Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Purim is Judaism's most dramatic, fun-filled holiday. When else can you dress up like a bunny rabbit and eat doughy triangles filled with poppy seeds? Purim occurs on the 14th of Adar. (In certain walled cities like Jerusalem, "Shushan Purim" is celebrated the following day, the 15th of Adar.) Purim celebrates the dramatic turn-around events, where the wicked Haman tried to annihilate the Jewish people of ancient Persia. The Jews were saved through God's miraculous arranging of events, as...
Ice hockey Team USA won the gold medal in a 2-1 overtime victory against Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics over the weekend. The winning goal, scored in overtime, was made by Orlando-born, Jewish-American Jack Hughes, who plays center for the New Jersey Devils. This was the first Olympic gold for men's hockey since 1980. Making the winning goal made up for a tooth he lost in the third period when Florida Panthers and Team Canada forward Sam Bennett high-sticked him in the face, also...
(JNS) — Holocaust survivor Charlotte Roth, 96, finalized her immigration to Israel on Wednesday in Tel Aviv, nearly eight decades after being liberated from Nazi captivity. Roth, born in Czechoslovakia, survived Auschwitz and a death march after being deported with her family in 1944. She later rebuilt her life in a Displaced Persons camp, married and immigrated to the United States before raising four children in Cleveland, Ohio. Accompanied by five generations of descendants, Roth completed her immigration process with the help of Nefesh B...
(JNS) - Rev. Jesse Jackson, the American civil-rights leader, former aide to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a two-time Democratic Party presidential candidate, whose relationship with American Jews was marked by both cooperation and controversy, died on Feb. 17. He was 84 years old. Jackson rose to national prominence as a protégé of King during the civil-rights movement and later founded Operation PUSH in 1971 and the Rainbow Coalition during his first presidential campaign in 1984. The n...
On a recent evening in Southwest Orlando, hundreds gathered for what Rabbi Naftali Kassorla described as “a celebration of belonging — not just of learning.” The Orlando Community Kollel’s annual “MY Kollel” event drew a record crowd this year. The name itself, Kassorla explained, captures the shift in how Orlando’s Jewish community sees the kollel. “We wanted people to feel that this isn’t the kollel, or our kollel — it’s my kollel,” he said. “It belongs to everyone who walks through our doors.” For many, the word kollel may evoke images of...
The usual costumes on Purim are straight from Shushan - Esther, Mordechai, Ahasuerus, or even the bad guy Haman. But some people treat Purim like Halloween, choosing their favorite from a gamut of options. This year, if I went with the "Halloween" option, I would don a black cape, a black hat, and lots of green face makeup. Yes, I would be Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. So why would I choose to dress up as one who would be considered in Jewish tradition as one of the Amalekites? The...
Join Orlando Hadassah for the annual Bunny Rosen Fashion Show on March 22, 11 a.m., Altamonte Springs (address is provided upon registration). Fashions are supplied by Em'z on 5th, Mount Dora. Enjoy a delectable, catered luncheon; browse a variety of vendors; and partake in drawings for many beautiful baskets supplied by local businesses and friends of Hadassah. This year, the Hadassah honoree is Susan Livingstone, past president of the Florida Central Region and past president of the Orlando...
Chabad of South Orlando is hosting Purim in the Shtetl On Tuesday, March 3, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Pargh Event Center at the Rosen JCC, 11184 S. Apopka Vineland Road. Enjoy an evening of music, fun and Purim spirit. In addition to entertainment by a live Klezmer band and the Bottle Dancers, there will be an interactive Megillah reading, Shtetl-style buffet dinner, pickle tasting and l’chaims, kids costume contest and a photo-op. Costumes are encouraged. RSVP at https://www.jewishorlando.com/tools/events/register_cdo/e...
(JNS) — The largest political party in the German federal legislature is calling for an end to financial support of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the global body’s Palestinian aid organization, according to Jüdische Allgemeine, the country’s national Jewish weekly newspaper. The Christian Democratic Union, led by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, unanimously approved a motion on Feb. 21 calling for stricter criteria for aid payments to the Palestinians, and an end to German and European donations to UNRWA. The social services agency has com...
(JNS) — An Israeli high school this year began using an AI-powered robot to help teachers in one of the country’s first classroom applications of the technology, the school has said. The robot, known as “Buddy,” is used at the ISTS Kiryat Bialik school near Haifa, where it supports technology classes and special needs students, the Israel Sci-Tech Schools network, to which the Kiryat Bialik institution belongs, announced last week. The device is not meant to replace teachers but assist them, school administrators said. “When we first set out t...
(JNS) — A senior Cabinet minister in Germany who was the main government representative at the Berlin International Film Festival, aka the Berlinale, on Sunday, left the event in protest after a director accused Israel of perpetrating genocide. Carsten Schneider, the federal minister for the environment, nature conservation, climate protection and nuclear safety, represents the center-left Social Democratic Party. He left the Berlinale gala event during a speech by Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Alkhatib, who identifies as a Palestinian, the dpa n...
(JNS) — The population of Israeli villages along the southern border has grown by 3,000 residents since Oct. 7, 2023, even as five communities are still waiting to return home, a Knesset committee was told on Monday. Aviad Friedman, head of the Tekuma Authority that is responsible for rebuilding the Gaza border towns destroyed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, described the population growth as “an exciting Zionist event” during a hearing at the Knesset State Control Committee. “The number of residents in the region has grown from some 62,000...
(JNS) — Senior diplomatic and defense officials from the Small Group of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS/Daesh met in Riyadh on Feb. 8 to discuss counterterrorism coordination in Syria and Iraq. In a joint statement, the United States and Saudi Arabia said participants welcomed what they described as a comprehensive agreement between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, citing provisions for a permanent ceasefire and the civil and military integration of northeast Syria. Participants noted Syria’s “stated intention to as...
(JNS) — A constitution is the moment a national movement decides what it will leave behind—and what it intends to carry forward. When a national movement publishes a draft constitution, it is making a statement not only about governance but about its future intentions. It is saying: This is who we are. This is what we aspire to become. This is how we intend to live with others. The newly released draft constitution of the “State of Palestine” does many things. It speaks the language of rights. It promises democratic institutions. It describ...
(JNS) — The press contact person for the group Jews for Racial Equality and Justice released a position statement on Feb. 9 that included the joint agreement of the American Council for Judaism, the Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City and IfNotNow NYC. Sophie Ellman-Golan, “a committed activist working on issues of racial and gender justice, queer liberation and police violence” and “is a proud member of the #JewishResistance,” informed the media that they are urging New York’s City Council to reject “anti-democratic buffer zone bills” that p...
(JNS) — As the United States and Israel move closer to action in Iran, which is needed to make the world a safer place, they must cooperate more closely than ever before. Thankfully, the U.S. ambassador to Israel is a closer friend to the Jewish state than anyone who has ever been in the very sensitive role. Mike Huckabee recently told a delegation of more than 200 American lawmakers that Israel is akin to the “wife” of the United States. “If you came to my house tonight for dinner, and you came in and said, ‘Oh, Mike, we like you. We really...
(JNS) — When I was a kid, I remember always wondering why all the older people around us were forever using the Yiddish catchphrase Abi Gezunt—“as long as we have our health.” In my youth, I never understood why they kept saying that. Why was gezunt (good health) such a problem for them? When youngsters, our biggest health issues were the occasional winter cold or a bruised knee on the baseball field. What were all these people going on about, I wondered. Well, my friends, what should I tell you? All I can say is I wonder no more. Becomin...
(JNS) — Antisemitism, an enduring scourge that has plagued humanity for centuries, has resurged in recent years, challenging the assumption that the Holocaust fundamentally transformed attitudes toward Jews. For roughly three-quarters of a century after World War II, antisemitism was pushed to the margins of public life. Expressions of hatred were widely condemned and considered socially unacceptable. Today, that restraint is eroding. We are witnessing a troubling return of open hostility toward Jews, one that threatens the foundations of d...
Dear NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: In light of Spike Lee’s antisemitic attire at the NBA and the NBA’s failure to follow their own Fan Code of Conduct in this incident, I am writing this open letter to you about the NBA’s failure to follow your own fan code of conduct and choice to be silent in the face of blatant Jew hatred at your 2026 NBA All Star Game. Your league’s code of fan conduct states, “The National Basketball Association seeks to foster a safe, comfortable, and enjoyable sports and entertainment experience in which: Obscene o...
(JNS) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump has “a lot tools” to ensure that the Iranian regime doesn’t acquire nuclear weapons amid indirect talks between Washington and Tehran and an American military buildup in the Middle East. The vice president spoke to Fox News on the day that a second round of U.S.-Iran negotiations in Geneva took place, with the Iranians signaling progress. Vance said that Washington has set red lines in nuclear negotiations with Iran and that Trump retains military options if dipl...
(JNS) - In a quiet art gallery on George Washington Street, a short walk from Jerusalem's bustling city center, color fills the walls with scenes of weddings, musicians, Jerusalem landscapes and Biblical figures bathed in radiant light. For the London-born Robert Elisha, the owner and curator of Huvy's, these are not simply paintings. They represent memories, faith and history-preserved on canvas in his art gallery and reflecting his family's own warmth and hospitality. In an interview at the...
(JNS) - ZIKIM, Israel - For nearly a year and a half, Michal Reichter stared at the Mediterranean Sea from her first-line beach home in her southern Israeli agricultural community, but dared not approach. "The sea is my home, but I would not agree to come near it," said the 46-year-old resident of Kibbutz Zikim, three miles north of Gaza. The trauma of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks, still fresh in her mind even after nine months of being evacuated from her southern Israel home, simply...
Many older adults say they feel cold even when others in the room are comfortable. While this can seem like a minor complaint, increased sensitivity to cold in seniors is common and sometimes it can signal an underlying health concern. Why aging adults feel coldera As we age, the body undergoes physiological changes that affect temperature regulation: • Lower metabolic rate: The body produces less heat at rest. • Thinning skin: Aging skin provides less insulation. • Loss of subcutaneous fat: The fat layer beneath the skin decreases, reduc...
(JNS) - In the hills surrounding Ramat Beit Shemesh, groups of teenagers and soldiers ride mountain bikes along narrow dirt trails, climbing steep ascents and navigating rocky descents. The activity looks recreational. But for the participants of Geerz, every ride carries a deeper purpose. The program's founder, Nachum Wasosky, never intended to build a typical sports club. A therapist and family counselor who has worked with youth for more than two decades, he created Geerz as a therapeutic...
