Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2526 - 2550 of 4556
NEW YORK (JTA)-Eva Lavi's earliest memories are of the Holocaust. She remembers how her mother made her hide outside in below-zero weather, clutching a standing pipe, as Nazis searched her home in Poland. She remembers her father telling her to swallow a spoonful of cyanide-better than death at the hands of the Nazis-only to have her mother object at the last minute. She remembers seeing her twin cousins shot to death as they ran up a hill at a labor camp. Lavi was 2 years old when Nazi Germany... Full story
CHICAGO (JTA)-Sam Rosen, a 10-year-old Minecraft player, builds virtual castles at his computer and protects himself from monsters. His mother, Carrie, a high school math teacher, knows the game teaches tech skills and engineering-valuable skills he can build on in school. So when JCC Chicago announced plans to roll out a tech day camp for the first time this summer, Carrie signed up Sam, understanding that he would learn programming or, as she calls it, "the back end of games." The new... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-Let's face it: There's just something wonderfully soothing about seeing a steaming bowl of matzah ball soup with its pillowy-plump dumplings swimming in a bath of golden broth. This healing vegetarian matzah ball soup delivers all the "ah" of its traditional cousin with precisely the right amount of goodness (and good-for-you-ness) thanks to a clever use of shiitake mushrooms, tomato paste and a pot full of seasonal vegetables. Whether you add our healthy matzah ball soup... Full story
Not "fake news"... Recently, I watched the movie "Fiddler on the Roof" (for the third time) on television. This time was particularly strange as I felt that I was in Russia and Ukraine while watching. It just happens that my ancestry comes from Russia and Ukraine. (Could it be a sign?) New Director-General... "World Jewish Congress (WJC) CEO AND Executive Vice President ROBERT SINGER congratulated former French Culture Minister, AUDREY AZOULAY on her recent appointment as Director-General of the... Full story
As I settled into my chair at the Shalom Club table at Solivita Club Expo, I put my pocketbook on the empty chair from the Bellisimo Hair Salon which was next us. A few minutes later, a young Hispanic man asked me to move it so he could sit down. “Hope you don’t mind,” he said. “No problem!” I said, “it’s your chair.” And I put the bag on the floor. “It would be a “shanda” to put that nice bag on the floor!” he exclaimed. I took a closer look at the speaker. He certainly looked Hispanic, not someone who is familiar with the Jewish word for sha... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-It shouldn't have been complicated. Shimon Abta, an expert Israeli cannabis agronomist, was sent by his employer to consult with American companies in states where medical marijuana is legal. He was living in Las Vegas and met an American Jewish woman on JDate. They married last year and together started becoming more religious. Both in their 30s, they are eager to start a family. But on Jan. 8, U.S. immigration officials told Abta to withdraw his application for permanent... Full story
WHIPPANY, N.J. (New Jersey Jewish News via JTA)-If Bea Slater had ever been a shrinking violet, her sudden celebrity might be uncomfortable. At 90, the great-grandmother has her image plastered on billboards and bus shelters up and down Manhattan and in Brooklyn. There's even one on the roof above Junior's, the famous cheesecake place. Along with three other women nearly as old as she, she has become the face of JDate, the Jewish matchmaking site. They're not poster girls for senior dating.... Full story
NEW YORK-On Feb. 4 millions of people will gather around the world to watch the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots play in Super Bowl LII. One of America's favorite annual events is the Halftime Show and this year is no exception. As Justin Timberlake takes the stage in Minnesota, the Nachum Segal Network (NSN) will be kicking off its fifth annual "Kosher Halftime Show." The Kosher Halftime Show will give Jewish music fans and their families around the world a wholesome Jewish... Full story
How upsetting... I read this not too long ago in the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and pass it along to you: "As reported recently by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, two kippah-wearing brothers were allegedly forced to drive off a main road near Paris, France, by another vehicle carrying several men yelling "Dirty Jews, you're going to die." Once stopped, the brothers were surrounded by the men and others who emerged from a nearby hookah café. Both were beaten ruthlessly, while their... Full story
On Jan. 31, Jews will celebrate Tu B'Shevat, the day in which it is believed "trees come of age." For those of us who live in Central Florida, there is no more fitting a place to honor the Jewish "Earth Day" than at Bok Tower Gardens. The 60-acre sanctuary in nearby Lake Wales was the gift of Edward Bok. This son of impoverished Dutch immigrants became a highly successful publisher, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, a respected humanitarian and an advocate of world peace and the environment.... Full story
(JTA)-When Maxim Shrayer traveled to Moscow for a five-day visit at the end of October 2016, his itinerary included a trip to the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center. Shrayer, who emigrated from Russia to the U.S. with his refusenik activist parents 30 years ago, is an acclaimed scholar of Jewish-Russian literature and culture as well as an award-winning writer on the Jewish-Russian emigre experience. He took a cab to the museum, where he delivered a literary paper at the Moscow International... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Sherman the overweight hedgehog, who was put on a diet at a zoo in Israel, has lost about one-tenth of his body weight. Sherman weighed 3.5 pounds, double the average weight of a normal hedgehog, when he was taken in by the Ramat Gan Safari outside of Tel Aviv in November. The Safari announced Wednesday that Sherman has lost 0.33 pounds. Sherman is one of 10 hedgehogs that were found waddling through the streets in Israel. They had eaten so much, mostly cat food left on the... Full story
Three cheers... I read this recently in the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and pass it along to you: "World Jewish Congress President Ambassador RONALD S. LAUDER welcomed the European Court of Justice's decision to uphold the European Union's (EU) listing of Hamas as a terrorist organization, and called on the EU to do everything in its power to prevent European entities from engaging in business or showing any other form of support with it. In upholding the decision to keep Hamas on the... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-I was first introduced to Turkish coffee in Israel. Prepared in the traditional copper cezve, it was served piping hot and in beautiful, delicate cups. I quickly became enamored of its strong flavor and clean, robust taste unmarred by sugar. In addition to the pure taste of coffee, there was another flavor I couldn't quite place. When I asked the brewer what it was, he told me it was cardamom. It seemed a strange combination at first, but as I kept drinking I found it was... Full story
Like you, I was tempted to roll my eyes when I first learned that the calendar for late January declares a National Day of Hugging amongst its notable monthly holidays. Then, I thought back to all the times in which I really needed a hug, and felt a little less skeptical. Just yesterday, I tripped and skinned my knee, something which hasn't happened since I was a little child. Fortunately, a jogger was passing by, and helped scoop me up with an outstretched hand. That brief second when our... Full story
(Kveller via JTA)-"The Nazis were bad people who didn't like Jews," I heard myself saying to my 3-year-old. I immediately questioned this rather disappointing explanation. Bad people? What does that mean? Haven't my wife and I always told our child that people aren't "bad" or "good," even if they do bad or good things? And isn't "didn't like Jews" rather an understatement? But, then, what exactly should you tell such a young child about the Holocaust? I was in this predicament because of "The... Full story
When I am among trees By Mary Oliver When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks, and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, "Stay awhile." The light flows from their branches.... Full story
NEW YORK-Yechiel Malik was born and raised an hour's drive from New York City, but until age 10 he spoke only Yiddish. He grew up in an all-Hasidic village in New York's Hudson Valley, and for most of his school years his primary focus was Judaics, with only minimal secular studies. "No one around me spoke English," Malik recalled. "Maybe I picked up a word here and there-but my entire world was Yiddish speaking." Today, Malik not only is fluent in English, but he is pursuing a college degree... Full story
SAN FRANCISCO (J. the Jewish News of Northern California via JTA)-"Az men est khazer, zol es shoyn rinen ibern moyl" goes an old Yiddish saying: "If you're going to eat pork, eat it until your mouth drips." Sunday night at Brick & Mortar Music Hall here, the mouths of rabbis and foodies dripped with Peanut Butter Pie with Bacon, a Rabbit Crepinette and a Pulled Pork Potato Kugel with barbecue sauce. The occasion was the "Trefa Banquet 2.0," a delicious spread of treif (nonkosher food) made by... Full story
(JTA)-On Easter Sunday in 1959, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. rose in the pulpit of his Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, to deliver a sermon that focused on his just-completed visit, with his wife, Coretta, to Jerusalem and its holy sites. King's trip that month to eastern Jerusalem and the nearby cities of Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and Jericho, all of which were then part of Jordan, came at the end of a month-long visit to India that he wrote about extensively later in... Full story
Deeply disturbing... I received the following letter from Ambassador RONALD S. LAUDER, of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and pass it along in part: "Every day, it seems, we hear another report of an anti-Semitic attack, a Jewish cemetery desecrated, a Holocaust memorial vandalized, or anti-Jewish hate speech posted online. Neo-Nazis and white nationalists are proudly marching in the streets of major cities across the United States and Europe, unafraid to express their hateful beliefs in public,... Full story
By Joyce Kilmer I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.... Full story
When Jory Hanselman was a high school student, she found herself struggling on multiple fronts. A family member was wrestling with addiction and mental illness. And two friends died suddenly, one from suicide and another from an overdose. "I was in a place where I was really struggling to deal with that loss along with taking into consideration the secondary trauma of living in a home where mental illness and addiction were playing out in a very real way," Hanselman said. To help her cope, her... Full story
(JTA)—The names Gal Gadot and Harvey Weinstein were among the top 10 mispronounced words of 2017, according to Babbel Magazine Gadot, who played Wonder Woman in the film by the same name and in “Justice League,” was fifth on the list put out by the magazine associated with the online language learning company. Her name is often mispronounced with a silent “t,” according to Babbel, which consulted with the British Institute of Verbatim Reporters, the U.S. Captioning Company and National Captioning Canada to ask their professional subtitler... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-It's a recurring theme in the career of actor Jeremy Shamos: extravagant praise for playing some less-than-extravagant characters. In reviews for "Meteor Shower," the new Broadway comedy by Steve Martin, the entertainment website Deadline.com says Shamos "is priceless as the zhlubbish Norm," who is the "mushy husband" to the character played by comedian Amy Schumer. And the Los Angeles Times calls Shamos "the strongest actor in the quartet," which in addition to Schumer features... Full story
