Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - Some 50 animators and producers responsible for the character of Batman in various productions over the years signed a petition this week calling on Qatar and Egypt, two mediators in hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, to push for the release of the Bibas family. The Bibas family has been held in the Gaza Strip for 193 days. The father, Yarden, 34, his wife Shiri, 32, and their two children, Kfir, who spent his first birthday in captivity, and Ariel, 4, were kidnapped from Kibbutz...
The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida honored Jonathan and Nancy Wolf with the Tess Wise White Rose Award at its annual White Rose Tribute Event held at the Orlando Museum of Art on April 11. In addition, Nilam Patel, an English teacher at Dr. Phillips High School, was surprised with the first-ever White Rose Educator Award. The Tess Wise White Rose Award, created in 1989, honors individuals who magnify the values of inclusiveness and respect and who demonstrate that...
(JNS) — U.S. President Joe Biden released the following Passover message on Sunday evening ahead of the holiday: Tomorrow night, Jews around the world will celebrate Passover, recounting their miraculous Exodus story from hundreds of years of enslavement in Egypt and their journey to freedom. This holiday reminds us of a profound and powerful truth: that even in the face of persecution, if we hold on to faith, we shall endure and overcome. As Jews mark Passover with storytelling, songs and rituals, they will also read from the Haggadah how, i...
Iranian citizens are praising the Israeli army and calling on the Jewish State to assassinate key ruling figures such as the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini, as Iran girds for a potential Israeli retaliation following an unprecedented missile and drone attack. Residents of Iran are expressing those sentiments via social media posts and subversive street graffiti, with many asking Israel to bring down the government, which rules according to a strict interpretation of Islamic law. “Israel, strike back. They don’t have the guts to take rev...
Providing discreet care tailored to the needs of older adults can significantly enhance their ability to participate actively in life and foster growth and engagement in activities that bring them joy and purpose. Here are some of the benefits associated with high-quality senior care options: 1) Promotion of Social Engagement: Assisted-living facilities play a vital role in facilitating social connections and engagement among seniors, which is crucial for their overall well-being. Studies have shown that isolation can adversely affect health...
The end to the current school year is fast approaching. This is the best time to start planning for the 2024-2025 school year. The Rosen JCC Early Childhood Learning Center is now registering for the new year. The ECLC provides a STEAM education focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics. STEAM is a hand on approach to learning these concepts and how they are part of everyday tasks. This gives kids a strong foundation for their academic career and builds a love of learning. The Rosen JCC ECLC is an award-winning program...
Temple Israel is celebrating their 70th Anniversary Simcha at their 50 S. Moss Road location on Sunday, May 19, at 5:30 p.m., and it’d be a shanda not to attend! Guests will enjoy catered appetizers, dinner, and drinks. There will be free babysitting, dinner, and activities provided for children 12 and under while adults enjoy live klezmer music, a photo booth, a keepsake program book, a slideshow full of memories, and many more surprises. Support the synagogue further with sponsorships and submit your favorite photos from the past 70 years s...
Reflect upon the tragedy of the Holocaust as those who perished are remembered at the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism hosted by The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center. The event will be held Sunday, May 5 at 3 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 851 N. Maitland Ave. The guest speaker will be Greg Dawson, author of “Hiding in the Spotlight,” which chronicles his mother’s incredible journey and explores the resilience of the human spirit and the power of music to save lives. Register at www.holocau...
(JNS) — Christian and Jewish leaders gathered in Washington on Monday evening to call for Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and to oppose proposals for the creation of a Palestinian state in the wake of Oct. 7. David Friedman, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel and one of the leaders of the Keep God’s Land movement that organized the event, told JNS that the group proposes to extend Israeli sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria. “Some of the most important parts of biblical Israel—whether it’s the Old City of Jerusalem, the city of...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — As the United States and other countries pressure Israel to increase food aid to Gaza, Israeli officials familiar with the situation say Gaza has been overwhelmed by food aid. Israeli officials harshly criticize American representatives, led by Ambassador David Satterfield, accusing them of echoing the lie about “starvation in Gaza.” Every evening at 8 p.m., a quadrilateral forum takes place with representatives from Israel, the United States, the United Nations and Egypt, where a daily report on the humanitarian situa...
(JNS) — Forty-eight countries condemned Iran and its proxies for the Apr. 14 missile and drone attack on Israel in a joint statement issued on Wednesday evening. “We unequivocally condemn” the attacks, read the statement, specifically naming Iran and its “militant partners” and noting that “this large-scale attack could have caused significant damage and loss of life.” While garnering broad support, the statement was only signed by Western nations. The effort was led by the United States and included five other members of the U.N. Security...
(JNS) — The Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) denied a report on Sunday by the British Daily Mail that intelligence gathered by Israel’s internal security service is leading to fears that only 40 hostages out of the 133 still being held by Hamas in Gaza are alive. According to the report from the London-based tabloid, a dwindling number of captives have survived after 253 were kidnapped during the Hamas-led rampage across the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7. The report cites the Shin Bet and anonymous sources to make the claim. “The publi...
(JNS) — Few Jews still believe that the Jewish establishment has done a good job defending and protecting the community from the rhetorical onslaught against Israel that has morphed into a full-on assault against American Jewry. From the start, the “establishment” — the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Federation system, the Jewish Community Relations Councils and many rabbis—failed to understand that the obsessive, intense, continuous “criticism of Israeli policies” that appeared almost daily in the media was...
Visiting Israel for the first time a year ago was not only a spiritual pilgrimage and fulfillment of a dream, but an experience that allowed me to look at my own experiences as a persecuted Christian in Iran — arrested, and sentenced to death because of my faith, through a different prism. I went to Israel to impart a message to the Israeli and Jewish people that Iran is not your enemy, that Iranians support Israel and the Jewish people, and that the Iranian and Israeli (and Jewish) people have a common enemy in the terrorist Islamic regime. On...
(JNS) — The words you are looking for are, “Thank you, Mr. President.” I have not hesitated to criticize many of U.S. President Joe Biden’s policies before and after Oct. 7, but I have also consistently maintained that he has been the most pro-Israel president ever during any of Israel’s wars. That should have been obvious this past weekend when the United States coordinated a regional air defense that helped Israel avoid suffering any serious harm from a barrage of more than 300 Iranian drones and missiles. It was the first time U.S. forc...
(JNS) — One of the many ways last weekend’s drone and missile attacks on Israel could have been worse: If Iran’s rulers had instructed their U.S.-based operatives to simultaneously carry out a terrorist attack, and our intelligence agencies had failed to learn about it. Preventing such a catastrophe requires that those intelligence agencies have the ability and authority to surveil—think wiretap—terrorists abroad and their communications with operatives in the United States. Which gets me to a little good news: Last week, the House, on a bipa...
(JNS) — After the death of Moses, Joshua was called upon by God to lead our people into the Promised Land. He knew he faced potential resistance ahead. Yet having come from slavery in Egypt, he had the determination and confidence to lead his people and win the battles. Joshua saw the war through to its conclusion when the enemies were defeated, and the land of Canaan was under Israel’s control. For thousands of years, the Jewish people have faced real and potential catastrophes, as well as monstrous enemies. Each time, we pushed forward on...
MORNING MINYANS 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 Israel — Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3...
(JNS) — The negotiations to forge a deal wherein Hamas would free hostages held in Gaza in return for a ceasefire and the release of terrorists held in Israeli prisons are at a delicate stage, Qatar’s prime minister said on Wednesday. “We are going through a sensitive stage with some stalling, and we are trying as much as possible to address this,” said Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The Gulf nation is mediating the talks, along with Egypt and the U.S. While Israel has shown flexibility in the hopes of arriving at a hostage deal, Hamas h...
(JTA) - Yakira Galler, a first-year student at Barnard College, has had trouble sleeping. Galler has an apartment that looks out onto Broadway, which divides Columbia University's campus from Barnard, its women's college. Each night this week, she has heard crowds of protesters banging pots and pans, chanting "Intifada, revolution" and calling for the Ivy League university to divest from Israel. The street protests accompanied a much larger on-campus demonstration that devolved into unrest on...
(JNS) — A Jewish student at Yale University was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag during an anti-Israel demonstration on Saturday night at the school’s campus in New Haven, Conn. “Tonight at Yale, I was assaulted by a student today at an anti-Israel protest. He stabbed me in the eye with a Palestinian flag. Now I’m in the hospital. This is what happens when visibly Jewish students try to attend and document these rallies,” Sahar Tartak, a sophomore, tweeted after the incident. Tartak, who is studying history and is the editor-in...
Natalie Sopinsky lives in Suissa, Israel, in the southeast Negev. She shares her daily life with Heritage readers, her thoughts, her reality in the land she loves. Welcome to Israel ... where we allow terrorist murderers free reign. They have education, jobs, families, possessions...they are normal citizens. So why do they hate us so much? What pushes a mother to kill? What causes a mother to be a killer, to forfeit her life, to lead a life in jail? Why attempt to kill an Israeli soldier? As we...
(JNS) - "A farmer does not leave his land." Six months after losing his wife, his 15-year-old son and one of his legs in the Oct. 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel, Avida Bachar is back on his land. Walking with a cane and a prosthetic leg after nearly half a year in the hospital, the 50-year-old farmer stares out at the avocado plantation in Kibbutz Be'eri, where he was born and which lies less than a mile from the border with Gaza. On Oct. 7, Bachar's wife and son...
(JNS) - Dor Kapah, 30, stood before a group of students at the University of Florida, recounting a harrowing tale that seemed straight out of a war movie. But it wasn't fiction; it was a gripping account of his escape from Hamas terrorists, relentlessly pursuing him no matter where he fled. His narrative unfolded with descriptions of shooting, bombing and the kidnapping and murder of his friends. The students listened in stunned silence as Kapah detailed the events of Oct. 7, a day etched in...
(JNS) - The mayors of cities in Massachusetts, South Carolina and Oregon returned last week from a four-day visit to Israel, where they met with political officials, business leaders, academics and regional experts. The three U.S. municipal leaders-Jon Mitchell, the mayor of New Bedford, Mass.; Daniel Rickman, mayor of Columbia, S.C.; and Travis Stovall, mayor of Gresham, Ore.-also spoke with released hostages, their families and those working to see the return of the rest of the captives still...
