Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Laurie and Marc Smith, Orlando co-chairs of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, have announced that in honor of the 67th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel, AIPAC is bringing the four-star film "Above and Beyond" to Orlando. This feature-length documentary, produced by Nancy Speilberg (sister of Steven Speilberg) will have one screening at the Orlando Science Center on May 11, at 7 p.m. "Above and Beyond" has won "Best Documentary" and "Audience Choice"...
The entire community is invited to the Edward S. Ackerman Scholar-in-Residence Weekend at Congregation Ohev Shalom, April 24 and 25, featuring Dan Kaufman and his group Barbez, avant-garde rock musicians who set Roman-Jewish history to a beguiling soundtrack. "When you're listening to spiritual music," Barbez theremin player Pamelia Kurstin told National Public Radio, "there's something that's calling you to look deeper and ask questions." Barbez guitarist Dan Kaufman did just that once he...
The Roth Family Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando has revived its longtime theater program, staging a 50th anniversary production of "Fiddler on the Roof" from May 2-10. Since 1980, the JCC has staged hundreds of productions under the name "The Center Players" at its Harriett & Hymen Lake Cultural Center Auditorium in Maitland. The Center Players went on hiatus in 2012, due to financial and operational considerations, focusing its theater efforts solely on children and teenagers through...
On Wednesday, May 6, the Jewish Pavilion will host its annual fashion show at Bloomingdales in Orlando, where giving back to the senior community is always in style, honoring Pavilion Friends Board member Susan Livingstone. Currently the president of the Orlando Chapter of Hadassah, Livingstone has been an active member of the Friends Board for the past seven years and chaired last year's fashion show. "Susan Livingstone has given to the Pavilion community, not to mention a host of other Jewish...
By (JTA)-Israel and the Obama administration have stepped up their war of words over the framework agreement that aims to limit Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for a gradual rollback of sanctions. President Barack Obama made his most detailed effort yet to persuade skeptics of the accord reached last week in Switzerland in a weekend interview with The New York Times, asserting that the deal is the "best bet" to prevent Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapon and promising to "stand by"...
JNS.org—Criticism by US lawmakers of the Iran nuclear framework deal announced on Thursday is mounting as President Barack Obama faces a possible showdown with Congress over its role reviewing the agreement when it returns from recess on April 14. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) ripped apart the nuclear deal with Iran, arguing that President Obama’s negotiation team was worse than Great Britain’s pre-war Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s attempts to appease Nazi Germany in 1938. “Neville Chamberlain got a lot of more out of Hitler than Wendy She...
On Friday night, for the seventh year in a row, President and Mrs. Obama hosted the annual White House seder. The seder provides an opportunity for the First Family to join in retelling the story of the Israelites' arduous journey through the desert from slavery in Egypt to liberation in the Promised Land. In recounting the story, they joined their guests in performing the seder rituals and followed the Haggadah's command that we see ourselves as though we personally were liberated from Egypt....
A unique traveling Holocaust exhibit created and staffed by schoolchildren will arrive in Brevard County for a five-day visit beginning Sunday, April 19. These students, from grade school through high school, created over 600 stunning works of art based on extensive Holocaust research and travel with the museum and serve as guides. They will also talk about what they've learned in their studies and share their passion for this project. These students' mission is to make sure that no one ever for...
The Meitin Religious School at Temple Israel is holding an Open House for all children entering kindergarten, first and second grade in the fall on Sunday, April 26 from 11:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. The Meitin School is blessed with outstanding teachers and class configurations that enable children of various grades to learn together at their own pace. At the present time, Sharon Pinhas teaches grades K-2 each Sunday from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The structure of the class lets the kids explore, study, sing, create and experience being Jewish...
Maddie Weiss leads the Jewish Academy of Orlando choir in a performance at last year's celebration of Israel's birthday held at the Roth Family JCC. This year's celebration will again be held at the Roth Family JCC in Maitland on April 23 from 5:30 p.m.-9 p.m....
Let me state this up front. I am not a big fan of Benjamin Netanyahu. I believe his hard line approach to continuing the development of settlements and building in East Jerusalem is counterproductive. I think his recent visit to the United States to speak to and influence Congress damaged Israel’s relationship with its most important ally, and was completely devoid of any constructive ideas. His re-election tactics, including announcing the day before elections that he was opposed to a 2...
By Ed Ziegler Do you really think that World War II’s Holocaust has taught the world a lesson? I think not. It clearly appears, to me, that much of the world has not learned. If we do not honestly face facts now, in this nuclear age, we are doomed to endure even greater horrors. There are “Holocaust Deniers” and“ “Revisionists” who claim there’s no evidence the Holocaust ever occurred. They claim there are only false tales of “gas chambers disguised as shower rooms, factious wartime barbaric sadistic atrocities forms of mass murder designed...
It isn’t yet a deal, but an oral recitation of principals. That there isn’t something to be signed is potentially significant, to be tested over the next 80 days or so during which the agreement is supposed to be finalized. Among what we hear is that the Farsi version does not square with the English version. Israel Radio reports that Iranian officials are saying that Americans are lying about the contents. What we heard from the European official who described the contents sounded promising, but only to those who trust Iran. Its record is repl...
(The authors are president and chairman, respectively, of the Religious Zionists of Philadelphia, and candidates on the Religious Zionist slate (www.VoteTorah.org) in the World Zionist Congress elections.) A sea change began within hours of the Israeli election returns. Thomas L. Friedman, who has devoted much of his life to promoting Palestinian statehood, declared in his New York Times column that the idea of a Palestinian state is “not possible anymore.” That was followed by his Times colleague David K. Shipler, another longtime adv...
(Kveller via JTA)—I want to raise my children with a strong sense of spirituality and connection to their Jewish heritage. But I’m struggling with the reality that my children do not like going to religious school, and have only a passing interest in attending services with me. They love going to the synagogue, just not so much actually participating. There is a lot of arguing about going to Hebrew school and why it’s a good idea to occasionally step into services, as opposed to just wrestling with your friends in the lobby or hiding out with...
Last month, the Iranian mission at the United Nations wrote the International Atomic Energy Agency an “explanatory note” protesting resolutions by the organization had questioned Iran’s nuclear aims. The document asserts that “nuclear material in Iran has never been diverted from peaceful purposes.” In fact, it uses the word “peaceful” 11 times. It’s time to call Iran’s bluff that their nuclear program exists only to provide for its people’s electrical needs. We should calculate Iran’s annual savings from its nuclear power plants, and off...
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 Isr...
Leigh Edwards Baum, age 61, passed away in Israel, on Thursday, April 2, 2015. She was born in New Zealand and most recently lived in Israel with her husband, Jonathan Baum, who survives her. She was the owner/operator of a successful art supplies company. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children, Brendan and Briana; and her former husband, Oliver Edwards of Ocoee. A graveside service was held at Congregation of Reform Judaism Cemetery with Rabbi Steven Engel officiating. Funeral arrangements entrusted to Beth Shalom...
Lory Stouffer Labensky, age 63, of Lake Mary, passed away on Thursday, April 2, 2015, at her residence with her family and loved ones by her side. Mrs. Labensky fought a courageous battle with cancer over the past four and a half years. She was born on Aug. 7, 1951, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Gilmore and Viola Backus Stouffer. She received her bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. It was there, too, that she met her future husband, Larry Labensky. They were married in 1986, and had two children, David and...
Myron Pollack, age 69, of Ocoee, passed away on Sunday, April 5, 2015, at Mike Conley Hospice House in Clermont. He was born on Nov. 26, 1945, in Mount Vernon, New York, to Al and Ethel Blass Pollack. He graduated college with a Masters in Science, specializing in multi-media. Mr. Pollack was an executive in his family’s glass and framing business. On Nov. 27, 1971, in Port Chester, New York, he married the former Kim Mindich, his wife of nearly 44 years, who survives him. Myron and Kim relocated from Rye, N.Y., to the Orlando area in 2011. In...
The Seeking Kin column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. TEL AVIV (JTA)-A few blocks from Sylvia Selvas' home here near the Mediterranean Sea is the apartment where she last saw her friend Sarah Haim. That was 59 years ago, when Haim stopped by to tell Selvas that she was moving to the United States. Selvas recently welcomed a visitor to her second-floor residence on Yirmiyahu Street in the hope of finding her friend. Two weeks after the interview, "Seeking Kin" learned that...
Samantha (Sami) Kuperberg, daughter of Justin and Nicole Kuperberg of Heathrow, will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah on Saturday, April 25, at Congregation Beth Am in Longwood. Sami is in the seventh grade at Lake Mary Preparatory School where she is a member of the National Junior Honor Society. Her hobbies and interests include art, graphic design, baking, crafts, dancing, spending time with friends and many animals, travel, and running. Sharing in the family's simcha will be Sami's...
Okay, you talked me into it... I'm running for president! Is it any more ridiculous than Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Donald Trump? (Never mind. I'm not going to write about politics.) What I will write about is the concern I have with growing anti-Semitism, not only in the Middle East and certain European countries like Belgium or Austria. Read about our "allies." These facts come from the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest. I pass them along: "According to a recent poll commissioned by...
Professor Zev Garber of Los Angeles Valley College addresses the UCF Judaic Studies Program's Distinguished Lecturer's Series on March 24, on the subject of "Teaching the Historical Jesus: A Teaching Lesson." The lecture was well attended by students, faculty and community members....
In late March Julie Levitt of Orlando hosted a Passover seder for somewhere between 10 and 50 guests. Like most experienced hostesses, she prepared the traditional Seder plate, set a festive table, and warmly welcomed guests. And after she finished hosting her first seder, she went on to host 10 additional Passover celebrations in just a few weeks time. Levitt is a part-time area program directors for the Jewish Pavilion, along with Emily Newman, Judy Procell and Gloria Green. These four women s...
