Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — While Israelis are getting vaccinated against COVID-19, the stones of the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City are receiving their own injections, with syringes surprisingly similar to those used in the medical world. Every six months, before Passover and the High Holidays, engineers from Western Wall Heritage Foundation and conservators from the Israel Antiquities Authority inspect each stone at the prayer plaza to ensure visitor safety and the preservation of the stones themselves, which are continually subjected to natural weathering...
Through Dec. 31, 2020, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando held a Human Services Relief Matching campaign, sponsored by the Jewish Federations of North America. The Federation raised $62K, which JFNA matched with $31K (50 percent matching gift), equaling a total of $93K for our community. JFNA saw the need to create the Human Services Relief Matching Fund because of the economic crises - approximately 1.2 million Jewish adults felt the financial crunch that affected housing costs, and food...
The UCF Commencements, Convocations and Recognitions Committee and the president of the University of Central Florida, Alexander N. Cartwright, have bestowed upon Dr. Moshe Pelli the status as Professor Emeritus for his distinguished performance, outstanding contributions and exceptional service to the UCF community. In a congratulatory letter to Dr. Pelli, Cartwright wrote, "Your many contributions as a faculty member in the Department of History will have a lasting impact for which we will...
The Jewish Academy of Orlando has announced that Amy Polacek will be the new principal of the school beginning June 1, 2021. Polacek, the current director of Academics at JAO, joined the faculty in 2007 as a kindergarten teacher. After teaching at all grade levels, in 2018, she took on the additional role of Admissions coordinator, where she built relationships with prospective parents and shared her love of JAO. In 2019, Amy stepped away from the classroom and became the school's director of...
In an "unveiling" of their newly published monograph, Judaism and Jesus, Dr. Zev Garber, emeritus professor and chairman of Jewish Studies and Philosophy at Los Angeles Valley College and Dr. Ken Hanson, associate professor and coordinator of the UCF Judaic Studies Program, relate their "hands-on" experience in approaching the Jewish Jesus and the controversial subject of Messianic Judaism in a webinar on Thursday, March 11 at 3:30 p.m. There is no cost for this webinar. To register for this...
Are you facing another brick wall? Or have your research efforts plateaued out with nothing new on the horizon? Marion Wehrle has a cure for that with suggestions for new avenues to explore and strategies for finding information you didn't know you could. Join the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Orlando at its next Zoom meeting on March 9, 7 p.m., and learn how to dig deeper into resources to advance your family history. Werle began family history research over 25 years ago, researching...
COS Men's Club is starting an online Bridge group and all are welcome. No age limit, no experience needed and no other forms of discrimination, only a desire to have a fun time learning and playing Bridge. All that is required is Internet access and a laptop/computer to access the game, which is played while on a Zoom call, so participants can kibbitz (explain, question or teach) while playing. The Zoom can be on a cell phone or just leave the zoom app open in background on the same device you p...
Special thanks to Keith Dvorchik, the CEO of the Federation who partnered with CC's Wish List to provide in-kind donations to Jewish agencies and schools in the community. The staff at the Jewish Pavilion delivered free socks and ladies lounge pants to our elders in skilled nursing facilities. In total The Federation received: Women's Socks - 864 pairs; Women's Underwear - 2400 pairs; Ladies Lounge pants - 432 (this is the most in demand and we may run out); Fuzzy socks - 864 pairs; Men's Briefs...
Chabad of Altamonte Springs is holding services in person and observing social distancing on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. The shul is located at 195 S Westmonte Dr Suite 1126, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714. They are also holding in-person minyans. For more information, please call 407-720-8111....
(JTA) — To many in the Jewish world, the Ruderman Family Foundation is synonymous with efforts to increase inclusion for Jews with disabilities. Based in Boston, but active across the United States and in Israel, the foundation has doled out some $75 million over the past 18 years to support inclusion. Just this month — Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month — the foundation is credited with sponsoring a virtual reading of a children’s book with Chabad and collaborating with Boston’s Jewish federation to make synagogues mor...
(JNS) — A Jewish student at Tufts University who claims that he has been the subject months-long campaign of anti-Semitic intimidation, harassment and discrimination is calling on the university to intervene. Max Price, a junior who is a member of the Tufts Community Union Judiciary (TCUJ), which is tasked with fact-checking and removing bias student government legislation, has been outspoken against an SJP proposal to include its “Deadly Exchange Campaign” referendum in the student election ballot. “Mr. Price has been subjected to anti-Se...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. House of Representatives speaker, spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel’s COVID-19 response at a time that Israel is under pressure to extend its vaccination program to Palestinians in the West Bank. “Today, I spoke with [the Israeli prime minister] to reaffirm the unbreakable bond between our nations and Congress’s unwavering support for a safe and secure Israel,” Pelosi said Wednesday on Twitter. “We discussed COVID response and our shared hope for regional peace, incl...
(JTA) — During this time of Purim, I am busy writing jokes that poke fun at the stuff we do and obsess about as Jews without offending too many people. Not always easy, and that’s when I am writing for an audience that I know extremely well. Now imagine writing Jewish jokes outside the bubble. “Saturday Night Live” found out the hard way after a joke about Israel went viral for the wrong reasons. Here’s the joke Michael Che told on the Feb. 20 show: “Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their population, and I’m going to guess...
(JNS) — The critics of Israel are so predictable, it’s almost funny. Over the past two weeks, as if on cue, The New York Times published an op-ed urging steps to facilitate the creation of a Palestinian state; the RAND Corporation released a new study pushing for the creation of a Palestinian state; and the news media manufactured a mini-crisis between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to put more pressure on Israel to—you guessed it—agree to the creation of a Palestinian state I say “as if on cue” and...
(JTA) — One year ago, in the days leading up to Purim, my co-workers and I were understandably tense. The novel coronavirus, still quite novel to the United States, had prompted a slew of difficult questions. Was it wise to hold our planned holiday gathering at a nightclub in Brooklyn? Would our staff and congregation feel safe? Would this holiday, arguably the most jubilant of our calendar, feel joyous at all or just nerve-wracking? We made the choice to go forward with our Purim party, knowing — on some level — that it would be our last...
(JNS) — The self-proclaimed Jewish-American “progressive” organization IfNotNow hosted a discussion on Jan. 27 about “how the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism has been destroying the progressive movement.” The word “discussion,” may, in fact, be too generous a term for what was, in reality, a diatribe of misinformation. An address by Taher Herzallah, associate director of outreach and grassroots organizing for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), took up much of the event. It should be noted right away that AMP’s platforms disseminate ant...
(JNS) — Many people who have never heard of the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) might reasonably ask why this body has the name that it does, upon learning that one of its members, China, is currently engaged in genocide against its Uyghur Muslim minority. Other nuggets of truth about the council — that the majority of its member states are illiberal autocracies, that the only country to have its record scrutinized as a fixed agenda item is Israel — would surely provoke similar questions among those blissfully unaware of the UNHRC’s existen...
Dear Editor: I voted for Donald Trump. If he runs again in 2024 I will vote for him again. President Trump supported Jews and Israel more than any other president. The Abraham accords are historic. No one thought there would ever be good relations between Israel and Arab countries. Trump made that happen. I will also vote for Trump for the economy, for his love of country and setting up classes teaching patriotism and appreciation for our founding fathers. Building a wall and checking on immigrants to keep us safe is another reason to vote for...
MORNING MINYANS (Please note, because of the coronavirus, some minyans have been canceled or held virtually.) 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. Congr...
(ISRAEL21c via JNS) - A catastrophic tar spill washing up along Israel's entire Mediterranean coast may be the worst environmental disaster in Israeli history. While government authorities investigate the source of the offshore leak of at least 1,000 tons of sticky, toxic tar, many Israeli civilians and soldiers are helping with cleanup efforts that will likely take months. "Over the weekend I, together with thousands of volunteers, was at the beaches cleaning sticky, black tar oil off of dead...
(JTA) - The heartwarming story has been hard to miss: A law professor is shopping at his local grocery store when he sees an elderly woman struggling to get her favorite jam from a high shelf. Why is it her favorite? "I am a Holocaust survivor," she says. "During the war, the family that owns the company hid my family in Paris." Tens of thousands of people - at least - have shared the story since it began circulating on social media this weekend. It has prompted countless people to vow to buy...
AMSTERDAM (JTA) - A Torah scroll that disappeared from a Dutch synagogue following the Nazi invasion into the Netherlands has been rediscovered 80 years later and returned to the Jewish community. The scroll, which appears to be intact and has been kept in excellent condition since World War II, belonged to a synagogue in the southern city of Dordrecht, according to Chris den Hoedt, chairman of the Jewish Community of Rotterdam, or NIG. The Pennings family from Dordrecht kept it in storage for...
Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando is proud to announce that the 2021 Kobrin Family Scholarship application is now available. This college scholarship is to be awarded to a qualified, full-time student of the Jewish faith from Orange, Osceola or Seminole County who will be attending the University of Central Florida. The scholarship is available in the amount of $2,500 per year for a maximum of four years. To learn more and apply, visit www.jfsorlando.org/kobrin-family-scholarship. Students should mail completed applications to JFS...
Contrary to what many have thought, there are some kosher eateries in Central Florida. However, they are all located in southwest Orlando and Kissimmee. Rabbi Yosef Konikov provided the following information about the Kosher restaurants in Central Florida: Kosher Eatery, 4797 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy, Suite A, Kissimmee, 34746. 407-354-1296, www.koshereateryorlando.com. Kosher Grill, 5615 International Dr., Orlando, 32819. 407-392-2292, www.koshergrillorlando.com. Kosher Cuisine, 6807 Visitors Circle, Orlando, 32819. 407-704-2464,www.kosher...
A singer needs songs to sing ... (That's me I'm referring to.) What's a good song without a good lyric? One of the best lyricists ever, in my opinion, was Gustav Gerson Kahn. (You knew him as Gus Kahn.) My favorite lyric of his is "You stepped out of a dream." (I do dream about my departed spouse often.) And speaking of "departed," another wonderful songwriter was Laura Nyro, who unfortunately died young. She was another talented Jew. And lets not forget Lerner and Loewe ... that's Frederick Loe...
