Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

(JTA) — Police in Orange County, Florida, arrested three men accused of violence and theft during a neo-Nazi rally in Orlando that made national headlines. Local media identified the men as Joshua Terrell, 46; Jason Brown, 47; and Burt Colucci, 4...

(JTA) — Emma Saltzberg knew she might invite criticism by competing on “Jeopardy!” From her years of experience in progressive Jewish groups, including IfNotNow, a group founded in 2014 to galvanize American Jews to oppose Israel’s occupat...

(JNS) — The Biden administration’s nominee Deborah Lipstadt to lead the U.S. State Department’s office that monitors and combats antisemitism appeared in the Senate on Tuesday for her confirmation. Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Commit...

Are you from Central Florida and want to know more about your Jewish roots? Are you trying to understand how Judaism can fit into your own life and provide meaning everyday? Are you interested in being a part of a Jewish family that is having fun...

(JTA) — A Jewish woman in Chattanooga, Tennessee, says her child was taught “how to torture a Jew” in a public school Bible class. The woman, Juniper Russo, wrote about the incident in a Facebook post that is no longer public. In it, she alleg...

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — New York City saw nearly three times as many antisemitic hate crimes in January 2022 compared to the same period a year ago, prompting concern from local lawmakers. City Council member Julie Menin, who represents t...

(JNS) — The blowback over a biased report by Amnesty International on Israel continues nearly a week after its release as 469 organizations and more than 4,000 individuals signed a strongly-worded letter on Monday urging U.N. Secretary-General A...

U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) paid $170,000 to a political consultant who has repeatedly called Israel an apartheid state, Fox News reported on Tuesday. According to Fox, since March 2020, Tlaib’s re-election campaign has paid $...

(JNS) — It hasn’t been a good year for school boards. In the last 12 months, many of the local bodies that govern public schools have been taking a beating over policies dealing with the COVID pandemic that many parents believe are hurting their chi...

As I was checking out of the grocery store on Friday morning and thanking a Palestinian Arab worker for helping to bag my groceries so efficiently and quickly, then wishing him and the Palestinian Arab cashier a Shabbat Shalom, I was pulled aside by...

In the Feb. 4, 2022, issue of Heritage, the upcoming meeting with Anti-Defamation League Southern Division Senior Associate Director Eric Ross was announced. I, as the editor, saw it as an opportunity to bring attention to many changes in the organiz...

MORNING MINYANS (Please note, because of the coronavirus, some minyans have been canceled or held virtually.) Chabad of North Orlando and Chabad of Altamonte Springs are holding in-person minyans. Chabad of South Orlando — Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. and...

(JTA) — Tinder says it has banned Shimon Hayut and all of his known aliases. But it’s hard to imagine anyone swiping right on the Israeli who masqueraded as a son of the Russian-Israeli diamond dealer Lev Leviev while allegedly defrauding women he...

(JNS) — Yet again, those who wanted to learn about Maus had to leapfrog obstacles. This time, it wasn’t the limitations of parental consent. It was the limitations of technology. More than 10,000 viewers flooded into an online discussion with Pul...

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Five Orthodox Jewish New Yorkers have joined a suit challenging the city’s vaccine requirements for indoor spaces. Two of the plaintiffs are rabbis at yeshivas. The suit, filed Feb. 7 in New York, challenges the “Ke...

(JNS) — The Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum sent a request on Jan. 16 under Israel’s Freedom of Information Act to Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, asking for information and details on his agreement to transfer hundreds of millions of she...

Richard Earl Gardner, age 75, of Apopka, Fla., passed away on Friday, Febr. 4, 2022. Richard was born to Harry and Mildred Gardner on April 15, 1946, in Newark, N.J. He served in the United States Marine Corps until he was honorably discharged in...

Thought nonbinary gender was a modern concept? Think again. The ancient Jewish understanding of gender was far more nuanced than many assume. The Talmud, a huge and authoritative compendium of Jewish legal traditions, contains in fact no less than...