Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1235 - 1259 of 1920
(JNS)—The University of Vermont chapters of J Street U and Students for Justice in Palestine launched a simultaneous attack on the pro-Israel community at the school last week. On Friday, the two groups released corresponding letters blasting the Hillel on campus for accepting funding from the pro-Israel group Maccabee Task Force, which will use some of the monies to organize a trip to Israel for students. In their letters, which closely followed the same message, SJP slammed the UVM pro-Israel community for “a refusal to listen to Pal...
NEW YORK (JTA)—When New York State liberalized its abortion law last week, the Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention unsurprisingly released statements slamming the action. And they were joined by two large Orthodox Jewish religious organizations: the Rabbinical Council of America and Agudath Israel of America. The RCA is the umbrella group for centrist Orthodox rabbis. Agudah represents haredi Orthodox Jews. “Jewish law opposes abortion, except in cases of danger to the mother,” read the RCA statement issued Tuesday. “Most authori...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Donald Trump linked his actions on Iran to the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, pivoting during his State of the Union address from his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal to a declaration that anti-Semitism must be confronted “anywhere and everywhere it occurs.” Trump also bookended his speech with references to D-Day, including salutes to troops, among them Jewish-American veterans, who helped liberate Europe, and Holocaust survivors who were liberated thanks to the American-led action. The salutes earne...
(JTA)-Wide receiver Julian Edelman was named Most Valuable Player as the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta. The Patriots' Jewish owner, Robert Kraft, also earned a kiss on the lips from quarterback Tom Brady as their team celebrated its 13-3 victory-New England's sixth Super Bowl triumph. After the game, an interviewer asked Edelman how he felt about earning the MVP award. "It sounds crazy, it sounds crazy. 2018. L'Chaim!" he said. Edelman provided...
The Center for Israel Education and Emory's Institute for the Study of Modern Israel will hold the 18th annual CIE/ISMI Educator Enrichment Workshop on Modern Israel from June 23 to 27 in Atlanta. The highly acclaimed workshop, underwritten by the AVI CHAI Foundation, will bring together dozens of educators to deepen their understanding of Israel's history, politics, economy and culture and enhance their classroom skills. Special emphasis will be placed on sharing best practices for engaging...
(JTA)-For most of her adult life, Rachel Riley was only vaguely aware of her Jewish ancestry. A moderately famous daytime game show television host, Riley, 33, is one of countless unaffiliated Jews in the United Kingdom-a country with 250,000 Jewish citizens and where synagogue attendance is at a historic low. "When I was a kid my mum would give us pepperoni pizza," she told The Times of London in an interview published Saturday, pointing out that she didn't keep kosher. On Chanukah, she added,...
(JNS)—Despite anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric that includes support for the BDS movement from freshmen Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), House Democratic leadership has come to their defense. “Clearly, I condemn anti-Semitism,” said House Majority leader Steny Hoyer on Tuesday. “I don’t know that I draw the conclusion, however, that those attacking those two members are correct that they are anti-Semitic. I don’t accept that premise.” Unlike Hoyer, House Democratic Caucus chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) side...
(JNS)—It didn’t take long for Jewish and Israel-related groups to react to the appointment of anti-Israel Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Along with several other new members of Congress, Omar has gained considerable attention as part of a new generation of leadership. Yet the Jewish community has grown concerned over her stances, particularly on Israel. Omar has tweeted that “Israel has hypnotized the world,” and has posted that Israel is an “aparth...
NEW YORK (JTA)-A decade ago, the publisher of the Jewish Daily Forward asked his board to believe in miracles. "We are supposed to believe in miracles; we are forbidden to rely on them, " Sam Norich wrote in an email to the board of the Forward Association on Dec. 25, 2008. "That means that miracles only happen if we do our part to help them along." And according to the attached minutes of a November 2008 board meeting, the venerable Jewish newspaper could have used a little divine intervention...
(JTA)—Linda Sarsour defended the legality of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel during her speech on stage in Washington D.C. at the third Women’s March. Her critique of anti-BDS laws came hours after rejecting the anti-Semitic statements of Louis Farrakhan. Sarsour, a leader of the Women’s March movement, called herself “a proud Palestinian-American woman” and said that “there are no perfect leaders” in her remarks in Saturday. She said that “the media can talk about any controversy they want”—a reference to claims o...
(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...
