Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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On Wednesday, July 23, 2014, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando (JFGO) and the Greater Orlando Board of Rabbis sponsored an Israel Solidarity Gathering at the Maitland Jewish Community Center. Approximately 350 people from the Orlando community came to show their support for Israel. Chaim Shacham, consul general of Israel to Florida and Puerto Rico gave a briefing on the current situation in Israel. "We did not choose this conflict, it was forced upon us. Even though we did all that we...
(JTA)-Until this latest war, if you asked most Israelis about the threat from Gaza, they would probably start talking about Hamas rockets. But that has changed over the last few days of fighting, for two reasons. One, the much-heralded success of the Iron Dome missile defense system has all but neutralized Hamas' rocket threat. Two, and far more troubling for Israelis, they have woken up to the true extent of the subterranean threat from Gaza: the tunnels that snake underneath the densely...
Alan Rusonik believes in community, he believes a strong Jewish education is vital to develop future Jewish leadership, and he believes the Jewish Academy of Orlando is an excellent place to grow a school that has a strong foundation. This is all good because Rusonik has just begun his job as JAO head of school. He knows it will be a lot of hard work but he also knows that he is coming into a school that "has a great history." According to Rusonik, "It is a project to improve what has been...
If Kevin Weiss could only pick one word to blaze across his wall, that word would be justice. "I'm an idealistic type of person," Weiss told The Heritage. "I like to help people and if I see an injustice it burns me up." Ever since he was a child, whether something was unfair or if he saw someone hurting and if he felt he could help resolve the situation, he would try to remedy the problem. That's the kind of man Kevin Weiss is. A sense of justice was the driving force that led him to become a...
BALTIMORE (JTA)-Sean Carmeli, a sergeant in the Israeli army, was stationed in Israel's South awaiting possible orders to enter Gaza. He was exchanging Facebook messages with his friend Ian Benisti, a U.S. Marine reservist who was visiting Israel from California. The two had planned to get together, maybe go to the beach. But Israel was in the midst of an escalating conflict with Hamas. "Bro', hope this'll be over soon, so we can meet up," the Texas-born Carmeli wrote to Benisti in their last...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-The soldiers walk past us, two single-file lines between the gravestones, their blank, sunken faces barely visible in the darkness. The coffin appears, hoisted on their arms and wrapped in an Israeli flag. We follow in its wake. Within minutes, some 20,000 people have massed around the final resting place of Sean Carmeli, Texas native, IDF soldier, soon to be declared a Hero of Israel. We stand silent as the rabbi chants verses of psalms begging for mercy. We shrug off official...
NEW YORK (JTA)-When the siren sounded, the Rolling Stones' tortured 1969 track "Gimme Shelter" popped into my head, oddly enough. That haunting song offered a stunning reminder of the endless horrors of war, reawakening a sleepy world with a vivid musical picture of human pain in times of combat. Merry Clayton's evocative vocalization of disturbing lyrics over a harsh musical background focused global attention on the awful realities of the Vietnam War. Nowadays, though, one hardly requires a so...
The year 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act. In recognition of that monumental legislation, institutions and individuals throughout Central Florida will be examining the impact of the end of legal discrimination based on race, gender, nationality and religion. What changes have we seen in our lifetime? What issues remain to be addressed? What tools do we need to move ahead in challenging bigotry and intolerance in all of its forms? • Sept. 2 through Dec. 15 E...
Congregation Beth Am in Longwood, Florida, in conjunction with the Orlando Church of Christ, the Seminole County Department for Emergency Management, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and the Seminole County Department of Public Safety will host a Disaster Preparedness program on Sunday, Aug. 10, from 1 to 3 p.m. This will immediately follow a congregational Open House for prospective members starting at 10 a.m. Steven Lerner from the Emergency Response Team will discuss hurricane and fire preparedness. The Office of Emergency Management i...
Congregation Beth Sholom of Leesburg invites the community to a very special warm, joyous, and festive Shabbat service on Friday, Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. This uplifting service of music and song, led by Rabbi and Cantor Karen Allen, who will be playing her keyboard, features world-class violinist Zoriy Zinger, who was a soloist in the Russian Symphony Orchestra before reaching fame in America. Allen and Zinger have collaborated in numerous venues, including three concerts at the Melon Patch Theater. Beth Sholom’s Kabbalat Shabbat takes the form of t...
The debate about whether Jews have a future in Europe has once again surfaced, as Israel’s Operation Protective Edge gained momentum in response to Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza. The two issues are connected for a simple reason: on July 13, a large number of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Paris decided to attack a synagogue in the French capital, thereby demonstrating that these days, aspiring pogromists are more likely to wear a Palestinian keffiyeh than a swastika armband. I had originally intended to write about whether Europe’s Jews sho...
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims Israel is carrying out “systematic genocide” in Gaza. South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), asserts that Israel’s actions in Gaza “remind [us] of the atrocities of Nazi Germany.” Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is accusing Israel of “genocide,” and the PA’s newspaper is calling the current war “Israel’s Holocaust.” It seems as if every time Israel defends itself, somebody points an accusing finger and yells “Genocide!” Raphael Lemkin, who coined...
Anyone who follows the actions in the Middle East or Islamic communities readily becomes aware that Muslims continuously make demands on their non-Islamic neighbors. One would assume they come to westernized countries like the U.S. for a better way of life. Yet through their ongoing demands it appears they want to convert our lives to the strict oppressive Islamic life style they’ve left. For example, the Council on American-Islamic Relation’s (CAIR-MI) Executive Director Dawud Walid, sent a complaint letter to the Michigan Roseville Public Sch...
It boggles the mind to think that a determined, Jew-hating terror army would fire more than 1,000 rockets at Israel over seven days and inflict so few casualties. I wonder what must be going through the minds of those Hamas terrorists right now: “We lost half of our arsenal and what do we have to show for it? Where are all the dead Jews? How is this possible?” Well, the answers, my friends, are blowing in the wind. These answers have come in the form of sleek seeing-eye missiles that met up with incoming Hamas missiles and ... killed them. To...
A simple cease-fire in Gaza would give Hamas time to re-arm and renew its terrorist activities. The demilitarization of Gaza would put an end to Hamas’s terrorist activities. Which goal makes more sense? President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have been working hard to achieve a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This effort is shortsighted and worse. A simple cease-fire would be a de-facto victory for Hamas. It would give Hamas the time and breathing space it needs to smuggle in more weapons, repair its terror tunnels, a...
This week, I had the honor and privilege to lead 57 international Jewish community leaders from 22 countries on a solidarity mission to Israel, where we were joined by 21 Israeli leaders and World Jewish Congress staff. The fact that WJC brought people from all WJC regions—North America, South America, Europe, Euro-Asia, and Africa—to Israel on only a few days’ notice shows the fervent support of world Jewry for the Jewish state. Concern for Israel binds the diverse Jewish communities of the world together, and it was amazing to see this outpou...
Dear Editor: To say I am totally disappointed in the leadership of the Jewish community of greater Orlando would be putting it mildly. With the current situation that has been taking place in Israel for the last two weeks, not one word, not one act of public support has been forth coming. Sure, a community event was held last week. But, it was behind closed doors, not open so the whole community could see support for Israel. It’s reminiscent of life in the shtetlach during the pogroms of the 19th century. If we hide, if we are quiet, if we don...
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, 7:30 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., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1 Light Shabbat c...
Sandy Steuer has marked her first anniversary volunteering with the Jewish Pavilion. After helping out a few different senior communities she found her niche at Chambrel. Sandy helps at Shabbat each and every Friday. She has come to find friendship, self satisfaction and even learning the Friday evening service better then ever. "Don't ask me to sing, but I do love to help and I adore the people at Chambrel," chuckled Sandy. Jackie Levitt has been volunteering for many years at various senior...
Yvonne David suffered the loss of her father last September and joined a grief support group sponsored by the Jewish Pavilion and VITAS Innovative Hospice Care. Held at Chambrel at Island Lake, a Brookdale Senior Living Community, this grief support group has helped her mourn, adjust and embrace life again. David’s articles about the first three weeks of the class and the last three weeks of the class were published in the May 9 and the June 20 issues respectively. This third and final article is about the follow-up meeting one month later. A...
Sheryl M. Pope of Orlando passed away on Wednesday, July 23, 2014, at her residence. She was 24 years old. A native of Orlando, she was born on Feb. 8, 1990, to Barry and Ami Koenig Pope. Ms. Pope attended Orlando area schools and worked as a customer service supervisor for Whole Foods. In addition to her parents, she is survived by her maternal grandmother, Evelyn Koenig of Orlando; her paternal grandmother, Peggy Pope of Altamonte Springs; and her paternal grandfather, Charles Pope of Orlando. She is also survived by aunts, uncles and...
The wider world of traditional Judaism is moving in fits and starts toward a renegotiation of the terms of halakhic observance. At question is the importance of social change in the understanding and application of the legal logic of the sages of old. In the last several years, voices from within the Orthodox fold have raised a formidable challenge to certain established norms of Jewish life and law, especially regarding the possibilities of female religious leadership. Though not as...
From passionate lovers... Okay, I'll finish the sentence! We went from passionate lovers to angry roommates! Of course I refer to my spouse and myself as we get ready to celebrate our 54th wedding anniversary on Sunday, Aug. 3. Irv says "That date will go down in infamy." (Only kidding, of course. The spark is still there... only now it seems more like heartburn than a smoldering fire!) We actually started celebrating this fabulous event several days ago with a visit to Disney. We "hung out"...
By Uriel Heilman (JTA)-Rebecca Scoggin lived in a lot of places growing up: Juneau, Nome, Fairbanks, Homer, Anchorage. But except for the two years she lived in Seattle after high school, she never lived outside Alaska. At least she hadn't until a few months ago. Inspired by a Birthright trip she took at age 19, Scoggin decided to pick up and move to Tel Aviv. "It was kind of a random decision. There was no real reason for it," Scoggin, 23, told JTA in a recent phone interview from Anchorage, wh...
Roi Kais of Ynetnews.com reported "Hamas Interior Ministry tells Gaza locals to stay in their homes despite Israeli phone calls, leaflets, and the 'knock on the roof' procedure urging them to evacuate." The "knock on the roof procedure" is when the Israeli Air Force fires a small round at the roof of a targeted structure signaling residents to evacuate before the real strike. Hamas Interior Ministry, on the other hand, issued commands for the residents of Gaza to remain in their homes despite Is...
