Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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American Jewish food is most typically defined as pastrami sandwiches, chocolate babka or bagels and lox. But I am here to argue that the greatest American Jewish food may actually be the humble hot dog. No dish better embodies the totality of the American Jewish experience. What's that you say? You didn't know that hot dogs were a Jewish food? Well, that's part of the story, too. Sausages of many varieties have existed since antiquity. The closest relatives of the hot dog are the frankfurter...
When will it end?... I read this in "Facts and Logic About the Middle East" written by President JAMES SINKINSON, and pass it on to you: "The coronavirus has unleashed a torrent of hate directed at Israel... creating just one more excuse for the anti-Semites to pile on. If it's not the Palestinians and Iran trying to convince the world that Israel invented Covid-19 to murder its enemies... it's misguided politicians telling Israelis they must make peace with terrorists. While we pro-Israel...
(JTA) - Last week, thousands of Jews in Israel and beyond responded to a plea for help in identifying a couple pictured in a yellowing photograph from 1955. "Everyone, I need help. I found this picture on a Tel Aviv street," Ariel Plavnik, a 43-year-old tourism salesperson from Kfar Saba, Israel, wrote in Hebrew and Spanish in a Facebook post with the photograph. "I want to return this old, beautiful photograph. If you share it, maybe we can find the owners! Thanks to all." More than 7,000...
(JNS) - For the last several weeks, habitual critics of Israeli policies, dubious self-described Israel supporters and even some longtime friends have come out against Israeli plans to "annex" parts of the West Bank. Here are their arguments: The Palestinian Authority will collapse; Israel will effectively kill the two-state solution and eventually become a minority within its own bi-national state; the peace treaty with Jordan will be rescinded; normalization with Arab Gulf states will halt;...
BOSTON (JTA) - In early April, just a few weeks after non-essential businesses in Massachusetts were shut down due to COVID-19, the staff at the Brattle Book Shop noticed that some prominent personalities conducting video interviews from home were seated in front of fairly lackluster bookshelves. So staffers at the legendary 185-year-old antiquarian bookseller in the heart of downtown Boston offered to help them out. In an April 7 Twitter post, they offered their expertise to prospective custome...
(JTA) - This week, as he prepares to open Camp Modin and administer coronavirus tests to its hundreds of campers and staff, Howard Salzberg is still fielding 50 calls a day from parents who want to send their kids. That's because Modin, a small, unaffiliated Jewish camp in Maine, is one of the only Jewish overnight camps to open in the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic. So Salzberg and his wife, Lisa, who co-own and run the camp, must deal with a continuing deluge of interest from...
By Stephen Silver (JTA) — The mid-to-late aughts saw a run of films that featured Jewish characters, for lack of a better description, kicking ass. In 2005, there was Steven Spielberg’s “Munich,” about the Israeli government’s plot to get vengeance for the 1972 Olympics terrorist killings. It was famously the subject of a monologue by Seth Rogen in “Knocked Up,” about how “every movie with Jews, we’re the ones getting killed — Munich flips it on its ear.” There was also “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” in 2008, Adam Sandler’s cheeky Mossad age...
(JNS) - Atop a nearly barren mountain ridge at the tip of southeastern Gush Etzion, with breathtaking views overlooking the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea, two American immigrants are building an oasis - a working organic farm and spiritual retreat center - with the hope of turning the site into a global tourist destination. Meet Ari Abramowitz and Jeremy Gimpel. Both are rabbis, former Israeli Defense Forces' soldiers, best friends and business partners, who combined their life savings and move...
This is the second article in a four-part series about the Puerto Rican Jews living in Central Florida and their history. Following the Spanish-American War, in 1898, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States, after which Jews were allowed to live openly. However, there were practically no Jews on the island. After the war, a small number of Jewish American soldiers remained on the island many of whom worked in Puerto Rico's government bureaucracy. They helped create the legal and court...
What makes one person tick is totally subjective, but science confirms that people are hard-wired to respond to music. It lifts moods, eases pain and triggers powerful emotions. Some songs become so popular that they transcend their original meaning. Take "I've Been Working on the Railroad" - today it's known as a popular children's folk song, but the origins of its lyrics lie in caricaturing Black dialect, and it makes light of the abusive and exploitive conditions endured by Black laborers....
(JUF News via JTA) - When Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jason B. Rosenthal first got married, they brainstormed long-term marriage goals. Some that made the list: "Get dressed up and go on dates," "Record our kids' voices every year" and "Whenever we sign something 'Amy & Jason,' we both sign our name." The Chicago Jewish couple lived by their rules in an almost fairy tale-like marriage for more than two decades. But in 2015, their marriage took a devastating turn when Amy was diagnosed with ovarian...
About the "new" normal... In a very short time, COVID-19 has changed almost everything in life, the way we interact with one another, the way we work (or don't work), the way we play and shop, and even the way we think about the future. But in the midst of the crisis, certain things have remained the same: our concern for each other, our gratitude to our supporters, and our commitment to the animals we care for. I love you, Chloe. Happening around the world... I read this in the World Jewish Con...
NEW YORK (JTA) - Social distancing and staying inside is hard. Thankfully, accessing good things to watch during this time is not. This is the 11th installation of a weekly column on Jewish movies and TV shows that you should stream in quarantine. There are no specific spoilers here, though there are broad thematic ones. Ramy Streams on: Hulu Family friendly? No The ink had not yet dried on my color-coded, scheduled-by-the-hour Shabbat plan when my phone chimed. "I think we'll be returning from...
BERLIN (JTA) - Nearly 80 years after the last train sent Jews to almost certain death from the main railway station in Wurzburg, a memorial to those who perished was dedicated in the German city. The memorial, designed by artist Matthias Braun, features a collection of suitcases, backpacks and assorted travel gear made of stone, ceramic and other materials. The luggage, its owners unseen, stands in front of the main station. Nearby are information steles with historical photos. In a modern...
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 nearly...
A while back a “recipe” (if you can call anything with one ingredient a recipe) for banana ice cream went viral. And with good reason. To make it you simply put a few frozen sliced bananas in a food processor and blended them until they achieved the consistency of soft serve. Pop them into the freezer and sure enough, you had a frozen, scoopable “ice cream” that was healthy, vegan and sugar-free. And, like most viral recipes, banana ice cream was soon replaced by the next food trend, and the one after that, and so on. But it’s back, with a ta...
When I was growing up, I knew brisket as an island of meat in a sea of sweet brownish-red sauce with carrot-plank buoys. Every holiday, this was plunked in the center of the table alongside a loaf of bread. It was... fine, but nothing to write home about. Whoever hosted the meal would lament about how the meat had been in the oven for hours as they sawed through the roast. I couldn't help but think "all that time for this?" As I sliced through the brisket, I imagined all the ways it could be...
Spinach jibn is a traditional Syrian way to prepare vegetables, akin to a crustless quiche. It’s most common to find it with spinach, but you can also make it with zucchini or other vegetables you may have around. It’s healthy and kid-friendly, though I assure you that adults enjoy it just as much. I learned to make this from my mom and grandmas, and it’s very near and dear to my heart. Jibn is adaptable. It’s freezable. It’s make-aheadable! I am sharing the recipe in its most basic form, but feel free to experiment from here: Mix it up by grat...
Heritage Florida Jewish News congratulates all of the 2020 high school graduates in Central Florida. As everyone knows, graduations were either put on hold until July or not scheduled at all for this year because of the coronavirus. Many families got creative and held neighborhood parades, made banners, videoed their graduate in gown, or had small family gatherings to honor their student. Heritage would like to recognize these students. Congratulations to: Anne Botwinik Anne was home-schooled...
(JTA) - Astute viewers could find plenty of signs during the recent "Jeopardy!" Teachers Tournament that one leading contestant had some Jewish bona fides. There was the fact that Meggie Kwait teaches at Beit Rabban Day School, a Jewish school on Manhattan's Upper West Side. There was her covered hair, rare among game-show contestants but more common among observant Jewish women. And then there was her bet for the final question on a day when she was so far ahead she couldn't lose. "Yes, I...
StandWithUs is proud to announce the online global premiere of its powerful new documentary, "Minority of One." The screening will take place on June 22 at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. ET), followed by a live Q&A with the subject of the documentary, Hussein Aboubakr. Hussein Aboubakr Mansour was born in 1989 in Cairo, Egypt. The ultimate villains in the local lore were the "bloodthirsty Zionists," so Aboubakr began to study the supposed enemies of his people. He studied Hebrew at Cairo University, but di...
By Ed Borowsky This is the first article in a four-part series about the Puerto Rican Jews living in Central Florida and their history. Since Hurricane Maria in 2017 an exodus of Puerto Ricans, have relocated to the mainland United States. The overall population in Florida now exceeds one million, surpassing the Cuban population as the largest Hispanic group in the state. Jewish history in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico has the largest Jewish population of all the islands in the Caribbean. Today the...
From my heart... I stand with our African-American brothers and sister. Diversity is what makes the United States great! Please let's end racism and anti-Semitism once and for all! No longer divide us... This is a message from RONALD S. LAUDER, that appeared very recently in the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest: "In frightening and uncertain times, like those we are facing now with the coronavirus, some people all too often and dangerously look for and unjustly blame scapegoats. There is an...
This moment has many of us reeling. Honestly, for those of you who are, like me, white-presenting Jewish parents, we should consider this a time of reckoning. Are we doing enough to make our homes anti-racist? What about our communal Jewish spaces? The work to dismantle racism goes beyond what we do when people are out in the streets protesting. And the activism we do outside of our home is just as important as the one we are doing inside our homes with our families, and especially with our...
HAVANA (JTA) - The remaining Jewish community in Cuba has much to contend with - a lack of resources and rabbis, a population that's both aging and dwindling, and ongoing uncertainty about how much aid and assistance they can expect from their co-religionists in the United States. Adding to that long list: It's not easy to find traditional Jewish foods. There are a variety of reasons why, especially for observant Jews who keep kosher. One of the biggest staples in the Cuban diet is pork - a cate...
