Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)-Wes Anderson's whimsical film "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was nominated for nine Academy Awards last week, just days after winning the Golden Globe for Best Comedy or Musical. Named one of the best films of the year by several top critics, it could earn Anderson, a director whose cult following has steadily grown over the past decade, his first Oscar. It will also likely raise the profile of Stefan Zweig, the Austrian Jewish novelist who, Anderson has said, inspired the film's quirky... Full story
The Nachum Segal Network has announced the 2015 Kosher Halftime Show. Hosted by Jewish radio icon, Nachum Segal, the Kosher Halftime Show is the family oriented alternative to the pop culture musical and dance performance on broadcast television. The program will stream and be available during halftime of Super Bowl XLIX, Sunday Feb. 1, 2015, on www.nachumsegal.com. The program will feature Soulfarm, led by Grammy award-winning guitarist C Lanzbom and lead singer Noah Solomon Chase. Together with drummer Ben Antelis and Grammy award-winning... Full story
(THE NOSHER/JTA)-When my husband and I first married and started to host Shabbat dinners, making my own challah felt like a rite of passage. But I have a little trick that keeps it from being quite the ordeal it must have been for the Jewish women who came before me: I let my beloved bread maker do the hard work. My bread maker kneads the dough while I am at work. I come home, braid the challah, add any of amazing fillings detailed on The Nosher food blog (my favorite is the balsamic apple and... Full story
In January 2006, Pearl Lefkowitz organized a "mission" trip to Cuba. The following is her husband, Howard's, journal of this trip. He sent Heritage these impressions in light of the recent renewal of relations with the country. Interestingly, we were advised that 400 families (young people?) have made aliyah in the past year. That's a significant chunk of a community of 1500 Jews. I also wonder how many used this as an opportunity to immigrate to other places, particularly the U.S. We were furth... Full story
Psalm 137 is a hymn expressing the yearnings of the Jewish people in exile following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 607 BCE. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning," the psalmist wrote, expressing the desire of the Israelites to return to Jerusalem. This heart-stirring pledge has resonated in the minds and souls of the Jewish people since that time. Through the narration of scholars such as Ruth Wisse of Harvard, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of the UK,... Full story
The end of fall introduced the kindergarten students at the Jewish Academy of Orlando to the hibernation habits of many different animals. Science lessons answered inquires about the 5W's: who hibernates, what happens to animals when they hibernate, where they hibernate, when they hibernate, and why animals hibernate. To culminate the unit, the kindergarten students had a Hibernation Hoopla. During the Hoopla students in KA and KB were partnered up, given an animal (of the stuffed species),... Full story
The Seeking Kin column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. BALTIMORE (JTA)-Early on the morning of Oct. 23, 1973, Arye David found himself on a hill deep in the Golan Heights beside the imposing Mount Hermon. Though it was still dark, the Israeli soldier from his perch above the road could see three of his army's tanks making their way up. The Yom Kippur War had started 17 days earlier with surprise coordinated attacks against Israel led by Egypt and Syria, and would end with a... Full story
Mark Bernadiner, PhD., sent this article to the Heritage. This is a photo of a page from the Larousse French dictionary from 1939. In the appendix it lists all the then current flags of the world in alphabetical order. You'll notice that for Germany at that time the flag was the Nazi one replete with Zwastika, which proves that this was printed before 1945. Now, alphabetically, look for the Palestinian flag. Yes, there is one. What does it look like? Surprised? Oh, but you thought (Mandate...
"Where did I park the car?..." This is a question I asked my spouse once, as I was coming out of a shopping center. "Where did I park the car? I don't remember. I think I may have Alzheimer's disease," was the complete question I asked him. He responded, "It's not forgetting where you parked the car that indicates Alzheimer's... it's when you forget what to do with the car!" (He was right!) On the subject of Alzheimer's disease, the following comes directly from the "Health & Science page of... Full story
(JTA)-To the dismay of baseball fan Kit Krieger, future travels to Cuba will no longer include get-togethers with ex-Washington Senators pitcher Connie Marrero. Marrero, who played for Washington from 1950 to 1954, died in Havana last April at age 102, a few months after Krieger's last visit and three years after Krieger helped arrange for Marrero a $10,000 annual pension from Major League Baseball. Theirs was a special friendship, one of many forged by Krieger, a Vancouver resident who will ret... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-A fundraising campaign started quietly by two first graders two years ago to help find a cure for a rare genetic disease just passed the $1 million mark, with donations streaming in from all 50 states and 60 countries across the globe. The million-dollar achievement has been celebrated as the perfect feel-good story, but the trigger for this global effort was a somber diagnosis at the birth of Jonah Pournazarian. The playful, redheaded youngster was born weighing four pounds... Full story
(ISRAEL21c)—A water well that may be the oldest wooden structure ever found, and the oldest evidence of an ancient olive-oil industry, are among the preserved remains of a prehistoric village discovered underwater by Israeli researchers off the coast of Dado Zamir Beach in Haifa. These and other fascinating clues into New Stone Age (Neolithic) culture from about 7,700 years ago were uncovered beneath 100 cubic meters of sand. “The State of Israel is a pioneer in the study of prehistoric underwater villages flooded by the sea, and is at the cut... Full story
Moving into an assisted living facility does not mean you have to leave your lifetime of memories behind. When Ruth moved into Horizon Bay on Montgomery Avenue in Altamonte Springs last year, she brought her large collection of Judaica with her. When the Jewish Pavilion volunteers came to visit her to celebrate Chanukah, they couldn't help but notice Ruth's prized possessions displayed in the front lobby. Here she is beaming with pride over her collection of Chanukiahs.... Full story
(JNS.org)-New photos posted on the Facebook page of the International Space Station (ISS) paint a detailed picture of Israeli topography. The photos-taken by NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore, commander of the current Expedition 41 to the ISS-were shot as the station passed over Israel from a height of 268 miles. "Israel-completely clear-on Christmas morning from the International Space Station. Astronaut Barry Wilmore woke up early on Christmas to reflect upon the beauty of the Earth and snap some... Full story
Ever since her first stage performance, when she was seven, in the JCC Players' production of "Oliver!," Andra London has loved the stage. From that humble beginning, London went on to perform for six years with the Orlando Opera Company Youth Ensemble before forming the singing trio Visions during her teen years with two other local Jewish young ladies. The group made four albums and performed 150 concerts in 80 cities nationwide. "One beautiful byproduct of Visions was the opportunity to trave... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-United Synagogue Youth voted to relax its rules barring its teenage board members from dating non-Jews. The amendment was adopted Monday in Atlanta at the annual international convention of the Conservative movement's youth group. The change affects the 100 or so teen officers who serve on USY's national board and 17 regional boards. The thousands of teens who participate in USY programs have not been subject to any such bans. After some debate at the convention, the USY board... Full story
The Jewish Pavilion is a mobile community center providing outreach to seniors in more than 50 assisted living and nursing homes all over greater Orlando. The Pavilion is not in one particular place, but is a place in the heart that can be found wherever and whenever its volunteers (often with their families) and staff come together to benefit our elder community in long-term care. Still people ask: Where exactly can I find the Jewish Pavilion? While the Pavilion has a tiny business office in... Full story
The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. BALTIMORE (JTA)—The ringing telephone that awakened David Rashti early one morning brought with it a jolt the Los Angeles-area resident couldn’t have anticipated. The caller was someone Rashti had never met or even heard of: Rachel Levy, a resident of Safed, Israel. She spoke Hebrew, he spoke English and they were unable to understand one other—until Levy utilized her weak knowledge of Farsi. When Rashti, 47, heard “Iran”—not the country but the name of his long-los... Full story
The law of the land?... This article appeared in a recent Issue of the World Jewish Congress Digest (WJC) and I pass it along to you (with asides by me): "A new law was recently approved by the Greek Parliament that sets prison sentences of up to three years and fines of up to $34,000 for individuals and $130,000 for groups convicted of 'inciting acts of discrimination, hatred or violence' over race, religion or disability. It also calls for similar punishment for those who deny or praise the... Full story
(JTA)-When Carolyn Starman Hessel joined the New York-based Jewish Book Council in 1994-at the request of friend Marsha Posner-she knew nothing about the publishing world. Since then, she's been called the "Jewish Oprah" for her ability to help authors find audiences, and has enjoyed enormous clout and influence among publishers. The soon-to-be retired director, who says she simply learned "on the job," helped launch the career of novelist and short-story writer Nathan Englander, when in 1999... Full story
(JTA)—What made headlines (in Israel, the U.S. and around the world) in 2014? Test your knowledge with JTA’s annual news quiz: 1. Palestinian officials apologized to Czech authorities after the Palestinian envoy to Prague, Jamal Al-Jamal, was killed in an explosion in his home because: a) a cache of illegal weapons was discovered there. b) the explosion damaged a historic Czech cemetery. c) the ambassador’s residence was being used by Palestinian militants as a safe house. d) Yasser Arafat’s widow, Suha, blamed the explosion on the Czech g... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Robert Wolfe, the irreplaceable former chief archivist for captured Nazi documents at the National Archives here, died Dec. 10 at the age of 93. With his death, a legacy also dies. Wolfe singlehandedly galvanized a generation of Holocaust and Nazi-era historians and authors-including me. He was assigned to the Nuremberg War Crimes prosecutor's office, where he became familiar not only with the infamous testimony now published in many volumes of the Nuremberg Trials, but also... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Ari Engel is homeless. It's been a decade since he last held a regular job and two years since he gave up his apartment. But don't shed any tears for him. Over the last 10 years or so, Engel has grossed about $5 million playing poker. The son of an Orthodox rabbi, Engel, 31, has become one of the world's best professional poker players-ranked No. 23 worldwide by the poker magazine Bluff-and probably the only top-tier player who wears a kipah. When Engel decided to give up his Toro... Full story
(JTA)—Ari Engel, the son of an Orthodox rabbi, has become one of the world’s best professional poker players over the last few years. Engel says poker is a game of skill, not chance. Here are his top five tips for becoming a better poker player: 1. Patience is a virtue. I know you didn’t travel to the casino or home game to fold, but sometimes that’s what you need to do. Playing bad hands because you are bored is a recipe for a losing session. By being selective with the hands you play, you will have a better hand than your opponents over the l... Full story
The Jewish Pavilion gave Chanukah parties at over 50 senior facilities in Central Florida this Chanukah season. This is a tremendous undertaking but the value is incredible as it reaches so many in senior care facilities. Chanukah is a joyous time for Jewish families, but oftentimes awkward if not difficult for seniors when it comes to navigating the holiday period with Christmas filling the air everywhere. The Jewish Pavilion brings Chanukah parties to Central Florida senior facilities so that... Full story
