Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2626 - 2650 of 4386
It is customary to eat dairy food on Shavuot (May 30-June 1, 2017) for a number of reasons. One reason is that Shavuot is linked to the Exodus from Egypt into the Promised Land, and it is written “From the misery of Egypt to a country flowing with milk and honey...” (Exodus 3:8-17). For those on gluten free diets, the traditional baked dairy foods often served for the Shavuot holiday can present a challenge. Pereg Natural Foods offers this unexpected and delicious gluten free brownie cheesecake dessert, that the entire family—and guests—will en... Full story
Described as one of the most significant archaeological finds in modern Israel, the Magdala Stone, unearthed in 2009 near the shores of the Sea of Galilee, has been unveiled to the public for first time as part of a joint exhibition on the history of the menorah May 15-July 23 between the Vatican Museums and the Jewish Museum of Rome. "This is a dream that finally comes to fulfillment," Father Juan Solana, general director of the Magdala Center, whose work focuses on the stone dubbed a "crossroa... Full story
On Memorial Day, we honor the soldiers and service members who have given their lives for our nation. Social Security respects the heroism and courage of our military service members, and we remember those who have given their lives in defense of freedom. Part of how we honor service members is the way we provide Social Security benefits. The unexpected loss of a family member is a difficult experience for anyone. Social Security helps by providing benefits to protect service members’ dependents. Widows, widowers, and their dependent c... Full story
(JTA)-The first thing Carl Reiner does every morning is pick up the paper and read the obituary section to check if he's named there. "If I'm not, I'll have my breakfast"-or so he says in the charming and appropriately titled HBO documentary "If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast." Then the 95-year-old actor, writer and director, the creator of the "Dick Van Dyke Show"-"my greatest achievement," he tells JTA-goes to his computer to work on his latest project, a book. In fact, that's what he w... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-Israeli startups are revving their engines ahead of the country's largest-ever "smart transportation" event. Over 200 local companies working in transportation technology will be at the EcoMotion Conference on Thursday at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa. The plan is to give auto industry giants a look under the hood of "Startup Nation." "Companies from around the world want to see what's happening in Israel," said Lior Zeno-Zamasky, the executive director of EcoMotion, a... Full story
(JTA)-Only one religious group in the U.S. has a federally proclaimed month celebrating their history: the Jews. In 2006, President George W. Bush officially declared May as Jewish American Heritage Month. Yet Jewish American Heritage Month, or JAHM, hardly seems a priority-not in the government, not in the media, not even within the Jewish community. There is not a single paid employee working to organize the commemoration, and neither the federal government nor any Jewish organizations or foun... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-David Rubinger's iconic photograph of three paratroopers at the Western Wall is the defining image of the 1967 Six-Day War. The men in the photo-Dr. Yitzhak Yifat, Tzion Karasenti and Chaim Oshri-have proudly served as symbols of the historic Israeli victory for the past five decades. But in an interview with JTA, they said the war for them was just as much about loss. "To liberate the Kotel was something amazing," Yifat told JTA, referring to the Western Wall. "But we never... Full story
Former Heritage editor, Mike Etzkin, is a proud uncle. His nephew, Brian Etzkin, is the "winningest" head coach of the men's and women's tennis teams in history at Cleveland State University. Etzkin's work was cut out for him when he came to Cleveland as head coach in 2002. Both the men's and women's teams were, in his words, two "of the worst teams in the country." During his first year he brought the men's team to nine wins-six more than the previous two years combined. And since that beginnin... Full story
Over the course of three days, beginning June 5, more than 182 Israeli soldiers fell along the Jerusalem front fighting against Jordanian forces in what is ingrained in Israel's collective memory as one of the Six-Day War's fiercest and bloodiest battles. Ammunition Hill, a critical part of the struggle for Jerusalem, is today a Jewish National Fund-sponsored national memorial site that honors and tells the story of the heroic soldiers who died in the fight to reunite the capital city in 1967.... Full story
About two years ago, I flew to Israel for the annual conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, held that year in Jerusalem. While in Jerusalem, I toured Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to Holocaust victims. One of the very powerful exhibits honors "The Righteous Among the Nations"-that small minority who at great risk managed to rescue Jewish people during the Holocaust. YadVashem.org identifies the four major kinds of help that were provided by those few:... Full story
I never knew of this true hero... Tuvia Bielski (May 8, 1906-June 12, 1987) was the leader of the Bielski group, Jewish partisans who set up a camp for Jews fleeing the Holocaust during World War II. Their camp was situated in the Naliboki forest, which was part of Poland between World War I and World War II, and which is now in western Belarus. Tuvia was the son of David and Beila Bielski, who had 12 children: 10 boys and two girls. Tuvia was the third eldest. His brothers Asael, Alexander ("Zu... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-On the morning of June 5, 1967, as Arab armies and Israel clashed following weeks of tension, Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg sat anxious amid his congregants at daily prayers-fearful that the Jewish people would face extinction for the second time in 25 years. "One of the people said, 'They're going to wipe out Israel. What's going to be?'" recalled Greenberg, then the spiritual leader of a synagogue in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. "I said, 'They're not going to wipe out... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-I can't eat borscht that comes from a jar that's been sitting on a supermarket shelf for who knows how long. So sue me. Tell me I'm a snob. I just can't. It's the wrong color, it's too thin and has these shimmering chopped-looking things on the bottom that I suppose are beets but remind me of pocket lint. But I do love borscht, all kinds. Years ago I was surprised when a friend served me a version that wasn't at all like the simple beet soup so familiar to Ashkenazi Jewish... Full story
Kudos go out to Chef Zachary Engel for winning the James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef of the Year. Engel is the chef de cuisine at Shaya restaurant in New Orleans, and was one of 11 New Orleans chefs to be a James Beard Award finalist this year. And if his name sounds familiar, he is also the son of Rabbi Steven and Beverly Engel of the Congregation of Reform Judaism. This is a prestigious honor, as the James Beard Awards are considered among the highest honors in the American culinary... Full story
There is another local water polo player who will be playing on the Maccabi Water Polo team this summer. Ory Tasman, four-time All-American and Winter Park resident, was selected to the 2017 Maccabi Water Polo team. Tasman, a graduate of Winter Park High School in 2012, holds numerous records at Winter Park High and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including most goals scored in a season (105) and a career (317). He graduate from MIT in 2016 with a degree in computer science and... Full story
A future without cancer?... I received this letter from Tel Aviv University and will share it in part: "Imagine a future without cancer... a world where remedies exist for all breast cancers... where even the most aggressive tumors can be stopped as easily as the common cold. This is not science fiction. This could soon become reality because of research you (all of us) have made possible as an American friend of Tel Aviv University (by our support). One example of how Tel Aviv University... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-They were part of the problem. Now they are spearheading a solution. A Tel Aviv-based startup run by young American Jewish immigrants to Israel, or olim, has taken on the largely fraudulent binary options industry centered in this country that has been estimated to generate as much as $10 billion a year. Owned and staffed in part by former binary options employees, Wealth Recovery International has used its insider knowledge to its advantage. "Because I worked in the industry, I... Full story
The past three years, Brian Bellinkoff has been producing, shooting and editing in Kenya, Somalia and the United States a passion project called "Men in the Arena," a film by J.R. Biersmith. It is the story of two Somali national team soccer players-Saadiq and Sa'ad-chasing their dreams of playing professionally against impossible odds. The film's mission is to shine a positive light on the most war-torn country in the world through the lens of sports. Saadiq lived in a complicated Nairobi... Full story
Israel's story... I received a little booklet with that title from StandWithUs. You probably can order it and many other related materials at www.standwithus.com/store This is what it says: Over 3,000 years ago an indigenous people developed a thriving civilization and culture in their homeland. Over time, they were conquered by a series of aggressive foreign empires. While some of the people stayed in their cities and communities, most of them gradually scattered across the Middle East and... Full story
NEW YORK-As if Jews don't have enough to worry about. Geopolitical threats to the Jewish people may wax and wane, but there's another lethal danger particular to the Jewish people that shows no signs of disappearing anytime soon: cancer. Specifically, Jews are at elevated risk for three types of the disease: melanoma, breast cancer and ovarian cancer. The perils are particularly acute for Jewish women. The higher prevalence of these illnesses isn't spread evenly among all Jews. The genetic... Full story
CHICAGO (JTA)—The platter, served during Passover, contained a green, a bitter herb, an egg and matzah. But it was no seder plate. Instead, it was the appetizer served during a six-course prix fixe meal at Aviv, a pop-up, kosher-for-Passover restaurant housed for one night at Rodfei Zedek, a Conservative synagogue in the Hyde Park neighborhood on this city’s South Side. The course, a pickle platter, featured pickled cucumbers, pickled asparagus tips and beet-pickled eggs, along with olive tapenade, citrus-carrot horseradish and—de rigue... Full story
(JTA)-It's safe to say that Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman are some of the funniest Yiddish speakers around. Their Yiddish-English web series, "YidLife Crisis," is a modern-day, Montreal-based "Seinfeld" that would make any Jewish mother kvell ("It's in Yiddish!") and kvetch ("The sex, drugs and Jesus jokes! Oy!"). The series, which premiered in 2014, follows the nebbish Leizer (played by Batalion) and rebel wannabe Chaimie (Elman) as they wander around Montreal, eat at restaurants and have Talmud... Full story
AMSTERDAM (JTA)—Decades after her death at a Nazi concentration camp, Anne Frank’s restless spirit in heaven finally finds a soulmate in Zef Bunga, an Albanian teenager who was murdered in a revenge killing. Anne, whose world-famous diary recounts her two years in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam with her family, falls in love with the Muslim boy. They kiss and they commiserate and bond over the injustice of their early deaths—Zef in the 1990s in Tirana, Anne in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp. This original take on the A... Full story
Two non-Jewish minority communities in Israel, the Druze (a deviant Shi’a Muslim group) and Circassians (Sunni Muslims whose ancestors were exiled to Palestine from the Caucasus), are subject to mandatory conscription to the IDF. Additionally, members of several Bedouin tribes volunteer as well as a growing number of individual Muslim and Christian Arabs. The decision of the first two groups to accept obligatory service in a special “minorities unit” the Israeli military forces was made at their own request. As early as the summer of 1948,... Full story
(JTA)-Strong women are right in actor Jessica Chastain's wheelhouse. There's Maya, the fictional CIA agent in "Zero Dark Thirty," whose work led Seal Team Six to Osama bin Laden; Melissa Lewis, the heroic mission commander who refuses to abandon a teammate in "The Martian," and Elizabeth Sloan, the accept-no-prisoners Washington lobbyist who takes on the gun industry in "Miss Sloan." "I look for characters that challenge the status quo," Chastain, who snagged a Golden Globe for her work in "Zero... Full story
