Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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TEL AVIV (JTA)-This government was supposed to be different. During the last election campaign in 2012, Israelis seemed to tire of the existential issues that have plagued the country for decades. Barely anyone talked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Long-simmering social tensions over the rising cost of living and the economic burdens of the underemployed haredi Orthodox community were going to finally get their due. The Knesset's arrivistes-former television personality Yair Lapid and...
The following is a speech by Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor delivered to the UN General Assembly on Nov. 24. Ambassador Prosor is Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations. Mr. President, I stand before the world as a proud representative of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. I stand tall before you knowing that truth and morality are on my side. And yet, I stand here knowing that today in this Assembly, truth will be turned on its head and morality cast aside. The fact of...
Congregation Beth Israel of Ocala invites the community to a “Lunch and Learn” on Sunday Jan. 11, 2015 at 11 a.m. at the Arbor Conference Center at On Top of the World Retirement Communities in Ocala. The program will feature Rabbi Linda Holtzman who will speak about the history of the Reconstructionist movement, its contributions to Judaism and the implications for the future. Her presentation will be from the vantage point of a rabbi who has spent most of her rabbinic life working in the Reconstructionist movement. Rabbi Holtzman, a Rec...
Chabad of South Orlando is hosting a Chanukah Winter Community Festival on Sunday, Dec. 21, featuring a concert with Lazar Lloyd, Israel’s king of the blues; as well as snow cones, donuts, cotton candy, crafts, necklaces and light-up menorahs. The festival will be held at Chabad of South Orlando’s new location, 7347 W. Sand Lake Road, and admission is free. Starting at 4:30 p.m. there will be snow activities, including snow sledding down real snow; at 5:45 p.m. the Grand Menorah will be lit; at 6:15 p.m. Lazer Lloyd will perform in con...
Shirley Schoenberger has been volunteering with Jewish Pavilion for just a few months and she is already recruiting others to join her. Shown here are her two grandsons, Noah (right) and Jared Weiss, who joined Shirley and her husband, Peter, on a recent Friday afternoon. Fifth-grader Noah and third-grader Jared, who attend religious school at Congregation Ohev Shalom, were on Thanksgiving school break from Lake Sybelia Elementary School and spending time with their grandparents doing a...
To properly understand how the Holocaust has been seared onto Israel’s collective consciousness, one should visit the country on the 27th of Nisan, a date in the Hebrew calendar that falls in either April or May in the solar one. On that day, Yom HaShoah, the unsuspecting visitor is dumbstruck by the sight of an entire country coming to a halt. At 10 a.m. on the dot, a siren sounds across the country. Schools, hospitals, trading floors, garages, news rooms, tech start-ups—all these and more freeze exactly where they are as Israeli citizens obs...
It all started when I took out some anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) information sheets at a Brooklyn College-sponsored event last year that featured Omar Barghouti, the founder of the BDS movement. You’d expect that of any student opposed to the speaker’s anti-Israel views. I planned to challenge Barghouti by taking notes as he spoke and asking questions during the Q&A period. But I never got the chance to participate. A member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the event’s main organizer, had other plans. He had the v...
It would be prime material for a standup comedian if it were not the reality that could do us all a lot of harm. The current triumvirate dealing with three interdependent, national entities, with more than the average capacity to affect wider catastrophes, have all been operating as political caricatures, making things worse while proclaiming their certainty about making things better. They are Mahmoud Abbas, Benyamin Netanyahu, and Barack Obama. A cynic would say that they deserve one another. They all speak in hyperbole, talk past one another...
By Dr. Norman Berdichevsky Many observers of the Israeli scene are convinced that the extreme views of the elected Arab Knesset members and scenes of violent demonstrations, stabbings and other acts of terrorism are the only true measure of the Arab minority community’s rejection of any accommodation of living peacefully and harmoniously with the Jewish majority. To do so is a common error in the mistaken and often ignorant understanding of Arab culture and the realities of Middle Eastern politics. George Deek is a young Christian Arab from Jaf...
Thirty years ago, President Reagan won reelection by a landslide and then led the United States into the final phase of our Cold War victory over the Soviet Union. If America’s 40th president were alive to see Russia’s current resurgence and its all-too-familiar policy of intimidation against Europe, he would know exactly what to do: confront the Russians with American and allied policies designed to check their ambitions across the board. As Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to redraw the map and establish a sphere of influence thr...
“Bringing down Israel will really benefit everyone in the world and everyone in society, particularly workers.” These words were spoken by Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, at a Nov. 12 panel discussion at U.C. Berkeley organized by the BDS Caucus of UAW 2865, the union for 13,000 University of California graduate student workers. Those grad student-teachers and other workers voted on a union resolution to boycott Israel on Dec. 4. (The results were not available at press time.) Throughout her tal...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 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., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12 Lig...
(ISRAEL21c) -Meet Moshe Hogeg, the Israeli venture capitalist and entrepreneur tagged by Forbes magazine as one of the 10 "Start-up Nation movers and shakers you need to know." The 33-year-old founder and chairman of Singulariteam (a private investment fund and incubator formerly called Genesis Angels)-with an extensive network of companies he has created, technologies he has invested in, or both-is making an international name for himself. His illustrious list of backers and partners includes...
Fifteen-year-old Jonathan Trattner, a 10th grade student at Lyman High School, dreams of spending the second half of his junior year studying in Israel as part of NFTY's Eisendrath International Experience program for 10th – 12th grade students, the same program his father attended 40 years ago. He also wants to help pay for the trip himself, and has launched his first business, www.holidayblowoutsale.com to raise the necessary funds. "I spent time this summer looking for ways to earn money. I...
BALTIMORE (JTA) – Beyond the rusty orange leaves, the sky hugging the orchard flourished in pastel blue – a hue that surprisingly didn't define my mood while stretched out upon the grass, head nestled in interlocked palms that sweet October day. Surprisingly because the Sunday afternoon outing marked a jarring wrinkle in a cherished autumnal tradition. With one son serving in the Israeli army and another participating in a post-high-school one-year program in Jerusalem, this apple-picking for...
More reasons for depression... It is acknowledged by most that as a person grows older... really elderly... they may experience bouts of depression. It happens to me occasionally, even though I'm NOT elderly, (Shut up!) especially when I read things like the following story from The World Jewish Congress Digest (WJC): "One of the oldest functioning Jewish schools, The Carolineskolen in Copenhagen, Denmark, recently suffered smashed windows and anti-Semitic graffiti. The vandals, who perpetrated...
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Sharing their favorite Jewish chocolate experiences recently, a group of about 60 chocolate lovers didn't even mention Chanukah gelt. That is, until one woman at the New Jersey get-together shared her thoughts on the subject. "It is sucky," she said, meaning that the chocolate is waxy, flavorless and should remain wrapped in its foil on the holiday table. Francine Segan, an author and chocolate maven, echoed the feeling when she told me recently that her children, who were...
PHILADELPHIA (JTA)-In text accompanying a new exhibition at this city's National Museum of American Jewish History, Sammy Davis Jr. is quoted on why he converted to Judaism. "I became a Jew because I was ready and willing to understand the plight of a people who fought for thousands of years for a homeland," the late entertainer said. What immediately follows is a curator's observation: "Davis knew that becoming a Jew also meant recording Christmas songs." The comment, while somewhat facetious,...
ERUSALEM (JTA)—When the Maccabees climbed the stairs of the Temple in Jerusalem, they lit the menorah with the knowledge that there was only enough oil to last for one day. Only a miracle could turn oil into a renewable resource. And the future of the planet urges us not to depend on miracles. The faith and initiative shown by the Maccabees can inspire us this year to take greater action, especially during a Chanukah that falls during the shmita year. Shmita is the biblically ordained law that has roots in agriculture and building a just s...
NEW YORK (JTA)-There's nothing quite like that first night of Chanukah: a platter full of hot, crispy latkes and the accompanying applesauce and sour cream. It's classic, delicious and a beloved comfort food for so many American Jews. But by the third or fourth night, I need a change of pace for my latkes. Or to be more specific, I crave some other toppings. While I love dipping my latkes into a healthy serving of rich sour cream, I also relish serving meat with latkes, specifically pulled...
Gabriel Kersey, son of Dorene Kersey, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Dec. 20, 2014, at Congregation Sinai in Minneola, Florida. Spiritual leader Joe Goldovitz will officiate. Gabriel's mitzvah project was the collection of food and miscellaneous items for the South Lake Animal League in Groveland. They are a No Kill animal shelter. Gabriel's hobbies and interests include karate (he is a green belt), piano, swimming, and Xbox. Gabriel's bar mitzvah will be hosted by his...
The average Chanukah sufganiya (jelly donut) has between 300 and 400 calories of nearly pure oil and fat. In honor of the miracle God bestowed on the Maccabees, making oil meant for just a day last eight days, the delicious donut and other traditionally oily Chanukah foods become annual killers for your diet. For those who are health conscious but do not want to be deprived of the annual treat, here are three healthier recipes selected from Joyofkosher.com. Consider substituting or reducing...
On Dec. 24, while much of the world is observing Christmas Eve, Jewish singles will be mixing and mingling at an annual party popularly known as The MatzoBall, a social event coordinated by The Society of Young Jewish Professionals. The event was birthed in 1987 at a local bar near Boston University. Bartender Andy Rudnick created the event to give Jewish singles, who usually don't have a place to go on Christmas Eve, a place to party. Since then, the MatzoBall has grown from a local college tow...
Two San Francisco Bay area moms, Lisa Kinne and Susan Mayost, set up a new business they call Sweet Thrills Bakeshop, and their focus has primarily been on developing a new, creative activity for Chanukah-Chocolate Gingerbread Menorah decorating kits. "With our kids all now in school (ages 4-8), it was time for us to have some fun with our own creative ideas, not that playing Legos and having tea parties isn't endlessly satisfying," said Kinne. The idea was sparked by Mayost's own experience as...
The sixth-grade Social Studies students at the Jewish Academy of Orlando took a step back in time to learn about ancient civilizations. To better understand the importance mummification played in the Ancient Egyptian civilization, the students mummified a kosher chicken. This multi-day, multi-step activity was a unique experience. The students can't wait to open their sarcophagus (a stone coffin) next school year in science class and see how successful they were. For more information about the...
