Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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When family comes to town and it's your 95th birthday, that calls for celebration! David Fitzer was delighted to be surrounded by family, friends and community at Kabbalat Shabbat one recent Friday afternoon. His daughter contacted Jewish Pavilion program director Emily Newman to arrange for this special occasion. Fitzer enjoys the weekly Shabbat program, so it was the perfect fit to share birthday wishes with him on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. Healthy and happy birthday wishes to David! "May he...
WALTHAM, Mass.-Mary Pridgen is an innovation-minded teenager who doesn't like to waste time. Volunteering in politics in Biloxi, Mississippi, Pridgen long had been vexed by a recurring problem: how to diplomatically extricate herself from meetings with long-winded people. So when she arrived at the Brandeis campus this summer for the technology track of a pre-college summer program focused on experiential learning and Jewish community, Pridgen came up with a solution: She designed a pair of...
The world's first-of-its-kind dual robotic surgery was recently performed at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem. Aaron Schwartz, age 42, was severely injured when a heavy wall of steel fell on him at work. Suffering six broken vertebrae and leg fractures in two places, Schwartz was brought to the underground hybrid operating room in Hadassah Hospital's Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower. "In the hybrid room are two robots," explained Prof. Meir Liebergall, head of Hadassah's Orthopedic...
Sydney Kamen has always been concerned with helping others. In 2004, when genocide was raging in the Darfur region of Sudan, Kamen's mother announced that instead of Hanukkah gifts that year, Kamen and her sister should research and select a charity to support. At Jewish religious school on Sundays, Kamen went on service trips to soup kitchens, and through Georgetown Day School, he spent time at a women's shelter in downtown Washington, D.C. Her first experience with aid work in a developing...
(JTA)-Curious George-that curious little monkey-is beloved by millions of readers around the world. His adventures with the Man With the Yellow Hat impart important life lessons amidst silliness and mayhem. But many people probably don't know that the children's book character was actually born during very dark times. His two Jewish creators, Margret and H.A. Rey, fled the Nazis in 1940-on homemade bicycles, no less-carrying their unpublished manuscripts with them. The story of the couple's...
Memories and pure joy... What a week of television! I laughed. I cried. I clapped. I even changed one of the MUST destinations on my bucket list from a visit to my mom's birthplace, Montreal, Canada, to Broadway, New York City, my birthplace. (Of course, I hope to live long enough to visit both places.) The first exciting TV show for me was memories of Bob Hope. Little bits from many of his shows, including those entertaining our troops in World War II, Korea, Viet Nam... and on and on. (How I...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Michelle Reyf isn't really a synagogue-goer. Until recently, the 28-year-old, who works for a Jewish nonprofit, was perfectly happy to get her spiritual fulfillment at Buddhist prayer services and meditation retreats. Synagogue did not appeal to her for a variety of reasons-she found the crowd to be older and the atmosphere to be impersonal. And as someone who identifies as queer, she felt distanced from the traditional values she encountered in many Jewish spaces. But in...
NEW YORK (JTA)-As a rookie in the National Football League, New York Giants offensive lineman Adam Bisnowaty is splitting most of his time before the season starts in September between grueling practices and long team meetings. To lighten the mood, veteran players ask the newbies each preseason to sing in front of the team. Bisnowaty figures that when it's his turn, he'll go with "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel." Bisnowaty, 23, is Jewish-a rarity in professional football-and comfortable talking...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Six years ago, the Israeli government released a series of controversial ads to show its expatriates that they would never feel at home in the United States. But last year, Israeli Cabinet members lined up to address a Washington, DC., conference celebrating Israeli-American identity. The ad campaign, which was pulled following a backlash from Israelis and Jews abroad, represented Israel's traditional attitude toward citizens who left its borders. Emphasizing its image as the Jewi...
A beginner in the Jewish genealogy search, Jane Edelstein recently attended the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference held in Orlando. This is the first article in a series about her experience finding her roots. You didn't know your great-grandparents, and even thinking about Europe at the turn-of-the-century doesn't really sound appealing to you. So why should you spend at least a little bit of time, and seek out your Jewish ancestry? "Jewish genealogy is not a...
(JTA)-Twenty years ago this summer, Anita Diamant-a freelance writer and author of several nonfiction books about Jewish practice, including "The New Jewish Wedding"-was awaiting the publication of her first novel. It was a work of historical fiction, set in biblical times, that focused on the story of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob and Leah. The book was called "The Red Tent," and it has since achieved iconic status. The novel has sold millions of copies around the world and was adapted...
Do you remember?... The following (in part) was sent to my editor from LAURENCE MORRELL and was passed on to me. (The original author is unknown). Growing up Jewish... If you are Jewish, and grew up in a city with a large Jewish population, the following will invoke heartfelt memories. (I grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. with a super large Jewish population!) The Yiddish word for today is PULKES (PUHL-kees). Translation: THIGHS. Please note: this word has been traced back to the language of one of the...
LOS ANGELES (JTA) – While researching his latest one-man show, "Our Great Tchaikovsky," Hershey Felder-a playwright, actor and composer who has brought the loves, torments and soaring music of some of the world's greatest composers to the stage-faced a moral question. Does towering talent exculpate a composer, or any artist, for a racist or anti-Semitic remark, even at a time and place where such comments were commonplace? The answer isn't simple. "This is a very complicated matter," Felder, 49,...
The 20th Maccabiah Games have ended, and the Central Florida Jewish community is proud to have two very talented tennis players among the USA Team who medaled. Aviva Diamond, daughter of Laura Felson of Orlando and Dr. David and Orly Diamond of Winter Park, was the Mixed Doubles and Girls Doubles winner for the U.S. Juniors Tennis team and brought home a Bronze Medal overall in Girls Doubles with her partner Yana Gurevich of California, losing to No. 1 seed Israel. Diamond will be a sophmore...
A photo the Heritage ran last week of Hillel staff displaying their banner underwater was more than just a cool picture. These Hillel members are focused on "tikkun hayam"-repairing the seas-and are making a stand to "dive against debris." For the sea is His, He made it-Psalms 95:5 Most people with a moderate amount of biblical knowledge can recite the opening line of the Torah without having to give it much thought: In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1 But what co...
(JTA)-Margaret Bergmann Lambert, a high jumper who was barred from the 1936 Berlin Olympics because she was Jewish, died in New York at 103. Her niece, Doris Bergman, confirmed that Lambert died Tuesday, The New York Times reported. In June 1936, just a month before the Olympics, Lambert, then a German citizen known as Gretel Bergmann, won a meet against some of the best German high jumpers with a leap of 5 feet, 3 inches-a height tying a German record and good enough to win the gold medal....
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-A famous photo of Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue at a photographer and signed by the renowned scientist has been sold for $125,000. The Nate D. Sanders auction house in announcing the sale Thursday evening did not reveal the buyer's identity. The Hebrew University stands to benefit from the latest sale, since Einstein bequeathed his estate, including the use of his image, to the Jerusalem institution. United Press International photographer Arthur Sasse took the...
NEW YORK-Tuna poke nachos marinated Hawaiian style. Lightly smoked duck breasts with quinoa and turnips. Hormone- and antibiotic-free USDA prime angus steaks. The kosher restaurant scene today has come a long way from the pastrami sandwiches and matzah ball soups of old (though you can still get those, too). Now more than ever, kosher fine-dining options abound for observant Jewish consumers looking for a great restaurant experience. In New York, the cutting edge of the kosher world, a few...
In Memoriam... Ruth Gruber, a photojournalist and author who documented Stalin's gulags, life in Nazi Germany and the plight of Jewish refugees intercepted by the British on the infamous passage of the Exodus to Palestine in 1947, died a few months ago at her home in Manhattan. She was 105. Her son, DAVID MICHAELS, confirmed her death. Ms. Gruber called herself a witness, and in an era of barbarities and war that left countless Jews displaced and stateless, she often crossed the line from...
"Collecting family stories not only benefits the senior-storyteller, but can add to the richness of their relationship with their family members and caregivers," said Emily Newman of the Orlando Senior Help Desk. I am living proof of the previous statement, as it took me almost 50 years to uncover an Olympic-sized story that brought my late maternal grandfather to life. As my Grandfather Irving passed before I was born, I never developed concrete images of who he was during his lifetime. I knew...
NEW YORK (JTA)—For many Jews, Tisha b’Av is centered around mourning the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. But that interpretation misses out on an important lesson that is made more relevant by recent events, Rabbi David Seidenberg argues. With the release of a new translation of the Book of Lamentations, the main text read on the annual fast day, the Massachusetts-based rabbi argues that Tisha b’Av, which began this year on the evening of July 31, provides a powerful way to connect to the refugee experience. Here’s his...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Since it came out in 2013, the "Pew study"-a landmark survey of American Jewish demographics, beliefs and practices-has been at the center of American Jewish scrutiny and handwringing. Now it's American Muslims' turn. On Wednesday, the Pew Research Center released a survey of American Muslims focusing not only on numbers and their way of life, but also on how the community has responded to the election of President Donald Trump. Comparing the two studies shows a Muslim sector in A...
NEW YORK (JTA)-In history books, the summer of 2007 will go down as the official start of one of the worst financial crises in American history. It started in July, when Bear Stearns announced that two of its hedge funds had lost all their value-and from there, as we know, panic, chaos and lots of mortgage defaults ensued. But to my 15-year-old self-and to thousands of other teenage boys of my generation-the summer of 2007 will be remembered for an entirely different reason: It was a season...
(JTA)-"Drop your pants" The order came curt and clipped, and it caught me by surprise. What?! "Drop your pants," he repeated sternly. I had been subject to the indignities of Israeli security before, but never this. I was in a holding area of the Israeli Embassy in Amman, Jordan, on my way to a meeting with a senior Israeli official in the building. I had been thoroughly vetted: They knew I was a journalist, I had an appointment with a senior embassy official to talk about Israeli-Jordanian...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Yaakov Seltzer remembers a different world, when he would sell his customers prayer books, then hand them an invitation to his daughter's wedding. When they would come in to Seltzer's store to order a kippah for their new grandson, then ask him to attend the bris. Or they would stop in on a Friday afternoon with nothing to buy, just to wish him a good Shabbat. But though the Upper West Side of Manhattan is still heavily Jewish, the world Seltzer longs for has disappeared. And...
