Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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The Kinneret Council on Aging held its annual "8 Over 80" #SaluteOurSeniors event online this past week and raised more money and had a larger turnout than any previous fundraiser in the organization's five-decade history. With Alan Ginsburg as the ever-festive, always funny emcee for the evening, several hundred community members joined Zoom and/or the YouTube link for an exciting, entertaining and fun event honoring eight individuals who have made a lasting impact on our community here in Cent...
In recognition of their community involvement and their dedicated support of The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center and the vision for the new Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity, the Center looks forward to presenting the Harvey and Carol Massey and their family with the Tess Wise White Rose Award on April 28 at the new White Rose Tribute Event. Harvey and Carol Massey of Winter Park have three children and 10 grandchildren. The Massey's philanthropic interests in education, arts...
(JTA) - The BBC has been accused of bias in its coverage of Israel for decades. Now the public broadcaster is taking flak from British Jews for coverage much closer to home. What's causing their biggest dispute in years? It's the broadcast of a debate over whether Jews should be considered an ethnic minority - a panel discussion featuring four non-Jewish panelists and a Jewish commenter as a guest. Monday's discussion touched raw nerves in the organized community, where many Jews feel...
"When you clean out your closet, think of us "said Nancy Ludin, CEO of the Jewish Pavilion. Special thanks to Larry Kahn, Alan Perlman, Roz Murray and many other generous people who have recently donated Judaica to the Jewish Pavilion. All of the gifts received are used as presents for seniors to go in their welcome bags. The Jewish Pavilion always welcomes gifts such as Jewish holiday paper goods, Chanukah wrapping paper, ritual objects, etc. Shown here is Joe Aronson of Westminster Towers...
You can’t go to Neverland, but you can go and see “Peter Pan” at Orlando Ballet with your friends from Temple Israel. Tickets for the 2 p.m. show on Sunday, April 18, can be reserved at https://tickets.drphillipscenter.org/booking/production/bestavailable/11788 by using promo code GROUP10. This full-length production choreographed by Jorden Morris features favorite characters from Tinkerbell to Captain Hook and lots of humor and energy. The show will be performed at the Walt Disney Theater at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts....
Many people in the Jewish community have asked where did Robby Etzkin, former executive director of The Roth Family JCC, go? He is in Sarasota and according to The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Etzkin has accepted a position as senior director of Camp Marci Lynn at the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee. The camp will open on the Federation's Larry & Mary Greenspon Family Campus for Jewish Life in June 2022, but Etzkin has already started and is excited about his new role. "I am most excited...
(JTA) — Purim is perhaps the happiest Jewish holiday of the year. It can also be distressing, as adults and young people use the spirit of relative abandon to indulge in binge drinking and other irresponsible behaviors. Make no mistake: Substance use and binge drinking are of great concern to yeshiva high school administrators. We have acknowledged that substance use exists in our community and must be addressed. But without solid data, we’ve been left to guess about our students’ behavior and the challenges they face. Some of that data is no...
(JTA) — Israel must grant citizenship to Jews who converted to Judaism in Israel under non-Orthodox auspices, its Supreme Court ruled Monday, possibly igniting another round in the long-running government battle over who the state should recognize as Jewish. The decision, written by Chief Justice Esther Hayut, comes less than a month before national elections. Israel’s Law of Return offers automatic citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent. The state also generally recognizes those who converted to Judaism under Orthodox sta...
(JTA) — Jewish groups are criticizing NBC for airing an offensive portrayal of an Orthodox Jew on one of its medical dramas. The objectionable storyline occurred on an episode of “Nurses,” a Canadian hour-long drama following a group of nurses in a Toronto hospital. In the episode, a young Hasidic patient is told he will need a bone graft to heal his broken leg, leading his devout father to recoil at the possibility of a “dead goyim leg from anyone. An Arab, a woman.” The incident occurs in the series’ eighth episode, “Achilles Heel,” which...
Dylan Williams of J Street, in a recent op-ed, called on the Biden administration to “rebuild the U.S. relationship with moderate Palestinian leaders.” Since presumably J Street would not claim that the leaders of the genocidal Hamas gang are “moderate,” then the “moderate Palestinian leaders” Williams and J Street have in mind must be Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas and those around him. Less than three years ago, on April 30, 2018, Abbas stood before the opening session of the Palestine National Council and delivered a blatantly...
Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Dozens of terrorists who murdered American citizens are walking free in Palestinian Authority-controlled territories. The Biden administration is preparing to send hundreds of millions of dollars to the unreformed, terror-sponsoring PA regime. PA bulldozers are damaging Jewish historical and religious sites in Judea-Samaria and building homes in areas under Israeli control. And the number one issue on the agenda of prominent American Jewish and Zionist organizations is an unkind joke about Israel on ...
In the past few weeks we have witnessed a Black comic on SNL (who should know better) taking a cheap shot at Israel, explicitly and falsely accusing the Israeli government of discriminating against its Arab citizens by intentionally withholding vaccine inoculations in favor of its Jewish citizens. This incident reminds me of the saying, “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” On Feb. 9, 2021, NBC broadcasted on its digital platform a Canadian-produced episode of “Nurses,” which according to numerous newspaper and other I...
I was outraged when I read Jim Shipley’s rambling column “Unleashing the Hounds of Hell” in the Feb. 26 Heritage. Mr. Shipley seems intent to continue to stoke the fires of Trump hatred, even though he is out of office. He makes undue assumptions about President Trump’s mindset and intentions and perpetuates lies and inaccuracies. I was first struck by Shipley’s statement that when President Trump was elected in 2016 “We did not know a whole lot about the guy.” Donald Trump had been in the public eye in New York City for most of his adult lif...
(JNS) — Exactly one year ago, Israel was poised to realize the dream of applying sovereignty to large parts of Judea and Samaria with U.S. support and the tacit consent of a few Arab states. Israel, however, chose not to take this path, preferring the immediate achievements of the signing of the Abraham Accords to a possible confrontation with the Palestinians and the international community. The realization of the sovereignty dream was postponed and, as Israel Hayom’s Ariel Kahana argued earlier this week, may have been missed entirely. Wit...
Dear Editor: Unlike your latest correspondents, I am not at all ashamed by the impartial publication of opinion articles in the Heritage Florida Jewish News. I realize that the “76 percent” of Jewish voters who helped elect Joe Biden are imbued by the narratives promulgated by the Democrat Party and parroted by the media designed, since Mr. Trump’s election, to lead to his impeachment. They would silence anyone who lauds any of the accomplishments of this most effective president of this country in at least 20 years. Donald Trump did not commit...
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. Congregatio...
(JTA) — About 200 academics from the United Kingdom and the United States have signed a petition defending a British university lecturer who had called Jewish students on his campus “pawns” of Israel, “a violent, racist, foreign regime engaged in ethnic cleansing.” Jewish groups and organizations have protested the remarks by David Miller, a professor of political sociology at the University of Bristol, made during an online videoconference Feb. 13. Some have called for his ouster. The signatories of the letter published Friday supporting Mille...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (JTA) - Last year, Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed a treaty establishing diplomatic relations. But for more than a year earlier, diners in the UAE had already been finding their way to Jewish culture - via the home cooking of a South African expatriate. Elli Kriel, a sociologist by training who moved here in 2013 when her husband was transferred to the Emirates for work, began serving kosher food to Jewish tourists years ago out of her home kitchen. Now...
By Ed Borowsky "As my forefathers planted for me, so I, too, plant for my children," Talmud, Ta'anit 23bm. There is an independent advisory group/501(c)(3) organization called the Jewish Capital Alliance that has been operating for a little over 10 years in the greater Orlando area. JCA is dedicated to ensuring the long-term growth and success of mission-driven Jewish nonprofits. They've been providing low-interest loans and lines of credit to agencies, synagogues and other Jewish organizations...
(JNS) - A new Holocaust documentary narrated by British actor and "Harry Potter" star Jason Isaacs debuted this week for students in the United Kingdom. Holocaust Learning UK commissioned the hour-long film "Out of the Darkness," which features the testimony of Janine Webber, a survivor of the Lvov Ghetto. Isaacs, 57, who played Lucious Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" series of films, is Jewish and has spoken about experiencing anti-Semitic attacks as a teenager in London by the far-right group...
In the news... Judge MERRICK GARLAND is President BIDEN'S pick for attorney general of the United States. Judge Garland is Jewish. His grandparents fled Europe and anti-Semitism. "The United States took them in," he said. "I want to pay back by serving." (He broke down, suppressing tears.) "I'm not here to serve the president. I'm here for the people." (I hope he will be voted in.) Also... My eldest son, Navy Commander DAVID and his wife, JOLENE, have many Great Danes in their family. I am...
Kudos to Sherry Bilsky McCann a new volunteer for the Jewish Pavilion. McCann called the Jewish Pavilion during the pandemic to inquire about grief support services. She offered to help with volunteer work and became a weekly volunteer. McCann writes beautiful cards to seniors living in elder-care facilities. She writes more than a dozen cards at a time and mails a package every week to the Jewish Pavilion office. Pictured is one of her lovely cards that was distributed to seniors at Harbor...
(JTA) - Stan Lee, arguably the most famous American comic book creator, died at age 95 in 2018. Honoring his Jewish identity, many evoked the phrase "may his memory be a blessing" (coming from the Hebrew "zichrono l'bracha") when reporting on his passing. Just what this memory looks like, however, and what it should look like, is a topic that is increasingly up for debate. To most people with a passing knowledge of comic books, Lee - who may be best known to the general public for his 30-plus...
(JTA) - When Ed Stafman was designing the signs he hoped his supporters would plant on their lawns, he debated between two: "Elect Rabbi Ed" or "Elect Ed Stafman." He settled on the version with his last name. After all, he said, "Everyone knows me as Rabbi Ed." Until the election in November, "everyone" meant the people in and around Bozeman, Montana, the thriving college town where Stafman led Congregation Beth Shalom for a decade and remains active in interfaith and social justice...
(JTA) - With "Superman and Lois," the newest TV series involving the character, premiering last week on the CW network, it's a good time to recall that Superman was the 1938 brainchild of Jewish creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Many have suggested that the pair were inspired by their own Jewish backgrounds to create Superman as the paradigm of a hero who defended vulnerable populations from their enemies. But there is reason to suspect that a more specific encounter may have inspired them...
