Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2901 - 2925 of 4419
I need an orange crayon and a yellow one... (oops! No. I am not writing anything political!) What a friend Israel is... Besides finding many cures for disease and developing scientific projects that make our lives better, Israel always comes through in emergencies. I received this letter recently titled "Nepalese Foreign Minister Thanks Israel For Support." I pass it along to you: "In a speech in Jerusalem before the Israel Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), which operates under the auspices... Full story
Marilyn Lustig attended the first of a monthly series "My Jewish Roots" workshop on Sept. 6. By attending the workshops, sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando (JGSGO), Lustig hopes to learn more of her family's history. More information on the workshop series and the International Conference on Jewish Genealogical to be held next summer, is at the end of the article. While doing research on my family via Ancestry.com, I found a Family Tree very similar to my own,... Full story
Your Jewish Community Relations Council has been working hard at the “relations” part of our name, with a focus on building relationships within and beyond our Central Florida Jewish community. Those relationships help us find allies who support our values and whose values we can support in turn. Though we may not agree with each other on all issues, we look to find common ground on the issues that do offer ways to partner. In last month’s FYI column, we talked about the importance of listening, and how really listening to one another is how we... Full story
It was January 2005. I walked into my classroom for the first session of the semester for the graduate seminar on “Women and Public Policy” that I was teaching. Eight women and four men were enrolled. As we went around the room making introductions each student revealed unique qualities and experiences. I am fortunate that today, more than 11 years later, I maintain contact with several students from that seminar. For most of those students, we have kept in touch for academic reasons—these students have needed letters of recommendation for a... Full story
(JTA)-Last year I joined some 3,000 people at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark for a wide-screen showing of Mel Brooks' 1974 Western parody "Blazing Saddles." In the onstage interview that followed, Brooks, then 89, was beside himself in his delight at sharing his 42-year-old comedy with a real live audience. There was only one awkward moment in a joyous and hilarious evening, and it came when Brooks asked if anyone in the audience actually lived in Newark. One person, in the... Full story
Polish Death Camps?... I read this in the current issue of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and pass it along to you: "Poland is planning to adopt new regulations to punish people who use the phrase 'Polish Death Camps' when referring to wartime Nazi concentration camps on Polish soil during World War II. The Nazis operated their most infamous death camps, such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sobibor and Treblinka, mostly in occupied Poland rather than in Germany. Justice Minister ZBIGNIEW ZIOBRO... Full story
As a young boy growing up in Ashdod, Israel, Alon Day got his first go-kart at age 9. By 15, he was racing them. Less than a decade later, Day has become the first Israeli professional race car driver on the NASCAR circuit. He made history by competing in NASCAR's Xfinity Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug. 13. "Driving a race car is not like any other sport," Day toldJNS.org. "You are actually almost flying on the ground which is great. And the adrenaline is something I... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-There is a remarkable moment in "Maestro," Hershey Felder's one-man show about Leonard Bernstein, when the late famed conductor-composer is shown in an old film clip on a giant screen and the two perform a seamless piano duet from Richard Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde." The tour de force characterizes the fusion between Bernstein, who died in 1990 at 72, and Felder, very much alive and lively at 48. "Maestro" opens off-Broadway (59E59 Theaters) on Sept. 1 for a six-week run and... Full story
By Toby Axelrod BERLIN (JTA)-In a corner of former East Berlin, where shabby, red brick buildings meet cobblestone streets, lies a new Promised Land. Kanaan-a casual, vegetarian Middle Eastern restaurant named for the biblical lands before they were conquered by the Israelites-is something of a dream come true. And that's not just because its hummus is "oh yes," as one German blogger recently described it. Rather it's the result of a unique partnership between its 30-something owners, Oz Ben... Full story
Nick Berger, from Winter Park, soon-to-be 13, was taking batting practice at a baseball diamond in Cooperstown, New York, last month and spotted a familiar face walking across the field towards him. His face lit up. It was Rabbi Sholom Dubov from Chabad of Greater Orlando, Nick's family's synagogue. Nick was in Cooperstown in upstate New York because his Winter Park Little League team was playing in the national Hall of Fame championship. Rabbi Dubov was there because he was the Berger family's... Full story
Chasing after Bulbasaurs, Jigglypuffs, and Pikachus started out as a way to spend time with our 'millennial' daughter, who like many members of her generation, is preoccupied with the game, Pokémon Go. Before we knew it, my husband and I had caught 'Pokémon fever', which has swept MOST of the nation this summer. If you are not familiar with Pokémon Go, it as a game of 'augmented reality' (it incorporates your actual location into the game through GPS), that is downloaded through an app on your p... Full story
(Kveller via JTA)-Since our daughter Miranda was adopted, I did not get to see her enter the world. We heard she was born from our social worker and excitedly packed up our car and headed a few states over to meet her. She was a day old when we first laid eyes on her. The very next day she was discharged to our care. What I did get to witness, however, was her entrance into the Jewish world. And it was magical. Just two years prior, Miranda's older sister, Allison, was born still at 37 weeks. I... Full story
The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. (JTA)—The Israeli missile boat Tarshish had just returned home in June 1976 when crew members learned near midnight that they would be heading back to sea two days later for another couple of months. They were going to represent Israel in Operation Sail, the parade of international ships on the Hudson River near New York City to celebrate the U.S. bicentennial on July 4 of that year. The Tarshish and another missile boat, the Yafo, would refuel in Gibraltar, Bermuda... Full story
(JTA)-A century ago, passages from the Talmud were translated into Russian to be used as evidence in the anti-Semitic show trial of Menahem Mendel Beilis, a Jew charged with-and eventually acquitted of-murdering a Christian boy. The prosecution in that 1915 trial, which was decried internationally for its resemblance to medieval blood libels, cherry-picked quotes from the Talmud, a central text of Orthodox Jewish tradition, to argue that Beilis had killed the boy for religious purposes. Now the... Full story
Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc. (HWZOA), announces the launch of the Coalition for Women’s Health Equity, which will work to address inequities in quality of care, funding and support, and gaps in women’s health awareness, according to Hadassah National President Ellen Hershkin. The inaugural members of the Coalition include: American Association of University Women American Heart Association Black Women’s Health Imperative Breast Cancer Fund Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership of Drexel University College o... Full story
An Israeli heavyweight judoka named Or Sasson defeated an Egyptian opponent named Islam El Shehaby Friday in a first-round match at the Rio Olympics. The Egyptian refused to shake his opponent’s extended hand, earning boos from the crowd. Mr. Sasson went on to win a bronze medal. If you want the short answer for why the Arab world is sliding into the abyss, look no further than this little incident. It did itself in chiefly through its long-abiding and all-consuming hatred of Israel, and of Jews. That’s not a point you will find in a long art... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)—Babka is having a major moment, and why not? There’s lots to love about the loaves of twisted dough, generously interspersed with a filling that usually involves lots of chocolate. Many professional bakers behind babka’s renaissance are working with laminated doughs—yeasted dairy doughs turned with lots of butter. I thought about doing the same, but the challenge of creating a delicious pareve babka made without margarine won out. I couldn’t shake thoughts of my grandmother’s love of apricots, so I built the filling around... Full story
I am in shock... I just received the following letter from the WJC. I am in shock! "Recently, the World Jewish Congress launched a petition campaign urging Google Germany to remove the lyrics below by the neo-Nazi Kommando Freisler from their song 'In Belson' that was widely available on YouTube, including in Germany. (I warn you. It is upsetting to say the least.) "Here are some of the translated lyrics of the song. 'In Belsen, in Belsen, they hung there by the neck. Fidiralala, In Buchenwald,... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-"It's time to build," reads the tagline of the Temple Institute's latest YouTube video. The phrase encapsulates the group's controversial mission to rally Jews to reconstruct the Temple that was the heart of their religion until its destruction 2,000 years ago. Over much of those two millennia, mourning the loss of the Temple and longing for its restoration has been central to Jewish thought and practice. As noted by the professionally produced video-a montage of Jewish wedding... Full story
(JTA)-In his new film, "Imperium," Daniel Radcliffe plays FBI agent Nate Foster, who goes undercover to take down skinheads planning to set off a dirty bomb. The film, which opens Friday, is taut and exciting. It is also a movie the former "Harry Potter" star doesn't want his 93-year-old Jewish grandmother to see. (More on that later.) "Imperium" is loosely based on the experiences of FBI agent Mike German, who spent 16 years with the bureau, a dozen undercover. German co-wrote the screenplay wi... Full story
There is an anonymous saying shared by the global "tramping" community: "Go far, stay long, see deep." Having spent three months during the summer of 2016 tramping from one continent to the next, I can certainly empathize. It began in Siberia, visiting the family of my Russian-born wife, and continued from Spain to Turkey, and places in between, culminating with several weeks spent in Ukraine. Specifically, I was asked to serve as a visiting lecturer in the International Summer School of... Full story
Eagle Scout Daniel Brown of Boy Scout Troop 641 in Maitland chose the Temple Israel Cemetery as the beneficiary of his recently completed Eagle Scout Service Project. Daniel was inspired on the occasion of his grandfather, Murray Schwartz's funeral in 2014. At "Papa Murray's" funeral, Daniel blew taps to honor his grandfather who was a corporal in the U.S. Army. He noticed that there were no flags and no monuments honoring Jewish War Veterans and that the cemetery entrance had a plain grass... Full story
(JTA)-For many, summer is all about the three B's: baseball, beaches and books. With the weather and pennant races sizzling, two journalists and the mayor of baseball's mythical home village of Cooperstown, New York-all Jewish-have provided their takes about a sport that has captivated them for a long time. The journalists, Hal Bock and Dan Schlossberg, focus on two National League teams: the Chicago Cubs, well-positioned this season to break a 108-year championship drought some consider a... Full story
By Hillel Kuttler NEW YORK (JTA)-Jacob Steinmetz delivers the game's final pitch on a heavenly Tuesday night, producing a neatly turned double play to wrap up a 10-0 victory for the Brooklyn Bluestorm team of 12-year-olds. His teammates surround him in congratulations in a scene familiar for the Bluestorm, which finished a perfect 24-0 in the Brooklyn Baseball League season and will be playing this month in the Elite World Series in Orlando, Florida. Steinmetz is batting .320 and strikes out... Full story
This is troubling to me. "A final solution?"... I received the following in the mail from the World Jewish "ACongress (WJC) digest. I pass it along to you: "World Jewish Congress President Ambassador RONALD S. LAUDER called upon the UN and the international community to end the anti-Israel rhetoric that has exceeded proportion and is extending into the realm of the absurb. Anti-Israel statements at the United Nations, within many of the bodies, including the Security Council, are mounting to lev... Full story
