Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Five hundred and fifty students, faculty and community members partook in the largest Shabbat dinner ever held at UCF on Feb. 23 in the Pegasus Ballroom. The annual Mega Shabbat was called "Shabbat of Champions," a nod to the undefeated UCF Knights. With many Stoneman Douglas High School alumni in attendance, the event was also a moving tribute to the victims of the tragic Parkland High School shooting, which had taken place just one week prior to Shabbat of Champions. To honor the victims, the...
When Gov. Rick Scott arrived at the Orlando Torah Academy last week, he leaned down and asked every child their name. Scott wasn't there just to meet the children, he came with a two-fold purpose. The school was the backdrop for a legislation signing ceremony of HB 545, the "scrutinized-companies" bill, which prevents companies that boycott Israel from bidding on local or state government contracts. "This bill shows the world that Florida will not do business with those that boycott Israel,"...
Every month, RAISE chooses one employee to honor as employee of the month in the RAISE program. This month Ashley Magill was chosen. Magill works at Hillel one day a week helping to set the tables for more than 100 guests for Shabbat dinner. Her job coach, Paula Breeden, doesn't have to do much coaching, as Magill keeps the Hillel welcome table stocked with give aways, replenishes snacks, and takes inventory of the supply closet. "[Ashley] has great attention to detail and is excellent at...
It is often said that enthusiasm can be contagious. It is the enthusiasm exemplified by volunteer Carina Gerscovich that has been contagious, and, likewise, successful with furthering the work of The Jewish Pavilion. To commemorate her generous donation of time and resources, The Jewish Pavilion has named Gerscovich as the official honoree for the 2018 Elayne Burke Wershil Fashion Show. Gerscovich initially became involved with the Jewish Pavilion two years ago. A lunch meeting with Nancy...
"I had a really good time and it was very impactful," shared Lexi Landa, a teen of CTeen North Orlando who was referring to the 10th annual International Shabbaton, organized by the Chabad Teen Network. CTeen, the fastest growing and most diverse Jewish youth organization in the world, hosted a four-day event in New York, which drew in a record breaking 2,500 people. The inspirational weekend included a traditional Shabbat experience in the heart of Crown Heights, the Hasidic neighborhood of...
Each month, students in Temple Israel and Temple Shir Shalom’s collaborative religious school, the Meitin Alliance for Growth and Learning, participate in collecting food for the JFS Orlando Pearlman Food Pantry based on a fun theme. The theme for the March collection was “birthday party” and included cake mix, frosting, sprinkles, and candles. The focus of this collection theme goes along with the MAGAL Mitzvah Day planned for April 8, during which students will assemble “Birthday in a Box” kits to donate to the Foundation for Foster Children...
Is there a feminine form of the word 'mensh'? What about menschah or menschat? The name which comes to mind is Harriet Moldau. To know Harriet is to know enthusiasm, knowledge, sincere kindness, deep Jewish traditions and forever willingness to volunteer and make a difference in the lives of residents in our senior living communities. Harriet has lead Yiddish classes at Brookdale Island Lake for the past several months. Her enthusiasm and expertise has enriched dozens of seniors who attend...
The observance of Passover has begun at facilities serviced by The Jewish Pavilion. During the next four weeks there are over 29 opportunities to help program directors host a seder table for our elders living in senior care. Call the main office at The Jewish Pavilion to volunteer. 407-678-9363....
(JNS)-Since Hamas came to power in the Gaza Strip more than a decade ago, it has built, trained, and armed a terrorist-army and guerilla force, and planted it in high-rise buildings, underground bunkers, and tunnels, in the midst of the civilian population. Israel and Hamas have engaged in three large-scale conflicts and numerous smaller-scale flare-ups over the past ten years, and, as the IDF looks ahead to the future, it is preparing new ways for its units to operate in this urban warfare...
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA)—An omnibus spending bill approved by Congress more than doubles spending for security grants that have been overwhelmingly tapped by Jewish institutions. The $1.3 trillion bill approved Thursday includes $60 million for the security grants, up from $25 million last year. More than 90 percent of the grants have been used to harden security at Jewish institutions since the nonprofit security grant program was launched in 2005. Nathan Diament, the Washington director of the Orthodox Union, one of the lead a...
Charging ahead with the dramatic remaking of his White House, President Donald Trump announced the ouster of National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, to be replaced by former Ambassador to the UN John Bolton, a foreign policy hawk entering a White House facing key decisions on Iran and North Korea. After weeks of speculation about McMaster’s future, Trump and the respected three-star general put a positive face on the Thursday departure, making no reference to the growing public friction between them. Trump tweeted that McMaster had done ...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Slate podcaster Mike Pesca has a theory that whenever President Donald Trump says “everybody” it means “almost nobody,” and when he says “nobody” or “anybody” it means “almost everybody.” Try it: When Trump said, “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated”—well, nearly everybody disagreed. And when he says, “Everybody knows there was no collusion,” he means, “I insist there was no collusion, but am worried that nobody else, including Robert Mueller, agrees with me.” That kind of verbal irony has become a way of arguing o...
Is this another occasion to sit shiva for the idea of a Palestinian state? Or yet another indication that the idea is well within the realm of dreamland, not to die, but not to achieve anything real? Several events qualify for the label of strategic, in the sense that they signal abject failure for those wanting a state when they wake in the morning. One was the refusal of Palestinians to attend a meeting at the White House to discuss what many perceive to be a crisis in Gaza. Another was the effort, apparently by one of the Palestinian...
Our Torah tells us of a man named Abram who probably lived in what is now Iran. He was head of a small “Clan”—also identified as a “Tribe.” The Tribe consisted of a group of loosely connected family members: sons, daughters (of which Abram had none of either at the time), cousins, etc. Our Torah tells us that one day he decided to move the Tribe from the pleasant and fruitful land in which they dwelled to a barren strip of sand over a thousand miles almost due east. But, our Torah tells us God came to Abram in a dream and told him to go and th...
Let’s focus on two qualities that make the biggest messes: anger and jealousy. How do I clean my heart of those? Cleaning the house for Passover is an opportunity to do a tremendous soul cleansing as well. On a spiritual level, bread products, or chametz, represents our negativity, or our yetzer harahs, those aspects of ourselves that we’d love to get rid of. Maybe on a deeper level that’s what’s so difficult about cleaning for Passover. Doing so requires us to come face to face with our chametz, our shortcomings. And really... who wants t...
(JNS)—After more than a year of pretending that President Donald Trump was fomenting anti-Semitism, it’s been a bad month for some on the left. The fact that supporters of Louis Farrakhan lead the Women’s March, the movement organizing protests for the anti-Trump “resistance,” has proven deeply embarrassing. Responsible liberals and conservatives understand that the only thing to do about hate is to oppose it—no matter where its advocates fall on the margins of the political spectrum. But the focus on Farrakhan and his apologists has unsettl...
(JNS)—The Trump administration’s conference on the situation in the Gaza Strip this week “focused on the need for the Palestinian Authority to take control over Gaza,” a White House official told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. If that report is accurate, it means that the United States still doesn’t understand the basic problem in Gaza—or how to solve it. The idea that Hamas is the “bad guy” and the Palestinian Authority is the “good guy” is a fallacy that began with the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, and is still the mindset of too many...
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 I...
The Jewish Pavilion's Inter-generational program was at Village on the Green with students from Congregation Ohev Shalom. They all gathered together to discuss Passover at a deeper level. From Moses freeing his people to our freedom today; from the Women's rights then and now; and how the students of today are trying to have their voices heard after the tragedy last month at Stoneman Douglas High School. The student were informed, with something to say and the seniors brought a wealth of...
ENSCHEDE, Netherlands (JTA)-For most matzah bakeries, Passover is their lifeline and only claim to financial viability. After the weeklong holiday, during which Jews are commanded to consume matzah to commemorate their ancestors' hurried flight out of Egypt, demand for the famously tasteless cracker drops sharply. Except, that is, in the Netherlands. A centuries-old and proud Jewish community here has made matzah a household product that is sold in supermarkets and consumed year-round by...
Browsing recently at a Denver airport store on my way home to Orlando, I was greeted by the clerk. Exchanging pleasantries, I asked him how his day was going. “Counting the hours, ma’am. Just counting the hours.” “It can’t be that bad,” I replied. “I am working a 15-hour shift in a newspaper stand in an airport,” he said. “And this with a college degree. As I said, ‘Just counting the hours.’” Okay, so this young man was not living his dream. But all I could think of is that the clerk appeared to be the same age as a friend of mine who beca...
The Jewish Community at UCF hosted a one-of-a-kind event on campus on Feb. 22. Sami Steigmann, a Holocaust survivor and motivational speaker addressed a gathering of over 50 people. The audience was brought together with the help of CAMERA on Campus, ZOA, UCF Hillel, JewCF Chabad, UCF Greek Chapters AEPi, and AEPhi, and the hosts of the event, Knights for Israel. At the age of 3, Steigmann and his family were sent to a hard labor camp. Because he was so young, his only value was as an...
The Orlando Chapter of Hadassah recently held the Bunny Rosen Women's Heart Health Fashion Show Luncheon at the Alfond Inn in Winter Park. This year's event was a fundraising triumph, amassing record funds in support of Hadassah's Women's Heart Health Initiative "Every Beat Counts." The funds from this luncheon promote heart health awareness, training and information to women in the greater Orlando area as well as for research to unravel the mysteries of heart disease through the Hadassah Medica...
South American Holocaust Museum... I read this in the World Jewish Congress digest and pass it along to you in part: "As reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires, Argentina, recently welcomed a record 17,727 visitors in one night, and then closed for a year and a half to undergo renovations. Two days after setting its attendance record, the 17-year-old museum announced it will close for a $4 million building project that will add space for a permanent...
(JNS)-Passover is called the holiday of freedom for good reason. Every year for the last 3,000 or so years-wherever we are and in whatever form of bondage we find ourselves-we manage to celebrate our liberation after 210 years of serving Pharaoh, complete with the horror of watching our infant sons thrown into the Nile. Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, runs this year from tonight through Saturday, April 7 (after Shabbat). It is, after all, the Jewish holiday most redolent of freedom. In the space...
