Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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WASHINGTON (JTA)—Poland is a stalwart American ally in Europe, a bulwark against an increasingly belligerent Russia and, with the recent opening of a major new Warsaw museum, is enjoying a flush of accolades for its belated embrace of its Jewish roots. But there’s a thorn in the bouquet: Poland is seen as having the world’s worst record on the restitution of Jewish property lost during the Holocaust. Officials of Jewish groups seeking restitution say they will be making a renewed push to put t...
Current parents of Jewish Academy of Orlando, as well as alumni families, members of the board of directors, teachers, colleagues and members of the community joined together May 19 at the Winter Park Racquet Club to honor Lynne Shefsky, the institution’s head of school. In June, Shefsky will be retiring after a 16-year tenure at Orlando’s only K-8th grade Jewish day school. Eight of those years were spent as the head of school, where making sure that every Jewish child who wanted to attend the...
Bordering the attention-grabbing countries of Israel, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Jordan is sometimes overlooked by the media and by policy experts because of its peace with Israel, its close alliance with the United States, and its relatively liberal socio-economic system. Underneath this façade of stability, however, is a country plagued by a number of economic and social issues that threaten to plunge Jordan into the chaos of the “Arab Spring” upheavals. “If there is to be another countr...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Now that it’s clear that the top leaders of the Claims Conference were involved in investigating an anonymous accusation of restitution fraud in 2001, the question is who bears the responsibility for failing to detect that a broad fraud scheme was under way. The person at the center of the 2001 allegations, Semen Domnitser, turned out to be the ringleader of the $57 million fraud; he was found guilty at trial on May 8. For most of those who played a role in two botched probes in...
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), on June 4 is releasing his new book ‘Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet,’ co-written with attorney Christopher Wolf, a pioneer in Internet law. The book discusses how racists and anti-Semites are using the Internet to disseminate their hateful information and poses tough questions about the responsibility of the public to fight against this phenomenon in the U.S., whose laws highly protect free speech. Fox...
As the siren began to wail, the children ran quietly down the steps of the Science and Technology Elementary School in Pisgat Zeev, a northern suburb of Jerusalem built on post-1967 land. They sat on the floor in the four classrooms in the basement, all outfitted as bomb shelters. The air quickly became stuffy in the windowless rooms. The teachers handed out crayons and pages to color, which most kids ignored. A few read books while others played cards. Some of the youngest students, sitting on the floor, looked scared. One little boy was...
By Dan Pine j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California As a professor of Jewish religion, Steve Weitzman studies the lives of biblical figures from Abraham to Zipporah. Now, thanks to his collaboration with genetics researcher Noah Rosenberg, he may be able to examine their DNA as well. The two Stanford University professors teamed up last semester to offer a course they called “From Generation to Generation: The Genetics of Jewish Populations.” The San Francisco-based Koret Fou...
Every spring brings new holidays and for the Jewish Pavilion it means visiting with wonderful, aging Jewish residents, now living in a nursing care facility. “One beautiful morning I had the pleasure of meeting Laura Fischer,” relates Jewish Pavilion program director Melanie Baxt, who was visiting The Parks Health and Rehabilitation Center in Orlando. “I pulled up a chair and we began to talk. She showed me a picture of her new grandson, Jacob, only 10 days old. After reciting the Shabbat praye...
Heritage Florida Jewish News is accepting nominations for the 2013 Heritage Human Service Award, which will be presented in August at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. “For more than 25 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,” says Jeff Gaeser, editor and publisher of the Heritage. Last year’s recipient was Dr. Zena Sulkes. The Heritage is accep...
Estate planners, accountants and bankers will have the opportunity to network with other wealth management professionals at a private party in Longwood hosted by Jewish Pavilion Board member Barbara Coenson, (Coenson Law), from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, June 9. Spouses and significant others are welcome. Participants will be invited to join an advisory board. To obtain an invitation, contact Nancy Ludin, executive director at the Jewish Pavilion at nancyludin@jewishpavilion.org or call...
All good things must come to end. Thankfully the monthly musicals at Horizon Bay Boston Avenue will return in September. What a wonderful “season” it had been with some of the most wonderful entertainers. Not only did the talent bring such joy to the residents on Sunday afternoons, but what made it more meaningful was that these artists showed such passion within their music. Stewart Bloom, one of the entertainers as well as a monthly volunteer with his family, says, “My performance was heart...
My Aunt Rita Levy died last week. Of all the siblings in her family, she was perhaps the least well known. Her sister Dorothy (Dottie) Morrell was considered the gatekeeper to the Orlando Jewish Community for many years, greeting and introducing new residents to those who lived here, and the cultural series at the Jewish Community Center was named after her. Sister Florence (Flossie) founded the Neighborhood Law Center in Orlando that served the poor and indigent for many years. Bea Ettinger...
Roman Blum died a few weeks ago. He was 92, and he wasn’t well. He died a very rich man. According to estimates from his accountant and lawyer, somewhere in the area of 40 million dollars. A nice area. Roman Blum left no family. His wife died a few years ago. Roman Blum was a Holocaust survivor. He said he was from Warsaw, but the few records found about his early life say he was from Chelm. Those of you who know Yiddish folk tales will appreciate why Roman Blum did not want to be known as someone from Chelm. According to what records are a...
“Of making many lists there is no end, and much blogging wearies the eyeballs.” Ecclesiastes doesn’t say that, exactly—but might have had the author lived to see the proliferation of lists ranking the most influential rabbis and other Jews. The latest entry in an increasingly crowded market is the Jerusalem Post’s “50 Most Influential Jews.” According to the newspaper, its honorees have “a proven record of incredible political, social, and cultural influence on the Jewish world and the world at large.” Its top 10 includes a mix of Israeli po...
If ever there was a time to come together as Jews, it is now. Either we learn from history and survive, or we ignore it, and suffer the consequences. With rising anti-Semitism around the world, which is often disguised, as anti Zionism, we must be proactive as a community. What should we do? I am far from being an expert, but I do have a few observations to offer. First of all, we need to let go of the labels that divide us. It does not matter what stream of Judaism we identify with, what synagogue we do or don’t attend, or if we are s...
(JTA)—Throughout our four years in college, Hillel has been our home on campus. We have been involved extensively, with one of us serving as president on campus and on the Hillel international board. While we both found in Hillel a supportive community, when it came to our relationship to Israel, Hillel was not always so welcoming. One of us often avoided expressing political views in Hillel board meetings for fear of losing credibility. The other openly expressed her political views, which was met at times with harsh criticism. We both r...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—What could Goebbels have done with 140 characters? The question, disturbing as it might sound, can no longer be approached only as theoretical. As the arch-propagandist of Nazism, Joseph Goebbels spread the demonic messages of his Fuehrer via the written word, mass demonstrations, radio and film. He used those avenues to near perfection, promoting what perhaps was the most evil publicity campaign in the history of humankind. Some eight decades later, the tools are different but the motivations are the same. In the place of v...
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 a.m.; Sunday, 8 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 31 Light Shabbat candles at 8:00...
Sean Penn speaks out for Brooklynite’s freedom Sean Penn’s social activism usually conjures images of the Academy Award-winning actor on a wind-rocked boat rescuing victims of some kind of natural disaster. But on May 20 he was in a congressional hearing room in Washington with a haredi Orthodox Jewish family from Brooklyn pushing for the freedom of a man who has been held for nearly two years on house arrest in Bolivia. Jacob Ostreicher, a haredi father of five, invested money in a rice-growing venture in the South American country and was...
TEL AVIV—Television characters from mob boss Tony Soprano to Liz Lemon on “30 Rock” suggest that power is a gateway to loneliness, corruption and unhappiness. But new findings from two Tel Aviv University researchers are challenging this perception. In a quest to discover whether power inevitably brings misery and emotional devastation, Ph.D. candidate Yona Kifer and her supervisor professor Daniel Heller of TAU’s Department of Organizational Behavior at the Faculty of Management have shown that power can actually make people happier. In thei...
Carl J. Lepon, of Longwood, passed away on Sunday, May 26, 2013. He was 88 years old. Mr. Lepon was born in Cleveland, Ohio on May 7, 1925 to the late Joseph and Gussie Schultz Lepon. He attended local area schools and joined the Army Air Force after graduation. Following his service in World War II, he returned to Cleveland, attended college for a time and began his career in the family’s retail furniture business. On May 11, 1952, in Cleveland, he married the former Patricia Sperber, his wife of over 59 years when she passed away in N...
Alan Litka of Orlando died on Saturday, May 18, 2013. He was 88 years old. An Orlando resident since 1953, he was born in Cincinnati on April 19, 1925, to the late Max and Jennie Vagranasky Litka. Upon graduating high school, Mr. Litka enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific theater during WWII. After the war, he returned to the United States and married the former Selma Segal, his wife of 62 years, who predeceased him in October 2008. Mr. Litka was in the auto repair business for many years both up North and in the Orlando area. Mr. Lit...
Dr. Charles H. Silver of Longwood, Fla., died on Friday, May 17, 2013. He was 68 years old. A New York native, he was born on July 26, 1944, to the late Max and Ruth Schweitzer Silver. Dr. Silver was a school psychologist working for many years with the BOCES program in New York—a program developed in 1948 to provide shared educational programs and services to school districts throughout the state. In 2007, Dr. Silver and his wife, Sherry, who passed away in 2008, after more than 43 years of marriage, moved to the Orlando area from Dix H...
Haredi draft debate spurs Lapid threat to bring down government JERUSALEM (JTA)—Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid threatened to bring down the Israeli government if a bill requiring the enlistment of haredi Orthodox men does not include imprisonment for avoiding conscription. Lapid, who serves as finance minister, made the threat on Monday during a party meeting following marathon talks the previous night of the Peri Committee, also known as the Knesset Committee for Promoting Equal Share of the B...
Lauren Michelle Herwitz, daughter of Lisa and Lawrence Herwitz of Casselberry, will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah on Saturday, June 8 at Congregation Beth Am. Lauren just finished the seventh grade at South Seminole Middle School, where she played flute in the band and was the graphic designer for the yearbook. Her main passion in life is dancing. She has been dancing for the last six years and especially likes competing. Sharing in the family’s simcha are her grandparents from New Y...
