Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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By Margaret Littman (JTA) - Visiting Yad Vashem a decade ago, Alon Shaya got to see some of the Jerusalem Holocaust museum's culinary-related artifacts that aren't always on display to the public. It was the James Beard Award-winning chef's introduction to the fact that concentration camp inmates distracted themselves by recalling and secretly writing recipes - on scraps of hidden paper and cloth - from their prewar lives. "Food is such a big part of everything I do. It really moved me that peop...
It is hard to believe that Passover starts tomorrow evening. How can we even begin to think about preparing for Passover when we are living in the midst of a pandemic? As we each live in the uncertainty of quarantine/lockdown/shelter in place/limited movement - select whichever one matches where you live - many of us have been stockpiling food in our cabinets. And, if they look anything like mine, they are full of chametz (bread products). With everyone stuck at home, the line between work and...
NEW YORK (JTA) - Every Passover, we strive to experience Egypt in our own lives. Locating the suffering of our Egypt wasn't hard this year: It seems like most days my husband and I share the names of new people we personally know who have passed away from COVID-19 and families devastated by the challenging conditions in which their loved ones passed away. We have been mourning the absence of community, the simplest and deepest of joys. The Alter Rebbe of Gur, known as the Sfat Emet (1847-1905),...
BOSTON (JTA) - On the eve of Passover during the Depression, a juggler in ragged clothes is invited into the home of a poor family that has a bare Seder table. It's a poignant scene in "The Passover Guest," the captivating debut picture book by author Susan Kusel, a longtime Judaica librarian who was inspired by a classic Yiddish tale, "The Magician," by I.L. Peretz. By lovely coincidence, readers have that rare opportunity to enjoy another retelling of the beloved story in a new publication of...
Passover begins at sundown tomorrow, Saturday, March 27. (Matzo Brei here I come!) Any prouder? (my blouse will split!)... How about Emma Lazarus? She was Jewish. Her poem, "The New Colossus" is engraved on the Statue of Liberty! Being a battered child because of my Jewish heritage, the first poem I learned (and never forgot) goes like this: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free ..." (Although very poor, living on welfare in a Brooklyn project, I knew how...
I have to tell you about my Aunt Ann and Uncle Harry, both first-generation Americans fresh off the boat from Istanbul, Turkey, and Russia. They owned a fish store in Philadelphia. Their fish shop was the end store on a block of row homes in the Jewish neighborhood. I remember as a little boy, I would avoid the fish store because I didn’t like the smell, but I would go upstairs to Aunt Ann’s and Uncle Harry’s house and would always see the paper bag filled with their day’s receipts sitting somewhere in their home above the store. I also re...
NEW YORK — The Orthodox Union, the umbrella group for Orthodox Jewry and leading certifier of kosher products, has released its OU Guide to Passover, the annual publication that provides comprehensive guidance about kosher-for-Passover products. This year’s edition, which is available in both PDF and online database formats, features close to 30,000 kosher-for-Passover products and charts on ingredient substitutions, halachic times for Passover, required portion sizes at the seder and Sefirat HaOmer. Passover this year will be celebrated fro...
Last week, my 11-year-old daughter went back to her school campus for the first time in 50 weeks. As we prepared for her return, we cleaned out her backpack, which was frozen in time: It still held the remnants of a class field trip taken the first week of March 2020; her sunscreen, hat, playing cards, and souvenir pen all stark reminders of the moment just before we hibernated into our own silos. We replaced these relics with the folders and books she needed to bring back to school. She readjusted the straps, already worn-in to the contours...
(The Nosher) - Leave it to Sephardic Jews to make even a pedestrian dish - the ubiquitous matzah brei, a mash-up of fried matzah and egg - into something sublime. In his landmark book "The Sephardic Kitchen," Rabbi Robert Sternberg introduced many of us to the flavors and pleasures of Sephardic Jewish cuisine. Masa Tiganitas is a Passover recipe of the Greek Jews - tiganites is the Greek word for pancakes, and, according to Sephardic cook and author Jennifer Abadi, tiganitas is related to the...
Singing is traditionally a major part of the Passover seder, and it certainly makes for a more festive and participatory celebration. But what if your repertoire of Passover songs is lacking or you can't remember the lyrics or melodies even for classics like "Dayenu" or "Chad Gadya"? Or what if you have an urge to accompany the singing on guitar (or some other instrument) this year? Whatever the situation, we can help. Here (and in no particular order) are the best online resources we could...
Amar'e Stoudemire, the former NBA star-turned Orthodox-convert to Judaism and the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team co-owner, has been in the news a lot lately. Currently, he is an assistant player development coach for the Brooklyn Nets, and he is very happy that he doesn't have to work on Shabbat, which he observes. In December he spoke at a Zoom discussion event sponsored by the UJA Federation New York, titled "Amar'e Stoudemire: His Practice On and Off the Court." Stoudemire was introduced...
Such Talent! ... I never knew (or even had a hint) that extremely famous pantomime performer, Marcel Marceau was Jewish. His name at birth was Marcel Mangel. His father was captured and killed at Auschwitz. Besides his acting talent, Marcel also worked as a liaison officer with United States General George Patton's 3rd army. He also rescued Jews during the Holocaust. (RIP Marcel. You will always be remembered for your talent and your deeds.) Speaking of talented actors and delightful people,...
(JTA) - The Darvick family did Jewish holidays by videoconference long before a pandemic forced them. "We call it Skypanukkah," Elliot Darvick told The New York Times in December 2011, when the family was featured in an article about celebrating Chanukah over Skype. So when Zoom seders suddenly became standard last year, the Darvicks were prepared. But this Passover, the Darvicks will be together again. By the time the holiday begins later this month, both Debra Darvick, 64, and her husband,...
(JTA) - The BBC has been accused of bias in its coverage of Israel for decades. Now the public broadcaster is taking flak from British Jews for coverage much closer to home. What's causing their biggest dispute in years? It's the broadcast of a debate over whether Jews should be considered an ethnic minority - a panel discussion featuring four non-Jewish panelists and a Jewish commenter as a guest. Monday's discussion touched raw nerves in the organized community, where many Jews feel...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (JTA) - Last year, Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed a treaty establishing diplomatic relations. But for more than a year earlier, diners in the UAE had already been finding their way to Jewish culture - via the home cooking of a South African expatriate. Elli Kriel, a sociologist by training who moved here in 2013 when her husband was transferred to the Emirates for work, began serving kosher food to Jewish tourists years ago out of her home kitchen. Now...
By Ed Borowsky "As my forefathers planted for me, so I, too, plant for my children," Talmud, Ta'anit 23bm. There is an independent advisory group/501(c)(3) organization called the Jewish Capital Alliance that has been operating for a little over 10 years in the greater Orlando area. JCA is dedicated to ensuring the long-term growth and success of mission-driven Jewish nonprofits. They've been providing low-interest loans and lines of credit to agencies, synagogues and other Jewish organizations...
(JNS) - A new Holocaust documentary narrated by British actor and "Harry Potter" star Jason Isaacs debuted this week for students in the United Kingdom. Holocaust Learning UK commissioned the hour-long film "Out of the Darkness," which features the testimony of Janine Webber, a survivor of the Lvov Ghetto. Isaacs, 57, who played Lucious Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" series of films, is Jewish and has spoken about experiencing anti-Semitic attacks as a teenager in London by the far-right group...
In the news... Judge MERRICK GARLAND is President BIDEN'S pick for attorney general of the United States. Judge Garland is Jewish. His grandparents fled Europe and anti-Semitism. "The United States took them in," he said. "I want to pay back by serving." (He broke down, suppressing tears.) "I'm not here to serve the president. I'm here for the people." (I hope he will be voted in.) Also... My eldest son, Navy Commander DAVID and his wife, JOLENE, have many Great Danes in their family. I am...
(JTA) - Stan Lee, arguably the most famous American comic book creator, died at age 95 in 2018. Honoring his Jewish identity, many evoked the phrase "may his memory be a blessing" (coming from the Hebrew "zichrono l'bracha") when reporting on his passing. Just what this memory looks like, however, and what it should look like, is a topic that is increasingly up for debate. To most people with a passing knowledge of comic books, Lee - who may be best known to the general public for his 30-plus...
(JTA) - With "Superman and Lois," the newest TV series involving the character, premiering last week on the CW network, it's a good time to recall that Superman was the 1938 brainchild of Jewish creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Many have suggested that the pair were inspired by their own Jewish backgrounds to create Superman as the paradigm of a hero who defended vulnerable populations from their enemies. But there is reason to suspect that a more specific encounter may have inspired them...
(JTA) - I can't stop thinking about Flory Jagoda, Joseph Sassoon and Kitty Sassoon, three American Jews in their 90s who died last week. As an Ashkenazi Jew, I do not share their family backgrounds. But their deaths hit home for me, as they were among the last native speakers of endangered Jewish languages - languages I'm helping to document before it's too late. Flory Jagoda devoted much of her life to preserving one of those languages. She grew up in Bosnia speaking Ladino, also known as...
(JTA) - When Maya Katz-Ali saw the ad on Facebook recruiting Asian Jews to participate in a new video project about identity, she scrolled through her list of friends to figure out who might be a good fit. The daughter of a Jewish mother from New York and a Muslim father from India, it didn't occur to Katz-Ali that she fit the bill herself. Though she grew up connected to both parents' cultures - especially the food - she always saw them as distinct. When her mother wanted to hire Indian...
AMSTERDAM (JTA) - A Torah scroll that disappeared from a Dutch synagogue following the Nazi invasion into the Netherlands has been rediscovered 80 years later and returned to the Jewish community. The scroll, which appears to be intact and has been kept in excellent condition since World War II, belonged to a synagogue in the southern city of Dordrecht, according to Chris den Hoedt, chairman of the Jewish Community of Rotterdam, or NIG. The Pennings family from Dordrecht kept it in storage for...
A singer needs songs to sing ... (That's me I'm referring to.) What's a good song without a good lyric? One of the best lyricists ever, in my opinion, was Gustav Gerson Kahn. (You knew him as Gus Kahn.) My favorite lyric of his is "You stepped out of a dream." (I do dream about my departed spouse often.) And speaking of "departed," another wonderful songwriter was Laura Nyro, who unfortunately died young. She was another talented Jew. And lets not forget Lerner and Loewe ... that's Frederick Loe...
AMSTERDAM (JTA) - Sonja Levy was a positive person who made an excellent first impression and whose important position exempted her from deportation, according to the personal card that the Jewish Council of Amsterdam made for her during the Nazi occupation. But the accolades on the card weren't enough to save Levy, a kindergarten teacher who was in her early 20s when the Germans invaded. Like more than 100,000 Dutch Jews, she was eventually put on a train to the death camps in occupied Poland...
