Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)—Singer-songwriter-actor-director—now Barbra Streisand can add another hyphen to her description. On June 17, the entertainer was awarded an honorary degree of “Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa” in front of a packed auditorium at Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus. The honor came 29 years after her last visit to the Jewish state, when she came to the university to attend the opening of the Emanual Streisand Building for Jewish Studies, which she helped fund and which was named in... Full story
(JTA)—Five years ago he was D-Black, a hip-hop artist rapping about the violence, gang activity and drugs of his African-American ’hood. Today he’s Nissim Black, an Orthodox Jew davening in a Sephardic shul in Seattle and writing songs he describes as rap/urban alternative that “speak a message of hope and inspiration.” The shift in his musical message will be on full display with his new album, “Nissim,” due for release July 16. Meanwhile, the changes in his personal life were underscored e... Full story
FunkKit, an Israeli product for adding temporary customized artwork to footwear, was conceived on a shopping trip. It was 2006, and Israeli college student Moran Nir was in England on a Jewish Agency summer program. “I went shopping with a friend who loves hats—he has one for each outfit,” Nir tells ISRAEL21c. “We went to a shoe store and he bought six pairs of the same shoes in different colors, in order to match his hats. That was my eureka moment.” Nir got on the phone to classmate... Full story
Tall, dark, handsome and a mensch, Sheldon Low is one of Jewish music’s hottest stars. Low’s constant touring of America’s Jewish camps, schools and community centers has won him legions of fans. From preschoolers to teenagers to baby boomers, throngs of Low’s fans rock out to his original compositions and his contemporary interpretations of Jewish songs. The 30-year-old St. Louis native is the artist-in-residence at Temple Israel of the City of New York and has four albums to his credit.... Full story
By Abigail Klein Leichman ISRAEL21c Anybody can go to a show or take a walking tour while visiting Israel. But if you join ISRAEL21c’s exclusive Journey to Israel from Oct. 20-27, you will discover more exciting ways to take in the culture of the country. Our itinerary, planned especially for our readers by ISRAEL21c and Keshet: The Center for Educational Tourism in Israel, places an emphasis on experiential opportunities you’ve read about on our website. Have you seen our video showing a Seg... Full story
About half of all people at risk of death from heart attacks could gain the chance to live, once Israeli entrepreneur Leon Eisen’s new Oxitone device goes to market in about 18 months. Using two optical sensors, and another special high-tech tool, he’s developed the world’s first “watch” that can just about tell when your time may be up. It’s no joke: Oxitone was developed to cheat fate. Eisen tells ISRAEL21c that about half of the people who die from cardiac or pulmonary arrest would be al... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—How do you confront hatred when it has no fixed address? Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League national director, attempts to pin down an answer to the question in his latest book, “Viral Hate.” Co-authored with privacy lawyer Christopher Wolf, the book chronicles the complications of countering hate on the Internet. The takeaway? It’s up to us. “Let’s take back responsibility for our culture—both online and off” is the book’s main conclusion. “Public involvement, concer... Full story
BETHESDA, Md.—Did Pope Pius XII, the leader of the Catholic Church during World War II and the subsequent decade, suppress a landmark Vatican document that his predecessor, Pius XI, had commissioned, a document that would have unambiguously criticized racism and anti-Semitism? And did that document—an encyclical, in Vatican parlance—actually exist? Historians and theologians have been asking these questions for decades. The so-called hidden encyclical has played a role—contrasting the attitudes and personalities of the two popes—since the end o... Full story
A month ago, Rita Margulis and her fiancé Amit (as a career army officer he asked not to use his last name) got married at the Safari in Tel Aviv. There was a Reform rabbi and 450 guests. But according to the state of Israel, the wedding never happened. That is because Margulis, who immigrated to Israel from Ukraine at age 4, is not Jewish according to Jewish law, because her mother is not Jewish. Jewish law states that only someone born of a Jewish mother or who had an Orthodox Jewish conversion is Jewish. And since there is no civil... Full story
SAN FRANCISCO—Fifty years ago, a hit single took America by storm, one unlike anything on the top of the charts: ”Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah,” a paean to summer camp angst, sung by a pudgy Jewish guy in horned-rims and a crew cut. That song about Camp Granada, where “all counselors hate the waiters, and the lake has alligators,” cemented Allan Sherman’s reputation as the nation’s great song parodist. More than that, it opened pop culture to a Yiddish-inflected humor later perfected by... Full story
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
