Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS)-For five months now, since March 2018, Israeli communities bordering Gaza have sustained ongoing terrorism and arson from hundreds of rockets and incendiary devices, causing constant stress and chaos for the 50,000 people who call this region home. Residential and commercial damage, along with some 10,000 acres of land, including forests and agricultural plots, have been destroyed. Just as the worst seemed to be over, this month more than 200 rockets struck the Eshkol and Sha'ar HaNegev Re...
Recently, JTA reported that a Reform congregation won a legal battle to build a synagogue building in the central Israeli city of Hod Hasharon, a wealthy city located several miles north of Tel Aviv. Former Orlando resident Lori Stein Erlich and her Israeli husband, Moshe Erlich, are members of this congregation. Back in 2014, the Erlichs visited the Heritage office to share their vision of having a building for their Reform/Conservative congregation, Kehilat Yonatan (see the article titled "The...
More than 40 years ago a small group of Christians, under the leadership of Pastor Ken Garrison, chose to step away from traditional Baptist practices and began to learn about the biblical feasts found in Leviticus, and to be a support to Israel by following the calling to comfort His people. Over the years, Fellowship Church in Winter Springs, has led Passover seders to teach fellow Christians about how Christian beliefs tie into the celebration that the Jewish people have observed for more...
On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump told Jewish leaders that the Palestinians would not receive any more aid from the U.S., unless they made a deal with Israel. Trump made the remarks during a conference call placed in anticipation of the Jewish New Year in which the president communicated with a number of American Jewish leaders. Trump’s remarks arrive on the heels of his administration’s decision to cut funds both to the Palestinians’ dedicated UN agency, UNRWA, and direct aid to the Palestinians. To that end, Trump noted during the c...
The Atlanta-based Center for Israel Education and the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel invite Jewish 10th- and 11th-graders to apply to attend the Teen Israel Leadership Institute during the weekend of Oct. 26 to 28. The institute will feature a series of learning activities to expand students' knowledge and understanding of Israel and Zionism while they experience Jewish life on a college campus (Emory University) and forge friendships with peers from across the country. The...
Pet therapy is a widely used practice that helps a person overcome physical and mental challenges. Bonding with an animal can reduce blood pressure and release endorphins that calm, decrease stress, alleviate pain and improve one's overall psychological state. The Jewish Pavilion provides opportunities for the residents living at Oakmonte Village to interact with small animals brought from Pet Rescue by Judy. Each month on the third Tuesday, Cheryl Zambrano, along with her helpers, Carol and...
As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Temple Israel will be having a special Shabbat service, "Sisterhood & Sharsheret: Empowering Jewish Women," on Saturday, Oct. 6, at 9:30 a.m. in the Rein Sanctuary. According to its mission statement, "Sharsheret is a national not-for-profit organization supporting young Jewish women and their families facing breast cancer. Our mission is to offer a community of support to women, of all Jewish backgrounds, diagnosed with breast cancer or at...
The Atlantic Institute and the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida are partnering on a program titled “Responding to Hatred and Extremism: Solutions from Faith Traditions.” This event will be held Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. at the Holocaust Center at 851 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland, Fla.. Through this panel, the Center aims to respond to hatred and extremism by examining solutions used through the different faith traditions. We hope to provide education to those who may be unfamiliar with these faiths and set an example of coe...
(JTA)-Playwright Neil Simon, known for such Broadway hits as "The Odd Couple," "Barefoot in the Park" and "Lost in Yonkers," has died. Simon, who earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, died Saturday, Aug. 26, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City from complications with pneumonia at the age of 91. No writer of non-musical comedies was more successful in the second half of the 20th century, and no one else so frequently, successfully nor wittily, plumbed the anxieties of middle-cl...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Princeton Lyman, the Jewish American diplomat who played a critical role in organizing Operation Moses, the stunning 1984 airlift of Ethiopian Jews, has died at 82. Lyman died Friday at his home in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland, the Washington Post reported. He died of lung cancer. The Post obituary celebrated the role of Lyman in helping to midwife the transition in South Africa from apartheid to democracy in the early 1990s when he was the U.S. ambassador...
Salmonella in Empire Kosher chicken has led to one death and 17 illnesses, the Centers for Disease Control said. Eight people have been hospitalized. The outbreak of the food-borne infection in the leading kosher chicken seller has shown up in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, according to a CDC notice Wednesday afternoon. The death occurred in New York. JTA has reached out to Empire Kosher and to the CDC for comment. The CDC began investigating after the New York state Department of Health reported that several people who were...
Eighteen and a half years ago, when our third and last child was born, I remember thinking, “I’m going to be 62 when he goes to college. That’s so old!” Now that time has come, as has Rosh Hashanah, a new year, a pause, a moment to look back and evaluate who we are and where we’ve been. Our youngest child has left the nest for college, and we new empty nesters are moving into the inevitable next phase of life, not the last phase but a very different one, an older one, one that has long been...
(JNS)—A demonstration last month in Washington consisting of two-dozen right-wing extremists set the world on its head. The event on the anniversary of last year’s Charlottesville rally by neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan was a pathetic flop, but it still generated massive coverage from the mainstream media. Many pundits, especially those from the Jewish community, urged us not to be deceived by the proof of their insignificance. After a year-and-a-half of touting the notion that the radical right was gaining influence, nothing could be all...
It can be claimed that no single day in the Jewish liturgical calendar is clearly meant to showcase the unity of the Jewish People than Yom Kippur. And during Yom Kippur no single service symbolizes that unity more than the famous Kol Nidre. A short declaration made with a call that we all stand together is made near the start of the service: “By the authority of the Court on High and by authority of the court down here, by the permission of One Who Is Everywhere and by the permission of this congregation, we hold it lawful to pray with s...
(JNS)—In this topsy-turvy world, if you’d like to see Palestinians living in peace, gainfully employed, with access to quality medical care and reason to believe tomorrow will be brighter than today, you’re denounced as anti-Palestinian. If, by contrast, you prefer that Palestinians remain impoverished and on the dole of America and other “donor nations,” hating their next-door neighbor and bequeathing that hatred to their children, viewing themselves as victims while aspiring to “martyrdom” in an endless war, you get to call yourself a ch...
(JNS)—With the Trump Administration reportedly planning various steps against UNRWA—the U.N. aid agency devoted solely to Palestinian refugees—Israeli defense officials have leaped to UNRWA’s defense. A rapid cutback of U.S. funding would create a vacuum in basic services, especially in Gaza, that Hamas might fill, and could even spark violence, they warned. But their argument is wrong on at least three counts. First, U.S. cutbacks won’t actually cause a financial crisis. Second, forcing Hamas to provide basic services in UNRWA’s stead would...
(JNS)—Perhaps more than any other issue in the Middle East today, the situation in Gaza under the control of Hamas—a designated foreign terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel and aspiring to the genocide of world Jewry—is one of the greatest obstacles to regional peace, security and prosperity. Since Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, and after Hamas brutally seized control from its Palestinian rival Fatah in 2007, conditions for residents have dramatically worsened. Hamas has stolen vast amounts of mone...
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 Kinneret Council on Aging, a nonprofit agency that provides ongoing programs and services to residents of Kinneret Apartments, has launched their new, redesigned website, www.KinneretLiving.org. “We are thrilled to launch our new website which has a new look and feel,” said Sharon F. Weil, director of Programming and Development, KCOA. “The website is clean, bright and much more easily navigated,” she continued. The idea to update the site was brought forward at a board meeting when members noticed that as the needs of the Kinneret residen...
The fine arts program continues to grow at Jewish Academy of Orlando. This summer, JAO was one of 10 schools selected to participate in a grant by the highly prestigious Teacher Institute for the Arts program, sponsored by Kol HaOt Art Institute of Jerusalem. This program is run under the auspices of American/Israeli artist David Moss. Teachers were trained to utilize cutting-edge techniques to integrate art and Judaic studies. "Exploring Jewish texts and values through the visual arts is one...
Nina and Ron Oppenheim of Maitland announce with pleasure the engagement of their son Craig Oppenheim to Stephanie Flax, daughter of Jill Flax of Potomac, Maryland, and the late Howie Flax. Stephanie is a graduate of Emory University and is employed in production and marketing by radio stations WTOP and Federal News Radio in Washington, D.C. Craig is a graduate of Northeastern University and holds a master's degree from The George Washington University. He is employed at the United States...
Each year for the High Holidays, the plaintive, soul-stirring sound of the shofar rings out in synagogues all over the world, and congregants are moved by that ancient tie to their ancestors. For the past several years, Jewish Pavilion volunteer Susie Stone has made sure that Jews in area senior living facilities are not left out. In many Jewish homes, a shofar is proudly displayed on a shelf or mantle, more an object of Judaica than an instrument used during High Holiday prayer. Maybe once or...
He was loved and respected... I wrote briefly about the late Senator John McCain in last week's column when I first heard about his passing. (I write well in advance of publication). What I want to add is that he was a true hero and I want him to be remembered in history as Winston Churchill, Presidents Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, etc., are remembered. I want my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, etc., to learn about him. Though a life-long...
Israel’s Channel 10 News published a report on Tuesday based on comments from a senior Fatah official demonstrating Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ intense hostility toward any potential deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip. According to the report, the Fatah official told Channel 10 that Abbas was furious with the Egyptians for mediating the agreement, which the PA chief referred to as “treachery and defiance against the leadership.” The official also claimed that Abbas acknowledged that the suppose...
(JTA)-For North American Jews, the Jewish year 5778 began with tensions between Israel and the Diaspora over egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall and ended with more tension over a controversial nationality law. In between, North American Jews grappled with the impact of the #MeToo movement, the Trump administration relocated the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and actress Natalie Portman made headlines for turning down a chance to collect a top prize in Israel. September 2017 Edie...
