Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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The American Hebrew Academy recently extended invitations to six Jewish Academy of Orlando eighth-graders for admittance into its Honor Society. Now in its fifth year, the American Hebrew Academy Honor Society is an international honor society that acknowledges exceptional students who have demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, the arts, leadership and service to their communities. These six academians are Joshua Finkelstein, Jordan Greenberg, Rachael Henig, Sophie Libow, Estrella...
What would happen if more than 600 Jewish college students came together for an enormous gathering? On Feb. 21, Chabad at the University of Central Florida reached this accomplishment when their premier event, "Shabbat 613," took place in the Pegasus Grand Ballroom of the Student Union. Just a year after completing a similar annual affair, "Shabbat 500," Chabad at UCF's Rabbi Chaim Lipskier and his wife, Rivkie Lipskier, wanted to increase their goal of attendees to 613. In this case, each...
Israeli naval commandos intercepted an Iranian ship in the Red Sea weighed down with missiles that was en route to the Gaza Strip, the IDF said in a statement. The boat, named KLOSC, was stopped by the elite naval commando unit Shayetet 13 as it was heading to Sudan, 1,500 miles from Israel. Once on board the KLOSC Israeli soldiers found cement bags, behind which were hidden dozens of M-302 missiles, which, the IDF said, were loaded onto the boat in Iran. Had the boat reached the Port of Sudan,...
Close to half a million members of Israel's haredi public rallied in Jerusalem on Sunday, shutting down roads in and around the city, to protest a proposed bill that would mandate them to participate in the Israel Defense Forces and would criminalize those that refuse conscription. Some political parties-led notably by Finance Minister Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid-have made the issue of religious enlistment a focal point of their agendas, while religious leaders, who are conspicuously absent from the...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., that the "greatest challenge" facing their two countries is stopping Iran from gaining the capability to produce a nuclear weapon. "The greatest challenge, undoubtedly, is to prevent Iran from acquiring the capacity to make nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said, according to a transcript of his remarks released by his communications office. "I think that goal can be achieved if Iran is prevented from...
While visiting New York last week, Miss Israel, Yityish Aynaw, proved that not all Israelis love the country’s national chickpea spread, hummus. “In Israel, I don’t eat hummus,” she explained to a New York Daily News reporter during an interview at Hummus Place in the East Village, a popular stop for Israelis. “Now I come to New York and I’m supposed to eat hummus? It’s not tasty for me. I don’t like it.” During the discussion, Aynaw, 22, shared her dating preferences and admitted that she likes American men, as long as they don’t want to be...
A documentary on Alice Herz-Sommer, who died Feb. 23 at 110 and was at the time the world’s oldest Holocaust survivor, won an Oscar for Best Short Documentary at the Academy Awards on Sunday evening. Born in Prague in 1903, Herz-Sommer was an accomplished pianist who survived the Terezin-Theresienstadt concentration camp and went on to teach at the Jerusalem Academy of Music for several decades. The winning documentary, titled “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life,” chronicled her life as a musician....
Israel’s “favorable” rating in the United States has climbed to a 23-year high in the Gallup poll, even as the Obama administration has been pressuring the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a peace deal that would result in the creation of a Palestinian state. Almost four times as many Americans view Israel favorably as view the Palestinian Authority favorably, according to Gallup. Currently, 72 percent of Americans surveyed say they have a favorable opinion of Israel, while only 23 percent say they have an unfav...
"You Are Israel" will welcome the Central Florida community to an afternoon of learning the latest there is to know about Israel today. The event, which will take place on Sunday, March 23, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Congregation Ohev Shalom, 613 Concourse Parkway South, Maitland, is co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, the Jewish Community Center, Hillel, Congregation Ohev Shalom and Zionistas. There is no admission charge. The program includes an address by Consul General...
Weekly ice cream socials are the highlight of the week for residents at Savannah Court In Maitland. They adore the camaraderie provided by Jewish Pavilion staff and volunteers. When Mimi Shader comes and plays the piano, the sing-along is enhanced ten-fold. After filling themselves with rootbeer floats and hamantashen home-made by Susan Livingstone, it is doubtful that anyone eats their dinner....
Under the leadership of event co-chairs Rhonda Forest and Faye Novick, 35 incredible Super Sunday volunteers gathered at the Maitland campus on Sunday, March 2, and made hundreds of calls to members of the community. The phone-a-thon raised more than $58,000 for the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's Annual Campaign. This year's event raised about $15,000 more than last year. Visitors who came to the Maitland campus on Sunday also enjoyed an agency fair planned by Barbara Abramson to...
Hadassah of Williamsburg is having a general membership meeting on Wednesday, March 26, at 1 p.m. at Montpelier Clubhouse 10500 Mormon Drive in Williamsburg. Sheldon Brook, a popular member of the community, will present a most interesting and enjoyable film, titled “The Jewish Legacy on Broadway.” Refreshments will be served. Members, associates and guests are cordially invited to attend. For more information, please contact Sylvia at 407-370-4812 or Helene at 407-352-0535....
#Rethink2014 is one of the more creative Twitter hashtags I’ve recently encountered. Launched by students opposing the hatefest otherwise known as “Israeli Apartheid Week” (IAW), the hashtag is designed for incorporation into tweets that explain why this ghastly annual event is a series of calumnies and lies from beginning to end. Some examples: “I oppose Israel Apartheid Week because I know what apartheid actually means.” “I oppose Israel Apartheid Week because I’m sitting next to an Arab-Israeli Muslim IDF soldier on the bus in Jerusalem.” ...
Settlers and the ultra-Orthodox are important minorities in Israeli politics. Both are somewhere on the fringe of key decision-makers, but must be taken into consideration even if not part of the A-team. There is no precise measure of either group. “Settlers” are both more and less the people living in post-1967 neighborhoods of Jerusalem and elsewhere over the 1967 borders. Many, most, or the overwhelming majority of the people living in those locales chose their residence for any number of prosaic reasons, with no thought of making a pol...
Patternicity” is what scientists call the human tendency to find meaning in random events (seeing patterns where none exist—like faces in the clouds or Jesus in a potato chip—is known as “apophonia”). Connecting the dots can lead to false conclusions (“Paul is dead!”), brilliant insights (“E=mc2”), or the latest Malcolm Gladwell bestseller. I spent Sunday at Limmud NY, the annual festival of Jewish learning, sampling classes on Israel, Jewish spirituality, anti-Semitism, and even Israeli comedy. And though it is not the coincidence of th...
For 20 years now, we have seen the two sides of the controversy over “land for peace” talking past each other. The “peace camp,” as they like to style themselves, has argued that Israel is doomed to be either a bi-national state, which may not always have a Jewish majority, or an “apartheid state,” with democracy only for the Jews and second-class citizen rights, at best, for the Arabs; that, in order to be both Jewish and democratic, it is necessary for Israel to divest itself of the main Arab population by giving them a state of their own,...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—For Americans, the definition of national identity is straightforward: It goes hand in hand with citizenship. If you are an American citizen, you are also American by nationality. The same applies to the French, Germans and many others. In Israel, however, there is a different but equally valid conception of the relationship between citizenship and nationality. Indeed, this understanding is central to Israel’s identity as a Jewish state. The State of Israel maintains a national population registry in which every resident is cla...
Dear Editor: In light of the article about J Street in the recent edition of the Jewish Heritage, I want to tell the community about the movie “The J Street Challenge,” which premiered last month in Miami. It was sold out in just 2 days, with 400 people attending. More screenings are planned. The movie will also be shown in the Orlando area later this month or early next month. Watch for further details or contact Sandi Solomon at sansolomon@hotmail.com to be on the mailing list. David Moldau Longwood...
Dear Editor: While changing Birthright Israel’seligibility requirements to include young adults, who previously participated on a teen Israel experience, appears to be a worthy addition to Birthright israel, it is, in fact, a mirage and a misstep. The change has the appearance of bringing more young people to Israel, but because the experience will be duplicated, increased participation is an illusion. It is not that a second free trip is a bad thing. The misstep is that the precious dollars can and should be used to actually increase the n...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 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 Israel—Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, MARCH 14 Light...
(JNS.org) Following comments by President Barack Obama that challenged him to “articulate an alternative approach” to a peace deal with the Palestinians if he does not believe a deal “is the right thing to do for Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s “vital interests” must be upheld in such an agreement. “The tango in the Middle East needs at least three,” Netanyahu said March 3 upon landing in the U.S. for a six-day visit. “For years there have been two—Israel and the U.S. Now it needs to be seen if the Palestinians are also...
Amy Ames, age 42, of Lake Mary, passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at Hospice of the Comforter in Altamonte Springs. She was 42 years old. Mrs. Ames was born in Staten Island, N.Y., on Aug. 7, 1971, to Leonard D. Furman and Yvette Tosk Furman Katz. Following high school, Mrs. Ames attended the University of Delaware where she earned a degree in business administration. In 1991, she relocated to the Central Florida area where she owned and operated an event planning business. Mrs. Ames is survived by her son, Jacob; her father, Leonard (Ellen Lewi...
David J. Gursky of Winter Springs, passed away on Tuesday, Feb.25, at his residence. He was 61 years old. A native of Daytona Beach, he was born on June 14, 1952, to Mary Ruggeri Gursky and the late Morton Gursky. As a youngster, he lived between Florida and Freeport in The Bahamas, and became the first person to celebrate his bar mitzvah in Freeport. Following high school, Mr. Gursky attended the University of South Florida where he was a TEP. He was an entrepreneur and a manufacturer’s representative. Among his endeavors, he was an o...
Natalie “Pat” Hackel Glickstein Haas of Jacksonville, passed away on March 2, 2014. She was 95 years old. The youngest of five daughters, she was born in Vidalia, Ga., to the late Joseph and Rose Rubenstein Hackel. She moved with her family to Jacksonville in 1929. Mrs. Haas earned her teachng degree at Florida State College for Women and taught elementary school for two years. She was married to longtime Jacksonville dentist, Dr. Felix Glickstein in June 1941, until his death in 1987. She married Louis Haas in 1990, until his death in 200...
Allan Steinman of Altamonte Springs, passed away on Monday, March 3, 2014, at Hospice of the Comforter in Altamonte Springs. He was 90 years old. Mr. Steinman was born in Brooklyn, on April 6, 1923, to the late Samuel and Sarah Schweidel Steinman. Following high school he entered the U.S. Army, serving during World War II, and was married to the former Florence Liebman for 55 years, when she passed away in March 2000. Mr. Steinman was a noted condominium developer, retiring to Central Florida from California in 1989. However, it was after...
