Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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On the same day that the U.S. and Russia agreed to a deal stipulating that Syria must remove or destroy its chemical weapons stockpile by mid-2014, Israelis were happy to spend Saturday’s 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War in synagogue, and not on the battlefield or in safe rooms with gas masks. Yet Israelis’ long-term outlook on the situation in Syria isn’t as rosy. “Israelis are relieved in the short-term but concerned in the long-term,” Mitchell Barak, an Israeli political pollster...
NEW YORK (JTA)—When Georgette Bennett decided a few months ago to help refugees from Syria’s civil war, she wanted to do it in a Jewish way. Citing a passage from Leviticus she said her late husband often quoted, “Thou shalt not stand idly by the blood of thy neighbor,” Bennett met with the CEO of a major Jewish aid group and quickly got him to agree to head a Jewish effort for the refugees. Bennett, a former professor, journalist and philanthropist, supplied the first $100,000. The CEO, Al...
A room crowded with art aficionados and Holocaust museum supporters gathered around the 25-plus pieces of artwork to look closely at the craftsmanship of 18 local artists who presented their interpretations of Kristallnacht through their art mediums. The exhibit was the opening of “In Remembrance: 75 Years After Kristallnacht,” hosted by the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida. The opening reception, which included a juried art contest, was a successful event. When pla...
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando’s Jewish Community Relations Committee is pleased to announce a free community adult education initiative focusing on “Jews in American Politics.” Dr. Terri Susan Fine, political science professor at UCF, will teach the class on four Monday nights—Sept. 30, Oct. 7, Oct. 14, and Oct. 28—from 7 to 8:15 during Beit Hamidrash at the Jewish Academy of Orlando. The adult course, which is separate from the students’ classes, is open to the public. Participant...
Israeli Member of Knesset Nachman Shai (Labor), who studied and worked in the U.S. for years, says he had no idea how much the 25-year-old prayer rights group Women of the Wall mattered to North American Jews—until he went there on a recent outreach trip. “We were shocked to see how important women praying at the Kotel was,” Shai says in an interview with JNS.org. “For average Israelis it’s not such a big issue.” “Wherever we went [in North America] we heard about the Kotel as if it was the ce...
During his term as Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren found himself faced with a rapidly changing America, a Middle East on fire, and an Israel that had to deftly navigate between the seismic changes taking place in both locations. But looking at the polls, which continuously show high support for Israel among Americans, Oren is satisfied, saying they show that support for Israel in American public opinion is “the highest it’s ever been.” “At a time when the Middle East is turbule...
NEW YORK (Forward)—Does Jewish culture need a central address in order to thrive? Not according to the people who work there. The Foundation for Jewish Culture, a New York-based organization that has given more than $50 million to Jewish scholars and artists since 1960, will cease its operations in the coming year. According to the FJC’s president and CEO, Elise Bernhardt, the organization will wind down its activities in 2014, work with attorneys to distribute its assets and seek new homes for its programs. “Our operating model isn’t really...
The Orlando Chapter of Hadassah recently held a luncheon to pay tribute to Bunny Rosen for her years of devoted service to the organization. She is the heart of the Orlando chapter. She oversees the monthly luncheon meetings, awards brunch, donor luncheon, and the Youth Aliyah Fashion Show. Perfection is the key word. She will settle for nothing less, be it an event venue, a casual buffet or an elegant meal, donor accounts, the gathering of donations, an auction or a drawing. Rosen is an...
The Orlando Chapter of Hadassah will host an afternoon dessert reception featuring nationally-known mentalist Mark Stone, who will present “Mentalmania,” a program of mind-reading and ESP that has amazed audiences all over the world. This event takes place on Sunday, Oct. 6, at three o’clock in the afternoon at Eola Masonic Lodge, 3200 E. Grant St., Orlando. Mark is a well-known member of the Jewish community, and has performed locally many times. Those who have attended his performances, or seen him in one of his many TV appearances, have...
The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando will host Steven Gataletto, research librarian at the Orange County History Center, at its first meeting of the new year on Tuesday, Sept. 24, from 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Gataletto will speak on “Remembering Orlando and its Jewish citizens.” The meeting will be held at the Roth Jewish Community Center, 861 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland. Admission is free for members, $5 for nonmembers. The JGSGO is a non-profit organization that has been in existence for more than 20 years, helping hundreds of peopl...
Meet Sue Shames who moved to town just a few months ago with her parents. While helping her parents settle in at Chambrel she became connected with the Jewish Pavilion. Shames volunteers by helping at Shabbat services, visiting with residents and giving them a new Jewish calendar, provided by Beth Shalom Memorial Chapel. She finds it fulfilling and a wonderful way to meet new friends while feeling involved with her new community all while doing a mitzvah. Call the office at 407-678-9363 to...
Barely minutes after the news broke that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was planning a major effort on Capitol Hill to garner support for the Obama Administration’s plan for a limited military operation against the Syrian regime, the conspiracy theorists were having a field day. As always, it’s instructive to note how the notion that American foreign policy is a prisoner of organizations like AIPAC, the main pro-Israel lobbying group in America, is an idée fixe on both the far left and the extreme right. Juan Cole, a left-...
“A Portrait of American Jews,” a major study due out soon from The Pew Research Center, is said to show that more than 60 percent of the children of intermarriage are raised as Jews. It also notes that only 22 percent are given a Jewish education. What, then, does it mean to be raised Jewish if it doesn’t include a Jewish education? That’s just one question certain to be brought up in a renewed discussion, prompted by the report, over the nature, sustainability and future of American Jewish life in the 21st century. Already in recent days a...
By Ira Sharkansky On the one hand there are these considerations... On the other hand are these... In the light of these conditions, what should be the policy of the United States? Of course there is no clear or “objective” answer. Someone has to decide. Most prominently it will be the president of the United States, with inputs from White House advisers, secretaries and others from the Departments of Defense and State, plus whatever comes out of Congress, what reaches the president from interest groups and commentators in the U.S. and ove...
I’ll never forget the words of my Hebrew school teacher: “While we may have once been the ‘Chosen People,’ now we are the ‘Choosing People.’” This has been a guiding principle throughout all my years as an educator, one that has accompanied me from my tenure in the Soviet Jewry movement in the 1980s and early ’90s right up until my present-day position as the director of America’s oldest Zionist youth movement, Young Judaea. This time of the year is all about evaluating ourselves as the “Choosing People.” What choices have I made this past...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The scene is familiar to us all. Women of the Wall come to the Kotel to worship in the shadow of the Temple Mount. Haredi Orthodox worshippers respond by disrupting their prayers, sometimes pelting them with eggs and other objects. Underlying these clashes are distinctly modern issues—the conflict between liberal and traditionalist Jewish movements and the proper place of religion in the Jewish state, among others. But the controversy surrounding women’s prayer at the Western Wall hearkens back to events that occurred but a few...
Dear Editor: Chanukah stamps should be available at all post offices on or about Oct. 17. It will not be a new issue, rather it will be the same stamp issued in 2011. Since it is not a new issue, not all post offices will order a supply. Chanukah is early this year, beginning the night of Nov. 27. If your post office does not have a supply of Hanukkah stamps after Oct. 20 you can contact Ronald Scheiman at hanukkah@att.net. This information is important to show there is a demand for Hanukkah stamps that is not being met. Ronald Scheiman The...
Congregation Beth Israel of Ocala and the Nature Coast Unitarian Fellowship of Citrus County will hold a joint service of welcome and celebration of the fall harvest on Sunday Sept. 22 at 10:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Fellowship Meeting Hall on 7633 North Florida Avenue, Citrus Springs. There will be readings and musical interludes as well as an explanation from the Jewish congregation about the holiday of Sukkot upon which the American holiday of Thanksgiving is based. After the service, refreshments will be served in the sukkah, a temporary...
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 20 Second day of Sukkot Light ca...
The Orlando Chapter of Hadassah will hold its October regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 1, at Congregation Ohev Shalom beginning at 11:30 a.m. Lunch is included with a couvert of $10. Linda Bender will be the guest speaker for the day. Her expertise is in astrology. Bender was born in Wilmington, N.C., and grew up in Asheville, N.C. She graduated from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in history and the social sciences. She married Morton Bender and moved to Central Florida in 1969, where both her sons were born. She is the p...
(JTA)—Many Jews feel a connection with their ancestors, but how many have regular conversations with them? Rebecca Rosen, a 36-year-old mother of two, is one who does. Rosen lists her profession as “psychic medium,” and her specialty is communing with the dead, acting as “the bridge between the spiritual and the physical world.” Rosen is a far cry from most psychics, with their storefront tables, tarot cards and crystal balls. She has appeared on “Dr. Phil” and “The Rachael Ray Show” and write...
On Monday, Aug. 12, 155 eager and excited students passed through the doors of Maitland’s Jewish Academy of Orlando to meet their teachers for the 2013-14 school year. Not only was the excitement of a new school year in the air, so was the feeling of pride as the students and parents learned that this year marks the school’s 36th anniversary. It’s Jewish Academy’s Double Chai anniversary year. What does Double Chai mean? Chai is a Hebrew word and symbol that means “life” or “luck.” Bec...
I was reminded... In last week’s column I wrote this: “Instead of the gassing of innocent Syrian people including children, Congress (especially members of the House of Representatives) had to vote on whether or not to save Jews from the Holocaust. Can you imagine how that vote would go? (I’m just saying.)” Since last week, I was reminded by someone a little older than me, how the United States did nothing to save the Jews of Europe from the Holocaust. I was also reminded about our anti-Se...
Celebrity Rosh Hashanah roundup: Gwyneth Paltrow, Woody Allen, Zach Braff NEW YORK—From Shanah Tovah shoutouts to on-set shofar blowing, here’s how some of the more famous and attractive among us recognized the new year. 1. What to do when filming your Kickstarter-funded project gets in the way of Rosh Hashanah? Celebrate at work, of course! At least that’s what Zach Braff did on Friday: According to Popsugar, he put together a New Year’s gathering for the heavily Jewish cast of “Wish I Was Here...
Twenty years after the signing of the fateful Oslo Accords between Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, Knesset Members are heavily debating the merits of the peace process and the two-state solution paradigm. Parliamentarians from both Israel’s left and the right agree that the process has not yielded the results anyone would have hoped for, including the deaths of more than 1,000 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians, and agree that th...
