Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - One interpretation of a mishnah in Chapters of the Fathers is that Jews must prepare answers with which to respond to those who hate Torah scholars. Hating those who cherish the Torah is one sense many readers may get from recent reporting in The New York Times on Orthodox schools. A new, 6-and-a-half-minute Fox News documentary - which Kassy Dillon, a former JNS news editor, reported - turns the camera on Orthodox leaders and scholars. "We resent that the Times are engaged in what...
(JTA) — One of the Israeli teams dispatched to Turkey to assist after the devastating earthquakes there has headed home after being informed about a “concrete and immediate threat” against them. United Hatzalah told its team of roughly two dozen personnel in Turkey to end their rescue mission and leave the country, the emergency services organization announced early Sunday. Because of a shortage of available planes to evacuate them, the philanthropist Miriam Adelson donated her private jet to facilitate the evacuation, the group said. “We k...
In a recently released survey, the Anti-Defamation League confirmed empirically what many have observed anecdotally: antisemitism is on the rise in the United States. The survey found that belief in antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories has doubled since 2019, and now stands at the highest level in decades. Anti-Israel sentiments were also found to be far more prevalent, going far beyond mere criticism of policy to a level that, as ADL CEO Johnathan Greenblatt described, is simply “antisemitism in another form.” We have seen examples of...
(JTA) - Songwriter Burt Bacharach, who with his longtime lyricist Hal David turned out a string of hits in the 1960s and '70s - including "Alfie" and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" - died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94. Bacharach and David, both Jewish New Yorkers, also wrote a host of songs that made Dionne Warwick a megastar, such as "Walk on By," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" and "I Say a Little Prayer." The duo came to fame while working in the Brill Building -...
The University of Central Florida has been relatively antisemitism-free for many years. Under the leadership of Aaron Weil, Central Florida Hillel had kept any antisemitic groups from making much of a roar on campus. Under the current leadership at Hillel, much is the same – even when on Monday, Feb. 6, members of the #YeIsRight movement set up a table on Memory Mall as part of an antsemitic provocation tour. This group, which mouths the hate talk of Kanye West, has made several previous stops at other Florida universities, including Florida S...
Many caregivers are caring for loved ones who have developed hearing loss over the years. Seniors often have trouble understanding others speaking to them over the telephone. Increasingly, they “pretend” to understand what is being said, ask the person to “speak up” or request the information be repeated over and over. They can find it increasingly difficult to understand instructions or directions, recognize confirmation numbers for products or services, and most important, communicate with emergency operators when necessary. Today, new mor...
The Rosen JCC is offering a limited time offer. Its Saturday Night Out is only $20 per child on Saturday, Feb. 25, 6-11 p.m. Saturday Night Out let’s parents take a night for themselves. Take time to visit friends, go to dinner or see a movie. While you plan your fun, your kids will enjoy their own fun. Kids get games & art, playground time and movie & pizza. This month’s theme is Presidents Day. This is a Limited Time Special Offer of $20 per child for JCC and non JCC members. Don’t miss out! The last day to register is Feb. 23 and no same...
(JTA) — In a speech to the European Union parliament tied to commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that criticism of his country, which has drawn renewed international scrutiny over its new right-wing government, is legitimate. Questioning Israel’s right to exist, he added, is “antisemitism in the full sense of the word.” “It is, of course, OK to criticize the state that I head. It is OK to criticize us, and it is OK to disagree with us, just as it is OK to criticize you and your states,...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — One Jewish Democrat wants to replace a fellow Jewish Democrat as California senator. Rep. Adam Schiff, who rose to prominence during Donald Trump’s presidency as one of the top critics of the former president, announced a Senate run on Thursday. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is 89 and was first elected to the seat in 1992, has yet to announce she is retiring, but insiders say it is increasingly difficult for her to handle the job. Schiff, a solid pro-Israel Democrat who gets consistent backing from mainstream pro-Israel pol...
(JNS) — Oztma Yehudit lawmaker Zvika Fogel on Tuesday accused opposition leader Yair Lapid and three others of “treason” for what he views as fomenting a civil war. In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, Fogel defined Lapid, National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and former Deputy Economy Minister Yair Golan as the “most dangerous” people in Israel. “These four are talking about war. If they were calling to protest I’d give them every right to protest. But they’re talking in terms of me being...
(JTA) – A university in Oregon that fired a Jewish professor after he reported several incidents, including purported antisemitic remarks made by its president, has settled with the professor. Linfield University, a private school in McMinnville, will pay $1 million to English professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner for his wrongful termination in 2021. Pollack-Pelzner had accused the school’s president, Miles K. Davis, of making antisemitic remarks in front of him, including jokes about gas chambers and comments on the size of Jewish noses. He was...
(JNS) — Like the proverbial old soldiers, anti-Jewish lies never die. But they don’t fade away either. No matter how often they are proven false, they come back to incite hatred and murder. Today, the focus of antisemitism is Israel, although the old forms of Jew-hatred remain. So, there are contemporary blood libels like the media accounts of the shooting of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durah, an exercise in what scholar Richard Landes has called “lethal journalism.” One of the most pernicious and persistent lethal narratives has been the myth of...
(JNS) — Come on. Be honest. Surely someone reading this is hoarding a keepsake from the Eisenhower administration, stashed away in the attic. Better check, because you might be in violation of the Espionage Act. It seems that anyone who’s anyone, and even a few nobodies, is in possession of state secrets with classified markings and fuzzy provenance. Secure facilities are so yesterday. Nowadays, top-secret documents apparently have feet and simply slip away to improbable locations. That’s the only conclusion one can reach now that we know...
(JNS) — The names Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler, Johan Voskuijl, Bep Voskuijl, Jan Gies and Miep Gies should be well-known, but very few Jews know them. They were Otto Frank’s friends who, during the Holocaust, prepared a secret apartment at 263 Prinsengracht Street in Amsterdam for his family to hide from the Germans. They smuggled food and clothing to the Franks, including their daughter Anne, during the family’s two years in hiding. Miep Gies also had the presence of mind to keep Anne’s diary and presented it to her father upon his ret...
(JTA) — In January, 24-year-old Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills collapsed on the field after experiencing cardiac arrest. His team and the entire NFL community rallied around him. His first words upon awakening: “Who won?” Although Hamlin’s medical crisis was a rare on-field occurrence, the trauma surrounding his collapse stirred up age-old questions for me, and for many of us, about the toll football takes on the bodies of its players. What are we allowing to happen to these young men, in the name of sportsmanship, entertainment and nationa...
(JNS) — International Holocaust Remembrance Day has put me in mind of a famous poem by German clergyman Martin Niemöller about the rise of Nazism: First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To...
MORNING MINYANS Chabad of North Orlando and Chabad of Altamonte Springs are 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., 407-298-4650. GOBOR Community Minyan at Jewish Academy...
(JNS) — Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli described on Sunday the Palestinian Authority as a “neo-Nazi entity” and an enemy of the Jewish state. “I see the Palestinian Authority as a neo-Nazi entity in its essence and outlook,” Chikli told Ynet. “We still do not have any peace agreement with it. It is an enemy that is antisemitic to its core, and we need to examine alternatives.” The Palestinian leadership said on Saturday that it holds the “Israeli occupation government fully responsible for the dangerous escalation,” fo...
(JNS )- Marc and Sharon Rosenbluth explored neighborhoods all over the country, but when they made aliyah, they chose to live in Karnei Shomron, a well-appointed village about 20 minutes away from Rosh HaAyin and Kfar Saba, beyond the Green Line. "I was coming from a suburban life outside of Baltimore and I wanted my children to have a yard to play in, a basketball hoop-a similar existence," said Sharon. "Even though we used to laugh at flocks of goats on the side of the road when visiting my...
Netflix is marketing a recently released film called "You People" as an edgy romantic comedy about race relations in the U.S. In reality, the movie traffics in negative stereotypes about Jews and shamefully normalizes hate-preacher Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan's decades-long history of Jew-hatred is well-documented. It includes remarks such as "Satanic Jews have infected the whole world with poison and deceit" and outright lies, including his demonstrably false claim that...
(JNS) - The Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee has called for an emergency meeting to review the country's earthquake preparedness in light of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria on Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi to "update and reiterate the steps we need to take." Comptroller's Warning State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman on Monday urged the government not to delay. The deadly earthquakes in...
(JNS) - In his first visit to the United Nations, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff called on U.N. leaders to globalize the fight against antisemitism. He told the body on Thursday that it cannot normalize spiking rates of Jew-hatred. Emhoff, the Jewish husband of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, addressed ambassadors and members of civil society at a special, high-level side event. The U.N. missions of the U.S., Israel, Argentina, Canada, Morocco and the United Kingdom hosted the event. U.S....
(JNS) - Israel's Cabinet voted on Sunday to establish a new community along the border with the Gaza Strip. The future town, to be named Hanun, will be located in the Sdot Negev Region and eventually be inhabited by some 500 families. "The establishment of the community is further evidence of the resilience of the [citizens living in the] 'Gaza envelope' and the power of the State of Israel. We're proud to build up the Land of Israel and we're proud to strengthen settlement in all parts of our l...
(JNS) - More than 80 years ago, Disney's "Pinocchio" won two Oscars. Another film with a hefty nose is a pundit-and bettings-site favorite for this year's Best Picture, although its proboscis has drawn criticism for antisemitism. Early on in the film "Everything Everywhere All at Once," the main character, Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) calls Jenny Slate's character "Big Nose." The credits initially referred to the character as "Big Nose" but were changed for the digital release. "Big Nose"...
BERLIN (JTA) - A federal German cultural organization has returned a 16th-century sculpture to the heirs of its pre-war Jewish owner who faced Nazi persecution. The Berlin-based Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, or SPK (for Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz), announced today that the "Maria Lactans" statuette depicting Mary nursing an infant Jesus would be given back to the family of German Jewish banker and entrepreneur Jakob Goldschmidt, who fled Nazi Germany soon after Hitler came to...
