Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2076 - 2100 of 4383
When Genevieve Liu was 13, an unimaginable tragedy dramatically changed her life. She was on the Lake Michigan shore on vacation with her family in Michigan on Aug. 5, 2012, when her father, a celebrated pediatric surgeon, spotted two boys drowning in the lake. He rushed into the water and managed to save the boys, but the doctor was pulled under by the lake's undertow and drowned. In an instant Liu, her mother and her two younger siblings were left without the head of their close-knit family.... Full story
AMSTERDAM (JTA)-Nothing about the appearance of object MB02280 at this city's Jewish Historical Museum suggests it is the capital's priciest Chanukah menorah, worth more than the average local price of a duplex home. Shaped like the body of a violin, it is only 16 inches tall. Its base cradles eight detachable oil cups intended to function as candles on Chanukah, when Jews light candles to commemorate a 167 BCE revolt against the Greeks. They are set against the menorah's smooth, reflective... Full story
(JTA)-Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie. The names of the five fictional sisters bring a smile to generations of Jewish Americans who grew up reading "All-of-a-Kind Family," the classic mid-century chapter book series by Sydney Taylor that followed the day-to-day doings and adventures of a Jewish-American immigrant family on New York's Lower East Side. The trailblazing series marked the first time that a children's book about a Jewish-American family found an audience in both Jewish and... Full story
Happy Thanksgiving... From me, my family and especially from my grandson, ZACHARY, a great guy. He is so kind and helpful to his "aging" granny and also very musically talented. (Forget the aging part!) And staying on that happy holiday thought... I was watching television recently and saw a talent that almost blew me away! His name is Jim Bailey, a male female impersonator who did impressions of Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Phyllis Diller, to name a few. Not only did he look like them, he... Full story
(JNS)-After Israeli and Armenian flags were torn down and other items were thrown to the ground by anti-Israel protesters at an event in May at the University of California, Los Angeles, the school's Students Supporting Israel chapter gave a list of demands to the UCLA administration to protect the pro-Israel community. SSI at UCLA is on the front lines fighting against the annual National Students for Justice in Palestine Conference, which UCLA is slated to sponsor from Nov. 16-18. For... Full story
(Kveller via JTA)—“I’m so scared for your synagogue,” my (non-Jewish) mother said to me as we were driving the other day. We were talking about my daughter’s schedule—religious school was on the agenda for that afternoon—and she had asked me about our synagogue’s security following the terrible attack in Pittsburgh. I was silent for a minute, and then told her that I’m scared all the time now. I’m scared when I go to the library; I’m scared when I go to the mall. I hesitate before I get into an elevator with strangers, and I think about bombing... Full story
"Tears come from the heart and not from the brain." -Leonardo da Vinci When I was 21 years old, I had a very personal spiritual experience. While contemplating a greatest power and imagining it above, I felt a divine spark deep inside of me; that is, inside of my heart. Since then, my belief in God has never wavered. Some 45 years later, I had another experience of the heart. This time I had a heart attack and open-heart bypass surgery. After the surgery, when I left the hospital, I had an unsig... Full story
A frequently asked question... "How could God have allowed the Holocaust?" A good answer according to Rabbi ALAN LURIE, "We can be mad at God for the Holocaust or for other human tragedies, but this is like a teenager who begs you to let him drive a car, promising to be responsible, gets drunk, crashes into a telephone pole, and then blames you for giving him the keys. If we agree that humanity must have free will, we must accept the consequences of its decisions. As Elie Wiesel wrote, 'After th... Full story
When Daniel Zahn was applying to college, he felt very stressed. The essays, the questions, the decisions he had to make – it all seemed overwhelming. But Zahn had two older siblings who had gone through the process, as well as the support of seasoned parents and teachers. After applying to more than 10 schools and for a handful of scholarships, Zahn landed a spot at one of his top choices: Penn State, where the 19-year-old is now a junior. It was only once he got to college that Zahn r... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-Egyptian Jews comprise one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. There have been waves of Jewish immigration to Egypt over centuries: Sephardic Jews arrived during the Spanish inquisition, Ashkenazi Jews fled there from Eastern Europe during the pogroms of the 19th century, and Jewish traders from the Ottoman Empire settled after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. In the 1950s, Egypt began to expel its Jews following the creation of the State of Israel. Like... Full story
Horror fans who were in or near Santa Monica, California, on Oct. 26, had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Halloween Double Feature at the Aero Theater. "The Abominable Dr. Phibes," a cult classic with fans around the world, was one of two films showcased. And sitting in the audience was the film's creator, an 86-year-old Troy native whose vivid dream inspired it. William Goldstein was born on July 10, 1932, in Troy, N.Y. He and his family attended Temple Berith Sholom. After his bar... Full story
Twins Herbert and Martin Siegel celebrated their 83rd birthday on Oct. 24, followed by a 70th anniversary of their bar mitzvah at Congregation Beth Sholom in Leesburg. The twins were bar mitzvah'd in October 1948. Herbert lives with his wife, Betty, in The Villages. Martin and his wife, Betty (yes, they both married Bettys!), lives in Niceville, Fla.... Full story
Nightmares and memories... I'm referring to my childhood filled with anti-Semitic incidents. Until my family got off welfare and moved from the Red Hook Projects in Brooklyn, N.Y., I was spit at, beaten and threatened every day for being Jewish. Those memories stayed with me all these years, especially watching television this morning and seeing all that is transpiring in a Pittsburgh, Pa., synagogue massacre. I can handle anti-Semitism and I'm sure that my three sons can handle it, especially... Full story
By Rabbi Benjamin Blech (Aish Hatorah Resources)—Your days are numbered, but it’s not the end. On some level of awareness we all know that our days are numbered. How to cope with that recognition is perhaps the greatest challenge of life. For some, acknowledging mortality is liberating. Chris Allen’s hit song lyric suggests that “I wish you can live life like you know you’re dying.” For others, fear of the unknown is debilitating and cause for depression. Knowing that death awaits us negates hope for the future and destroys the capacity fo... Full story
More than a dozen of America’s leading Jewish media organizations took the unusual step today of publishing a joint editorial expressing solidarity in the wake of the deadly attack on worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue, and calling upon political and communal leaders to show respect and civility to combat the scourge of anti-Semitism and intolerance. “As journalists, we hold a variety of opinions about politics in this country and in Israel; the American Jewish community is diverse, and those differences are reflected on the pages of its... Full story
The 20th annual Central Florida Jewish Film Festival brings five special movies and two shorts to the Enzian Theater Nov. 10-12. The opening features, "Wig Shop" and "Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel," will be held at the Orlando Science Center at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Once again, the Heritage was privileged to review the movies to give our readers a synopsis of each presentation. "Wig Shop" (in English and Yiddish with subtitles) and "Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel" (in English)... Full story
Jewish Pavilion program directors touch many lives, and many in the community reacted with shock and concern upon learning recently that Walter Goldstein, the program director for south Orlando, was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer. Goldstein has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from Orlando's Jewish community and from staff and residents of so many of the eldercare communities. The process of seeking healing with an aggressive treatment schedule has left Goldstein with... Full story
A great loss... I'm referring to the passing of Ruth Mogul, a member of our Jewish community who I've known for more than half a century. She was one of the most beautiful people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, both on the inside and on the outside. I'm sure many others feel the same way about her. She endured many hard times in her life, I'm sure, one of them being the loss of her sister, Joyce Siegel (my very best friend) and her beloved son, but I can honestly say that I've never seen... Full story
The song ‘101 Jerusalem’ is about a Jewish boy who barely dodged Auschwitz as World War II raged. The music video, written, arranged and sung by Lazar Wall, founder of the rock band One Man Mambo, is based on the real-life story of Freddy Siegfried Glatt. View the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyHPBeQ5U9I By Lazar Wall Freddy was five when he saw a paving stone shatter his dad’s storefront in Berlin. Next, also in front of the family, the Nazis beat up his father. Adolf Hitler had made life unbearable to the Glatts already in 1933, forci... Full story
(JNS)—I lost my brother, Gabriel, five years ago to an accidental overdose. At his funeral, I told a story about his extraordinary generosity. Gabe was coming home from a night out with friends on the Upper West Side when a homeless man approached him and asked for money. Gabe didn’t hesitate. He put his arm around this man, ushered him in to a nearby restaurant and paid for his meal—with a smile on his face at 2:30 in the morning. Losing a beautiful soul like Gabe was more devastating than anything I could have imagined. Yet the power of hi... Full story
By Marilyn Shapiro Simchas and celebrations are wonderful, but New Orleans celebrates every day of the year. A city brimming with restaurants, clubs, and street musicians, it was clear to see why The Big Easy is listed consistently in the top five party cities in the United States. First and foremost, it is a city for foodies. The minute my husband, Larry, and I got into the shuttle taking us and our four friends to our bed and breakfast, our driver, Ryan, started listing all the restaurants we... Full story
By Josefin Dolsten NEW YORK (JTA)-Dogs and their owners are a common sight in Central Park on the weekend, but there was something different about the group gathered on the grass on a recent Sunday morning. The approximately 20 people could be seen and heard pointing at the ground while yelling "zits" and "shtai" and urging their dogs to "shpring" over hurdles. A group of befuddled visitors from Canada who stopped by to ask what was going on seemed even more confused when they learned the answer... Full story
Not a surprise to me... In my opinion, some of the smartest brains on earth belong to Israelis, especially when it comes to medicine and science. For instance, they are so advanced in the cures for some of our major diseases and conditions and, when it comes to science... well, read this next article: "As announced by SpaceIL and reported in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, an Israeli spacecraft will launch in December with a goal of landing on the moon next February. Founded in 2011, SpaceIL is... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-In 1993, filmmaker Ariel Vromen was part of an Israeli air force rescue unit sent in to Lebanon to evacuate both Jewish and Arab soldiers wounded during a battle. During the fighting, two of Vromen's closest friends died in front of his eyes. For several months afterward, he suffered debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder. But Vromen, now 45, took solace knowing that he and his fellow troops were "under a certain oath to take care of soldiers from Lebanon or Syria as much... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, appearing at a Jewish day school in Brooklyn, spoke about her Jewish background and how her family jumped from synagogue to synagogue. "I had a very strange Jewish upbringing actually," Kagan, 58, told journalist Dahlia Lithwick, who moderated the Wednesday evening conversation. "You would think Lincoln Square Synagogue, she comes from a Modern Orthodox family. Actually my family didn't really know what it was." Though Kagan had her bat mitzvah... Full story
