Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Mark your calendar for May 5, as Congregation Ohev Shalom's Sisterhood hosts its annual mahjong tournament. This year's event, Cinco de Mahj will have a festive slant. The cost of the tournament is $36 per person, and $45 after April 26. The tournament will include snacks, a delicious lunch, a silent auction with baskets filled with items such as restaurant gift cards, products, services and lots of fun items. New this year is a cash prize award for the top score. Registration begins promptly...
Jewish Academy of Orlando cultivates a culture of giving back to the community and to those in need by supporting school-driven and student-led fundraisers, recognizing students for acts of giving, and opportunities for students to participate in community service projects. From the youngest of ages to the school’s alumni, the act of tzedakah (righteous acts of giving) is deeply rooted in the school’s curriculum. Two favorite student activities are the kindergarten-managed Healthy Snack Store, w...
Hit the greens for a good cause at the seventh annual Pavilion Golf Society golf tournament on Sunday, May 5, at the Rosen Shingle Creek Golf Club. Hosted by the Jewish Pavilion and benefiting the Orlando Senior Help Desk, this popular tournament offers golfers a mimosa breakfast followed by a round of golf on the resort's challenging Arnold Palmer-designed course. After completing the 18 holes in teams of four, participants will be treated to a gourmet luncheon and can bid on exciting packages...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Trump administration officials have been silent and notably leak-free about what exactly is in the Middle East peace plan that Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is shaping-until now. In speeches to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, it became clear that the plan will likely not accommodate a Palestinian state, or at least the sovereignty that attaches to statehood. David Friedman, Trump's ambassador to Israel and one of three members of the peace team, in his AIPAC...
(JNS)—U.S. special envoy Jason Greenblatt blasted the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations for aiding and abetting the Palestinian financial payments towards terrorists and their families. In a closed-door U.N. Security Council meeting on Friday, instigated by Indonesia and Kuwait, Greenblatt defended Israel’s choice last month to reduce Palestinian tax revenues due to the P.A.’s “pay to slay” initiative, which has been a primary obstacle in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, sources told The Washington Free Beac...
Laurie Cardoza-Moore has called on President Trump to have Ilhan Omar's connections to the subversive Muslim Brotherhood thoroughly investigated. "If an organization which seeks the demise of America has managed to infiltrate Congress, it might be time for the commander-in-chief to take action," Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to The Nations and show host of the program "Focus On Israel," stated to 4,000 media professionals at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in...
By Jonathan Feldstein While an array of recent controversies have developed from members of Congress around the U.S.’ support of Israel, the fact is America is and was always pro-Israel. This is built on the foundation of early American leaders who understood the significance of Israel, based on common Judeo-Christian values and solid biblical imperative. Of course, when the American founding fathers supported Israel, it was not based on the existence of a modern state. They understood that Israel (i.e., Jewish people) and the Land of Israel we...
(JNS)—He has engaged in “crude anti-Semitism,” according to the Anti-Defamation League. He has “consistently impugned the loyalty of American Jews,” said the American Jewish Congress. And he has compared Israel to the Nazis, which according to the U.S. State Department, is anti-Semitic. Yet, irony of ironies, longtime Democratic Party official James Zogby has emerged as one of the most prominent voices in the party defending Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and denying that her remarks about Jews being disloyal were anti-Semitic. Zogby is a longtime...
(JTA)—Every year at Passover, many Jews enjoy inviting non-Jewish guests to the seder, the big family meal during which they recount the tale of the Exodus. Such invitations are extended in a tradition of interfaith cooperation and the conviction that at least one person at the table should actually enjoy himself. For non-Jews who might be intimidated by attending their first seder, we offer the following tips on seder customs and ways to avoid what Yiddish-speakers call a “tsimmes.” Tip #1: Avoid the tsimmes. The word is Yiddish slang for a...
(JNS)—The virulently anti-Israel movement known as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is roiling through college campuses, overflowing into city councils, encroaching into corporate boardrooms and now chomping at the essence of Israel’s special niche in the world: its travel and tourism industry. Everywhere, the boycotters have been asking to isolate Israel. BDS even convinced Airbnb to stop listing Jewish locations in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank (a term invented after Jordan invaded in 1948, when the Uni...
(JNS)—Discussions about intersectional theory used to be confined to the fever swamps of the far left. But this idea—the idea that seeks to link the struggle for civil rights in the United States with the Palestinian war on Israel’s existence and every other cause that can be falsely portrayed as one of the underprivileged against the privileged—has now gone mainstream. The latest evidence of the success of this attempt to dress up anti-Semitism in the clothing of human-rights advocacy arrives with the new edition of The New York Times Sunday...
(Rabbis Without Borders via JTA)—There are two funny images I like to circulate this time every year as we approach the Passover holiday. The first is a cartoon of a truck with large text on the side reading Morty’s Passover Cleaning. On the driver’s side door is the word “chametz” inside a circle with line struck through it. Underneath the large Morty’s Passover Cleaning text on the side of the truck it reads: Orthodox $89.95, Conservative $49.95; Reform $19.95. The second image is of a person’s office cubicle completely covered in aluminum f...
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 Israe...
The following is the calendar for Passover seders at the local assisted-living facilities where the Jewish Pavilion program directors plan events. Members of the community are always welcome to attend these seders, which are free, with the exception of facilities where full meals will be served. These are: Cascade Heights, Oakmonte Village, Mayflower, Allegro and Village on the Green. Those who would like to attend a seder at one of these facilities, must call the facility to reserve a seat. April 12th, Friday noon - Cantor Lance Rhodes,...
Love is in the air... (To replace love & sex since I became a widow, I found chocolate, sleeping and sitting, in that order!) Mazel tov to ARTHUR and PATRICIA (Trish) PINES on their recent marriage. These are two loving, wonderful people who deserve each other. They have always been very kind to me. I know Arthur for many years through my friendship with his mom, DORIS PINES. I met Trish some years ago at one of their family events. (True, Trish is very pretty and I can't handle competition,...
(JNS.org)-In the 1930s, Rabbi Tobias Geffen of Atlanta began to investigate the hidden ingredients inside mass-produced foods and to evaluate whether those ingredients conflict with kosher laws. He then set a precedent by getting The Coca-Cola Company to make a kosher-for-Passover version of its soft drink, convincing the company to substitute the grain alcohol used in the processing of its drink to alcohol derived from molasses. Geffen's achievement was a response to the fact that in the...
(JNS)-How hard can making matzah be? Mix flour and water, and bake. Actually, there are various ways that one can go about producing matzah-and the results are all a little different. When you're standing in the supermarket just before the holiday trying to choose matzah, it might help to know what you are looking at. It's not just the orange box versus the blue box, or even hand-made versus machine-made. According to leading kashrut supervisors at the Star-K and Orthodox Union (OU)...
The Jewish Pavilion celebrated the festival of Purim with youth and elders together at Brookdale Dr. Phillips assisted-living facility last month with interactive story telling, singing, dancing, and more. - Cantor Lance Rhodes, program director...
Local resident and gourmet chef Myrna Ossin has created a Passover cook book, "What To Do With Your Leftover Matzah, The Fifth Question," that will meet all the needs and answers all the questions of what to prepare for the Passover Seder and meals for the following seven days. Included in this book are 60 tested (she and her husband, Archie, tried them all) recipes with photos; a timeline and "to do" list for preparation of the seder; a list of various serving utensils and items needed; menu...
(JTA)-The Passover seder can be boring for kids. A new Haggadah is trying to change that. Published by Kveller, a Jewish parenting site, the Kveller Haggadah is "for curious kids-and their grown-ups." The Haggadah's co-creators are Elissa Strauss, a columnist on parenthood for CNN, and Gabrielle Birkner, the co-author of "Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome" (Harper Wave, 2018) and a former managing editor of JTA. Strauss and Birkner don't skate around the darker part...
(MyJewishLearning via JTA)—With thousands of published Haggadahs available for purchase, choosing the one that is best for your seder can be overwhelming. For an overview of the many possibilities, we recommend “HowIs This Haggadah Different?” Here are some things you might want to consider when selecting a Haggadah: Cost Remember, you’ll need a copy of the Haggadah for each guest (or every two guests, if people are comfortable sharing). Unless you plan to buy one copy and then do some extensi...
(JNS)-The Hebrew word "haggadah" means "narration" or "telling." As the Passover seder's instruction manual, the haggadah is perhaps the most important tool for fulfilling the Passover mitzvah of telling the story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt (a mitzvah that is mentioned six times in the Torah). The Rambam (Maimonides) in his Mishneh Torah explains that relating the miracles and wonders that were done for our fathers in Egypt on Passover night is a positive commandment, and that it is a...
Maxwell House is offering a ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Haggadah By JTA staff (JTA)—Real life tradition and television nostalgia collide in a collaboration between the venerable Maxwell House Haggadah and the hit Amazon series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” The coffee company is offering a limited edition version of its Haggadah featuring illustrations and other shtick based on the show about an aspiring Jewish comedian and her extended family of Jewish relatives in late 1950s New York. The “Maisel” Haggadah is a throwback to an earlier edition of th...
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-Can the essence of Passover fit into a box? Fans of Manischewitz and Streit's will undoubtedly answer, "Yes, in a matzah box." But a successful Kickstarter campaign called Hello Mazel aims to reinvent that box, promising a package filled with Passover-related "Jewish awesomeness" that will be delivered to your door (or someone else's). The project was a smash on Kickstarter, to the tune of more than $152,021 with 1,395 backers. Investors who pledged a minimum of $50 will...
BOSTON (JTA)-Four questions. Four cups of wine. Four types of children. At Passover, the number four figures prominently in the rituals of the seder, the ceremonial holiday meal that can be mesmerizing and mystifying. Four new delightful and brightly illustrated books for young kids will enliven, and help explain, the popular eight-day spring holiday, which this year begins on Friday evening, April 19. One features kids' favorites from the long-running TV series "Sesame Street." A fifth new...
