Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2851 - 2875 of 4419
(JTA)-Which is braver: Riding a motorcycle across the length of Africa, or taking on an adaptation of a Philip Roth novel for your first directing gig? For a second, actor Ewan McGregor is stumped by the question-but he quickly recovers. "I think this ['American Pastoral'] was more dangerous," he told JTA, chuckling. As part of his role as a UNICEF ambassador, in 2007 the leading man traveled 15,000 miles by motorcycle from Scotland through Europe and across Africa, all the way to Cape Town,... Full story
(JNS.org)-Archaeologists have discovered evidence the Romans had breached Jerusalem's so-called "Third Wall" at the end of the Second Temple period in 70 C.E., the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced. Remains of a tower protruding from the so-called "Third Wall" that surrounded Jerusalem was found along with many ballista and sling stones that the Romans had fired from catapults as Jewish guards defended the wall, the excavation found. The discovery was made last winter in the Russian... Full story
(JTA)-Ask actress Maggie Wheeler what her most iconic character-that would be Janice Hosenstein Litman Goralnik from "Friends"-would say about her current "role" as a choir director and, well: "Oh. My. Gawd," she'd say-intoning her signature phrase with her famously nasal voice. As it happens, however, Wheeler's voice sounds nothing like the beloved, braying "Friends" regular. "Music has been my soul food," Wheeler, 55, told JTA. "I've always loved gospel music and spirituals and the music of... Full story
(Kveller via JTA)—Watching “Fiddler on the Roof” with my children for the first time recently was illuminating in ways I had not considered. I knew my daughters would be taken in by the music, which remains as joyful, vibrant, and moving as ever. I knew they would appreciate seeing some of the traditions we carry on in our own home. And I knew they would get wrapped up in the on-screen relationships, the matchmaking, the comedy of errors, the breaking of tradition, and declarations of love. The humor and hope expressed in the film are contagiou... Full story
AMSTERDAM (JTA)-A Holocaust survivor dubbed "Rotterdam's Anne Frank" in her native Netherlands published her wartime diary, which she wrote while hiding in the bombed-out city. "At Night I Dream of Peace," the Dutch-language diary of 89-year-old Carry Ulreich, hit bookstores in the Netherlands last week. The book generated strong interest from the national media, which likened and contrasted Ulreich's story with that of Frank, the murdered Jewish teenager from Amsterdam whose diaries in hiding w... Full story
Pope visits Auschwitz... I read this in the current issue of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Digest and pass it along to you: "WJC President Ambassador RONALD S. LAUDER hailed Pope FRANCIS' visit on July 29 to Auschwitz-Birkenau as 'a strong signal' against hatred and called the Catholic Church leader 'one of the closest allies Jews have today in the fight against anti-Semitism and bigotry.' Pope Francis did not make a speech but rather walked the grounds of the former Nazi German death camp and... Full story
The "Seeking Kin" column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. BALTIMORE (JTA)-The 30 or so people assembled at a shaded gravesite on a cloudy, early Friday morning probably didn't know how much they would be moved. Alongside an open grave, nine men stood to the right of Rabbi Yisrael Motzen, the funeral's officiant. They had responded to Motzen's appeal late the previous afternoon on the Facebook page of his synagogue, Ner Tamid. "Help needed! True mitzvah opportunity! An... Full story
(JTA)-For Jews all over the world, the High Holidays are a time for closure and new beginnings. Not for Jacques Stuzalft, an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor from France. Haunted by his experiences on the eve of Rosh Hashanah when he was 10 years old, he relives his narrow escape from death each time the Jewish New Year comes around. "It's extremely emotional because it's a real nightmare, worse than a nightmare, to have lived through it all," he told France TV during a recent visit to the train s... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—When I moved from the U.S. to Israel, I expected to feel closer to my Jewish roots. But I didn’t expect to feel closer to my mother. This is not a place I associate with her—at least it wasn’t until I had a chance meeting with a stranger a few weeks ago. It wasn’t long after I had moved to Jerusalem. I was downtown exploring the city my family and I would call home for the next year. A couple who looked to be in their 60s approached me at an ATM and asked, in English, if I was able to withdraw money—it wasn’t working for t... Full story
(JTA)-As a fan who runs the "Bob Dylan: Tangled Up in Jews" website, I should be ecstatic at the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to the writer whose words have been the soundtrack to my life since I first sang them at a Jewish summer camp some 40-odd years ago. However, as an editor of a New Jersey Jewish newspaper located just 23 miles from the Newark neighborhood of Weequahic where Philip Roth grew up and placed so much of his fiction, I should be heartbroken that Roth, also rumored to be a... Full story
Washington, D.C.—Findings from the first part of a groundbreaking three-year study identify the conditions that can support effective educational leadership in Jewish day schools. Commissioned by CASJE (the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education) with funding from The AVI CHAI Foundation and The Mandell L. and Madeleine H. Berman Foundation, and led by a research team from American Institutes for Research (AIR), Leadership in Context: The Conditions for Success of Jewish Day School Leaders yields highly valuable and usable i... Full story
Lost amid the absurd denial of the Holocaust and a result of any ideological current, is a widely believed unintentional myth due largely to Hollywood, Leon Uris (author of the best-selling novel "Exodus"), minor Danish diplomatic personnel, wishful thinking, the BBC's research methods as well as to several prominent but sloppy historians who have written widely about the Holocaust but lacked adequate knowledge of the relevant languages, especially Danish. It is set amidst the rescue story of... Full story
"Don't be evil Google"?... I read this in the current issue of World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and pass it along to you: "The World Jewish Congress called it 'scandalous' that the world's largest Internet company, Google Inc., is failing to remove thousands of neo-Nazi hate videos from its video platform YouTube. An investigative report broadcast on German television found that many video clips which incite violence against Jews, Muslims, Blacks and refugees remain easily accessible on... Full story
Somehow, our first empty-nester travels, once again, became a "family vacation." Boarding our mini tour bus in Tel Aviv Israel, we met our traveling companions for the week, a small group, mostly from the U.S., ranging between the ages from 10 to 76, consisting of a bar-mitzvah family of six, a friendly couple from New York originally from Persia, and a mid-life Australian on "walkabout," who was eager to learn about all kinds of cultures. As was typical of late, my husband and I were... Full story
Philip Schwartz of Arbor Cove was moved to tears as the memories of Rosh Hashanah long gone bye, returned. He remembered the blessing over the wine, the ha-Motzi, and candle lighting. He was extremely happy to have and share honeycake, challah with raisins, and apples and honey. Schwartz was able to send his sister in Canada, whom he has not seen in many years, a New Years card. Best of all was his thrill hearing the shofar blown by Jewish Pavilion Program Director Walter Goldstein. "I could... Full story
(JTA)-Sukkot is probably my favorite holiday of the season to cook for. I love sitting outdoors in the brisk autumn air enjoying harvest-inspired dishes with friends and family. Even so, I understand how slaving away in the kitchen can get tiresome-especially when there are so many dishes to wash. That's when it's time to employ cooking shortcuts. Tricks like store-bought puff pastry, frozen veggies and one-pot dishes will save you time on Sukkot without sacrificing a stitch of flavor. Spiced... Full story
(Kveller via JTA)-Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are boring. There, I said it. Seriously, what do Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur offer from a child's perspective? Rosh Hashanah's selling points are the shofar and raisins. Kids are hustled into the sanctuary and told to be absolutely silent while listening to the shofar. Keeping my kids silent without electronics in their hands is as difficult as finding a honey cake that I would actually eat. And as for raisins, my younger son doesn't like them and... Full story
A world-wide registry of sukkahs has been set up, and is listed online at www.localsukkah.org. The directory has been designed for Jews to locate a sukkah near to them, so that they can go there to eat. The idea of this service is not to list every sukkah, but to try and have a sukkah listed for every area in which Jewish people may find themselves during Sukkos. The main focus of this service is to enable people who work on Chol-Hamoed to eat lunch in a sukkah, which is close to their place of work. As all listings are confirmed annually... Full story
For many years, Rabbi Adler was the heart of this Jewish community. Rae Wallach, Rabbi Adler's daughter, graciously provided The Heritage with Rabbi Aaron Rubinger's eulogy for her father, and her daughter Rabbi Shira Wallach's beautiful words about her Zaydie. In his eulogy for Rabbi Adler, Rabbi Rubinger shared that when Rabbi Adler retired, he agreed to serve as the interim rabbi at the Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation. His son-in-law, Paul Wallach, asked him why he would take on this... Full story
(JTA)-If you're like me, you blog, read and share a lot of political stuff. But who really reads these posts and articles all the way through? Especially with the longer stories, who has time to look up the sources, or check if that odd photo was first posted on some sketchy partisan website? Instead, we click and we skim; we copy and we paste. But then comes Yom Kippur. If we accept the accounting in the Talmud that says "Evil gossip kills three: the one who says it, the one who listens and... Full story
A wonderful man... Rabbi Adler died recently. He was in his mid 90s. A scholar and teacher, he was a Holocaust survivor (something I never knew). When my late husband, Irv, our young son DAVID, and I moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Central Florida back in 1964, among the first people we met were Rabbi and Rose and their children. Rabbi was spiritual leader of Congregation Ohev Shalom and we became members as soon as we arrived. Through the years he was always there for us. All three of our... Full story
Many people in the community may remember Marc Blattner, and if not Marc, certainly his parents, Adrianne and Myron (of Myron's Deli fame). Blattner is currently the head of the Jewish Federation of Portland, Oregon. When he heard the news of Rabbi Rudolph Adler's (z"l) passing, he wrote the following in his weekly column "Marc's Remarks." On a more personal note, many people often refer to the rabbi they either grew up with or have known for a very long time as "my rabbi." I was saddened to... Full story
(JTA)-When it comes to Jewish holidays in pop culture, Chanukah gets top billing-but that has more to do with its proximity to Christmas than its religious significance. For Jews, the main event is Yom Kippur, which starts this year at sundown Oct. 11. Until sundown the next day, Jews around the world will be fasting, praying and repenting. It's admittedly not the most fun day on the Jewish calendar, but watching our favorite television characters celebrate Yom Kippur makes it a little easier... Full story
(JTA)-For many families, the Yom Kippur break-fast is bagels and schmear-filled inevitability-just add some lox, maybe some slices of tomato and orange juice, and everyone is happy. For other families, the break-fast is one of the most important meals of the year-almost sacred. Expectations can run high with such a special meal, and I know many people who anticipate the same dishes year after year after year. But what if you want to serve something a little more than just bagels, or veer a... Full story
MINNEAPOLIS (JTA)-Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer stepped up to an 800-pound gjallarhorn and exhaled with all he had to launch the festivities that officially inaugurated the team's $1.1 billion stadium. Music lovers would have found the deep, uneven sound revolting, but the Nordic instrument is plenty melodic in inspiring Vikings' partisans. The team's owner, Mark Wilf, 54, offered a Jewish take on the gigantic horn. "When we first bought the team, a rabbi in St. Paul said, 'You... Full story
