Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2826 - 2850 of 4419
Not surprising... My spouse was an aerospace engineer who worked on Gemini 4 thru Apollo 16. I was even invited to NASA for Apollo 12 and sat near former President Nixon and his Secret Service detail. I read this recently in the Weizmann Institute of Science digest and pass it along to you: "On July 4, 2016, a long-anticipated milestone was reached: the Juno spacecraft arrived at Jupiter. It's goal: revealing the secrets of the planet, our solar system and how they were formed. It took almost... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-After Brett Parker's great-grandfather fled the pogroms in Europe and came to the United States, he opened a drug store where he sold comic books. Each week he would give his grandson, Parker's father, five comic books to take home. Growing up during the early years of Superman instilled in Parker's dad a lifelong love of comics, many of them written by Jews, that he passed on to his son. "Imagine if he kept them," Parker said laughing, picturing the first editions of Superman... Full story
Ron J. Hutter has written a provocative, entertaining, and thoughtful novel that explores the problem of anti-Semitism in a very original way. In "The trombone man: tales of a misogynist," he uses misogyny both as a protest about the treatment of women in various parts of the world and as a metaphor for what the late scholar Robert Wistrich called "the longest hatred," anti-Semitism. Based on some actual events, "The trombone man" takes aim at populism, political correctness and hypocritical... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Nick Kroll is serious, which is a tad unusual for a man who has largely made his living by being funny. But being funny for reporters isn't his job, he tells JTA in a telephone interview. "My job is just to answer your questions," Kroll said. "Trying to be funny is tricky. You end up saying things that look different in print. My goal is to produce content that's funny, not be funny in interviews." Kroll, of course, has been creating funny content for a dozen years, most famously... Full story
For those interested in their family history, the "My Jewish Roots" series of 10 monthly hands-on genealogy workshops is being held by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Orlando (JGSGO). These workshops are being co-hosted by The Roth Family JCC, Rosen JCC, UCF Hillel, Congregation Ohev Shalom, and Temple Israel in rotation at their facilities and also joinable over the Internet. The December Workshop topic is "Conduct USA based Research." The following is one of my stories of finding... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-Are you a deli roll lover? You know deli roll-the beloved Jewish American dish where various deli meats and Russian dressing get all wrapped up inside puff pastry for a guilt-inducing Shabbat lunch dish. It's almost like a deli sandwich-knish hybrid. I never grew up eating deli roll, but when I tried it at a friend's house many years ago, I simultaneously thought: This is so unhealthy, yet I just want more. And so it was just a matter of time before I worked on my own... Full story
Germany pays tribute... I read this in a recent edition of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest. I never heard this before, a very touching piece of history and I pass it along to you: "Germany's Foreign Office and the Centrum Judaicum Berlin held an event to honor Jose Arturo Castellanos Contreras, El Salvador's consul-general in Geneva who during World War II helped to save tens of thousands of Jews from Central Europe from Nazi persecution by providing them with false papers of Salvadoran... Full story
As I pulled into Myrtle Rutberg's driveway at the house she has lived in for 30-some years, her son, Gerald, greeted me at my car. "My mother likes visitors to come in through the front door," he said as he led me to the front porch. Myrtle's dear friend Karnine greeted me at the door. Karnine stays with Myrtle and their relationship is like a mother and daughter. Myrtle was standing on her back patio, gazing out into her backyard. She wore a royal blue dress. Her straight white hair was combed... Full story
(JTA)-Have you seen "Supergirl" yet? No, we're not talking about the popular TV series about Superman's fair-haired cousin, currently in its second season on The CW. Rather, we're talking about the new documentary "Supergirl" about Naomi (pronounced "Na-AH-mee") Kutin, a real-life Orthodox Jewish girl who broke world weightlifting records when she was just 9 years old. She has accomplished some incredible feats, but Naomi says power lifting is only about 30 percent physical-the rest is mental.... Full story
(JTA)-For years, I've told anyone who would listen that the Cubs were the team of the Jews. I've written two blog posts about it during the past month alone. Long suffering. Faithful. Bound to tradition. Hoping for redemption, to no avail. It was all there. Until now. For the first time since my great-grandfather's bar mitzvah, the Cubs are World Series champions. So as I was leaping around my living room at 12:30 this morning shrieking in joy, an uncomfortable thought passed through my head:... Full story
Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic are the authors of "The Whole Spiel: Funny essays about digital nudniks, seder selfies and chicken soup memories," from which this excerpt is taken. When you want another piece of that delicious noodle pudding, do you ask for kugel (COO-gul) or kigel (KEE-gul)? How you pronounce it is a clue to where your ancestors came from. Galitzianers called it kigel and preferred it sweet. They came from southeastern Poland and the western Ukraine, which included the cities... Full story
CHICAGO (JTA)-The same week Tamar Manasseh's African-American son was going to become a bar mitzvah, gang violence killed two 13-year-old black boys who were also from Chicago's South Side. As she picked out the bar mitzvah suit for her son, Manasseh couldn't shake the image of the slain boys' mothers, who were likely also picking out suits-for their sons to be buried in. Manasseh, a lifelong Chicagoan who attended Jewish day school and is now studying to be a rabbi, has always been proud to be... Full story
Today is Veteran's Day... I am the proud widow of a Korean War Army veteran who was buried with full military honors at the National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida. I am the proud mother of a Lt. Commander in the Navy who also served in the Army for many years, including a tour in Iraq during the worst of it. I am also the proud mother of a psychologist who worked with Navy recruits at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois. And I am the proud mother of a third son who served in the Navy on a... Full story
Thanksgiving in grade school was always about the same each year. We'd make a turkey by tracing the shape of our hands on brown construction paper (I can still picture the thumb as the head, with the other fingers spread out as tail feathers), then we'd go around in a circle and say something we were grateful for. I recall being thankful for my family, my bike, weekends with NO homework, and later my new Atari game. Even back then, I always wondered, what about those other 364 days a year?... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-If you are looking for a light, healthy appetizer to brighten your table, this sweet potato hummus is bursting with flavor. Because of its high protein and fiber content, it will help control your appetite and mood. My 450-pound ad-man dad named it the caviar of hummus-exclaiming that it was almost illegal for something so nutritious to be this delicious. "All the gusto without all the Jewish guilt," my dad complimented, paraphrasing his award-winning slogan for Schlitz... Full story
NABLUS, West Bank (JTA)-The "Mountain of Fire." The "terror capital" of the West Bank. This city has earned its militant nicknames with generations of violent resistance, whether aimed at the Ottomans, the British, the Israelis or the current Palestinian Authority government. Nablus may not seem like an ideal destination for an upscale California-style cafe. But owner John Saadeh is optimistic after opening Jasmine Cafe here in August. He is following a business plan that has worked for him... Full story
KARNEI SHOMRON, Judea and Samaria (JTA)-The Chicago Cubs are facing the Cleveland Indians in a historic World Series, and most of Israel could not care less. This Jewish settlement is different. The Neve Aliza neighborhood of Karnei Shomron is overwhelmingly American. Among the some 200 families from the United States or Canada that live here, about two dozen have roots in Chicago and Cleveland, according to residents. A main street is even nicknamed "Chicago Road." These families left behind... Full story
Hello, readers! We hope you all enjoyed time for reflection during the many October holidays and are greeting November with a sense of renewal and reinvigoration. Your JCRC certainly is! We are gearing up for a big fall seminar, Nostra Aetate: Turning Points for Interfaith Dialogue, on Monday, Nov. 14. In partnership with the Interfaith Council of Central Florida, the Diocese of Orlando, the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center, and the Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College, we will explore Nostra Aetate, the Vatican’s 1... Full story
Start on a family discovery journey with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando (JGSGO) as it continues “My Jewish Roots” a JGSGO Workshop Roadshow. Each participant’s family discovery journey will include directed hands-on labs that will lead to extending their family tree—adding newly discovered ancestors and living cousins. The November “My Jewish Roots” workshop, “Find DNA Ancestors and Cousins,” will cover: YDNA, mtDNA, and autosomal DNA. Family Tree DNA, 23andMe, and AncestryDNA. Does three test types + three testing compani... Full story
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)... I read this in a letter from the American Jewish Congress (AJC) and pass it along to you. Warning! This is aggravating to read: "Iran subjects children to the death penalty, including public hangings from cranes. North Korea maintains vast gulags where political prisoners, including the descendants and distant relatives of alleged political offenders, endure arbitrary executions, starvation, and forced marriages for the purpose of breeding slaves. Russia h... Full story
(JTA)-Five years ago, on a whim, Cindy, a 27-year-old Jewish woman, decided to pursue genetic testing through an online laboratory. She wasn't expecting any surprises because she had no family history of cancer or increased risk factors. She was young and living a healthy lifestyle. But Cindy's results indicated that she had tested positive for a BRCA mutation. She was worried and confused, and needed to understand what this meant for her and her family. Cindy's story is not an anomaly-women... Full story
Many of you may know Rene Brent as a dedicated member of the Orlando Jewish Community, who for the past 23 years has volunteered with The Jewish Federation, chaired the women's campaign for three years, and volunteered for the general campaign for two years, all while working as a trauma nurse, a career that spanned 25 years. She is also the mother of three children: Ariel 25, Elise 23 and Ben 19, who made Aliyah in August of this year. However, many of you may not know that Brent is now a... Full story
“My Jewish Roots” workshops sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando (JGSGO) continue in November with their third workshop—“Find DNA Ancestors and Cousins.” DNA research has become increasingly popular as a genealogic tool to discover distant relatives, family mix and origins. JGSGO member Laurence Morrell described the results of his recent DNA testing. The way this all got started was that I was curious about my genetic background. In 2012, I signed up with Family Tree for their DNA testing program, not knowing w... Full story
Recently, Israeli lawmaker Merav Ben-Ami disclosed that she is pregnant. Although this is not unusual news, Ben-Ami, a Knesset member for the centrist Kulanu party, is 40, single, and having a baby via in vitro fertiliation (IVF). Ben-Ami is only one of 5 million women who have gone the IVF birth route since Louise Brown gave birth to the first IVF baby in 1978. One would think conceiving a child is the easiest, most natural thing to happen to a woman, however, according to the Centers for... Full story
Anti-Semitic rise in U.S... I read this in the latest issue of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and (although in part) feel you should be aware: "A recently released report lists a total of 941 cases of reported anti-Semitic attacks in the United States for 2015, compared to 912 in 2014. These included physical assaults, vandalism, harassment and threats. Specific attacks include Hasidic Jews being fired at with paintballs and air rifles while on their way to synagogue, and statements... Full story
