indigent survivors. Wilf...
A few weeks ago a group of 13 Central Floridians went to Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York, with Rabbi Yanky and Chanshy Majesky of The Chabad of North Orlando to experience Shabbat in the Heights-a weekend trip sponsored by the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute. This same time one year ago, Orlando resident Rhonda Des Islet went on the trip and shared in the Heritage that she was grateful to experience the Crown Heights lifestyle by living among the Orthodox Jews for the weekend. "I have to...
NEW YORK (JTA)—If you’re an Orthodox Jew with a mortgage from Quicken Loans, you might be in trouble. Agudath Israel of America, a major haredi Orthodox organization, issued a Jewish legal ruling last month prohibiting Jews from taking out loans from the company because it is majority-owned by Jews. Quicken Loans, which claims to be America’s largest mortgage lender, also owns Rocket Mortgage, the online mortgage agency. Jewish law, known as halacha, forbids Jews from charging interest to other Jews. So Jews are allowed to own mortgage agenc...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill to help Holocaust survivors and the families of victims obtain restitution or the return of Holocaust-era assets. The measure approved Tuesday requires the State Department to report on the progress of certain European countries toward the return of or restitution for wrongfully confiscated or transferred Holocaust-era assets, including property, art and other movable property. It also requires a report specifically on progress on the resolution of claims for U.S. c...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Though it was raining, students still gathered to celebrate Israel's Independence Day at New York University's downtown Manhattan campus. Passers-by mostly rushed by as organizers blasted pop music, displayed Israeli flags and shouted "Happy Birthday, Israel!" Some stopped to grab a blue-and-white cookie. One person shouted at an organizer of Thursday's event who was draped in an Israeli flag, and someone else criticized the group for a poster featuring a quote by the Rev. Martin...
HOUSTON (JTA)-Over a four-day period at the end of August, Hurricane Harvey drenched this city with over 50 inches of rain, inflicting $125 billion in damages. The result of the flooding was especially devastating for the tight-knit and geographically close Jewish community of Houston. Seven major Jewish institutions have been severely impacted by Harvey, and an estimated 2,000 Jewish families were affected by the floodwaters. United Orthodox Synagogues was particularly hard hit, as...
(JNS)—Christians United For Israel, one of the nation’s largest pro-Israel organizations, announced new leadership team on Monday as the group seeks to build on its success in strengthening Christian support for Israel in the last decade. According to the organization, Diana Hagee and Shari Dollinger will take on the roles of co-executive directors. Hagee previously served as chief-of-staff to her husband, CUFI founder and chairman Pastor John Hagee. Dollinger has served as CUFI’s associate director since 2007. “With great success comes g...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Congregation Kolot Chayeinu in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood is removing its savings from JPMorgan Chase, making it the first U.S. synagogue to publicly divest from a bank or other corporation “to explicitly oppose the funding of fossil fuel and other related projects dangerous to the world in which we live,” according to a statement from the congregation. The move also puts Kolot at the forefront of Jewish organizations in doing “values-driven investing,” putting money where Jewish groups’ mouths are on climate chang...
(JNS)—South Carolina became the first state to pass legislation to protect students from anti-Semitic acts. The State Senate overwhelmingly approved the legislation, H3643, in a 37-4 vote on Thursday as part of a larger spending package. The bill passed the State House of Representatives in March in a 116-2 vote. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has expressed support for the bill and is expected to sign it into law. “Anti-Semitism, and the forces that have led to its resurgence, are not representative of the values of South Carolina,” said...
NEW YORK—The Blue Card, the only organization in the United States with the sole mission of providing ongoing support for medical care, rent subsidies, food and other basic needs to indigent Holocaust survivors, is urging that at the same time we remember the atrocities of the past, we act to secure the future well-being of Holocaust survivors. April 11-12 marked Holocaust Remembrance Day or Yom HaShoah, a memorial of the six million Jewish people who died during World War II. The time to “never forget” has never been more vital. The Anti-Defam...
(JNS)-As a child, I remember hearing the story of Noah in Hebrew school. In a class of 5-year-olds, we drew pictures of animals walking into the ark two-by-two in an orderly fashion. And I remember a rainbow. There was no ark the night of Aug. 26 as a flood of biblical proportions devastated Houston-a city that in no way could expect Hurricane Harvey's strength, breadth or destructive aftermath. Like many areas and neighborhoods, the Jewish community was hit hard. On a recent fly-in mission to H...
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Zionist Organization of America has filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of President Donald Trump’s most recent ban on travel from a number of predominately Muslim countries. The group, which has been an outspoken supporter of many of Trump’s policies, in its brief said the action did not amount to a “Muslim ban” or violate the Constitution. On Wednesday, ZOA released a statement announcing its Feb. 28 filing of the brief. ZOA cited terror attacks by immigrants in Boston, San Bernardino, Orlando and Manha...
