Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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TEL AVIV (JTA)— Daniela Hayoum arrived at a Tel Aviv post office at 7 a.m. and took a number. The line of people waiting for gas masks was long and Hayoum stepped away to run errands. She returned in the afternoon to find hundreds of Israelis crowding under a hot sun on the building’s wide steps, some holding umbrellas and others food. On the street below, medics treated a woman suffering from the heat. On the sidewalk, men sold cold water and bagels. Hayoum began to push her way through. “Th... Full story
On Wednesday, Aug. 21, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando presented its annual meeting at the Maitland campus. The festive event was themed as a ‘Night at the Movies’ and delivered big results at the box office. Community members entered to a red carpet and celebratory fanfare. The stage was set, the lights were lit and soon the emcees called ‘Action!’. The room was filled with agency executives and community members eager to learn more about the Federation’s vision for the next year. The... Full story
The Jewish National Fund (JNF) will honor two generations of the Israel family at its annual Tree of Life™ Award Dinner. Sy and Debra Israel, and Mark and Caryn Israel will receive the Guardian of Israel Award. “The Israel family is a true testament of two generations that embrace the genuine meaning of tzedakah (charity) and making the world a better place,” said Jim Riola, JNF Orlando board president. “The Israel family’s commitment to JNF and to Israel over the past few decades is truly admir... Full story
Shira Kaiserman remembers her 2010 Taglit-Birthright Israel trip like it was yesterday. While the New Yorker’s group was visiting Mount Herzl, the guide began to tell them the story of Hannah Senesh, an Israeli national heroine who was caught and killed by the Nazis after parachuting into Europe to help rescue Holocaust refugees in 1944. “As a woman you don’t really hear about a lot of modern-day Jewish women who made such a strong contribution to the Jewish people,” Kaiserman told JNS.org... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Two years ago, Hadassa Margolese became a symbol of resistance to haredi Orthodox domination after she allowed her 8-year-old daughter to tell an Israeli reporter how religious men had spit on her as she walked to school. The report made headlines around the world and cast Margolese into the spotlight as a defender of the rights and values of the Modern Orthodox community in Beit Shemesh, a city of approximately 75,000 just off the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv w... Full story
In a sign of growing economic partnership, Israeli and Chinese transportation authorities have signed an agreement to significantly increase the frequency of passenger flights between their countries. According to the deal, Israel and China can operate 14 regular passenger flights as well as seven cargo flights between the countries. Until now, only Israel’s El Al operated three weekly flights to Beijing, while China’s national airline, Air China, does not provide any flights to Israel. App... Full story
WASHINGTON, DC—Joining presidents and giants of the Civil Rights movement as part of the national commemoration of the March on Washington, Alan van Capelle, CEO of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, urging his fellow American Jews and all Americans to continue the struggle for civil rights. “The vision Dr. King offered us 50 years ago wasn’t only a dream. It was a call for equality but it was also a demand for justice,” van Capelle said. “We may be closer to equality but we are far f... Full story
In honor of Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Shmuli Gutnick of Boca Raton, Fla., brought his collection of honeybees to Chabad of North Orlando. Seventy-five children and parents enjoyed the one-of-a-kind, pre-Rosh Hashanah program where they said the correct blessing over the food in their goodie bags, followed by the blowing of the shofar by Rabbi Yanky Majesky. Chanshy Majesky, director of the Chabad Hebrew School, led the children in a musical game, which helped familiarize them with different aspects... Full story
In synagogues across the nation, a shofar (ram’s horn) is blown during the Jewish New Year. The Jewish Pavilion is an outreach organization that ensures that Jewish seniors in 54 long-term care facilities in Orlando get to experience the Jewish holidays and hear the shofar. The shofar is the quintessential symbol of Rosh Hashanah that calls for the awakening of the slumbering soul. Hearing the shofar reminds our elders of their precious heritage.... Full story
Sunday, Sept. 8 will be the start of a great year for the monthly musicals at Horizon Bay on Boston Avenue as the Jewish Pavilion presents well-known and respected pianist David Witte. All are welcome and encouraged to attend this exciting afternoon. Witte will perform at 1 p.m. and ice cream sundaes will be served to all. The Jewish Pavilion is always looking for volunteers and great talent. Please call 407-678-9363 if you are interested in helping make a difference and having a great time.... Full story
Hadassah of Williamsburg is having a “Welcome Back Meeting” on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 1 p.m. at Lakeridge Clubhouse in Williamsburg. Members, associates and friends are cordially invited to attend. Delicious refreshments will be served. Please come and enjoy a pleasant afternoon with old friends and meet new ones. For further information, please call Helene at 407 352-0535 or Eleanore at 407 351-9189.... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the trial of Leo Frank in Atlanta, let’s begin by stating for the record: No, the Leo Frank case was not the impetus for the founding of the Anti-Defamation League. It is true that the organization, now celebrating its centennial, was founded the same year as the arrest and trial of Frank for the murder of one of his factory workers, a 13-year-old girl named Mary Phagan. But the idea for ADL, conceived by Sigmund Livingston, a Chicago attorney, preceded the case. Rather than being the... Full story
The barbarians didn’t appear out of thin air; they have always been around. They have been operating in sleeper cells within the mock civilization that was left behind by the European colonialists as the first world war drew to a close in Middle East. With Syria’s lid blown off, President Bashar al-Assad’s tribe and its various affiliates have been fighting the Sunni tribes that were in power before November 1970, when Assad’s father staged a coup and had his loyalists appointed to senior positions in the military and the government. Do the var... Full story
Beheading someone is sickening and vicious. Although it has been around for centuries, todays civilized societies no longer use this form of punishment. However Islamic fanatics still freely use decapitating people for perceived insults to Islam and transgression. It is believed that yearly decapitations are in the thousands. Many Muslims profess they are striving to take over the entire world for Islam by any means. Submit to Islam and Sharia or else. The following three verses, approving of decapitations are samples of what are found in the... Full story
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have started once again. Hopefully, despite the many problems which must be resolved, they will end with better results than previous ones. One of the main problems is that of Palestinian refugees, as they are commonly called. To say it correctly, the people we now call refugees are the descendants of Palestinian Arabs who left Palestine in 1948 during the Arab countries’ aggression against the infant Jewish state of Israel. Around 700,000 Arabs left, mainly encouraged by the propaganda of Arab countries, w... Full story
Twenty four years ago a man, a woman, and a child stood in the arrival hall of the Boston Logan airport. Tired and disoriented after a long flight from overseas, their old life in the USSR left resolutely behind, they were hopeful for a better future. In Boston, they were met by a group of people representing an organization whose name the woman didn’t know. Nor did she know that this organization would soon become her life and her passion. In April, the board of directors hired that woman (yes, you guessed right, that woman was me) as an e... Full story
The 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War occurs this year. The war was launched in 1973 in a surprise attack by Syria and Egypt on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Even though the signs of an imminent attack were noted by the Israeli intelligence, the Israeli government decided to ignore them for political and strategic reasons. Consequently, the country’s borders were very sparsely defended, creating a dangerous void on the front. The invading armies outnumbered the Israelis at a ratio of 100 to one in manpower and 10 to one in a... Full story
Dear editor, It is clear that the author, Chris DeSouza, of the Heritage’s article on Brown’s Deli in the Aug. 23 edition did not do her homework. Just checking the local Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando’s website, www.jfgo.org, and clicking on the sub-link “Kosher Food” in the “Passport to Jewish Orlando” link would have shown that there are at least two other kosher restaurants in the metropolitan Orlando area, which have been in the area for at least a few years. Other restaurants, but a distance away such as in Ormond Beach are als... Full story
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 a.m.; Sunday, 8 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, SEPTEMBER 6 Second day of Rosh Hashanah L... Full story
Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur it is said, the Judge of the universe sprinkles the earth with a merciful mist—like the manna He showered on the starving Israelites. It softens the human heart. Prepares it for repentance and forgiveness like spring rain brings summer flowers. Perennially, every Rosh Hashanah since the dawn of creation, Able forgives Cain, Esau forgives Jacob, Rabbi Akiva forgives his Roman torturers. And Herman Stern forgives his wife, Marilyn, although their healing process has been going on for a mere four years. The S... Full story
Aharon Greenberg holds his four-day-old daughter and talks about how blessed he is, but he is equally aware that not everyone is so fortunate. “The system is not designed to help people work their way out of poverty,” says Greenberg. He is one of the founders of Helping Hands Food Ko-op in Miami Beach, an organization that connects families in need to reduced-cost or free kosher food and to free diapers. This year, Yom Kippur falls at the end of national Diaper Need Awareness Week (Sept. 8-14). Helping Hands is one of nearly 200 diaper ban... Full story
Holocaust memoirs and eyewitness testimony record how Jews living under Nazi rule repeatedly took extraordinary risks to mark Yom Kippur in some way. Despite the grave dangers involved, and even though Jewish law permits eating or performing labor on the Day of Atonement in order to save one’s life, many Jews endured unimaginable suffering in order to commemorate the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. In his diary, Rabbi Shimon Huberband described his experiences in the Polish town of Piotrkow in the aftermath of the September 1939 German i... Full story
This summer, thousands of Jewish teens, ages 13-16, from all over the world shared in the fun of competing and the pride of being part of a world-famous Olympic-style event filled with Jewish content and values. Fourteen teens from Orlando traveled to Austin, Texas with delegation head, Robby Etzkin, to compete in basketball, soccer, and baseball. The 16U Basketball Team, which competed in the top bracket tournament under coaches Whitney Tossie and Jesse Lerner, included players, Evan Altman,... Full story
How outrageous... This is once again a reminder that I write far in advance of publication... so if the subjects I address are way in the past, or resolved, or whatever, they were timely when I commented on them: Hannah Montana is dead! Where is Miley’s daddy, BILLY RAY CYRUS? Shouldn’t he be outraged by her MTV performance? Another “outrage” is the horrible fire in Yosemite National Park that, at the time of this writing, is still out of control. I performed at the Beautiful Tenaya Lodge in Yos... Full story
The American Jewish Story Through Cinema, by Eric A. Goldman. As the title suggests, this book explores American Jewish history by examining movies as reflections of the experiences encountered by American Jews. Author Goldman is a teacher in the field of film studies, lecturing at Queens College, Yeshiva University, and the Jewish Theological Seminary. After an over-view introduction, Goldman devotes six chapters to looking indepth at nine films, beginning with the first talking picture, “The Jazz Singer,” starring Al Jolson, in which the str... Full story
