Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Congratulations to Jewish Pavilion raffle winner Dolores Indek, who won elongated diamond earrings donated by Addeo Jewelers. Funds will be used to enhance the lives of seniors in long-term care facilities in the greater Orlando area. Special thanks to all participants in the Chanukah appeal raffle. - Nancy Ludin, Jewish Pavilion CEO...
Kicking off a master's degree is a high point in any academically ambitious student's life. Between the academic stimulation, making new friends and soaking in the college life atmosphere, the beginning of the school year is usually a moment of great anticipation. While St. Petersburg native Elana Titen is experiencing butterflies in her stomach as she embarks on her MA in public health in Israel, she does acknowledge that this year is unique. Having just started taking classes at the University...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - An Israeli startup's groundbreaking innovation may provide a much-needed remedy to the shortage of ventilators and the overwhelming of staff in COVID-19 wards. "Yehonatan Medical, in collaboration with Professor Ori Efrati, director of the Pediatric Pulmonary Unit at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer, devised a state-of-the-art, first-of-its-kind ventilation system that can treat between three and five patients simultaneously. That means more patients treated by...
Thanks to TikTok ... (I'm too old to know about TikTok but anyway): The World Jewish Congress was pleased to hear from TikTok that it has removed anti-Semitic content shared by users after the WJC flagged such content for the social media company. The WJC has worked closely with TikTok to identify specific examples of harmful content and was informed that TikTok had removed 98 of 100 flagged videos and banned 9 of 12 users. TikTok has now followed YouTube and Facebook in banning Dieudonne...
AMSTERDAM (JTA) - It was meant as an ode to one of the most courageous yet little-known rescue efforts of Jews during the Holocaust. But a week after its publication, a Dutch-language historical novel is at the heart of a controversy over whether the author twisted the historical record in ways that risk distorting public understanding of the genocide. Critics say "The Nursery," which is based on a daring rescue operation to smuggle hundreds of Jewish children out of Amsterdam and describes itse...
(JTA) - Acclaimed director David Fincher's highly anticipated film "Mank," on the Jewish screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz and the story behind his writing of the classic film "Citizen Kane," hits Netflix on Friday following a short theater-only run. It's already being considered a front-runner for several Oscar nominations. Beyond "Citizen Kane," Mankiewicz worked behind the scenes on dozens of famous films from the silent era into the 1950s - among them "The Wizard of Oz" and the comedy "Dinner...
By Cnaan Liphshiz AMSTERDAM (JTA) - For the Amsterdam Jewish Historical Museum, Chanukah this year entailed the stressful chore of assembling the world's most expensive menorah. Last week, the Rintel Menorah, a 266-year-old menorah valued at over a half-million dollars, was put back on display at Amsterdam's Jewish Historical Museum following the restoration of its wooden base, which was lost during the Holocaust. Built in 1753, the menorah is a relic from the golden age of a community that was...
This recipe originally appeared on The Nosher. This comforting soup is a cross between a meaty borscht and my current obsession: caramelized cabbage. Both the flanken and cabbage lend a hand in its richness. You might just find yourself not needing any bouillon for this one. If you can't find golden beets, any beet will do. I just love the goldenness it promotes in the broth. Please do not, however, cut any cooking time of the cabbages. The longer you cook them, the better. To make this...
(JNS) - Pittsburgh Steeler Zach Banner announced Monday that he was donating a portion of a game-day check to Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha Synagogue, the site of the mass shooting in October 2018. "I'm crashing Hanukkah this year guys ... by donating part of my game day check to the Tree of Life synagogue here in Pittsburgh. Happy Holidays!" tweeted Banner. He signed off as "Hulk," a reference to Marvel superhero Bruce Banner. "I have been so moved by the support and love I've received from the...
(JTA) - This year's Grammy Awards will almost certainly be different from past years, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. But despite the lack of details surrounding the ceremony, it's still taking place, and as usual, several Jewish artists made the nominations list, which was announced Tuesday. Ranging all the way from the sister rock band Haim to comedian Tiffany Haddish, these are the Jewish artists who made the biggest impact on the recording industry this year. The big awards Leading the...
"Jeopardy!" fans have been hard hit by the loss of Alex Trebek, who died of cancer on Nov. 8 at age 80. But because the show films in advance - and Trebek kept filming until a week before his passing - the beloved longtime host is still with us until Dec. 25. Just why are we writing about this iconic game show? Well, Jewish questions and guests are not exactly rare on "Jeopardy!". But on Monday night, Nov. 30, the show had an entire category dedicated to Yiddish. The clueless contestants were...
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...
