Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 4276 - 4300 of 4470
PARIS (JTA)—Using two iPhones, Marc Fischel was overseeing the shipping of tons of vegetables two weeks ago at the hectic Rungis wholesale market, where thousands of Frenchmen ship mountains of fresh perishables across Europe. The director of export at one of the market stalls, 40-year-old Fichel fits in easily with the multitudes of Asians, Arabs and Africans who work at Rungis. It’s easy to forget the French Jew is an up-and-comer on the country’s indie pop scene, with a debut album recently r... Full story
Kardashian buys kibbutz stone NEW YORK—Reality star Kim Kardashian has done her part for a kibbutz in Israel. Take a deep breath—she hasn’t actually performed any manual labor or even visited the place (do they make high-heel Naots?). Her contribution is of the wallet-opening kind. Kardashian settled on Caesarstone brand quartz countertops, made in Kibbutz Sdot Yam, for the renovation of her Beverly Hills mansion, Tablet reports. Trend-setter that she is, it wasn’t long before her neighbors were... Full story
“Chicago, Chicago, a todd’lin town”… This native New Yorker recently returned from Chicago where the temperature was in the 60s and the natives were wearing shorts and t-shirts, flip flops, and some even wore swimsuits! (I had to borrow a jacket to wear over my sweatshirt!) Of course, when my plane landed back in Orlando, I faced the mid 90s and a lot of humidity. (I’m living here almost 49 years but will never get used to the extreme heat… yuck!) The trip to Chicago was purely for pleasure… n... Full story
Stained glass is one of the main attractions at many of the world’s famous churches. An Israeli company has decided to take this colorful craft to the next level. It’s called Dip-Tech, and thanks to its innovative digital glass printing solution, ordinary-looking buildings are turned into extraordinary landmarks. Printing on glass is not groundbreaking. But printing on glass with durable ceramic inks by digitally transferring images onto the panes of glass is revolutionary. Since kicking off business in 2005 in the town of Kfar Saba, just out... Full story
The most common response I received when I told people that I was going to Norway this spring on a trip for Jewish journalists was “Why?” Follow-ups included, “Are there any Jews there?” and, occasionally, “Aren’t they anti-Semitic?” I had no answers. In truth, those were not far from my initial responses too. The fact is there’s been very little talk of Norway in the American-Jewish community for a long time—and that’s precisely why this trip was organized. It was a joint venture between Jos... Full story
BUDAPEST (JTA)—There’s a new Jewish heroine on the block, a tough but tender Israeli who does undercover work for the United Nations and stars in a new series of thrillers by the British author and journalist Adam LeBor. The first installment, “The Geneva Option,” was released in the United Kingdom in April and recently hit U.S. booksellers. It spins a tale of corporate greed, international corruption and insidious plans for mass murder, with intrigue spanning the globe from New York to central... Full story
Women giving birth by Caesarean section could be the first to benefit from a revolutionary Israeli invention for closing surgical incisions without stitches or staples. The technique also promises to leave patients less prone to infection and scarring. BioWeld1, a unique trademarked product from Israeli startup IonMed, welds surgical incisions using cold plasma. Plasma is a gas in which a certain proportion of the particles are ionized. It has been shown to offer manifold benefits including tiss... Full story
It’s difficult for me to imagine anyone taking lifestyle advice from episodes of “Sex and the City,” but the TV show and its heroine, Carrie Bradshaw, served as a major influence for Rebecca Dana. As she notes in her memoir, “Jujitsu Rabbi and the Godless Blonde” (Amy Einhorn Books), the show is what made the Pittsburgh native dream of “someday being a fancy New York City lady.” At first, her life in New York seems perfect. She has a job writing about fashion, parties and pop culture; a ha... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—For my bar mitzvah, my parents got me a laptop. For what I searched for on it, they got me a shrink. CyberSitter informed my computer-savvy parents that their son was searching gay porn. On the ride to my first therapy session, I stuck my head out the car window wanting to be anywhere else. We caracoled along northern New Jersey’s winding streets to a shoddy home office. The rabbi turned doctor had me sit in his living room as he lectured on what was and was not natural. The dry... Full story
June 28 will mark the start of the 23rd annual Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, Poland, whose closing event is a concert that routinely draws 20,000-25,000 people and exemplifies the re-emerging broad appeal of Jewish culture in a country that was home to 3 million Jews who died during the Holocaust. “Probably less than 10 percent of the people that are at that concert are Jewish,” San Francisco-based and Poland-born philanthropist Tad Taube tells JNS.org. But now, the Jewish Culture Fes... Full story
On the surface, last Sunday’s ordination ceremony for the first three graduates of Bronx, N.Y.-based Yeshivat Maharat—the first institution to train Orthodox women as spiritual leaders and halakhic authorities—marked a historic moment for the Jewish community. But Rabbi Jeffrey S. Fox, rosh yeshiva (academic dean) of Yeshivat Maharat, does not view the institution as trailblazing or revolutionary. “On the ground, on a day-to-day basis, what we are doing is very normal, especially for these w... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—With the creation of David’s Slingshot Hoppy Summer Lager, beer maker Jeremy Cowan is evoking the image of the legendary battle between David and Goliath—a match-up that’s also apt for Cowan himself. Though still a small player in the world of craft beers, Cowan is catapulting himself onto a much larger field. After years in which his company, Shmaltz Brewing, paid others to produce its He’Brew beers, Cowan is preparing to open his own brewing facility in suburban Albany, N... Full story
(JTA)—The year I unwittingly decided to become Christian started innocently enough. “There’s a sleepover at First Methodist on Friday and everyone is going,” I said to my parents. I was in the sixth grade, one of three Jews in class at our Texas public school. We lived in an area where there was at least one church on every block. It took us 45 minutes to get across town to temple, where we attended Hebrew school once a week. “So, can I go? Please?! I’ll die if I don’t go!” I begged, neglecting to mention that missing a social event where Cha... Full story
Each week Jewish Pavilion volunteers join with residents at Atria of Lake Forest to socialize and play mah-jongg. Mae Gitles says she enjoys maj and could play every day of the week. These dedicated volunteers have become friends with Mae while perfecting their game. They recently celebrated Mae’s 96th birthday along with their weekly game of mah-jongg. Without these volunteers, it is likely that Mae wouldn’t have a game of maj since many of the people living at area nursing facilities are not... Full story
The Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando hosted its Annual Meeting, celebrating its 40th anniversary on May 28 in its Harriett and Hymen Lake Cultural Center Auditorium. The program included a year-in-review video, awards presentation and performances.... Full story
Happy Birthday to me… Today, Friday, June 14 is my birthday. It is also Flag Day, the official day when Betsy Ross created the American Flag. When I was just a young kid, I asked my mom why people waved American Flags on my birthday. She said it was to celebrate me! (Of course, I thought!) Would you believe that today I turn 35 years old? (How about 45?...55?...65?... seventy something? HELL NO! My cousin, BENNETT PRIETO, was also born on this very same day. We were always known as “the twi... Full story
On May 18, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando hosted the J Ball at the Rosen Plaza Hotel, celebrating its 40th anniversary, and honoring Susan and Jerry Roth. More than 300 people celebrated at the party, which was themed to the 1970s in honor of the JCC’s 1973 founding. Over $145,000 was raised to support the JCC’s Marvin Friedman Scholarship Fund which provides financial assistance to allow people to attend the JCC’s preschool, summer camp, and after school programs. Major spons... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—As the new Superman movie “Man of Steel” flies to an opening on Father’s Day weekend, we earthbound Jewish men have the superhero’s creators—Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Jewish teenagers from Cleveland—to thank for setting such a super high bar. Especially if Superman, the ultimate immigrant, is a member of the tribe, as cultural commentators like Harry Brod in his book “Superman is Jewish?” maintain. Finally, then, we have an explanation as to why Jewish men are expected to f... Full story
Keys keeping Israel gig (6NoBacon.com)—This girl is on fire—and she’s a woman with her own mind. Alicia Keys said May 31 that she will perform in Tel Aviv on July 4, despite calls from some artists to nix the Israel gig. “I look forward to my first visit to Israel,” the R&B singer told The New York Times. “Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show.” The appeal to Keys to boycott Israel came first from author Alice... Full story
F. Scott Fitzgerald proclaimed his distaste for Jews with his clichéd portrait of gangster Meyer Wolfsheim in his Jazz Age opus “The Great Gatsby.” The crucial but peripheral character is never described in detail, save for an upfront declaration that he is “a small, flat-nosed Jew” with “tiny eyes” and “two fine growths of hair” luxuriating in his deeply enchanting nostrils (which apparently either intrigued or repelled Fitzgerald since he mentions it several times). Indeed, for Fitzgerald, the Jew’s most salient and significant featur... Full story
The year was 1935. Yehoshua Abramowicz, just 14, was leaving Poland to join his father in England. His mother told him, “Try to be a good Jew.” By all accounts, the boy who became Stanley Abramovitch and never again saw his mother—she along with two of his brothers, one of them his twin, perished in the Holocaust—did just that. For nearly seven decades, Abramovitch, who died May 13 at 93, worked for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), traveling throughout the world and ded... Full story
“Princesses: Long Island,” the new reality show on Bravo, appears to be as bad for the Jews as we had feared. Like some other cultural gems on the network, such as the “Real Housewives” franchise and “Shahs of Sunset,” the new offering centers on a few spunky, wealthy women who live to shop, date and throw tantrums. These princesses live in a magical land called Long Island, where 20-something Jewish women wait for Jewish men to arrive from Wall Street and sweep them off their feet and out of... Full story
On our way back to Tel Aviv from Mitzpe Ramon, my brother-in-law Hanan, sister-in-law Rose and my husband, Max, were looking for a goat dairy farm that several people had told us about. There was nothing but stark arid desert scenery for miles, and then suddenly we spotted a sign that read Kornmehl, in Hebrew and English, and heard some goats in the distance. We drove on an unpaved road wishing we were in a jeep until we spotted a few goats and a cabinlike structure. Two young women offered us a cheese-tasting and then a menu containing all... Full story
Joshua Stulman grew up reading a little known comic book series about the adventures of Jewish super hero “Shaloman,” created by Al Wiesner. Shaloman takes on bigotry and Holocaust denial, uncovers terrorist plots to destroy Israel, and even rescues an Israeli and an Arab child, helping them to overcome their differences. Now, at 30, the New York City-based Stulman has created his own comic book featuring Jewish superhero “Magen: The Shield of Israel.” In the first 25-page issue, the ripped... Full story
Was Judaism the first religion of the early Israelites? Based on archeological evidence, scholars believe our ancestors worshiped more than one deity. According to Avigdor Shinan and Yair Zakovitch, the biblical text was written to promote a different idea: that the Israelites were to worship only one God. In “From Gods to God: How the Bible Debunked, Suppressed, or Changed Ancient Myths and Legends” (The Jewish Publication Society), Shinan and Zakovitch show how, before the Bible appeared in written form, numerous oral traditions pre... Full story
