Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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AMSTERDAM (JTA)-More than 70 years have passed since Meijer van der Sluis first laid eyes on the love of his life. He was at a home for child survivors of the Holocaust, and he opened the door for her. He still remembers her short haircut and exactly what she wore that day. "It was a black army coat," van der Sluis, 91, of Amsterdam, recalls in a critically acclaimed documentary that aired last month in the Netherlands about his wife of 65 years, Tedje. "It hit me hard. I fell in love. It... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Growing up in Imperial Japan during World War II, Isaac Shapiro's best friend was a member of the Hitler Youth. The friend wore the organization's brown shirt uniform to their international school every day, but not because he wanted to-he was German and Japan was an ally of the Nazi regime, so he was expected to project support for the Fuehrer. Instead of instilling fear into his classmates, however, the uniform had the opposite effect-his non-German peers gently teased him. "We... Full story
AMSTERDAM (JTA)-As a seasoned ghost writer who specializes in biographies, Miriam Dubi-Gazan says there is no such thing as a boring life story. Her attention to detail, creativity and editing skills yield satisfying results even for clients whose resumes are not exactly the stuff of spy novels (think retired bankers, plastics manufacturers, midlevel civil servants and family doctors), she says. But Dubi-Gazan's own astonishing life story needs none of the tricks of her trade. Born in 1945 to... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-If you've been to a falafel or shwarma stand in Israel, then you have probably heard of amba. It's a spiced pickled mango condiment whose popularity in Israel comes by way of the Iraqi Jewish community. This flavorful condiment is commonly found in Iraq and across the Middle East, as well as in India. In fact, amba originated in India, and the word means mango in Marathi. You can find countless recipes and variations for amba, but the main and required ingredient is mango.... Full story
(Aish Hatorah Resources)—Without understanding what happened in the past, it’s impossible to grasp where we are today. Mention history and it can trigger a roll of the eyes. Add the Middle East to the equation and folks might start running for the hills, unwilling to get caught up in the seemingly bottomless pit of details and disputes. But without an understanding of what happened in the past, it’s impossible to grasp where we are today—and where we are has profound relevance for the region and the world. Fifty-one years ago, the Six-Day... Full story
(JNS)-As part of the annual Israel Festival in Jerusalem, I boarded the light rail with my fellow performers, each donning a white headset. Our choreographer was a pre-programmed Siri-like female voice named "Rachel" telling us exactly how to perform the show. But I am no actor, and neither were my fellow performers; in fact, we were the ones who needed tickets to the show! So there we were, in the middle of a performance on the Jerusalem light rail. "Try to look someone in the eye. Try! They... Full story
"Where have all the values gone?"... This is the title of a work written by a lovely lady, AUNITA PADGETT, a friend and fellow member of my Grief Support Group. It really hit home with me, especially all the young folks I see (even when they are driving) who constantly stare at their cell phones. I pass it along in part to you: "We have new gadgets, fancy automobiles and name brand clothing, but do we appreciate a new car, for instance, the way our grandparents and the whole family oohed and... Full story
By Rob Gloster SAN FRANCISCO (J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA)-Breaking religious barriers is nothing new for Rabbi Daniel Lehmann. Ordained at New York's Yeshiva University, the flagship of Modern Orthodoxy, he most recently was president of Hebrew College near Boston, which is devoted to pluralistic Jewish education. During his tenure, Hebrew College became the first non-Christian member of the Boston Theological Institute, a consortium of nine graduate schools of theology. N... Full story
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA)-In the compact, open kitchen of the apartment here that Dalit Gvirtsman shares with her husband, about a dozen women are jostling for space. One is chopping tomatoes, another is sauteing onions and another is squeezing a few dollops of honey into cooked egg noodles. Just beyond, the dining room table is set; each place setting features a napkin with the Israeli flag. A platter of bourekas with miniature Israeli flags has already been demolished. It's another monthly... Full story
(JTA)-Jack Garfein, a former movie producer who survived 11 concentration camps during the Holocaust, was honored in New York by a Poland-based group commemorating victims of the genocide. Garfein, 87, a former teacher and director at New York's famed Actors Studio and civil rights activist, received the From the Depths Award for Dialogue earlier this month at a ceremony along with fellow survivors Edward and Cesia Mosberg, who have worked to foster greater understanding between non-Jewish... Full story
Just a few weeks ago Lynn and I, together with a group of 39 people from Congregation Sinai and Temple Israel, had the pleasure of being in Israel for the 70th anniversary of the proclamation of the independence of the Jewish state. Yom Ha Zikaron (Remembrance Day) began for our group the evening of April 17 with a gathering of many thousands of Israelis at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. El Maale Rachamim and Kaddish were said along with music selections appropriate for the occasion being performed and televised throughout the country. Sirens... Full story
(JTA)-On June 10, 2002, Charles Krauthammer delivered the Distinguished Rennert Lecture upon receiving the Guardian of Zion Award from Bar-Ilan University's Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies. Below is an excerpt from the lecture titled "He Tarries: Jewish Messianism and the Oslo Peace." Krauthammer died on June 21, 2018. In the 1990s, America slept and Israel dreamed. The United States awoke on Sept. 11, 2001. Israel awoke in September 2000. Like the left and like the reverie that... Full story
The first time Rabbi Raphael Karlin gave his sixth-grade students a Talmud game, it didn't turn out quite the way he expected. The challenge was to take a passage of Talmud cut up into six parts and reassemble the components in the correct order. The process required his students at the Jewish Education Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to replicate a line of Talmudic argumentation followed by rabbis who lived 2,000 years ago. On the first round, no one got it right. So Karlin had them look at... Full story
This report really upset me... I read this in the World Jewish Congress digest and pass it along to you: "The World Jewish Congress decried the United Nations Human Rights Council's recent adoption of five resolutions under Agenda Item 7 accusing Israel of human rights abuses and violations of international law in the Golan Heights and Palestinian territories. (I visited the Golan Heights some years ago during the Yom Kippur war.) 'The U.N. Human Rights Council has once again let its biased and... Full story
(JTA)-"Ethics of the Fathers" includes this bold advice from Rabbi Yishmael: "When we learn in order to act, we become learners, teachers, preservers and doers." So many Jewish institutions are asking how they might engage younger people, raise a new generation of leaders and appeal across age groups. How might they advance the Jewish journeys of their volunteers, followers and "users," and take them further toward greater interest in and commitment to Jewish life? Limmud, a global network of... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-As its name suggests, relationships are key to members of the International Association of Relational Psychoanalysts and Psychotherapists. But there is one relationship some members want to sever: the one between the organization and Israel. At its 2018 conference, held June 14-17 at a Midtown Manhattan hotel, a vocal minority of the association's 2,200 members objected to next year's gathering being held in Tel Aviv, with some pledging to boycott it. The 100 people or so who... Full story
(JNS)-Can archaeology bring biblical history to life? According to historian and Deputy Minister Michael Oren, it depends who you ask. Speaking at a June 10 Jerusalem event celebrating the opening of the "Seals of Isaiah and King Hezekiah Discovered" exhibit at the Armstrong International Cultural Foundation in Oklahoma, as well as 50 years of archaeological collaboration between the Armstrong Foundation and Israel, Oren said that in Jerusalem, archaeology serves as a tool for proving the... Full story
NEW YORK-The shimmering musical "The Band's Visit," based on Israeli film of the same name, was the big winner at the Tony Awards on Sunday, June 10, capturing the best musical award and nine other prizes. "The Band's Visit," about an Egyptian band that accidentally winds up in a dusty Israeli backwater, won awards for best direction, leading actor, leading actress, orchestration, sound design, original score, best book of a musical, lighting and featured actor Ari'el Stachel, who gave a... Full story
Ari'el Stachel, the California-born son of an Israeli-Yemeni father and an Ashkenazi mother from New York, won the award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as a romantic Egyptian trumpeter in "The Band's Visit." "The Band's Visit," a jewel-box musical based on an Israeli film about an Egyptian band stranded in a hardscrabble Negev town, dominated its categories during the 72nd annual Tony Awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall Sunday night, winning awards for Best... Full story
Talk about disturbing news... I read this in the World Jewish Congress digest and pass it along to you: "Recent figures released by the Community Security Trust indicate a record-high number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United Kingdom, with the Jewish community targeted at a rate of nearly four times a day over the course of 2017. This is the third year in a row that the CST has reported record levels of anti-Semitism, and this is in a year with no specific trigger events. 'Anti-Semitism is... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Anthony Bourdain was quick-and often willing-to publicly offer his own flaws. "Until 44 years of age, I never had any kind of savings account," Bourdain said in 2017. "[I] always owed money. I'd always been selfish and completely irresponsible." Despite or maybe because of such flaws, Bourdain would stumble into fame, parlaying his latent talent as a writer into hosting three increasingly sophisticated variants of the same food-oriented travel show-first on the Food Network, then... Full story
TEL AVIV-The week of June 11, 225 members of the Bnei Menashe Jewish community, which claims descent from one of Israel's lost tribes, made Aliyah thanks to Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based nonprofit that aims to strengthen ties between the Jewish people and descendants of Jews around the world. The 225 new immigrants all hail from the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, which borders Burma and is home to the largest concentration of Bnei Menashe. Among those making Aliyah this week is Seingul... Full story
By Stephen Silver NEW YORK (JTA)-Whatever else you can say about the somewhat mixed legacy of his work, you certainly can't question Adam Sandler's credentials as an avatar of Jewish cultural pride. Chalk that up to his famous Chanukah song, which name-checked an array of famous Jews, his Chanukah-themed animated comedy "Eight Crazy Nights" and the 2008 film "You Don't Mess With the Zohan." In "Zohan," Sandler played an elite and legendary Israeli soldier who longs for a peaceful life. The... Full story
(JTA)-The Atlanta Jewish community broke a Guinness World Record after creating an Israeli flag out of edible cookies. The flag assembled by volunteers on Sunday used about 117,000 cookies and stretched to 3,224 feet across the plastic-covered floor of the Heritage Hall in Congregation Beth Jacob. It was created to celebrate Israel's 70th birthday. The previous record-holder was a flag to mark Pakistan's 70th. The new record-holder is 32 percent larger, the Atlanta Jewish Times reported. The... Full story
For decades, Rabbi Yotav Eliach, esteemed principal of Rambam Mesivta High School in Long Island, has accumulated his teachings, writings, and those of many other scholars and rabbinical authorities, tracking the history of Israel. His mission was not just to chronicle the dispossession and repossession of a people, as Walter Laqueur did in "A History of Zionism," but to go beyond. Rabbi Eliach completes the circle and ties in the religious component-spiritual Judaism itself. The result is a... Full story
