Celebrate being Jewish at the Heritage Festival in Daytona Beach

The Jewish Heritage Festival expresses the heart and soul of Jewish Florida. It intertwines the sounds, sights, and spirit of Jewish culture and brings together every facet of the Jewish community-young and old, singles and families, regardless of their religious and cultural background. This year's festival will take place Sunday, April 6, at the News-Journal Center, 221 North Beach Street, Daytona Beach, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Festival-goers will enjoy nationally acclaimed entertainment such as the Goldovitz Klezmer Group, Tampa's Mike Eisenstadt Band and headliner Cantor Bruce Benson; kosher, Israeli and Jewish-style food; Israeli and Judaica artists and vendors; and Jewish organization booths. Children's entertainment will be available throughout the day including a rock climbing wall, matzoh baking, inflatables, face painting, a petting zoo, and camel rides.

New to this year's festival will be an area reserved for a health fair, where attendees can obtain valuable information on health and wellness from area providers.

There also will be exhibits including a Holocaust Memorial and Jewish Hall of Fame that will host hourly speakers. One of the speakers will be motivational speaker Jacques Wiesel, cousin of Elie Wiesel of whom Jacques said, "He wrote 40 books. I wrote four. The only thing separating us is a zero." When he was seven years old, Jacques Wiesel fled Brussels with his family to North Africa. They were interred in a detention camp in Casablanca for three years before being freed by American troops in 1942. Known as "Mr. Motivatr," (the monogram on his polo shirt didn't have room for the "o," he said) Wiesel shares the importance of laughter for health and longevity.

This year's event is sponsored by Bright House Networks and the Endowment Committee of the Jewish Federation of Volusia and Flagler Counties.

For more information about the 2014 Jewish Heritage Festival, please visit the Festival website at http://www.JewishHeritageFestival.com or contact Jeff Bigman, festival chairman, 386-316-3626, or via e-mail at Chair@JewishHeritageFestival.com.