Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - An exhibition of photographs culled from an international tribute to some of the last Holocaust survivors was held at U.N. Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, three days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The event, dubbed "We're Still Standing," showcased 35 carefully selected photographs from a collection of 455 original pieces curated by renowned photographers Jim Hollander and Rina Castelnuovo and compiled in the "The Lonka Project." A panel from the "We're Still Stan...
It's with a heavy heart that Personal Mini Storage announces the passing of our co-founder, Ron Shader, an inspirational figure in the storage industry. Ron passed away peacefully in Dec. 30, 2023, at the age of 91, after dedicating over 40 remarkable years to the company, leaving behind a legacy of kindness, vision, and unwavering dedication to his work and those around him. Ron, along with his late brother Stan, founded Personal Mini Storage in 1982. Over the next four decades, they...
Orlando has lost another strongly influential and vibrant "doer" of the community. Mr. Harry "Hank" Katzen, 63, of Orlando, Florida passed away peacefully Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, in his home surrounded by his wife and children. Hank was born Sept. 1, 1960, in Bellefonte, Pa., to Marcus and Henrietta (Harris) Katzen. Hank is survived by his loving family members - his wife, Marcie; his children, Malcolm Katzen, Max (Elana) Katzen, and Mason Katzen; his mother, Henrietta (Marcus z"l) Katzen; and...
USY is pleased to announce the third annual Heschel Fellowship cohort. Twenty-one teens from across the United States will be gathering virtually every week for immersive Jewish learning and fellowship through April 3, 2024. The two students from Central Florida are Yael Brener of Orlando and Jaynie Ragas of Sanford. Brenner attends Lake Brantley High School. She is a member of the Temple Israel USY chapter as well as C-Teen, the Chabad youth group. Ragas is a homeschool student. She is a member of the Temple Israel USY chapter and also...
The Congregation of Ohev Shalom Sisterhood is hosting Sisterhood & Sharsheret, an evening to bring awareness to breast and ovarian cancer, on Feb. 15, starting at 6:30 p.m. Guest speakers include Orlando Health specialists Amy Laughlin, MD; Amy Margolin, MS,CGC; Kirbie Whitaker, MS, RD, LDN; and Sara Trosty Walsh, LCSW Florida, program coordinator Sharsheret. The event is free, open to the community and men are welcome to attend. Registration is required. Visit ohevshalom.org/form/Sharsheret to register. Please RSVP by Feb. 12. Sharsheret, a...
The Jewish Chamber held a breakfast event at Pickles NY Deli & More in Longwood on Jan. 25. This exclusive gathering was chaired by Scott Leitner, vice president of Climate First Bank. The breakfast offered a unique opportunity for individuals from various backgrounds to come together, share ideas, and forge connections. Networking events like these play a crucial role in building a strong and supportive community, fostering collaboration and understanding. The next event is an afterhours on...
Join your friends at Temple Israel for TI Supper Club on Friday, Feb. 9, and enjoy a delicious, homemade vegetarian meal featuring produce grown in our very own Gan Chesed: Garden of Kindness! Shabbat services start at 6 p.m., with dinner following in the Roth Social Hall at 7 p.m. This month's meal includes baba ganoush made from Gan Chesed eggplants, minestrone soup, lasagna, Caesar salad, garlic bread, wine, and dessert. The atmosphere is relaxing, but the pace will pick up when you join a...
Medigap is only for original Medicare enrollees not advantage plan participants. There are 10 federally approved plans with the letters a, b, c, d, f, g, k, l, m and n. Each letter plan must provide the same basic benefits regardless of the insurer or the location. Policies are sold by private insurance companies and there are a lot of choices. Prices vary dramatically. The best time to buy a Medigap plan is generally when you turn 65. While most seniors face major adjustments when transitioning to an elder-care community, Jewish seniors face a...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A growing number of countries has suspended funding to the main United Nations agency aiding Palestinians in the wake of allegations that a number of its staffers were involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, known as UNRWA, protested the cuts, saying that they were accelerating an oncoming famine in the Gaza Strip. The agency was founded to administer relief to Palestinian refugees and their descendants and is the main provider of aid in Gaza, where it emp...
(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday that more than 100 Hamas terrorists had been caught in the previous 36 hours, as the IDF pushes forward in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. “Hamas is collapsing into its own tunnels that it painstakingly dug. Every place it thought would be a trap for IDF soldiers becomes an area where we hit it,” Gallant told soldiers serving in the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit. “In the past day and a half, we have over 100 captives, some of them who came up from underground, in the Khan Yu...
(JTA) — As reports of antisemitism have surged since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Jewish groups have sought to spotlight the issue through rallies, news coverage, billboards and social media campaigns. Next month, it will receive airtime during the year’s most-watched television broadcast: Super Bowl LVIII. On Wednesday, Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism announced that it purchased a 30-second spot due to air during the big game on Feb. 11. It appears to be the first time ever that a Super Bowl ad will focus on antis...
As Gazans passed through the humanitarian corridor from Khan Younis, many were heard yelling “down with Hamas,” potentially signaling growing discontent with the Iran-backed terror group’s command over Gaza. IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced that a humanitarian corridor has been established in a Bedouin area Al-Mawasi to protect Gazan civilians from the IDF military operations in Khan Younis. While tens of thousands were evacuating the area, many were heard yelling slogans against Hamas. “The people want to topple Hamas,” and oth...
(JNS) — The images from the war Hamas launched against Israel on Oct. 7 have tugged at the heartstrings of Americans. By that, I don’t refer to the charred ruins of Israeli communities in southern Israel that were devastated by the Hamas pogroms. Nor do I refer to the horrifying evidence of that terrorist rampage of murder, rape, torture and kidnapping that is too graphic for most people to bear. As far as the international media is concerned, those victims were quickly forgotten almost as soon as the murder spree happened and then erased fro...
(JNS) — Throughout its 75-year history, the State of Israel has always been forced to fight with one arm tied behind its back. In the 1956 Suez Canal crisis, pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union forced Israel and her allies to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula, thwarting Israel’s war aims. After Israel’s 1967 victory in the Six-Day War, the U.N. Security Council called on Israel to give up the territory it secured by right of conquest. In the 21st century, Israel has repeatedly faced intense pressure from misguided leade...
(JNS) — The Zionist community isn’t used to being accused of hypocrisy. Usually, it feels that it is held to a double and hypocritical standard. But there is one issue on which Israel is seemingly guilty of hypocrisy. Palestinians and their advocates often chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” They display maps of a Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. This erases Israel and implies the expulsion or slaughter of Israeli Jews. When Zionists condemn such maps, they are accused of having similar...
(JNS) — Seven years ago this month, then-Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that the $150 billion in sanctions relief the Obama administration was providing to Iran’s rulers would—to a greater or lesser extent—fund terrorism. “I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC [Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists,” he said in an interview with CNBC. He added: “We are confident that this will not result in an increase somehow in the threat to any partner or any...
(JNS) — The Children of Israel were caught, quite literally, “between the devil and the deep blue sea.” Pharaoh and his chariots were in hot pursuit of the newly freed Israelites and caught up to them as they reached the sea. With nowhere to turn, panic and pandemonium broke out. But Moses told the people to calm down: “Have no fear! Stand fast and see God’s salvation that He will perform for you today! You may be seeing the Egyptians today, but you will never see them again! God will do battle for you and you shall remain silent.” As Moses rai...
(JNS) — It is often said that the purpose of U.S. foreign aid is to project American power and values. Unfortunately, year after year, decade after decade, the only thing consistent about U.S. foreign aid is that the money continues to flow regardless of the behavior of the recipients. In 2023 alone, the U.S. government took over $43 billion in taxpayer money and sent that money abroad. Did the government send that money to our friends? Well, sometimes. But sometimes your tax dollars went to countries better described as “frenemies.” And often,...
MORNING 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., 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., 407-647-3...
(JNS) — Israel Defense Forces troops foiled a Palestinian stabbing attack in the Tekoa area in the Gush Etzion region of Judea on Monday. Soldiers from the Tabor Battalion of the Etzion Brigade shot and killed a terrorist who attempted to stab them while they were guarding a military position near the Arab town of Taqua, located near the Israeli community of Tekoa. The 16-year-old terrorist was identified as Rani Yasser Chalaf a-Sha’ar from Taqua. No Israelis were injured in the attack. Clashes broke out after residents who tried to reach the...
(JNS) - Founded in 1916, Kfar Giladi is one of Israel's oldest kibbutzim. Located less than a mile from the Lebanese village of Odaisseh, it is currently evacuated. Nisan Zeevi is a member of the kibbutz's local security squad. "If Israel does not address the threat Hezbollah poses, residents of northern Israel are at risk of another murderous invasion similar to Hamas's Oct. 7 attack," Zeevi told JNS. "On Oct. 7, we woke up to the horrors of Hamas's massacre and were certain that Hezbollah...
(JNS) - An art exhibition is debuting Thursday at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem, two days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, as the memory of the Shoah is fresh on the minds of Israelis following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. The exhibition, titled "Bigger Than Me," features six oil paintings and some 10 additional sketches by the Israeli artist Shai Azoulay. It has been given added significance following the Hamas massacre, the worst single-day attack on the Jewish people since the...
(New York Jewish Week) - New York City kitchens are notoriously small. Nonetheless, on Friday Congregation Rodeph Sholom on the Upper West Side unveiled a 35-foot-long challah that they and their partners hope will break a world record. The gargantuan loaf was made in collaboration with the Jewish Federations of North America and the Orthodox Union with the aim of besting the current record-holder: a challah baked in Australia in 2019 that was just over 32 feet. The 35-foot challah - braided in...
On Tuesday, Jan. 23, the Jewish Pavilion hosted a Sponsor's Breakfast at Legacy Pointe in Orlando, marking a morning of community, connection, and culinary delights. The breakfast served as a platform for individuals to come together, share experiences, and strengthen their commitment to supporting the Jewish Pavilion's initiatives. Following the meal, participants were treated to a tour of the Legacy Pointe campus. Nestled in the heart of Orlando, Legacy Pointe is a testament to the commitment...
(JNS) - Hundreds of demonstrators prevented humanitarian aid trucks from entering the Gaza Strip from Israel at the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Wednesday. The protesters from the "Order 9" movement demanded that "no aid goes through until the last of the abductees returns, no equipment be transferred to the enemy." (An Order 8 call-up notice is an order for the emergency mobilization of an IDF reserve soldier outside the framework of regular reserve duty. Many were issued after Hamas's Oct....
