Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Eight people were burned in Boulder, Colorado, in a firebombing attack on a demonstration to draw attention to the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. At least one of the victims, who ranged from 55 to 88, was critically injured, according to authorities. Police arrested one man at the scene. The FBI identified him as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, and said he had used a “makeshift flamethrower” in the attack, which the agency said it was investigating as an act of terrorism. Soliman yelle...
Stan Rubins, Shalom Orlando Board chairman, shared with the “Shalom Orlando community” through email the following: After helping guide Shalom Orlando through an important leadership transition, Executive Director Rachel Greenspan will conclude her time in this role later this year. I’m very proud to say Shalom Orlando is on a path of positive growth and success, and we appreciate all of Rachel’s contributions. We wish her the very best. With the support of our full Board of Directors and a dedicated Search Committee, I’ll be leading a compreh...
Stan Rubins, Chair of the Shalom Orlando Board of Directors, recently introduced the Shalom Orlando 2030 Strategic Plan to the community at large, but he's quick to point out the plan isn't just for the community, it was created by the community, itself. "This isn't my plan, and it's not even Shalom Orlando's plan," said Rubins. "This is your Strategic Plan. The people of this community told us loud and clear what they want the Central Florida Jewish community to look like five years from now....
A special time of global prayer for Israel will be Saturday, June 7, 2025 at 9 p.m. Israel time; 8 p.m. S. Africa & Central Europe; 7 p.m. UK; 2 p.m. Eastern and 11 a.m. Pacific U.S. time. After over 600 days of war since the October 7 Hamas massacre, with concerns of imposing a ceasefire on Israel without all the hostages released, near daily missile attacks on Israel from the Houthis, and a deal being negotiated with Iran that may leave its ability to create a nuclear weapon intact, it’s essential that we unite urgently, globally, to pray t...
Maitland, FL – Congregation Ohev Shalom is honored to host a unique musical experience, Concerts for Peace, featuring the Orlando Symphony Orchestra and internationally acclaimed baritone Lawrence Craig. This intimate performance is open to the community, and will take place on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at 7 p.m. at Ohev Shalom, located at 613 Concourse Parkway South, Maitland, FL. Under the direction of Music Director David Handel, the Orlando Symphony Orchestra will present a thoughtfully c...
The Zionist Organization of America and The United West will present "From the IDF to the US campus: Between Two Worlds," with guest speaker Guy Finkelstein on Sunday, June 29, 4 p.m., at Decision Tactical, 430 Towne Center Cir., Sanford, Fl. At the start of the Oct. 7 attack, Guy Finklestein, 26, from Lehavim, Israel, was a Division 1 NCAA tennis player in Indiana. As the IDF entered Gaza, he made the life-changing decision to leave his team and return to Israel to serve. For months, he fought...
As our loved ones age, mealtimes can become more frustrating and difficult. It is important to ensure our loved ones receive proper nutrition, maintain their health, and preserve their quality of life. As people age, they may face challenges like difficulty chewing or swallowing, loss of appetite, changes in taste or smell, or physical limitations that make eating difficult. If not managed properly, these issues can lead to malnutrition, weight loss, dehydration, and increased vulnerability to illness or cognitive decline. To make mealtimes...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — The celebration of Jerusalem Day highlighted a profound religious controversy dividing Israel’s Orthodox establishment, with influential rabbis publicly questioning whether Jews should continue the traditional practice of praying at the Western Wall, or embrace the more contentious path of ascending the Temple Mount for worship. Monday’s Jerusalem Day observances, commemorating Jerusalem’s liberation, traditionally draw religious Zionist groups to the capital in celebration of the city’s reunification and restored acces...
(JTA) — Israel is embarking on the largest expansion of Judean and Samarian settlements in decades, its finance minister announced Thursday, a step meant to reinforce Israeli control of the territory. Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right minister who holds authority over civilian affairs in Israel’s settlements, announced the establishment of 22 settlements in Judea and Samaria. Some are existing outposts that the Israeli government considered illegal but will now authorize. Others will be new towns. Smotrich called the announcement a “once-in-a-gener...
(JNS) — The infant son of Tzeela Gez, who was critically injured in the same terror attack that claimed his mother’s life, died at Schneider Children’s Medical Center on Thursday morning after two weeks of intensive medical efforts to save him. The tragedy began two weeks ago when Tzeela and her husband, Hananel Gez, were driving from their home in the Samarian community of Bruchin to the hospital for the birth of their child. En route, a terrorist opened fire on their vehicle. Tzeela was fatally shot, and medics attempted extensive resus...
(JNS) — Please see details of the proposal on this website. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel has accepted U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff’s hostage release proposal. However, Hamas says the plan is biased in favor of Israel and demands changes. Speaking to bereaved families of hostages, Netanyahu said Israel has agreed to a plan that would release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 deceased captives during a 60-day ceasefire. However, Witkoff confirmed Saturday night that Hamas has effectively rejected the...
(JNS) — In C.S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the Pevensie children are evacuated from London to a home in the English countryside to escape the Blitz. There, they discover a wardrobe that contains a portal into the magical and fictitious world of Narnia, a land where animals talk and there is no ambiguity between good and evil. In the end, the Christ-like figure of Aslan the Lion and his army, with the help of the children, defeat the evil White Witch who has brought perpetual winter to Narnia. Last week, evil passed through...
It’s taken a few days for the West to wake up and realize the significance of strikes that are taking place and widening throughout Iran, and to report on these. What’s needed now is for Western leaders to take action that capitalizes on these strikes and empowers the Iranian people to replace the evil Islamic Republic regime which has threatened them and the world, causing immeasurable pain, suffering, trauma, and death for nearly five decades. Massive national strikes are taking place specifically among truck drivers and bakers, so far, thing...
(JNS) — This has not been a good week for the State of Israel or the Jewish people. Sarah Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, two young, promising members of the staff of the Israeli embassy, were brutally murdered as they were leaving a reception at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. This sort of abominable antisemitic atrocity is what occurs when America’s young people are constantly indoctrinated by academics of the “woke” far left and the highly biased left-wing media. Our educational institutions have been fortified by imme...
(JNS) — Why is Palestine still not an independent state? The conventional answer normally begins and ends with Israel and its “occupation,” presumably denying Palestinians their lands and their right to self-determination. Columbia University professor and Palestinian American Edward Said’s famous words that Zionism should be judged from the standpoint of its victims continues to possess cultural authority even if they contradict the historical record. Zionism always endorsed a policy built around the idea of sharing the land. For almost...
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 alleged attacker in Sunday’s firebombing of a pro-Israel vigil in Boulder, Colo., overstayed his visa and was subsequently granted a work permit by the Biden administration, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller said on Monday. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian national, is accused of setting elderly demonstrators on fire during a peaceful “Run for Their Lives” walk calling for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Eight people were wounded in the attack, which Colorado officia...
(JNS) - "I dream of seeing both of my sons coming through the door," Silvia Cunio, a survivor of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Kibbutz Nir Oz and the mother of Hamas hostages David, 35, and Ariel Cunio, 27, told JNS on Friday. On Oct. 7, Hamas attacked Cunio's house along with the residences of her four sons. David and Ariel were taken captive by the terrorist group and have remained in Gaza ever since. The Cunio family marked David's second birthday in captivity last Wednesday. "It's very...
There's an endearing scene in the film "Throw Momma from the Train." Owen (Danny DeVito) shows his coin collection to Larry (Billy Crystal ). These are not rare coins with great monetary value. But Owen cherishes them. They are all part of the leftover change from shared experiences with his father. Starting with a nickel, Owens identifies each coin. "This one I got in change when I bought a hotdog at the circus. My daddy always let me keep the change." I had my own coin experience when I was...
(JNS) — An extraordinary moment unfolded the evening of May 26 in Washington when Gene Simmons, the 75-year-old frontman for legendary rock band KISS, encountered Harold “Hal” Urban, a 100-year-old World War II veteran who participated in the liberation of the concentration camp where Simmons’ mother was imprisoned as a teenager. Urban’s memories of liberating Mauthausen remain vivid and traumatic even at age 100. He described the overwhelming stench of burning human remains, emaciated prisoners stumbling in confusion and terror and the psych...
(JNS) — U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff’s latest ceasefire proposal for the Israel-Hamas war includes the two-stage release of 10 living hostages and 18 bodies, in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire aimed at facilitating negotiations to end the war, according to a report on Thursday. On the first day, five living hostages and nine deceased hostages would be released, followed by five more living hostages and nine deceased on the seventh day, according to an Israeli source cited by Israel’s Channel 12 News. The proposal, which...
(JNS) — In today’s volatile world, with the Middle East undergoing significant change, Meta (formerly Facebook) has a Supreme Court-like body that determines content on Facebook and Instagram, comprising 21 people on an independent board that even Mark Zuckerberg (its founder, chairman and CEO) cannot fire. The so-called Oversight Board comprises many Jew-hating non-Americans who decided recently that calling “From the River to the Sea” “antisemitic is either inaccurate or rooted in Islamophobia.” The Oversight Board has ruled that it is okay...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Art Garfunkel from the legendary musical duo Simon and Garfunkel delivered a performance for the ages at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park on Thursday evening as a guest of Israeli rocker Aviv Geffen, marking the first visit by a major international artist to Israel since the war erupted almost 19 months ago. “I am happy to be here in Israel,” the 83-year-old performer told tens of thousands of audience members who greeted him with enthusiastic cheers. Performing alongside his son Art Garfunkel Jr. and Geffen, he delivered several...
(JNS) - At the 2023 Palestine Book Awards ceremony, the winner of the "Counter Current Award" category was the volume "Imagining Palestine," which concerns itself with a topic referred to as "cultures of exile and national identity." Oddly enough, it has a very Jewish ring to it. The book highlights that "all national identities are somewhat fluid, held together by collective beliefs and practices as much as official territory and borders" and that "the articulation and 'imagination' of...
