Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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When I was six years old, I loved summer storms. As the sky turned dark, the thunder clapped, and the lighting shot across the sky, I would watch from the safety of our living room window. My mother assured me that the noise was just God bowling. When I was 16, I loved summer storms. By that time, my parents had purchased a cottage on Willsboro Bay in Upstate New York. From the safety of our porch, I would watch the rain come down in sheets and the waves rock our boat that was moored 200 yards o...
Sad news ... As I've said before, I write this column almost two weeks in advance of publication so I just learned of the death of Congressman John Lewis yesterday. What a great loss! I had so much respect for him, starting back in the days when he and Martin Luther King marched together. He was always a well-spoken, likeable young man fighting for a good cause. Rest in peace, Congressman Lewis. You will never be forgotten. Things you need to know ... I'm referring to Israel, 10 things you need...
How does a nice Jewish boy from the Bronx grow up to become a racecar driver? Meet Les Neumann. He now lives in DeLand, is semi-retired and races on the Vintage Race Car Circuit. This is no small potatoes - he is nationally ranked. It all started in 1954 when Neumann's mother's cousin married a girl from Hungary. While on their honeymoon, they toured the Morgan Motor Company plant in Malvern, Worchester, England, and ended up buying a car and having it shipped home to the states. "Back then the...
(JTA) - As a child in Israel, Amir Nathan dined at Sami VeSusu, an innovative restaurant in Beersheba named after a popular children's television show from the 1960s and '70s. So when it came time for Nathan, now a restaurateur in New York City, to name his latest venture, he replicated the name - and an atypical approach to serving food. Sami and Susu opened two weeks ago as a takeout and delivery service operating out of a Brooklyn bar. Nathan and his executive chef and business partner,...
Jaivet Ealom is the only known person to have ever escaped the notoriously brutal Australian-run refugee detention center on Manus Island. As a Rohingyan refugee fleeing Myanmar's campaign of genocide, Jaivet found himself imprisoned on the remote island near Papua New Guinea for three and a half years. He describes it as a torture center. The story of his prison break is the stuff of Hollywood movies. He planned it for months: Leaving under the cover of darkness, posing as an interpreter and...
Just Saying... I write this column almost 2 weeks in advance, so if this problem is solved correctly, forget I wrote about it: As the mother of three grown adults and two grown grandchildren, this really isn't my problem directly... but I must say, that if I had young children or grandchildren, I would be very wary of sending them back to school during COVID-19. Just saying! What a loss... I've been meaning to phone a dear friend of mine for days, every time I go to the bathroom and remember...
This may be surprising, but Jews have a long and very influential history in the alcohol industry spanning Europe, Israel and North America. For most of the 1800s, Eastern European Jews held a virtual monopoly on the business in their regions. They produced much of the beer and hard alcohol, and ran nearly all the taverns where it was sold. Jews had been in the trade for centuries, but when Polish landowners saw they could make 50% greater profits by turning grain into alcohol than by selling...
Printed in black and white and bigotry all over, Nazi official Hans Severus Ziegler's brochure for his public exhibit in Dusseldorf featured an African-American jazz musician with a Star of David on his lapel. Designed to ridicule and belittle Jewish musicians for performing "Negro music" as another tactic to contaminate German culture, "Entartete Musik" ("Degenerate Music") opened in May 1938 - just four months before Kristallnacht. By then a ban on "Negro jazz" had already been instated,...
We’ve been self-quarantining for more than 40 days and 40 nights and, quite frankly, we’re running out of steam. Still, we can’t escape all the social media posts and articles (and our mother’s voices in our heads) telling us to make good use of this time. Friends, editors, and even country singer Roseanne Cash reminded us that Shakespeare wrote “King Lear” when he was quarantined during the Great Plague. Actress — no, sorry, lifestyle expert Gwyneth Paltrow urged us to write a book, teach ourselves to code online and learn a language. Tee...
Eitan Glucksman often wakes up at 4:30 a.m., putting in 15-hour days as a first-year urology resident at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York. The father of two has a grueling schedule but says he feels lucky: He's one of only two urology residents admitted per year to the hospital, which is affiliated with New York Medical College, part of the Touro College and University System. "This is a field where you can really make a difference," said Glucksman, 27, an Orthodox native of...
In 2009, Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D., a nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn, became the ninth and first female president of Stetson University. Founded in 1883, Libby is also the first Jewish president. She officially retired on June 30, 2020, becoming president emerita. When asked how it feels to retire, she remarked, "The most difficult thing for me about my retirement will be missing my friends and colleagues with whom I've worked for so many years. Living close to the campus will make my retirement mor...
By Kenneth Hanson, Ph.D. Jerusalem, July, 2011 C.E. A tiny bell. A tiny golden bell. Might this be the "signal" for which a small sect of faithful Israelites have waited for two millennia, declaring that the time is ripe for rebuilding the ruined temple of Jerusalem? By contrast might it be a "provocation," as Palestinian sources claim, in the ongoing conflict over who owns the most disputed piece of real estate on earth? According to Palestinian television news, "Israeli sources said that a...
Can't get this tune out of my head... I refer to "A Fine Romance." Maybe it's because I'm a professional vocalist? Maybe it's because I'm a proud Jew and have the privilege of writing this column for Jewish readers? I love to acknowledge talented Jewish composers and lyricists who wrote fabulous songs that are now considered part of the Great American Songbook. Recently I watched on TV, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as they performed "A Fine Romance." (Not Rap Crap!) I love that song ("A fine...
By Shannon Sarna (The Nosher via JTA) — Who says latkes are just for Chanukah? Well, it’s not me. And summer is a great time to try using seasonal produce to make some crispy, delicious latkes. I recently fried up some fresh corn and zucchini latkes, served with herb sour cream (or yogurt) and thinly sliced radishes. The texture of the fresh corn with zucchini and potato was so delicious. If you’re looking for other ideas for non-potato latkes try broccoli stem latkes or even these healt...
Images of flight pervade much of the painter Marc Chagall's work. Some of Chagall's works depict people and objects defying the earth's gravity, hovering over a scene below. These images reflect the earthly and heavenly figures of Chagall's real and idealized life and world, and they offer a window of understanding into the artist's mind and work. Chagall's Humble Beginnings Chagall, born in 1887, found inspiration for much of his work in his upbringing in Vitebsk, Belorussia. There, a folktale...
Les Kramer, Ph.D., designed and developed a prosthetic foot that is more flexible than any other prosthetic on the market. Because of this unique prosthetic, Kramer recently was inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. The actual ceremony to induct Kramer, along with seven others, was originally set for Sept. 11, 2020, at the Tampa Hilton, but it has been delayed until next year because of the uncertainty with COVID-19. The Florida Inventors Hall of Fame honors and celebrates those...
Many in the community remember Beth Schafer as the former cantor at Congregation of Reform Judaism and Temple Shir Shalom. She now resides in Atlanta and is the Bunzl Family Cantorial Chair at Temple Sinai in Atlanta. However, Schafer is also an inspired Jewish composer, arranger and producer with hundreds of original songs, compositions and arrangements. Recently she took to the streets in Atlanta alongside her black brothers and sisters to protest the multitude of crimes against black people....
(JTA) - With the passing of Carl Reiner, who passed away of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills on June 29, 2020, at the age of 98, we lost one of the comedy greats, Jewish or otherwise. His obituary recalled a show business career that dated to the infancy of television in the 1950s. Reiner gained success starting in his late 20s as a writer and performer on "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour," sketch comedies that one might broadly consider precursors to "Saturday Night Live," san...
(JTA) — Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins scored a touchdown with his congratulatory message to the graduates of a Jewish student program. Cousins wished the graduates of the Jewish Student Union, a program of the Orthodox Union’s youth group NCSY, a “mazel tov” on Monday in a video address and mentioned the Torah several times. “Many of you might not know that I am a huge fan of all things Jewish,” he said. “I have a mezuzah in my office. I take very seriously the Torah, the word of God. I believe it’s an inherent word of God tha...
This is the fourth article in a four-part series about the Puerto Rican Jews living in Central Florida and their history. In an attempt to atone for the Inquisition, Spain has been offering citizenship to the ancestors of the Jews whose families were expelled in the 15th century. In 2015 and by unanimous vote, the Spanish Parliament sought to make amends. The law invited Sephardim Jews who trace their roots to Spain the ability to return. The law stated that after "centuries of estrangement,"...
My first story is about Italy. I went to Italy a few years back. It was one of my favorite places. I visited Pisa, Venice, Florence, Rome, etc. I loved the scenery, the people, the culture... and especially, the FOOD! More about Italy... I read this in the World Jewish Congress digest and pass it along to you: "The WJC and its affiliate, the Union of the Italian Jewish Community, welcome the Italian government's adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition...
Few things are more reminiscent of classic Jewish deli fare than whitefish salad. And while buying it by the pint is a weekend morning luxury, making your own whitefish salad might be even better because you can tailor it to your exact flavor preferences. Not a dill fan? Skip it! Like things uber-tart? Add more lemon juice. The only thing that's non-negotiable: smoked fish. Still, there's room for creativity - this salad is just as tasty when made with whitefish as it is with hot-smoked salmon o...
By Ben Sales (JTA) — This was going to be Jake Offenheim’s 14th straight summer at Camp Ramah in Canada. Then camp was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Offenheim, who was set to be a counselor for the fifth year, couldn’t bear a summer without Ramah — so he re-created it on Minecraft. In the popular “sandbox” video game, users not only can play as characters but can construct entire worlds to their fancy, with no spatial limits. Offenheim, 22, loved the game as a middle schooler and has jumped back in during this era of social d...
(ISRAEL21c) - Sitting at the crossroads of the ancient world, Israel is an archeologist's dream. Peeling back the layers of history here is a never-ending pursuit. Excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority with local and international experts are constantly turning up new clues to ancient civilizations. And it's quite common for casual hikers to contact the IAA about valuable antiquities they've stumbled across. Israel has invested heavily in enabling safe access to dozens of archeology...
This is the third article in a four-part series about the Puerto Rican Jews living in Central Florida and their history. "Grito de Lares," a revolt protesting Spanish rule over Puerto Rico began on Sept. 23, 1868. The revolutionaries also sought religious freedom and the abolition of slavery. The revolt failed, but as a result and with the intent to tamp down trouble, the Spanish government granted more political autonomy to the island two years later in 1870. Today, Puerto Rico has the largest...
