Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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On Sunday, April 6, nearly 90 Jewish teenagers arrived to the Roth Jewish Community Center in Maitland to participate in a day of community service called J-Serve, an International Day of Jewish Youth Service. Since 2005, J-Serve has been a part of Youth Service America's Global Youth Service Day weekend. Orlando's J-Serve, titled "The Ripple Effect" was one of over 100 international projects in which sixth- through 12th-grade teens explored Jewish values of gemilut chasidim, acts of loving...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The best move for the Obama administration on the Middle East peace front may be to take a few steps back. That's what some observers are advising in the wake of the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The Palestinian unity talks mean that President Obama and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have little choice but to take a wait-and-see approach, according to the Israeli and American experts interviewed by JTA. "The time has to be taken to see if the Fatah and Hamas...
In what many observers will see as the de facto expression of mainstream U.S. Jewry's outlook on J Street, members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations voted 22-17 (with three abstentions) to reject the membership application of the self-labeled "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby. J Street secured the votes of only about a third of the Conference's 50 members. The 42 Conference members in attendance in New York exceeded the 75-percent quorum needed to hold the vote,...
LOS ANGELES - Jay Leno, the legendary former Tonight Show host, will be the official emcee at a star-studded event where former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be honored as the inaugural Genesis Prize laureate. Leno will host the May 22 ceremony at the Jerusalem Theater in Jerusalem, where more than 400 international dignitaries will be in attendance including Nobel laureates, world's leading philanthropists and global business leaders. Grammy award-winning pianist Evgeny Kissin, a...
JERUSALEM (JTA) - Nine months of negotiations were supposed to propel Israelis and Palestinians into a future of peace. Instead, the collapse of talks is threatening to make the future look much like the past. Israel's decision last week to suspend negotiations - a day after the signing of a reconciliation between the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas - has prompted both sides to resort to their old ways. For the Palestinians, that means focusing on...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A pox on both your houses, but when you want a cure, we’re still here. That’s the message the Obama administration is sending Israel and the Palestinians amid the deepening crisis in peace efforts. “What we haven’t seen is, frankly, the kind of political will to actually make tough decisions. And that’s been true on both sides,” Obama said Friday from South Korea. The president’s remarks followed Israel’s suspension of talks last week in response to a governance deal between the Palestine Liberation Organization and...
(ALGEMEINER) A rabbi extracted an apology from anti-Semites on bikes who verbally assaulted him as he was walking to shul in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Rabbi Michy Rav-Noy wrote on Facebook that the lesson was, “Jews! Stand up for yourselves!” The “main point” of his story, the rabbi said, was “showing them we won’t put up with it and having them apologize.” At 9:15 a.m., the rabbi was walking to synagogue when two men on bicycles screamed, “There goes a Jew! Look at that Jew!” Rabbi Rav-Noy said, “I yelled right back at them, ‘Come here now and...
recently joined a grief support group offered by the Jewish Pavilion in conjunction with VITAS Innovative Hospice Care and held at Chambrel at Island Lake, a Brookdale Senior Living community. While my beloved mother passed away 18 years ago, my dear father died only last September. But with the recent loss of my father, I now felt like a heartbroken orphan. Swept up in my grief, I decided to seek help. My admiration for Nancy Ludin, executive director of the Jewish Pavilion, and this...
On Friday, May 16, from 7p.m. to 9 p.m., Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 1515 South Semoran Blvd, Orlando, FL 32807, an expert international panel will discuss Christian persecution around the world. The co-organizers of the event are Bruce Lieske and Alan Kornman. “As a Jew I believe in the concept of tikun olam, to repair the world, which is the foundation of Judaism. Right now the Christians are being persecuted and it is incumbent upon the Jews to be the voices of conscience for Christians in their time of need, because it is the right t...
Congregation Beth Sholom of Leesburg invites the public to join Rabbi Karen Allen for Friday evening service on May 9 at 7 p.m. This service will include special readings for Yom HaAtzma’ut, Israeli Independence Day. Following the service, there will be coffee and refreshments at the Oneg Shabbat. Guests are encouraged to stay and enjoy the warmth and friendship of “The Synagogue That Feels like Family.” Congregation Beth Sholom is located at 315 North 13th Street in Leesburg, with the entrance on Center Street. For more information, visit...
When the taped conversation between Donald Sterling, billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and his friend/girlfriend/mistress V. Stiviano was leaked recently, a righteous uproar rose from National Basketball Association players, coaches, owners, media, down to people on the street, who rightly denounced his racist epithets against African Americans. Even though the released conversation was supposedly only a snippet of more than an hour of talk between the two, it contained statements...
As soon as an African American student at San Jose State University who was racially harassed and bullied by his dormitory roommates came forward, university, county, and state officials began an investigation. Within days, prosecutors labeled it a hate crime, battery charges were filed against three of the roommates, and the university had suspended them. Within weeks, California State Assembly Speaker John Perez announced the creation of a Select Committee on Campus Climate, and its first task was to look into this incident and find a way to...
Palestinians of Hamas Gaza and Fatah West Bank have announced the end of their dispute. They claim it gives them added strength to deal with Israel. Bibi is claiming that it provides the exit from the peace process. At least temporarily, the U.S. is siding with Israel in accepting a suspension of meetings between negotiators. The critical questions are: How pragmatic is Hamas? And can Israel or the U.S. negotiate with certified terrorists? Israel has negotiated with Hamas, as well as with Hezbollah, but only on limited issues with respect to...
Ed Ziegler’s April 18th column, “Islamic enclaves in America,” is, in my opinion, an attempt to create monsters out of us. The Judeophilic philosopher Frederic Nietzsche, who broke ties with Richard Wagner in large part over the opera composer’s German xenophobia and anti-Semitism, penned many proverbs and aphorisms, one of his most famous being “He who chases monsters lives in danger of becoming one.” By this, he means that if we compromise our own ethics and values in the fight against evil—for example, if we use torture to extract infor...
For the rest of his life Donald Sterling will be remembered for racist remarks even though they were made in private. Paula Deen and Cliven Bundy will also be remembered for their racist remarks, as will Don Imus. Imus made on air comments in 2007 about the Rutger’s women’s basketball team. Regardless of all the good any individual may have done in life it only takes one racist remark to dismantle an entire kingdom. I thought Joan Rivers really sounded stupid on April 22 when she appeared on the Today Show and compared staying in her dau...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — J Street wasn’t welcomed under the umbrella, but it hasn’t been left out alone in the rain. J Street’s failed effort to join the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations showed that many in the Jewish community still regard the dovish Israel policy group as beyond the pale. In a secret ballot Wednesday, 22 member groups of the Jewish community’s foreign policy umbrella body voted against admitting J Street, with 17 in favor, three abstentions and eight not present. At the same time, the membershi...
Dear Editor: I read with interest the column by Richard Ries about visiting various temples (April 4 issue) and wish to comment from a snowbird’s viewpoint. My husband and I are in Florida for only 2-3 months and our regular temple is up north. We cannot afford two memberships but do make small donations when we attend a temple function. We have needed to find a temple while in Florida and found that three have been great: Bet Chaim, which works well for us and is our first choice, for start time (8 p.m.), distance, and friendliness of the c...
Dear Editor: (Todah rabah—thank you) for running the piece about Hebrew language literacy (“American Jewry must reclaim Hebrew” – April 25, 2014). The author could also have written that learning Hebrew is fun! The article’s author asks, “how do we go about promoting Hebrew?” There are several Hebrew language learning opportunities in our community. Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation (SOJC) teaches Hebrew every fall, winter and spring as part of the adult lifelong learning programs (for more information call (407) 239-5444), and I bet oth...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 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., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, MAY 9 Light Shabbat...
PRAGUE—When the applause faded, the 32 young actors remained on stage in silence. Some of them hugged. They looked at each other, their faces filled with amazement and disbelief—the circle was complete. The Philadelphia-based troupe had brought the words of Terezín’s children back to where they came from. They had just given the first performance of “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” at the former concentration camp where the characters they portrayed had been held captive during the Holocaust. “This is where the kids that we are commemoratin...
On April 24, Waldflowers B'nai B'rith Girls (BBG) met at the Roth Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando for a night of Israeli food, friendship, and fun. Members kicked off the program by writing thank you letters to soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to show our appreciation for everything they do for our homeland. Using the organization Thank Israeli Soldiers, our letters will be distributed among different units in the IDF and all the soldiers will understand how grateful we...
Monday afternoons are a time of celebration, song, and snack at Savannah Court and Cove in Maitland. Residents of all faiths and backgrounds stroll, wheel, or ambulate into the main hall at 3 p.m. on the dot, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Jewish Pavilion volunteers, the force behind their weekly happy hour. On Monday, May 28, Savannah Court residents had an additional reason for celebration. A rabbi affixed a mezuzah to the doorpost with a moving ceremony, designating the facility as a...
Movies bring back torturous memories... While trolling for a station on TV, I stumbled upon an old movie, "Cast A Giant Shadow," that I had seen before, based on the true story of Colonel Mickey Marcus. David Daniel (Mickey) Marcus was a U.S. Army Colonel who assisted Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and who became Israel's first modern general (Aluf). He was killed by friendly fire, when he was mistaken for an enemy infiltrator while returning to his position in Israel one night. He...
(JTA) — A mayor from Brussels banned an event that Jewish groups have called a “summit meeting for anti-Semites.” Eric Tomas, the mayor of Anderlecht— one of 19 municipalities that make up the Brussels autonomous region of the federal Belgian state—on Sunday said he would ban the “European Congress of resistance,” saying it was a serious risk to public safety due to planned protests, the BBC reported. The event, which was scheduled for Sunday, was organized by Laurent Louis, a Belgian lawmaker with a record of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel s...
NEW YORK (JTA)-On Twitter, pro-Palestinian activists dubbed it "DivestApalooza." Student governments at three Southern California public universities all voted on divestment resolutions targeting Israel in a single day. The April 23 votes were part of a surge in student governments at American universities voting on divestment resolutions. In the past two years, at least 16 student governments have weighed divestment measures, including nine this spring, though a majority have rejected them....
