Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Last Thursday, Gov. Rick Scott paid a visit to The Roth Family JCC to announce his proposal of $1million to provide extra security to Jewish day schools throughout Florida. The monies would be ear-marked for security upgrades and other counter-terrorism measures, such as video cameras, fences, bullet-proof glass, alarm systems and other safety equipment. He then stressed that the proposal still has to go through the state congress and encouraged everyone to contact their congressmen and state...
The Roth Family JCC's Jewish Film committee finished the grueling (tongue-in-cheek) task of choosing five films (and one short) out of 104 to present at the Central Florida Jewish Film Festival. Partnering with Maitland's Enzian Theater for the last 19 years, The Roth Family JCC is once again, bringing the community films with Jewish and Israeli themes that will make you laugh, cry, and think. As in the past, each film offers something totally different and totally wonderful. So it is worth it t...
Amy Schwartz Kimlat certainly does and it helped her to make a tough decision-to resign as marketing director of The Roth Family JCC. Her final day will be Nov. 10. There is no doubt about it that on May 15, 2006, Kimlat brought a "magic" to the Maitland JCC and injected tons of motivation and inspiration into this community center. "Marvin Friedman was the executive director who hired me," Kimlat recalled. "He joked with me at the time that he'd meet my request for a Mac computer to do my job i...
It started with a two-year contract back in August 1990, and now, 27 years later, Rabbi Aaron Daniel Rubinger is laying down the mantel of senior rabbi at Congregation Ohev Shalom and assuming the title of rabbi emeritus. "The last two years I've considered working just part-time," he told Heritage, "so, when the synagogue leadership offered me this opportunity, I was thrilled!" The change will go into effective Oct. 15. Rubinger will still perform some lifecycle events, conduct some services...
It took less than 90 seconds for Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, to make the Palestinian delegation to the UN Human Rights Council squirm in their seats. Just after members from the PLO, Syria, Qatar, North Korea, Pakistan, Venezuela and Iran spoke their vile reasons to disassociate with Israel at United Nations Watch, Yousef spoke in English with clarity and confidence as he called out the PA's human rights abuses of their own people. "Where does your...
Sept. 14 was an evening of laughter, music, dance, prayer and unity among women at The Roth Family JCC and the Rosen JCC as each dug their hands into bread dough, braiding magnificent round Challah at Chabad's fourth annual Mega Challah Bake. It was also the largest women's event yet in the community, hosting more than 360 women at The Roth Family JCC and more than 200 at the Rosen JCC, for a combined total of more than 560 participants. Ages ranged from 9 years old to 106 (that's Myrtle Skop...
There is a hauntingly solemn-yes not to be missed-art exhibit opening at the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center on Sept. 10. The works were created by St. Petersburg artist Judith Dazzio. What makes this exhibit so unique is that Dazzio painted these pieces as a result of hearing a Holocaust Survivor's personal story in her sixth-grade class. Her story stayed with Dazzio throughout her life. An adult now, she recalls, "I can still see the numbers on her arms. I can see her holding...
The turn out for the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's Annual Meeting wasn't as large as in past years. Perhaps the weather, casting a gloomy, gray, cloud-covered sky that threatened rain, put a damper on many families' plans to come because this year's annual meeting was also billed as Family Fun Day that included a picnic. Another change in the meeting was the agenda. It was much shorter -less than an hour to go through all the protocol: the approval of last year's minutes, the...
Tuesday evening, Aug. 22, the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center hosted a panel discussion on free speech vs. hate speech. The timely dialogue was arranged as a result of the Charlottesville protest/counterprotest. Michael Friedman, president of HMREC, welcomed the more than 500 people in attendance, and stated that we should all treat people with respect even if we disagree. "The way we respond to Charlottesville defines us as a country," he stated. Moderator Scott Maxwell,...
What is JSU? The Jewish Student Union is an after-school club that provides any high school student-regardless of Jewish affiliation-a Jewish experience through programs that strengthen their Jewish identity and connection to Israel. Run by the teenagers, a club can be established in a school simply by being requested (JSU does not barge in and establish itself). Last year, a student at Oviedo High School experienced anti-Semitism at the school. She'd heard about the Jewish Student Union and...
Her demeanor is reserved. She speaks softly with dignity and grace. Yet beneath that quiet exterior lays a strength to spearhead many projects that enhanced the Orlando Jewish community. Sara Stern reveals her deep love of Judaism and the Jewish people through her accomplishments within organizations such as Congregation Ohev Shalom, Hadassah, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando and the Women's League of Conservative Judaism. Her motivation comes, she stated, from "a deep-seated belief...
Lester Mandell, a leader and pacesetter in the Jewish community, died on Thursday, July 27, 2017. He was 96 years old. Mr. Mandell, with contemporaries Hy Lake, Lester Zimmerman and John Lowndes, is a household name in both the construction industry and the Jewish community. In fact, Mandell has worked in the construction business for more than 80 years-starting out in Miami building houses for 37 cents an hour. He and his wife, the former Sonia Margolis, met each other in Miami at a "No Names"...
Former Heritage editor, Mike Etzkin, is a proud uncle. His nephew, Brian Etzkin, is the "winningest" head coach of the men's and women's tennis teams in history at Cleveland State University. Etzkin's work was cut out for him when he came to Cleveland as head coach in 2002. Both the men's and women's teams were, in his words, two "of the worst teams in the country." During his first year he brought the men's team to nine wins-six more than the previous two years combined. And since that beginnin...
Kudos go out to Chef Zachary Engel for winning the James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef of the Year. Engel is the chef de cuisine at Shaya restaurant in New Orleans, and was one of 11 New Orleans chefs to be a James Beard Award finalist this year. And if his name sounds familiar, he is also the son of Rabbi Steven and Beverly Engel of the Congregation of Reform Judaism. This is a prestigious honor, as the James Beard Awards are considered among the highest honors in the American culinary...
There is another local water polo player who will be playing on the Maccabi Water Polo team this summer. Ory Tasman, four-time All-American and Winter Park resident, was selected to the 2017 Maccabi Water Polo team. Tasman, a graduate of Winter Park High School in 2012, holds numerous records at Winter Park High and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including most goals scored in a season (105) and a career (317). He graduate from MIT in 2016 with a degree in computer science and...
After the recession slowed most businesses down considerably, Renee Friedman's team of 14 at FastSigns Orlando Central, under her leadership, hunkered down to make 2016 the company's best year since she bought the retail chain franchise in 2001. "The recession almost shut us down as we lost so many customers in the real estate and construction industries. Year after year sales declined despite all our efforts," she said. "We kept pushing forward and finally, about four years ago, we started to...
RAISE, a work and social skills training program for adults with special needs at the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, is celebrating its third successful year. Just this month, two of its current participants have moved on to new jobs. And, as always happens with RAISE, more than one person was involved in the process of making this happen. Take Caitlin for example. She spent six-months in RAISE and was recently hired to work at FASTSIGNS Orlando Central by owner Renee Friedman, who saw...
There are times when a very bad situation actually turns out to provide a "golden opportunity" to bring about change. Such is the case with Peter Gold, who started a nonprofit foundation called Strong City, a 501(c)(3) that supports organizations that empower underserved youth. It was only 16 months ago that Gold-who's parents live in Longwood -was fighting for his life after being shot by a man who was abducting a woman. Just recently, that horrific shooting was brought to the American peoples'...
After reading the article about Zev Halikman, the young 22-year-old who made the USA Maccabi water polo team (see the April 7 issue of Heritage), Rochelle Willner of Temple Shalom Aleichem in Kissimmee was on the phone to Heritage. "I thought you'd like to know that there are two other people from here going to the World Maccabiah Games this summer," she said. Those two people are Marilyn Glaser, president of Temple Shalom Aleichem, and Kissimmee resident, Lazar Lowinger, a member of the USA...
There's a war going on in the United States. It isn't a battle with weapons that harm the physical body. It's a war of ideology versus truth and logic. And the battlefields are on college campuses. Americans for Peace and Tolerance, founded by Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser, produced a shocking documentary titled "Hate Spaces: The Politics of Intolerance on Campus" that takes the viewer into the heart of the aggressive methods of "combat" used to viciously attack Jewish and pro-Israel...
A few weeks ago The Heritage ran a story about Central Florida residents Jules and Elyse Baclar, who are marathon runners. Now in their late 60s and early 70s, they are still running strong. Asher Ravede is on his way to following in their running shoes. On April 1, he was inducted into the Daytona Running Series Hall of Fame (HOF) at the Rayz Awareness 5K event. What makes this an extremely special event is that Ravede, son of James and Lisa Ravede of Ormond Beach and grandson of Joan Ravede...
Maitland residents King William and Pearl Halikman are beaming with joy. Their grandson, Zev Halikman, made the USA Maccabi Water Polo Team and will compete in the 20th World Maccabi Games in Israel this coming July. "In life some of us will be lucky enough to find a passion that consumes us with infinite pleasure. I was lucky enough to find that six years ago when I began playing water polo," said 22-year-old Zev, who is a graduate of Lake Howell High School and is now a sophmore at Florida Atl...
If everyone's lifestyle was like Jules and Elyse Baclar's, doctors and hospitals would soon be out of business. This vibrant young Oviedo couple -Elyse is 69 and Jules is 71-love to spend their time and money exercising. They cross-country ski every winter in the Adirondacks; snow-shoe, ("It's like walking with tennis rackets on your feet," said Elyse); and bicycling on all the trails in Florida. But their passion is running. "We both have been involved in running our whole lives and we believe...
The Bakery Bar in downtown Orlando is a must if you enjoy desserts and cocktails. The difference with this bar is that the dessert is the cocktail. From the Crème Brulee Cake Martini (my favorite) to the Apple Pie Old Fashioned (this drink has that wonderful cinnamon flavor and an apple slice garnishes the glass rather than a cherry), it is the perfect place to go to after dinner at a local restaurant or to satisfy a sweet tooth after a show at the Dr. Phillips Center or the Amway-both within...
Rabbi Mendy Bronstein with his wife, Mussie, and three children (Yaakov, Batya and Bina ka"h) hit the ground running, so to speak, when they arrived in Altamonte Springs last September. They came from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Rabbi Mendy was the youth director and associate rabbi at The Shul. From photos and posts on his Facebook page, the Milwaukee Jewish community loved him dearly. And why not? From his genuine smile, twinkling eyes and clear understanding and explanation of Judaism, just...
