Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Passover began this year on the evening of April 1, April Fools’ Day. It’s known as the day when practical jokes and hoaxes are perpetrated on unsuspecting victims, with the pranksters usually exposing themselves by shouting “April Fools!” This year’s timing is curiously coincidental, but arguably not without significance. The theme of Passover is succinctly stated in the Haggadah itself: “We were slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt, and God took us out with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. If the Holy One, Blessed be He, had not taken...
(JNS) — The American Jewish community is still reeling from the attack on a Reform temple in the Detroit area. Thankfully, no one was killed on March 12 other than the attacker, though several first-responders were injured. It’s a near miracle that roomfuls of children in the building that afternoon got our safely with teachers and synagogue staff. As I write this, Jews throughout the United States are preparing for Shabbat. This Shabbat is called Shabbat Hachodesh. It takes its name from the beginning of the special maftir (last Torah sec...
(JNS) — Sadly, during this year’s Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, the Jewish state added more names to the list of those who died at the hands of enemies who want Israel destroyed. As was the case last year, not only were the dead remembered, but those who, hopefully, are still alive, being held hostage by our enemies and whose welfare is still of great concern, were also present in people’s minds. Indeed, since that fateful Oct. 7 day, the hostages have been on the mind of every concerned Jew and every non-Jew who is an ohev Yisrael...
(JNS) — “Be this the whetstone of your sword. Let grief convert to anger. Blunt not the heart, enrage it.” — “Macbeth,” Act 4, Scene 3 The holiday of Purim is the most joyous of Jewish holidays and therefore our sages teach that when the month in which occurs, Adar, begins, joy increases. But given recent events, this year the joy of Adar may feel palpably less than in previous years. Many Israelis kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, are still hostages, continually brutalized and mocked, and the three that became the faces of that day’s treachery — S...
(JNS) — Since the Oct. 7 massacre, American Jews have experienced attacks that are now burned into our souls: On dozens of campuses and nearby streets, Jews have been screamed at, attacked, hectored, threatened and bullied — and did not fight back. These images are humiliating, and all the more so because our historical experience has taught us that not responding with force has consequences: The easier Jews are to bully, the more we are attacked. The bleating of the sheep excites the tiger. Our exclusively non-violent reaction to the current w...
