Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Great Britain and the rest of Europe woke up to a new reality Friday as a slim majority of British voters said their country should leave the European Union. Markets trembled, British currency crashed and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his pending resignation. It was a major blow to an alliance formed specifically to avoid a repeat of the nationalist rivalries that led to the First and Second World Wars. Although Britain's Jews appeared as split as the rest of the country over...
In the wake of last month’s deadly terror attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando (JFGO) convened a community security briefing on the Maitland Jewish Community Campus. JFGO organized the June 16 briefing to address potential questions or concerns among Jewish community leaders about security and emergency preparedness at their respective agencies and synagogues. The Federation enlisted the assistance of the Secure Community Network (SCN). Launched in 2004 by the Jewish Federations of North America a...
"We are in a war for the future of our country and the State of Israel!" says Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN). She will be speaking in Central Florida at the Eastmonte Civic Center on July 5 at 7 p.m. The topics she will cover are about BDS on college campuses and the propaganda being taught in the public schools. "It is obvious that there is a growing number of parents who are outraged by the indoctrination of our children in secondary schools,"...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Sen. Marco Rubio cited his intention to kill the Iran nuclear deal in his decision to run for reelection to the Senate. The Florida Republican, first elected in 2010, opted out of running to keep his seat when he announced his candidacy last year for the Republican presidential nomination. He was driven out of that race this year by Donald Trump, who defeated Rubio in his home state primary and is now the presumptive nominee. But on Wednesday, Rubio reversed his decision and...
According to the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents released today, there were 91 verified incidents of anti-Semitism in Florida in 2015, marking a significant increase of incidents over the previous year's 70 incidents. Florida's increase also is comparatively higher than the national increase in anti-Semitic incidents, which rose from 912 to 941. The largest increases in anti-Semitic incidents were in the categories of anti-Semitic vandalism and harassment....
In a 65-4 vote, the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed legislation prohibiting the state from contracting with companies that participate in boycotts of allies and trade partners of the United States—most notably, Israel. HB 7736 passed the Rhode Island House on June 16 and received unanimous support two days later in the state’s Senate. Governor Gina Raimondo is expected to sign the measure later this week. Rhode Island’s measure against the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was introduced by State Rep....
(JTA)-The parents of Steven Sotloff, the Jewish freelance journalist beheaded by the Islamic State nearly two years ago, have joined the families of three other killed U.S. hostages in urging President Barack Obama to bring home a missing American hostage. Shirley and Arthur Sotloff, in an essay published Wednesday in the McClatchy newspapers, called on Obama not to leave behind any Americans when he leaves office in January, referring to freelance journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in...
The Holocaust Center in Maitland will be hosting a four-part adult education series on different faith traditions represented in the Central Florida community. Scheduled for Wednesday afternoons in July, the focus of "Faith, Peace and Justice: A Summer Series" will be on ways that misunderstandings and misinformation have crept into interfaith conversations. The series was created in a partnership with the Interfaith Council of Central Florida. It is the fourth year that they have collaborated...
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando (JFGO) is pleased to announce the third year of the Jewish Teen Education Grant Program, and is now accepting grant requests for 2016-17 academic year. The grants are intended for ongoing academic Jewish teen educational programming. The second year of JTEN grants yielded eight successful programs from Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation, Congregation Beth Am, Congregation Ohev Shalom, Chabad of North Orlando, Temple Shir Shalom, Congregation of Reform Judaism, Temple Israel and Chabad of South...
More than a dozen families gathered under sunny skies on May 22 for "Spring in Israel," a Shalom Families/PJ Library event sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. Parents and children celebrated the month of Iyar, spring in Israel, on the beautiful lawn of Grace Hopper Clubhouse in Orlando's Baldwin Park. With a little help from their parents, the children made their own "kid-friendly" kites that they later launched into flight. The event also featured a family yoga class with...
In the days since the massacre of 49 people and the wounding of hundreds more by an Islamist gunman at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, America’s political leadership has sounded more discordant than ever. Never mind the absence of a bipartisan consensus about what we should do; our politicians are engaged in unsightly squabbling about the nature of the problem itself. In one corner, we have the Democratic Party, led by President Barack Obama, aggressively steering the national debate toward gun control. According to this camp’s account, the...
Since our last column, our Central Florida community has been changed indelibly. While the horrific attack at the Pulse nightclub brought immense grief and anger to our City Beautiful, the resulting collaborations to promote inclusion and unity have made us extremely proud to be Orlando Strong. As a Jewish community, it has been so heartening to see our clergy out in force with their counterparts from other faiths, to see our synagogues lead discussions on healing and to watch our community members participate as individuals in the various...
The headline of this note, letting aspirations for an organized work rest in peace, may reflect more cynicism than reality. Colonialism began its demise with World War I, when the European powers that could carve up the world and color the maps as they thought best, endured economic and demographic catastrophes until then unequaled in world history. The European-centered world took a while to die. The U.S. opted out by putting domestic politics ahead of Woodrow Wilson’s dream of a League of Nation. Britain and France led the way to changing G...
NEW YORK (JTA)—If you’re a supporter of Israel and of the Jewish community, you should be very worried about a new executive order issued by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on June 5. While billed as an initiative to prevent New York state from supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, the law actually constitutes a frightening attack on free speech while likely creating a backlash that will do harm both to Israel and the Jewish community. Cuomo’s order mandates the creation of a list of every company worldwide that “enga...
This is the second of two contrasting views on laws that prevent state agencies from doing business with companies that support a boycott of Israeli products. CHICAGO (JTA)—On June 16, the New Jersey Assembly is expected to have a final vote on a bill restricting the state’s dealings with companies that boycott Israel. The measure, S1923/A925, would have the Garden State join the nine states that have already adopted such measures in just the past year. Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order implementing similar policies in New...
Suhair Halabi is very proud of her son, Muhannad. Mrs. Halabi is so proud, in fact, that she recently displayed her pride by visiting the site where Muhannad became famous. We know about her visit because she posted, on Facebook, a photo of herself at the site, flashing “V” for “Victory” signs with both hands. But Muhannad’s “accomplishment” was not a 4.0 grade point average in school or a game-winning goal in a soccer field. It was the cold-blooded murder of an Israeli rabbi on the streets of Jerusalem, the slashing of the rabbi’s wife...
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...
The seed for the city of Cleveland's first professional championship in a major sport in 52 years may have been planted at the Shaw Jewish Community Center on White Pond Drive in Akron, Ohio, nearly 20 years ago. That's when a tall, lanky kid from Akron named LeBron James walked onto the hardwood court and changed the game of basketball forever. Coach Keith Dambrot, now the head basketball coach at the University of Akron, conducted those sessions that attracted between 50 and 100 players....
The influx of migrants and refugees into Europe has presented that continent's leaders and policymakers with some of their greatest current challenges. Those challenges "defy silver-bullet solutions," said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken. Blinken, who made that remark at the 2016 Herzliya Conference, which took place from June 14-16 in Jerusalem and Herzliya, was highlighting one of the topics that reappeared in many of the dozens of speeches and panel discussions throughout th...
(JNS.org) Russian-Jewish actor Anton Yelchin, known for playing the Russian starship navigator Chekov in the rebooted series of "Star Trek" movies, died Sunday after being accidentally crushed by his own vehicle against a driveway wall, police said. The 27-year-old Yelchin was born in St. Petersburg and emigrated to the United States as a child under political refugee status to escape the religious and political oppression his family had experienced in Russia. "My idea of being a Jew-at least a...
About Israeli boycotts... I read this in a recent issue of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and will share it with you: "The World Jewish Congress welcomed a decision by the British government to issue binding guidance to all public authorities in the UK aimed at preventing them from boycotting Israeli suppliers and imposing stiff penalties on those who do. WJC CEO ROBERT SINGER called the new rules 'a significant step and a major victory against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions...
(Kveller via JTA)—It’s a truth universally acknowledged that if you have a child, random strangers will talk to you. They will comment on your child’s looks or behavior or on your parenting skills, or they’ll tell you about their own children, or they’ll offer unasked-for advice. Sometimes the best response is to politely yet briefly engage, then move on. Sometimes the conversation actually is interesting and you want to chat more. Sometimes it’s worth speaking up and pointing out the idiocy/offensiveness of what they’re saying. And sometimes...
PARIS (JTA)-On a crowded sidewalk in the French capital, Yomi Peretz exchanges jokes and backslaps with customers who are waiting in a 20-yard queue in the rain to enter his falafel shop. This chummy interaction comes naturally to Peretz, a tall enthusiast of boxing and poker who owns and runs l'As du Fallafel (The Falafel Ace), one of the best-known eateries in Paris. But working the crowd also serves a commercial purpose. "I do it to keep up morale in the queue," Peretz said on a recent Thursd...
(JTA)-Dirty, hot and exhausted Israeli soldiers waiting for their bus home from the army base tend, understandably, to be in a hurry to get on board. But when I was living in Israel during the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising, soldiers didn't jostle to be first in line. Rather, the most coveted position was second. That's because the bus driver had the right-under rules issued by the army and made clear to each armed soldier before she or he left the base-to order any soldier to sit in...
Ramola “Bo” Bander, age 88, of Fern Park, passed away on Sunday, June 19, 2016, at The Commons at Orlando Lutheran Towers. “Bo”, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, was born on Nov. 11, 1927, to the late Harry and Alma Gederman Diamond. She worked for many years as a bookkeeper in the insurance industry. In 1979, Bo and her late husband, Herbert, who predeceased her in 2002, relocated to the Orlando area and have been affiliated for many years with Congregation Ahavas Yisrael. Mrs. Bander is survived by her sons, Peter Bander and Michael Band...
