Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2626 - 2650 of 4419
The arts, sciences, technology, literature, architecture, navigation, mapmaking, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and art that flourished in Medieval Spain are often credited to Islam but this is a distortion of the role played by adherents of all three religions. The United Visigothic kingdom of Spain prior to the Muslim invasions had inherited five centuries of Roman civilization and had made use of the achievements of the Greeks and earlier Carthaginians as well as the Assyrians in... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Paul Shaffer, sporting a gray T-shirt and a one- or two-day-old beard, is sitting in the living room of his spacious Manhattan apartment near Lincoln Center. The walls are crammed with music memorabilia, including a signed Curtis Mayfield single and a plaque presented by the State of Israel to Sammy Davis Jr. The homey scene is a far cry from the glamorous studio environs that made Shaffer famous. For more than 30 years, Shaffer served as David Letterman's sidekick, musical director and band leader on his two late-night... Full story
"This is my town"... That is the name of the newest BARRY MANILOW album. It refers to New York City, of course. (This is also my town!) Although I have been living here in Central Florida for more than half a century, I still walk, talk and think like a New Yawka. See what I mean? Oy vay department... I read this bit of disturbing news in the current issue of the World Jewish Congress digest and pass it along to you in its entirety: "The Palestinian terror group Hamas, has elected one of the... Full story
(Kveller via JTA)—Being the parent of a child with a disability can be lonely. Being the single parent of a child with a rare disability that is estimated to affect a mere 1 percent of the population can feel like being sentenced to solitary confinement. Beginning in toddlerhood, my daughter Kate embarked on a lifetime of being poked and prodded, assessed and reassessed, and being escorted to multiple therapy appointments to address both a body and mind that were out of sync with everyone else. I felt helpless, like a failure and utterly a... Full story
This old picture from the early 1900s was a family enigma for many decades, until the mystery was solved earlier this year. I have stayed in touch throughout the years with cousins who are the son and daughter of Minnie, the girl on the left. My cousins and I knew the picture was of our widowed grandmother, Hinda Schwartzman (with the black bow), along with her widowed daughter, Jennette Bayles (Baylish), and two of Jennette's three daughters-Minnie, left, and Anne, rear. My cousins guessed the... Full story
WASHINGTON, D.C. (JTA)—The Israeli Embassy marked LGBT Pride Month with a reception for Jewish and Israeli activists and leaders. About 100 people attended the event, which featured an address by Talleen Abu Hana, an Arab Christian from Nazareth who won the first Miss Trans Israel beauty pageant in 2016. The embassy also paid tribute to the 49 victims of last year’s massacre at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida. “Just as the noxious fumes of anti-Semitism ultimately poison all of society, so too hatred towards the LGBT commu... Full story
MITZPE RAMON, Israel (JTA)-It sounds like a Jewish mother's nightmare: a preschool class held outdoors in the desert. But parents in this remote Israeli town drop off their children at Gan Keshet every weekday during the school year, setting them free to cook on a campfire, whittle sticks with switchblades and search for scorpions. Class goes on rain (rare) or shine (intense). "The kids meet real life when they come here," said Ron Meltzer, the school's soft-spoken principal and visionary.... Full story
The fifth annual commemoration of the largest mass arrest of rabbis in U.S. history, an event that took place in St. Augustine in June 1964, will be held on Monday, June 19, at 12:30 p.m. at the historic Columbia Restaurant, 98 St. George Street, St. Augustine, Florida 32084. The 60-minute event will include the reading of the letter written by the rabbis in the Flagler County jail. All are welcome, no advance arrangements are necessary. Discussion will follow this event. Luncheon available from Columbia Restaurant Menu. RSVP to 804-914-4460.... Full story
(JTA)-Try to think of the most famous Israelis in history. Not necessarily the most consequential or "important" ones-like any number of Nobel Prize winners or behind-the-scenes Middle East peace deal negotiators-but those who are most universally recognizable. Most lists would likely include a pioneering role model (Golda Meir), a supermodel who once dated Leonardo DiCaprio (Bar Refaeli), its seeming prime minister for life (Benjamin Netanyahu), a politician with crazy hair (David Ben-Gurion),... Full story
Many American Jews, who are at least 95 percent Ashkenazi by origin, also find it hard to relate to those Jews in Israel whose cultural background is so different. By origin, approximately 50 percent of the Israeli Jewish population identify themselves as "Edot HaMizrah" (The Eastern communities) and are generally distinguishable by the many factors that are attributable to a different cultural heritage and separation by many centuries from the Ashkenazim-in their genetic make-up (often but not... Full story
(When you read this column I will still be in Chicago visiting with children and grandchildren.) Oh my aching back... I read this in the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and pass it along to you: One of the leading causes of back pain is poor posture...the slumping way we sit and walk" (My son always reminds me to straighten up before I leave the house. He feels it will make me look and feel younger.) One Israeli product, Upright, is trying to help us stand taller and, as a result, feel... Full story
Throughout my life, I have traveled to New York to visit relatives or go to the theater, but there was a borough that I had always wanted to visit my parents or travels had never taken me. I had always heard about the Chasidic Jews and the Yeshivas in Brooklyn where the rabbis get their education, and all my life I wanted to visit these Jewish neighborhoods to see how they live. When my friends mentioned that they were going with The Chabad of North Orlando for a weekend in Crown Heights... Full story
About cancer... I have written often about Israel's cancer cure breakthroughs. Here is another. I received this letter from the Weizmann Institute of Science and pass it on in part to you: "Each year, millions of lives are changed by a cancer diagnosis. Chances are this disease has dramatically affected you or someone you love. Since the past month of May was recognized as 'National Cancer Research Month,' we're pleased to share just a few of the highly promising cancer projects taking place... Full story
WHIPPANY, N.J. (New Jersey Jewish News via JTA)-With a lifetime of loving and writing about sports, Ron Kaplan has many topics he can sink his teeth into. Add to that passion his time working for the American Jewish Congress and then for nearly a decade for the New Jersey Jewish News, and you can see why his publisher saw him as the perfect guy to tackle the subject of his new book. "Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War" (Sports Publishing, 2017) is about the Jewish... Full story
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," wrote philosopher George Santayana in 1905. Today, Western civilization's impaired memory is only part of a bigger problem. From the United Nations to university campuses, when history conflicts with progressives' agenda, they simply change the past. Disparate leftist forces, banded together by "intersectionality," stake their legitimacy on a history they've revised to suit their purposes. No past is more under siege than the histo...
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-When movie star Kirk Douglas married Anne Buydens in Las Vegas, the justice of the peace asked Anne to raise her hand and repeat after him, "I take thee, Kirk, for my lawful husband." Anne, who had recently arrived in the United States from Europe, raised her hand and proudly proclaimed, "I take thee, Kirk, as my AWFUL husband." At the time, the mispronunciation was not too far off the mark. In Hollywood, the handsome, muscular actor was already notorious for his inflated ego... Full story
No matter how financially blessed, we all need to call upon a higher power to help us make our lives a blessing. At age 32, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest of the world's ten richest people. His fortune presently hovers over the $60 billion mark. Financially there certainly isn't a thing that he lacks. What could someone like Zuckerberg possibly pray for? At the Harvard graduation ceremony last week we heard the answer. The university from which Zuckerberg never graduated, cutting his education... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-Middle East peace may remain out of reach, but at least the Hebrew and Arabic languages have found a compromise. Israeli typography designer Liron Lavi Turkenich has created a stylized writing system that merges the two ancient alphabets, allowing Hebrew and Arabic speakers to read the same words. Her hope is that Aravrit will promote coexistence in Israel and beyond. "I believe Aravrit sends a message that we're both here, and we might as well acknowledge each other," Turkenich... Full story
(JTA)-It's safe to call the Israeli film "The Women's Balcony" the opposite of a Hollywood blockbuster. The movie, directed by Emil Ben-Shimon, is a sensitive, slice-of-life story that focuses on the rift caused in a modern Orthodox community in Jerusalem when a Hasidic rabbi offers to fill in for the congregation's leader, who is traumatized when his wife is hurt in an accident. When the new rabbi urges the men in the congregation to embrace a more strictly religious lifestyle, they buy in and... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-When Michael Twitty dressed in the outfit that slaves wore in the American South-wool stockings, waistcoat and kerchief tied around his neck-to cook meat in an open-hearth oven on a historic Virginia plantation, more than one memory of slavery flashed through his mind. One memory, of his African-American ancestors in the South, seems obvious The other, of Jews enslaved thousands of years ago in Egypt, perhaps less so. Cooking on the Virginia plantation as part of his research... Full story
Here's a romantic, feel-good movie about a Jewish woman looking for love with a deadline of 30 days. The wedding is planned, but there is no groom. Will she find him? Will there be a groom on her wedding day? From American-Israeli writer and director Rama Burshtein ("Fill the Void") comes the "The Wedding Plan," a poignant and funny romantic comedy about love, marriage and faith in life's infinite possibilities. "The Wedding Plan" was filmed in Israel and is in Hebrew with English subtitles. It...
This past December, Linda Kost, president of Congregation Beth Sholom in Leesburg, received a telephone call from a man named Norman Siegel, who, with his wife, Frankie, were ex-pats in Costa Rica for about five years and were now looking to return to the United States. They knew that they wanted to go to Florida but were unsure as to where-just that there be a good number of Jewish families and synagogues. Finding our website on Google, he telephoned Linda. Linda knew that I often travelled to... Full story
I became involved with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando (JGSGO) for several reasons. As a second generation American, I heard my father's Polish accent and wondered what happened to all his relatives. I also wanted to know more about my father's forebears. Who was my great-grandfather and where was he from? My grandfather, Morris Kerszenblat, already middle-aged, immigrated to the U.S. with his wife, Manya, and four sons including my father, Abe, (an adult-age 24). They made... Full story
This Tibetan proverb should be shared... "The secret to living well and longer is: Eat half, Walk double, Laugh triple and love without measure." This was told to me by my friend ELIZABETH TAYLOR. (No. Not the famous actress! Rather a friend from my Grief Support Group with the same name and who is also a beautiful woman.) Here we go again... I read this disturbing report in last month's World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and, in part, pass it along: "The latest report on anti-Semitism in... Full story
JERUSALEM-There's something delicious afoot in Jerusalem, a city long known not only for its interwoven layers of history and religion, but winding souks perfumed by fragrant spices, sun-ripened fruit and sizzling oil. Now more than ever, Jerusalem is attracting flavor-seeking innovators who see it at a culinary crossroads jockeying to secure a place alongside modern food world powerhouses like New York, London and Paris. Seeing potential for growth-and Israelis' fast-expanding appetite for... Full story
