Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS)-Reactions and memories from the Jewish and pro-Israel community have filled news pages and social media following the death of Moshe Arens, former Israeli Defense Minister and mentor of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday at the age of 93. "The Conference of Presidents mourns the loss of a great leader of Israel and dear friend of the Presidents Conference, Minister Moshe Arens. Minister Arens served Israel in many capacities, including as a very impactful and successful...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Bryant Johnson says pressure creates diamonds, and I think I just upped the carat level. Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s personal trainer did not know that his two other clients on the Supreme Court—Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan—are Jewish, too. Until I told him. “I never thought about it that way,” he says when I tell him that he’s responsible in part for the health of the court’s entire Jewish contingent. Ginsburg is 85, Breyer is 80 and Kagan is a spritely 58. Where Johnson takes the conversation from there is interesting—he...
LONDON (JTA)-Like countless world-class pianists, Nelly Ben-Or began playing piano at the age of 5 and never stopped. That discipline helped Ben-Or, 86, became an international concert pianist and the person most widely recognized for adapting the Alexander technique for posture and movement improvement for musicians. But unlike most of her peers, much of Ben-Or's musical training in her native Poland took place while her family was hiding in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, where her mother, Antonina...
In commemoration of International Holocaust Day, on Jan. 27, there will be a presentation by Holly Mandelkern, author of "Beneath White Stars-Holocaust Profiles in Poetry" at the Winter Park Public Library, located at 460 E New England Ave., in Winter Park. The event, a partnership with The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center, will be held from 2 p.m to 4 p.m. On this date in 1945, Soviet troops liberated the concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland. International Holocaust Day pays...
In his new book, “We Want Mashgiach Now—Tales From A Kosher Cop,” Allan Lieberman tells what’s really going on behind the kitchen doors in the Kosher food service business. Lieberman, a South Florida mashgiach (Kosher Food supervisor) has put together a witty and entertaining account of some of his on-the-job experiences. Always humorous, sometimes irreverent and often educational, each chapter tells the story of incidents that occurred at Kosher restaurants or events and in kitchens of Kosher...
Butterflies. Beautiful butterflies. Blue. Yellow. Even black and white. I am so enthralled by them. But butterflies have a greater meaning to me than just their beauty. In 1993, I read a book called "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," a collection of short pieces, poems, and drawings completed by the children in one of Nazi Germany's infamous concentration camps. The eponymous poem was written by Pavel Friedmann, a 21-year-old man who was transported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp on...
Memories... Back in 1964, when my husband, Irv, and I moved to Orlando, one of the finest restaurants in Central Florida was Al and Linda's La Cantina. More than half a century has past, yet, after going there with our son, RON, the other night (Irv is deceased), I have to say it is still one of the finest restaurants in the area! And the service was as good as the food. (Our server, a beautiful gal, happens to be the granddaughter of Al and Linda!) Uh Oh... upsetting news from Germany... "The...
AMSTERDAM (JTA)-Despite its rustic charms, the dream home that Roxane van Iperen and her partner bought nearly ruined their marriage. Van Iperen, a 42-year-old novelist, underestimated the amount of renovating needed on the countryside estate east of Amsterdam. She bought the place in 2012 with Joris Lenglet as a home for the couple and their three children. "We almost separated by the time it was done," she recalled in a November interview on the NPO1 television channel. But amid "the arguing,...
(JTA)-Officially and for the record, despite her Jewish-sounding name, Cher Horowitz is not a member of the tribe. In fact, the Valley Girl heroine of the iconic 1995 film "Clueless" was never intended to be Jewish, says her creator, Amy Heckerling. "I wasn't thinking in terms of this being a Jewish story," she said in a telephone interview. "I was taking the plot of Jane Austen's 'Emma' and translating it into that world." Wallace Shawn, the witty Jewish actor who played a teacher in the film,...
Ask people in the Miami area if they have heard of Stephen Gamson, and the majority will say a resounding "Yes!" He is so well known that Dec. 3, 2018, was proclaimed Stephen Gamson Day by City of Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber and Vice Mayor Michael Gongora. The honor was bestowed upon Gamson during a pre-Art Basel party held on Fisher Island, an exclusive private island off the coast of Miami Beach. Gamson was the featured artist at the party, a forerunner of the art festival held in Basel,...
(JTA)—In a genetic study of 6,589 people from five Latin American countries, about a quarter displayed traces of what may be Sephardic Jewish ancestry. Geneticist Juan-Camilo Chacón-Duque and his colleagues published their findings last week in Nature Communications magazine, in an article titled “Latin Americans show wide-spread Converso ancestry and imprint of local Native ancestry on physical appearance.” Converso is the Spanish-language word for people who converted from Judaism to Christianity during the Inquisition in Spain and Portug...
Two years ago, Peter and Margaret Hunter, friends from England, visited us in our home in Kissimmee, Florida. They brought two bottles of Moet Chandon Brut Champagne, which we tucked away for a future occasion. Miracles and Relationships This week, the Hunters were back in Florida, and Peter asked us if we had drunk the wine. When I told him it was still sitting in the box, he admonished me. "That kind of wine doesn't age well," said Peter. "It doesn't last unless refrigerated properly. We'll...
My Canadian roots... My mom was born in Montreal, Canada, and I'm sure I have some relatives still living there. I've been to western Canada, performing at the Calgary Stampede with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and I've done sight-seeing in surrounding areas, but I've never been to Montreal. It's on my "Bucket List." On the subject of Canada... I read this in the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and pass it along to you: Speaking to a forum of the WJC, Canada's Foreign Minister, Chrystia...
A 2,000-year-old ring with a solitaire gemstone was uncovered in archaeological excavations in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem. The ring was found by Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in what appears to be an ancient Mikveh (ritual bath) on the Pilgrimage Road which dates back to the time of the second Temple period. The ancient paved road runs up from the Shiloach (Siloam) pool to the Temple Mount and is thought to have been the main thoroughfare taken by pilgrims to the...
(JTA)-This year hasn't been an easy one. From shootings that claimed many innocent lives, including at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, to political turmoil in the United States and abroad, there have been many moments of sorrow. But there were bright spots too. As 2018 comes to a close, JTA looked back at some of the heartwarming stories we reported on this year, from a group of German volunteers who are fixing Holocaust survivors' houses to an Iranian refugee who raised money for Pittsburgh's Tree...
(JNS)-Here Next Year, in partnership with Nefesh B'Nefesh, hosted its fifth annual Israel Fair on Saturday night in the center of Jerusalem. The fair is designed to help young potential new immigrants (olim) who are currently in their gap year learn about their options for service in the Israel Defense Forces, Israel National Service (Sherut Leumi), ulpan and higher education in Israel. "We were so pleased to welcome nearly 500 people who attended this event and to have helped these students...
(JNS)—Madonna, Cher, Michael Bublé and Kathleen Turner were among well-wishers for the annual bike ride dubbed “Wheels of Love,” which broke records for Israel’s leading pediatric rehabilitation hospital ALYN, raising more than $3.5 million. The five-day cycling tour, which offers a wide variety of routes for many riding levels, just finished up in Israel. The goal was to raise $3.2 million for children in ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem, a nonprofit medical center founded 85 years ago to rehabili...
By Thane Rosenbaum (JTA)—The young nation of Israel has witnessed in recent years a dwindling of its founding generation—from the passing of statesmen like Shimon Peres to the death last week of novelist and political activist Amos Oz. Oz was 79; Israel is but 70. Oz was old enough to witness Israel’s fight for independence, and now his death turns the page on yet another chapter of its improbable resurrection—with an old language that became new again. Oz had a lot to do with that. He imbued Hebrew with a literary style and gave it a novelis...
For a significant majority of Israeli Jews (78 percent), Dec. 31st is considered a “completely ordinary day.” Only 2 percent say that they conduct “soul searching” on the New Year, and only 6 percent say that Dec. 31st feels like their “real New Year’s Eve.” The Jewish People Policy Institute is releasing this data as part of its #IsraeliJudaism research project, based on an extensive survey of Israeli Jews. A new book based on the research: “#IsraeliJudaism, a Portrait of a Cultural Revolution,” was published a few weeks ago by Dvir Publishin...
By Chaya Rappoport (The Nosher via JTA)-My bubbe is Swiss and one of the best bakers I know. My childhood memories are filled with visions of her glazed schnecken (Swiss buns like rugelach), her rich babkas and her waehes, which are seasonal Swiss fruit tarts. When I first started baking, I knew I wanted to re-create those recipes from my childhood. But no matter what I did, and how many times I called her for advice and instruction, they never came out quite the same. One year when she was...
(JTA)-The young attorney seems unsure of herself. As a law professor, she is unaccustomed to appearing in court, so she hesitates at first, unable to begin her summation. But once she gets going, there is no stopping her. It is the climactic scene of "On the Basis of Sex" a biopic about Ruth Bader Ginsburg that debuted on Christmas. It focuses largely on Charles Moritz v. Internal Revenue Service, a major gender discrimination case that Ginsburg shepherded to trial years before she became a...
"Ach Tung"... Oy Vay... Do you remember the phrase that accompanied "Sig Hail," the Nazi salute? (It haunts my dreams!) Anyway, I read this recently in the World Jewish Congress digest and pass it along to you: "The World Jewish Congress, United States, welcomed Germany's recent decision to admit the last known accused Nazi collaborator living on American Soil. JAKIW PALIJ, 95, served during World War II as an armed guard at the Trawniki death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943. After a...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Had she received a better Jewish education, Marianne Williamson says, she might have become a rabbi. Instead, Williamson has become one of the country's best-known New Age self-help gurus, reaching millions of people over more than three decades in the public eye. She counts Oprah and Deepak Chopra among her pals. Now Williamson, the author of a dozen books-four of them New York Times best-sellers-wants to extend her influence to the highest office in the land: She has announced...
What a year—delis opened, delis closed, we talked about rainbow bagels, and reviewed the history of pickles in America. And now it’s time to look ahead to what will be happening in Jewish food for the coming year. Bread is Back For all of you who have scooped your bagel or who decided to go gluten-free for non-medical reasons, guess what: Facebook’s research on food trends confirms that bread is back and better than ever. Naturally-fermented breads like sourdough are considered good for your gut and overall health, especially those made with...
What a year it was for Jews in pop culture. We can probably say that almost every year, but truly, in 2018, Jewish celebrities permeated the zeitgeist. “The Band’s Visit”—a musical set in Israel—swept the Tony Awards. Timothée Chamalet became the internet’s boyfriend. We found out Drake was a dad. Jewish actress Rashida Jones had a (secret) baby with Jewish musician Ezra Koenig. There were outstanding seasons of “Schitt’s Creek,” “Big Mouth,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Fauda” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” all which feature Jewish protagonists....
