Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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The 27th annual Central Florida Jewish Film Festival will be held Nov. 1-3, and opens at the Orlando Science Center Digital Adventure Theater. This year there are five movies in the lineup but all five are full-length features - two documentaries, one unsettling drama, one comedy, and one animated drama. Without further ado, here is the review. Saturday, Nov. 1 at 7:45 p.m. at the Orlando Science Center Digital Adventure Theater Shari & Lamp Chop Take a step back into your childhood and revisit...
At 9:10 p.m. on Sept. 19, the security footage captured Rabbi Simon Jacobson, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Charlotte County, and cousin of Rabbi Yanky Majesky of Chabad of North Orlando, exiting the synagogue after Shabbat services. Ninety minutes later, Jacobson's phone rang. By the third ring, unease had crept in. Being Shabbat and hearing repeated calls at that late hour Jacobson feared an emergency. He glanced at the screen: Punta Gorda Police Department. The quaint city of Punta Gorda...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a plan to end the war in Gaza, with a 72-hour deadline, which begins when Israel accepts the agreement, for Hamas to return the hostages it holds in Gaza. Speaking at a press conference after the White House released the plan, Trump said that Hamas has not agreed to the proposal but that Arab and Muslim countries are negotiating with the terrorist group. “We’re relying on the countries that I named and others to deal with Hamas, and I’m hearing that Hama...
The Jewish Pavilion Senior Services recently hired Vanessa Stein as the new assistant director. Stein is also on the Board of Directors at Congregation Ohev Shalom. Stein brings both professional expertise and personal experience to her role. She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology with minors in gerontology and Jewish Studies from the University of Florida in 2005, followed by a Master of Social Work from the University of Central Florida in 2008. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker,...
(JNS) — The Israeli mission to the United Nations held an event honoring the “women who stepped forward when the world stood still” at U.N. headquarters in New York City on Tuesday. “On Oct. 7, not only was the cruelty of Hamas revealed to the world, but also the heroism of Israeli women,” Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, said at the event. “In the face of terror and murder, they stood up like lionesses,” he said. “They fought, saved and protected.” “We carry their spirit with us. The women of Israel have proven...
The Jewish Pavilion invites the community to a complimentary grief support program offered twice yearly over five weeks. The next series will meet on Tuesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., beginning Oct. 21 and concluding Nov. 18, at Village on the Green in Longwood (470 Village Place, D Building Lounge). Facilitated by Vanessa Stein, LCSW, assistant director at the Jewish Pavilion, the program provides a safe and compassionate space for individuals to navigate their grief through a Jewish lens. Participants are encouraged to attend all five...
To enhance the lives of seniors of all faiths in eldercare communities and to assist families in obtaining necessary resources through the Orlando Senior, Jewish Pavilion Senior Services will host a Harvest and Post-Sukkot Networking Festival on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, from 4 – 6 p.m. The event will be held at Watercrest, 1501 Glendon Pkwy, Winter Park. Enjoy delicious appetizers, desserts, drinks, raffles and prizes! Donations of $25 per person are accepted in advance ($35 at the door). Register at jewishpavilion.org or call 4...
(JNS) — World leaders reacted swiftly and largely positively to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement Monday of a comprehensive plan to end the Gaza war and secure the release of the remaining hostages. French President Emmanuel Macron was among the first to respond, posting on X (formerly Twitter): “I welcome President @realDonaldTrump’s commitment to ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of all hostages. I expect Israel to engage resolutely on this basis. Hamas has no choice but to immediately release all hostages and follow...
(JNS) — Washington will defend Qatar from future attacks, including with military force if needed, according to an executive order that U.S. President Donald Trump signed on Monday. “The United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States,” the order states. If the Gulf state is attacked, Washington “shall take all lawful and appropriate measures —including diplomatic, economic and, if necessary, military...
(JNS) — European Jewish Association Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin said on Friday that the deadly terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur “proves what we warned of a year ago: Jews in Europe live under constant threat.” “We called for a state of emergency then, and if leaders had acted, lives might have been spared,” Margolin said, adding: “This is not random violence; it is the result of a climate where demonizing Israel has become acceptable, and Jews everywhere pay the price.” Police on Thursday identified the suspect i...
(JNS) — Marco Massari, mayor of the Italian city of Reggio Emilia, was presenting a civic honor to Francesca Albanese, a United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, on Sunday, when he told an audience of hundreds, “the end of the genocide and the release of the hostages are necessary conditions to start a peace process.” The U.N. adviser, who has a long history of Jew-hatred, reportedly scolded Massari, as the crowd jeered the mayor. “The mayor was wrong and said something that is not true,” Albanese said. “Peace does not need co...
Watching Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian address the United Nations General Assembly was not only nauseating but also infuriating for millions of Iranians. To hear a man with the blood of countless citizens on his hands lecture the world about human rights, equality, and the rights of Gaza’s children is nothing short of grotesque hypocrisy. If the UN were to replace its teleprompters with lie detectors when Iranian envoys speak, the results would shock the world. These representatives of the Islamic Republic do not come to promote peace o...
(JNS) — While it has shown remarkable resilience, the economy has been one area where Israel has clearly suffered significant losses in terms of lost income from the collapse of the tourism industry, the cost of property damage, the cost of war materiel and the cost of rehabilitation. It will take years to recoup the losses, and even then, it is uncertain whether the economy will be as strong as it was before Oct. 7. One indication of the shape of the economy is the downgrading by major ratings services. S&P and Fitch both reduced the c...
(JNS) — When Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany were threatening to take over Europe in the 1930s prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain chose appeasement. On Sept. 30, 1938, the Munich Agreement was signed by Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany, handing over the Sudetenland, a fortified region of Czechoslovakia, to Hitler. The agreement was signed without Czechoslovakia’s participation. Six months later, Germany invaded the rest of the country. The appeasement had failed catastrophically. App...
For over 75 years, the State of Israel has taken pride in protecting worldwide Jewry as well as its own citizens. The current surge in antisemitism, however, reveals a collapse in this dual promise and obligates Diaspora leaders to adopt a new assertiveness toward distracted decision-makers in Jerusalem. The Basic Law of the Jewish state establishes Diaspora well-being as a priority: “The State shall strive to secure the welfare of members of the Jewish People and of its citizens who are in straits and in captivity due to their Jewishness or d...
(JNS) — It seems that each week during the month of Elul, there has been a terrorist attack, all of them a national tragedy. In the quietest moments of heartbreak, when the world feels shattered into a million tiny pieces, I’ve discovered something unexpectedly beautiful: Our broken hearts are actually doorways. Doorways to connection. Doorways to healing. Doorways to something Divine. As we enter the sacred period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, these Ten Days of Awe that feel both eternal and fleeting, I find myself thinking about how...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s new 20-point Mideast peace plan, based in large part on his “Peace to Prosperity” plan issued during his first administration, lays out conditions that on the surface seem like common sense. Palestinians must stop incitement. They must stop raising their children to hate Jews. They must form a vetted police force to maintain order, accept international supervision, rebuild their society and create a moderate self-governing authority. These sound like reasonable benchmarks. But the problem is simple:...
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 final performance of “Parade,” a Tony Award-winning musical, was held just days ago at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It told the story of the 1913 murder of Mary Phagan, a teenage girl in Atlanta, and the flawed trial, conviction, and, ultimately, the vigilante lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish New Yorker transplanted to the American South who managed the factory where the murder took place. The trial was marred by antisemitism, bribery, coerced testimony and mob intimidation. Though the curtain has closed, Frank’s conviction...
(JNS) — Wikipedia, one of the most viewed sites on the internet, has hosted a page on “Gaza genocide” since Dec. 29, 2023. Since Sept. 22, Wikipedia has linked to the “Gaza genocide” article, which accused Israel of war crimes, in an “in the news” section on its main page, which millions of people view daily. The American Jewish Committee told JNS that Wikipedia is “elevating reckless and biased charges of genocide as fact,” and given how many genocide scholars disagree with that statement, the crowd-sourced encyclopedia “showcases how da...
(JNS) - Michelle Rukovicin, the most severely wounded survivor of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacres, married her partner on Tuesday night in a ceremony celebrated as a symbol of resilience. The IDF intelligence systems technician, who was critically injured defending Kissufim base from Hamas terrorists and spent three months in a coma, wed her boyfriend of five years, Rinat Kasimov, the partner who remained at her side throughout her grueling recovery. She was struck by seven bullets, wounde...
These are quick and easy to make for an impressive dessert. Makes 12 mini pastries. 17 oz. Pepperidge Farm frozen puff pastry 1 recipe Almond Paste from Scratch (See below.) 4 oz. Sliced or slivered almonds 1 egg yolk Defrost pastry about 1 hour. Pastry should be soft enough to work without breaking, but still cold. Line a baking sheet with foil sprayed with cooking spray. For mini pastries, cut each section of defrosted pastry in thirds lengthwise and then cut each length in half. Spread each...
Preheat oven to 425F. In microwave melt 4 T. butter, covered, 45 seconds on high. Set aside. In a 3-quart casserole with a cover, place 1 cup rinsed basmati rice with two cups water. Mix in a packet of low sodium bouillon powder. Place casserole on micro-safe dinner plate to catch drips. Cover and cook in microwave 15 minutes on high. If rice is too dry, add 2 T.-3T. water and cover to allow rice to absorb moisture. If too wet, allow the rice to sit for 5 minutes or reheat in microwave 2...
Senior rehabilitation centers are designed to help those recovering from an injury or serious medical event to reduce pain and improve function. Senior rehab facilities often include services such as physical therapy to help improve mobility, balance, strength, flexibility etc. Senior rehabilitation centers are designed to help those recovering from an injury or serious medical event to reduce pain and improve function. According to the Center for Medicare Advocacy, the average length of stay for inpatient rehab is 12 days. These numbers...
