Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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The United Nations cultural body, UNESCO, passed a resolution Thursday, Oct. 13, that condemns Israeli actions at Jerusalem's holy sites and ignores any Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall complex. Calling the vote "another hallucinatory decision" by the group, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple and the Western Wall is like saying that China is not connected to the Great Wall of China or the Egypt has no connection...
UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova on Friday came out against the agency's executive board for adopting a resolution that disregards the connection between Judaism and Temple Mount and casts doubt over the link between the religion and the Western Wall. "The Al Aqsa Mosque [or] Al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred shrine of Muslims, is also the Har HaBayit-or Temple Mount-whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism," Bokova said in a statement. The Executive Board of the United Nations...
The Zionistas are pleased to present “Israel, Truths Everyone Should Know” with Cathy Swerdlow on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. at Temple Israel, 50 Moss Road, Winter Springs. This presentation will counter anti-Israel narrative of lies with verifiable truths. It is imperative that people who support Israel understand and be able to articulate the truth in today’s world where opinion and wishful thinking masquerade as fact. Cathy Swerdlow has stated, “I have always been a Zionist. In recent years I have watched as that term has been demeane...
JERUSALEM (AP)—Israel suspended cooperation with UNESCO on Friday, Oct. 14, a day after the U.N. cultural agency adopted a draft resolution that Israel says denies the deep historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem. UNESCO’s draft resolution, titled “Occupied Palestine” and sponsored by several Arab countries, uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, which includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray. Israelis and many Jews around...
JERUSALEM-A police officer and a civilian were killed and six were wounded during a drive-by shooting in Jerusalem this weekend, raising concerns about the possible resumption of the wave of lone wolf terror attacks that convulsed Israel earlier this year. Yosef "Yosi" Kirme, 29, and Levanah Malichi, 60, were killed in the attack, which occurred at the Ammunition Hill light rail station on Sunday when a Palestinian man drove past spraying bullets from a car. Malichi, who was waiting for the...
JERUSALEM—A newly approved plan to build 98 homes in the Shiloh Valley in northern Samaria has renewed longstanding tensions between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue of “West Bank” settlement construction. Both the U.S. State Department and the White House have issued statements strongly condemning the plan—continuing a pattern of condemnations whenever Israel announces plans to build homes in territories captured from Jordan during the 1967 Six Day War. These territories lie at the center...
(JNS.org)—The United Nations Security Council is expected to convene next week in an informal session, spearheaded by the Palestinians, to discuss Israeli settlements as an “obstacle to peace” in an eventual push for a formal Security Council resolution against Israel. “The existence and expansion of the settlements on Palestinians lands, which were occupied in 1967, endanger a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the two-state solution,” according to the position paper distributed to participants of the meeting, obtained by Yediot...
Imagine a speaker with a fresh take on life. Imagine a speaker who makes you laugh at your foibles and inspires you to confront your challenges with exuberance and a plan. That's Iris Ruth Pastor, a coping guru who advocates for us all. Orlando Hadassah invites the community to lunch with nationally heralded Huffington Post columnist, author, and motivational speaker, Iris Pastor on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at Ohev Shalom at 11:30 a.m. This 5'2' dynamo has mesmerized audiences from coast to coast with...
Do you know of an active and passionate senior over 80 who volunteers countless hours and lends his or her leadership skills to help organizations in our community? Then please consider nominating them for Kinneret's seventh Annual 8 over 80 Honorary Celebration. The Kinneret Council on Aging will proudly pay tribute to eight individuals over the age of 80 who have made significant contributions to the Jewish and Central Florida community on Sunday, March 5, 2017. "The 8 over 80 event really...
Through the Life Transitions program, Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando once again offers its evening Grief Support Series in cooperation with Congregation Beth Am and Hospice of the Comforter. All are welcome to attend the meetings on Thursdays from 7 p.m.—8 p.m., beginning Oct. 27 and continuing Nov. 3, 10, 17 and Dec. 1 and 8. The group will meet at Congregation Beth Am, located at 3899 Sand Lake Road, Longwood. For registration or questions, please call Jeanette Brownstein, JFS Orlando director of Programs, at 407-644-7593, ext. 2...
The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando (JGSGO) is sponsoring “My Jewish Roots,” a series of workshops that provide the tools to help attendees discover/build their family tree. The second in the series of workshops will be “Connect to the Experts and Key Resources” with Marlis Humphrey, IAJGS president. Originally scheduled for earlier this month, it was postponed due to weather and instead will be held Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016, 7 p.m.—9 p.m., at the Roth Jewish Community Center, 851 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland, FL 32751. The works...
For years during the High Holidays my family sat with my mother (of blessed memory) near the front of our synagogue. If you knew her you knew her generosity, and she cut no corners with either her family or shul. She was always a “dues plus” member, someone who gave more than the required dues for membership, and so she had cushy reserved seats near the front on the left hand side. The view was great. We were surrounded by our friends, and close to the bimah. It was immersive, and won...
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas suffered chest pains last week and was rushed to a hospital in Ramallah. The episode was an important reminder of the dangers and risks Israel will face if it heeds demands for the quick creation of a Palestinian state. In recent weeks, the S. Daniel Abraham Center has been sponsoring full-page ads in The New York Times calling for a Palestinian state. The Obama administration this week issued an overheated condemnation of Israel for approving the construction of a handful of houses for Jews, because that constr...
I have begun re-reading Menachem Begin’s book “The Revolt—The Story of the Irgun.” It still makes fascinating reading some 60 to 70 years after its original publication. The book opens with Begin having a spirited discussion with his Soviet interrogator. Begin was imprisoned in Russia having been captured as a member of the Polish Army at the beginning of WWII. The interrogator insists that Zionism is a fraud perpetrated by the British to have an excuse to remain in the Middle East. Begin, in what even then was a professorial manner, explains t...
On Election Day back in 1940, in front of PS 97 in Brooklyn, I carried a poster for FDR. I was 7 years old and a fervent Jewish-Umbilical-Cord-Democrat. How could I not be? My parents, uncles, cousins and friends knew nothing else but Roosevelt, Socialism and The Party. As I matured I got the message that our Supreme Leader whose picture adorned our living room wall was a Jew hater. From then on it was the candidate and not The Party that got my vote and support. And my major considerations when casting my vote became Israel and the survival...
It can’t be true—the American Jewish community has “forgotten,” or more accurately no longer chooses to remember, the existential threat to Israel, America, and Western civilization posed by Iran and the Iran Deal. Only last year virtually every mainstream Jewish leader boldly denounced the deal as dangerous, and existentially so. Did our concern dissipate after the Iran deal passed because the ambitions of Iran, the No. 1 sponsor of terrorism, have been tamed in any way? Of course not. Every week there is another statement about destroy...
Dear Editor: The claim that the Democrats and Cinton-Kaine are good for Israel and the Jewish people is a happy delusion. The reasons their policies will weaken Israel is the same reason they will weaken America. Iran has been strengthened, Russia emboldened, and Islamic fascism ignored and denied. There will NEVER be a two-state solution as long as the Palestinians hate their children more than they desire peace. A strong America and strong Israel together are crucial for a safe and secure future. Trump-Pence WILL deliver that! Dr. Norman...
Dear Editor: This letter is in follow-up of and in objection to a large full-page ad that recently appeared in the Heritage Newspaper supporting the Hillary Clinton campaign. In this ad, she highlighted some of her goals and distorted those of Donald Trump on a comparison basis. Accordingly, I would like to voice my observations and comment in a newspaper rebuttal against this ad and counter with support for Donald Trump for president: FINALLY Donald Trump attacked Hillary for what she is in last week’s second debate. She’s been in government f...
Dear Editor: I was quite taken aback by the full-page ad in last week’s Heritage taken out by the organization Jews For Progress. This was a good example of the old adage that “If you can’t convince them with facts, baffle them with Bulls—t.” The quote, “Trump pledges to be ‘neutral guy’ in Israel-Palestinian negotiations” is totally taken out of context. In reality, he said at the 2016 AIPAC Conference, “Each side must give up something it values in exchange for something it requires. A deal that imposes conditions on Israel and the Palestinia...
Dear Editor: I am responding to the advertisement in Heritage associating presidential candidate Donald Trump with anti-Semitism. This is done purely in the hope that the casual reader will accept those remarks as truth. The goal of the opposition is to smear Donald Trump with untruths. Before I support a candidate, I do my research and that is what all voters should do. For the opposition, truth is not the goal. Here is the real Donald Trump: Some years ago he purchased Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach and turned it into a country club. At that time...
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...
AMSTERDAM (JTA)-A Holocaust survivor dubbed "Rotterdam's Anne Frank" in her native Netherlands published her wartime diary, which she wrote while hiding in the bombed-out city. "At Night I Dream of Peace," the Dutch-language diary of 89-year-old Carry Ulreich, hit bookstores in the Netherlands last week. The book generated strong interest from the national media, which likened and contrasted Ulreich's story with that of Frank, the murdered Jewish teenager from Amsterdam whose diaries in hiding w...
The artificiality of a Palestinian identity is reflected in the attitudes and actions of neighboring Arab nations who never established a Palestinian state themselves. Arabs in neighboring states, who control 99.9 percent of the Middle East land, have never recognized a Palestinian entity. The Arabs never established a Palestinian state when the UN in 1947 recommended to partition Palestine, and to establish “an Arab and a Jewish state” (not a Palestinian state, it should be noted). Nor did the Arabs recognize or establish a Palestinian sta...
The British are coming! The British are coming! Don't miss the Beatles' tribute band, The British Invasion, when they make the next stop of their tour at Crane's Roost Park in Altamonte Springs on Sunday, Oct. 23, for the fundraising concert "Sunday in the Park," sponsored by the Jewish Pavilion, with all proceeds benefitting Orlando's elder community. The British Invasion features four talented musicians who re-create the look, style, and sound of the most famous rock and roll band in the world...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—While the Iran nuclear deal gets fleeting attention in the presidential race, it is shaping up as a key issue in at least nine states integral to Democrats’ hopes of regaining control of the U.S. Senate. Rival pro-Israel factions are pouring money into many of those races, and candidates are using support or opposition to the controversial deal as a means of tarring their opponents. And depending on what happens in November, the election could redefine what it means to be “pro-Israel.” Democrats are seeking four to five wi...
