Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Plans are well underway for The Kinneret Council on Aging's (KCOA) fourth annual 8 over 80 Honorary Dinner that will be held on Sunday, March 1, 2015. The 8 over 80 event recognizes individuals over the age of 80 who continue to contribute to our community through their volunteer and philanthropy efforts. Avie Abramowitz, 81, moved here from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1951 with his family. His father bought orange groves. After a year at Rollins College, Abramowitz returned to Maryland to get a...
Back for it's fifth season, the 92Y Live series promises to be bigger and better than ever with the added partnership of Congregation of Reform Judaism. CRJ approached the Roth JCC and Congregation Ohev Shalom about participating as a partner in their collaborative programming, and both were happy to welcome CRJ. "We feel so good about our collaboration with our neighbor, the Roth JCC, and welcome our new partner CRJ. Together we are truly making this a community program," stated Lisa Schwartz,...
JERUSALEM— These are the results of the most recent poll conducted jointly by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah. This joint survey was conducted with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Ramallah and Jerusalem. • Following the war in Gaza in the summer of 2014, 50 percent of Israelis and 38 percent of Palestinians support a permanent settlement package along the Clinton parameters and the Gen...
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Anne Richard says the United States will dramatically increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed to resettle permanently in the United States from about 350 this year to close to 10,000 annually as the crisis grinds on into its fifth year. Summary The low number of Syrian refugees accepted so far by the United States, attributable in part to Germany and Sweden offering to "take a lot," will increase significantly in...
(JTA)-Citing failures by the organization traditionally responsible for bringing Jews to Israel, the founder of a Jerusalem-based interfaith charity said his organization would begin bringing more Jews to Israel from Europe-starting with Ukraine. Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, accused the Jewish Agency for Israel of not responding quickly enough to demand for aliyah sparked by violence in Ukraine, prompting the fellowship to launch...
(JNS.org) After anti-Israel pressure, Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) suspended its purchase of soda and water machines produced by Israel-based SodaStream, the beverage carbonation company with a plant in Judea and Samaria. The president of Harvard, Drew Faust, subsequently ordered an investigation into the HUDS decision. HUDS made the move in the wake of complaints by two pro-Palestinian student groups, the College Palestine Solidarity Committee and the Harvard Islamic Society. The SodaStream plant in Ma’ale Adumim—which the company...
(JNS.org) Hamas has reportedly renewed work on its terror tunnels, using building materials transferred from Israel for the reconstruction of civilian structures in Gaza following this summer’s war. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Palestinian sources inside of Gaza said that after Israel allowed a limited flow of goods and materials into Gaza, a black market for mortar paste emerged that allowed Hamas to renew construction of concrete slabs used to line the inside of tunnels. Hamas has also started to rebuild its rocket arsenal from ...
The Jewish Studies Program at the University of Central Florida will offer 10 courses in the upcoming spring semester, which begins Jan. 12, 2015. The courses to be offered are: Elementary Modern Hebrew I & II, Conversational Israeli Hebrew, American Jewish History, Classic Texts of Judaism, The Book of Job, Wanderings: The Jewish People in Dispersion, Modern Jewish Experience, Literature of the Holocaust, and our newest addition to the Judaic Studies curriculum: Building A Nation-The Challenges to and Accomplishments Of The State of Israel....
Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) Teens will present its new course, Hollywood Idol, beginning on Jan. 7, 2015. The course will offer Jewish teenagers the tools to make decisions, develop strong ethical opinions, and empower their inner voice to stand up for what they believe. Rabbi Yanky Majesky of Chabad of North Orlando will conduct the six-course sessions at 7 p.m. for six consecutive Wednesdays at the Chamu Jewish Center in Lake Mary. “This course will analyze how the culture of Hollywood subliminally influences our society,” explained Rab...
On Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014, the annual holiday get-together was held by the Zionistas at the Garden Gate Spa in New Smyrna Beach, hosted by Karen Sandvick, former owner of the Garden Gate Tearoom in Mount Dora. At this beautiful ocean-front setting, plans for the coming year were discussed. Among activities planned for 2015 is the co-sponsoring of the film "Body and Soul: The State of the Jewish Nation," to be screened on Jan. 29, at Congregation Ohev Shalom. On Sunday, March 15, the Zionistas...
Do we need Holocaust Remembrance Day? Since some of you may be incredulous that I even asked that question, let me first explain why I am doing so. Over the last week, a scandal has erupted in Ireland regarding whether or not Israel can be mentioned at the forthcoming official Holocaust commemoration on Sunday, Jan. 25. (The official international remembrance day follows two days later.) It was Yanky Fachler, the avuncular Irish-Jewish broadcaster who has been master of ceremonies of the event for several years now, who alerted the outside worl...
At some point in the life of the average adult, the conversation shifts from “How are the kids?” to “What’s happening with your parents?” If you’re lucky, you can talk about two silver-haired retirees, enjoying their relative good health, their Road Scholar vacations, and their time with the grandkids. But no matter how lucky you or they are, the conversations will one day become less pleasant and more fraught. Mom or dad will inevitably decline, and you’ll start to talk about “options”: perhaps an aide to help around the house, or maybe a...
It sounds worse than it really is. This is an optimist’s view of Israel’s condition with itself and in the world. Most of the resolutions seeming to recognize a Palestinian state are advisory. Resolutions expressing the sense of the house, but not requiring action, are a dime a dozen among what legislatures do. Moreover, many of them hitch on to their sentiments the process of a negotiated settlement. Several of them are explicit in mentioning a two-state solution. The U.S. is prominent in demanding a negotiated agreement, and opposing an impos...
By The new U.S. policy of rapprochement with Cuba, which was accompanied by the celebrated release of imprisoned Jewish aid worker Alan Gross, probably will give American Jews greater access to a Jewish community with which few are familiar. But visitors will find that the years have not been kind to once-thriving Cuban Jewry. During the centuries of Spanish rule in Cuba, no more than a scattered handful of Jews lived there. Catholicism was the only religion the Spanish colonial authorities permitted. The modern Jewish connection to Cuba began...
Jewish-American aid worker Alan Gross arrived home to celebrate Chanukah after five years in a Cuban prison, prompting the Jewish world to both celebrate and breathe a collective sigh of relief. But analysts say Gross’s humanitarian release and the subsequent U.S.-Cuba prisoner swap have little to do with the prisoners and everything to do with the Obama administration’s final two years—and the reverberations might be felt as far away as the Middle East. “You could say the president was saving face [by renewing diplomacy with Cuba],” said Rees...
For years, Palestinian leaders and their media allies have claimed that the “Second Intifada”—the mass violence of 2000-2001—was a “spontaneous” uprising against Israeli “oppression.” But occasionally they tell the truth: it wasn’t spontaneous at all. It was organized by the Palestinian Authority leadership itself. Last week Mahmoud al-Zahar, co-founder of Hamas and its former foreign minister, let the cat out of the bag in an interview with the Hamas television station, Al Aqsa TV, on Dec. 12. He revealed that PA chairman Yasir Arafat hims...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 a.m. 407-354-3660. Congregation Ahavas Yisrael—Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m.; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-644-2500. Congregation Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Daytona—Monday, 8 a.m.; Thursday, 8 a.m., 904-672-9300. Congregation Ohev Shalom—Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-298-4650. GOBOR Community Minyan at Jewish Academy of Orlando—Monday—Friday, 7:45 a.m.—8:30 a.m. Temple Israel—Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, JANUARY 2 Light Shabbat...
On Friday, Dec. 19, the third day of Chanukah and the last day before the students went on their winter break, over 100 grandparents and special friends joined the students of the Jewish Academy of Orlando for Generation Celebration, an annual event hosted at the school to share their wonderful school with family and friends. The program began with a wonderful catered breakfast, followed by the Jewish Academy of Orlando Chimes Ensemble as well as the WJAO daily newscast. The special guests were...
David K. Dalke of Viera, passed away on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, at Wuestoff Medical Center in Rockledge. He was 84 years old. Mr. Dalke was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, on July 8, 1930, to the late Paul David Dalke and Susan Almandinger Dalke. He was a retired educator following a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy. Mr. Dalke is survived by his wife, Henrietta Winkler Dalke; a son, and a step-son, Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff. Funeral services were held at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah, Overland Park, Kansas, with burial following a...
Yetta Kagan of Heathrow, passed away on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, at the Grand Villas of Altamonte. She was 92 years old. Mrs. Kagan was born in the Bronx, New York, on Jan. 9, 1922, to the late Louis and Rebecca Belkin. She was a homemaker and was the widow of the late Jonas Belkin. In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by her son, Steven, her brothers Sheldon Belkin and Max Belkin, and her sister Molly Golove. She is survived by her daughter, Helene (Gary) Becker; and sister, Fay Friedman; and six grandchildren and eight...
The Jewish Pavilion gave Chanukah parties at over 50 senior facilities in Central Florida this Chanukah season. This is a tremendous undertaking but the value is incredible as it reaches so many in senior care facilities. Chanukah is a joyous time for Jewish families, but oftentimes awkward if not difficult for seniors when it comes to navigating the holiday period with Christmas filling the air everywhere. The Jewish Pavilion brings Chanukah parties to Central Florida senior facilities so that...
Joan Pohl is posed with Betty and Al Shames of Brookdale Island Lake. Betty entered the room wearing her “festive Chanukah sweater” and Joan insisted on snapping a photo to share with others. Betty can be found at all of the Jewish Pavilion programs and many times leading one....
Ann and Lester Tabak have been married for 69 years and currently live at Brookdale Island Lake (formerly Chambrel). Lester is deeply devoted to Ann and wears a smile from ear to ear always in her company. While Ann may need more care in her later years, Lester remains positive, socially involved and a pure delight to be with. They were seated here at the monthly Yiddish class. On this day the Yiddish class enjoyed Chanukah music and nosh with Jewish Pavilion volunteers Morey Solomon and Joan...
There are good people in this world... The Jewish Foundation For the Righteous knows this for sure. I recently received the following letter from them: The Jewish Foundation For the Righteous (JFR) was established to repay a debt of gratitude to Christian rescuers who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. The JFR sends monthly financial support to more than 550 aged and needy rescuers in 20 countries to help them pay for food, housing, and medical expenses. Since its founding, th...
The youth and teaching staff of Congregation Ohev Shalom held their annual Shabbat retreat Dec. 19 and 20 at the Canterbury Retreat Center in Oviedo, Fla. Shown here are (standing, l-r), Rebecca Geboff, Eric Geboff, Isaac Berger, Judy Shujman, Marla Rosen, Rob Slavkin, Shoshana Vigorito, and Sivan Goldberg; (sitting, l-r), John Goez, Dori Wolgel, Sindi Ackman, Rachel Slavkin, and Michele Davidson Bunce. (Not everyone who attended the retreat is pictured). They also exchanged Chanukah presents...
