Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) — Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate whose philanthropy had an unparalleled influence on American and Israeli politics and Jewish causes, has died at 87. Adelson, the chief executive of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, had an especially outsized influence in Las Vegas, the seat of his global gaming empire where many Jewish institutions are named after him and his wife, Miriam. Adelson was a megadonor who set records for his political giving to Republicans. In his final y...
The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center in partnership with the Jewish Federation and the Roth Family JCC will present, via Zoom, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration featuring Holocaust survivor Ralph Preiss on Jan. 24, 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., in observance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and remember the innocent six million Jews and millions of other people who fell victims to Nazi persecution. Tribute will be paid to the millions of lives lost,...
The Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee held a special meeting on Monday to give MKs a chance to bid farewell and thank U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. Committee chairman Zvi Hauser of the Derech Eretz faction thanked Friedman for righting a historical wrong concerning Israel's capital. "During your tenure, you have fulfilled the dreams of us all. During your shift, a historical distortion was corrected, and the traditional position of the United States realized in...
Israel's world-famous Technion Institute rolled out its accurate, inexpensive and rapid COVID-19 test, launching a campus-wide test program for faculty, staff and students at its Haifa campus. "To support a gradual return and to maintain health, the Technion is opening a rapid testing station in the student union [building]. The tests are based on technology developed in the laboratory of Prof. Naama Geva-Zatorsky of the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. The non-invasive test...
Jewish Academy of Orlando, celebrating 43 years of Jewish education, announced it will be honoring Cheryl and Greg Finkelstein at the Soaring Into the Future Gala on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021 at 7:30 p.m., held remotely. Cheryl and Greg Finkelstein, with their children Eli and Emily, moved to Orlando in 2003, shortly after Greg co-founded a local education technology firm. Greg and Cheryl immediately embraced the Orlando Jewish community, with their children attending the Roth Family JCC Early...
Olympia High School senior Jenna Richman has been in the Girl Scouts since she was in first grade. This year she completed her Gold Award project to receive her Girl Scout Gold Award - the highest award a Girl Scout can attain, equivalent to Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts. Her proud parents, Scott and Gwen Richman, are well-known in the community as Scott is a former president of both the Roth JCC and Rosen JCC board of directors, and Gwen is a former PAC chair at the Rosen JCC Preschool and...
Award-winning New York City jazz pianist Ben Rosenblum and his trio will perform an intimate concert at the Timucua Arts Foundation in Orlando on Friday, Feb. 12, as part of a seven-stop Southeast tour through Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina. This evening will be open to limited attendance for its two sets at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and will also be live-streamed. More information can be found at the links on Timucua's website, timucua.com. SeaofTranquility.org stated that Rosenblum is...
(JTA) — When someone threw rocks a couple months ago at the doors of a Chabad center in Atlanta, the glass didn’t shatter. That’s because earlier in the year, local Chabad leaders decided to reevaluate their security following an incident with a trespasser. Neil Rabinovitz, a former 22-year veteran of the FBI who now works as community security director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, visited the site and performed a security assessment. He determined that the building needed to add more security cameras, change its system for loc...
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) — There are 37 Jewish members of the 117th Congress, which was sworn in last week amid the trauma of an insurrection spurred by President Donald Trump. Of the 37, there are 10 in the Senate and 27 in the House of Representatives — 25 Democrats and two Republicans. All 10 Jewish senators caucus with the Democrats. (Overall, there are 435 members of the House and 100 members of the Senate.) With Democrats taking both Senate seats in last week’s election in Georgia, Democrats will have 50 seats, and when Kamala Harr...
United Nations Relief and Works Agency Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini admitted in a series of tweets that “inappropriate” material was indeed distributed to over 300,000 students in UNRWA’s care. IMPACT-se released a report containing the first-ever audit of UNRWA-produced educational materials. The report uncovered extremist content, which does not comply with UN standards or UNRWA’s own stated principles. The report found the UNRWA-produced material contained content that encouraged violence, glorified jihad and martyrdom, erased...
(JNS) — With the U.S. House of Representatives poised to pass new articles of impeachment against former President Donald Trump, the debate about the proper response to his role in last week’s disgraceful and bloody Capitol riot has now moved to the next stage. Some supporters of the president are sticking with him, despite his egging on protesters to march on the Capitol to pressure Congress to prevent the certification of the votes of the Electoral College, where they stormed into the shrine of democracy, and his failure to unequivocally con...
Although never a member of the Republican Jewish Coalition, I have endorsed their efforts over the years in being at the Republican Party table and promoting Republican candidates who support a strong American/Israel relationship. Their work has been and continues to be particularly important in the face of a Democratic Party, moving more leftist and more antagonistic to Zionism and a strong and secure Israel and still retaining the support and loyalty of a substantial majority of American Jewish voters. The RJC has also been a bulwark within...
(JNS) — More than 100 years ago, George Santayana famously intoned that “those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” The Spanish philosopher’s warning has often been repeated. Regrettably, it is often ignored, including by many historians. Avi Shlaim provides the latest example. In a Dec. 22 op-ed in Foreign Policy magazine titled, “If Biden Wants Israeli-Palestinian Peace, He Must Break with the Past,” Shlaim seeks to provide the incoming U.S. administration with advice on how to “achieve in the Middle East.” The Oxford Univ...
Over the past few years I have worried about the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando’s occasional but damaging engagement in partisan activities (I use “partisan” loosely and not to suggest that the Federation is in danger of losing its tax exempt status). This political action has increased divisions in our community and undermined the effectiveness of the Federation. Since this problematic work has been carried out by the Federation’s public affairs arm, the Jewish Community Relations Council, or JCRC —and years ago I was a member of the JC...
(JNS) — Mainstream media and pundits from across the political spectrum have been quick to assert that the violent riot on the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 has permanently tarnished the Trump presidency. It remains to be seen what Trump’s historical legacy will actually be as a turbulent 2020 seems to be carrying over into a turbulent 2021, in which the stability of America’s democratic foundations will be put to the test. Yet for all the global and domestic chaos last year, one major geopolitical accomplishment stands out above all other...
MORNING MINYANS (Please note, because of the coronavirus, some minyans have been canceled or held virtually.) Chabad of North Orlando is holding in-person minyans. Chabad of South Orlando — Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. and 10 minutes before sunset; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 8:15 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.,...
(JNS) — Left-wing Jewish and Israel groups have issued a joint statement in opposition to adopting the universal definition of anti-Semitism set by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The collection of groups, known as the Progressive Israel Network, include Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, Habonim Dror North America, Hashomer Hatzair World Movement, Jewish Labor Committee, J Street, New Israel Fund, Partners for Progressive Israel, Reconstructing Judaism and T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. “As organizations that care...
(JNS) - Media reports carried news of intensive airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in eastern Syria early on Wednesday, attributed to the Israeli Air Force. The alleged strikes in the Deir al-Zour and Albu Kamal areas were the latest in a long series of reported Israeli attacks that are designed to thwart the Islamic Republic's attempts at building a war machine in Syria. The airstrikes nevertheless stood out in light of the extraordinary comments made by a senior American intelligence...
The Jewish world has lost one of its most prolific funders with the passing of Sheldon Adelson, whose business empire spanned continents and whose $35 billion personal fortune ranked him #38 on the Forbes list worldwide. At times outspoken and controversial, Adelson, age 87, had been receiving treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Philanthropy Though Jews are disproportionately generous in charitable giving, less than 10 percent of Jewish mega-donations go to Jewish or Israeli causes. Sheldon...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - As tensions escalate in the Red Sea region, Iran has sent several Shahed-136 loitering munitions, known as "suicide drones," to its proxies in Yemen, Newsweek reported on Thursday. According to the report, satellite footage from Dec. 25 shows that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent the drones to the Al-Jawf province in northern Yemen, an area controlled by the Houthi rebels. These drones are capable of reaching destinations 2,200 kilometers (1,400 miles) away...
Am I Proud! ... The song "Of Thee I Sing" written by my 2nd cousins (on my fathers side), George and Ira Gershwin, became the first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize on Oct. 10, 1935 (way before I was born!). Also, the wonderful musical opera "Porgy and Bess" opened on Broadway before I was born. It was written by them as well and with Dubois Heywood. (I'm NOT so old!) On my very first CD, I recorded five of the Gershwin's great songs. I titled the CD "Dreamer on the 18th Floor" in honor of the...
(JTA) -A Jewish couple in Florida is celebrating two hefty milestones together this year: 100 years of life, and 80 years of marriage. Lou and Edith Bluefeld, of Boca Raton, have known each other since they were 16. They ran a kosher catering business that served visiting U.S. presidents and helped to kosher the White House kitchen. They also cooked for former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin when he was in Washington, D.C., for the 1978 Egypt peace accord announcement, according to a...
(JTA) - In about two months, Israelis will vote in a national election. Seem familiar? It is. Israel will be holding its fourth election in just two years - the latest sign that in a country known for volatile politics, the government is more unstable than ever. Like the past several votes, this one is mainly a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been in power for more than a decade. But unlike in the previous elections, most of Netanyahu's chief rivals this time are on the...
(JTA) — Six years after millions marched across France to protest the killing of 12 people at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and another four at a kosher supermarket, a lawyer for the families of four victims said the sense of solidarity that followed the attacks “has all but dissipated.” Patrick Klugman, a lawyer representing the families of the four victims of the attack on the Hyper Cacher market on Jan. 9, 2015, made the comment during a commemorative conference online on Monday entitled “Islamist Radicalization and Terrorist Threat....
(JNS) — I feel deep sorrow at the passing of a wonderful friend, and wonderful person—the late Sheldon Adelson. With a broken heart, in the name of my wife, Sara, on my own behalf and in the name of many people in Israel and the world, we send our heartfelt condolences to Miri and the family. Many of the Jewish people, in Israel and the rest of the world, share in the heavy loss. It is difficult to describe what Sheldon did for the Jewish people and for Israel. Sheldon was one of the biggest donors in the history of the Jewish people. He gav...
