Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 3876 - 3900 of 4470
On March 21, Congregation Sinai of Clermont had a special Shabbat service to honor Matthew Cohen, who, along with his late wife Bea, have been Congregation Sinai’s largest benefactors. Cohen has generously contributed the synagogue’s two Torahs, the Ner Talmud and monies to help the congregation refresh their current sanctuary, as well as his donation of many prayer books. The Beatrice Cohen Memorial Fund was set up to help with Congregation Sinai’s children’s education. Cohen and his wife Claire are moving back to Philadelphia and the members... Full story
BERKELEY, Calif. (JTA)-Plucking a violin on an empty stage, an animated scene of Manhattan skyscrapers scrolling behind her pregnant body, the musician, poet and Torah scholar Alicia Jo Rabins begins to sing what sounds like a mystical incantation of sorts. "Bring me your empty jar, I will fill it," she intones. "Where it comes from, I can't tell you, no one knows." Inspired by the biblical story of the prophet Elisha, Rabins, 37, is musing in the broadest possible terms about the crimes of... Full story
The "Seeking Kin" column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. BALTIMORE (JTA)-Nancy Glickman was a teenager when she heard the story about her father at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin: Marty Glickman and another Jewish sprinter, Sam Stoller, were replaced as members of the 400-meter relay team for the U.S. squad on the morning of the event. Asking her father about the slight one night, he pulled out his uniform from the bottom drawer of a large dresser to display it. Right... Full story
BALTIMORE (JTA)-Maccabi Tel Aviv reportedly is heading back to the United States this fall for its first exhibition games against NBA teams in five years – but greater developments appear to be in the works for the iconic franchise and Israeli basketball. For one, how about NBA squads making the trans-Atlantic flight to play regular-season games in Israel, and an Israeli club flying the other way to play in North America? First, the exhibitions, which have yet to be confirmed: Tel Aviv will m... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-The United States is the only industrialized country in the world not to mandate paid maternity leave, and only 11 percent of private-sector American employees have access to it. But a growing list of Jewish nonprofits are now offering or expanding paid maternity leave, the result of a push by Advancing Women Professionals, a communal advocacy group. Persuading scores of Jewish organizations to add paid benefits during a recession was no easy feat. Leaders of many organizations... Full story
Carl Sagan fans old and new have been gazing at their televisions in awe as host Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson’s resurrection of the science epic “Cosmos” takes them on a journey from the Big Bang, to microscopic one-celled organisms, to the ascent of man, to beyond the stars and planets. The return of “Cosmos”—which launched in March and runs for 13 episodes on the Fox network, ending June 2—provides an opportune time to remember Sagan, the show’s Jewish creator. An American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author, Sagan was born to Refo... Full story
Ancient Hebrew scrolls were on display at the Jewish Heritage Festival held in Daytona Beach on April 6. These scrolls were created as early as the 16th century and were compiled from countries all over the world including Poland, Iraq, Morocco and Russia. This collection was brought here and shared by the Christian Heritage Foundation from Cleburne, Texas. For more photos of the Jewish Heritage Festival see page 8.... Full story
On a balmy Sunday afternoon, hundreds of folks made their way to the Jewish Heritage Festival, held at the News-Journal Center in Daytona Beach. There were children’s activites, Noah’s Landing petting zoo, Masada rock climbing wall, matzoh making, an IDF obstacle course and camel rides. There was Klezmer, Israeli and swing music, as well as an array of Judaic artwork and exhibits. Two of the most significant items on display were the ancient Torah scroll that was hand written on deerskin by three scribes in the 15th century, and the array of...
While all of my friends were spending their last spring breaks of college on cruises or going to the beach, I chose a different path. Through the Jewish National Fund, I signed up for Alternative Spring Break, which is a week-long trip to Israel where college students from around the country engage in community service projects in various parts of Israel. I was excited to be placed in a group working in Northern Israel since I didn't get a lot of time there in high school. From day one, I was... Full story
The Jewish Pavilion caters to the Jewish community's most vulnerable population-the frail and the elderly. Passover photos from 2013 bring to mind many friends no longer here to enjoy the Passover with their families. The Passover meal with the Jewish pavilion was truly their "last supper" or the last Jewish holiday they were able to celebrate at the dinner table.... Full story
Haggadah means “the telling,” and since a story is only as good as the person telling it, the one you pick can spell the difference between an engaging seder or one where grandpa falls asllep in the matzah-ball soup. The authors of the best-selling 30-minute seder Haggadah, “The Haggadah that Blends Brevity with Tradition,” are bringing a new look to the Passover seder table this season with the release of the 60-minute seder, “Complete Family Haggadah.” This book, with its gloss, hi-style magazine format, stands above the ret by delivering... Full story
BOCA RATON, Fla. (JTA)-Stroll past the kosher section of most large supermarkets in America and you could be forgiven for thinking that Jewish diets consist mainly of jarred gefilte fish, unsalted matzahs and Tam-Tam crackers. Not so at the Winn-Dixie supermarket in this affluent South Florida suburb. There's a kosher bakery with fresh pizza and dairy and pareve desserts; a meat and deli counter with hot foods like chicken wings, potato kugel and meatballs; a refrigerated case with cold salads;... Full story
I never cease to be amazed... Last column I spoke about Israel and all its breakthroughs in medicine. Well... here is another. I recently received a letter from Rabbi ANDREW SKLARZ of Greenwich Reform Synagogue, Greenwich, Conn. Besides being a rabbi, he is a social worker, and trained psychotherapist. He has served as a pastoral counselor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, NYC. He wrote in part: "It was 2001... just hours before I would step onto the Bima to conduct the Erev Rosh... Full story
MIAMI-AVIV 613 Vodka, a new vodka from Israel, and the only certified kosher vodka in the luxury category, was a part of the celebration at the Friends of the Israeli Defense Force (FIDF) Annual White Party Fundraiser on April 5 in Miami. "We are thrilled to be involved with the FIDF White Party and introduce South Florida to AVIV 613," said Marc Grossfield, founder and chief executive officer of Tzfat Spirits of Israel. "It's only appropriate to celebrate the defense forces who keep Israel... Full story
(JTA)-Toss the potato starch and matzah meal-serve delectable desserts this Passover made from chocolate. These desserts, especially if using fair trade or organic chocolate, further awareness of the themes of Passover. They remind us of the great poverty of many cacao farmers and of the children tragically enslaved in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Chocolate charoset truffles This is a great combination of chocolate and charoset, the Passover fruit concoction representing the building of granaries... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—On a recent trip to Jerusalem, my son decided that his favorite color was gold. Whenever he’s asked why, he replies with a wry smile befitting a 5-year-old. “Jerusalem is the city of gold, of course,” he says. When we told him our family was moving to Israel this summer, he was quite pleased. “Ima, will we live there until I’m a grown-up?” he asked. That’s the idea, we nodded. While I know what my family will mean when we reach the end of the Passover seder this year and say “Next Year in Jerusalem,” for those not making th... Full story
By Penny Schwartz BOSTON (JTA)-Frolicking frogs and magical matzah balls are featured in this season's crop of new Passover books for children that are sure to engage, inform, entertain and inspire. David A. Adler, author of the hugely popular early reader "Cam Jansen" series, offers "The Story of Passover." Adler is highly acclaimed for his straightforward narrative style in non-fiction books, including dozens on Jewish holidays. He says he likes to appeal to readers of any Jewish background,... Full story
In a throwback to the golden age of cinema, Hollywood has declared 2014 the "Year of the Bible." From Ridley Scott's "Exodus" starring Christian Bale as Moses, to Russell Crowe playing Noah, Hollywood is gambling on new innovations in technology and star power to revisit some of the most popular stories ever told. "It's definitely a throwback to the 1950s and early '60s," Dr. Stephen J. Whitfield, an American Studies professor at Brandeis University, told JNS.org. Starting with "The Robe" in... Full story
Award winning Carmel Winery launched its newest line in the U.S. market. Carmel Winery is the historic winery of Israel. It was founded in 1882 by Baron Edmond de Rothschild, owner of Chateau Lafite in Bordeaux. Carmel owns the two largest wineries in Israel, at Rishon Le Zion, south of Tel Aviv and at Zichron Yaacov, south of Haifa. Each has deep underground cellars built by Rothschild in the 19th century. Carmel also has two small, state-of-the-art wineries close to key vineyards, to allow production of small quantities of handcrafted wines.... Full story
Vegetarians, and especially vegans, need some high-protein plant food with a bit of heft to keep them going during Passover, especially if observing the Ashkanazic tradition that forbids eating kitniyot-a category that includes legumes, most grains, and some seeds. Meat eaters also might want to break the monotony of potatoes, matzoh, or matzoh affiliates (farfel) in their carbohydrate options. Enter quinoa-the tiny, ancient, highly nutritious grain originally from Peru-to address the need. In D... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Planning Passover meals is always a wonderful challenge. For the seders, most of us focus on traditional family recipes because they are tried and proven, and because everyone likes them (and often asks for these favorites dishes). But what about the remaining six days of meals? They must be considered. Once the big seder meals are done, it’s nice to be able to eat healthy, simple and flavorful meals for the rest of the week. An abundance of vegetables, fruits, poultry, meat, fis... Full story
A faded black-and-white photograph from 1943 shows Private Max Wald enjoying the Passover seder together with hundreds of his Polish army comrades. But a tattered diary entry from the following year describes the “dampness and cold” of the prison cell where Wald spent Seder night in 1944, after he and hundreds of other Polish Jewish soldiers deserted en masse because of rampant anti-Semitism in the Polish army. The photo and the diary provide bookends to a troubling and little-known chapter in Polish-Jewish relations during the Holocaust. Aft... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-At future Passovers, if we consider the Jewish implications of the recent hit movie "Her," we all could be using a talking computer operating system with artificial intelligence to lead our seders. But I can't wait that long. Tired of running my own seders-they've grown ever more complicated as my guests study up about the seder beforehand and persist in asking pesky questions that I cannot answer-I needed a cool digital maven to run our yearly Haggadah-fest. After all, I reaso... Full story
As the intersection of family, Jewish memory, and the passions of contemporary politics and society, the Passover seder is said to be the most celebrated annual Jewish event in the United States. But it is not always easy to make all seder attendees feel the Haggadah's mandate that in every generation, each individual should feel personally redeemed from Egypt. The seder's uniqueness is what makes running a successful seder so challenging, suggests Noam Zion, research fellow at the Shalom... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-In their small farmhouse bakery in Vermont, Doug Freilich and Julie Sperling work round the clock producing matzah in the period preceding Passover-a matzah that feels ancient and modern at once. Using a mix of grain they grow on their own farm and wheat sourced from other local farmers, the couple create hundreds of pieces of the wholesome unleavened bread they call Vermatzah. "The idea came because of our initial interest in growing grains, looking at them from the harvest to... Full story
