Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 3292 - 3316 of 4702
(JTA)-Sara Wolf was running around a water park in an oversized T-shirt when she became acutely aware of the need for a "less frumpy" yet covered-up swimwear option. So she and Daniella Teutsch, a former fashion industry colleague, launched HydroChic, a swimwear company for women who want to enjoy the water and stay modest at the same time. "The only options we were finding were these long, flowery dresses that just weren't our style or skin-tight surfing-style wetsuits," Wolf says. The company... Full story
Not only was Marcia Jo Zerivitz awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters-Honoris Causa, as was noted in the May 20 issue, but Heritage recently discovered that this award was an extremely rare honor. The following is more on the honorary degree Zerivitz received, as well as pictures with family and friends from the Central Florida area. Marcia Jo Zerivitz, founding executive director of Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters-Honoris Causa from... Full story
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) praised Mosab Hassan Yousef (a/k/a “the Green Prince”), the son of a Hamas leader, for his courageous, important, and insightful speech at the Jerusalem Post conference in New York on May 22, 2016), urging the free world to unite against Islam itself as a belief system that has resulted in so many murders “in the name of Allah” and that threatens not only Israel, but also all of humanity. “I speak with the authority of experience, not from books or second-hand knowledge, and I don’t represent a... Full story
By Jerry Silverman NEW YORK (JTA)-In Israel, when the two-minute siren sounds at 11 a.m. on Yom Hazikaron, the Jewish state's Memorial Day, the nation comes to a halt. As we saw just two weeks ago, cars on streets and highways pull over, and drivers and passengers get out of their vehicles to stand and observe a moment of silence. Shoppers halt in the aisles of stores. Workers stand next to their desks. Places of entertainment close for the day. In a nation as tiny as Israel, nearly everyone... Full story
You know Shavuot is coming when you begin to see cheesecakes everywhere. Countless variations in the bakeries and supermarkets. Endless numbers of recipes in the media. Cheesecake is the iconic Shavuot dessert, as sacrosanct as a Hanukkah latke or Passover matzah ball. Unfortunately, cheesecake is one of those deceptively simple recipes, the kind that requires some tips and techniques to get right. Also, not everyone agrees on what makes a cheesecake perfect. Some like it dense; others,... Full story
As I write this... I am getting ready to fly to Chicago from Orlando International Airport in a few days. (Of course when you read this, I will have hopefully already returned.) My grandson, ZACH is becoming a bar mitzvah and I am looking forward to presenting him with his grandfather's tallit. His grandfather, Papa Irv (my loving spouse of 55 years) died several months ago. Needless to say, I am nervous to fly... actually, I'm always nervous to fly, but this time in the age of terrorism,... Full story
(JTA)-Science has finally provided evidence of what Jewish "Star Wars" fans long suspected: Yoda is a member of the tribe-or at least he speaks like one. The bad news is the science has been widely dismissed as junk. The Yoda reference appears in a video in which a a 36-year-old Israeli linguist at Sheffield University in England argues that Ashkenazi Jews and the Yiddish language originated in Turkey. The study joins a number of others published in the past 15 years that challenge the... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)—In 1978, when Beit Hatfutsot-Museum of the Jewish People opened, it did something big. But it did it in the smallest way possible. Among the museum’s first exhibits was a gallery filled with 18 miniature synagogues, each as intricate and tiny as a dollhouse. Representing houses of worship from around the world, the Synagogue Hall—like the museum itself—was a picture of global Jewish diversity, its models reflecting the wide range of building styles that house Jewish prayer. Visitors to the museum gasped at the fine detaili... Full story
By Pamela Ruben When my 76-year-old mother had recent back surgery, my siblings and I had a zillion questions and concerns that we shared with her orthopedic surgeon. It turns out we should have saved a few of those questions for the anesthesiologist... My mom slept most of the day following her procedure, and was in and out for most of the night. When I arrived in her room the next morning, she was sitting upright in bed, with a plate of eggs and bowl of fruit resting on her tray. My mouth dropped open in surprise as I watched my glassy-eyed... Full story
"We had an enjoyable Koffee and Kibbitz session at Plantation Oaks this morning, highlighted by three weeks of Heritage publications!" said Gloria Green, Jewish Pavilion program director for the Southwest Orlando area. Green pointed out articles of interest in each issue for the avid readers, and they all said they would love to be able to read it each week. Green saw a need among the residents for a connection to their Jewish community and the Jewish world. The Jewish newspaper was the perfect... Full story
Aaron Gorovitz named one of the top fundraisers in U.S. Orlando, FL –Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed is pleased to announce that long-time partner Aaron J. Gorovitz has been honored with a national STOP Diabetes-SHARE award by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) for his outstanding contributions in the fight to stop diabetes. This award is unique, and it has not been given to anyone else in the U.S. during the past 12 months. As the chairman of the local ADA Father of the Year (... Full story
WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA)-When Jonathan Sarna was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1999 at the age of 44, it changed his life. Already a highly regarded historian at Brandeis University, Sarna was in the midst of writing his seminal study of American Jewish history when he realized with alarm that he might never finish it. He underwent chemotherapy, radiation treatment and surgery. Though he didn't know it at the time, doctors gave him a one-in-five chance of surviving. Then, slowly, the... Full story
I repeat myself because I'm old?... I'm NOT old. (Oh shut up!) I don't repeat myself. I don't repeat myself. (Okay, I do. Especially last week's joke. Sorry.) Speaking of dementia, I once asked my spouse if he thought I had Alzheimer's because I couldn't remember where I parked the car in the Publix parking lot. He answered that "it's not where you parked it. It's when you don't know what to do with the car that you may have Alzheimer's." And on this subject... I read the following in the... Full story
PARDES HANNA, Israel (JTA)-When Yoel decided, at age 8, to begin observing Shabbat, there was one problem: It meant he couldn't join most of Israel's youth soccer teams, which played games on Saturday. Yoel, now 12, has always lived in the increasingly large gray area between Israel's starkly divided religious and secular Jewish societies. His father observes Shabbat, his mother doesn't. He attended a religious elementary school, but transferred to a secular school this year. He enjoys how... Full story
One-hundred years ago this month, British colonel Sir Tatton Benvenuto Mark Sykes and French diplomat François Marie Denis Georges-Picot divided the Middle East loosely and arbitrarily between Great Britain and France. Following that division, which became known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement, a series of further-and often contradictory-treaties and conferences resulted in power battles, internal uprisings, coups, and revolts. A century later, the Middle East-with an explosive array of... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-Gluten-free brownies-when made without those unpredictably tricky gluten-free flours-is the kind of dessert that speaks to me: fudgey, rich and, above all, very easy to make. With halvah turning up everywhere from cinnamon buns, to donuts, to ice cream, I couldn't wait to try it out in my favorite baked good. After much deliberation at Russ and Daughters-marbled dark chocolate or seven layer halvah?-I ordered a block of pistachio halvah, which was weighed and wrapped by an... Full story
AMSTERDAM (JTA)-As a Dutch Jewish couple hiding separately from the Nazis, Emmanuel Joels and Hetty van Son were literally drawn together by a comic book of Emmanuel's romantic invention. After narrowly avoiding deportation to Auschwitz thanks to a policeman's tip, the young couple spent 2 1/2 years living less than a mile apart, each in the care of rescuers with ties to the resistance in the city of Apeldoorn, 55 miles east of Amsterdam. It was a fortunate situation in a country where 75... Full story
Tonight, at 8 o'clock, the sirens around Israel were sounded. Everywhere. Not for rockets from Gaza, or Lebanon, or any other place of hate in the Middle East. For the soldiers who died defending Israel, for the victims of terrorist attacks, and for their families and their communities. Today is Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day. There are no sales, and there are no barbecues. There are candles and ceremonies and tears. There are memorials on Memorial Day. It sounds obvious, but to this... Full story
Speaking through her tears it was not clear whether Eliana, 15, was crying tears of sadness because of her loss, or tears of joy because she was in a place where she could express herself, and cry openly. "Before coming to Camp Koby I was so broken. This was my first sleep away camp and on the first day I couldn't eat. But I felt an immediate connection. I have met so many amazing people. There's so much effort put in to help us. It gives energy and strength to continue with everyday life." She... Full story
"Heeeeeere's Johnny"... Just recently I watched a two-hour special on the life of television Tonight Show host for 30 years, Johnny Carson. Not only am I missing all the years of watching him and his guests I actually recognized them! (Not like the guest stars who appear on our current Tonight Show. The audience goes wild and I go who????) Well, for those who get Antenna TV on their sets, you can still watch Johnny Carson's Tonight Show seven nights a week... 11 p.m.-midnight Monday thru Friday... Full story
(Kveller via JTA)-Traditionally, we say the Mi Sheberach prayer for those who are ill and those recovering from illness or accident. For example, I added the name of my friend's daughter to the list to be recited at my synagogue following a terrible accident in which she was burned. As the Mi Sheberach was recited this past Shabbat at my synagogue, I had an epiphany. I wondered aloud to my husband, what about those with mental illness? Do we ever think of adding their names in hopes of recovery... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA)-I had my first proper halva experience at The Halva Kingdom in the Machane Yehuda shuk in Jerusalem. I'd never really liked halva before that-the one or two times I had tasted it, the texture was weird and crumbly and there was a slightly bitter aftertaste. But in the shuk, surrounded by dozens of varieties of blocks of halva, I couldn't resist trying the sample offered by the charming vendor. You guys, it was so, so good! I was pleasantly shocked at how much I liked it. It... Full story
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA)-After Yvonne van Gennep-Bouma discovered that Holocaust victims used to live in what is now her home, she began to think about them constantly. At night, van Gennep-Bouma imagined the former occupants preparing to turn in. And in the morning, she wondered where they had their breakfast. That was in 2012, she recalled, talking to a visitor in the manicured three-story townhouse in the Hague where she has lived with her husband and three children since 2001. It was als... Full story
INDIANAPOLIS-A noted Indiana University cardiologist, Dr. Doug Zipes, has published his third novel, a historical thriller titled "Not Just a Game." The book follows three generations of Olympic athletes over eight decades, culminating in intrigue and danger at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil. With some historical basis in fact and characters loosely based on real people, Zipes' story chronicles the challenges of Olympic competition experienced by a grandfather, father, and daughter... Full story
(JTA)-It's just before Rosh Hashanah in 2013, and New York City's mayoral campaign is heating up. Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, who in a surprise move had thrown his hat in the ring a few months earlier, is doing one of those obligatory photo ops at a Jewish bakery in Brooklyn. All is going well. Weiner has picked up an order of cookies laced with honey-sweets for the New Year-and even insisted on paying full retail. As he is leaving the store, though, a man wearing a kippah... Full story
