Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Thanksgiving has always been our favorite holiday. When we lived in Clifton Park, we celebrated for many years by running the Troy Turkey Trot in the morning and then joining the family for dinner at Larry's cousins' home in Argyle, New York. Our most memorable Thanksgiving was also our saddest. In 1974, two and a half months after we married, Larry's beloved grandmother passed away. Bubbe Rose was the matriarch of Larry's family. Her tiny stature - she was under five feet and weighed less than...
(JNS) - Voice actor Eli Schiff, 42, and his wife, cartoonist Chari Pere, 40, have spent years building their creative careers. Their latest project has turned their family into castmates. The couple and their children-Jakey, 13; Bailey, 10; and Serina, 6-have voice roles in the animated feature "David" from Angel studies, lending their voices to the biblical story of King David. "It was fun," Pere told JNS. "It definitely helped us build some amazing memories." Schiff's connection to the film...
Navigating the complex world of veterans’ benefits can be overwhelming for seniors and their families. At Jewish Pavilion Senior Services and the Orlando Senior Help Desk, we understand the unique challenges veterans face as they age, and we are here to connect them with trusted resources that offer free, certified support in filing claims and accessing the benefits they have earned. In Brevard County, the Veterans Services Offices provide no-cost assistance for veterans and their eligible surviving family members. These offices are staffed w...
These make an attractive side dish. 1 lb. carrots peeled and cut into sticks or left whole if small 2 T. olive oil 2 T. honey 1 T. Dijon mustard 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice 1 tsp. garlic powder Salt and pepper 1 tsp. Fresh thyme and parsley chopped for garnish Heat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Toss carrots with olive oil, honey, Dijon, salt and pepper and coat carrots. Roast carrots in one layer for 20-25 minutes flipping them halfway through. They should be tender and...
ROSWELL, New Mexico - If it weren't for an Ashkenazi Jew named Stanton T. Friedman, the world might have long ago forgotten what's come to be known simply as the "Roswell incident." Instead, countless books, documentaries and made-for-TV dramas have explored the 1947 discovery of mysterious materials found on a New Mexico ranch that Friedman argued were the relics of extraterrestrials. A wave of successors, including a prominent Israeli-American physicist, continue to press the case for alien...
The ethnic cleansing mob outside Villa Park football stadium, Birmingham It was never about Israeli football fans. It was always about Muslim Jew-hatred. And last night in Birmingham, we saw that in Britain it’s Islam that now controls the streets. A Muslim mob presenting a serious threat of violence and disorder was allowed to stage a thuggish display of hatred of Jews, incitement against them and intimidation. The mob swarmed the area around the Villa Park stadium where Aston Villa was playing Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Maccabi away-fans had b...
Just hours after New York City’s mayor election was called for Zohran Mamdani, a top Israeli official issued an invitation. “New York will never be the same again, especially not for its Jewish community,” Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli tweeted. “I invite the Jews of New York to seriously consider making their new home in the Land of Israel.” Chikli’s call dovetailed with another appeal to Jewish New Yorkers made by a spokesman for the Jewish settlement in Hebron, Yishai Fleisher. “Indeed, it was a great run, and you were a blessing to N...
This article was produced as part of the New York Jewish Week’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around New York City to report on issues that affect their lives. Sixteen-year-old Chase, who lives on the Upper East Side, is close with his grandparents. They talk about school, work and national politics, but there’s one topic he avoids discussing with them: the New York City mayoral election. He and his grandparents, who are all Reform Jews, have split views on the 34-year-old democratic socialist fro...
(JNS) - Movie producers often close sets to protect the secrecy of their films, but they don't usually do so to protect the physical and mental health of those nearby. That's just what happened with the four-part series "Red Alert" about the Israeli heroes, who rose up in the wake of Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel. During a scene about the terror attacks on Kibbutz Nir Oz, Lawrence Bender, executive producer of the series, told the crew to line trucks up around the set, so that...
(JNS) - Documenting Jewish cemeteries and synagogues over a decade for what became his book "The Posthumous Landscape: Remnants of Jewish Life in Eastern Europe," Jewish photojournalist David Kaufman found helpers and those who got in his way. "Every place we went, there was someone who knew where the former cemetery or synagogue was. Those people were invariably happy to help us find our way and did this graciously, often out of a commitment to preserve Jewish material culture," the...
(JNS) SYDNEY, Australia - When Sharon Stoliar saw the images of masked terrorists rampaging through southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, she immediately was taken back to her childhood nearly four decades ago in Sri Lanka. The academic researcher and former midwife, who came to Australia as a girl of five, vividly recalled how her father, a pastor with the Wesleyan Methodist Church, was held at gunpoint by rebels in Sri Lanka. "It brought up all those memories," she recounted in an interview with JN...
This is a great do ahead meal to serve the next day, but in an instant pot it takes only 45 minutes to cook. Directions for Instant pot 1 1/2 T. avocado oil or neutral oil in bottom of instant pot. Set pot on sauté and with the cover off and press start. Brown 1-2 lbs. lamb shoulder or necks or 1 1/2 lb. beef chuck pieces on all sides, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile prepare vegetables. Peel and chop 1 large onion, (about 2 cups). Peel and cut 2 large carrots, (about 1 cup), and cut in large chunks....
If you have hired an aide from a home health care agency, you can expect a lot of support in easing your anxieties. It is the agency’s job to answer your questions in advance and resolve any issues that arise. The key to facilitating your satisfaction and comfort is good communication with the agency management and with your aide. Here are a few tips for establishing positive relationships with your home health care professionals: • Be completely honest about your needs: Overcome any embarrassment or guilt associated with describing why you nee...
(Braden Hamelin/The Jewish Exponent via JNS) - Israeli dancer Yuval Cohen's performance in a featured role of "Carmen" with the Philadelphia Ballet on Oct. 9 was a full-circle moment for the artist still in his 20s. Cohen performed the same ballet in his first featured role with the company almost exactly two years earlier, shortly after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. This year's performance was a much happier occasion for Cohen, as news of the Israel-Hamas...
Last week, the Orlando Jewish Chamber of Commerce hosted a standout Lunch and Learn event featuring guest speaker Amy Schwartz Kimlat, a marketing and advertising professional and Head of Growth & Brand Experience for See Magic Live. The presentation, titled "Working With AI," drew a much larger crowd than expected, filling the Roth Family JCC where it was hosted by Shalom Orlando. Kimlat delivered an engaging and practical talk on harnessing artificial intelligence in the workplace. She shared...
(JNS) - Freed Israeli-Russian hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov said on Wednesday that Jerusalem's assassination campaign targeting top Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian terrorists contributed to hear release from captivity. Tsurkov, who was held for two and a half years by Iran-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah in Iraq, told The New York Times in an interview published Wednesday that she believes the IDF military campaign "rattled" the terrorist leaders, leading them to view their captive as a liability. The...
I’m late for work! What? Wait a minute. What day is this? Friday? No; I didn’t put out the trash can for collection. Let’s see, what did I do last night? Oh, yes, I recall. We watched Antiques Roadshow. So, it must be Tuesday. And I don’t have to go to work; I retired many years ago. Such confusion. It only happens once in a while. But thanks to the resetting of clocks back to standard time my brain is malfunctioning. It used to be that I was only affected every spring when the clocks were mo...
Imagine your parent is in a senior living community. Whenever you visit or call, they tell you about another resident who has the most wonderful daughter. This amazing daughter is patient, compassionate, and attentive. She visits her mother every day. You wonder if your parent is trying to tell you something. How do you respond? If you struggle to get along with your parents, you’re not alone. Relationships are tricky, and families are no exception. Comments like the one above may feel like a personal jab, but it is important to consider the...
I am not a fan of the supernatural. Except for "Ghost" (I love the chemistry between Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze!) and "Sixth Sense" (What a great ending!), I shy away from any movie that smacks of the occult. And while I respect Stephen King as a writer, I rarely read his best-selling horror novels. But there is one area in which I am a believer: signs from the other side. Several times in my life, I have felt that I have had "visits" from those I had loved and lost. Six weeks after my...
(JNS) - After facing a flood of antisemitism in the publishing world, Australian writer Linda Margolin Royal brought her Holocaust story to Jerusalem, turning adversity into triumph. Royal, a former advertising copywriter in Australia, flew to Israel to launch her bestselling debut novel, "The Star on the Grave," at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, on Sept. 30. Released last year, Royal's historical fiction novel is based on her family's true story of how an altruistic gentile...
About 10 years ago, as a volunteer program director for the Jewish Pavilion, I put together a program about Yiddish — its words, humor, and heart — and took it “on the road” to a dozen assisted-living and nursing facilities across West Orange County. The residents loved it. We laughed our way through bupkes, kvetch, schlep, mensch, and dozens of other favorites. Many in the audience still remembered those words from their parents or childhood neighbors. The program was a great schtick, and now it has brought back memories of my childho...
Part of my growing up experience included my friends affectionately calling me just by my last name, and my high school coaches doing the same, only not so affectionately. Problem is, most people have a tendency to mispronounce my last name. Instead of pronouncing the letter “v” at the end, they say it like my last name ends with an “f.” Hence Witkov becomes Witkoff. When I spell my name (over the phone or checking in somewhere) I always finish with, “That last letter is a ‘v’ as in the word ‘victory.’” But, more often than not, they still get...
(JNS) - Seven years ago, in the calm of a Saturday morning in Pittsburgh, the world convulsed. The Oct. 27 massacre at the Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha, in which 11 Jewish people were killed, did not merely shatter bones and hopes; it bent the axis of everyday life in my hometown neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. And now, in this seventh year, the hard work is no longer just to remember what happened or to respond with declarations of unity; it is to reckon with how memory demands us to live...
(JNS) - Walking down 3rd Avenue and 85th Street during a recent visit to New York, I was approached by a young, professionally-dressed woman who recognized me from news interviews. "Thank you for everything you do for Israel," she said, and held out her hand. I shook it, blushing. "No," I replied, "Thank you for standing by us during this difficult period." "Difficult period" is, of course, an understatement. For the past two years, the Jewish state and the nation it represents have been...
Keep a folder of all medical information. It is good to have a binder in addition to a folder on the computer, so you can take critical medical information with you to appointments. Information Needed: • Health insurance cards, Medicare cards, and so on • Appointment reminder cards from health care providers • A list of medications including dosages, frequency, date started and reason • A medical history • A list of emergency contacts, relationship, addresses and all phone numbers • A sheet for recording the date of visits, the provider an...
