Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1772 - 1796 of 1920
(JTA)-On the morning of June 30, the children began arriving at Camp Solomon Schechter in Olympia, Wash., ready for a fun-filled summer. But shortly before the first little feet descended the bus steps, the sleepaway camp's Israeli counselors learned from back home about the discovery of the bodies of three teens kidnapped in the Judea-Samaria 18 days earlier. The news about the teens' fate challenged administrators at Jewish camps like the Conservative movement-affiliated Schechter to deal... Full story
NEW YORK—Responding to a proposal made by the Religious Zionists of America, leading members of Congress have introduced a bipartisan bill requiring the U.S. government to offer a $5-million reward for information leading to the capture of the Palestinian terrorists who kidnapped and murdered a 16 year-old American citizen, and two other teenagers, in Israel last month. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and U.S. Representatives Brad Sherman (D-California) and Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado) introduced the Naftali Fraenkel Reward Bill on July 9, f... Full story
BALTIMORE (JTA) – As director of professional scouting and baseball development for the Oakland Athletics, Dan Feinstein scouts amateur players, evaluates the organization's talent, is involved in contract negotiations and arbitration cases, ponders trades and analyzes potential free agent signees. His varied portfolio is news to at least one of the team's players. "I don't doubt that he does a lot, and has done a lot, for the organization, but I don't know to what extent," catcher Derek N... Full story
The National Basketball Association's (NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers looked near and far during a five-week stretch for a head coach, and they finally found their man-in Israel. David Blatt, who coached Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Euroleague and Israeli league basketball championships this year, struck a deal to become the 20th coach in the history of the Cavaliers. The selection was immediately celebrated by basketball players Tamir Goodman and Mark Sack, both from the Cleveland area, and one of... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Two decades ago the Jewish community united in support of landmark religious freedom legislation. Now the Supreme Court's application of that law has Jewish groups divided. Leading Jewish advocacy groups denounced the court's 5-4 decision Monday in the Hobby Lobby case granting religious freedoms protections to companies, while Orthodox groups lauded the ruling. In ruling that closely owned corporate firms with religious objections do not have to provide contraceptive coverage... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-Part "God Bless America," part "Shabbat Shalom," the Fourth of July this year falls on a Friday. In this land of religious freedom, how do we plan to observe both? As the sun sets over the "fruited plain," will we be lighting Shabbat candles and fireworks? How will the Sabbath Queen look in red, white and blue? Those who traditionally observe the Sabbath by not kindling fire surely will take a pass on the "rockets' red glare." But for many U.S. Jews and congregations, the day r... Full story
The latest anti-Israel trend to gain momentum on college campuses has been the distribution of mock eviction notices in dormitories by members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Whether or not the notices have specifically targeted Jewish students, experts say the tactic highlights the convergence of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism on campus, creating a hostile environment for Jewish students. Over the last two years, the mock eviction notices have appeared on at least a dozen campuses... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Rep. Eric Cantor, the majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives and the highest-ranking Jew in congressional history, lost his Republican primary in Virginia to a Tea Party challenger in a major upset. Cantor, 51, who rode the Tea Party wave to majority leader after the 2010 elections, was trailing Dave Brat, 56 to 44 percent, with 87 percent of the vote counted on Tuesday evening, June 10. Cantor conceded after 8 p.m. "Obviously we came up short," Cantor told his... Full story
Washington Jewish Week She may not be flashy, a firebrand speechmaker, or even very well known outside of her Queens congressional district, but despite her brief legislative career, freshman U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) has become one of Congress's most steadfast supporters of Israel and Jewish issues. Along the way she has endeared herself to colleagues and supporters on both sides of the aisle and the Jewish community in her district. Meng's demeanor, both in conversation and in Congress,... Full story
Yossi, a 9-year-old boy from Fountain Hills, Arizona, is making the news for a simple act that he did, choosing to fulfill a 'miztvah' (religious commandment), instead of listening to his umpire. Yossi, an avid baseball fan, and valuable team member on the local Little League team, was dropped off by his parents, all dressed up ready to play on his team. As the game was going along, Yossi's chance to bat the ball came up. When Yossi was there the umpire noticed that Yossi was wearing 'Tzitzit'.... Full story
Jews account for a mere 170 of 18,174 athletes who have played in the major leagues (through the 2013 season, according to baseball-reference.com). So it’s not surprising that the new exhibit “Chasing Dreams: Baseball & Becoming American” at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia provides a reason to kvell. While it may not have the grandeur of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in terms of the number of items on display, to paraphrase from a famous line in the 1952 film Pat and Mike, what’s there is choi... Full story
(JTA)—“What is being done to silence this man?” an American rabbi asked in a 1963 letter to the Anti-Defamation League. He was talking about the novelist Philip Roth, whose early novels and short stories cast his fellow American Jews in what some considered a none-too-flattering light. Fast-forward half a century. On Thursday, the writer whose works were once denounced as profane was honored by one of American Jewry’s sacred citadels: The Jewish Theological Seminary, Conservative Judaism’s flagship educational institution, awarded Roth an honor... Full story
South Bend, Indiana-Representatives from Indiana Landmarks, the Northern Indiana Center for History and the City of South Bend will joined dozens of leaders from the local Jewish community on Friday, May 16, for the ceremonial unveiling of a permanent plaque commemorating the National Register of Historic Places status that has been bestowed upon the region's oldest synagogue-a synagogue which happens to reside inside the confines of a professional minor league baseball stadium. The... Full story
After reading on the Internet the article about Dearborn, Michigan, being the first city in the United States to implement Sharia Law, I questioned how this could be possible here, as it is directly against the U.S. Constitution. After a little research, Snopes, “the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation” as it defines itself, gave me the answer. Claim: Dearborn, Michigan, has become the first U.S. city to implement Sharia law. Question: Is there any validity to this story? Sno... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Can Rand Paul woo his party's Jews? The Kentucky senator and likely candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination is stepping up his Jewish outreach. In recent weeks, Paul chatted with rabbis on a conference call and proposed legislation to cut funding to the Palestinian Authority unless it recognizes Israel as a Jewish state. Making inroads with Jewish Republicans is an uphill battle for Paul, an ardent anti-interventionist and opponent of foreign aid. A few years... Full story
By Uriel Heilman NEW YORK (JTA)-When the 92nd Street Y announced that it had hired a new executive director, Crain's New York Business went with an eye-catching headline: "It's a goy! 92nd St. Y picks first non-Jewish chief." The announcement that Henry Timms would lead the famed Upper East Side cultural center represented the culmination of the Y's effort to move past the scandal-tainted tenure of its previous director, Sol Adler, who was fired last July. Adler's dismissal followed revelations... Full story
Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, is proud to announce that Hadassah Magazine has received 12 Rockower awards, more than any other publication (magazine, newspaper or website) and more than all other magazines combined. Nine of the 12 awards were for first place. This is the second year in a row Hadassah Magazine has received the most awards. The Simon Rockower Award, sometimes referred to as the “Jewish Pulitzers,” is an award given for “Excellence in Jewish Journalism.” The award is sponsored by the American Jewish Pr... Full story
(JTA)—A Jewish carpenter filed a federal lawsuit saying he was attacked with anti-Semitic insults and threats while working for the New York Housing Authority. Mitchell Imberman, 60, of Manhattan, claimed in the suit filed in Brooklyn District Court that his bosses similarly attacked him when he asked them to help. Imberman said subordinates called him a “filthy Jew” and a “dumb kike,” the New York Post reported Sunday. He also said in the lawsuit that his tools were stolen, swastikas were painted on the walls where he worked and he found fec... Full story
In what many observers will see as the de facto expression of mainstream U.S. Jewry's outlook on J Street, members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations voted 22-17 (with three abstentions) to reject the membership application of the self-labeled "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby. J Street secured the votes of only about a third of the Conference's 50 members. The 42 Conference members in attendance in New York exceeded the 75-percent quorum needed to hold the vote,... Full story
LOS ANGELES - Jay Leno, the legendary former Tonight Show host, will be the official emcee at a star-studded event where former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be honored as the inaugural Genesis Prize laureate. Leno will host the May 22 ceremony at the Jerusalem Theater in Jerusalem, where more than 400 international dignitaries will be in attendance including Nobel laureates, world's leading philanthropists and global business leaders. Grammy award-winning pianist Evgeny Kissin, a... Full story
(ALGEMEINER) A rabbi extracted an apology from anti-Semites on bikes who verbally assaulted him as he was walking to shul in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Rabbi Michy Rav-Noy wrote on Facebook that the lesson was, “Jews! Stand up for yourselves!” The “main point” of his story, the rabbi said, was “showing them we won’t put up with it and having them apologize.” At 9:15 a.m., the rabbi was walking to synagogue when two men on bicycles screamed, “There goes a Jew! Look at that Jew!” Rabbi Rav-Noy said, “I yelled right back at them, ‘Come here now and... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-On Twitter, pro-Palestinian activists dubbed it "DivestApalooza." Student governments at three Southern California public universities all voted on divestment resolutions targeting Israel in a single day. The April 23 votes were part of a surge in student governments at American universities voting on divestment resolutions. In the past two years, at least 16 student governments have weighed divestment measures, including nine this spring, though a majority have rejected them.... Full story
(JNS.org) In the largest terrorism-related forfeiture in U.S. history, the U.S. government has agreed to distribute the proceeds of the sale of an Iran-linked Manhattan skyscraper and other buildings to the families of the victims of Iranian-sponsored terror attacks. The 36-story skyscraper located on 5th Avenue and West 52nd Street is majority owned by the Alavi Foundation, a non-profit organization that runs Islamic centers and promotes Persian culture. A 2009 lawsuit by the U.S. government claimed that the Alavi Foundation and two minority... Full story
(JNS.org)—The Obama administration notified Iran and the United Nations that it would deny a visa to newly appointed Iranian Ambassador to the U.N. Hamid Aboutalebi, who was part of an extremist student group that stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, taking 52 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days. The administration’s decision comes after the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would bar entry into the U.S. by any proposed U.N. representative who has engaged in espionage or terrorism or who may pose a thr... Full story
After facing growing pressure from faculty members, students, and an outside Muslim advocacy group, Brandeis University said that it is rescinding its decision to award an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a women's rights activist and critic of Islam, over her "past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University's core values." But in light of the school's past decisions to honor American playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner and South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, who have both... Full story
