Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1801 - 1825 of 4419
I recently returned from the annual Momentum Men's Trip to Israel. It was my third trip-the first with a friend more than two decades ago and the second for a bar mitzvah in 2018 with a bunch of 13 year olds and their families. Three different experiences, for sure. Momentum is an organization based in Washington, D.C., and in Israel whose mission is to build Jewish continuity and connection to Israel and Judaism. For 10 years, it has taken to Israel groups of Jewish mothers who have children... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-Everyone loves potato latkes, but no one likes the mess of frying them or the guilt associated with eating them. These latkes are baked in the oven and easily won over my kids. You do need to watch them so they don't burn; they were done at different times in different ovens. And my pickled applesauce is basically a tangy-spicy applesauce, which we also eat like eating with schnitzel. Note: Latkes may be made 2 days in advance and reheated in the oven or frozen; applesauce... Full story
CALDWELL, N.J. (JTA)-Figure skating costumes have a long and sometimes ridiculous history. Until about the 1930s, women were expected to compete in ponderous and weighty skirts, making it hard to move freely, let alone tackle a triple lutz. That all started to change largely for two reasons. The first was Sonja Henie. Only 10 when she first began competing, she got away with shedding the standard cumbersome skating clothing women wore in favor of much shorter twirly skirts, which allowed her to... Full story
First of all, I want to say, "Happy Chanukah to everyone!" "Whoever saves a single life"... To continue this saying from the TALMUD, "is as if one saves the entire world." This brings up the story of Josef Meyer, who saved many Jews from Nazi slaughter. Josef, his wife Elfriede Meyer and their two girls, HANNE and HERTA, were a devout Catholic family with a passionate belief in the values of humanism and democracy. Josef worked in the agricultural administration in Germany but was forced to reti... Full story
(JTA)—You may not know who Ken Ludwig is, but you almost certainly know his work. Ludwig is the reigning king of theatrical farce. Among his 28 plays are six that made it to Broadway and seven to London’s West End, including “Lend Me a Tenor,” “Crazy for You,” “Moon Over Buffalo” and “20th Century.” They have earned him a passel of awards—multiple Tonys and Oliviers, among others—and have been performed around the world. A recent tally revealed there are approximately 1,000 productions of a Ludwig play in the U.S. alone every year. But his lat... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-On a recent snowy afternoon, Tony Shalhoub is drinking tea in a room at the Whitby Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. He's in the midst of a long press day promoting season 3 of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," and he just wants to get comfortable. So he gets up before the interview begins to turn up the room's thermostat. "Now it's good," he says in his smooth, deep voice. The move fits Shalhoub's thoughtful personality-he speaks in careful, measured sentences-and it's also something his... Full story
Driving into a small gated community in Casselberry, scenes of lit-up snowmen, reindeers, Santas, and Christmas creches adorn many front yards-typical scenery for this time of year. Then, suddenly, what's this? In front of one house is a display of Chanukah décor alight in blues and whites! The lighted yard is the inspiration of Mary Siegel, wife of Rabbi Arnold Siegel and mother of Elisheva Siegel. She came up with the idea when the family lived in Bartlett, Tennessee, more than 20 years ago... Full story
Best wishes to you from all of us at JFS Orlando during these eight days of joy and peace. May the Chanukah lights remind you to always increase in matters of goodness, to never be afraid to stand up for what’s right, and that a little light goes a long way! We hope each lit candle casts a warmth and a glow over your home and heart this season. And may your household feel the blessings of God this Chanukah. Chanukah Sameach! To learn more about JFS Orlando, visit www.JFSorlando.org or follow us @JFSorlando.... Full story
This is Part I of the men's trip to Israel, sponsored by Momentum and JOIN Orlando. Rick Geller and Jason Toll went to Poland ahead of the group and met up with them all in Israel. Poland is on the way to Israel, my traveling companion, Jason Toll, and I realized. Invited to join 180 men on a "Dad's tour of Israel," we created our own, adult version of "March of the Living"- a pilgrimage to deepen our understanding of Jewish history's darkest age, and to give us an opportunity to honor three... Full story
According to Adobe Analytics, Cyber Monday 2018 generated over $7.9 billion in sales, with one of the top sellers spent on smart phones. I will be one of those in the market. My iPhone 7, approaching its third year, is losing battery power. And, to be honest, the newer version offers a great camera. But when does my cell phone cross the line from being a toy, a luxury, a “nice-to-have-one-but-I-don’t need it” to my constant companion? I didn’t feel that way about my first flip phone. In 1999, I talked my husband Larry into purchasing a Nokia 32... Full story
A quote from Primo Levi, a survivor of Auschwitz... "It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere." (Sends chills up my spine but I know anti-Semitism still exists. I have first-hand knowledge as a victim.) And I recently read this in a World Jewish Congress letter. "Our efforts have taken on new urgency and we cannot rest until the age-old scourge of anti-Semitism has been defeated once and for all and the Jewis... Full story
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 theshammash!) 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 o... Full story
The dreidel or sevivon is perhaps the most famous custom associated with Hanukkah . Indeed, various rabbis have tried to find an integral connection between the dreidel and the Chanukah story; the standard explanation is that the letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin, which appear on the dreidel in the Diaspora, stand for nes gadol haya sham–"a great miracle happened there,"while in Israel the dreidel says nun, gimmel, hey, pey, which means "a great miracle happened here." One 19th-century rabbi m... Full story
(My Jewish Learning via JTA)—Chanukah ’s proximity to Christmas can complicate the holiday. For those who try to make Chanukah more like Christmas, it inevitably seems to fall short. Yet while Chanukah was traditionally not one of the most central holidays of the Jewish calendar, it can offer many opportunities for fun and joyous celebration. Here are some suggestions for how you can make this Chanukah memorable while staying true to the essential meaning of the holiday. Bring light out of darkness There are many ways to make this year’s Chanu... Full story
(JNS)-Canadians hoping to add a little Hanukkah decor to their envelopes or gift packages this year are in luck, as Canada Post has issued a new holiday stamp to its roster this year. The new stamp was created by Lionel Gadoury, principal and director of strategy and creative services at Context Creative in Toronto. His illustration features a white menorah on a background shaded in blues and purples, and flickering yellow flames. It is meant to explore "the relationship between light and... Full story
I can't tolerate Holocaust deniers... I read this recently and repeat the article for you: "YouTube has adopted a new policy to crack down on hate speech, including neo-Nazi glorification and Holocaust denial. In a letter to YouTube, CEO SUSAN WOJCICKI, the World Jewish Congress expressed appreciation for the move, writing, 'As you are well aware, radical content of all kinds is a serious problem and the Jewish people are often the targets of such viral and hate-filled material. In recent years,... Full story
I know that sufganiyot-jelly doughnuts-are traditional and beloved for Chanukah. But I feel confident that once you try these easy and incredibly delicious ricotta fritters, you will be converted to these sweet fried treats. And if I'm making a confession, I have actually never loved traditional sufganiyot. Sometimes our family made our own, or bought from local bakeries, but were usually left feeling kind of "meh." They were always a bit too bready and heavy. Around 10 years ago my sister... Full story
SAN DIEGO (JTA)-I'm lying on my side on the first floor of a nondescript low-rise residential tower in Tokyo meditating on the fact that pain is finite. There's an odd sound in the air, reminiscent of blunt-edged safety scissors cutting into thick construction paper. As an adult, my connection to Judaism has largely been a spiritual and cultural one rather than religious. Part of that is embracing other people and cultures from around the world, and understanding their own beliefs and... Full story
Back when I lived in America, I wouldn’t have called myself a helicopter parent. I would have said that I was vigilant. I would have told you that my husband and I were “boundaried” as parents, cautious about what we’d let our two kids do. We limited sugar and screen time. We admonished our kids to “Be careful!”—probably too often. Then we moved to Israel a year ago and everything changed. Since moving, I’ve come to realize that our old parenting style came with a lot of anxiety. We fel... Full story
(JTA)-Love him or hate him, rapper Kanye West has done nothing if not evolve over the course of his career. He has cycled through mainstream hip-hop, auto-tuned singing, soulful sampling, epic egotistical commentary and-as he would happily tell you-much more. At the moment, West is in the midst of an intensely religious phase. Since the beginning of the year he has held what he calls a Sunday Service each week-a pop-up Christian service of sorts that has rotated through different (at times... Full story
(JNS)-It was the year 2000, at the beginning of the Second Intifada, and Arab terror attacks were being carried out against Israelis on a nearly daily basis throughout the country, and particularly on the roads in Judea and Samaria. After one particular deadly attack, former Sephardic chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu approached one of his aides, Arie Levy, who had been a volunteer medic and ambulance driver with Magen David Adom (MDA) for about six years, asking why no emergency... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Sacha Baron Cohen has made a career out of playing absurd comedic characters, from the dopey Brit Ali G to the Kazakh journalist Borat to the Israeli veteran Erran Morad. He rarely gives interviews and stays relatively far from the movie star limelight. But on Thursday, Cohen tossed aside the humorous facade to excoriate the social media industry and the "autocracy" he says it promotes in a non-ironic speech. After receiving the international leadership award from the... Full story
I know Veteran's Day has past but... I wanted to salute all of our servicemen and women, and veterans. I also want to salute their families who have prayed and worried for their loved ones. (I've been there so I know how hard it is. Our eldest, DAVID is a Navy commander and a former soldier who served in Iraq. Our middle son, Dr. STEVEN, a psychologist, worked with recruits at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Illinois, and our youngest son, RON, served in the Navy on a minesweeper in the... Full story
When my daughter Julie headed out to Colorado in 2003, it was originally planned as a nine-month adventure teaching environmental science. Soon, however, Julie fell in love with the mountains, Colorado, and Sam, not necessarily in that order. They built a life together, completed graduate degrees, got married, bought a house in Frisco, and had a child. They have settled into the life at 9100 feet. Meanwhile, our son Adam chose a different path in another Frisco—San Francisco. After completing a law degree, he moved into an apartment in the m... Full story
(JTA)-At age 92, Laureen Nussbaum is one of the few people still alive who personally knew Anne Frank. Nussbaum's family lived in the same Amsterdam neighborhood as the Franks, and Anne's father, Otto, was the best man at her 1947 wedding. After the war, Otto spent months trying to find his daughters, Anne and Margot, who had been deported to Bergen-Belsen. With Nussbaum's husband, Rudi, Otto would go to the train station every day with photos of his children hoping for news of their fate. "They... Full story
