Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 26 - 36 of 36
Kayla Marilyn Lewis, daughter of Sheri and Tom Lewis of Winter Springs, will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah on Jan. 25, 2014 at Congretion of Reform Judaism. Kayla, is a seventh-grader at Indian Trails Middle school in Winter Springs where she is in mixed chorus and Beta club. She maintains a 4.0 GPA. Her hobbies and interests include reading, swimming and hanging with her friends. Kayla’s mitzvah project was collecting donations for the Seminole County Animal. Sharing in the family’s simcha are family and friends from Alaska, Tex... Full story
Something is brewing?... As someone who was alive during the years before World War II (although very, very young), I wonder if a poll of European Jews at that time would have come up with comparable results. This is word for word from the World Jewish Congress Digest (WJC). It is worrisome, to say the least: "A revealing new survey by the EU (European Union) Agency For Fundamental Rights (FRA) has found that hate-crimes against Jews are on the rise and that Europe's Jews increasingly feel... Full story
Rabbi Karen Allen of Congregation Beth Sholom will lead a Rabbi’s Torah Roundtable on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 11 a.m. at the Villages Public Library at Pinellas Plaza, 7375 Powell Rd. (corner of 466A), Wildwood. This venue has the advantage of convenient access for residents of both Leesburg and The Villages. The roundtable provides a unique opportunity to talk with the rabbi as she leads an informal and interactive discussion focusing on topics of contemporary Jewish interest suggested by the Torah portion to be read in the Leesburg synagogue a... Full story
BALTIMORE (JTA)-Scanning the list of students, Benny Natan wondered if he would recognize any names from his youth in Salonika, Greece. One of the 157 names jumped out: Nissim Tazartes. Natan, a space and aeronautics professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, beamed. Tazartes was his first cousin, someone he had heard much about growing up but never met. The list of children who attended the Umberto No. 1 Italian School in Salonika between the world wars was compiled by Antonio... Full story
The measures, announced by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh during a press conference in Gaza City, are seen as a direct result of the deep crisis facing Hamas in the aftermath of the ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. The Egyptian authorities have since tightened their blockade of the Gaza Strip, sealing the Rafah border crossing and destroying most of the smuggling tunnels along their shared border. The Egyptian authorities have also accused Hamas of involvement in terror attacks against Egyptians—a charge that has been s... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-To be married in Israel, immigrants must prove their Jewish ancestry to the country's chief rabbinate. Couples can solicit a letter from their hometown rabbis or present their parents' Jewish marriage contracts. Sometimes they even bring a Yiddish-speaking grandmother before a rabbinical court. In the end, every claim has to pass through one man: a midlevel bureaucrat named Itamar Tubul. Tubul, 35, is the soft-spoken rabbi who heads the chief rabbinate's personal status... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Until recently, the rule of thumb in the pro-Israel community was that the bigger the academic group, the less likely it was to consider a boycott of Israeli colleagues. But with the 30,000-member Modern Language Association set to host a panel on BDS at its convention this week in Chicago, the rule may have to be reconsidered. Supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement have scored some victories in recent months, mostly among smaller groups. The American Studies Association, which endorsed a boycott r... Full story
By Julie Wiener NEW YORK (JTA)-When Stosh Cotler takes over as CEO of Bend the Arc, a Jewish group that fights for immigration reform, workers' rights and other domestic liberal causes, she will be one of the few women leading a national Jewish group of its size. But Cotler's gender is not the only thing that sets her apart. It's not just that she only connected with Judaism as an adult or that her appearance during an interview in her Manhattan office-all-black clothes, dark red lipstick, pale... Full story
Jewish groups remember Sharon as a warrior and peacemaker (JTA)—Jewish organizations in the United States and around the world remembered the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a military leader and a fighter for peace. “His legacy is a more secure State of Israel, safe on its borders and resolved to put an end to the campaign of Palestinian terrorism once and for all,” Barry Curtiss-Lusher and Abraham Foxman, the national chair and the national director, respectively, of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement. “It is not only... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Tehiyah Day School in El Cerrito, Calif., had a problem. Like many Jewish day schools throughout North America, Tehiyah has plenty of students from lower-income families and a number from affluent ones. But it couldn't seem to recruit and retain many middle-class students, even as it devoted increasing amounts to financial aid. Middle-class parents "felt they wouldn't be considered for financial aid or were just on the border of whether they could get aid," said Bathea James,... Full story
A recently revealed Israeli State Comptroller's report that remains under a government gag order has ignited concern over the Muslim Waqf's attempts to erase Jewish ties on the Temple Mount-Judaism's holiest site-and Israeli authorities' neglect of those activities. The classified document, whose contents were published by the New York-based newspaper The Jewish Voice, details ongoing illegal excavations being carried out on the Temple Mount by the Muslim Waqf (trust) and places blame on those... Full story
