Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - "We have indeed made history today with over 290,000 of us gathered here on the National Mall. This is the largest pro-Israel gathering in history," William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told attendees of the "March for Israel" on the National Mall in Washington on Nov. 14. Daroff, whose organization represents 50 member groups, added that another 250,000 watched the march on livestream and on C-SPAN. "Look what we can do in just...
When Rabbi Chaim Boruch and Rivkie Lipskier opened a new $6.5 million, 14,000-square-feet building recently to serve the 7,000 Jewish students at the University of Central Florida, one of the largest Jewish student populations on any campus in the world outside Israel, the ribbon-cutting ceremony in East Orlando drew 350 to 450 students, faculty, and administrators, city representatives and alumni from as far as Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York. The Lipskiers used to accommodate 100 to 200...
Without proper legal planning, caring for aging loved ones is often emotionally and financially distressing for everyone involved. Families struggle at the last minute to find information, guidance and assistance to handle the complex health care, financial and legal needs. By planning ahead and obtaining the right legal documents, families can help their aging relatives gain security, take advantage of public benefits, and preserve their assets. Estate plans are needed. They can help families avoid probate, which occurs when an individual...
The Jewish Pavilion is a special organization dedicated to ensuring that the elderly members of the Jewish community are not forgotten. It has been a lifeline for seniors residing in long-term care facilities for the past 23 years. As the year 2024 unfolds, the Jewish Pavilion embarks on its annual membership appeal. In December, appeal letters will be sent to 4000 households. The message is clear: membership in the Jewish Pavilion is not just a financial contribution; it is a gift of love and attention to the elders who had become part of the...
On Tuesday, Dec. 5, the local chapter of the Zionist Organization of America will host guest speaker Susan B. Tuchman who will discuss "The campus war against Israel & Jews." Tuchman is the director of the ZOA's Center for Law and Justice. Under her leadership, the ZOA pioneered the use of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment and intimidation. After a ZOA-led battle which included rallying other national Jewish organizations and bipartisan...
‘Tis the season for joy, gratitude, and celebration, and what better way to kick off the festivities than by joining JP Connections for a luncheon and holiday shopping experience on Monday, Dec. 4, at 11 am. The venue for this merry gathering is the Hilton in Altamonte Springs. One of the highlights of the event is the recognition of Judy Appleton, a deserving individual who has made significant contributions to JP Connections. “The luncheon serves as a platform to honor and express gratitude to Judy for her dedication and hard work. It...
On the very same day when over three hundred thousand Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike, travelled to Washington, D.C., to support Israel’s efforts to prevent Hamas from ever slaughtering innocent Jews again, President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved 10 billion dollars of additional sanctions relief to the Iranian terror regime. It is beyond recklessly irresponsible, sickening and frightening that the Biden administration authorized releasing money to the Islamic Republic of Iran, while Iran is funding Hamas’ and Hezbo...
(JNS) — While nearly a million residents of Gaza are displaced by war, Hamas’s top leaders and their families have been enriching themselves. The Hamas leadership controls an investment portfolio estimated at close to $1 billion and owns assets in Sudan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Egypt and other places. Hamas imposes taxes of 20 percent on goods smuggled from Egypt to the Strip through tunnels. Reports also indicate that Hamas earns an estimated $450 million annually from Gaza’s black-market trade. Iran is belie...
(JNS) — Egypt, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are in the process of setting up field hospitals on Egyptian soil near Gaza to treat Palestinians. A Turkish ship arrived at the port of El Arish in North Sinai, carrying about 500 tons of medical equipment and medicines. The equipment is enough for eight field hospitals. Twenty ambulances will be at their disposal to transport the wounded from Gaza. The UAE is establishing a 150-bed field hospital in the Gaza Strip. Authorities in Dubai are recruiting licensed medical professionals to v...
(JNS) — A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll of 1,429 adults, released on Wednesday, offers insight into American views on Israel’s war to uproot Hamas from the Gaza Strip. Public opinion has split in approving Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7 terror attacks, with notable partisan differences. For Americans as a whole, 38 percent said Israel’s response has been “too much”—up 12 percent from a month ago—with another 38 percent believing that it has been “about right.” Among Democrats, a majority (56 percent) now falls into the latter cat...
(JNS) — Paul Kessler went to a pro-Hamas demonstration in the Los Angeles area waving an Israeli flag to stand down the crowd gathered to support the genocide of Jews. A pro-Hamas demonstrator, who tracked the 69-year-old before he approached him, clubbed Kessler in the head with a megaphone. Kessler fell to the ground and died of cerebral bleeding. Forty-eight hours after Kessler was killed, his murderer was still free, even though the police know who he is. Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryoff hadn’t arrested him because he couldn’t decid...
(JNS) — There’s a theme that emerges when defending the atrocities of Hamas and its supporters: “You made us do it.” And the next step beyond that is the suggestion that the crimes committed by Hamas and its supporters were really a form of entrapment by Israel. You see this argument in the suggestion that Israel deliberately lowered its guard to allow Hamas to kill, rape and kidnap Israelis. And you see it in Linda Sarsour, a politically influential Islamist and the godmother of Islamist antisemitism in America, arguing that the kidnap...
By Remember Haman? The book of Esther tells the story of this horrible man in the king’s court who planned to kill all the Jews in the Persian/Medes kingdom — a kingdom that stretched from India to Ethiopia. Haman gave 10,000 talents of silver to the king and asked to be able to destroy all the Jews in the land. The king took the money and then gave it for the use of the genocide of the Jews. Of course, we know the rest of the story, Esther called for a fast and then went to the king and revealed Haman’s plan. Haman was hung and the Jewis...
The other day, I was reading my grandson the Dr. Seuss classic, “In a People House.” It was a needed respite for me, a break from incessantly following the news of the war in Israel, albeit that the Red Alert app on my phone sounded throughout, indicating continued rocket fire from Hamas terrorists in Gaza at Israeli towns and cities. Just another day and another war crime in case you’re keeping score. Try as I might to separate myself from the war, even with the unadulterated pleasure of reading to my grandson, I just couldn’t. Between...
(JNS) — After 75 years of a successful Israel, it’s hard to imagine that in its early years, Zionism garnered less than 10 percent of global Jewry’s support. Many Jews preferred to assimilate into the nations in which they resided. Others were afraid that advocating for their own state would inspire antisemitic attacks. It was only after the Holocaust that global Jewry, especially American Jewry, came around to supporting Zionism. As Germany transformed into an antisemitic killing machine, world Jewry witnessed the great powers refuse to admit...
(JNS) — The former Israel bureau chief of The New York Times has discovered who is really to blame for the Hamas pogrom on Oct. 7: Israel. This vile bit of slander comes from the pen of Ethan Bronner, who spent 26 years at the Times posing as an objective journalist. That included the years 2008 to 2012, when he served as its Israel bureau chief. Bronner’s pro-Palestinian bias over the years has been well documented. (For dozens of examples, see camera.org). Unfortunately, that troubling record didn’t stop Bloomberg News from making him head...
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) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday called Israel a “terrorist state” and described Hamas terrorists as “resistance fighters.” Erdoğan claimed that Israel was attempting to eradicate all of the Gaza Strip and threatened to take steps to ensure that Jerusalem’s political and military leaders are brought to trial in international courts. “Israel is implementing a strategy of total destruction of a city and its people,” said Erdoğan, in an apparent reference to Gaza City. “I say openly that Israel is a terrorist state.” Th...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - Capitol Police arrested activists from two left-wing Jewish groups protesting outside the Democratic Party headquarters and calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. At least two Democrats in Congress said police evacuated them from the building during the protest, the latest in a string of high-profile actions by the groups, IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace. The police said that the protesters with the two Jewish groups and a third organization, Democratic...
Yesterday I was speaking to a friend on the phone in the USA. She asked me about my children, about the situation here, about any updates. Then she tried to change the subject. She actually started talking about something else. I don’t remember what she said. I could not focus. None of us can really think about anything else. For us, there is nothing else. Just this situation. This war. Our kidnapped citizens. Our dead friends. Our soldiers fighting. Each day another announcement of fallen soldiers, listed by age and name, rank, division, u...
(JNS) - Nine months old. The smiling red-haired baby had recently started to crawl after rocking on all fours. Kfir Bibas lived with his parents and 4-year-old brother in a kibbutz in southern Israel. On Oct. 7, their lives were changed forever as the family-mom Shiri, dad Yarden, and the two kids-was abducted by Hamas to Gaza when the Islamist terrorists overran the area and went on a murderous rampage. At nine months old, Kfir is the youngest of the roughly 240 hostages-including 32...
(JTA) — They went to Washington, D.C., to support Israel and left the rally with a deepened sense of the Jewish community in the United States. So said teenagers who were among the estimated 290,000 Israel supporters who gathered on the National Mall on Tuesday — one of the largest gatherings of Jews in U.S. history. JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellows were at the March for Israel to report on their peers’ experiences throughout the day; many heard from teens that they would be returning home inspired by the number of people, the range of Judaism...
In today's crazy world, it is hard to find things for which to be thankful. So I have been trying to find gratitude in the small things: a FaceTime with my children and grandchildren; a good cup of coffee with a piece of warm challah; a special moment with Larry. Recently, I reached back 54 years to remember an evening that still holds a special place in my heart. In 1969, my brother Jay, who was going for his master's at Cornell University, invited me out for the weekend. Jay arranged for me...
MADRID (JTA) — In a landmark acknowledgment, the parliament of Spain’s Balearic Islands issued an official recognition of the “marginalization and discrimination” endured by the islands’ chuetas, or local Crypto-Jews from Majorca. In a statement, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain group welcomed the news in mid-September and asked for chueta history to be taught in local schools. Today, most chuetas on Majorca talk openly and proudly about their Jewish heritage, marking a significant change after a history of humiliation, fear and...
(JTA) — Four hours after Tuesday’s historic pro-Israel march in Washington, D.C., ended, Jennie Levy had expected to be touching down back in Detroit, after a long but fulfilling day standing shoulder to shoulder with Jews from around the country in support of Israel. Instead, her delegation of 900, organized by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, was hungry, disappointed and nowhere close to home. Many members had missed most if not all of the rally because of what the federation said was a “malicious walk-off of drivers” hired t...
