Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS)-A ceasefire that appeared fragile, and which was punctured twice by rocket fire from Gaza, went into effect on Thursday, Nov. 14, after 50 hours of combat between the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror faction and the Israel Defense Forces. As many as 450 rockets were fired at Israeli cities and towns throughout the escalation, though more than 90 percent of those that were heading into built-up areas were shot out of the sky by Iron Dome air-defense batteries. Some 60...
Celebrating its 42nd year, Jewish Academy of Orlando will be honoring Ellen and Simon Snyder and Jodi and David Krinker at the school's annual gala, on Saturday, Jan.25, 2020, at the Citrus Club. The Wonderland Gala will feature dinner, dancing, and a selection of numbers from the spring musical production, "Alice in Wonderland." Ellen and Simon Snyder have been part of the Central Florida community since 1975. They have been active in the Jewish community and the community-at-large. Ellen was...
GENEVA, Nov. 15, 2019—A United Nations General Assembly committee today adopted eight resolutions that single out or condemn Israel, and zero on the entire rest of the world. The texts condemn Israel for “repressive measures” against Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights, renew the mandate of the corrupt UN Relief and Works Agency, and renew the mandate of the UN’s “special committee to investigate Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.” All 193 UN member states belo...
(JTA)—Fifty-eight Israelis were injured during the wave of rocket attacks fired by terror groups from Gaza this week. Thirty-four Palestinians, most of them reported to be members of Islamic Jihad and other Gaza terror groups, were killed in retaliatory strikes. The attacks cost the Israeli economy $315 million and three homes were directly hit, the consulate general of Israel in New York said in a statement Thursday. After the Israel Defense Forces killed two Palestinian Islamic Jihad senior commanders—Baha Abu al-Ata and Rasmi Abu Mal...
The stock market has been great the last several years, reaching near historical levels. If you’re an investor in common stocks, it may be a good time to think about your options as the end of the calendar year approaches. If you are looking to lock in your stock market gains, avoid taxes, and make a difference, a Jewish National Fund’s Donor Advised Fund might be right for you. A Jewish National Fund’s Donor Advised Fund is a smart way to manage your philanthropy. It is a personal giving fund through which you can make a charitable contr...
Recognizing the range of stresses involved in campus life today, Chabad at UCF has made significant strides in building awareness and support for those managing mental health issues. To expand the conversation and help students access valuable resources, Chabad recently hosted Mental Health Awareness Week from Nov. 1-7, as part of a broader national campaign to combat the stigma around mental health. The week’s events were dedicated to Miriam Orlan and David Nefzger—close friends of Chabad’s president, Stav Gare—who lost their battles with me...
Heritage Newspaper’s print audience doesn’t get to read responses to articles that are posted in the online edition of the paper (unless they also read the online edition). Here are this week’s responses: Articles about Bernie Sanders, 11/8 edition, by Clayton, posted 11/15/2019. “Your recent paper had three negative pieces about Bernie Sanders and a cartoon. While I understand constructive criticism of his policies, 3 articles, negative in tone and a negative cartoon was a bit much. I think it would be fair to consider sharing his take on...
Each year the Jewish Pavilion honors our veterans and their families with a salute to their service through song and history. Paul and Terri Fine Stenzler, longtime Jewish Pavilion volunteers, respectfully prepared a meaningful program dedicated to the men and women who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces since WWI. They presented this tribute to the residents of Brookdale Lake Orienta, The Mayflower in Winter Park, and Cascade Heights in Longwood on Nov. 10 and 12. Paul’s singing and Terri’s background information of each selection added muc...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Days after a series of attacks against Jews across Brooklyn, the Anti-Defamation League announced that it would double funding for a school program combating hate. But city officials say more than education is needed to stop the rash of attacks, which have spiked across this city in 2019. That's because the problem is hard to diagnose. Is it the local effect of a national rise in anti-Semitism? The resurfacing of old resentments? Are Jews being scapegoated for the impact of...
AMHERST, Mass. (JTA)-For the second time in six months, several high-profile proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel are sharing a stage at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst-and prompting concern and counteractions from pro-Israel students. Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, Harvard professor Cornell West and other BDS supporters were due to appear at a Nov. 12 event at the university's main campus titled "Criminalizing Dissent: The attack...
(JTA)—President Donald Trump will be the keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Israeli-American Council. Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a Trump supporter and mega donor to Republican candidates, is one of the council’s major supporters. The council said in a statement that it will be Trump’s first appearance to a non-political Jewish organization. Since Trump took office, the only Jewish group he has spoken to is the Republican Jewish Coalition. The summit will take place on Dec. 5-8 in Florida and is expecting nearly 4,000 atten...
(JNS)—The atmosphere on North American college campuses today is one in which anything that can be labeled, fairly or unfairly, hate speech or which might make virtually any group feel “triggered” or otherwise upset can be banned or otherwise silenced. Universities that once prided themselves on their defense of free speech against efforts to suppress dissent now go out of their way to provide “safe places” for those who are too sensitive to hear views that contradict their own prejudices and biases. But there’s one particular kind of hate spee...
Technology has brought the world ever closer together, but increasingly, political instability, terrorism and war reminds us how very far apart different places remain. In 1963 when I made my first flight to Israel, our Air France flight had to stop in Paris to refuel in order to complete the journey to our destination. That trip to Israel from New York City took more than 18 hours. Today, that same route is nonstop and can be accomplished in under 10 hours and in greater comfort. The same is true for international (and domestic)...
More than 150 rockets were fired at Israeli civilian targets by the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists from Gaza within hours after the Nov. 12 targeted air strike assassination of Baha Abu al-Ata, a top commander of Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. Coming just over two weeks after the U.S. successfully targeted ISIS terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be captured or killed there is a simple question to ask here: What would the U.S. do if after al-Baghdadi killed himself his terrorist soldiers fired 150 rockets as U.S....
BIRMINGHAM, England (JTA)—My heart jumped when I saw the phone number of my oldest son’s school on the screen. “Hello?” “Is this Dr. Skinazi?” “Yes.” “Don’t worry, Lucas is fine. Only—I just wanted to let you know that there was a little anti-Semitic incident at school today.” Breathe in, breathe out. “What happened this time?” I asked. The last time there had been a “little anti-Semitic incident” was when Lucas mentioned being Jewish in a religious education class during the first year of secondary school, and one of his classmates teased, ...
(JTA)—She was 16 years old and alone in a refugee camp in a foreign country when we met her. Sobbing, she told us how she hoped that her brother might be somewhere in this camp, “camp number 18.” She had heard that he might be alive—if so, he would be her only surviving family member. Or maybe he was in another of the many camps that have been established in Bangladesh for the Rohingya, a Burmese Muslim minority who fled genocide in Burma. We saw displacement on an unimaginable scale. An estimated 800,000 Rohingya have endured harrowi...
Everything was going well until I checked my phone. I had just finished teaching Sunday school at a synagogue in Evanston, Illinois, and was on the bus that would take me back to my apartment on the far north side of Chicago. It was a beautiful day. Sukkot would start in the evening. And then I opened Facebook and found a succession of horrifying posts. Temple Emanuel, the synagogue I used to teach at in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, had been vandalized some time late Saturday night or Sunday morning. The posts from former co-workers...
Dear Editor: Yesterday, the FBI released their 2018 statistics on hate crimes. For the Jewish-American community, the results were nothing short of appalling. The statistics reveal that 2018 set an all-time record for violent anti-Semitic hate crimes—105 in total, versus 73 in 2017—and was the worst year ever for homicides in the Jewish community. In total, there were 920 anti-Semitic hate crimes, which amounts to 57 percent of all religiously-motivated hate crimes. No longer can we as a nation pretend that anti-Semitism hatred isn’t a major...
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...
The venue for New York Times bestselling author Brian Kilmeade’s discussion and book signing of his newest book, “Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers,” will be at Writer’s Block Bookstore, 316 N. Park Ave., Winter Park, on Saturday, Nov. 23rd at 7 p.m...
Beth's mother (names have been changed). Beth's mother fell again. This was the third time this month she had to drive the 2-1/2 hours from Longwood to St. Pete to make sure her mother was OK. Her mother, Shirley, only needed eight stitches this time. From the emergency room, Shirley called someone to help her at home in the mornings for the next few days. Beth had no idea who her mother called or if they were trustworthy. Who was her mother letting into her home? Beth, a retired Orlando area...
Under normal circumstances, most kids look for excuses to stay home from school, at least once in a while. This week in Israel, 300,000 kids stayed home from school a few days in a row. Under the circumstances, they'd probably rather have been in school. Beginning early Tuesday, Palestinian Arab terrorists fired more than 400 rockets at Israeli communities from Gaza, forcing schools and businesses to close in order to prevent too many people gathering in any one place, despite bomb shelters...
(JTA)—Jordan reclaimed two pieces of land leased by Israel as part of a 1994 peace agreement. King Abdullah II announced Sunday that Jordan would “impose our full sovereignty on every inch” of the properties known in Jordan as Ghumar and Al-Baqoura, and in Israel as Tzofar and Naharaim, also known as the Isle of Peace. Thousands of Israelis visited Naharaim and its peace park on Saturday for a final look before Israeli troops closed off the territory. Reports said that Jordan would allow farmers to harvest what they planted in Tzofar befor...
WASHINGTON—To help ease the financial burden on Jewish college students and their families, Hillel International, the largest global Jewish campus organization, this week launched two scholarships available to students attending college anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for the first time in its 96-year-history. As the rise in the cost of attending college has outgrown the rise of household income over the past two decades, Hillel International is actively working to connect students with the resources they need. This year, Hillel I...
NEW YORK (JTA)-On a recent Friday night, about 20 people gathered for Shabbat services at the Actors' Temple, a synagogue just a few blocks from Times Square. Rabbi Jill Hausman greeted each one by name with a kiss on the cheek and a "Good Shabbos." Some sang along and others listened as she led the small crowd in a service using a prayer book and a packet she had printed out just minutes earlier in her upstairs office. It's a far cry from the era when some of the biggest celebrities in the...
