Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 4202 - 4226 of 4548
On Monday, Aug. 12, 155 eager and excited students passed through the doors of Maitland’s Jewish Academy of Orlando to meet their teachers for the 2013-14 school year. Not only was the excitement of a new school year in the air, so was the feeling of pride as the students and parents learned that this year marks the school’s 36th anniversary. It’s Jewish Academy’s Double Chai anniversary year. What does Double Chai mean? Chai is a Hebrew word and symbol that means “life” or “luck.” Bec...
I was reminded... In last week’s column I wrote this: “Instead of the gassing of innocent Syrian people including children, Congress (especially members of the House of Representatives) had to vote on whether or not to save Jews from the Holocaust. Can you imagine how that vote would go? (I’m just saying.)” Since last week, I was reminded by someone a little older than me, how the United States did nothing to save the Jews of Europe from the Holocaust. I was also reminded about our anti-Se...
Celebrity Rosh Hashanah roundup: Gwyneth Paltrow, Woody Allen, Zach Braff NEW YORK—From Shanah Tovah shoutouts to on-set shofar blowing, here’s how some of the more famous and attractive among us recognized the new year. 1. What to do when filming your Kickstarter-funded project gets in the way of Rosh Hashanah? Celebrate at work, of course! At least that’s what Zach Braff did on Friday: According to Popsugar, he put together a New Year’s gathering for the heavily Jewish cast of “Wish I Was Here...
By Abigail Klein Leichman The Israeli-innovated Total Lift Bed is a simple but revolutionary solution that could set a new standard of care in hospitals and rehabilitation centers worldwide. Made by VitalGo Systems, the patented Total Lift is the only hospital-grade bed that can elevate a patient from a lying to a fully standing position—and all points in between—for treatment and transfer with no lifting required of the caregiver. Two major companies are now distributing Total Lift in the acu...
For sage financial wisdom, Julie Hammerman doesn’t turn only to someone with a proven track record like investor Warren Buffett. She also turns to Maimonides. As founder of the new nonprofit JLens Investor Network (http://www.jlensnetwork.org), Hammerman helps individuals and institutions—such as Jewish federations and foundations—meet investment goals while simultaneously honoring the Jewish values they espouse. Doing well by doing good? The former investment banker says it’s doable. “The fear of losing financial return has been used for...
Second of a three-part series. (The first part can be read in the July 26 issue of Heritage) Jeffrey Katzenberg grew up in Manhattan, the son of an artist mother and a stockbroker father. By the time he was 14, he was volunteering for John Lindsay’s successful mayoral campaign. Even as a kid, “I was entrepreneurial, always looking to do things, organize things, you know, when there was a snowstorm, we’d go shovel sidewalks for storeowners on Madison Avenue, and we’d have our lemonade stands...
AKRON, Ohio (JTA)—During a High Holidays discussion about repentance in Sarah Greenblatt’s Jewish values class, not all the students are listening. One girl stares out the window at the azure sky. Another sits in the back doodling. But a boy in the front row wearing a creased black skullcap sits transfixed, notebook open, pencil poised. Why is reflection and repentance so important around Rosh Hashanah? Greenblatt asks. The boy’s hand shoots up. “The Torah, and also the Bible, tells us how to...
BALTIMORE (JTA)— Last September, first baseman Nate Freiman was doing his best to help Israel secure a spot in the World Baseball Classic. Despite some super hitting from the towering slugger, the team fell short. Fast forward a year. Freiman, 25, now finds himself in another playoff chase. Only this time it’s as a rookie in the big leagues, splitting time at first base for the Oakland Athletics. Playing for the A’s has been “an amazing experience,” Freiman said in a locker room interview...
Prior to the S’lichot services this year, which fell on a rainy Saturday on the last night of August, five distinguished Central Florida Conservative rabbis met at Congregation Ohev Shalom in Maitland for a panel discussion open to the public. The rabbis—Joshua Neely, from Temple Israel; Richard Margolis from Melbourne; Moe Kaprow, a retired chaplain from the U.S. Navy; and Aaron Rubinger and David Kay from Ohev Shalom—were asked “What are the most pressing issues facing the Jewish community in the New Year?” The rabbis first spoke in alphab...
Another High Holidays season is upon us, which means Sukkot is right around the corner. In no time you’ll be ordering your annual bouquet of palm fronds, citrons, myrtle, and willows—the famous Four Species. Given the state of the economy these days, it’s painful to buy anything that you can only use once. Why not stretch the value of your lulav and etrog this year with a little creative repurposing post-festival? When they can be shaken and blessed no more, try one or all of these sugge...
Sukkot is the early Thanksgiving, that perfect season when we might still have access to late tomatoes and zucchini, but the winter squash is coming in as well, heralding the impending chillier autumn. While Sukkot is not associated with specific foods or dishes in the same way as Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah or Passover are, vegetarian (or, at least, vegetable-based) dishes can still be enjoyed in the humble, makeshift setting of a sukkah, embracing this holiday as a celebration of the garden and...
Can you imagine?... Just picture this: Instead of the gassing of innocent Syrian people including children, Congress (especially members of the House of Representatives) had to vote on whether or not to save Jews from the Holocaust. Can you imagine how that vote would go? (I’m just saying.) And on the subject of the Holocaust... This article caught my eye. It’s from the current issue of The World Jewish Congress Digest under the title “WJC President to Marchers: ‘Hitler Did Not Win.’”:...
According to one of the foremost experts on American Judaism, Dr. Jonathan Sarna, the biblical holiday did not exactly guide the Puritans’ thinking during colonial times, but they were generally influenced by the idea of thanking God for their bounty. “The Puritans did not believe in fixed holidays,” Sarna, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University and chief historian of the Philadelphia-based National Museum of American Jewish History, told...
The 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War occurs this year. The war was launched in 1973 in a surprise attack by Syria and Egypt on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Even though the signs of an imminent attack were noted by the Israeli intelligence, the Israeli government decided to ignore them for political and strategic reasons. Consequently, the country’s borders were very sparsely defended, creating a dangerous void on the front. The invading armies outnumbered the Israelis at a ratio of 100 to one in manpower and 10 to one in a...
Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur it is said, the Judge of the universe sprinkles the earth with a merciful mist—like the manna He showered on the starving Israelites. It softens the human heart. Prepares it for repentance and forgiveness like spring rain brings summer flowers. Perennially, every Rosh Hashanah since the dawn of creation, Able forgives Cain, Esau forgives Jacob, Rabbi Akiva forgives his Roman torturers. And Herman Stern forgives his wife, Marilyn, although their healing process has been going on for a mere four years. The S...
Aharon Greenberg holds his four-day-old daughter and talks about how blessed he is, but he is equally aware that not everyone is so fortunate. “The system is not designed to help people work their way out of poverty,” says Greenberg. He is one of the founders of Helping Hands Food Ko-op in Miami Beach, an organization that connects families in need to reduced-cost or free kosher food and to free diapers. This year, Yom Kippur falls at the end of national Diaper Need Awareness Week (Sept. 8-14). Helping Hands is one of nearly 200 diaper ban...
Holocaust memoirs and eyewitness testimony record how Jews living under Nazi rule repeatedly took extraordinary risks to mark Yom Kippur in some way. Despite the grave dangers involved, and even though Jewish law permits eating or performing labor on the Day of Atonement in order to save one’s life, many Jews endured unimaginable suffering in order to commemorate the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. In his diary, Rabbi Shimon Huberband described his experiences in the Polish town of Piotrkow in the aftermath of the September 1939 German i...
How outrageous... This is once again a reminder that I write far in advance of publication... so if the subjects I address are way in the past, or resolved, or whatever, they were timely when I commented on them: Hannah Montana is dead! Where is Miley’s daddy, BILLY RAY CYRUS? Shouldn’t he be outraged by her MTV performance? Another “outrage” is the horrible fire in Yosemite National Park that, at the time of this writing, is still out of control. I performed at the Beautiful Tenaya Lodge in Yos...
The American Jewish Story Through Cinema, by Eric A. Goldman. As the title suggests, this book explores American Jewish history by examining movies as reflections of the experiences encountered by American Jews. Author Goldman is a teacher in the field of film studies, lecturing at Queens College, Yeshiva University, and the Jewish Theological Seminary. After an over-view introduction, Goldman devotes six chapters to looking indepth at nine films, beginning with the first talking picture, “The Jazz Singer,” starring Al Jolson, in which the str...
Drake undercut by stylist NEW YORK (6NoBacon Staff)—Drake’s smooth look doesn’t come cheap—especially if you’re the one dressing him. According to papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the Canadian rapper owes former stylist Michael Raphael more than $70,000 in fees and expenses, the New York Daily News reports. Last summer Drake hired Raphael, the owner of a high-end Manhattan boutique he frequented, to help him with his “brand direction.” Translation: He hired Raphael to pick out his clothi...
BALTIMORE (JTA)— When Henry Leventon, his wife and three daughters attended their first Sabbath service at Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock in 1976, the gabbai at the Los Angeles synagogue immediately approached. “Just what we need: a young man and his family!” the sexton greeted them enthusiastically. Leventon, considering himself hardly youthful at age 49, saw the aging worshipers and understood the intent. The synagogue in northeast L.A. was fading. The migration from the s...
NEW YORK (JTA— David Harris-Gershon, author of the forthcoming memoir “What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?,” is frank about the contradictions in his personality. An admitted “natural introvert,” Harris-Gershon describes himself as “surprisingly good” at public speaking. “I love being in front of an audience,” said Harris-Gershon, 39, who works as a Judaic studies teacher in Pittsburgh, “but it drains me.” Nonetheless, Harris-Gershon maintains a very publ...
We are very proud to say that Orlando has not forgotten our frail and infirmed. We bring joy and tradition to all we visit! Imagine what it would be like to lose your health, your spouse, your friends and your home. No one wants to grow old alone! The Jewish Pavilion is a life-line for the elderly in long-term care. The Jewish Pavilion is not a building, it’s a promise to our elderly that they will not be forgotten by the community. We are an outreach organization that functions like a Jewish n...
Forty years ago, on Rosh Hashanah, Jewish families across the country and around the world gathered around their dinner tables, dipping apples into honey, to usher in the new year of 5734. Here in Orlando, the families sitting down for conversation around the holiday table had another reason to celebrate—the Jewish community had just completed its first successful summer camp season at the JCC. It’s incredible to reflect upon how far we’ve come in 40 years. What started out in Maitland as a tin...
“There, but for the grace of God...” My late mom’s family fled the pogroms from the Ukraine to Canada where my mom was born in Montreal. My dad’s family came from Poland to New York City where he was born in Brooklyn. Each family unit (not including my great aunts, uncles, first, second and third cousins, unfortunately) got out of hell before the devil, Adolph Hitler, was even born. I was spared only because of the location of my birth here in the U.S., as were many of you. The world must ne...
