Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)-Though the Jewish community in South Korea is small, Jews visiting the country to compete in or watch the Winter Olympic Games won't have to skimp on kosher food or Shabbat programming. The country's Chabad emissary is setting up a pop-up restaurant in PyeongChang County, the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics. During the Olympics, which start tonight (Feb. 9), the temporary eatery will serve three meals daily, including Korean-style bulgogi beef, schnitzel, hot dogs and vegetarian items....
Learn and laugh with four award-winning Jewish authors at the literary event of the year. On Feb. 25, Writer's Block Bookstore is partnering with The Roth Family Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando and the Jewish Book Council to host authors Michelle Edwards, Paul Goldberg, Pam Jenoff and Justin Loeber at the Central Florida Jewish Book Festival from 11:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will be held at The Roth Family JCC. Michelle Edwards is the author of numerous picture books, including...
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's annual Women's Philanthropy event will be held Monday, March 26, on the Maitland Jewish Community Campus. This year's theme is "Women Transforming Lives." Invitations will be hitting mailboxes soon, but event organizers and ambassadors have been busy sending "Save the Date" cards to women in the community. Choices 2018 co-chair Judy Kahan Davis, left, and Event coordinator Leslie Collin were among the women who personalized hundreds of the cards...
WARSAW, Poland (JTA)-The Polish Senate passed legislation that criminalizes accusing the Polish state of the crimes committed by the Germans during World War II. The amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance was adopted early Thursday morning by a vote of 57-23, with two abstentions. The legislation, designed to make it clear that Nazi Germany is responsible for the crimes against humanity that took place in the camps, was approved last week by the lower house of the Polish...
Hundreds of students, faculty and community members, along with players from the Undefeated UCF Knights will partake in a "Shabbat of Champions," in the Pegasus Ballroom on Feb. 23 in what is expected to be the largest Shabbat dinner ever held at UCF. During the event, the students will celebrate the traditional Sabbath ceremonies and meal, which are observed weekly by Jews around the world as a symbol of Jewish faith and unity. According to Rabbi Chaim Lipskier, director of Chabad at UCF,...
On Feb. 25, 7 p.m., JOIN Orlando is hosting David Sussman, a former IDF soldier, who will tell his first-hand account of the Second Lebanon War in 2006. During this war, Sussman almost lost his life in the crosshairs of Hezbollah. This was a wake-up call for Sussman and led him on a path of personal self-identity, in which he discovered the true meaning of roots, family, community and Israel. Since then he has immersed himself in the land and culture. Sussman realized the importance of...
On Saturday, Feb. 24, Congregation of Reform Judaism will celebrate Purim with a night of music and fun as they host “Esther: A Persian Musical,” by Cantor Jamie Marx, music (by based on the music of the Broadway hit “Hamilton”) Lin-Manuel Miranda and directed by Cantor Jacqueline Rawiszer. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8, seniors; $10 CRJ members; $18 general admission; $25, reserved seating and pre-show reception, and may be purchased online at www.crjorlando.org. Purim Carnival Congregation of Reform...
New ‘Mommy and Me’ class Join Cantor Nina Fine as she leads a Mommy and Me class at Congregation Beth Am, Monday mornings, 10 to 11:30 a.m. K’tanim, as the class is also called, is only $7 per family and free for CBA members. Contact the CBA office at 407-862-3505 or shalom@congbetham.org for more information. First time attendees who mention they read about K’tanim in the Heritage can attend their first class for free. Pages & Pastries Book Club Congregation Beth Am has begun a Pages & Pastries Book Club. The group meets at 7 p.m. on the thi...
The Children of Abraham Foundation, Inc., the charter organization for the local Jewish Boy Scout Units Troop 641, Pack 641 and Crew 641, is holding the celebration of Scout Shabbat at the The Roth Family Jewish Community Center in Maitland of Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. There are many exciting events coming up during the year for the Troop and Pack. Troop 641 and Pack 641 will be celebrating its 40th year of being part of Scouting in the Orlando area. All past alumni of the Troop and Pack are invited to celebrate an event that is being planned for the...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Donald Trump called on Congress to pass a law that would extend foreign assistance only to “friendly” nations, a dig at the countries that voted in the United Nations to censure the United States for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “Last month, I also took an action endorsed unanimously by the Senate just months before: I recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Trump said Tuesday in his State of the Union address to Congress to a standing ovation from Republicans, as well as his Jewish daughter, I...
(JTA)—The U.S. Embassy in Poland said it was “concerned about the repercussions” for bilateral relations after the Polish Senate passed legislation that criminalizes accusing the Polish state of the crimes committed by the Germans during World War II. The bill passed Wednesday in the upper house of the Polish parliament days after passing in the lower one, the Sejm. To become law, the president must sign the measure, which prescribes up to three years in prison for “whoever claims, publicly and contrary to the facts that the Polish Nation...
(JTA)-Staples CEO Shira Goodman abruptly departed as head of the retailer after a year and a half on the job. The company announced Friday that Goodman was stepping down. Her successor was later announced as former Coca-Cola executive Alexander Douglas. Staples went private less than a year ago after it was acquired by Sycamore Partners for $7 billion. Goodman worked for the company in various executive roles for 26 years She was named CEO in September 2016 after serving three months as interim...
Former President Barack Obama this week defended his controversial decision to allow a December 2016 United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s presence in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to pass in the waning days of his administration, blaming the “skyrocketing” pace of Israeli construction. “The pace of settlement construction skyrocketed, making it almost impossible to make any kind of Palestinian state,” Obama said during a talk at Temple Emanu-El in New York City on Wednesday, the Daily Mail reported. “Voting a...
PHILADELPHIA (JTA)—“I don’t know any Jews who go to temple.” The line is from a remarkably poignant scene in the 2004 film “Garden State,” in which Zach Braff’s character explains to his love interest, played by Natalie Portman, a few things that most non-Orthodox American Jews know about large suburban synagogues. “The Jews I know,” Braff continues, “they go on one day, on Yom Kippur, the day of repentance. Did you know that most temples are built with moveable walls so that on the one day of the year, when everyone comes to repent, they can...
(JTA)—“Nothing matters.” You hear that a lot these days. You hear it when The Wall Street Journal reports that the president’s personal lawyer paid a porn actress $130,000, at the height of the presidential campaign, so she would stay silent about an alleged affair she’d had with Donald Trump. Or when the president uses a vulgarity to refer to African countries. Or when the president is credibly reported to have demanded the firing of the man investigating obstruction of justice claims concerning the president’s firing of another man investi...
(JNS)—Ever wonder why polls consistently show that a large portion of the Israeli public supports creating a Palestinian state? How can it be that despite the Palestinian Authority’s support for terrorism, violations of the Oslo Accords and non-stop anti-Israel incitement, so many Israelis seem to be in favor of establishing a Palestinian state next door? Could it be that the answer is found in the asking? Just last week, newspaper headlines announced that according to a new poll, 47 percent of Israeli Jews still support Palestinian sta...
This past week Israel commemorated the 70th anniversary of one of its most heroic, sad, and yet pivotal battles in its early struggle for independence, among ongoing battles to defend itself until today. I was reminded of the anniversary when I drove by a pristine Judean mountain location known as “Battle Hill.” But had I forgotten that it was the anniversary, I’d have been reminded with the weekend newspapers recounting the story of heroism then, and reminding us today how pivotal the battle was 70 years earlier. In reading the newsp...
(JTA)—Donald Trump is just the man to get an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal done. Just ask Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister was gushing last week about Trump’s negotiating team, which is led by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. “The thing the people don’t realize is that these people have made their mark in the markets, in real estate,” Netanyahu said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, with CNN’s Fareed Zakariah. “Now this is not only a real estate deal, it’s fundamentally not a real estate deal but a problem recognizing Isr...
(JTA)—Donald Trump is just the man to get an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal done. Just ask Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister was gushing last week about Trump’s negotiating team, which is led by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. “The thing the people don’t realize is that these people have made their mark in the markets, in real estate,” Netanyahu said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, with CNN’s Fareed Zakariah. “Now this is not only a real estate deal, it’s fundamentally not a real estate deal but a problem recognizing Isr...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) 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 I...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—If there’s overlap between Hillel and the National Council of Jewish Women, it’s in two areas: defending Israel and combating violence against women on campus. Leaders of the campus Jewish organization took a look at the record of Kenneth Marcus, President Donald Trump’s nominee to run civil rights at the Department of Education, and liked what they saw. NCJW leaders decidedly did not. Now the groups are on the opposite sides of a nomination that has set off a quiet intra-Jewish argument over what matters more: the hostili...
(The Nosher via JTA)-Let's face it: There's just something wonderfully soothing about seeing a steaming bowl of matzah ball soup with its pillowy-plump dumplings swimming in a bath of golden broth. This healing vegetarian matzah ball soup delivers all the "ah" of its traditional cousin with precisely the right amount of goodness (and good-for-you-ness) thanks to a clever use of shiitake mushrooms, tomato paste and a pot full of seasonal vegetables. Whether you add our healthy matzah ball soup...
(JTA)—The Louvre Museum in Paris has put 31 Nazi-looted paintings on permanent display in an attempt to find their rightful owners. The works were installed in two showrooms last month, The Associated Press reported. Some 296 Nazi-looted paintings are stored at the Louvre and remain unclaimed. Sebastien Allard, the head of the paintings department at the Louvre, told AP on Tuesday that most of the artworks were stolen from Jewish families during World War II. “Beneficiaries can see these artworks, declare that these artworks belong to them and...
On Sunday, Dec. 17, the Jewish Academy of Orlando celebrated its 40th anniversary in style. Its annual gala honored both Dr. Jordan and Nathalie Steinberg and gave a lifetime achievement award to Dr. Edward Zissman. All of the attendees enjoyed the evening at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. "It was a great move to this location. The feel of the event was dramatic and the program was fantastic," says Robyn Eichenholz, parent. Five alumni were invited to sing as part of the...
Not "fake news"... Recently, I watched the movie "Fiddler on the Roof" (for the third time) on television. This time was particularly strange as I felt that I was in Russia and Ukraine while watching. It just happens that my ancestry comes from Russia and Ukraine. (Could it be a sign?) New Director-General... "World Jewish Congress (WJC) CEO AND Executive Vice President ROBERT SINGER congratulated former French Culture Minister, AUDREY AZOULAY on her recent appointment as Director-General of the...
