Scene Around

Jewish Super Talents ...

William Edward Crystal was born on March 14, 1948.

Of course you know him simply has BILLY CRYSTAL!

Billy is an actor, comedian, director, producer and writer. (He is also one of my favorite favorites!) It seems every movie he appears in has been a hit! He is also a Broadway star!

Like me, Billy is a native New Yorker. He was born in a Manhattan hospital and raised in the Bronx. (I'm a Brooklynite.) As a toddler, he moved with his family to Long Beach, Long Island. He had his bar mitzvah at Temple Emanu-El in Long Beach. He later graduated from NYU. He has a well-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and many nominations and awards! And how about this? Crystal has only one spouse since 1970! (AMAZING!!) Her name is Janice.

I had the pleasure of seeing Billy on JIMMY FALLON's Tonight show recently. (He is still the cutie pie he always was!)

And speaking of super-talents ...

STEVEN ALLAN SPIELBERG is surely one of the most famous and best ever! (His movie, "Schindler's List" is one of my all-time favorites.) He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. His family were Orthodox Jews. His paternal grandparents were from Ukraine, who settled in Cincinnati. Spielberg also attended Hebrew school and was a Bar Mitzvah. His parents talked about the Holocaust often as his father lost between 16 and 20 relatives in the Holocaust. As a youngster he also suffered anti-Semitism. (like most of us.)

Steven has won 3 Academy Awards as Best Director. Twice he won for "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan.

' His third was in Best Picture for "Schindler's List." Also, among his many awards is the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Directors Guild of America. (So well deserved!)

The WJC addresses anti-Semitism ...

"Addressing the World Jewish Congress Executive Committee, WJC President Ambassador RONALD S. LAUDER focused on the anti-Semitic threats confronting the Jewish people and the ever-increasing loss of support for Israel.

Noting that a recent WJC poll found that substantial percentages of the population in Europe and the United States do not consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization, Amb. Lauder observed that 'a lie told often enough... becomes the truth.' He added, 'We're tired of being the victim, we're tired of going to Congress or the British government and saying, Please protect the Jewish people, he added. 'We're going to fight. And we're going to do so in all languages.'

The WJC Executive Committee, which includes senior leaders of the major Jewish communities around the world, met via Zoom one week after Amb.Lauder's participation in the Malmo' international forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating anti-Semitism. In his address at the Forum's opening plenary session, he highlighted the crisis of resurgent anti-Semitism across the globe, as well as 'the new form of anti-Semitism,'often cloaked in anti-Israel rhetoric.

The Executive Committee of the WJC conducts the affairs of the WJC in accordance with the decisions of the Plenary Assembly and Governing Board. The body consists of the WJC President, Chairman of the WJC Governing Board, Treasurer, the Chair and Co-Chair of the Policy Council, the Chairmen of the WJC's Regional Affiliates, vice presidents, presidents of the 12 largest WJC affiliated Jewish communities as well as representatives of other Jewish communities, international Jewish organizations, and young adults. The Executive Committee regularly meets twice a year.

(I don't know how much longer I have on this earth... but puleeze let me see the absence of anti-Semitism before I go!)

JCC Seniors On The Go ...

I heard from leader BARBARA GOLDBERG. Here are the April events:

April 4th – Maitland performance arts will bring us a music duo by Robert and Jon, first Monday of the month.

April 11 – Passover Seder--Our abbreviated seder starts at 11:45. It is followed by our GENTLE BEMOVED CLASS at 1 pm.

April 18th – GENTLE BEMOVED CLASS

April 25th – Chris Bouille, singer, is coming back.

Upcoming seders ...

On Thursday, April 7th at 6 p.m. at the Congregation of Reform Judaism, 928 Malone Drive, Orlando, there will be a Women's Seder.

A Passover Seder and celebration will be held. The cost is $45 per person. For further details, phone 407-645-0444

A full, delicious seder dinner will be included.

Please bring canned goods and toiletries to be donated to Harbor House of Central Florida and Jewish Family Services' Pearlman Emergency Food Pantry. Proof of vaccination required.

A Reminder ...

The Winter Park Playhouse will repeat it's March Spotlight Cabaret show "Jazzy Skies with Broadway Showers" as a virtual entertainment event on April 8-11. The cost is $20. For further information, phone 407-645-0145.

One for the road ...

Two sons want to do something different for their father's 90th birthday so they hire a call girl. She shows up at the house and the sons tell her to go up the stairs to the bedroom where the father is.

She opens the bedroom door and sees the old man sitting on the side of the bed, and she says with enthusiasm, "I'm here to give you super sex."

The old man looks at her and says, "I'll take the soup."