Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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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
About Sephardic Jews... My late spouse was Sephardic. His ancestry dates all the way back to Barcelona, Spain, and his family spoke Ladino (Spanish). This article from the World Jewish Congress digest caught my eye: "The World Jewish Congress welcomed a recent agreement between Spain's Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport and the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain, aimed at combating anti-Semitism through education. FCJE is the representative body of the Spanish Jewish community and... Full story
(JNS)-With city lights dotting the night behind her, Dr. Dee Gaines, a neuropsychologist, sat for good reason-she's very pregnant. But when Capt. Elgen Long, the last surviving member of a commercial flight crew that saved nearly 2,000 Jewish refugees stranded in Yemen almost 70 years ago, finished his speech, she felt compelled to stand. Her voice shook with emotion behind a microphone handed to her. "My great-grandmother and my grandmother were on those planes. In Yemen, they couldn't read.... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-In another life, Kobi Frig would have been sitting behind vats of spices in Jerusalem's bustling, labyrinthine Mahane Yehuda market, hawking paprika, zaatar and cinnamon like his grandfather and father did before him Instead, Frig obeyed his father's wishes, went to college, and started a chain of events that transformed the market and led to the closure of his family's shop. He became a community activist, organizing art and music fairs in the market that opened it up to a... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-Limonana is a classic Israeli drink that combines freshly squeezed lemon juice and mint leaves for a unique Israeli-style lemonade treat that's beloved throughout the country. Limonana is a combination of the Hebrew and Arabic words "limon" and "nana," which mean lemon and mint, respectively. While the drink may have originated elsewhere in the Middle East, it's an Israeli advertising agency that provided the catchy portmanteau of a name in the 1990s. In an attempt to get... Full story
(JNS)—At a recent graduation of Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, novelist Michael Chabon berated the Jewish community of Hebron: “I abhor an enclave, too, a gated community, a restricted country club, or a clutch of 800 zealots lodged in illusory safety behind a wall made from the bodies of teenage soldiers, gazing out in scorn and lordly alarm at the surrounding 200,000 residents of the city of Hebron,” he said. So, here are a few points to consider in answering Chabon: While today Hebron Jews number only 800, consider that together with o... Full story
(JTA)-For nearly half a century, Elaine Holstein was periodically confronted with one of the most haunting images in modern American history: the bone-chilling picture of Kent State University student Jeffrey Miller lying on the pavement seconds after being fatally shot in the mouth by an Ohio National Guardsman during an anti-war protest. Photographer John Filo later said, "The volume of blood that was flowing from his body was as if someone tipped over a bucket." And, of course, there was the... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-Babka is an Eastern European yeasted cake with deep Jewish roots and also great American popularity. One of babka's most notorious moments was in an episode of "Seinfeld": Jerry and Elaine head to Royal Bakery to pick up babka for a dinner party, and when there is no more chocolate babka, they are somewhat devastated to be forced to bring cinnamon, "the lesser babka." Meanwhile, babka has been experiencing quite a resurgence in the past few years since the launch of Breads... Full story
Important to every Jew, every lover of Israel... I received this letter from the World Jewish Congress. I pass it along (with my personal comments): "Israel must continue to thrive, now and always. As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the modern State of Israel, and marvel at its remarkable and inspiring achievements (in medicine, science, etc.), this is the solemn commitment that we embody in both our thoughts and our actions. Israel is the only Jewish state. It is a... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-I first fell in love with adjaruli khatchapuri, also known as Georgian cheese bread or cheese boat, at Marani Restaurant in Queens, New York. This cheesy-carby deliciousness is basically all the comfort food you could possibly crave in one single dish: cheese, runny egg yolk and butter, all being held by homemade bread. Khatchapuri and khinkali, a dumpling most often stuffed with meat and spices, are two of Georgia's most recognizable dishes (and yes, I am talking about the... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Walking into Marvin Goldman's apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side is like entering a museum dedicated to El Al, Israel's national airline. In one room, shelves and tables display scale models of El Al's earliest aircraft, and its most modern. Elsewhere are flight bags, china, pens, ashtrays, desk flags and other collectibles bearing the El Al logo that Goldman has acquired over the past 40 years. In a large walk-in closet are neatly hung uniforms and caps worn by flight... Full story
(JTA)-When Aviva Schwartz started praying publicly for Palestinians at her Jewish summer camp, she knew it would be controversial. Schwartz had grown up ensconced in the Conservative movement, had attended three of its Ramah camps and had moved up the ranks as a staff member at Ramah Wisconsin. When Israel's war in Gaza broke out in the summer of 2014, she was the unit head for incoming seventh-graders, a position reserved for staff veterans. She was also a college student who, after a lifetime... Full story
By Pamela Ruben How far would you go to help a worthy cause? So far, no distance is too great for Orlando real estate attorney Andy Reiff. Over the past 26 years, Reiff has logged over 4,000 miles on his 26-year-old Trek 2100 racing bike, raising over $100,000 to help improve the lives of those stricken with chronic diseases, like multiple sclerosis and diabetes. For more than a quarter of a century, the 59-year-old biking enthusiast has participated in "Bike MS: The Citrus Tour," which raises... Full story
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Now beginning its second decade, the Schusterman Visiting Israeli Artists Program will bring 10 prominent Israeli artists for residencies at top universities across the United States for the 2018-2019 academic year. The University of Central Florida is one of the 10. Among the artists are Taiseer Elias, the leading figure in classical Arab music in Israel, and Moshe Zonder, the head writer for the popular television series, Fauda. Coming to UCF is Meital Raz, from Jan. 2, 2019... Full story
Melvin Weissman didn't have to fight in World War II. As a machinist for an essential industry, he needed permission from his company to even enlist. He was first rejected by the army as he had flat feet. But the 22-year-old was determined to fight for his county. Undeterred, Melvin, along with several of his friends, tried to enlist in the United States Army Air Corp. This time, he was accepted, flat feet and all. When he said good-bye to his family, Weissman was overcome with emotion. "I knew... Full story
George Braunstein is a member of a storied group whose numbers dwindle as each Memorial Day passes: Jewish American veterans of World War II. As he approaches his 95th birthday, the Kinneret resident is proud to have been one of the interview subjects of the recent documentary "G.I. Jews," which aired on PBS in April. Although his interview was not included in the final documentary, it was used as a promotional teaser and can be found on YouTube. A frequent and lively participant in Jewish... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-These bourekas are a mix of New York Jewish and Middle Eastern Israeli food cultures. It sounds a little crazy, but it's incredibly good: The flavorful seasoning blend, slightly sweet from the dried onion and garlic, balances out the salty, briny feta interior, and the cream and cottage cheese in the filling. A little bit of spinach, a personal must for me in cheese bourekas, adds color and flavor. Best part? These bourekas, made with store-bought puff pastry, are... Full story
I never met Mitchell "Mike" Flint, but before I had even heard of him, I knew about him and his legendary sense of being on the right side of history in the establishment of the State of Israel. When I read about Mitchell, Jewish and Israeli newspapers were filled with accounts of his life in obituaries that heaped praise on his heroism, and that of others like him. There's a Jewish tradition to comfort the mourning surviving family members of one who dies and I was able to connect with one of... Full story
