Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Wait, what? Jews and Christians can pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Why is that news? At the conclusion of the 1967 Six Day War, Israel negotiated a cease fire with the Arab countries that had gone to war against it. A cease fire, not peace. Israelis believed that after the crushing defeat of the Arab armies and loss of vast territory, the Arabs would finally realize that they could not win militarily, and that Israel was a reality to live with, not fight against. Many believed that all that was needed was to negotiate to return the...
More than Facebook crashing, news in Israel this week has been about the vague announcement and gripping story of efforts to locate Ron Arad, an Israeli Air Force officer who has been missing in action since October 1986. Ron Arad was a 28-year-old Lieutenant Colonel whose plane crashed during a mission over Lebanon. It is believed he is dead, though there are conflicting reports as to when and how he died. Arad and his pilot Yishai Aviram ejected from their plane, damaged when a bomb apparently exploded prematurely. Aviram was located and...
I followed reports of Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent exchange with a student at George Mason University with great interest, and dismay. In many ways, she reminded me of an incident with Hillary Clinton, not in a good way. Harris addressed students at George Mason to mark National Voter Registration Day. Following her remarks, she opened the floor for questions. During questions, one student commented to Harris, “You brought up how the power of the people and demonstrations and organizing is very valuable in America. But I see that over t...
By I woke up to the echoes of the Islamic prayers through the Judean mountains that were both beautiful and haunting. Living here among Palestinian Arab Moslems I hear the call to prayer daily, five times a day, but today was different. Today the volume and length of the prayer was considerably louder and longer. The sustained repetition of “Allah Akbar” is audible, perhaps amplified by the mountains, and only competing with an occasional car, or bird. I have no problem with how one approaches God in their respective faith, as long as the...
Israel just inaugurated a new president. He is largely a ceremonial figure as the official “head of state.” He has a limited but very structured constitutional role. Nonetheless, amazingly, he is a Palestinian. Isaac “Bougie” Herzog is Israel’s 11th president. His father was also (Israel’s sixth) president, Chaim Herzog. He was also a Palestinian. How do I know this? Because I am a Palestinian too. “What?!!” you ask. “But Jonathan, you’re Jewish. How ...” Yes. Stick with me. The new President Herzog’s grandfather was Israel’s renowned first...
Unlike many Israelis, I am not spiking the ball or dancing in the end zone today. (Forgive the exclusive American cultural reference for those who don’t follow U.S. football.) Prime Minister Netanyahu, Bibi, is not public enemy No.1. But his time to step down has passed, and that’s why this week Israel announced a new “unity” government, after four elections in two years. It gives me no sense of pride that we’ve come to this point, particularly how this has transpired. As prime minister, there’s no question that Bibi deserves enormous cr...
My social media has been full of proud parents posting pictures of their high school, college, and graduate school graduates which no doubt comes with extra meaning on the heels of a pandemic that’s interrupted so many of our lives. As happy as I am for my friends and their children, I can’t help but look at each of these pictures through a prism of current events in Israel. I am proud of my daughter and son-in-law who are also graduating this year. However, in Israel, ceremonies marking their accomplishments are more toned down than they oth...
I have been hosting a variety of briefings and doing media interviews this week, putting into perspective many of the complicated, frustrating, and scary things that Israel is undergoing and enduring this week. Today I read a vile comment that Israel’s goal is “dead Palestinians and bombed out buildings.” There are abundant ways that this malice is not the case. If that were the case, rather than only 69 casualties (according to the terrorists in Gaza who typically like to inflate their suffering), there would be 6900, or 69,000 deaths. Israel...
I was at a social gathering recently. In Israel, social events can easily become political events, or even indistinguishable from one another, especially in the turbulent period in which we find ourselves, hovering on the verge of a potential broad coalition government, or another, fifth, national election in 2.5 years. In the course of conversation, someone I was standing with referenced “Likud backstabbers,” clearly referring to Gidon Sa’ar and Naftali Bennett and their respective parties, New Hope and Yamina. The implication was that by ab...
Iranian eyes will be on Washington, D.C., while looking over their shoulder at home. The Iranians are looking over their shoulder because a series of attacks attributed to them and their puppets in the Middle East are targeting Israeli commercial ships and firing rockets at Israel from Gaza and Syria. This is coupled with Israel’s reported retaliation against Iranian military ships, and explosion deep underneath an Iranian nuclear facility, raising eyebrows as to Israel’s reach and Iranian vulnerability. Iranians are eying Washington, D.C...
President Rivlin tapped Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government. He has 28 days to try to put together a coalition and if he doesn’t succeed, the president can designate another person with a period of two weeks to do so, and then yet another attempt can be made. A friend asked recently how anyone who supports the right-wing in Israel could advocate for anything other than two right-of-center parties headed by Naftali Bennett and Gideon Sa’ar to join a government lead by the Likud party with Benjamin Netanyahu remaining as prime minister. Combi...
With most of the votes counted and no decisive outcome as far as who the next prime minister will be, or if Israel will be headed to an unprecedented fifth national election in less than three years, one thing is clear, the big winners in Israel’s national election this week were Israeli Arabs. One might have said that a year ago, after Israel’s third national election in (what was then) a year. Then, the “Joint Arab List,” a faction made up of four Arab political parties running together, won a striking 15 seats in Israel’s Knesset (parliame...
On March 23, Israel will hold its fourth national election in two years. This is a result of political stalemate and politicking that's placed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against most other parties, with his Likud party showing one of its lowest polling projections in the past three elections. It is not the first election since the pandemic, but the pandemic will play a more significant role than the previous election a year ago. In addition to the pandemic, there are several other issues...
Earlier this week, the Israeli Air Force carried out a three-day exercise simulating a large-scale war against Hezbollah, the terrorist group that controls much of Lebanon, and which reportedly has as many as 150,000 missiles aimed at Israel. Included in the exercise were simulated strikes on some 3,000 Hezbollah targets in a single day. This number of targets in one day is unprecedented, particularly compared to the fact that during the entire 2006 Lebanon War, it’s been reported that Israel reportedly attacked some 5000 targets. The I...
Jewish tradition is to read the Torah, the first Five Books of the Bible, in an annual cycle so that every year we read and study it in its entirety. The weekly Torah portions, parsha, are divided into segments from Genesis through Deuteronomy, each with a different name according to a theme, action, or person that is prominent at the beginning of the parsha. Each year, I find a new insight reading the same text, not necessarily because I am smarter or wiser, but because I am in a different place in my life, and look at the Word through a diffe...
Just a year ago, Jerusalem was inundated by world leaders commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. At the time, it was announced that in Israel there were only 192,000 remaining Holocaust survivors, 15,000 fewer than the year before because of the high death rate among the aging survivors. At this rate, within 12 years, there will be no more living survivors among us. By all accounts, the survivors’ situation has become much more perilous in the last year. The pandemic has increased isolation and fear, creating a l...
The following is a detailed, complete, and accurate account of a phone call I did not have with now President Joe Biden — he was president elect at the time. The other day, my phone rang. Halfway into the third ring, I answered. “Hello?” “Please hold for the president elect,” replied the voice on the other end. I hadn’t recognized the incoming caller’s number but answered anyway. My immediate thought was that a friend joking with me, or a telemarketer using a new scheme. Before I could think too much more about it, another voice came on. “Hi...
In the year of the pandemic, it’s no wonder that horrible things continue to come back in ways that are threatening and objectively wrong. This year, maybe because of the virus and people being stuck at home with nothing better to do, a gross lie has resurfaced as it does every year at this season, undermining truth and the foundation of Judaism and Christianity. Each year around Christmas, efforts to propagate this malicious lie get stronger and more brazen. It’s part of a slanderous campaign of deception, whose end goal is to erase Jew...
Ten years ago, two Palestinian Arabs lay in prey on a pristine hiking trail on the slopes of the Judean mountains outside Jerusalem. Unlike terrorists who blow up buses, cafes, or attack civilians on the street, these men waited for their victims to come to them, knowing that on the beautiful sunny Shabbat day, people would flock to this well-known area. Two women, good friends, happened upon the terrorists in hiding, and became their victims. They were bound and gagged. The terrorists plotted...
I have written before how the last decades’ trend of Europe in general, and France in specific, opening their doors to Islamic and Arab immigrants with no limitations is akin to feeding, even breeding, a dangerous Trojan horse within its walls. The most recent terror attack in Nice, France, the second in as many weeks, involving the beheading of innocent victims, must be a wake-up call to all those who care about survival of western values, and to Moslems who care about how Islam and Mohammed are perceived. It’s time to cut off the head of the...
For most Jews, this year was one of the most unique Yom Kippurs, me included. On Yom Kippur afternoon, I decided to go through a box of old photos in which I found pictures from what had been the most unique Yom Kippur, until now. On Oct. 1, 1987, I landed in Moscow with my friend, Michael, for a 2.5-week trip throughout the Soviet Union. This was not meant to be sight-seeing, but my second trip to help and encourage Jews of the USSR during a period of rampant persecution and discrimination....
Jenna Lewinsky is panicked, rightly so. She's facing eviction. But it's not a bank that is forcing her to give up her home. She's not done anything wrong. In fact, she's done everything right. Many people have helped her to get where she is. Lewinsky's problem is unique. Lewinsky is panicked because all her years of devotion to bring home and preserve a biblical species of sheep to the Judean mountains south of Jerusalem risks being pulled out from under her. It's not just about her physical eff...
Perhaps it’s inappropriate for an Orthodox Jew to write about issues related to, and a consequence of, the recent inappropriate social media post by Jerry Falwell Jr. that suggested other inappropriate behaviors, and his taking a leave of absence as president of Liberty University. Perhaps, you wonder, why would an Orthodox Jew even care. For someone whose life is centered on building bridges between Jews and Christians, I am aware of the tremendous importance that Liberty University has in general, and specifically in educating young C...
The truth is, I saw something coming this week, but not this. I never expected that “it” would be peace with another Arab country. “It” was the subject of speculation on a webinar I hosted this week about what was going on. But I thought “it” was something military that would involve Israeli F35s and Iranian targets. Perhaps we live in resignation that not having peace with most of our neighbors is the norm, expectations are low, and “it” caught most Israelis by surprise. Because it’s not every day that peace breaks out, even with the public s...
Recently I came across photos taken 30 years ago this summer. During that time, I was privileged to greet several planeloads of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union landing in Israel, welcoming them on the tarmac as they began their new lives in their ancient home. Even though some didn’t know it, they were fulfilling dreams of generations of the Jewish people yearning to come home. Having worked for years to help free Jews from the USSR, and dreaming to live in Israel myself, each p...
