Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - When I was younger, I often struggled with understanding the purpose of the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av. Why, thousands of years later, do we still fast and mourn the destruction of Judaism's two temples? Why do we continue to commemorate a way of life so remarkably different from the Judaism we practice today? It wasn't that I couldn't appreciate the profound loss and anguish that the Israelites experienced when they were exiled from their lands in 70 C.E. But since then, we had...
(JNS) - Israel recently reassumed administrative control over the Cave of the Patriarchs in the Judean city of Hebron after Palestinian Authority and Islamic officials refused to coordinate on renovations at the holy site, JNS has learned. Jerusalem decided to start a process to transfer authority from the Islamic trust that has managed the site to the Kiryat Arba-Hebron Religious Council to improve infrastructure for Jewish worshippers, Hebron's international spokesperson confirmed to JNS on...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday categorically rejected claims of starvation in the Gaza Strip, dismissing such reports as “a bold-faced lie.” Speaking at a Daystar TV conference in Jerusalem hosted by Pastor Paula White, leader of the White House Faith Office, Netanyahu said, “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.” Israel, he continued, had “enabled humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza. Otherwise, there would be no Gazans.” It is Hamas that ha...
(JNS) — U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Friday mocked Paris’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state, suggesting that this new entity be located in southern France and named after a fictional monster. “[French President Emmanuel] Macron’s unilateral ‘declaration’ of a ‘Palestinian’ state didn’t say WHERE it would be. I can now exclusively disclose that France will offer the French Riviera and the new nation will be called ‘Franc-en-Stine,’ tweeted Huckabee, in an apparent reference to Mary Shelley’s classic novel “Frankens...
By In 1965, I stood with a tour group at the Wailing Wall — then part of East Jerusalem and under Jordanian control. That control began under Article VIII of the 1949 Armistice Agreement, where Jordan explicitly guaranteed Israeli Jews free access to the Wailing Wall, along with other religious sites. Historian Martin Gilbert has noted that promise was never honored: “During the 19 years of Jordanian rule in East Jerusalem, no Israelis were allowed to visit this site which was most holy to the...
Kinneret Living, Orlando, FL — At 92, Ethel (Ester) Goodmark still radiates warmth, wit, and wisdom from her apartment at Kinneret, where she’s lived for the past five years. Raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Ethel’s life has been deeply shaped by her Jewish upbringing, a 70-year marriage, a fulfilling career, and a devotion to family. “I was raised conservative,” Ethel recalled, “because my mother came from an Orthodox family and my father from a Reform one. Middle of the road was the best pl...
Governor Ron DeSantis has signed the 2025–26 state budget, which includes over $500,000 in funding for the Jack & Lee Rosen Jewish Community Center in Southwest Orlando. This generous appropriation will help expand senior programs and enhance security measures across the campus. In addition to the state funding, a dollar-for-dollar match from the Harris Rosen Foundation brought the total investment to over $1 million. These funds will support vital capital improvements — from infrastructure upgrades to increased accessibility — ensuring that...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Israel will have to make a decision on next steps in the war on Hamas, adding he did not know what would happen after the terrorists blew up the ceasefire negotiations. “You know, they had a routine discussion the other day and, all of a sudden, they hardened up,” he said of the talks, speaking alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland. Hamas “don’t want to give them back,” Trump said in reference to the remaining 50 hostages held in the Gaza Strip. “So...
(JNS) — French President Emmanuel Macron stated on Thursday that “consistent with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” Paris intends to recognize a Palestinian state. “I will make this solemn announcement before the United Nations General Assembly this coming September,” Macron stated. “The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “strongly” condemned Macron’s decision “to recognize a Palestinian state nex...
(JNS) — Gal Gadot, the most prominent Israeli in Hollywood, met on Tuesday with five survivors of Hamas captivity in Gaza: Doron Steinbrecher, Liri Albag, Naama Levy, Moran Stella Yanai and Ilana Gritzewsky. The women recounted their harrowing experiences in the hands of the terrorist group, and called on Gadot to keep advocating for the release of the 50 people still believed to be in captivity 655 days after the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre. Steinbrecher urged Gadot: “Don’t stop. We must keep talking about the hostages and keep them in the publi...
Sunday was Israel’s hottest day so far this year, according to the Israel Meteorological Service. According to IMS data, the temperature at the Sodom weather station in the Dead Sea region reached a high of 46.5°C (115.7°F), just three degrees shy of the all-time record for the area. In the Jordan Valley and around the Sea of Galilee, temperatures ranged from 43°C to 44°C (109.4°F to 111.2°F). An extreme heat stress index was recorded in Tel Aviv, with the mercury hitting 33°C (91.4°F) and humidity levels soaring to 70 percent. The heatwave has...
(JNS) — Over the past few days, anti-Israel and anti-Jewish feeling has been ratcheted up into an absolute frenzy. Every few hours seems to bring a fresh outrage. In London, a prominent Jewish broadcaster was chased down the street by a man screaming “fascist Zionist scum.” A woman dining at a Jewish restaurant in the city was asked if she was a Jew and then had food thrown over her. On the Greek island of Rhodes, a mob armed with knives attacked a group of Jewish teenagers. About 50 French Jewish children, returning from a summer camp in Sp...
(JNS) — The war in Gaza has been going on for more than 650 days, and for all this time, Israeli hostages have been held by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in tunnels spanning the coastal enclave. The objectives that the Israeli government laid out for victory at the beginning of the war have not been fully met. Fifty hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive and the rest murdered by Hamas, remain in captivity. Hamas is still on its feet, despite 15,000 dead and many more wounded. And despite losing its top commanders and p...
(JNS) — More than 300 people recently crowded into the Whitestone Republican Club in Queens, N.Y., to hear Republican politicians endorse Curtis Sliwa to be the next mayor of New York City. I was one of them, curious to learn more about the Republican candidate in the most consequential election in the city’s history. On its website, the first stated mission of the Whitestone Club affirms America to be “the greatest country in the history of the world.” It is followed by a pledge to the “three pillars of our system: individual rights, f...
(JNS) — While humanitarian aid drops from the sky, hundreds of trucks carrying the same supplies sit idle at the Gaza border. The failure is not logistical — it is political and moral. Efforts to divide the Gaza Strip into humanitarian zones have collapsed. The so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is nonfunctional. The United Nations is absent. UNRWA, rather than assist, has reportedly blocked aid entry for fear of upsetting Hamas. Why? Because Hamas insists on controlling all food distribution. Aid must go through its hands, not for the ben...
Gabe Friedman in his Heritage article July 11, 2025, “What Zohran Mamdani has actually said about Jews and Israel,” quotes New York mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani as having “no problem” with Israel’s right to exist. But readers deserve more than assurances. They need to know what Mamdani actually said — and what he deliberately left out. Similarly, Mamdani gives rhetorical cover to the slogan “From the River to the Sea.” While Mamdani says he doesn’t personally use the phrase, he has refused to condemn it, defending it instead as a “des...
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 first-ever Israeli baby born to a woman who had undergone uterine transposition surgery was delivered at Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah, the hospital announced on Wednesday. The newborn is only the sixth baby in the world born to a woman who has undergone the groundbreaking transposition procedure, it noted. Professor Ram Eitan, director of Beilinson’s Gynecologic Oncology Unit, who performed the uterine surgery in 2022, recently delivered the baby via Caesarean section, in what the medical center descr...
(JTA) - Oscar-winning lyricist Alan Bergman, who with his wife Marilyn wrote the words for some of Barbra Streisand's best-known hits as well as her 1983 film "Yentl," died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 99. The Bergmans were already an established lyrics-writing team when, in 1962, they met Streisand after a performance at the Bon Soir nightclub in Manhattan. It wasn't until 1969, however, that she recorded one of their songs, "Ask Yourself Why," for her "What About Today?" album....
By (JTA) -A Muslim democratic socialist state lawmaker in his 30s defeats the establishment candidate for mayor of his city, setting up a showdown in advance of November's general election. The scenario played out last month in New York City - and again this week in Minneapolis, where Omar Fateh won the endorsement of the state's Democratic Party in his bid to unseat the city's Jewish mayor, Jacob Frey. Fateh, 35, is the latest progressive candidate to ascend amid a shift away from...
Long before stand-up went mainstream, the backroads of the Catskills echoed with the rhythms of Jewish laughter. The Borscht Belt wasn't just a vacation spot - it was a refuge, a proving ground for comedy legends, and a cultural sanctuary for families turned away elsewhere. Today, thanks to the vision and dedication of Marisa Scheinbeld and her associates, that legacy is being brought back to life. Scheinbeld's Borscht Belt Historical Markers Project is transforming forgotten resort towns into...
(JTA) — The first athlete to notch a Manischewitz endorsement is transferring from a university with just a handful of Jewish students to a school with one of the highest proportions of Jewish students in the United States. Jake Retzlaff will play for Tulane University, according to reports in sports media. Neither Retzlaff nor Tulane has confirmed the move, but Retzlaff retweeted an article about it. Retzlaff announced earlier this month that he would leave Brigham Young University, the M...
Round foods are eaten around this holiday when one is not fasting. Lentil soup is one of these foods. Lentil soup is easy to make and keeps in the refrigerator 3-5 days. It also freezes well. 2 tsp. olive oil 1 onion, chopped in small pieces 2 garlic cloves, minced (An easy way to remove skins is rub cloves back and forth in a rubber bottle opener.) 1 large carrot chopped (1 1/4 cups chopped) 2 celery stalks, chopped (1 1/4 cups) 2 cups dried lentils, any color except black French lentils 6 cups vegetable or chicken soup 1/2 tsp. cumin 1/2...
In the 80s there was a hit song by Sheila E., that went: She wants to lead the glamorous life She don’t need a man’s touch She wants to lead the glamorous life But without love, it ain’t much The song describes the lady wearing a mink fur coat and driving a Mercedes Benz car. It is about materialism. Materialism = glamour. That is what the message was in 1980s America. That was society’s message. The movies, the music, the television shows, that is what we saw and that was our aim, our goal. I had no idea what a sham it was. None of us did. He...
