Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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There are two events coming up at The Roth Family JCC. First, on Sunday, April 30, they will remember Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terror at the annual Yom Hazikaron/Israel Memorial Day Ceremony. There will be a sing-a-long after the ceremony, which begins at 6:45 p.m. Complimentary babysitting will be available from 6:45 p.m. - 8 p.m. Advanced registration for babysitting is required by signing up at www.orlandojcc.org. The following Tuesday, May 2, it is time to celebrate Israel's... Full story
There are times when a very bad situation actually turns out to provide a "golden opportunity" to bring about change. Such is the case with Peter Gold, who started a nonprofit foundation called Strong City, a 501(c)(3) that supports organizations that empower underserved youth. It was only 16 months ago that Gold-who's parents live in Longwood -was fighting for his life after being shot by a man who was abducting a woman. Just recently, that horrific shooting was brought to the American peoples'... Full story
Congregation of Reform Judaism is holding an open house reception on May 7 at 1:30 p.m. at the synagogue, featuring a live performance of music by the HaZamir Orlando Chapter members-Alexa Schein, Hannah Schenkel, Harrison Burke, Vicki Geismar and Maya Milsom-who have just returned from singing at the Met with HaZamir: The International Jewish High School Choir. The Orlando chapter is part of an international network of 35 HaZamir chapters across the United States and Israel, including chapters... Full story
It is that time of year once again when Heritage Florida Jewish News is putting out feelers for one outstanding person in the Jewish community who has given his or her time or talent or monetary gifts to better the Orlando Jewish community. Nominations for the 2017 Heritage Human Service Award are now being accepted and the award will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. “For more than 27 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, time, energy and effort to the C... Full story
While the international community hangs on to visions of a two-state solution, Israeli public opinion is unified in asserting that the establishment of a Palestinian state is unrealistic and undesirable. Only 12 percent of Jewish Israelis believe a West Bank withdrawal would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a survey published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairsat the end of March. Jewish support for withdrawal from the West Bank has decreased from 60 percent in 2005 to 36 percent in 2017. The survey also found that 79... Full story
(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority announced Thursday that it will suspend ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East over changes that make the agency’s school curriculum more sympathetic to Israel. The PA’s Education Ministry called the changes an “affront to the Palestinian people, its history and struggles,” and vowed the suspension will not change until UNRWA reverses the changes. UNRWA schools serve more than 312,000 Palestinian refugee children, including 262,000 students in Gaza as well... Full story
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he will take "unprecedented steps" to end the split between the PA-run territories in the West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. In a speech to Arab ambassadors in Bahrain, Abbas said he was shocked at Hamas's decision in March to form an administrative committee to run affairs in Gaza. "After 10 years in which we sent financial support to our people in Gaza, we were surprised by this unprecedented step," Abbas said. "Thus, we will... Full story
After reading the article about Zev Halikman, the young 22-year-old who made the USA Maccabi water polo team (see the April 7 issue of Heritage), Rochelle Willner of Temple Shalom Aleichem in Kissimmee was on the phone to Heritage. "I thought you'd like to know that there are two other people from here going to the World Maccabiah Games this summer," she said. Those two people are Marilyn Glaser, president of Temple Shalom Aleichem, and Kissimmee resident, Lazar Lowinger, a member of the USA... Full story
AIPAC is hosting a program titled "The Dynamics of Israel's Technology Market" with Daniel Frankenstein, co-founder and managing partner at Janvest Capital Partners. This event will be held Tuesday, May 2 at 7 p.m. at Congregation Ohev Shalom. Frankenstein will explore: • Why Israel packs a punch so far above its weight when it comes to economics and business. • Israel has the third largest number of companies traded on U.S. exchanges for a foreign country behind Canada and China. • Israe... Full story
On April 25, Rabbi Benjamin Blech will discuss his book and research in to the secrets that Michelangelo wove in to his painting at the Sistine Chapel. The event is being hosted by Chabad Centers of Orlando, and will take place at Chabad of Greater Orlando, 708 Lake Howell Road in Maitland. Rabbi Benjamin Blech is an internationally recognized educator, religious leader, author and lecturer. His latest book, "The Sistine Chapel: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican,"... Full story
I’ve written many times about the anti-Semitism that continues to plague the British Labour Party—once a noble party of both opposition and government that has now, under its current far-left leader Jeremy Corbyn, become a laughably ineffective opposition with little hope of attaining government leadership. One key reason for that involves the scandals around open expressions of anti-Semitism from party activists and leaders alike, discrediting the party among voters in general and forcing Jewish members to leave what was once their nat... Full story
Those cruel Israelis! Palestinian residents of Gaza just want some soccer balls and perhaps a few Frisbees, to help break the monotony of life under siege. Yet the insensitive Israeli authorities, enforcing their ruthless blockade, recently intercepted a shipment of innocent, humanitarian sporting goods that would have brought a little light to the dark of lives of Gaza’s children. That’s what you can expect pro-Palestinian human rights groups and their media supporters to report. The truth, however, is different. Very different. In an attempt... Full story
Eli Lake from Bloomberg set off a firestorm in the U.S. this week with his revelation that in the last six months of the Obama administration, Susan Rice, former president Barack Obama’s national security adviser, requested that the U.S. intelligence community enable her to use foreign intelligence collection as a means of gathering information about Donald Trump’s advisers. According to Lake’s story, during the course of the U.S. presidential campaign, and with steadily rising intensity after President Donald Trump won the November 2016 elect... Full story
When Mark Rosenblatt touched down at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv April 5 and powered on his cell phone, he got the surprise of his mobile technology life. Rosenblatt received a text message from his cell phone carrier, Verizon, reading, “Welcome to Palestine.” “I did a double take,” said Rosenblatt, a high-tech consultant from Edgemont, N.Y. He had traveled to Israel to see his daughter, who is studying in a master’s degree program at Bar-Ilan University. “I was shocked that an American company was falling into some BDS rhetoric,... Full story
Dear Editor: The international law which has permitted the United States (without UNSC approval) to carry out a missile attack in Syria against the crime of chemical attack on citizens by Pres. Assad and his government, can, as a logical conclusion, permit the U.S. (without UNSC approval) to arrest Pres. Assad and his government and produce them before an International Court for the war crime of using chemical weapons, and simultaneously to fill the vacuum by installing another government in Syria through elections. The U.S. military strike in... Full story
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... Full story
(JTA)-Actor Hank Azaria is known for his portrayal of an array of characters-most notably voicing Moe, Chief Wiggum and Apu on "The Simpsons." While he may be best known for his work on the long-running animated classic, Azaria, of course, has had a successful career in TV and film, with roles as varied as journalist Michael Kelly in "Shattered Glass" to the title role in Showtime's "Huff" to voicing the villain Gargamel in "The Smurfs" movie. His friends call him "the freakish mimic." And... Full story
PARIS (JTA)-In a dark alley in a poor suburb of this city, five men with violence on their minds closed in fast on 17-year-old Netanel Azoulay and his older brother, Yaakov. "Dirty Jews, you're going to die!" one man yelled. The driving dispute quickly transformed into something physical, with one of the assailants wielding a saw. Azoulay-who, along with his brother, wears a kippah-nearly lost his finger and had his shoulder dislocated before passers-by broke up the brawl. The Feb. 21 incident... Full story
Anti-Israel activists gathered Sunday inside the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago to hear a discussion featuring convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmeah Odeh. Unbeknownst to Odeh and the attendees of the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) conference, while she was receiving a standing ovation, a memorial service for her victims was in progress just a few floors above. Being remembered were Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner, two friends who had been studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, until... Full story
A sign of the times we live in... I received the following in a letter from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) written by JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO and national director, and I pass it along to you: "After 69 bomb threats were received by Jewish Community Centers in at least 27 states in late January, followed by the desecration of a 120-year-old Jewish cemetery in Missouri last month, ADL issued a security advisory to Jewish institutions nationwide. 'If you receive a threat, take it seriously, '... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Is J Street anti-Semitic? A South Carolina state legislator insists it is. But few, if any, Jewish leaders seem to agree. Alan Clemmons, a Republican lawmaker from Myrtle Beach, is a darling of the pro-Israel community. He led the charge to pass a 2015 state law outlawing contracts with companies that boycott Israel. He has sponsored legislation defining anti-Semitism, and was honored by pro-Israel groups during last year’s Republican National Convention for his support. So Clemmons, a member of the state’s House of Repre... Full story
(JTA)—From Anne Frank’s diary to Elie Wiesel’s “Night,” books about the Holocaust remain some of the most powerful and well-known pieces of literature published in the past century. Books have the power to educate about the Shoah’s unimaginable horrors and bring to life the stories of its victims, as well as unearth hidden details about wartime crimes. Ahead of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, JTA reached out to Jewish studies scholars across the country seeking their recommendations on recently published books dealing with the Holocaust.... Full story
Celebrate the "Magic of the J-Then, Now and Always" as The Roth Family JCC hosts its annual J Ball on Wednesday, May 10 at the Orlando Museum of Art. There will be heavy hors d'oeuvres, an open bar, live entertainment and a silent auction. During the program, Cathy Cotter, JCC music teacher for 34 years, will be presented the Harriet Weiss JCC Legacy Award (more about Cotter in next week's issue of the Heritage). The dress is "dressy casual," or "business/business casual." The cost is $95, per... Full story
(JTA)-Until recently, the Ruderman Family Foundation helped pioneer an issue within the Jewish community-key word "within." While donating locally to Jewish causes from its base in Boston, it also fostered disability inclusion among Jewish and Israeli institutions. It ran a Jewish Special Needs Funding Conference and offered grants and prizes to Jewish institutions that made themselves more accessible to those with disabilities. But look for the word "Jewish" on the "inclusion" page of the... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Lisa Greer didn't think twice when she used her cellphone to donate to IfNotNow, a Jewish organization that protests Israel's West Bank occupation. Greer and her husband, Joshua, had given millions to progressive Jewish and Israel causes, and she sits on the board of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles. So last October, she gave the $5,000 contribution to IfNotNow from her donor-advised fund at the foundation, a mechanism for philanthropists to give to specific causes... Full story
