Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS)-It's hard to believe that it's been a quarter of a century: Sept. 13 marked the 25th anniversary of the 1993 signing of the U.S.-brokered Declaration of Principles between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Known also as the Oslo Accords, the deal signed between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and PLO head Yasser Arafat recognized the PLO as the official representative of the Palestinian people. With peace between the two sides the ultimate goal, Israel gradually hande...
Last year, Sami Kuperberg, a student at Oviedo High School, planned a program to address anti-Semitism with the support of JOIN Orlando and StandWithUs, titled "One Day Starts Today," that was held in the Oviedo High School auditorium. The event, which hosted two Holocaust survivors, was an overwhelming success with more than 600 students, faculty and parents in attendance. The purpose of the program was to educate students how to effectively respond to hate. StandWithUs, an international,...
(JNS)—Amid tensions between the Trump administration and the Palestinian Authority, the former announced on Sept. 10 that the Washington offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization will close in the same week as the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn is being marked by politicians and the press. “We have permitted the PLO office to conduct operations that support the objective of achieving a lasting, comprehensive peace between Israelis and the Palestinians since the expiration of a previous wai...
(Chabad.org/News via JNS)-For the last 11 years, the Lieblich family of Wilmington, N.C., have always held Rosh Hashanah services on both days of the holiday. This year, for the first time ever, they did not have a minyan for the second day because of a looming catastrophic weather threat: Hurricane Florence, which made landfall along the South Carolina, bringing with it massive storm surges and between 30 and 40 inches of rain in some places. "There's a sense of urgency here that I haven't...
NEW YORK-The New York-based Touro College and University System is pleased to announce the second lecture in the yearlong series it is bringing to Orlando in partnership with The Roth Family JCC. On Oct. 23, Dr. Marian Stoltz-Loike, dean, Lander College for Women/The Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten School and vice president of Online Education at Touro College in Manhattan, will be presenting "College Life: 1998 vs. 2018." The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. at The Roth Family JCC, located at 851 N....
Step out for a night on the town in your favorite pair of jeans, jazzed up with some glam accessories, at the Jewish Pavilion's Gems and Jeans 2018 Gala. The Oct. 28 affair will be a fun and festive evening of great food, live jazz, and enticing items to bid on in a silent auction. The slogan for the milestone 18th-chai-anniversary gala is "To Life!" It will be a celebration of the spark of Jewish life and culture that the Jewish Pavilion brings to more than 1,000 seniors living in elder care...
Heritage readers have been reading Marilyn Shapiro's warm and nostalgic stories for several months. In addition to the Heritage, her stories also are published in The Jewish World newspaper. She has written illuminating stories about her life and travels for many years, enough to compile a first book, "There Goes My Heart," published in 2016, and she also has a following on her blog theregoesmyheart.me. Now, she is thrilled that her second book, "Tikkun Olam: Stories of Repairing an Unkind...
Last week, Heritage ran a story about Kehilat Yonatan, a Reform congregation in Israel, winning a legal battle to build their synagogue. Heritage attempted to contact Lori Stein Erlich for comment. However, because of the High Holidays and the time difference between Israel and the States, a response wasn't received until the Sept. 14 issue went to press (we received her response about 10 minutes after the paper went to the printers). Erlich is a founder of Kehilat Yonatan and an immediate past...
Ari Fuld, 45, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist outside the Gush Etzion shopping mall on Sunday. Fuld was standing in the parking lot when the terrorist stabbed him from behind. Fuld drew his weapon and gave chase after the terrorist, who ran toward the entrance of the mall. Fuld and another civilian shot and wounded the terrorist before he collapsed. Through their courageous actions, they prevented a much larger attack. He was taken to Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem in...
MEDFORD, Mass. (JTA)—Pro-Israel students at Tufts University say a new course on Palestine is one-sided and demonizes Israel, and violates the university’s own policies on taking political stances. The course, taught by Thomas Abowd, a faculty member in the American Studies program, was first reported by Jewish News Syndicate. The JNS story sparked a flurry of criticism and concern from the Anti-Defamation League and pro-Israel campus organizations. Titled “Colonizing Palestine,” the course is offered through the liberal arts school...
(JNS)—A bipartisan bill that would cement U.S. military aid to Israel into law has passed a major hurdle on Wednesday night. The U.S. House of Representative approved the measure, known as the Ileana Ros-Lehtinen U.S.-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018, several weeks after it passed the Senate. It will now head for the president’s desk. Under the proposed legislation, the $38 billion in military aid over 10 years spelled out under the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding would be funded through a special mechanism that would be...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel closed its embassy in Paraguay following an announcement by the South American country that it was relocating its embassy back to Tel Aviv four months after moving to Jerusalem. The move comes as Paraguay joins the effort to bring peace to the Middle East. “Paraguay wants to contribute to an intensification of regional diplomatic efforts to achieve a broad, fair and lasting peace in the Middle East,” Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Castiglioni told reporters on Wednesday. Shortly after the announcement of the return to Te...
Every year my wife and I are invited to our cousin’s house for a second day of Rosh Hashanah lunch. It’s something we enjoy and count on—the good food, the camaraderie, the interesting commentary on services. Over the past two years friends have made comments to me that stuck, though not for the intended reasons. Last year, as our synagogue took the first steps into a new era, a friend told me that he would view the changes as a success based on the response and membership of young famil...
NEW YORK (JTA)—Former presidents recently served as eulogizers for Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, and U.S. Sen. John McCain, the “maverick.” Barack Obama and George Bush spoke for McCain, a former rival of both, while Bill Clinton did the same for Franklin, who performed at his 1993 inauguration. Neither funeral escaped controversy. Liberals quickly rebutted the notion that for all the high-minded rhetoric about bipartisanship, McCain’s memorial represented a rebuke of Donald Trump. Conservatives, and Jews of various political stripes...
By Jonathan S. Tobin (JNS)—When the Trump administration announced that it was ending its funding of the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) last week, the protests from the foreign-policy establishment were loud and anguished. As a New York Times op-ed that masqueraded as a news story sought to explain, UNRWA “matters” because the experts say it does. UNRWA has perpetuated the refugee problem it was established to solve and has become one of the chief obstacles to peace. It has served to keep the 1948 refugees and their desce...
NEW YORK (JTA)—In business, an effective planning process is essential for success. During the High Holidays, Jews are urged to engage in this sort of process for our own lives. We reflect on the past year, seeking lessons to help us in the coming year. Are we committed to the right ideals? Are we living up to them? When others need us, do we answer the call? As we look for opportunities to help others in the new year, and consider the best way to do so, we should remember a group that too often is forgotten: elderly Jews in the former S...
NEW YORK (JTA)—It has become conventional wisdom in certain circles that the Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, which was signed 25 years ago Sept. 13, 1993, on the White House lawn, was simply a failure. There is no doubt that the great hopes of Israeli-Palestinian peace and reconciliation engendered by Oslo have not been realized. Twenty-five years later not only is there no peace, but the parties are not even talking to each other and the Palestinians themselves remain irreconcilably divided. Moreover, not only was peace n...
By Yoni Ben Menachem (The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs via JNS)—The statement from the Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghunaimat about Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s comments on a new U.S. proposal for a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation was short and to the point: ”The matter is not an option. Jordan supports a two-state solution and an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.” According to senior Fatah officials, Abbas shared the proposal, which came from U.S. President Donald Trump, with a group o...
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...
(Israel Hayom via JNS)-U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman believes that the Golan Heights will remain under Israeli sovereignty, and certainly won't be placed back in the hands of Syria's current leader, President Bashar Assad. In an exclusive interview with Israel Hayom, which will be published in full on Friday, Friedman says that "I can't imagine a circumstance where the Golan Heights will be returned to Syria. I cannot imagine, frankly, a circumstance where the Golan Heights is not a...
(My Jewish Learning via JTA)-The central mitzvah of Sukkot is found in Leviticus 23:42, where Jews are commanded to dwell in a sukkah, a temporary hut, for seven days and nights. We do this in order to remember the experiences of our ancestors, both on the journey from Egypt to the Land of Israel and in a later era, when farmers brought offerings to the ancient Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the harvest. But many people live in climates, neighborhoods or buildings that preclude constructing...
(JTA)-So much at the Jewish New Year is sweet: first fruits, honey, honey cake. By the time Sukkot rolls around, we're often looking for something savory to offset it all. Regardless of the time of year, we have some favorites in our house. One is smoked salmon with cream cheese and vegetables on an everything bagel. This menu is a riff on that very dish, but with a lighter and healthier take on the very foods that make the flavors so delicious. For a time saver, the fish can be crusted ahead...
Another great move... I read this recently and pass it along to you: "Speaking at a meeting of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations in Jerusalem, which operates under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress, Paraguayan President HORACIO CARTES expressed satisfaction over the moving of his country's embassy to Jerusalem. If anyone had any doubt about the appropriateness of the embassy move, Cartes said, 'just read the Bible.' Cartes added that this would be his final trip to Israel, as his t...
On Monday, September 17, students at Jewish Academy of Orlando observed Tashlich. While kindergarten, first, and second graders attended a service on campus, the third through fifth grade students observed Tashlich at Lake Lily. The program, attended by students and their families, included a service with inspirational readings from Jewish sources and concluded with the blowing of the shofar. Afterwards, the students symbolically cast their sins into the water to help usher in new beginnings...
(The Nosher via JTA)-There can never be too many tomatoes. August's heat is always made more bearable for me by peak tomato season. I love to eat them cut into thick rounds and topped on crusty well-buttered toasted bread, or chopped small in a simple Israeli salad alongside cucumber and herbs. Stuffed vegetables of all kinds were regularly made and eaten in our home, just as they are in many other Russian Jewish kitchens. Stuffed cabbage, stuffed peppers and stuffed mushrooms are regional...
