Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 8 of 8
(JTA) - It is rare that one can say attending a funeral was an uplifting experience. Yet the funeral Thursday for Judah Samet, who died Sept. 27, 2022, was exactly that, because remembering Judah can bring only positive feelings. He was a teacher of Torah at his Tree of Life synagogue, possessor of a unique and vigorous voice and sense of humor, veteran of the paratroop division of the Israeli army, lover of Golden Grahams, generous tipper and possessor of what he termed a "Bergen-Belsen...
PITTSBURGH (JTA)-An art installation consisting of works submitted by children from around the world was unveiled at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. "#Hearts Together: The Art of Rebuilding" features 101 works of art printed on canvas that are wrapped around the synagogue building in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Among those who submitted the art were children from Columbine, Colorado; Newtown, Connecticut; and Parkland, Florida-all sites of mass shootings. The works were selected...
(JTA)—On April 1, Naomi Firestone-Teeter became executive director of the Jewish Book Council, which promotes the reading, writing, publishing and distribution of English-language Jewish books. Firestone-Teeter, whose predecessor Carolyn Hessel has been called “the Jewish Oprah” for her success at promoting books, has been working her way up in the organization since graduating from Emory University in 2006, serving most recently as its associate director. JTA recently caught up by email with the 31-year-old exec. The interview has been conde...
(JTA)-A whopping 16,000 books have been written about President Abraham Lincoln. But a new book and an exhibit at the New York Historical Society tell a previously untold story about Lincoln: his relationships with Jews. Benjamin Shapell has been collecting documents relating to Lincoln and the Jews for over 35 years, housing them in the archives of the Shapell Foundation. For the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination, Shapell persuaded Jonathan Sarna, the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun...
(JTA)-Israel's biggest literary prize, the Sapir Prize, has the drama and mystery of a lottery. The identity of the judges remains secret until shortly before the ceremony, when they meet for an early dinner to decide the fate of the five nominees short-listed for best novel. Meanwhile in a separate room the short-listed novelists and their families, dressed in their finest and sipping wine, wait for the ceremony, broadcast a few hours later on Israel's Channel 2, to begin. The Sapir also has...
(JTA)-When Carolyn Starman Hessel joined the New York-based Jewish Book Council in 1994-at the request of friend Marsha Posner-she knew nothing about the publishing world. Since then, she's been called the "Jewish Oprah" for her ability to help authors find audiences, and has enjoyed enormous clout and influence among publishers. The soon-to-be retired director, who says she simply learned "on the job," helped launch the career of novelist and short-story writer Nathan Englander, when in 1999...
(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...
Writer Jonathan Ames, creator of the HBO television series “Bored to Death,” is known for his fearless and exhibitionistic persona. One can find YouTube videos of him eating herring and boxing at the same time, having knives thrown at him by a person called “Throwdini,” and ranting drunkenly at an awards ceremony. And when it comes to writing, Ames’s essays tend to cover racy topics. Given these exploits, it’s a bit surprising to learn that Ames’s recent trip to Israel made his Jewish mother hap...
