Articles from the March 27, 2020 edition
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 28
Mega Shabbat brings UCF Jewish community together as family
The smell of matzo ball soup and the sound of chattering voices traveled through the hallways of the UCF Student Union Friday night. Feb. 21, as the UCF community gathered to celebrate Judaism's day...
Roth Family JCC closes temporarily, majority of employees laid off
On March 24, Keith Dvorchik, CEO of The Roth Family Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando, issued a statement to all JCC members that the JCC Board of Directors made the decision to temporarily cease operations, effective the end of business on...
BBYO introduces 'Jewish Netflix'
(WASHINGTON, DC & WORLDWIDE)—BBYO has introduced a brand-new, first-of-its-kind virtual experience for Jewish youth, akin to an interactive “Jewish Netflix” for teens to access unique online experiences and programs. As “social distancing” becomes th...
Jewish Academy goes remote
Jewish Academy of Orlando (JAO) transitioned to remote learning on Wednesday, March 18, missing only one day of school as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. After much faculty preparation and...
What's in a card? The Jewish Pavilion's response to the corona virus
By Ashley Fisak I always opened my birthday card from my grandparents with gusto because I knew it would have a $5 bill inside. I can remember that excitement and now I see it in my own children when...
2020 Jewish Heritage Festival rescheduled for April 25
DAYTONA BEACH—The 2020 Jewish Heritage Festival scheduled for Sunday, March 29, 2020 at The Casements in Ormond Beach, Florida, has been postponed until April 25, 2021 due to the pubic health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 coronavirus. ...
JFS Orlando here to help during COVID-19, but needs your help to do it
With the world shutting down around us during the COVID-19 virus outbreak, JFS Orlando continues to operate to make sure people who are hungry get food, elderly who have to travel get a ride, folks who look for spiritual guidance can speak with the...
What American Jews can learn from my Italian Jewish community's response to the coronavirus
By Simone Somekh NEW YORK (JTA)—The Italian people’s first reaction to the coronavirus was to have a good laugh. Not because they didn’t believe the virus was a real issue, but because that’s just how we like to process big changes in my home country...
Conservative movement leaders say virtual minyans are permissible during 'crisis situation'
(JTA)—The leaders of the Conservative movement’s Jewish law committee issued a crisis declaration allowing the recitation of the Mourner’s Kaddish with a virtual online prayer quorum. In a statement issued this week, Rabbis Elliot Dorff and Pamel...
Israel evacuates backpackers stranded in Peru
(JNS)—Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that a passenger jet will be sent to Peru to begin evacuating Israelis that were stranded in the South American country when it shut its borders in an effort to contain the coronavirus out...
A right to vote but not to dismantle the state
By Jonathan S. Tobin (JNS)—It seems like a devastating argument. If Israeli Jews are willing to accept life-saving treatment from Arab doctors, why won’t they give their representatives in the Knesset a seat in the country’s government? That...
Overwhelmed by events!
Most columnists dread the well-known malady of “writer’s block,” particularly when their editor’s deadline for submission edges ever closer and closer. My problem, as I worked on this week’s column was not “writer’s block” but too many current to...
Congress members misled into signing racist letter on Israel
(JNS)—Did you hear the shocking news? Sixty Congress members just signed a letter demanding that the federal government stop dismantling illegally built homes belonging to whites, though they didn’t object to the dismantling of illegal homes bui...
The Jewish case for President Donald Trump
WASHINGTON (JTA)—I know that many American Jews are not the biggest fans of President Donald Trump. But I also know that when it comes to Jewish issues, no candidate is better. President Donald Trump is the most emphatically pro-Israel U.S. p...
The Jewish case for a President Joe Biden
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Now that the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination in America is narrowing to a two-person race, the case for Joe Biden is even more compelling and urgent. I have known and worked with him since he entered the U.S. S...
Day Two: 'Adrian axed apples accidentally in Arizona'
(JNS)—I knew it, I knew it, I just knew it... so they closed the coffee place. I hadn’t even recycled my paper cup from Monday when I saw the online notice that night. Foiled. Even though I passed right by my friendly barista on the street on Sun...
Inside the coronavirus outbreak ward at Hadassah Hospital
JERUSALEM (JTA)—In late February, I flew to Long Island to help my 77-year-old mom following her knee replacement surgery. I arrived in the United States with the remnants of a mild winter cold, a slight cough and runny nose—nothing I was con...
Welcome to Mount Hermon, Israel's only ski mountain-it shuts down when it snows
MOUNT HERMON, Israel (JTA)-Standing on a peak atop Israel's highest mountain on a dazzlingly bright February morning, I had just stepped into my skis and begun to descend when I heard someone yelling...
SupermanHPV still fighting the good fight against HPV-related cancers
(aka Lois Lane*) Last year, Jason Mendelsohn (aka SupermanHPV) spoke on Capitol Hill at a Congressional Briefing titled "Let's End HPV-related Cancers." During his talk, in which he shared his...
Scene Around
Some personal thoughts... Joan Rivers was a friend. She once said, "whenever I hit bottom, the only thing I think of has been set down by Jerome Kern (another Jew and, of course, a great composer))....
Fearing end of the world, man returns ancient stolen relic
(ISRAEL21c)-Fifteen years after he filched a 2,000-year-old ballista stone from a Jerusalem archaeological site, an anonymous Israeli arranged to return it to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The...
Trump and Netanyahu have handled the coronavirus outbreak in totally different ways
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA)—Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have much in common when it comes to policy and style. They stand together in recommending tough action to contain Iran, and are comfortable dealing with autocracies (Saudi A...
Words of encouragement in response to the coronavirus
In Yeshiva/Rabbinical School, the community underwent multiple tragedies/difficulties in a short period. One of my rabbis told me at that time something that has stayed with me until today, giving me the support and inspiration during difficult...
Israel's Arab problem
Now that former Chief of Staff General Benny Gantz, has been tasked with forming the next Israeli government by President Rivlin, it’s time to take a look to see how we got here and how this relates to Israel’s Arabs. Far from being an apartheid stat...
9 incredible donations to the US Holocaust Museum from New York family artifacts
NEW YORK (JTA)-A hand-drawn portrait of a young man in a French internment camp. A photo of a Jewish girl who survived the Holocaust by hiding in a monastery. A letter detailing efforts to improve...