Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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ISRAEL21c-Twice a year, before the Passover festival and the Jewish New Year in the fall, employees at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem get out their dustpans, brushes and brooms for a truly unique kind of clean up. The employees carefully remove hundreds of thousands of handwritten notes placed between the ancient stones by worshippers all over the world. Millions of people visit the Western Wall-one of Judaism's holiest sites-every year and many leave a written prayer or request...
NEW YORK (JTA)-France's chief rabbi, Haim Korsia, rejected Israeli Prime Minister's Benjamin Netanyahu's recent call for European Jews to move to Israel. At a news conference Thursday following a speech at Park East Synagogue in New York, Korsia said there had been a Jewish presence in France for 2,000 years and, echoing recent comments by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, said that "France will no longer be France" if there were a mass Jewish exodus. "His job is to say that," Korsia said of...
Harris Rosen, president and COO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, announced plans to create a kosher catering service at Rosen Plaza Hotel. The new venture will include the building of two new, certified Orthodox kosher kitchens at the hotel. The new kitchens will open in fall 2015 to service individual guests and groups at Rosen Plaza, as well as to provide kosher catering for all seven Rosen Hotels and Resorts and catering for other groups, banquets and events in the vicinity of the Orange County...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-House Speaker John Boehner said he kept the White House out of the loop on his invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "to make sure that there was no interference." Discussing Netanyahu's scheduled address to Congress on March 3, Muslim teen arrested in threatening emails to Israeli official, Jewish lawmaker in France Boehner (R-Ohio) made his remarks Sunday in an interview with Chris Wallace on the Fox News Channel. "It is no secret here in Washington about...
Jim Hoft of the Gateway Pundit reported on a Ha’aretz article on an outbreak of anti-Semitic screed spray painted on garage doors in liberal Madison, Wisconsin, “Thirty Madison, Wisconsin Homes Spray Painted With Anti-Semitic Slurs.” However, as the Ha’aretz report notes there were over 30 such reports of anti-Semitic hate reported in Madison in 2014. Perhaps time for Gov. Walker to investigate the hate mongers ringing Lake Mendota. Are these KKKers, white supremacists? How could this ferment occur in liberal Madison? Haaretz reported: At leas...
By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA)-From the window of the Jewish Community of Copenhagen's crisis center, Finn Schwarz can see his country changing before his eyes. Hours after the slaying of a guard outside the Danish capital's main synagogue early Sunday morning, two police officers toting machine guns were on patrol outside the center-a common sight in France, Belgium and other trouble spots for Jews, but which resistant authorities in Denmark had previously considered both excessive and unpalatable....
If you looked to the skies between 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Feb. 4, you would have seen a banner plane over UCF displaying the message: "Free Israel Trip #UCFHillel ISRL@GOHILLEL.ORG." This latest piece of marketing, affectionately titled "Birthflight" by the students at UCF, is the latest push by Central Florida Hillel to promote Birthright-the free trip to Israel for Jewish young adults between the ages of 18-26. Freshman Sari Misek traveled to Israel with Central Florida Hillel on Birthright this...
The Tri County Hadassah in The Villages recently hosted a fashion show in the beautiful dining room at Providence Independence on Wednesday, Feb. 11. "It was a wonderful social and fundraising event for our Chapter, and was enjoyed by all," said Elaine Grae, education co-vice president. On Feb. 26, the Chapter had a presentation of "Portraits of Courage," that told the story of Sara Aaronsohn, founder of the NILI during World War I in Palestine (now Israel). Tri County Hadassah's next event...
All golfers are invited to Congregation Sinai’s fourth annual golf tournament on Saturday, March 14, at the Green Valley Golf Club in Clermont. Registration, breakfast and putting contest start at 8 a.m. Shotgun begins at 8:30 a.m. Lunch and awards will follow the game. Congregation Sinai is a nonprofit organization serving the community in and around Clermont. They hold food drives to help those in need and interfaith services and activities to promote a better understanding among different cultures. This golf tournament will help grow the c...
Jewish Academy of Orlando is hosting its 10th annual golf tournament. Titled “Take a Swing for Education,” this golf classic’s proceeds will go toward academic programming and the scholarship fund. The tournament will be on Sunday, March 22 at the Grand Cypress Golf Club. Registration and practice start at noon, with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Individual players can join for $175; foursomes can join for $650. Drinks, appetizers, goody bags and prizes are included. “This event has been very popular in past years. With the new premiere venue,...
Some years ago, just as social media began to explode in popularity, a sensitive young man living in New York City had a decision to make. Every day he was bombarded by people’s acts of unkindness. He witnessed pregnant women standing on the subway, and no one offering them a seat. He saw the elderly rudely jostled as they tried to cross busy streets. He watched men shout out disgusting profanities as young women walked by. He picked up after people who dropped their garbage beside garbage c...
In his book on politics in the Arab world, “Cruelty and Silence,” the Iraqi intellectual Kanan Makiya made a telling point about the opposition to the first Gulf war of 1991, when a U.S.-led coalition ejected Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime from Kuwait. “A principled opposition to the Gulf war does not require,” Makiya wrote, “(a) denying that the Iraqi regime gassed its own citizens; (b) inventing dates to prove that the United States not only started the fighting on the ground (which it did) but that it sent Iraq into Kuwait (which it d...
I am a member of the first post- “Sha, Still” generations. Those were the generations of Jews in the United States who wanted to remain quiet. “Don’t make a fuss.” That was there mantra. The Jews who came in waves during the latter part of the 19th century just wanted to “Fit In.” They did not want to be known as “Greenhorns”—a slang term for newly arrived immigrants. So, they did their best to learn English. My grandmother learned how to read and write English when she was 63. They changed their names. Greenblatt became Greene, Shapiro bec...
While the global anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign has officially hit America’s scholarly associations over the last two years, even considering academic boycotts is a dramatic rupture with the past. In 2005, the prestigious American Association of University Professors (AAUP) wrote that it “condemned any such boycotts as prima facie violations of academic freedom.” This bedrock principle was so valued that the AAUP opposed academic boycotts of apartheid South Africa. Three-hundred university presidents signed a lett...
The White House’s announcement of its conference on “Countering Violent Extremism” names Boston as one of the pilot cities where law enforcement officials have developed partnerships with Muslim community leaders. Unfortunately, to counter “violent extremism,” federal agencies are working with the Islamic Society of Boston and its political arm, the Muslim American Society. Charles Jacobs, Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) recently said: “On Feb. 18, 2015, President Obama’s project to “combat violent extremism,” is to be showcased in a...
Dear Editor: After reading the article in the Feb. 13 edition of The Heritage by Stephen Flatlow, “How to respond to honors for Palestinian killer,” I would like to make a suggestion. In the article, he notes that the terrorist Hussain Fayadh who was involved with the murder of an American and 36 Israelis in 1978 was released in a prisoner swap and is currently working for the PA and their television station. And then there is the terrorist, Sajda al-Rishawi who in 2005 in Amman, Jordan took part in the bomb attack that killed 57 people. ISIS w...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 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., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27 Lig...
Scouts from all over Central Florida attended Scout Shabbat on Feb. 13. This successful event was sponsored by Troop 641 of Maitland. Held at the JCC auditorium in Maitland, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts participated in the service. Even the Girl Scouts were represented at the event. Scouts of all religions were welcomed to the podium to participate in the service, which was held in English and Hebrew. Scout Shabbat is held annually to coincide with the birthday of Robert Baden-Powell, founder of...
Seventy Congregation Ohev Shalom Kadimaniks and USY'ers spent the day at Universal Studios on Feb. 15 as part of the Regional Hanegev "Yom Universal." Approximately 600 Kadimaniks and USY'ers from all over Florida and Georgia had fun together taking over the theme park....
The Roth Family Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando's biggest fundraiser of the year, the J Ball, is set for Saturday, March 7, at the Rosen Plaza Hotel and will honor Susie and Ed Kleiman and Pearl and Howard Lefkowitz and their families. Co-chairs Niki Park (left) and Rebecca Anders (right) along with David Wayne, JCC executive director, promise a night of fabulous cuisine from around the world, amazing auction items, extraordinary entertainment and a great social atmosphere for...
Lisa Mindick and Mark Nuccio of Milton, Mass., are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Robin Eleanor Aransky, to Sean David Finnegan, son of Stacey and Gerard Finnegan of Greer, S.C. The bride-elect graduated cum laude from Bridgewater State College with a bachelor's degree in psychology. Robin is currently working as a behavior therapist and is also a full-time graduate student studying family therapy. She was born and raised in Massachusetts, lived in Florida for two years...
The students at the Jewish Academy of Orlando recently presented their Rube Goldberg projects. A Rube Goldberg project challenges participants to make a complicated machine perform a simple task. The projects were designed to use common household items in nontraditional manners. To complete these projects the students were placed into groups to create their own machine. The projects were completed entirely at school and students were instructed not to go out and purchase materials for this task. The students built their machines using...
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-Who is the Haman in your life? The person, like the bad guy in the Megillah Esther that we read on Purim, schemes to bring you down. When we get to the place in the Megillah where Haman is forced to lead Mordechai though the streets of Shushan, saying, "This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor," might we insert ourselves-like a video game-into an updated version of the story? Imagining that a seriously negative person in our life is pushing our car down...
Israel and world affairs... Once again, Israel is "right there" when needed, helping with crisis after crisis, as well as medical breakthroughs. This article comes directly from the World Jewish Congress Digest (WJC) and I pass it along to you: "Just as it did after crises in Haiti, Ghana and the Philippines, Israel is stepping up to fight the spread of the African Ebola epidemic that has infected more than 7,000 people. In addition to sending more than a million shekels worth of medical...
Jacqueline Anne Gerber, daughter of Douglas and Dori Gerber of Altamonte Springs, will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah on Saturday, March 7, 2015, at Congregation of Reform Judaism. Jacqui is in the seventh grade at Teague Middle School, where she is a member of the advanced band, in the gifted program and NJHS. Her hobbies and interests include softball, in which she plays for the City of Altamonte Springs. She is an avid artist, and loves music, the beach, and being with her friends....
