Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 4351 - 4375 of 4470
There might not have been a State of Israel if a Jewish Russian immigrant boy hadn’t found a banana in a back alley by his uncle’s dry goods store in Selma, Ala. That young boy, Sam Zemurray, “fell in love” with the exotic and expensive fruit—they were sold after being cut up at 10 cents per piece in 1876—and became determined to make bananas widely available to the public. Through determination, business acumen, and ruthlessness, Zemurray did just that, in the process controlling armies and... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Yosel Tiefenbrun looked in the mirror and he liked what he saw. The 23-year-old Chabad rabbi and apprentice at Maurice Sedwell, a bespoke tailor’s shop on London’s Savile Row, was wearing a vintage double-breasted jacket with gold buttons, tasseled Barker shoes, a claret bow tie and matching handmade hat and square handkerchief. Then he ran out the door to attend the “Oscars of tailoring”—the Golden Shears Award ceremony honoring the best in British fashion. Several of his colleag... Full story
Talia Joy Castellano, of Goldenrod, a one time member of Congregation Ohev Shalom, has been fighting cancer for nearly seven years and last August she was told she has a new second kind of cancer. The 13 year old was already a YouTube sensation with her makeup tutorials. When she delivered the news about this new form of cancer, she said, “Life is like a journey. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. And I guess my journey is nearing the end.” This video went viral and Talia went from 25,... Full story
“Brasil, where hearts were entertaining June…” Trust me… Brasil is spelled correctly. It is not spelled “Brazil.” I have been to Brasil four times… to record my CDs, to perform shows, to do television, etc., so I know that is the correct spelling in Brasil. My agent is a Brasileiro, born and raised in Sao Paulo. He is also a Jewish man, an entertainment lawyer and owner of his own recording company. His name is ROBERTO DRATCU. Roberto has been here in Central Florida many times to work with me.... Full story
Park named for Beastie Boys’ Yauch NEW YORK (JTA)—New York City honored the late rapper Adam Yauch, MCA of the Beastie Boys, by bestowing his name on a Brooklyn playground. The park, formerly called Palmetto Playground, is just a couple of blocks from where the musician grew up. At the recent dedication ceremony, speakers included bandmate Adam Horovitz (a.k.a. Ad-Rock); Yauch’s parents, Frances and Noel, and Borough President Marty Markowitz, who rapped his own version of the Beastie Boys’ “Ope... Full story
By Ben Harris NEW YORK (JTA)—When the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews opened its doors to the public recently after years of delays and tens of millions of dollars in spending, it was in no small part thanks to the work of Tad Taube. A successful San Francisco businessman and philanthropist, Taube (pronounced Toby) has been directing the considerable resources of the Taube Philanthropies and the Koret Foundation, both of which he helms, to support efforts to revive Jewish life in P... Full story
“I think Hank Greenberg was the great American hero,” Washington filmmaker Aviva Kempner says. “What he did on Yom Kippur. What he faced. He was our Jackie Robinson.” Thirteen years after the debut of “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg,” her documentary about the baseball great, Kempner is rereleasing the film on DVD—including an additional two hours of interviews that didn’t make the original cut. Greenberg, known to Jewish fans as the Detroit Tigers’ power hitter who sat out an important game during the 1934 pennant race because it fell on... Full story
By Steve Lipman New York Jewish Week WARSAW, Poland—At a corner table in the Pod Samsonem restaurant, under framed etchings of the Bible’s Samson and of old Warsaw streetscapes, a middle-aged woman cuts up her “Jewish style” trout one recent evening. At other tables, next to walls lined with framed photographs of rabbis, and menorahs on a small shelf, other customers eat their entrees of “Karp po żydowsku” (Jewish-style carp) and “Kavior żydowski” (Jewish caviar). Pod Samsonem (the name means “under Samson”) is a prominent example in... Full story
Newspaper and magazine articles note how, although most Americans own far more material goods than their ancestors, they’re less content than former generations. The idea that our possessions do not bring happiness is commonly found in religious tracts; those writers suggest the key to contentment is focusing less on the material and more on the spiritual. Rabbi Edwin Goldberg, D.H.L., explores this idea from a Jewish point of view in “Saying No and Letting Go: Jewish Wisdom on Making Room for What Matters Most” (Jewish Lights Publi... Full story
Chaya Appel-Fishman hatched the idea for a network of Jewish businesswomen at age 16, when she rented a college campus and created a conglomerate of creative arts programs with 120 participants and a 20-person staff. “I wanted mentors who could give me advice and deal with my religious needs,” she recalls. “And many women reached out to me for support, asking me ‘How did I do it?’” Now 24 and the founder and executive director of The Jewish Woman Entrepreneur nonprofit, Appel-Fishm... Full story
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (JTA)—The thick scent of a peppery rub wafted through the Margolin Hebrew Academy and Corky the Pig embroidered his chef’s hat with a K and became a cow. Just before Purim, the famed Memphis barbecue joint Corky’s, with a hog for its mascot, koshered one of its smokers for a brisket fundraiser on behalf of the city’s Orthodox Jewish day school. Organizers explained that the unusual marriage of brachas and BBQ was a product of a parlous economy, a small school in need of refurbishi... Full story
PHILADELPHIA—When comedian Susie Essman meets fans and is nice and gracious to them, they are often visibly disappointed. What they really want, she says, is Susie Greene, Larry David’s nemesis on the HBO show, “Curb Your Enthusiasm. ” They ask to be told off, the way she does to David when, for example, he says her hideous, homemade bedazzled sweatshirts aren’t his “cup of tea.” She responds, “All right, you know what, f--- you and f--- your tea.” Essman, who will be performing here May 18, wil... Full story
By Robert Wiener New Jersey Jewish News As the author of the new book, “The American Jewish Story Through Cinema,” Eric Goldman believes you can chart the history of Jews in the United States by studying their roles in films: as actors, moviemakers and moguls. Goldman is an adjunct associate professor of cinema at Yeshiva University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He spoke with the New Jersey Jewish News in a recent telephone interview. NJJN: To what extent did the early films involve Jew... Full story
(JTA)—The Jews of Corpus Christi knew a decade ago they had to act fast to save their two synagogues. With at most 1,000 Jews left in the Texas town and only 60 families making up its membership, the 60-year-old Conservative synagogue was in shaky financial shape. So in 2005, B’nai Israel Synagogue merged with Temple Beth El, a Reform shul, to form Congregation Beth Israel, combining customs and sharing sacred spaces to preserve Jewish life in an area that saw its heyday around World War II. The combined synagogue, and a small but growing num... Full story
If it’s a sign of the times, boy, is it a doozy. The sign at the entrance to Temple Beth Shalom of Smithtown, N.Y., at first glance, seems standard-issue; it stands about six feet high, with white letters (announcing the times of services) on a black background inside a glass frame. But look again, and the bottom part of the sign holds a revelation, so to speak. “JCL,” the sign announces in bright colors, an orange flame inside the curve of the C — Jesus Christ Lives. And underneath that the Spanish version: Ministerio Jesuchristo Vive, a... Full story
My son, Donald Soldinger, head football coach for Miami Southridge High school and then an assistant coach at the University of Miami from 1984-1988 and 1995-2005, was inducted April 11 into the university’s Hall of Fame, along with six others. My daughter, Vicki, and I were among 500 guests, including former inductees. As he thanked his family for allowing him to be a football coach, I remembered the day he told me he wanted to be a player and a coach at age 9. My response as a Jewish mother wa... Full story
MIAMI BEACH—On Saturday morning, March 18, 1922—two years after American women received the right to vote—Judith Kaplan, daughter of Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, became the first American girl to mark her bat mitzvah during a public worship service. With this revolutionary act, she and her father initiated what would become the widespread American Jewish practice of bat mitzvah. To mark the 90th anniversary of Judith Kaplan’s bat mitzvah, the National Museum of American Jewish History and Moving... Full story
BALTIMORE (JTA)—A “Seeking Kin” column in April 2012 excited Gal Adam Spinrad—and now the Cincinnati woman has cause to be happy anew. Adam Spinrad has long been fascinated by the legend of her relative, Jacques Faitlovitch, who more than a century ago left his native Lodz, Poland, bound for Ethiopia. He devoted much of his life to the Jews living there, becoming one of the first European Jews to vouch for them as co-religionists and bring them into the fold. As a UCLA student in 1992, Adam Sp... Full story
Oy vay… ”Oy Vay”! That expression really describes how I feel. I’ve written about the terrible increase in anti-Semitism in Europe recently. Now I find that the trend seems to be surfacing in America as well! I’ve described in this column what my childhood was like in the very poor and very tough section of Brooklyn called Red Hook, where, with my family, I lived in the section’s low rent project for folks on welfare. I told how I was beaten daily because I was Jewish. I was only 5 or 6 years... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—May is Jewish American Heritage Month, a commemoration first recognized by President George W. Bush in 2006. Since then, hundreds of programs have taken place nationwide annually to honor the rich contributions of Jews to American culture and society. President Obama added to the annual festivities by launching an annual White House bash. But this year’s party was canceled because of the sequester. Not to worry: In anticipation of the big month, we’re suggesting 31 activ... Full story
As the director of a shelter for victims of domestic abuse, Naomi Taffet sees a lot of women in tears. But once a year, for Mother’s Day, she has a chance to witness what she calls “happy tears.” That takes place when Taffet, executive director of CHANA-Counseling, Helpline & Aid Network for Abused Women in Baltimore, delivers a large bouquet of Mother’s Day flowers, courtesy of Jewish Women International (JWI), to the CHANA safe house. Through its Mother’s Day Flower Project, which for 15 ye... Full story
Amy Winehouse Street NEW YORK (6NoBacon)—Amy Winehouse’s name may live on in the streets of her hometown—literally. Residents near the late singer’s old London neighborhood have been asked to brainstorm names for roads in an area being redeveloped for housing. Winehouse fans are voting for Winehouse Street, reports the Sun. Her family is understandably psyched. “To think that our surname would be indelibly linked with London through the naming of a street after Amy is remarkable,” said Mitch... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—With its tradition of dairy meals, Shavuot is one of my favorite holidays. Arriving later in the spring—an ideal time to find delicious fruits, herbs and vegetables—it’s perfect for using fresh and seasonal ingredients. The four dishes I have selected for a Shavuot menu not only are perfect for dinner or lunch, they also reflect my philosophy on eating well: good planning, portion control and nutrition. Each dish can be prepared in advance, is not too difficult to make and doe... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—On Shavuot, we celebrate being given the Five Books of Moses by opening the gift and reading from the scroll. But first we need to find the place. How do we find our place in the Torah? Newbies to the ways of a Torah scroll will soon realize that unlike the mass-produced technological marvels that bring order and wonder into their lives, this handmade inspiration comes without an operating manual. As I discovered the first time I tried to find my place, the perfect columns o... Full story
ISTANBUL—As visitors heave open the thick, vault-like metal door to the Neve Shalom Synagogue on a discreet side street in the Galata neighborhood of European Istanbul, a skittish guard confronts them. Guests are shuttled through secure, windowless rooms to an X-ray machine and metal detector. Pockets are emptied and passports surrendered. The guard questions the reason for the visit and the guests’ ethnicity. He then determines whether they can be allowed through. It’s hardly a welcoming experience, even as the city’s largest and most symboli... Full story
