Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 3776 - 3800 of 4470
NEW YORK (JTA)-In Larry David's fake real-life world on the HBO sitcom "Curb Your Enthusiasm," he is tapped by Mel Brooks to take over the Zero Mostel-Nathan Lane role of Max Bialystock in the megahit Broadway adaptation of "The Producers." Just as Max and accountant Leo Bloom set out to make money by producing a surefire bomb, Brooks picks Larry with the (secret) goal of killing the Tony Award-winning musical and getting his life back. But in an art-imitates-art twist, Larry (like "Springtime... Full story
While mensch is the ideal term to describe Joan Pohl, you could also use words like baleboste, Maven or forsher. Pohl has been teaching a monthly Yiddish class for the Jewish Pavilion for several years. The class meets monthly at Chambrel in Longwood. While some of the participants are Chambrel residents, many others come from the general community. They grew up in a household where Yiddish was spoken by parents or grandparents. Many students understand the language but do not speak it fluently. Pohl is a speech therapist with dramatic flair... Full story
ELIEZER "ELIE" WIESEL, is a Romanian born Jewish American professor and political activist. He is the author of 57 books, including "Night," a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald concentration camps. A Nobel Peace Laureate, Wiesel has accused the militant Palestinian movement Hamas of child sacrifice for its practice of launching rockets against Israel from within heavily populated parts of Gaza during the recent conflict. In a full page, paid... Full story
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA)-When Lacey Schwartz celebrated her bat mitzvah more than two decades ago in her hometown of Woodstock, N.Y., a synagogue-goer turned to her and said, "It's so nice to have an Ethiopian Jew in our midst." Never mind that Schwartz, a striking 37-year-old with long black curls and a megawatt smile, is about as American as they come. Raised by two Ashkenazi Jewish parents in a largely white, upstate New York town, Schwartz's complexion-darker than that of her relatives-had long... Full story
The Heritage Florida Jewish News is pleased to announce the recipient of this year's Human Service Award is Loren London. Words to describe London include creator, hard worker, organizer, enthusiastic, determined, thoughtful and loving. Those are just a few of the words that paint a picture of this lovely woman whose heart is deeply committed to her family and her community. As Cantor Alan Robuck of Congregation Ohev Shalom puts it, "Some people are thinkers and creators. Some people are great a... Full story
This August, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando is recognizing outstanding leaders who have made an impact in Jewish Orlando this past year. The awards presentation will be made on Aug. 24 at the JFGO Annual Meeting. Awards are given out in recognition of fantastic individuals who devote their time to make our community a better place. This year's Jerome J. Bornstein Senior Leadership Award will be awarded to Tess Wise. The Jerome J. Bornstein Senior Leadership Award was established in... Full story
In July, young Jews gathered at Airheads Trampoline Arena for Sunday Funday. Our Jewish Orlando hosted the event followed by dinner with a group of active 20- and 30-somethings. Sunday Funday brings together members of OJO for fun activities in the Orlando area. Powered by the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, OJO has been successful in bringing Orlando's next generation together for connection and conversation. Want to learn more? Visit www.facebook.com/ourjewishorlando for information on... Full story
"Israel is Jewish"... Is that what's behind the anti-Israel world view? The following comes from DENNIS PRAGER. (I have NOT checked out all he said yet, but present it word for word as he said it.) Quoting Dennis Prager: "Let's drop the names 'Hamas' and 'Israel' and make a list of the characteristics of two imaginary warring entities. We'll call them Entity A and Entity B. Entity A: Declares that its raison d'etre is to annihilate Entity B. Sends missiles to explode in the most populated parts... Full story
Why has education been so important to the Jewish people? Author Maristella Botticini says a unique religious norm enacted within Judaism two millennia ago made male literacy universal among Jews many centuries earlier than it was universal for the rest of the world’s population. “Wherever and whenever Jews lived among a population of mostly unschooled people, they had a comparative advantage,” Botticini tells JNS.org. “They could read and write contracts, business letters, and account books using a common [Hebrew] alphabet while learnin... Full story
(KVELLER.COM)-Zach Braff's new movie, "Wish I Was Here," offers plenty to talk about. I sat down with three of the film's stars, Zach Braff, Kate Hudson and Mandy Patinkin, to talk about their Jewish connection to the movie, being a child no matter how old you are and the hardest part about playing the role of a dying man. On the role Judaism plays in the film: Zach Braff: My brother Adam and I wrote this, and he's 10 years older than me. When he was a kid, my parents put him in yeshiva. By the... Full story
The wider world of traditional Judaism is moving in fits and starts toward a renegotiation of the terms of halakhic observance. At question is the importance of social change in the understanding and application of the legal logic of the sages of old. In the last several years, voices from within the Orthodox fold have raised a formidable challenge to certain established norms of Jewish life and law, especially regarding the possibilities of female religious leadership. Though not as... Full story
From passionate lovers... Okay, I'll finish the sentence! We went from passionate lovers to angry roommates! Of course I refer to my spouse and myself as we get ready to celebrate our 54th wedding anniversary on Sunday, Aug. 3. Irv says "That date will go down in infamy." (Only kidding, of course. The spark is still there... only now it seems more like heartburn than a smoldering fire!) We actually started celebrating this fabulous event several days ago with a visit to Disney. We "hung out"... Full story
By Uriel Heilman (JTA)-Rebecca Scoggin lived in a lot of places growing up: Juneau, Nome, Fairbanks, Homer, Anchorage. But except for the two years she lived in Seattle after high school, she never lived outside Alaska. At least she hadn't until a few months ago. Inspired by a Birthright trip she took at age 19, Scoggin decided to pick up and move to Tel Aviv. "It was kind of a random decision. There was no real reason for it," Scoggin, 23, told JTA in a recent phone interview from Anchorage, wh... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Josh Orlian cracked up the judges on "America's Got Talent," but his Orthodox day school wasn't laughing. The 12-year-old kippah-wearing comic made his national television debut with a raunchy routine packed with sexual innuendo. The show's celebrity judges and studio audience seemed both stunned and entertained by the pre-bar-mitzvah-age cut-up's dirty jokes. While the sixth-grader's shtick garnered the approval of the four judges-they unanimously advanced him to the... Full story
Now that we know... This comes directly from ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) with an aside by me: "Even after 100 years of remarkable progress against anti-Semitism, dangerous attitudes about Jews still persist throughout the world. Overall, 26 percent of the world's population, a little more than 1 billion people, harbor anti-Semitic attitudes. The index of anti-Semitic attitudes ranges from less than 1 percent in Laos, 3 percent in the Philippines, and... Full story
(JTA) – Fifteen years ago, Sarah Starr snooped. That would set her on a path leading to Israel, where she lives and hopes to remain. To do so, however, Starr wants to prove that she is Jewish, which means locating her natural parents. Growing up in northwest London, Starr sensed she didn't belong. She didn't look like her parents or relatives, never felt connected to their Greek Orthodox religion and culture. When she would make a minor mistake, like breaking a dish, the parents remarked that t... Full story
BALTIMORE (JTA)-In the years after coming out as gay, lacrosse player Andrew Goldstein recalls being asked on panel discussions whether major American professional sports leagues would include openly gay athletes. It's a question, Goldstein said, that is no longer relevant with Jason Collins in the National Basketball Association and Michael Sam, who was drafted recently by the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. "We're in a new era, and at the very least, kids in high school who... Full story
Before I even begin this column... Whatever happened to "Give us your tired, your poor" at the base of the Statue of Liberty? This country once sent back an entire shipload of Jews fleeing the Nazis because our State Department (at that time at least) seemed to be anti-Semitic. What will happen to these little children now at our borders? (I'm just saying.) Israel in turmoil... I have mentioned many times before, that I write this column far in advance of publication, so I really don't know what... Full story
Mainstream Western media coverage of Israel is laced with expressions intentionally crafted to delegitimize the Jewish State. The good news is that these terms weren’t written in stone 3,300 years ago, but are post-Israel independence creations. By forfeiting this language, we forfeit our history. Here are 13 phrases we must stop repeating. 1. “West Bank”: Claims that “Judea and Samaria” is simply the “biblical name for the West Bank” stands history on its head. The Hebrew-origin terms “Judea” and “Samaria” were used through 1950, when in... Full story
The "Seeking Kin" column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. BALTIMORE (JTA) - The regular phone calls stopped, the letters went unanswered. For Lily Kraut, living in Judea and Samaria, communication with her mother, Regina Ament, all but ceased in late 2008 after the latter suffered a stroke. Then last late November, Kraut heard the terrible news – her mother had died in Florida several months earlier. This week, she will observe the first yahrzeit, the Hebrew anniversary o... Full story
Washington Jewish Week Religious freedom, family values, fiscal policy, and Israel were the primary drivers of discussion as faith activists and Republican politicians recently gathered in Washington, DC for the Road to Majority 2014 conference, put on by the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition. Despite the group’s reputation as being mostly focused on evangelical Christians, Jewish speakers, pundits, and issues were prominent on the agenda, as was quoting the Old Testament, an apparent nod to the broad range of inclusion that the group c... Full story
I'm very bitter... And well I should be! Surely among the six million Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust by Hitler's Nazis (while much of the world looked away and did nothing) were many very gifted people. I feel certain there would have been all kinds of inventions to better our lives; we could have had cures for many of today's ills as well. For instance, all kinds of cancers; kidney and liver diseases; diabetes; blood diseases, etc. I also feel certain that global warming issues could have be... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA) - Bailey Dinman was surprised when she learned that homelessness was a struggle for many in the affluent Washington, D.C., suburb where she lives. "I was shocked by the statistics," said Dinman, 16. "In ninth grade, through my Hebrew school, I started volunteering at a shelter very close to my home." According to the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, on any given day in the Maryland county 1,250 people experience homelessness, including 325 children. Dinman sorted... Full story
AYANOT, Israel (JTA) - An Iranian-Israeli director and a group of Iranian-born actors are making a movie in Farsi, the language of Iran. "Baba Joon," a story of familial conflict between three generations of Iranian Jewish men set to hit theaters next year, is the first Farsi movie ever to be made in Israel. Set in an Israeli agricultural village settled by Iranian immigrants, the film tells the story of Yitzchak, a Persian Israeli who, like his father, tends a turkey farm in a rural village in... Full story
(JTA) - Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi was one of the world's most innovative and influential Jewish spiritual leaders. To his followers, he was their Hasidic rebbe. But what other rebbe had dropped acid with Timothy Leary and dialogued with the Dalai Lama? Schachter-Shalomi, who died in his sleep on July 3 at his home in Boulder, Colorado, after a short bout with pneumonia, wasn't the only rabbi who tinkered radically with Jewish tradition. No one else, however, did so with the sense of... Full story
