Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

In columns recently published by The Heritage, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream was excoriated for deciding not to sell ice cream in what the company calls “the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Mel Pearl...

I recently read with dismay two opinion pieces in the Heritage, both of which dealt with the “Uprooting Prejudice” exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Research and Education Center. Pardon the pun, but...

I recently read with dismay two opinion pieces in the Heritage, both of which dealt with the “Uprooting Prejudice” exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Research and Education Center. Pardon the pun, but...

There’s a whole long list anyone can come up with that marks, for them, the clock of their lives ticking away. Leaves change color in the fall (at least some do further north). Crow’s feet appear at...

I don’t know why I’m still surprised, after 3+ years and countless lies, that Trump’s followers have done more than swallow the poisonous stew he spews. They have become the stew. And nothing could...

I don’t know how many times I’ve told my children (or tried to tell them) how their mom and dad met, how we sent each other signals from a distance for months until the opportunity arose for us to int...

By David Bornstein It’s been a long time since the last Good Word column, but I find myself driven — compelled — to write something during these painful, difficult days. I don’t want this to be anot...

For months now, through the course of the recently completed elections, I have been asking myself one basic question. Not who’s right or wrong. Not who’s better or worse. Not who will I support or...

Our youngest, now midway through his first semester of college, has made a rapid and positive transition to his new life. Friends, classes, study time and party time all seem to have fallen into...

Every year my wife and I are invited to our cousin’s house for a second day of Rosh Hashanah lunch. It’s something we enjoy and count on—the good food, the camaraderie, the interesting comme...

Eighteen and a half years ago, when our third and last child was born, I remember thinking, “I’m going to be 62 when he goes to college. That’s so old!” Now that time has come, as has Rosh Hashana...

While Jews have been interwoven in a myriad of ways into the fabric of life in Central Florida-from law to medicine, art to amusement parks, social change to social glitz-no single field has felt the...

Of all the interesting facts and statistics you will learn at Kehillah: A History of Jewish Life in Greater Orlando exhibition, perhaps the most fascinating will be the people you will meet-their...

An historical exhibition recounting more than 100 years of Jewish community life in Central Florida couldn't take place without honoring the machers and mensches of the community. The heavy hitters....

From the tiny seed of an idea, an enormous community event has grown. In February of 2015, Sara Stern assembled a committee for Congregation Ohev Shalom to begin planning its centennial celebration....

An elderly woman approached her rabbi one year during services. “Rabbi!” she exclaimed, throwing her frail, skinny arms open wide. Given the fact that she stood barely five feet tall, the rabbi ben...

For the first time in my life, on the morning after Donald Trump was elected to be the next president of the United States, I had a glimmering—the faintest of ideas—of what it must have felt like for...

For years during the High Holidays my family sat with my mother (of blessed memory) near the front of our synagogue. If you knew her you knew her generosity, and she cut no corners with either her...

Ten years ago my life started to unravel. Not completely. I always had love and support—my wife, my children. But a corner of it frayed, and the loose strands couldn’t easily be fixed, and holes tha...

For the past 10 years I have been living in a state of constant denial. “I’m still cool,” I’d tell myself. “I can go to rock concerts and fit right in.” “I haven’t lost a step on the tennis court....

With the public announcement that David Wayne, executive director of the Jewish Community Center, is moving on to a new phase in his life, and the JCC is conducting a nationwide search for a new...

Some words are laced with extra meaning, built on levels of nuance and implied messages. Words like turning. If you’re “turning a corner” in your life you’ve gotten around some obstacle and are hea...

I recently attended the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando’s women’s fundraising event – CHOICES – at the behest of the honoree, Ina Porth. It was a well-run program, and Ina is as deserving of the...

Let me state this up front. I am not a big fan of Benjamin Netanyahu. I believe his hard line approach to continuing the development of settlements and building in East Jerusalem is...

You say ISIL I say ISIS... There’s only one thing I can say I believe about ISIL, but before I do, listen to the litany of their accomplishments. They have captured land in two dysfunctional c...