Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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More than 460 women (and quite a few men) converged on Congregation Ohev Shalom on Feb. 9 for Choices, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's annual women's philanthropy fundraiser. This year, Federation honored eight Women of Choice, representing Greater Orlando's eight Jewish agencies. A full report and more photos from Choices 2017 will appear in the Feb. 24 edition of the Heritage. Watch a video tribute to the Women of Choice at www.jfgo.org/choices....
It all began this past November, when a grant application was offered to Orlando area nonprofits by Victory Cup Initiative founder Ashley Vann. Now in its second year, the Victory Cup, received more than 100 applications from qualified 501(c)3 organizations, vying for one of 10 finalist spots in its annual philanthropic storytelling competition. The 10 finalists competed for audience votes and grand prizes, after each giving a two-and-a-half-minute speech, held at Rollins College on Feb. 2. On D...
Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation will present Six13 Jewish A Cappella in concert on Sunday, March 5, at the Olympia High School auditorium. Six13 is a six-man vocal band that brings an unprecedented style of Jewish music to the stage, with songs ranging from hip-hop dance tracks to rock anthems. The members of the New York City-based group sound like a full band-while using nothing but their voices. They have made numerous appearances in national television-featured on Fox, ABC, CBS, in...
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Israel-based beverage carbonation company SodaStream has decided to feature an Israeli flag on all its products, which are sold in 45 countries. "The company management wants to send a message of national pride, particularly in days when many of us hide our Israeli identity from the world," the company, which manufactures sparkling water makers for home use, said in a statement. The Israeli flag is accompanied by the English message reading, "This product...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-House Speaker Paul Ryan said it makes more sense to rigorously enforce the Iran nuclear deal than to dismantle it, signaling diminishing support for pulling the United States out of the deal. Ryan, R-Wis., speaking on "Meet the Press" in an interview to be broadcast in full on Sunday, said the removal of sanctions under the nuclear rollback for sanctions relief deal reached in 2015 between Iran and six major world powers meant it would be too hard to reconstitute the sanctions....
(JNS.org) A senior Iranian official warned Saturday that if the U.S. launches an attack on Iran, his country could hit the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv in a matter of minutes. “If the enemy chooses to shoot a missile in Iran’s direction, Tel Aviv will go up in flames from an Iranian missile before the [enemy’s] missile hits its target. This is not just a slogan, as only seven minutes are needed for an Iranian missile to hit Tel Aviv,” boasted Mojtaba Zonour, a member of Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. Zonour was also...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Settlement expansion “may not be helpful” in achieving peace, the Trump administration said in its first pronouncement on an issue that has confounded U.S.-Israel relations for decades. The White House announcement Thursday evening comes a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced major settlement building initiatives in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. “While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing...
(JTA)-Betsy DeVos was confirmed as secretary of education, with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaker in a historic 51-50 vote. DeVos, a Michigan billionaire whose advocacy for school choice has led to sweeping changes in the educational landscape in her home state, provoked divergent opinions in the Jewish community. Both the haredi Orthodox Agudath Israel of America and the Orthodox Union issued congratulations within minutes of the vote. It marked the first time a vice president b...
The Orlando Chapter of Hadassah presents My Fair Lady, the annual Bunny Rosen Women's Heart Health Luncheon and Fashion Show on Sunday, March 5, at 11:30 a.m. This year's affair will be held in the ballroom of the Westin Hotel in Heathrow with fashions presented by the combined boutiques of Chico's Winter Park and Altamonte Springs. In keeping with Hadassah's 2016-2017 Celebration of Women, My Fair Lady-Race day at Royal Ascot has been chosen as the theme for the event. Hats are always...
On Sunday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m., the Congregation of Reform Judaism will host Dr. David Tucker, son of legendary singer Richard Tucker, as he narrates an audio and video tribute to his father along with James Drake, Richard Tucker's biographer. "The voice of Richard Tucker," said the legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti, "was not only beautiful-shimmering, silvery, and very powerful-but also incredibly enduring. For 30 years his voice remained youthful and vibrant. Richard Tucker gave himself to his...
On Thursday, Feb. 23, Temple Israel Sisterhood will be hosting an artist workshop led by Renee Schwadron Lewis. The entire community is cordially invited to attend, participate and meet Lewis. Who was "born" with a talent for combining texture and color. An experienced artist, Lewis's works have been exhibited in many venues and reflect her inspiration, aesthetic value and sophistication of the Post Impressionists. She has a B.F.A. degree in fabric design from The School of Art at Syracuse...
On Sunday, March 5, at 2:30 p.m., Rabbi Karen Allen of Congregation Beth Sholom and Zoriy Zinger, world-renowned violinist, will present a captivating performance titled An International Songbook. Rabbi Allen began her career as a pianist and singer. She performed on and off Broadway productions before becoming a rabbi and cantor. Zinger was a soloist with the Russian Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at Lincoln Center in New York, the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art, the NYC Museum of Modern...
I will admit that this sounds perverse, but Iran’s recent ballistic missile test was welcome in one important sense. Let me explain. Just more than a fortnight into President Donald Trump’s administration, America and the world have been bombarded with all sorts of crises, to the extent that it feels as if two years of history has been packed into two weeks. Relations with Mexico are at their lowest ebb in more than a century. The administration continues to exasperate, most likely intentionally, European heads of state with its on again, off...
Like schoolchildren everywhere, Palestinian Arab children occasionally are assigned by their teachers to write poems. But the poetry they produce is not like that of children in the U.S. or elsewhere in the free world. Palestinian Media Watch reports that twice in the past month, a children’s program on official Palestinian Authority Television (PA TV) featured children reciting their poems. Among the most common terms they used: “blood,” “slaughter” and “revolution.” The PA TV program is called “The Best Home,” and the children who were...
Liberals are saying Trump Education nominee Betsy DeVos “wants to take money away from public schools” by helping parents use taxpayer dollars for religious and other schools. But under the current system, the government unfairly forces many parents to choose between an expensive religious education and a free education that stymies their religious observance. Since practicing one’s religion without government interference is a constitutional guarantee, America’s public school regime is unconstitutional, and should be upended by the coming...
To say the implementation of President Donald Trump’s travel ban was clumsy would be an understatement. To say, however, that the principles involved were totally without constitutional justification would be unwarranted. Since Trump’s inauguration, nothing has dominated the political conversation as much as hatred punctuated by hysteria. The aspiration toward civility that once served as a norm for political discourse in this country has been consumed in conflagration, riots, mass demonstrations and physical attacks. In no other policy are...
There are all kinds of sayings reminding us that if we fail to learn from the tragedies of the past, we are doomed to relive them in the future. We appear to have failed to heed that warning. On May 31, 1939, the German ship St. Louis left Hamburg for Cuba with more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing for their lives from Nazi Germany. They were offered respite in Cuba temporarily until their visa applications would be approved to enter the U.S. But anti-Semitic rallies of thousands of people were instigated throughout Cuba, demanding that these...
Dear Editor: The spate of recent bomb threats at our Maitland Jewish Community Campus should not lead to making American Jewish life similar to Paris or other cities in Europe. Walking or driving through more security fences and being searched by security guards and monitored by more cameras will push only the strongly committed amongst us away from all our institutions. Better to use this crisis as an opportunity to make a broad outreach to the greater Orlando community. Holocaust Remembrance Day could have been such a date to hold a...
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...
(The Nosher via JTA)-Kasha varnishkes is a much beloved Ashkenazi comfort food dish. Traditionally made with bow tie pasta, onions, schmaltz and kasha (buckwheat), it is filling, comforting peasant food at its best. I wanted to add a little bit of healthfulness into the traditional recipe, so we decided to swap out regular or egg pasta for some whole grain pasta and include some riced cauliflower into the mix for a serving of vegetables. This recipe is based on this classic recipe for kasha...
(The Nosher via JTA)-Everyone enjoys a good recipe hack, and I think you will love this one: two-ingredient rugelach! That's right: just a package of puff pastry, filling and that's it. You can make flaky, sweet, indulgent rugelach for your next Shabbat dinner, brunch or just because you need something with your afternoon cup of tea, within 30 minutes. I like to use chocolate hazelnut spread, but you could use a cookie butter or jam-or try something savory like goat cheese and herbs. Top with a...
"My Jewish Roots" Workshops, sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Orlando (JGSGO) continue in March with the workshop: Using Ancestry.com for Jewish Research. What's in a name? Apparently, quite a lot when the derivation of your surname is a mystery. As a child, I had always wondered why my surname, Anderson, was so non-Jewish. Growing up, I knew the names of all my grandparents: My mother's parents were Emanuel Dannenberg and Alma Wolf; my father's parents, however, were Ruth...
It's about time... The Great Synagogue of Pilsen is returned to the Jews of the Czech Republic. With all the anti-Semitism that seems to be re-appearing in the world (including the United States) it is good to pass some positive news along sometimes. I read this in the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest: "As reported in the Jewish Press, after 20 years as a Czech concert hall and art museum and more than a decade of intense lobbying, the Czech Republic's Pilsen municipality has made a decision...
Miriam "Mimi" Cohen Shader, 82, of Longwood, Florida, passed away peacefully on Jan. 28, 2017. A funeral service was held at the Congregation of Reformed Judaism Cemetery with Rabbi David Kay and Cantor Allan Robuck officiating. Mimi was born in Richmond Hills, New York, to Menachem and Bertha Menschel on Dec. 3,1934. She grew up in Queens and attended Jamaica High School. After marrying Raymond "Ray" Cohen (z"l) in 1954, they moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, while he attended medical school....
The sixth in the series of 10 monthly JGSGO (Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando) Workshops held at the Roth JCC on Feb. 7, was enjoyed by 35 in attendance both in person and online. The guest speaker was Hal Bookbinder, a former president of the IAJGS and internationally known genealogy expert, spoke on Changing Borders of Eastern Europe. He brought some understanding of the changing maps over 1000 years of history in that region. In conclusion, he provided some very helpful tips on...
