Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 30
The United States Postal Service periodically issues a commemorative Hanukkah stamp. The tradition of the USPS printing a Chanukah stamp began in 1996. Initially the same design was repeated for many years before a new issue with different artwork was introduced. However, since 2016 a newly designed Hanukkah stamp has been produced every two years. To date there have been 10 different issues celebrating the holiday, each designed by a different artist, most of whom have been Jewish. Behind each...
(JNS) - I doubt that my grandchildren would recognize the Chanukahs of my childhood. They took place amid the backdrop of my best friends' and next-door neighbors' Christmas extravaganzas. Their homes looked to me like fairy houses strung with colored lights on the outside and huge Christmas trees in the living room, with colored balls and delicate, shiny angels on top. Underneath the tree were beautifully wrapped presents in all shapes and sizes. This was long before there were Chanukah decorat...
(JNS) - A traditional eight-branched candelabrum was installed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday ahead of the Chanukah festival, which begins on the evening of Dec. 14, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said. The bronze menorah, or chanukiyah, which measures some 6.5 by 6.5 feet, will be lit every evening during the eight-day holiday, which runs until Dec. 22, the foundation said in a statement. This year, the Chanukah festivities at Judaism's second-holiest site will be...
Dr. Michael Lozman's dream of a permanent Holocaust Memorial in the Capital Region of New York became a reality on Dec. 1, 2025, when Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation establishing a New York State memorial to honor Holocaust victims and survivors. "With the first ever state-sponsored Holocaust Memorial, we are honoring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust while ensuring that all visitors have a place to remember and reflect on what the Jewish community has endured," Governor...
This Italian recipe uses a potato base. I often use the donuts as dessert for a Chanukah meal with fried chicken, potato pancakes (Latkas), a green salad and a vegetarian dish. You won't find this menu on most diet plans. Make ahead. Makes 24, 2" donuts. 1 1/2 cups mashed Russet potatoes about 1 lb. or 1 large potato, microwaved in parchment 7 minutes or until soft for mashing 3/4 cup whole milk, room temperature 1 pk. yeast (1 1/4 tsp.) 1/2 cup plus 3 T. sugar for rolling 3 - 3 /1/2 cups flour...
(JNS) — Construction work on Israel’s eastern security barrier along the border with Jordan has begun, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced on Monday. The initial stage will focus on the Beit She’an, Jezreel and Jordan Valleys, constructing the first two sections of the new barrier that will span roughly 50 miles, the ministry said. Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, “The new barrier will strengthen the communities along the border, significantly reduce weapons smuggling to terrorists in Judea and Samaria, and deal a heavy...
(JNS) — A section of Jerusalem’s city wall dating from the Hasmonean period more than two thousand years ago has been unearthed in the city’s Tower of David Museum, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday. The wall was discovered during an excavation on the grounds of the museum, located just inside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem, adjacent to the citadel, within the historic complex known as the Kishle, the state-run archaeological body said. The newly uncovered section of the wall known in ancient historical sourc...
(JNS) — Israeli authorities on Thursday morning confirmed that the remains recovered from Hamas in the Gaza Strip the previous evening belong to murdered Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak, whose body had been held captive since the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. Authorities informed Suthdisak’s family that arrangements for returning his body to Thailand for burial will be made in coordination with the Thai Embassy in Israel. “The Israeli government shares the deep sorrow of the Rinthalak family, the Thai people and all the families of the slain abduc...
(JNS) — The popular TV series “Dancing With the Stars” ushered in Chanukah a little early as part of an inaugural show, “Dancing With the Holidays,” which aired on Dec. 2. Alan Bersten, a Jewish dancer and choreographer, led the several-minute-long routine that featured themes of the Jewish holiday. “Growing up Jewish, you don’t really see a lot of Chanukah representation, so tonight we’re doing a special performance to celebrate,” Bersten said on the Tuesday-night show. “Hopefully, Jewish kids are watching this, and they feel seen and they...
President Donald Trump said on Dec. 6 that his decision on that day in 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to begin the process of moving the U.S. embassy there was “a transformative step forward in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East.” “Today, eight years later, my administration renews its commitment to ushering in a new era of peace, prosperity and stability in the region and all around the world,” he stated. “Since the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948, Jerusalem has served as its cultural and religio...
(JNS) — How long have we been the “wandering Jews?” I imagine ever since Abraham, the very first Jew. His travels and travails are recounted in the Bible for all to see and our sages taught that the lives of our patriarchs and matriarchs would be a harbinger of the destiny of their descendants for generations to come. And the wandering Jew has also been the wondering Jew. We’ve been forever wondering about who we are and how we fit in with the countries we’ve migrated to over the centuries. I imagine it’s been one of the ongoing dilemmas of...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — The scenes that everyone of us see throughout Europe cannot be obscured. From London through Paris. From Amsterdam through Brussels. The classic symbols of Western European capitals have undergone significant changes in the first two decades of the 21st century. A phenomenon that began mainly in the ’90s of the previous century has been changing in recent years, not only the appearance of streets and neighborhoods, but also the face of politics in Western Europe and, recently, in the U.S. Two years after the most bru...
(JNS) — Judaism is all about bringing light into the world — affecting and improving it through positive acts, awareness, kindness and compassion. This mission is especially meaningful during the darkest of times and in the darkest of places, when light is not just comforting but transformative. The notion that each person can contribute to the illumination of the world is central to Jewish thought and practice, and it is this principle that Chanukah, the “Festival of Lights,” so beautifully exemplifies. In the Jewish month of Kislev comes t...
(JNS) — Whether on Broadway or in City Hall, theatrics are a fixture of New York City life. But no performance — whether in Times Square or Lower Manhattan — rivals mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s outrageous campaign-trail promise and post-election reaffirmation that he would seek to enforce an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he set foot in the city. The significance of Mamdani’s pledge lies not merely in its impossibility or illegality, but in what the promise and its later “cl...
You can be forgiven for thinking that the war is over in Israel and peace has broken out. Since President Trump’s October ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, countless reports and headlines have presented this as a peace deal. Barring reports of daily conflict in Gaza or the return of the bodies of the remaining hostage in captivity for 26 months, “quiet” can be misperceived as peace. But the truth could not be more opposite. There are abundant examples. One recent one hit home personally. This week there was another terrorist attac...
(JNS) — I trust that Sabine Baring-Gould, an Anglican priest and scholar, will forgive me filching my title from his 1865 hymn. As it is based on a New Testament reference, II Timothy 2:3, whose theme is shared suffering, I thought it appropriate. Indeed, a few verses further in that chapter, we read, “the word of God cannot be chained!” and that harmonizes with the essential shared message of both Jewish and Christian Zionism. The support for Zionism is under a renewed attack of opposition and invalidation. One stream of vitriol, of cours...
(JNS) — Guinness World Records is no longer accepting submissions from Israel or the Palestinian territories, Jerusalem-based NGO “Matnat Chaim” said on Wednesday. The NGO, whose name means “Gift of Life” in Hebrew, helps people make voluntary kidney donations. It had contacted Guinness World Records regarding an event it is planning next month, which will bring together 2,000 Israeli kidney donors in the hope of having the gathering entered into the next Guinness Book of World Records. However, the British body informed the Israeli group two...
(JNS) - The largest influencer delegation in Israel's history arrived in the country on Tuesday. The group includes 1,000 church leaders and influencers from the United States, initiated by Friends of Zion and at the invitation of the Israeli Foreign Ministry as part of its broader "battle for consciousness," led by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar. The ministry aims to bolster pro-Israel sentiment among sympathetic American audiences. Officials acknowledged that some evangelical support has eroded...
(JNS) — Fraudulent programs that claimed to feed needy children and to support kids with autism in Minnesota stole billions of dollars in recent years, with some of the funding going overseas to Somalia and helping fund the Al-Shabaab Islamist terror group, according to a new report from City Journal, a Manhattan Institute publication. According to the report, a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future received $250 million in state funding. “Using fake meal counts, doctored attendance records and fabricated invoices, the perpetrators of the fra...
(JNS) — U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Wednesday urged more than a thousand visiting American pastors and Christian leaders to “light the pulpits of America” with the truth about Israel, and to quash criticism of the Jewish state from both the left and the right with the facts and the Bible. “We need the pulpits of America to be on fire with the truth,” Huckabee said in a fiery address. “I pray that you don’t just go back home and say, ‘Oh, I had wonderful trip. I took some good pictures. I saw some wonderful sites.’ I hope...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Seven hundred and ninety days after the deadliest massacre in Israel’s history, which led to the abduction of hundreds of civilians, Staff Sgt. Ran Gvili is now the last hostage still held in the Gaza Strip. Gvili, a 24-year-old Israel Police Special Patrol Unit (Yasam) volunteer from Meitar, fought with extraordinary courage on Oct. 7, 2023. When the massacre began, he left his house, put on his uniform and headed out to fight. About 10 days before he had broken his shoulder, and was waiting for surgery, yet he sti...
(JNS) — Israel returned from the 2025 WAKO World Kickboxing Championships in Abu Dhabi at the end of November with seven medals—one gold, two silver and four bronze—following a standout showing at one of the largest global events in the sport. The championship, held from Nov. 21–30 at the ADNEC Arena, featured more than 2,000 athletes from over 85 countries, making Israel’s medal haul particularly significant in an intensely competitive field. Gold medalist Yulia Sachkov, 26, credited Israel’s success to mental toughness and discipline....
(JNS) — For years, the Palestinian Authority has rewarded terrorism through its “pay-to-slay” stipends—monthly salaries for Palestinians who murder Jews and for the families of “martyrs,” including suicide bombers. Some of the killers recently freed in Israel’s hostage exchanges have even become millionaires. That morally bankrupt model is now being replicated inside the United States. Hamas’s supporters here have created their own incentive system—this time to reward anti-Israel activism on American campuses. The California chapter of the Co...
(JNS) — Robert Kraft, the Jewish owner of the New England Patriots, has been named a contributor finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026, the Hall announced on Wednesday. Kraft, who has owned the Patriots since 1994, led the franchise to six Super Bowl victories and 10 Super Bowl appearances, in both cases more than any other owner in NFL history. He purchased the team for a then-record $172 million to prevent its relocation to St. Louis and privately financed construction of Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The 2026 c...
(JNS) — A group of middle school parents in the Binyamin community of Beit El in southern Samaria kept their children home from school on Sunday, as the school and its outdoor sports courts are located near a construction site where approximately 50 Palestinian Authority workers arrive each day. They sent a message of protest to municipal and school officials that changes are needed before they can confidently allow their children to attend classes. Some parents have indicated that they may keep their children home again if security at the s...
