Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1782 - 1806 of 1920
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...
(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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
(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...
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,...
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...
(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...
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....
(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...
(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...
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...
WASHINGTON (JTA)— The suspect in deadly shootings at two Jewish institutions in suburban Kansas City made no secret of his hateful views, but nobody anticipated the attack that claimed three lives on April 13. The shooter was identified as Frazier Glenn Miller, a 73-year-old white supremacist. The attack illustrates the dilemma of how best to protect Jewish institutions from the threat of deadly violence by extremists acting alone. “Lone wolves are really by far the most dangerous phenomenon. They are vastly more difficult to stop in adv...
(The Algemeiner)—Alumni of Vassar College, an elite, liberal arts school in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., struck back against the rising anti-Israel tide on campus, protesting in a widely-read letter to the campus newspaper against recent moves by a group of faculty and students to vilify the Jewish state and intimidate pro-Israel voices. The open letter, initially signed by 66 alums, was printed by the Miscellany News, the campus newspaper of record since 1866, and quickly attracted dozens of comments from alums worldwide who agreed with the content o...
(JNS.org) A group of 12 current and former Jewish student leaders at Connecticut-based Wesleyan University announced that the Hillel International-affiliated Wesleyan Jewish Community has rejected the Jewish campus umbrella’s Israel guidelines. Hillel’s standards of partnership state that it “will not partner with, house, or host organizations, groups, or speakers that as a matter of policy or practice: Deny the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state with secure and recognized borders; Delegitimize, demonize, or apply a dou...
NEW YORK-Hundreds of young Jewish adults from across the country are expected to re-imagine, create, and host Passover seders with friends with help from NEXT: A Division of Birthright Israel. To host, Birthright Israel alumni register with NEXT up until April 14 to receive resources and a small stipend designed to empower them to host personally meaningful and unique seders. Since 2011, more than 1,000 NEXT Passover seders have been hosted for thousands of young Jewish adults. Ben W. from...
A film is coming your way called “The J Street Challenge.” A production of Americans for Peace and Tolerance, with APT’s Charles Jacobs as special consultant; produced, directed and written by Avi Goldwasser and Ilya Feoktistov, “The J Street Challenge” lines up a phalanx of illustrious academics and activists to expose the deception, the lies, and the anti-Israel animus behind J Street. But the film is not a snooze-parade of talking heads; ideas—important ideas—are supplemented with illustrations, maps, videos, and images both heartwarming and...
More than five months after the Pew Research Center's "A Portrait of Jewish Americans" survey drew widespread pessimism over rising intermarriage and assimilation, as well as declining connection with synagogues and other institutions, proponents of a newly released study believe they may have the antidote for what ails the Jewish community. On March 10, the Jewish nonprofit Hazon and six funders released "Seeds of Opportunity: A National Study of Immersive Jewish Outdoor, Food, and...
Prize-winning author of 15 books and Emmy Award-winner Simon Schama brings to life Jewish history and experience in a new five-part documentary series, "The Story of the Jews With Simon Schama," premiering Tuesday, March 25, from 8 to 10 p.m. EST (episodes 1 and 2) and April 1, from 8 to 11 p.m. EST (episodes 3, 4 and 5) on PBS. (Check local listings). The five-hour series follows Schama-who has written and presented 50 documentaries on art, literature and history and is a contributing editor...
A documentary on Alice Herz-Sommer, who died Feb. 23 at 110 and was at the time the world’s oldest Holocaust survivor, won an Oscar for Best Short Documentary at the Academy Awards on Sunday evening. Born in Prague in 1903, Herz-Sommer was an accomplished pianist who survived the Terezin-Theresienstadt concentration camp and went on to teach at the Jerusalem Academy of Music for several decades. The winning documentary, titled “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life,” chronicled her life as a musician....
Israel’s “favorable” rating in the United States has climbed to a 23-year high in the Gallup poll, even as the Obama administration has been pressuring the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a peace deal that would result in the creation of a Palestinian state. Almost four times as many Americans view Israel favorably as view the Palestinian Authority favorably, according to Gallup. Currently, 72 percent of Americans surveyed say they have a favorable opinion of Israel, while only 23 percent say they have an unfav...
NEWARK, N.J.—In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) and just in time for Passover, Manischewitz® is releasing limited run packaging on each of its five matzo boxes inside 5-lb packages. The matzo boxes feature fun and factual information about notable Jewish American inventors, comedians, historical figures, and more. These fun facts are sure to entertain and enlighten over breakfast or at the seder table. Some of the Jewish American figures featured include Ann Landers, Estee Lauder, Sandy Koufax, Irving Berlin, and the in...
