Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Here is more proof ... Proof that Jewish people were fabulous composer/lyricists and many of their songs live on ... no matter what the subject! (It never ceases to amaze me.) For instance, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nippin' at your nose ..." The Christmas Song. It was written by Mel Tormé, a singer, also known as "The Velvet Fog." Melvin Howard Tormé was the son of Jewish/polish immigrants. I had the pleasure of meeting him once. And I also had the pleasure of meeting f...
From the time Keith Dvorchik was a young boy, he has moved no less than eight times and has had a variety of careers all of which prepared him for his job as CEO of The Roth Family JCC and executive director of The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. "When I was four or five years old, my parents moved from Gainesville, Fla., to Hummelstown, a small town near Hershey, Pennsylvania. A year later we moved to the eastern shore of the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where I spent...
(J., The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) - Here's something to do during the long nights of Chanukah under lockdown - become a goblin with a jelly doughnut launcher. That's one option if you play Chanukah Goblins, a tabletop role-playing game by the indie game designer Max Fefer that makes its debut on Thursday, the holiday's first night. Some of the proceeds will go to charity. Fefer said the game, created during the pandemic, is all about finding a way to let your imagination run...
Since astronaut Jessica Meir returned to Earth in April from the International Space Station, she - like all of us - has spent a lot of time indoors and cooped up. While many of us have spent our confinement dreaming of future trips, Meir is working on her own travel plans to a singular destination: She wants to walk on the moon. It's not just a pipe dream. Meir, the fourth Jewish woman (and 15th Jew overall) to travel to space, made the Guinness Book of World Records when she and fellow...
(JNS) -So you don't have a menorah. And you don't have access to supplies that would enable you to create a reasonable facsimile of one. This was the position my mother, Rachel, was in when she was 15 years old. A great miracle had occurred four months earlier - Rachel had been selected to leave Auschwitz for a slave labor camp. After two-and-a-half months in the shadows of the gas chambers and crematoria, she was sent to Christianstadt, a Frauenarbeitslager (women's work camp). Three weeks...
BOSTON (JTA) — As a child, Sheryl Haft was captivated by the sounds of her grandparents speaking Yiddish. Sing-songy terms of endearment like “bubbala” and “mamleh shayne” sparked joy when her grandmother used them. Grittier words like “shmendrick” and “kvetch” tickled her funny bone. Now Haft has captured that passion in a new children’s book that puts a delightful Yiddish spin on “Goodnight Moon,” the beloved bedtime classic by Margaret Wise Brown. “Goodnight Bubbala: A Joyful Parody” is set during Chanukah. With bright and lively illustrat...
Chanukah is one of the most widely celebrated Jewish holidays in the United States. But that doesn't mean there is nothing new to learn about this eight-day festival. From the mysterious origins of gelt to an Apocryphal beheading to Marilyn Monroe, we've compiled an item for each candle (don't forget the shammash!) on the Chanukah menorah. 1. Gelt as we know it is a relatively new tradition - and no one knows who invented it. While coins - "gelt," is Yiddish for coins, or money - have been part...
If you're tired of "regular" potato latkes by the second night of Chanukah, here are some versions and accouterments to try. For most of these recipes, you can start with your own basic potato latke recipe, and substitute appropriately. If you're not supposed to have so much oil, you can spray a cookie sheet with vegetable oil spray or Pam and put any of these in a hot (450 degree) oven for about 5-8 minutes on each side. Ingredients peanut oil 1 teaspoon garlic or 2 garlic cloves 1/2 teaspoon p...
Happy Chanukah! ... As you know, Chanukah began sundown on Dec. 10th and goes through sundown on Dec. 18th. The holiday celebrates redemption of the second Temple in Jerusalem. Of course, fried foods are proper in commemoration of the oil that burned for 8 days when the Maccabees purified and rededicated the Holy Temple. (Yum, Latkes!) This is one of my favorite holidays. Let's celebrate the "Festival of Lights." What I'm grateful for ... Watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on television, I...
As the Festival of Lights approaches, you might be frying latkes and making applesauce in your dreams. The food is delicious and everyone is content and full, and above all, the meal is mess and stress-free. Then reality sets in: You are seriously so busy this time of year! While you may want to instill some tasty Jewish traditions in your family, do you really have time to shred a few bags of potatoes, or knead some finicky sufganiyot dough? Thankfully, this is 2020 and not 1920. These days, ou...
CHICAGO (JTA) — During a season where signs of Christmas seem to be on every corner, many Jewish parents in interfaith families struggle with how to meaningfully incorporate — and get their children excited by — the Jewish side of their tradition. But parents who really want to effectively help their kids fall in love with Chanukah will have to make a year-round commitment. When Jews marry people from other religions with distinct cultural traditions, they often find it comfortable and even desirable to raise their children either in dual cultu...
BERLIN (JTA) — I wasn’t raised Jewish, but this year I’m proud to be connecting with a neglected part of my heritage. There are a lot of Jews who would say that I am not Jewish — my Jewish heritage stems from my paternal grandmother, and I wasn’t raised in the culture or religion beyond enjoying some foods my grandmother made. I accepted for most of my life that, at best, I was Jew-ish, with an emphasis on the “ish.” This year’s Rosh Hashanah was the first explicitly Jewish holiday I had ever celebrated. I skipped Yom Kippur, not feeling pre...
Even though the pandemic has altered our world, my husband Larry and I will still maintain many of our traditions this Chanukah. Eating potato pancakes with applesauce. Lighting candles each night. “Betting” on which candle lasts the longest. Watching Hallmark Christmas movies. Wait! Hallmark Christmas movies? When did that become a tradition? For as long as I can remember, I have watched Hallmark movies. For many years, the famous card company aired shows specific to the holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, and of course Valentine’s Day. Ea...
Jeremy Greenbaum is a writer, illustrator singer, dancer, model and Broadway actor in New York City who has family ties to Central Florida through his beloved aunt and uncle, Billie and Larry Parker, his late Uncle Adam Wershil and his late grandmother, Elayne Wershil. In addition to all of his other talents, Greenbaum has an online company called the Huggable Cactus, https://www.thehuggablecactus.com, where he designs whimsical items for the gift industry. The company was formed in 2018 to...
Chinese food is the choice of many during the holiday season. The following is a twist on the standby fried rice, created by local resident Myrna Ossin. Cauliflower Fried Rice Ingredients 1 medium head cauliflower, leaves removed and florets separated. Discard the core. In a bullet or food processor, process in batches until pieces are small like rice. 6 multi-colored mini sweet peppers, seeded and minced 2-inch fresh ginger peeled and minced 4 garlic cloves minced 4 T. fresh parsley leaves and...
I am sooo proud ... I know I've said this before, many times: "Much of the American Songbook (no rap) was composed by Jews. The greatest songs of all time, in my opinion!" The other night while watching television (what else is there to do since the start of this pandemic?) I watched the movie "Holiday Inn" on television. All the songs were written by Israel Bellin. (You know him as Irving Berlin.) This was the Broadway version of the 1942 movie of the same name. It had many funny moments,...
It didn't take long for Susie Stone to get involved with the Jewish Pavilion. She and her husband, Mark, first came to Orlando in 1974 for a brief visit for few years. They eventually moved back for good in 1984 and the Jewish community has been all the more fortunate for that move. Stone started her work with the Jewish community as a pre-K teacher at the Jewish Community Center preschool. It wasn't until her in-laws moved to town in 2011 that her interest in Jewish senior living began since...
Not every commandment is given a rabbinical justification as clear as that of the mitzvah (commandment) of lighting the Chanukah lights (whether they are candles or oil, which are both acceptable). The rabbis explain that we light them in order to publicize the miracle of the holiday (pirsumei nisa in Aramaic, the language of the Talmud). This symbolic act shifted during the time of the rabbis from the lighting of a solitary candle each night of the holiday to the lighting of an increasing...
When Disney first announced that it would be airing a Chanukah episode of its popular series "Elena of Avalor" featuring a Latina Jewish princess, the Jewish internet was abuzz with anticipation. I was excited, too. Finally my two daughters, ages 4 and 6, would be able to see Judaism celebrated on television, and with a character that had some ethnic flair. The episode, "Festival of Lights," which first aired on Dec. 6, follows a new character, Princess Rebeca, as her royal ship runs into dicey...
These beet pancakes are great for using up a variety of other root vegetables. Using a food processor will make quick work of the shredding aspect of the preparation. With a nice browned crust, the latkes are delicious served with applesauce or sour cream and chives, and offer a good alternative to hash browns at breakfast or brunch. This recipe is reprinted with permission from “The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook,” by Elisa Spungen Bildner and Rob Bildner, Countryman Press. Ingredients • 1/4 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts (abou...
The Jewish Pavilion has many volunteers who go into the facilities and visit with our seniors but those volunteers are just the tip of the iceberg. The Jewish Pavilion's volunteers aren't just those seen at the facilities. There are a lot of them working hard behind the scenes to help our operations run smoothly. Marlene Adler is one of those volunteers working hard for the Jewish Pavilion. Marlene is a Brooklyn native who at 22 got married and moved to New Jersey. A move that she has never...
What a loss ... I loved watching the television show, "Jeopardy." Although I rarely knew the answers to the questions, I enjoyed watching the game hosted by Alex Trebek. Maybe its because I felt such warmth from him, such tenderness. Also, although he was not raised Jewish, I believe he had Jewish ancestry on his father's side. Alex was from Canada, his ancestry is Ukrainian, like mine on my mother's side. (My mom was born in Canada but her parents and siblings were born in Ukraine.) I will...
(ISRAEL21c) - Thursday, Nov. 19, was World Toilet Day, established by the United Nations to raise awareness of sanitation challenges across the globe. To mark the special event, we looked at the sanitary situation in the Land of Israel these past couple of millennia and learned more about the best ancient toilets uncovered by archaeologists. What can we say - it certainly left us feeling flushed. City of David, Jerusalem (Iron Age) Magnificent remains of toilets were found in the archaeological...
(JTA) - Deni Avdija, the 19-year-old Israeli basketball phenom, was taken by the Washington Wizards with the ninth overall pick of the NBA Draft on Wednesday night – the earliest an Israeli has been picked in league history. Avdija, a lanky 6-9 forward for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel's top professional league, becomes the second player from the Jewish state to go in the first round. Omri Casspi, also a standout forward for Maccabi Tel Aviv, went 23rd to the Sacramento Kings in the 2009 draft a...
(JTA) - Alex Trebek, the beloved baritone host of "Jeopardy!," died of pancreatic cancer Sunday at 80. In his 36 years as host of the immensely popular game show, Trebek encountered his share of Jewish moments. We've rounded up a few especially notable ones from the last decade here. 2011: A rabbi appears on her ordination anniversary Rabbi Joyce Newmark, a Conservative rabbi from Teaneck, New Jersey, won $29,200 during her appearance on the show, which aired on the 20th anniversary of her...
