Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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See, hear, smell, taste, and feel Camp J. In just a couple of months the Roth Jewish Community Center in Maitland will be transformed for a summer experience like none other in Orlando. Beginning in June the hallways, fields, pool, gym, and auditorium of the JCC will be filled with happy campers experiencing everything Camp J has to offer this summer including field trips, special events, theme days, and our greatest asset, our staff. A concerted effort to reach out to Hillel at UCF along with J...
This article originally ran in The Jewish Press Feb. 28, 2014. Rabbi Pinny Marozov, director of Chabad of Coney Island, wanted to do a mitzvah. So when he found out there was a Jewish man living on his own on the Upper West Side of Manhattan-a Jewish man who was about to turn 111 years old-he decided to pay a visit. The problem was that Alexander Imich, who has been officially verified as the oldest man in America, second oldest in the world (he was even congratulated by the New York State...
(JPRwire)Roseanne Barr invoked Jewish values to change lives at an innovative, enlightened, and provocative Purim retreat at Isabella Freedman. In the last decade of the 20th century, Roseanne Barr brought the issues and concerns of working class America to life through her groundbreaking sitcom "Roseanne." This past weekend, it was Roseanne Barr once again bringing concepts to life, this time in such a powerful and profound way that it literally changed the lives of some of those in the room...
Last December, the 5,000-member American Studies Associate passed a resolution to boycott Israel’s academic universities. In January, University of Central Florida President John Hitt publicly announced that he opposed the boycott. At that time, Aaron Weil, executive director and CEO of the Central Florida Hillel, praised Hitt for his stand. “It represents a deep understanding of the flawed nature of boycott’s as well as its unsuitability and inappropriateness in the academic sphere,” he stated. Now, accolades are due for the Florida Senate...
(The Algemeiner) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter confused Israel's demand for the Palestinian Authority to recognize it as a 'Jewish state' for meaning that all Arabs living there would need to convert. In an interview with the Associated Press, Carter said, "Israel can claim `We are a Jewish state.' I don't think the Arab countries will contradict that Jewish statement. But to force the Arab people to say that all the Arab people that they have in Israel have to be Jews, I think that's...
NEW YORK-Hundreds of young Jewish adults from across the country are expected to re-imagine, create, and host Passover seders with friends with help from NEXT: A Division of Birthright Israel. To host, Birthright Israel alumni register with NEXT up until April 14 to receive resources and a small stipend designed to empower them to host personally meaningful and unique seders. Since 2011, more than 1,000 NEXT Passover seders have been hosted for thousands of young Jewish adults. Ben W. from...
It may be time to retire the old joke about one of the slimmest books in the library being Jewish Sports Heroes-thanks to a new set of baseball cards designed for the fans who have made trading facts and figures about the sport's ever-expanding Stars of David a league of their own. Previous editions of Jewish Major Leaguer Baseball Cards proved to be such a hit that they precipitated the launch of the series' seventh edition (Jewishmajorleaguers.org), which has just arrived with an expanded...
On Tuesday, May 6 from 5 p.m.-9 p.m., the Jewish community of Orlando will be bringing our homeland home to the Roth JCC in Maitland. After years of celebrating Israel Independence Day at Cranes Roost Park in Altamonte Spring and out in the community, the mega-event is coming home to the Roth JCC's outdoor facilities in Maitland. Roth JCC Assistant Executive Director Robby Etzkin explained that "By eliminating the significant fixed costs associated with Cranes Roost it allows the JCC to not...
There is always a lot happening in Israel, especially in the universities and the medical field—and Israel shares everything they learn with the world. It is part of the Jewish heritage—tikun olam—to repair the world. Recently, Congregation Ohev Shalom, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, the Jewish Community Center, Hillel and the Zionistas hosted a four-hour seminar on the many technological, medical, life-saving developments, and restoration projects happening in Israel. After attending the afternoon of ‘good news,’ each person who was...
ORLANDO (March 24, 2014)-Jewish Family Services Orlando, the Winter Park-based nonprofit, human service agency, is pleased to announce Centerpieces for Tzedakah, a fundraising effort to help those in need while decorating for any celebration. Unlike typical floral arrangements, each centerpiece is styled to resemble a basket, filled with food found in JFS Orlando's Pearlman Food Pantry. The centerpieces can be rented for use at weddings, baby showers, bar/bat mitzvahs, or any special event....
“Alan Shawn Feinstein is a philanthropist from Rhode Island who has offered a Challenge Grant of $1 million to be divided among federations around the country that use it as a fundraising spur to raise money to fight hunger in our community,” said Gloria Max, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Volusia and Flagler Counties. This challenge is good only for the months of March and April 2014. Feinstein’s past $1 million challenges to fight hungry have raised a record $350 million nationwide. “There are local children and adults who go...
For the past decade or so I’ve been having a similar conversation with a friend of mine. Whenever we go out to lunch, he tells me about the latest change in his business as he works to reinvent it with a vision geared toward future relevance and sustainability. “We’ve redesigned the interiors of the restaurants so they appeal more to young families,” he tells me, “and we’re adding a full-service bar.” Or “we’ve gone completely paperless with all corporate records” or “we’re looking at h...
By Josh Hasten Dear Harvard College Israel Trek 2014—As you well know by now, your current trip to Israel has drawn international attention and media coverage. While a group of college students traipsing through the Jewish State is probably not worthy of such focus, your visit to Ramallah and specifically your smiley group photo at the grave of Yasser Arafat, the father of modern-day terrorism, has drawn condemnation from many (myself included). At the same time your organizers on the ground in Israel, as well as your sponsors back in Boston i...
Ah, the devious Benjamin Netanyahu! Just when we are on the cusp of a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, Israel’s slippery prime minister introduces a potential deal-breaker, in the form of insisting that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. That, in essence, is the narrative that has emerged over the past fortnight, as shaped by the tiresome pundits who spend their days forensically examining Netanyahu’s statements and actions. Writing in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Hussein Ibish, a faux moderate wor...
Every time there’s a public discussion about whether Israel should release more imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, my heart skips a beat. My daughter Alisa was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in 1995. Two of the killers have been in an Israeli prison since 1995, serving life sentences. I always worry that they will be among the ones released. So yes, it’s personal. But it’s also much more than that. It’s not just about my daughter’s killers; it’s about dozens of other Israeli and American families whose loved ones also were victimized...
By Richard A. Ries I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that I’ve been to more synagogues in the Orlando area in the last few months than many people get to in a year, let alone a lifetime. I have not been “shul shopping”—looking for a place to specifically join. Most of my pit stops had little more depth attached to them than where my car happened to be on I-4 on a given Friday or Saturday. A few weeks ago, I had a Friday business conference at a Disney resort. I had never been to the Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation, so I stuck aro...
Dear Editor: Foreign Minister of Israel, Avigdor Liberman has proposed that the State of Israel budget $365,000,000 annually for Diaspora education, the objective of which is “to serve as an antidote to rising assimilation, intermarriage, and disengagement from the Jewish community.” A threshold question is how many additional students can be educated if all of the $365,000,000 is allocated to the United States, and the preferred vehicle is Jewish Day School, at a cost of $20,000 per student annually, or $180,000 per student for nine years (K-...
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, APRIL 4 Light Shabbat ca...
BALTIMORE (JTA)-Sara Tivoli Cohen has thought occasionally over the years about the junior high and high school in Greece that she attended, not realizing she had yet to receive her diploma from the Umberto No. 1 Italian School in Salonika. Now the 84-year-old Toronto resident is checking the mail awaiting its arrival. Suri Greenberg, the daughter of the late Toronto couple who had adopted Cohen's orphaned sister Esther, found Sara Tivoli on a list of 157 Jewish students who had never been award...
Howard M. Sherman of Heathrow, passed away on Sunday, March 23, 2014, at South Seminole Hospital in Longwood. He was 67 years old. A native of Boston, Mass., he was a son of the late Albert and Helen Waldfogel Sherman. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, a master’s in social work from Boston University and certificates from Harvard Medical School in adolescent counseling. Prior to beginning his career as a counselor and therapist he spent two years in the Peace Corps, teaching pre-school in St. Thomas. An inv...
Mila Kunis expecting HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (JTA)-The production of beautiful Jewish babies has officially begun! Ukrainian-Jewish actress Mila Kunis of "That '70s Show" fame and her fiance Ashton Kutcher are expecting their first child, according to E! Online. Kunis, 30, has been dating the 36-year-old "Two and a Half Men" star for about two years. They announced their engagement less than a month ago, and since then she has been spotted around town with a big diamond ring and a small baby bump. In...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Ritz has a new bacon-flavored cracker hitting shelves with kosher certification. The signature O.U.-Dairy symbol appears on the box of the Nabisco nosh. "There was much discussion over the decision about this product," acknowledged Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO of the Orthodox Union Kashrut Department. "The reality is there's nothing close to bacon in this product. There are artificial bacon flavorings that give the 'bacon flavor.' "Nobody's going to think this is actual bacon," he...
I'm not surprised... Actually, I'm never surprised by the brilliance of Israeli scientists, professors, doctors, inventers of every sort. So when I read the following in the World Jewish Congress Digest, I repeat, I wasn't surprised: "A Technion professor has devised a superglue to seal surgical incisions without the need for stitches or staples. Prof. HAVAZELET BIANCO-PELED has patented Seal-V glue, a biologically acceptable glue that mechanically seals areas of surgery. Working on wet...
Congregation Beth Shalom of Orange City Congregation Beth Shalom will conduct a Kosher for Passover seder led by Rabbi Winston Weilheimer at 6:30 p.m. April 14, in the in Social Hall at Our Lady of Lakes Catholic Church, 1310 Maximilian St., Deltona. Reservations will be taken through April 6. Anyone interested in attending is asked to call 386-804-8283 for information about prices and reservations. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m. Reservations are confirmed upon payment only. Congregation Shalom Aleichem Congregation Shalom Aleichem is having a...
On March 8, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando hosted its largest annual fundraiser, the J Ball, which benefits the organization's programs, services, and Marvin Friedman Scholarship Fund, which all center around the organization's mission of building community, strengthening family life, and promoting Jewish values. The night was a record-setting fundraising success, thanks to honoree Bruce Gould, co-chairwomen Rhonda Forest, Es Cohen, and Lynn Minkow, and the J Ball committee. The...
