Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 3578 - 3602 of 4548
CHARLESTON, S.C. (JTA)-Renowned for its gracious architecture and signature Southern charm, Charleston is increasingly celebrated as a foodie heaven. The trouble is, in a city whose culinary specialties embrace (and glorify) oysters, she-crab soup, and shrimp and grits, the burgeoning restaurant scene is nearly off limits to those who keep kosher. But things are set to improve for the kosher-observant later this year, when the College of Charleston opens a $1 million kosher vegetarian dining... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-Rabbinic tradition teaches that when God spoke at Sinai, the world was silenced-birds did not sing, breezes did not rustle leaves in the trees. Out of that profound silence came the word, and were the world silent again, for even an instant, we could hear the everlasting echo of God's voice. In one way that is a beautiful metaphor for the holiday of Shavuot. Among the holidays, it is "silent" in that no custom imposes itself on our imagination. There is no sukkah, no seder. It... Full story
It's been one year, almost to the day, since the Heritage interviewed Sonya Baumstein, the young adventurer (she is now 30) set to be the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to San Francisco. She originally planned to take on this challenge earlier in the year, but she had several set backs. She posted an apology to her supporters and investors on her blog about two months ago, "I want to start with an apology to all of those who have some investment in me, the project,... Full story
Suspicious no? YES... I read this in the April issue of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and I pass it along to you: "William Schabas, who was appointed last August by the United Nations Human Rights Council to lead a three-member inquiry into Israel's alleged war crimes during its war with Hamas in Gaza, has resigned following allegations of bias. Schabas was a paid consultant for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2012. Although the commission had largely gathered all its... Full story
Rep. John Mica (R-FL) was in Orlando meeting with members of the Orlando Jewish community and Central Florida Hillel student leaders to discuss the latest situation in the Middle East. Pictured from left to right are Hank Katzen (chairman of the Board of Central Florida Hillel), David Freund, Rep. Mica, Nicole Kostiuk and Cody Fishman.... Full story
Once again, the light stuff first... It hurts to think my grandchildren don't even know how famous Frank Sinatra was... sure he has restaurants named after him in Las Vegas, here in Orlando, and probably in many places, but do they know he was "ole blue eyes?" No! Why is he in a Jewish newspaper, you ask? That's a "no-brainer." Sinatra was a staunch supporter of Israel and loved the Jewish people. And they (and most of us) loved him right back. In a recent television special titled "All Or Nothi... Full story
BOSTON (JTA)-Most days, a little-known 19th-century portrait of Abraham Lincoln by Solomon Nunes Carvalho (1815-1895) is tucked away in archival storage at Brandeis University's Rose Art Museum. But on April 28, the deeply allegorical portrait, painted in 1865 by the American-Jewish artist, made a rare public appearance, the first in a decade. The painting is the only known portrait of Lincoln by a Jewish contemporary. The occasion was a home-turf book launch for Brandeis professor Jonathan... Full story
About three years ago, Tirael Cohen posted a flimsy, 8-by-10 inch flyer in the Ariel University halls seeking students to create a student village in Samaria. Within a few days, more than 150 students called expressing interest-and it was all she and her friends needed to get started. Today, Cohen is the director of Kedma, a growing organization that runs student villages in Judea and Samaria. On May 19 in Jerusalem, she will accept the "Spirit of Zion" Moskowitz Prize for making her Zionist... Full story
(The Nosher via JTA) - Move over cupcake, there's a new trendy dessert in town and her name is the donut. Don't get me wrong – I like a good cupcake just like the next sweets-loving gal. But I have been particularly excited to watch as the cupcake has been dethroned while the donut has taken over as the next "it" dessert. Trendy delicious donuts have been cropping up all over the country for the past few years. There are several ultimate lists of where to get the best donuts, including this r... Full story
The movie “Woman in Gold,” based on the book titled “The Lady in Gold” by Anne Marie O’Connor, brought attention to the restitution of paintings and other personal belongings stolen by the Nazi’s from Jewish owners during and before World War II. It took Maria Altmann, heir of five Gustav Klimt paintings, and her Los Angeles-based attorney, Randol Schoenberg, eight years to recover two Klimt paintings of her aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, as well as three other priceless Klimt pieces. In 1997, one year before Altmann and Schoenberg began their legal... Full story
Shown here (l-r): Shiri Shisgal, Yahli Shisgal, Noa Elliott and Ori Shisgal know how to have fun at the Roth JCC's Israel Independence Day celebration on April 23. There was a good turn out of people who enjoyed entertainment by Israeli singer Yaniv Shushan, the Jewish Academy of Orlando chorus and the JCC's Richard S. Adler Early Childhood Learning Center's Gan Rishonim class. There was also Israeli folk dancing, Kosher food and lots of stuff to buy. For more photos see page... Full story
It was April 23, Marcy Rosenbaum's birthday, and the day Heritage was interviewing her about the 31 years she has worked at the JCC Preschool, as it was called when she first started working there part time back in 1984. Streamers were hanging from Rosenbaum's office ceiling, and just as the interview began, about a dozen three-year-old smiling cherubs squeezed themselves into her small office to wish her happy birthday. The first ones in the door carried a poster with the children's signatures... Full story
Central Florida's local magician, Kostya Kimlat, www.kostyakimlat.com, recently filmed in Las Vegas for Penn & Teller's "Fool Us" television program. The season starts airing July 6 on the CW network. "Fool Us" is a magic competition in which magicians perform tricks in front of American magician-comedian duo Penn & Teller. If Penn & Teller cannot explain how a trick was done, the magician or magicians who performed it win a five-star trip to Las Vegas to perform as the opening act in Penn &... Full story
Larry Oskin announces the launch of Art Beautique as a new virtual art gallery and a professional fine art photography service. For years, home and business owners have been challenged with how to creatively decorate their spaces to create a unique environment. Art Beautique can customized fine art photography created expressly for individualized artwork. With seven very diverse Art Beautique Collections, Oskin celebrates Judaica & Religion, Flowers & Nature, Cityscapes & Seascapes, Animals,... Full story
Mother's Day is coming... So I will refrain from the stories of anti-Semitism for awhile and write about upbeat things. For one, though a little early, my spouse presented me with my favorite parfum and a beautiful Mother's Day card. (And I'm not even his mother!) And I presented myself with a great gift as well... viewing a movie on television that salutes Metro Goldwyn Mayer's musicals, this one titled "That's Entertainment." (I understand it is the first of three films saluting the MGM... Full story
(JTA)-When Alexander "Ali" Marpet and Jake Fuerst went on a camel ride during a Birthright trip to Israel last summer, the animal brayed loudly in displeasure at the 467 pounds of young men perched on its back. Most of the camel's agony could be blamed on the 6-foot-4, 307-pound Marpet, who was overseas on a final fling of sorts before gearing up for the big time and facing even bigger bodies than his. Marpet, an offensive lineman from Hobart College in upstate New York, was expected to be a hig... Full story
Everyone liked my mom, and during her 88 years of life, she shared a multitude of friendships. One special friend was a Holocaust survivor named Sylvia, some 10 years my mother’s senior. Sylvia was crazy about my mom. She would often tell the story about how difficult it was being a survivor trying to make “American friends,” and how she loved that my “American” mom loved her just as she was. Sylvia and my mom did many things together, including making gefilte fish. When my daughter Leah was in elementary school she helped her grandma a... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA) – Almost as soon as news of Nepal's devastating earthquake reached the wider world, Jewish aid groups began mobilizing humanitarian efforts to help the victims. In Israel, that meant dispatching first responders to Nepal; in America, it mostly meant raising and allocating money. How is the Jewish aid being deployed in Nepal? Israel The biggest Jewish on-the-ground response has come from the Jewish state, which currently has more than 260 Israeli soldiers, doctors and rescue expert... Full story
The Jewish Federation of Volusia & Flagler Counties is bringing former prisoner in Iran Barry Rosen to speak at Temple Israel, 1400 S. Peninsula, Daytona Beach, on May 7, at 7 p.m. On Nov. 4, 1979, Rosen became one of 52 Americans who was taken prisoner for 444 days by militants angry after the deposed Shah of Iran was allowed into the United States for medical treatment. Those distant events resonate now with the Egyptian uprising and questions about whether it could become a reprise of the... Full story
Two world-class Birders, Dan Alon and Noam Weiss, will be coming to Maitland from Israel on Monday, May 4, on their way to participating in the Cape May, New Jersey, Audubon World Series of Birding event where they came in first place last year for the most bird species counted in Cape May county. This event is sponsored by the Women's Division of the Jewish National Fund and will start with a Bird Walk at the Maitland Community Park at 1400 Mayo Avenue in Maitland at 5:30 p.m. At 7 p.m., there... Full story
Excerpt from “Modern Hebrew, The Past and Future of a Revitalized Language,” McFarland Publishing, July 2014. As in other cultures and their respective languages, the favorite topics of Hebrew slang are differences in behavior between the sexes, dating, marriage, family relations, money, politics and politicians. Additional favorite topics in Israel for satire are exasperation with the bureaucracy and ultra-orthodox establishment, the kibbutz way of life, class differences and the income gap, crime, undesirable behavior in public places, and... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-For help facing its worst drought in centuries, California should look to a country that beat its own chronic water shortage: Israel. Until a few years ago, Israel's wells seemed like they were always running dry. TV commercials urged Israelis to conserve water. Newspapers tracked the rise and fall of Lake Kinneret, Israel's biggest freshwater source. Religious Israelis gathered to pray for rainfall at the Western Wall during prolonged dry spells. However, the once perpetual... Full story
All of a sudden... At the ripe old age of 68 (oh shut up!) I find myself nervous about being Jewish. I went through this as a very young child of five, taking beatings every day until I began lying and saying I was Catholic. (I even learned my "Hail Mary's") but pushed it out of my mind when, a few years later, I learned of the Holocaust and the torture my people endured. I was very ashamed of myself for denying my heritage... although at that tender age, I sort of understood why. This all... Full story
When Irish artist Diana Muller first presented her works in progress-paintings of some of her country's few remaining Holocaust survivors-to the Irish Jewish Museum in Dublin City, museum vice chair Yvonne Altman O'Connor sensed a teachable moment in the making. "We consider it very important to teach about the Holocaust, especially as Irish people were somewhat removed from the experience. [Some even] refer to World War II as 'the emergency,'" an obvious understatement, O'Connor tells JNS.org.... Full story
