Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 4001 - 4025 of 4470
PARIS (JTA)-In the elegant silence of a narrow street near the River Seine, David Moyal takes a breath of fresh winter air and enters a noisy restaurant in the French capital. Inside Miznon, he is transported to another world, filled with the cacophony of Hebrew voices and Israeli music. A bustling new bistro that Moyal runs in the 4th arrondissement, Miznon is becoming hugely popular with Israelis and French Jews thanks to its Tel Aviv feel and audacious mission to pack Paris into a pita. Insid... Full story
Oy vay, shades of Adolph Hitler... This is information reported by the World Jewry Digest of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) about Greece and its politics: "In the wake of continued harassment of Jews, immigrants and ethnic minorities by the far-right (Greek) Golden Dawn party, WJC urged the Greek government to crack down on the neo-Nazi extremists. WJC president, Ambassador RONALD S. LAUDER said, 'There can be no legitimate place in the Greek Parliament for parties whose public statements and... Full story
In 2013, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) published a survey of mature trees in Jerusalem that was "the most comprehensive of the recent SPNI surveys, including some 4,000 trees," according to the society's marketing and communications coordinator, Danielle Berkowitz. Many of the trees identified through such surveys have rich histories and stories attached to them. In fact, hundreds of trees throughout the Jewish state illuminate fascinating aspects of Israeli history... Full story
By Rabbi Jack Riemer JNS.org Whenever a new book on the life and thought of Abraham Joshua Heschel appears, I always have two reactions. One is to marvel at the fact that Heschel is the only one of the star-studded Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) faculty to which he belonged who is still studied and written about today. No one would have believed back in the days when I was a student at JTS that Heschel-and Heschel alone-would be the subject of continued study in our time, for back then he... 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 told JNS.org. "They could read and write contracts, business letters, and account books... Full story
NEW YORK-Union for Reform Judaism released a list of its Top Ten Moments for 2013. Making the list was Beth Schafer as a producer of the celebration of Women of Reform Judaism's Centennial Anniversary. In 2011, Schafer was commissioned to write an anthem that would define and celebrate the WRJ in its 100th year in 2013. The text chosen by members of the WRJ attending the 48th Assembly in Washington D.C., came from Isaiah 1:17: "Limdu Heiteiv, dirshu mishpat, ashru chamotz, shivtu yatom, rivu alm... Full story
Matt Loory was working at the First Watch restaurant on Rt. 436 in Altamonte Springs, training to become a manager, when Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Orlando, where he graduated with honors in 2012, called him and said that Ringling Bros. had a job opening for a cook, was he interested? Longwood resident Loory was interested. "I grew up seeing Ringling Bros. every year in Orlando with my family and fell in love with the circus." Just 23 years old, his future already looked bright... Full story
PHILADELPHIA (JTA)-Fittingly, Harvey Pollack was the one who scribbled the number 100 on the most famous photograph in basketball history: Wilt Chamberlain holding the piece of paper signifying his astounding point total in a 1962 game for the then Philadelphia Warriors. After all, Pollack is basketball's ultimate numbers and public relations man. But the scrawling is hardly Pollack's sole legacy in a nearly seven-decade career in basketball. He was the first to track a player's blocked shots,... Full story
Braff film Sundance-bound HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (JTA)-It seems like just yesterday that folks were ripping high-earning "Scrubs" star Zach Braff for taking money from regular people via Kickstarter to fund "Wish I Was Here," his follow-up to "Garden State." Now the film is done and set to premiere in Park City, Utah, at the Sundance Film Festival in January, USA Today reports. In addition to directing and co-writing the project, Braff also has a starring role alongside Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin,... Full story
European anti-Semitism... Yes. It exists! (What ever happened to "Never Again"? As an example, here are some excerpts from the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) newsletter: HUNGARY-Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister TIBOR NAVRACSICS, and Deputy Foreign Minister ZSOLT NEMET met with Rabbi COOPER and SWC International Relations Director Dr. SHIMON SAMUELS in Budapest and urged them to investigate reports of a growing relationship between Iran and Hungary's anti-Semitic, anti-Roma... Full story
By JTA Staff (JTA)—So, you think you know what’s going on in the Jewish world? Test just how closely you followed the year’s news (and remember it) with our end-of year-news quiz. 1. Berlin’s Jewish Museum provoked controversy this year with... a) an exhibit exploring the origins of the swastika as an ancient Hindu symbol b) an exhibit featuring Jews sitting in a glass box answering questions from visitors c) an exhibit featuring selfies taken at Holocaust memorials d) a panel discussion on whether or not Anne Frank would have been a “belieb... Full story
BALTIMORE (JTA)-Wearing a black jacket and hat with a white shirt buttoned up to the neck, the bearded man sings of poverty and hunger, homelessness and being alone, a family lost. Yet through the pain, the performer of the Yiddish tune "Papirosen" somehow projects contentment as he sits smiling a toothless smile on a bench facing a table of schnapps and snacks at the Belz shteibel in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, N.Y. His singing packs exponential poignancy given that the man in this... Full story
Sad opinions... This opinion piece comes directly from a recent World Jewish Congress digest. Read it and weep: "As Hamas rises, peace prospects (in Middle East) sink," says an analysis by two USA Today journalists, MICHELE CHABIN and OREN DORELL state that the ascendancy of the hard-line jihadist movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, will likely scotch any movement toward a two-state solution. Calling Hamas a 'spoiler' for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the journalists say that... Full story
Just as Judaism is an ethical and spiritual lighthouse, so too were The Beatles. Most religions have their roots in spiritual awakening. The Beatles had a powerful appeal to a generation in calling forth a spiritual bonding. They sought out wonder, meaning, and innocence in their lives and music. Similar to Judaism, the religious allure of The Beatles was a vital factor in allowing the group to endure. They were spiritual apostles that evangelized a kind of gospel that resonated with tens, if... Full story
Jewish Pavilion volunteers celebrated Chanukah at more than 35 senior care facilities in Central Florida.... Full story
NEW YORK—EL AL, Israel’s national airline, helps keep passengers connected with a number of technology improvements and new services. Tech-savvy passengers can now plan a trip using a user-friendly free vacation-planning app, download a free mobile app for pre-flight convenience and enjoy Express Check-In. With a new user-friendly Plan My Trip free EL AL app or by visiting www.elal.com, EL AL passengers have the option to plan a comprehensive vacation, saving time and money. Both the app and the EL AL website allow travelers to make their vac... Full story
CATSKILL, N.Y. (JTA) – The past escorts John Thorn home from the moment he greets a visitor at a 139-year-old railroad station, crosses the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and arrives at his residence, a county historical landmark. Clad in a facsimile jacket of the defunct Negro Leagues' Kansas City Monarchs, he enters the billiards room of his home in this Hudson River town 35 miles south of Albany, N.Y., its walls crammed with old framed prints and theater posters. The environment befits the official h... Full story
(JTA)-I grew up Jewish. Simply Jewish. My late father, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, raised us in an observant Orthodox household. Our lives were filled with beautiful ritual and we celebrated the wonder of a familial spiritual connection. That said, we also danced along the fine line of progressive Judaism. My father's Torah was an expression of the beauty of Judaism. He taught the world to love and cherish Shabbat-even on a Tuesday-and to love Jewish rituals in an open hearted, expansively... Full story
Katie Couric hosts for AFMDA HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (JTA)-American Friends of Magen David Adom apparently has some pretty big-name friends. In attendance at the organization's sold-out Manhattan fundraiser last week were New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and host Katie Couric. The event raised $1 million, all of which will go toward ambulances and lifesaving equipment used to respond to emergencies in Israel. "MDA's willingness to help save all lives is something we should rally behind," said Couric,... Full story
Billy Joel's monthly gig HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (JTA)-Can't get enough Billy Joel? You're in luck-at least if you live in the New York area and have a hefty concert ticket budget. Beginning in January, the legendary singer will be playing a monthly show at Madison Square Garden. The monthly gigs will continue for "as long as the audience demands," said Joel, who will be performing on his 65th birthday, May 9. That could be awhile-at least the first four dates already are sold out. "Having [Joel] as... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Natan Zaidenweber thought the mohel was kidding. His wife, Linda Raab, thought it was some kind of religious formality and didn’t give it a second thought. But the mohel, Cantor Philip Sherman, was serious. Though most fathers demur when he invites them to perform the bris on their sons by clipping their foreskin, preferring to delegate the task to someone professionally trained in the procedure, Sherman finds that about 5 or 10 percent of dads agree to do the cut. “It is the father’s mitzvah to actually perform the bris as... Full story
What next?... Somehow I get the feeling that the Holocaust started off this way... little by little... attacking Judaism and its rituals. The following is a report directly from the World Jewish Congress Digest: "Yet another circumcision challenge has arisen in Europe, a challenge being fought vigorously by the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and its European arm, the European Jewish Congress. This past summer the Council of Europe voted in favor of a resolution calling male circumcision a... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Jazz music drifts from speakers down to the cherry wood tables of the West Cafe in Brooklyn as the Israeli artist Nurit Bar-Shai prepares to show examples of her latest work. With deft, freckled hands, she opens a manila envelope and slides three petri dishes across the table. In the dishes are billions of Paenibaciullus vortex bacteria arranged in delicate whorls of blue. The series, which Bar-Shai calls "Objectivity [tentative]," displays "chemical tweets" of bacterial communica... Full story
By Hillel Kuttler BALTIMORE (JTA)- Round faced and wavy haired, the little girl in dark overalls is standing on a traditional easy chair in her family's Chicago apartment on Winthrop Street. She is cradling a doll- perhaps a newly opened gift for the second birthday she is celebrating. The black-and-white photograph from New Year's Day 1959 is significant now for a mundane scribble on its back. "Pamela Beth Graff," her father, Irving, had written before enclosing the picture in a letter to his... Full story
On the sixth night of Chanukah what would have been a simple twist of the light bulb for one staff person before the end of her shift, became a meaningful joyous occasion when the Stack and Goldman families (who are also Jewish Pavilion volunteers) sang the blessings over the Chanukkiah with the residents of Springhills of Lake Mary. Shown here are (l-r) Alexandra, Andrew and Lisa Goldman with resident Dill Hurwitz. The Jewish Pavilion wishes to thank these families for sharing this mitzvah... Full story
