Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) - A 2700-year-old toilet from the days of the First Temple in Jerusalem has been discovered by Israel's Antiquities Authority. Built as a private toilet stall at a time when few could afford such a luxury, the toilet is set to be unveiled to the public tomorrow at an archaeology conference, though for viewing only. Carved from limestone, the toilet appears much like the modern-day fixture with a hole at the center leading to a septic tank. At the time the ancient toilet was in use,...
(JNS) — For the second year in a row, the Jewish Federations of North America decided to go virtual, condensing its traditional multiple-day General Assembly into a 90-minute online video stream on Sunday due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The conference highlighted the fact that despite an unusual year-and-a-half, JFNA has had more to do than ever in the midst of the COVID crisis and a worldwide rise in anti-Semitism. Multiple speakers noted the goal of strengthening Jewish communities, both in identity and physical security. Despite t...
Kenneth Hanson, professor and program director of Judaic Studies, was invested into the Tess and Abe Wise Endowed Professorship in Judaic Studies on Thursday, Sept. 30, in a virtual ceremony. The endowed faculty position, which was established thanks to generous gifts from Tess and Abe Wise and their family, recognizes Hanson's accomplishments and will allow him to advance his work and research. Hanson is an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the co-editor of "The Annotated Passover Haggadah"...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Jewish Federations of North America is launching a campaign to expand its security program to every federation in the country, an initiative that will cost $54 million. JFNA CEO Eric Fingerhut announced the initiative on Monday at the organization’s General Assembly in Washington. The new funding, to be raised over three years, will assist the 101 communities that have faced fundraising obstacles in establishing the security points in their communities so they too can join LiveSecure, a program launched after a spate of...
Using history, Talmudic sources, Jewish mysticism, and contemporary expert analysis, the course addresses some of the niggling questions we grapple with as individuals and as a community. Why does antisemitism persist? How can we make hate go away? How can we counter Israel-focused antisemitism and prevent our own youth from unwittingly lending their voices to antisemitic agendas? "Many Jews are anxious about rising antisemitism today and worry about how to respond to it," Rabbi Mendy Bronstein...
The tree of life is a symbol of a fresh start on life, positive energy, good health and a bright future. It is a symbol of immortality and a symbol of growth and strength. A tree grows old, yet it bears seeds that contain its very essence and in this way, the tree becomes immortal. In 2019, the leadership of the Jewish Pavilion determined that they would like to add a Tree of Life to the office décor and worked with Joanne Fink of Zenspirations to design the tree. Fink's response was...
With the Delta variant still not allowing so many to join the holiday celebrations, the Majeskys of Chabad North Orlando found an innovative and fun way to bring Sukkot to them. Rabbi Yanky and Chanshy Majesky and their children, rode their "Sukkah on a Bike '' from door to door giving community members the chance to be in a sukkah and to do the mitzvah of Lulav and Esrog. "I was looking out the window and thought I was dreaming," said Jerry B. "There was a sukkah pulling into my driveway." For...
JFS Orlando is currently enrolling new households from Orange County, City of Orlando and Seminole County for its Family Stabilization Program. The Family Stabilization Program is a preventative, six-month case management program. The program is designed for families to obtain self-sufficiency by teaching them critical skills and tools to resolve crises and avoid future hardships while achieving long-term stability. The program’s primary objectives are to improve financial management skills, employability, family stability and mental health fun...
Local resident Sandi Solomon has been painting for many years. She had so many works of art that she displayed them on all the walls of her home. Now she has them on exhibit at JamArt Gallery, located at 304 Live Oaks Blvd., Casselberry. Solomon’s artwork will be on display through the month of October....
(Cleveland Jewish News via JNS) — Someone in a vehicle reportedly threw a beer bottle at a 13-year-old Fuchs Mizrachi School student in an Orthodox neighborhood in University Heights, Ohio, and screamed, “F******g Jews, you’re f*****g idiots, Jews,” and then drove away. Naava Prero had just gotten off a public school bus at the corner of Milton and Groveland roads at about 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday when the reported incident took place. As the bus pulled away, another vehicle pulled up to the girl, her mother, Rachel Prero, told the Clevela...
(Israel21c via JNS) — The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine loses considerable effectiveness six months after the second dose, according to new Israeli research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study echoes findings published by Pfizer and Kaiser Permanente in Lancet earlier in the week, showing the vaccine’s effectiveness drops from 88 to 47 percent after six months. This study also proved the vaccine 90 percent effective for at least six months at preventing hospitalization of infected people. The Israeli study inv...
(JNS) — Hillel International has teamed up with the Anti-Defamation League and the Secure Community Network to launch an online portal where college students can report anti-Semitic incidents on their campus and receive immediate support. The creation of ReportCampusHate.org is in response to the growing threats of anti-Semitism on college campuses. Hillel International recorded 244 anti-Semitic incidents on college and university campuses last year, up from 181 the year before. It also comes after a recent survey found that 74 percent of c...
(JNS) — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris outrageously responded on Sept. 28 to a George Mason University student accusing Israel of committing “ethnic geocide” by saying, “… [Y]our voice, your perspective, your experience, your truth, should not be suppressed.” Conservative Rabbi David Wolpe aptly reacted: “Madame Vice President, the idea that Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinians is not someone’s truth; it is someone’s lie, whether they know it or not. And it is pernicious, destructive and should not be elided or ignored by t...
Wait, what? Jews and Christians can pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Why is that news? At the conclusion of the 1967 Six Day War, Israel negotiated a cease fire with the Arab countries that had gone to war against it. A cease fire, not peace. Israelis believed that after the crushing defeat of the Arab armies and loss of vast territory, the Arabs would finally realize that they could not win militarily, and that Israel was a reality to live with, not fight against. Many believed that all that was needed was to negotiate to return the...
(JNS) — After the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the supplemental spending bill for the Iron Dome program, everyone from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the Biden White House to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, quickly proclaimed bipartisan support in Washington for the U.S.-Israel alliance to be as strong as ever. Unfortunately, even before the bill passed, it was clear that the opposite was the case. Eight House members from the leftist edge of the political spectrum voted against the Iron D...
(JNS) — Last week, Kamala Harris spoke to students at George Mason University, where a “part-Yemeni, part-Iranian” student challenged her with the false claims that Israel commits “genocide” and that money is being taken from providing health care to Americans to fund Israel’s Iron Dome defense system. These two intertwined smears, that Israel’s self-defense against actual genocide is genocidal, and that the Jewish state is taking money from “public healthcare … affordable housing” and that “all this money ends up going to inflaming Israel,...
MORNING MINYANS (Please note, because of the coronavirus, some minyans have been canceled or held virtually.) Chabad of North Orlando and Chabad of Altamonte Springs are holding in-person 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. Congr...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Republican Sen. Rand Paul blocked an expedited vote to approve $1 billion in funding to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system and received swift criticism from an array of pro-Israel groups. Sen. Robert Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, launched a bid Monday to pass the bill by unanimous consent, a procedure that accelerates passage by minimizing debate. Paul objected, saying he wanted the funding to come out of money earmarked to assist Afghanistan as it recovers from yea...
Joan Micklin Silver, the pivotal female Jewish American filmmaker, always worked with a wit and wisdom that made her stories feel both timeless and personal. Best known for the rom-com "Crossing Delancey," Micklin Silver passed away last year while working on the restoration of her 1975 film "Hester Street" with the Cohen Film Collection. That 4K restoration - which essentially involves repairing breakdowns in the original physical film - is now playing in select theaters, and recently screened...
MADRID (JTA) - In an unprecedented effort to find their relatives and raise awareness about their stories, Spanish authorities are releasing a list of the Hungarian Jews protected from the Nazis by a diplomat nicknamed the "Spanish Schindler." Ángel Sanz Briz was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial and museum, in 1966 for using an ingenious legal maneuver to save more than 5,200 Jews from being deported to Auschwitz in 1944. But even though h...
(JNS) - A new campaign by The Jewish Chronicle calls for a British spy who saved 10,000 Austrian Jews during World War II to be recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Gentile. "It is not about how many lives but this man has received no recognition for quite literally saving Austria's Jewish community-I think it is as simple as that," said historian Helen Fry, who wrote about Col. Thomas Joseph Kendrick in the new biography Spymaster. "That is why I think it is important that people know his...
Jewish Pavilion staff and volunteers were thrilled to provide in person high holiday celebrations in over 30 senior communities this year. Pictured is a resident at Allegro Inspired Living in Winter Park enjoying high holiday services with Program Director Susan Bernstein. In addition to providing meaningful services, the Jewish Pavilion staff delivered 400 high holiday gift bags to seniors in over 50 elder-care communities. Special thanks to the Guzman- Glassman family for sponsoring the Rosh...
My past is catching up ... Okay. This is a test. I will be able to tell how old you are by the fact that you remember this entertainer ... David Daniel Kaminsky. (You knew him as Danny Kaye, beloved comedian, singer, dancer, musician, actor, etc.) I used to love him (and still do) and was reminded about him, although he is deceased many years, by a television program about Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary, as he was part of the EPCOT celebration. Danny was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., (like me)...
(JTA) — The award for best feature film at Israel’s Ophir Awards, the country’s top film honor and its automatic nominee for the foreign film category at the Oscars, went to “Let It Be Morning,” a film about an Arab-Israeli man forced to grapple with his identity as both Palestinian and Israeli. But most of the Palestinian stars of the film skipped the award ceremony Tuesday night, calling out what they described as appropriation of a Palestinian story. “In a normal situation, I would feel happiness and recognition for the prize, but to my dism...
PITTSBURGH (Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle via JTA) - Tahara, the act of washing and purifying the deceased, is paramount to Jewish burial. So when the pandemic descended on the United States in March 2020, members of a Pittsburgh-based Jewish burial society devoted to the practice made a difficult decision. Given fears of COVID-19 transmission, members of the New Community Chevra Kadisha stopped traveling to funeral homes and performing the sacred act of tahara in person. Instead of physically...
