Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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It was the summer before ninth grade and I was invited to a BBG and AZA membership party at the home of the Behr family. The home was filled with other kids new to B’nai Brith, as well as members that we met and learned from about the opportunity to be part of this organization and its legacy. In the year that followed, I attended many meetings and learned everything I could about BBG (B’nai Brith Girls) and the boys group AZA. I also attended a couple of conventions in North Florida Council. These conventions confirmed that I had made the rig...
Fifty years after the original "Summer of Love" ushered in a counterculture revolution in America, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando is launching its own Summer of Love, though with a very different goal. Marking the final weeks of Federation's 2017 Annual Campaign, the Summer of Love launch on June 19 will kick off a full season of special programs and events for members of the Greater Orlando Jewish community. The kickoff week will be a busy one as Federation staff and volunteers show...
Florida Governor Rick Scott, joined by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and State Representative Randy Fine, visited Orlando Torah Academy on Tuesday to highlight his new bill providing security funding for Jewish schools throughout Florida. For the first time ever, the State of Florida, led by Governor Scott, will be providing $654,000 in funding for the security needs of Jewish schools throughout Florida. The money will be used to install security cameras, bulletproof glass, alarm systems and to...
JFS Orlando, the Winter Park-based nonprofit, human service agency, has collected over 7,500 pounds of food and over $18,000 in cash donations during its annual Pantry Restock Challenge. The Challenge ran for one month and the goal was to restock the Pearlman Emergency Food Pantry, which provides emergency food assistance to Central Florida families in need. The Weiner Family and Winter Park Wealth Group once again provided a generous $5,000 matching gift while the Fern Park Winn-Dixie and Personal Mini Storage donated collection bags and...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The year was 1981 and the director of AIPAC was calling for a "showdown" with the Reagan administration, saying "This country is being held hostage to the whims of the Saudis." At issue was the sale to Saudi Arabia of AWACS, aircraft with radar-enabled surveillance capabilities that at the time were state of the art. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, then helmed by Tom Dine, famously lost the battle but won the war: President Ronald Reagan got the necessary...
(JTA)-One of Israel's strongest condemnations of Donald Trump wasn't about the peace process. It didn't concern Trump's broken promise to relocate the U.S. embassy, or his reported leak of Israeli intelligence. It was about climate change. After President Trump announced the United States' withdrawal from the Paris accords, the landmark 2015 agreement to fight global warming, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz joined the chorus of international leaders criticizing his decision. "Even if...
In a stirring speech at Brandeis University's 66th Commencement on Sunday, May 21, Rosalie Silberman Abella, the first Jewish woman named to the Canadian Supreme Court, reminded graduates of the role they have to play in protecting those who are vulnerable in the world: "Remember the three lessons we were supposed to have learned from the concentration camps of Europe: Indifference is injustice's incubator; it's not just what you stand for, it's what you stand up for; and we can never forget...
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando is pleased to announce the fourth year of the Jewish Teen Education grant program and is now accepting grant requests for 2017-18 academic year. Federation’s JTEN (Jewish Teen Education Network) offers grants to synagogues and community agencies that provide Jewish educational opportunities for teenagers in Central Florida. JTEN also sponsors community-wide Teen Education Days and provides resources and networking opportunities for Jewish educators. The third year of JTEN grants yielded five s...
It is that time of year once again when Heritage Florida Jewish News is putting out feelers for one outstanding person in the Jewish community who has given his or her time or talent or monetary gifts to better the Orlando Jewish community. Nominations for the 2017 Heritage Human Service Award are now being accepted and the award will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, which will be held Aug. 27. “For more than 27 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, t...
Celebrate Shabbat with the synagogue that feels like family. Congregation Beth Sholom’s Shabbat evening service led by Rabbi Karen Allen is this evening, June 9th at 7 p.m. An Oneg Shabbat will follow the service. The Rabbi’s Torah Roundtable Discussion Group with Rabbi Karen Allen will be held on Thursday, June 15th at 1 p.m. at the Sumter County Administration and Library Building (with the golden dome) at 7375 Powell Rd. (near Pinellas Plaza and 466A), Wildwood. The Rabbi’s Roundtable series explores the current Torah Portion and and how it...
Kehillah, which is Hebrew for community, tells the vibrant story of the Jewish community’s past and present in the Orlando area. On Monday, June 26 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. at The Roth Family JCC, there will be a special showing of “All About the Kehillah Exhibit: Celebrating a Century of Jewish Life in Orlando,” a 60-minute behind-the-scenes look at the Kehillah exhibit, which opens on Nov. 12 at the Orange County Regional History Center in Downtown Orlando. Hear from Kehillah leadership and find out what it took to tell such an important story...
Anybody who thought the new Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times would be any less pro-Palestinian than his predecessor was sadly mistaken. Ian Fisher replaced Peter Baker as head of The Times’s Jerusalem bureau in January. Many of Fisher’s articles in recent months have been slanted against Israel, but his coverage of the lynching attempt in the Palestinian Arab village of Hawara May 18 was the worst so far. The facts of the Hawara episode are well-documented in a graphic video that can be seen on YouTube. Arabs waving PLO flags and...
On Thursday, less than 48 hours after U.S. President Donald Trump completed his successful visit to Israel, his chief negotiator Jason Greenblatt was back in town. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson set the tone for Greenblatt’s mission when he told reporters aboard Air Force One that during his visit, Trump “was putting a lot of pressure” on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas “to get back to the table” and negotiate a peace deal. Tillerson went on to explain why Trump is so keen to make a deal. “We solve...
Upon the 50th anniversary of the Jewish state of Israel’s reunification of Jerusalem, there is no better time to end the propaganda myth that Jerusalem is a holy city to Muslims. The Muslim fixation and clamor on Jerusalem is actually a very recent historical development—a product of political conflict, not historical truth. Jerusalem rates not a single mention in the Quran, and Muslims face Mecca in prayer. In the 7th century A.D., the Damascus-based Umayyad rulers built up Jerusalem as a counterweight to Mecca. This is when the important Mus...
When it comes to winning the argument against the BDS movement, the strategy may be as simple as a pan of shakshuka, a Mizrahi album, and a real or virtual tour through Jerusalem. A celebration of culture and a walk through the history of Israel may not be enough to win over the hardcore anti-Zionist proponents of BDS, as their convictions are rooted in the belief that the Jewish people aren’t entitled to their state or protection. In their view, Jews are mere occupiers in David’s kingdom, and Fatah and Hamas are entitled to sweep from the riv...
“Very few people were true Nazis,” he said, “but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.” “We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is a religion of peace...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) 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 I...
(JTA)-On a recent Sunday, eight far-right activists filmed themselves on what they called a "raid" on the Aurora Jewish community center in Budapest. Sporting crewcuts and black clothes, the men affixed posters with a crossed-out picture of the Hungary-born Jewish American billionaire George Soros to the entrance of the building, which along with having a Masorti, or Conservative, synagogue, also serves as the headquarters for a gay rights group, a Roma advocacy lobby, a hotline for immigrants...
Throughout my life, I have traveled to New York to visit relatives or go to the theater, but there was a borough that I had always wanted to visit my parents or travels had never taken me. I had always heard about the Chasidic Jews and the Yeshivas in Brooklyn where the rabbis get their education, and all my life I wanted to visit these Jewish neighborhoods to see how they live. When my friends mentioned that they were going with The Chabad of North Orlando for a weekend in Crown Heights...
About cancer... I have written often about Israel's cancer cure breakthroughs. Here is another. I received this letter from the Weizmann Institute of Science and pass it on in part to you: "Each year, millions of lives are changed by a cancer diagnosis. Chances are this disease has dramatically affected you or someone you love. Since the past month of May was recognized as 'National Cancer Research Month,' we're pleased to share just a few of the highly promising cancer projects taking place...
The staff at The Commons holds a Shabbat lunch each month for its Jewish residents, as well as for the Jewish residents from nearby Windsor Place. Jewish Pavilion Program Director Walter Goldstein joins in to say the blessings over the candles, Challah and "wine," discuss the current holidays, traditions, culture as everyone enjoys one another's company....
WHIPPANY, N.J. (New Jersey Jewish News via JTA)-With a lifetime of loving and writing about sports, Ron Kaplan has many topics he can sink his teeth into. Add to that passion his time working for the American Jewish Congress and then for nearly a decade for the New Jersey Jewish News, and you can see why his publisher saw him as the perfect guy to tackle the subject of his new book. "Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War" (Sports Publishing, 2017) is about the Jewish...
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," wrote philosopher George Santayana in 1905. Today, Western civilization's impaired memory is only part of a bigger problem. From the United Nations to university campuses, when history conflicts with progressives' agenda, they simply change the past. Disparate leftist forces, banded together by "intersectionality," stake their legitimacy on a history they've revised to suit their purposes. No past is more under siege than the histo...
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-When movie star Kirk Douglas married Anne Buydens in Las Vegas, the justice of the peace asked Anne to raise her hand and repeat after him, "I take thee, Kirk, for my lawful husband." Anne, who had recently arrived in the United States from Europe, raised her hand and proudly proclaimed, "I take thee, Kirk, as my AWFUL husband." At the time, the mispronunciation was not too far off the mark. In Hollywood, the handsome, muscular actor was already notorious for his inflated ego...
No matter how financially blessed, we all need to call upon a higher power to help us make our lives a blessing. At age 32, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest of the world's ten richest people. His fortune presently hovers over the $60 billion mark. Financially there certainly isn't a thing that he lacks. What could someone like Zuckerberg possibly pray for? At the Harvard graduation ceremony last week we heard the answer. The university from which Zuckerberg never graduated, cutting his education...
