Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Thousands of teens from around the world celebrated Jewish unity, heritage, and pride at the 11th annual CTeen International Shabbaton. The convention, which drew in over 2600 participants, was the most electrifying and meaningful event to date. From world class guest speakers, to a life changing closing ceremony with a surprise guest appearance by Adam Neumann, founder of WeWork, CTeen left the teens exhilarated and ready to share their Jewish pride with the world. The inspirational weekend...
For the first time ever in our community, two Jewish organizations are coming together to create a unified fundraiser to support both Central Florida Hillel and Jewish Academy of Orlando. The organizations will combine forces to host what will be the largest Casino Night and Lady Luck event in Orlando history. Central Florida Hillel and Jewish Academy of Orlando are both nonprofit organizations supporting students throughout our community This incredible night out on the town will take place at...
(JTA)-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to court on corruption charges-he says he's innocent. Netanyahu was indicted in three cases Thursday pending a court hearing. It's the first time in Israel's history that a sitting prime minister faces criminal charges. Oh, and elections are in fewer than six weeks. What exactly is Netanyahu accused of? How is he defending himself? Does this mean he'll lose the election? Who is Benjamin Netanyahu, and what is he accused of? Netanyahu,...
Imagine Lawrence Dressler's surprise when fellow inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, N.Y., told him that he was mentioned on the Bill Maher show the night before. "At the time the show aired I was eating gefilte fish and lokshen kugel with fellow Sabbath observant felons," Dressler posted on his blog (larrynoodles.com), which is about the lives of wealthy, powerful men he lived in close quarters with at Otisville. "I was honored to be mentioned on a show that is hosted...
The Pearls of the Pavilion luncheon on Feb. 22 treated some of the Jewish Pavilion's most generous supporters to a gracious afternoon social affair. Attendees were celebrated as "pearls" because of their yearly commitment of at least $500 to support the Pavilion's programs, which keep hundreds of Jewish seniors in Central Florida living facilities connected to their Jewish heritage and to the community. To symbolize their value to the organization, all attendees who were first-time annual...
The Congregation Sinai Sisterhood will host their annual multi-denominational Outreach Program on Thursday, March 21, starting at noon at 1200 West Broad Street, Groveland, Fla. Women from six local churches along with Congregation Sinai Sisterhood members will celebrate “The Wonderful and Willful Women Of The Bible.” This special event will feature influences from Miriam, Esther, Naomi and Ruth as one, with Hannah, Sarah and the Daughters of Tzlofhad. Participants from Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church of Clermont, First United Methodist Chu...
A few more parties were added to the party list. They include: Walter Goldstein/ Lance Rhodes March 14, 1 p.m. at Sonata West March 17, 1 p.m. at Brookdale Dr. Phillips March 18, 10:30 a.m., Westminster Towers March 21, 2 p.m. at Kinnert Apartments Everyone is welcome to attend. Special thanks to Cornerstone Hospice for supplying the hamantashen pastries. For more information about the Purim parties, please call 407-678-9363....
(JNS)-Israeli government officials congratulated Israeli director Guy Nattiv for winning the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film on Sunday-the first Israeli Oscar in 41 years. "Skin," a 20-minute movie, focuses on hate crimes and their impact on a skinhead and two young children, one black and one white. The elated Nattiv ascended the stage to accept his award, telling attendees that "I moved here five years ago from Israel," adding "Lila Tov, Yisrael!" (Goodnight, Israel!). "My...
(JNS)-With so many new businesses sprouting up in Israeli and Palestinian communities in Judea and Samaria, isn't it possible to create some form of collaboration between them to share resources and take advantage of shared opportunities? That's what many people hope to achieve. Last week, the Judea Samaria Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Israel Education Association came together at Jerusalem's David Citadel hotel to launch the Regional Development Financial Initiative as part of the...
(JTA)—Deborah Lipstadt, the prominent Holocaust historian, is resigning her membership in her local synagogue because it belongs to a movement that defended an Israeli political deal with the extremist right wing. Lipstadt belonged to Young Israel of Toco Hills in Atlanta, an Orthodox congregation. The broader Young Israel movement, in a statement Monday to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, defended an agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish Power, a far-right political party. Critics of the deal note that Jewish P...
(JNS)—U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to comment on last week’s controversial merger between the Jewish Home and the far-right Otzma Yehudit parties ahead of the Israeli elections in April. “We’re not about to get involved in an election, to interfere in an election of a democracy, Pompeo told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “Election campaigns are tough. We’ll allow the Israeli people to sort this out, and I am confident that when the election’s over the United States will continue to have a strong, important, very, very deep relatio...
(JNS)—Like most victims of Palestinian Arab terrorism, Avraham Bromberg would have been completely forgotten if not for the persistence of the murderer’s many admirers and financial sponsors. Bromberg was just 20 years old when he was murdered. The same age as my daughter, Alisa, when she was murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists in 1995. Avraham was hitchhiking. In those days, all young Israelis hitchhiked. Nobody thought of it as a potentially lethal activity. A car with Israeli license plates stopped to give him a ride. The driver and his...
On Feb. 21, 2019, in collaboration with Space X, NASA, and tracking facilities of other nations, an Israeli spacecraft, carrying scientific instruments to add to our knowledge of lunar science, was successfully launched into earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This spacecraft, named in Hebrew, “Beresheet,” meaning “Genesis,” is special. When, not if, it succeeds to soft-land on the moon in April, Israel will be in the company of the United States, Russia and China as the only nations on earth to acco...
(JTA)—The next Israeli government may include terrorists that are barred from entering the United States. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crossed every moral line for political gain in Israeli politics last week when he brokered a merger of the religious nationalist Jewish Home party with Otzma Yehudit, the racist successor to the Kach and Kahane Chai parties, who advocated for the “transfer” of Arabs from Israel and the occupied territories. This completes the near total rehabilitation of Kahanists into mainstream Israeli politics, despi...
I have been a part of the greater Orlando Jewish community for 31 years. Over those years, I have served our many community organizations in many capacities, both as a lay leader and professional. As an educator, mother and Jew, I have always had a particular affinity for the Jewish Academy of Orlando, formerly the Hebrew Day School. And in my continued support of the school, I have returned to a board position, in spite of my empty nest status. Recently, I have had the opportunity to be in school for some volunteering and I was so moved by wha...
While the United Nations Interim Front in Lebanon has emphasized Israel’s protection from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, newfound evidence has demonstrated otherwise. UNIFIL is an international peacekeeping effort created to initiate Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 1978, but has evolved to promote stability within the Lebanese and Israeli governments. However, Hezbollah, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, has evidently resisted the porous authority of UNIFlL, due to their active construction of elaborate tunnels und...
Dear Editor: I am a proud and ardent Zionist and have dedicated much of my adult life to serving these ideals and advancing these goals because I believe that ultimately this will better serve ALL of Israel’s citizenry, as well as support better relations between Israel and her neighbors. The recent decision by Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to embrace the racist Otzma Yehudit party along with National Union and the Jewish Home Party is as reprehensible as it is condemnable. If they succeed, this will bring into the Knesset, the inheritors of 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 Israe...
When "Green Book" won the Academy Award for best movie, arguably the most coveted prize of the ceremony, "BlacKkKlansman" and "Do The Right Thing" director Spike Lee stormed to the back of the auditorium and kept his back turned for the entire speech. The gesture culminated a great controversy around the movie, which has been sweeping the awards this season despite some heavy consternation. "Green Book" has been accused of having a white savior complex, whitewashing racism and being inaccurate...
NEW YORK (JTA)—An American Orthodox Jewish group is defending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to work with a far-right political party. It is the first statement by a major American Jewish organization defending Netanyahu’s decision. Last week, Netanyahu orchestrated an agreement between the extremist Jewish Power and Jewish Home, a religious Zionist party. The merger will increase the united party’s chances of gaining enough votes to enter Knesset, Israel’s parliament. An array of centrist and liberal American Jewish gr...
(JNS)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to cut a deal with Bayit Yehudi, and its subsequent temporary union with right-wing political parties National Union and Otzma Yehudit, has created a political storm, being called “foul” and worse by some. And with others calling it a “reprehensible political party with racist roots” and an “anti-Arab group,” a number of Jewish American organizations have come out against the deal involving Otzma, which they consider an extremist and racist party, and which they don’t want to see as pa...
Owned by Renee Friedman-Goldstein, FASTSIGNS of Orlando-Central, now entering its 33rd year as a business, was recently recognized at the 2019 FASTSIGNS International Convention for various achievements. FASTSIGNS of Orlando-Central received the CEO Circle Award for the third consecutive year, which recognizes the top 25 centers with the highest sales volume in the U.S. and Canada between Oct. 1, 2017 and Sept. 30, 2018. They also received a Mentor Recognition Award, which recognizes a seasoned...
Growing alarm... I recently heard from the Simon Wiesenthal Center and pass their message along to you: "You and I have watched with growing alarm as Israel has been targeted by Hamas with a new wave of terrorist attacks, including not only missiles, but also mass riots. Civilians, co-mingled with Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, have repeatedly tried to breach Israel's international border, with the goal of killing Jews in adjacent areas. Outrageously, the UN Relief and Works Agency even...
Tuesday evening, Feb. 26, ACT for America, a national security grassroots organization, hosted a panel discussion about political Islam and Western culture. Although ACT is also recognized as the largest anti-Muslim group in the U.S. and takes a hardline stance on Islam and immigration, this meeting’s panelists—Dr. Jonathan Matusitz, an associate professor at the Nicholson School of Communication at UCF who teaches a class on terrorism; Rev. Bruce Lieske, former chairman of the Florida-Georgia District Muslim Evangelism Task Force and a ret...
(JNS)—For the sixth time since November, anti-Semitic fliers appeared around the University of Montana campus in Missoula, including four times in February. Discovered on Monday, the latest fliers included an image of a disfigured military member with a quotation from the late former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Ovida Yosef that said, “Goyim were born only to serve us.” “There is a line that can be crossed, but as for putting out literature that is hateful or untrue, people get to do that because of the free speech amendment,” David Cox...
