Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1757 - 1781 of 1920
NEW YORK (JTA)—Jewish day school enrollment in the United States is up 12 percent from five years ago, primarily due to growth in haredi Orthodox schools. Nearly 255,000 students are enrolled in 861 Jewish day schools from the pre-K level through 12th grade, according to a new census of the schools conducted by the Avi Chai Foundation. The day school survey, which has been conducted every five years since 1998-99, found 59 more schools and 26,437 more students since the last study, in 2008-09. Previous surveys found enrollment growth rates o...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Jerry Silverman recently started his second five-year term as the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America-the first time that any chief of the federation umbrella organization has been signed to a second term. With the federations' annual General Assembly nearing-it's slated for Nov. 9-11 in National Harbor, Md., just outside of Washington-JTA thought it would be a good time to check in and see how the priority areas that Silverman identified last year have fared. He...
About a year after the American Studies Association’s (ASA) widely condemned vote to endorse a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, the organization’s policy on Israel is receiving renewed scrutiny over a practical application of that vote. The ASA’s 2014 annual meeting, to be held Nov. 6-9 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, has garnered criticism for a stated policy of excluding Israeli academics. In December 2013, a resolution passed in a vote among the 5,000-member ASA, the oldest and largest association devoted to the i...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (JTA)-Harvard senior Rachel Sandalow-Ash scanned the exuberant crowd that packed a campus auditorium on Saturday night. "Wow," she said, speaking to an audience of some 350 composed primarily of American college students. "This is amazing. This is really cool." Sandalow-Ash, 21, went on to discuss the importance of nurturing a pluralistic and intellectually diverse Jewish community. "We believe that no one should be excluded because of their views on Israel-Palestine, or really...
What would you do if you found out that you had only three more months to live? Gordon Zacks was a successful businessman, a leader of Jewish life, and a confidante and adviser to President George H.W. Bush. He knew that he had prostate cancer, but doctors advised him that it was very slow-growing and nothing to worry about. Then came the day when the doctors told him his cancer had metastasized to his liver and that he had only three months to live. Zacks—who would die in February 2014—decided to make his bedroom a school in which he and tho...
NEW YORK (JTA) - As with many exclusive events, the Metropolitan Opera House's Opening Night Gala on Monday had a few uninvited guests. But these weren't your typical party crashers. Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Met chanting "Shame on the Met!" and "Say no to the show!" in protest of the Metropolitan Opera Company's decision to produce the controversial opera "The Death of Klinghoffer." The John Adams opera, which debuted in 1991 and is set to premiere at the Met on Oct. 20,...
The Jewish National Fund (JNF) has launched its new college Campus Fellows program that will help to better promote Israel at a time of growing anti-Semitism and resentment towards Israel witnessed world-wide during the recent war in Gaza. The 20 JNF Campus Fellows are students at America’s best universities and from a wide geographical area. Some are alumni of JNF programs at Alexander Muss High School in Israel, the Taglit-Birthright Israel: Shorashim-JNF Israel Adventure, and Alternative Spring Break (ASB). To qualify for the fellowship e...
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—Comedian Sarah Silverman broke out a Jewish joke as she took home a trophy at the 2014 Emmy Awards. Silverman won for Best Writing for a Variety Show for her HBO comedy special “Sarah Silverman: We are Miracles.” Upon being announced as the winner, she dashed onto the stage barefoot and thanked her agents, saying, “Thank you to my Jews at CAA.” Prior to Monday night’s ceremony, Silverman set the Internet abuzz when she announced in an interview on the red carpet that she had brought with her a vaporizer with liquid pot....
BALTIMORE (JTA) – Blocking brothers, a college star seeking success in the pros, a fullback who hasn't had a carry in four seasons and a couple of ace special teamers are among the Jewish players on NFL rosters as the league kicks off this week. A punter may join the group after sitting out the preseason because of a personal issue. Also, Marc Trestman is back for his second season as coach of the Chicago Bears after moving to the NFL following a stellar career on the sidelines in the C...
(JTA)-The streets of North Miami Beach look different since the murder of Rabbi Joseph Raksin. At Northeast 175th Street and 8th Court, in the heavily Orthodox neighborhood where he was killed, a memorial of candles is arranged in a Star of David that the community keeps lit. Police officers have stepped up their patrols, filling the streets at all hours. Raksin, a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic sect who was in town from Brooklyn, N.Y., to visit his grandchildren, was shot on the...
President Obama spoke out against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in his remarks addressing the execution of journalist James Foley on Aug. 19, stating that "a group like ISIL has no place in the 21st century." He went on to say "There has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so it does not spread. There has to be a clear rejection of this kind of nihilistic ideologies... Friends and allies around the world, we share a common security a set of values opposite of what we saw...
BALTIMORE (JTA) – As a former WNBA president who played in what is considered the first U.S. professional basketball league for women, Donna Orender has been eager for a trailblazing female to join the National Basketball Association in a prominent role. So she was plenty pleased last week when the world champion San Antonio Spurs hired Becky Hammon, a point guard with the WNBA's Stars of the Texas city, as a paid assistant coach – a first in NBA history. "Becky's a special woman, a great pla...
BOSTON (JTA) – One recent Tuesday evening, a group of about two dozen Jews in their 20s and 30s huddled around wooden tables poring over the text for the week’s Torah portion. A rabbi prodded them with questions about the petition that Zelophehad’s daughters submitted to Moses to inherit their father’s estate. Why do they petition at this juncture? Why does Moses refer the question to God? Members of the group raised hands, offered theories, debated. The learning session took place not in a synagogue study hall but at a bustling cafe in Harv...
It has been six years since the economy crashed in 2008, and while finding employment has been a challenge, the tide may be taking a turn for the better-particularly in the non-profit sector. But where do Jewish non-profits fall within the current landscape, from the perspective of both job-seekers and employers? Broadly speaking, employment continues to be "a buyer's market," says Linda Wolfe, director of career development and placement at JVS Chicago, an affiliate agency of the International...
NEW YORK—Emotionally charged student government debates over resolutions urging divestment in companies doing business with Israel have become a perennial distraction across the University of California system, and the head of a prominent national security think tank has urged UC President Janet Napolitano to become personally involved. “As a former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, I know you appreciate the serious consequences of an international campaign to undermine the next generation’s support for America’s only ally in...
(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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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'....
