Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 31
(Israel21c via JNS) - India and Israel seem like a study in contrasts. Some 1.4 billion Indians live in a vast country stretching nearly 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) across at its widest point, while 8.9 million Israelis live in a tiny land no more than 135 kilometers (85 miles) wide. Yet they are bound together by surprising commonalities. For starters, they nearly share a birthday. India gained independence from Great Britain in August 1947 and Israel in May 1948. And each has a proud...
(JNS) - American Jewish organizations are divided in their reception of the new White House press secretary who has a history of taking anti-Israel positions. U.S. President Joe Biden nominated Karine Jean-Pierre, a Haitian American who currently serves as principal deputy press secretary, to be the first Black and LGBTQ person to hold the position. Jean-Pierre is slated to take over for outgoing White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday, though some Jewish organizations are pushing back...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - Antisemitism is often not taken seriously until it becomes deadly, said Deborah Lipstadt, the Holocaust scholar whose nomination to be the State Department's antisemitism monitor was delayed as she tangled with Republican senators who were peeved at her criticisms of their side of the aisle. Lipstadt chose the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum for her first talk Thursday since her Senate confirmation in March after contentious hearings. She made good on her pledges to skeptical...
(JNS) - A fire ripped through Chabad-Lubavitch of the Panhandle, in Tallahassee, Fla., gutting the newly renovated building and consuming the Torah scrolls. The Tallahassee Fire Department confirmed that firefighters were dispatched to the Chabad center at 3:21 a.m. on Sunday. "Crews found fire showing and heavy smoke coming from the eaves," the fire department wrote in a statement. The cause of the fire, which ravaged the 11,000-square-foot building, is under investigation. No injuries were...
There will be a joint venture between the Jewish Chamber of Commerce and the Pride Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, July 6, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. This is a networking Happy Hour will be held at Watercrest Senior Living, 1501 Glendon Parkway, Winter Park, Florida 32789. The party will be held 'alfresco' (dining in the fresh air) in the dining/pool side area, with a contingency plan for moving inside if there is rain in the forecast. "Watercrest Senior Living is a gorgeous, well-run, luxury...
Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando is proud to announce that its Restock & Rebuild Challenge raised over $63,000, which is nearly double the amount raised in their 2021 campaign. This year during the Challenge, which ran from March 15th through April 30th, the community’s donations made twice the impact for those in need thanks to The Weiner Family and The Winter Park Wealth Group, who generously matched donations dollar for dollar. The funds raised will help JFS Orlando continue to meet the increasing needs of the community now and in t...
Don't feel guilty to set work boundaries. Practicing professional self-care might look like taking time for lunch breaks, only answering phone calls and emails during work hours, or letting your boss and co-workers know that when you spend time away from work, you need to be away from work. This helps you recharge and get the energy you need so you can focus and do your best when you're back. These practices might seem small, but making little tweaks like these can make a big difference on your...
Heritage Florida Jewish News is accepting nominations for the 2021 Heritage Human Service Award, which will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando this summer. “For more than 30 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, time, energy and effort to the Central Florida community have been honored with the selection and presentation of this award,” said Jeff Gaeser, editor and publisher of the Heritage. Last year’s recipient was Hank Katzen. Former recipients have inclu...
(JTA) – The Harvard Crimson’s recent endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement has attracted far more wide-ranging attention than a typical student paper’s editorial page, as faculty and alumni of the Ivy League institution have lined up to denounce the student paper’s op-ed and condemn the shift in Israel discussion on college campuses. In an open letter, more than 100 Harvard faculty members objected to the paper endorsing an academic and financial boycott of the state of Israel, including the school’s former president...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration is setting the stage to hand ultimate control of America’s health care system and U.S. national sovereignty over to the World Health Organization. On May 22-28, 2022, the 75th World Health Assembly will convene at United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, with delegates from 194 nations, to vote on the Biden administration’s amendments that will hand over national sovereignty and authority to the WHO, which during the COVID pandemic, carried the water bucket for the Chinese Communist Party...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Three-quarters of Arab Israelis believe Jews have no right to sovereignty in the country, according to a recent study by Israeli NGO Habithonistim–Protectors of Israel. When asked where their loyalties would lie in case of an existential battle between Israel and Arab states, 26 percent of Arab Israelis said they would support the Jewish state, 23 percent said they would back Israel’s enemies and 51 percent said they would remain neutral. The survey, which focused on Israeli’s sense of security and governance, had a s...
(JNS) — The job of defenders of democracy would be easier if opponents of free speech never sought to disguise their efforts by portraying their goal as the preservation of the very ideals that they are suborning. It’s a lot harder to recognize the nature of the threat when those who seek to silence dissent say they are doing it for our own good because those guilty of wrongthink are bad people. It’s even worse when a group whose mission is to fight anti-Semitism, like the Anti-Defamation League, joins in this effort. And it creates a genui...
(JTA) — Last week, Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz responded to the draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, “A woman’s rights over her own body are hers alone.” It might seem odd that the Israeli health minister was commenting on American abortion law, but his response, contained in a tweet, addresses a theme common to the abortion discussion in Israel and America that I research as an ethicist and scholar of reproduction among Jews. In the 1970s, the Israeli Knesset debated the legalization of abortio...
(JNS) — Who in the Middle East has not been traumatized by the upheavals of the last century? All of us celebrate the history of our families and treasure the places where we have lived, yet only the Palestinian leadership has weaponized the memory of displacement and transformed it into an ideology of genocide. “Nakba Day,” which occurs every year on May 15, was established in 1998 by former Palestinian Authority leader and international terrorist mastermind Yasser Arafat to turn Israel’s Independence Day into a festival of grievance. The ver...
The United States was founded by deeply religious Christians, and its tradition is rooted in what’s known as Judeo-Christian values. Other countries also are founded on, and embrace, biblical values as well. It should go without saying that Israel, as the Jewish state, was re-established on biblical Jewish tradition that is played out in almost every aspect of Israeli society. When soldiers are inducted into the IDF they are given a Bible. Shabbat is not just the cornerstone of the weekend, it’s a weekly affirmation of God’s creation and the n...
(CAMERA via JNS) — On April 30, MSNBC host Ali Velshi delivered a lengthy rant against the Jewish state that was as dishonest as it was rabid. The monologue was riddled with false statements and exaggerations that betray Velshi’s willingness to twist the facts to fit his preferred narrative. During the segment, Velshi claimed: “The map of the Palestinian Authority, sometimes described as Swiss cheese, has been carved up by Israel over the past century.” The P.A. did not exist until 1994, a mere 28 years ago, so the reference to the “past c...
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 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. Congr...
(JTA) – Some of the biggest Jewish names on Broadway weren't shining so bright in this year's Tony nominations. The much-anticipated revival of "Funny Girl," with Beanie Feldstein in the Barbra Streisand role as pioneering Jewish comedienne Fanny Brice, came up almost empty-handed, despite Feldstein's star status and the fact that the book was revised and updated by stage and screen legend Harvey Fierstein. The show received only one nomination in total, for featured actor Jared Grimes, l...
The “evil eye,” ayin ha’ra in Hebrew, is the idea that a person or supernatural being can bewitch or harm an individual merely by looking at them. The belief is not only a Jewish folk superstition but also is addressed in some rabbinic texts. The term is also sometimes used to describe evil inclinations or feelings of envy. In several pieces of Midrash, rabbis suggest that the evil eye played a role in various incidents in the Torah. For example, they say that Sarah cast an evil eye on Hagar while Hagar was pregnant, causing her to miscarry bef...
(JTA) – Israel has granted a temporary residency to American basketball player Jared Armstrong, ending for now a months-long saga of multiple rejections, accusations of racism and petitions by influential people including an American investor and a rabbi with close ties to President Joe Biden. Israel’s Interior Ministry, which handles citizenship applications, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency of its decision Sunday, three weeks after Armstrong’s tourist visa expired and one week after the ministry announced it would be granting citizenship to...
While most seniors prefer to stay in their own homes as long as possible, official records show that home injuries are the biggest reason for adult hospitalization, especially for women. These staggering numbers are contributed to by household chores such as cooking, tinkering and cleaning. It goes without saying that the elderly are a bigger risk because of their frail health. One fall could be fatal for them, which is why they should be extra careful when doing chores. Hiring a home companion...
Wow! May 20 was my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday in Heaven, Mom. I love you and always will! Do you believe these names?... Remember Eppie Lederer? (Of course you do!) Esther Pauline "Eppie" Lederer might have been known to you by her pen name, Ann Landers. AHA! See I told you! Ann was born on the 4th of July in Sioux City, Iowa. She was a super-famous newspaper advice columnist and Jewish, of course! (Okay, so I don't give advice, but I'm Jewish too!) Ann Landers was a pen name created by...
(New York Jewish Week) — A group of Orthodox Jews are demanding an apology from Lufthansa airlines after they were expelled from a flight from New York to Budapest last Tuesday. The travelers say all of the identifiably Orthodox Jews were prevented from boarding a connecting flight in Frankfurt, Germany because a group of passengers had allegedly not complied with the German national carrier’s mask regulations on the first leg of the flight. In a video taken by a passenger, a Lufthansa supervisor is seen saying that “everyone has to pay for a c...
The German airline Lufthansa has apologized for an incident last week in which more than 100 Orthodox Jews traveling in separate groups were collectively prevented from boarding a connecting flight in Frankfurt, following a dispute over masking regulations on the first leg of the journey from New York. However, Lufthansa could still face legal consequences after a prominent advocate for the Jewish community accused the airline of violating German laws on equal treatment. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Lufthansa offered an apology “to all t...
(JTA) - In a purge following accusations that textbook publishers were trying to "indoctrinate" students in allegedly liberal concepts, Florida rejected dozens of math books from being used in the state's schools. One of them contained a string of Jewish jokes - including one that a conservative activist flagged as antisemitic: "Why do Jewish divorces cost so much? Because they're worth it." The joke is attributed to Henny Youngman, the late Jewish comedian, and was included in the book...
