Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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With costumes, spiels and lots of drinking, Purim, which in 2021 starts at sundown on Thursday, February 25th, is one of Judaism's most raucous holidays. You might know about beautiful Esther thwarting evil Haman's plans, the custom of getting drunk and what hamantaschen are. But we're guessing there's a few things about this holiday that might surprise you. 1. Esther was a vegetarian (or at least a flexitarian). According to midrash, while Queen Esther lived in the court of King Ahasuerus, she...
(JTA) - The morning after Russian bombs fell at the site of a 1941 massacre of Ukrainian Jews, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the world's Jews to speak out about what is happening in his country. Russia's attack adjacent to Babyn Yar, the Kyiv site where Nazis and local collaborators executed tens of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust, along with its bombing several days ago of Uman, the Ukrainian city where hundreds of thousands of Jewish pilgrims visit each year,...
(JTA) - It is nearly 10 p.m. at the emergency refugee shelter in Tomaszow Lubelski, Poland, near the Ukrainian border. It's bitter cold; snowflakes catch in the headlights of the huge tourist bus from Hanover, Germany, as it pulls up at the guard post. Zohar Spivack's bus company, Kings Travel - "the logo is blue and white, and I don't have to tell you why," he said - has been picking up refugees every day since Russia's attacks began. Leaving Warsaw empty after sundown, stopping at shelters...
Coming out from the covid cocoon, eight RAISE employees have been working since October 2021 at partnering agencies - Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, The Roth Family JCC, Jewish Academy of Orlando, Kinneret, Central Florida Hillel and Congregation Ohev Shalom. Employees work two days a week and attend weekly Lunch and Learn sessions to develop and improve their employability and social skills, build their confidence, and promote independence in order to be able to apply for jobs in the...
Bittersweet chocolate and nutty tahini are a perfect flavor pairing in many different treats. These hamantaschen crank up the volume on that combo with a chocolate chip and tahini dough, chocolate-tahini filling and a smooth sesame-chocolate ganache. I like to decorate these with toasted sesame seeds and flaky sea salt, which provide a satisfying crunchy pop with each bite. Note: You can use any leftover ganache to dip dried fruit like apricots and dates for a little bonus treat that's perfect...
Kinneret Council on Aging is providing Passover meals for low income Jewish seniors in the community. If you or a family member or friend is interested in taking part in this annual program, please contact Barbara Mills at 407-425-4537 or bmills@kinneretcouncil.org by March 28th. KCOA is proud to continue this annual tradition of providing meals around the Jewish holidays. If you would like to make a donation to support this program, you can do so through our website KinneretLiving.org or by calling Barbara Mills directly....
Stop the negative self-talk. When we mess up or something goes wrong, we can sometimes be a bit too hard on ourselves. Switch the script to something more constructive and kind. Imagine you're talking to your friend or loved one and remember that compassion is not just for others! Adding empathy and kindness to our internal dialogue can go a long way. Our counselors are available to help you build out a wellness plan with other healthy habits like this one. Call 407-644-7671 or visit...
(JNS) — A fraternity at the University of South Florida was suspended after photos circulated of a Feb. 11 event in which members of the group, including a Jewish student, reportedly had swastikas drawn on their “shirts or body parts.” Noting that the school’s rules against hazing and alcohol were violated at the off-campus “bid party” by the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, university officials said in a letter to the president of the fraternity that “the continual operations of the organization at USF likely pose an ongoing threat, disruption, o...
(JNS) — Avi Zinger was so upset after Ben & Jerry’s pulled the rug out from under him that he never picked up the phone to speak with them. Instead, he’s taking them, and their parent company Unilever, to a U.S. district court. The longtime Israeli manufacturer and distributor of the Vermont-based ice cream company’s products wants his license agreement renewed, and damages for the losses he’s suffered since Ben & Jerry’s succumbed to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and refused to renew its agreement with Zinger unless he b...
(JNS) — Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced on Saturday that he had instructed ambassador-designate to Poland Yacov Livne to leave for Warsaw ahead of schedule. “I made the decision … in order to enhance assistance to Israeli citizens crossing the border from Ukraine to Poland and in view of the importance of the events and the central role that Poland plays in them,” Lapid wrote on Twitter. “Since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, the Israeli embassy in Warsaw, headed by charge d’affaires...
(JNS) — “Promise me, Danny, that you will always believe more in the threats of our enemies than in the promises of our allies.” Those were the words of the late Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel as he held my hands tightly at one of my final meetings with him in my role as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations. The very tragic situation in which Ukraine finds itself must be a lesson to all of us, and for Israel, above all. I took on board Elie’s comment then, and I believe him more than ever now. Assurances from the international community...
(JNS) — Ever since biblical times, the people of Israel have had to navigate the harsh terrain between clashing global powers. Now, here we are again, in Ukraine, having to maneuver between Russia and the West. The terrain this time around is exceedingly difficult, with significant security and ethical pitfalls along the way. On one hand, our security situation requires us to keep all channels with Russia open. For the past seven years, ever since Russian forces entered the Syrian civil war, the IDF has managed to avoid any head-on c...
(Jewish Journal via JNS) — The conventional wisdom is that Vladimir Putin’s naked aggression toward Ukraine is taking us back to more primitive times. Indeed, for most of human history, it was raw power that ruled. If a tyrant wanted something, he just took it. The establishment of international norms and institutions in the wake of World War II was an attempt to regulate and minimize this gratuitous application of power. It didn’t always work, of course, but at least there was a sense that the world was headed in a more civilized direc...
(JNS) — The onslaught against Ukraine by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is a horrific tragedy for all Ukrainians as well as a crisis for Europe and the west in general. Nevertheless, for the Jewish people, it has special and deeply troubling resonance. During the Holocaust, an estimated 1.2 million to 1.4 million Ukrainian Jews were slaughtered. Volodymyr Zelensky, the country’s heroic president who is inspiring its resistance, is a Jew who lost relatives in that cauldron. Now Ukraine’s Jewish community, which carries a long history of trau...
You’re aware of the phrase “history repeating itself” but I want to share a story of how history is being turned upside-down as millions of Ukrainians try to flee the Russian siege of their country. It’s especially appropriate to do so from a Jewish perspective, and especially this month as we celebrate Purim, commemorating the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia, at a time when all Jews were threatened with murder by the evil Haman, a plot that was also turned around. As recounted in the Book of Esther, rather than the Jewish...
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...
(JNS) - The Jewish Agency for Israel has opened six aliyah-processing stations at Ukrainian borders, the agency said on Saturday night. The stations are located in Poland, Moldova, Romania and Hungary, and are being operated through a collaboration with Nativ and Israel's Foreign Ministry. The ministry asked the agency's emissaries who had been stationed in Lviv to work out of Poland beginning on Saturday. Each day, these emissaries, together with Israel's diplomatic teams, will cross the...
(JTA) - Fleeing Odessa with 300 Jewish orphans, Rabbi Shlomo Baksht was terrified that Russian bombs would hit his convoy's three buses. Twice during the 27-hour trip from the city in Ukraine's south to the Carpathian mountains in its western part, the drivers hired by Baksht's group, Tikva, had to stop and the children needed to leave the bus quickly due to sirens. "Now it's calm and safe," said Baksht, whose 15 counselors and 300 children traveled during Shabbat to reach the Carpathian...
Nearly 200 guests gathered at the 11th Annual Jewish Pavilion Fashion Show at Dillard's Altamonte Mall on Feb. 24, 2022 to raise funds for senior programs at elder-care facilities throughout Central Florida. It was a morning of friendship, fashion, food, and fun, and the first time the fashion show was sold out. "It was a beautiful morning," said Julie Levitt Bain, who was honored at the event for her work as a program director. "I cannot express my appreciation for the love and support I felt...
According to many modern Bible scholars, the festival of Purim did not have its source in the story told in the Book of Esther. According to Hayyim Schauss, Purim originally appeared among the Persian Jews and was adopted by them from their non-Jewish neighbors. The Jews of Persia observed, along with their neighbors, an annual festival that was celebrated in the middle of the last of the winter months. From the beginning, it had the characteristics of a spring masquerade and was a festival of...
I'm heartsick... My prayers are for Ukraine and its people, many of them Jewish. According to Russian President (dictator) PUTIN, Ukraine is under Nazi control. (If anyone fits the description of Nazis, it's Putin!). A former actor and comedian, President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY of Ukraine was elected president in 2019. He is brave and devoted to his country and its people. By the way, he is Jewish. My ancestry on my mother's side is Ukraine ... Odesa, Kiev, etc. My maternal grandparents fled...
Gragger - Pronounced GRAH-gur. Yiddish for "noisemaker." Graggers are used during the reading of the megillah (see below). When the reader speaks the name of Haman the congregation tries to drown out the evil name using noisemakers and booing. Hamantaschen - Pronounced HAH-mun-TAHSCH-un. Yiddish for "Haman's pockets," known in Hebrew as "oznay Haman" meaning "Haman's ears." A triangular cookie with a filling (typically jam or poppyseed) inside, traditionally eaten on Purim . Matanot l'evyonim -...
(JTA) — The world has had a crash course on Volodymyr Zelensky in recent days, as the Ukrainian president has galvanized his country against an unprovoked attack by neighboring Russia. The broad strokes of Zelensky’s career have long been known to those who pay attention to Ukrainian politics — or to their spillover effects in American government. He’s young, funny, Jewish and committed to a strong democratic Ukraine, even at the risk of death. “I need ammunition, not a ride,” he reportedly told American authorities this week after they offere...
The Jewish Pavilion is looking forward to many wonderful Purim celebrations with seniors this month. The festivities include reenacting the Purim story with costumes and props, enjoying Hamantaschen, and plenty of laughter and music. Thanks to The Jewish Pavilion, more than 400 residents will receive Shalach Manot gift bags. The Harper Family Foundation has been very generous to the Jewish Pavilion, supporting intergenerational programs, the Orlando Senior Help Desk, and special events. While...
(JNS) — The American Jewish Committee announced on Monday that U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) will succeed David Harris as the organization’s CEO. “I have worked closely with AJC throughout my tenure in Congress and I am deeply honored to have been chosen to serve as the organization’s next CEO,” Deutch said in a statement. “For 116 years, AJC has worked to protect global Jewry, strengthen Israel’s place in the community of nations, and advance democratic values around the world. I couldn’t be more excited to passionately lead AJC at this cri...
