Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 4426 - 4450 of 4470
In preparation for my upcoming annual New York trip, I have been scouring the dining pages of the New York Times to find out about all the new, hot restaurants. Getting reservations is always a challenge. Booking weeks in advance is a must, even before your air tickets are purchased. But always, my first and last stops in this city of spectacular restaurants are at a New York deli. I’m not sure if it’s the nostalgia, the legendary wait staff or, as some say, the special New York City water that makes that pastrami sandwich heaven between two... Full story
BALTIMORE (JTA)—Earlier this month, a “Seeking Kin” column concluded with Rozanne Dittersdorf of New York expressing hope that Phyllis Garfunkel, a childhood friend with whom she lost contact in the late 1940s, “found happiness over these years and created a family of her own.” And in a February column, Jerusalemite Sofia Greenberg wondered what became of her grandfather’s brother, Mordechai “Morris” Greenberg, who had left Ukraine for the United States more than a century ago. The missing have... Full story
NEW YORK—Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai recently came to New York City to talk about his city of sun, sand, skyscrapers, and start-ups. With “just two minutes” on a winter afternoon to introduce the city and its entrepreneurs, he began his presentation with a weather report. Noting the damp, cold conditions, Huldai teased, “I’ve left behind the wonderful weather of Tel Aviv to talk about the start-up culture that began on the day the city was born.” During this event organized by the Consulate G... Full story
Standing behind the podium of the 2013 NAACP Image Awards is a man in a tux with a red tie whose smooth, dark skin is stretched over a frame so long that it cannot fit through a standard doorway. Behind the same podium, a woman comes up to maybe the bottom of that man’s ribcage. She is fair skinned, black haired, ruby lipped, and sheathed in black lace. She looks like a Jewish Snow White. He is the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) all-time leading scorer, an actor, New York Times bes... Full story
PARIS (JTA)—Cigarette in one hand and cup of tea in the other, Matisyahu sat down with JTA in his closet-sized dressing room during his European tour to talk about his life, his music, how he’s raising his kids, and the recent changes in his religious outlook and physical appearance. The beatboxing reggae star once known for his signature beard and hasidic garb has left his yarmulke by the wayside, dyed his hair blond and moved to Los Angeles from the hasidic stronghold of Crown Heights, Bro... Full story
MONTCLAIR, N.J. (JTA)—In the space of a single painting, Siona Benjamin juxtaposes feminism, Indian mythology and Jewish imagery. On a three-foot canvas, she’ll paint a portrait of a blue-skinned figure, usually a character from the Bible, with nods to Persian miniatures, Talmudic fables and Vishnu gods. Often there’s a message in Arabic. “I want people to realize there can be a universal message in Jewish art,” Benjamin told JTA. “I didn’t want to just be a Jewish artist, explaining my... Full story
It was eight years ago, on a rainy afternoon at New York City’s Javits Center, while I was covering the annual Kosherfest trade show, that I first met one of the fathers of the modern kosher wine industry. At the time, I had just started writing The Jewish Week’s “Fruit of the Vine” column, and I was still relatively unknown in the industry. While most of the vendors, noticing my press badge, treated me courteously, there was one vendor who gave me the real VIP treatment—not, I think, because I... Full story
BOSTON (JTA)—Francine Hermelin Levite and Edgar Bronfman have been using unique versions of the Passover Haggadah for years. Now both have decided to publish their versions of the Exodus story. Hermelin Levite, 43, the mother of three school-aged children, is the author of “My Haggadah: Made it Myself,” (http://madeitmyselfbooks.com), an interactive version for children of the ritual-laden book that is now available on Amazon. Bronfman, 84, the business giant and Jewish philanthropist, offer... Full story
So what else is new?... According to an international agency that studied Israel’s delivery of health care, the agency finds Israel has a quality system overall (again I repeat, what else is new?) but with some improvements needed. The World Jewish Congress Foundation reports (with asides by me) that “the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), of which Israel is a member, dispatched an international team to the Jewish state more than a year ago to investigate hos... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—It’s rare that an Orthodox rabbi chooses to omit an important Jewish ritual in his holiday celebrations. But in the spring of 2000, Rabbi Yosef Lipsker cleared his living room of furniture, set up three large dining tables and invited dozens of people to a special seder that included all the standard Passover observances—except for one. “When it comes to seders, everybody thinks of the four cups of wine drunk during the service,” said Lipsker, a consultant at the Caron Treatment... Full story
In millions of Jewish homes across the world each Passover, a special cup of wine is poured and the door is opened for Elijah the prophet. But how did this tradition start? Who is the prophet Elijah and how can modern Jews relate to this Biblical figure? “Passover is the season of redemption and the Prophet Elijah is seen as a redemptive figure in Judaism. The book of Malachi describes how Elijah will return and announce the coming of the Messiah and redeem his people,” Dr. Marc Shapiro, who... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—If the Passover haggadah seems like hieroglyphics to you, it could be a good thing. Though the Israelites left Egypt presumably to escape the ankhs and eyes of Horus of the ancient written language, recently I discovered that hieroglyphics—a system of pictorial characters—had a way of writing me into the haggadah. Considering that on Passover we are commanded to re-enact an event of which we have no memory, perhaps adding some details from the Egyptian point of view might... Full story
JERUSALEM—Not every Israeli observes Passover, but every Israeli knows Passover is coming. Preparations for the seven-day holiday are impossible to ignore and encroach on almost every facet of life in the weeks leading up to Seder night. Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reveals that 88 percent of Israelis will take part in a Seder and 47 percent will eat only kosher for Passover items during the holiday. As for Israel’s army, some 200 IDF chaplains, including reservists, are pressed into... Full story
JERUSALEM—When most Israeli Jews sit down for the Passover seder on the night of March 25, the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nissan, they’ll wait for the kids to recite Mah Nishtana, the four questions; pucker up to inhale the bitter herbs; relish the sweet Charoset; dip herbs in salt water; sing rousing renditions of Dayenu and Chad Gadya; and knock back four cups of wine. But none of these rituals are part of the Passover observance of Israel’s Karaite and Samaritan believers, who observe the b... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—We have a love-hate relationship with boundaries. We hate being confined or told what to do. Many adults don’t like having a boss, and many schoolchildren get annoyed when the answer is “no.” Boundaries limit our individuality, intrude upon what we want to do and sometimes feel like an arbitrary obstacle to getting what we want. For children, limits of time (bedtime), sources of enjoyment (how much ice cream for dessert) or behavior (being scolded for shooting a toy bow and arrow around the living room) can seem like arbitra... Full story
Passover means seders. They are important Jewish traditions, but also social and hunger-filled minefields. These tips will help you navigate the time between when you show up and avoid questions about your career/relationship to when you shout “Next year in Jerusalem!” and run out with all the flourless desserts. Staying full during the long wait for the Passover meal Why did I starve myself in anticipation of dinner tonight? Can’t I just nibble on some brisket while we get through this seder... Full story
BOSTON (JTA)—Years ago, Nancy Steiner set out to make her family seder a bit more entertaining for her own young kids. She wrote a poem that became very popular among family and friends. “On This Night: The Steps of the Seder in Rhyme,” Steiner’s first published children’s book, is an updated version of that poem with large format, brightly colored illustrations by Wendy Edelson that will appeal to religiously observant families. Along with “Lotsa Matzah,” it’s one of two new Passover books... Full story
Passover at Irma Lindheim’s Long Island home in the 1920s was not your standard Jewish holiday experience. There was plenty of matzo ball soup and brisket, to be sure. But the dining room was occupied by a makeshift tent, the Passover table was replaced by a pile of sheepskin rugs, and the Lindheim children were dressed in Arab garb. For Mrs. Lindheim, the national president of Hadassah, the women’s Zionist organization, from 1926 to 1928, Passover was an opportunity to make a dramatic sta... Full story
(JTA)—For the many who feel overwhelmed by Passover because of the demands of cooking without leaven, a word or two: That should not be an obstacle. After all, on this most celebrated of Jewish holidays, we are allowed to eat fish, meat, poultry, eggs, nuts, fruits, most vegetables and fresh herbs. All of the recipes featured here are nutritious, attractive, flavorful and easy to prepare. They emphasize fresh, seasonal ingredients, fewer complicated techniques, and stylish, elegant dishes. W... Full story
While planning what to cook to feed the whole mishpucha (family) on Passover’s big seder night, it’s easy to forget to plan your meals for the rest of the holiday week. Suddenly, lo and behold, you find yourself staring at the wide-open cupboard with nothing but matzah staring back at you. But not to worry! Passover isn’t Yom Kippur, and with the right preparation, you can still eat a decent meal. With more than 6 million books in print, Mollie Katzen is listed by the New York Times as one of the best-selling cookbook authors of all time and ha... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—On any given day, a wind might blow through the farmlands of South America, pick up an errant grain of barley and deposit it nearby among the vast rows of cultivated quinoa. If that barley manages to make its way into a sifted batch of quinoa, and avoid detection during repackaging, it could wind up gracing your seder table on Passover night. However dubious it might seem, the scenario is among the reasons that the world’s largest kosher certification agency is refusing to san... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Karl and Ruth Albrecht, a couple who fled Nazi Germany, were given shelter in 1941 or 1942 at Santa Maria de La Vid, a monastery in Spain. He was Catholic, she was Jewish. Santiago Arroyo, a resident of Burgos, a northern Castile city near the monastery for Augustinian monks, tells of a connection his family has to the period and wonders what became of the couple. Don Grigorio Arranz became friendly with the couple because as a physician, his work often took him to the m... Full story
Joan Rivers helps Israeli gay couple NEW YORK (6NoBacon)—Yuval and Liran, a gay Israeli couple, want to have a child—and they are using any help they can get, even from Hollywood. Joan Rivers and Kelly Osbourne have joined a campaign to help the couple by posting photos of themselves holding a sign in Hebrew showing their support. A Wider Bridge, an organization that connects the Israeli and American LGBT communities, first brought the story of Yuval and Liran to the Internet. The couple sta... Full story
Why would someone risk their life to save a stranger? There’s no easy answer to that question. However, it’s one authors love exploring, especially when writing about Germany during the Nazi era. In his wonderful “City of Women” (Amy Eihorn Books/G. P. Putnam’s Sons), David R. Gillham examines the life of Sigrid Schröder, who, at first glance, seems to be a model German citizen. Not only does she have a soldier husband serving on the Russian front, she works as a stenographer in the patent office in Berlin. Although she is not fond of her mot... Full story
Don’t speak badly of the dead… My parents taught me that lesson…but it is hard to follow when the deceased is Hugo Chavez. The following information comes directly from The World Jewish Congress Foundation Digest (with asides by me). It was published a few months ago, before the death of Chavez: “Under the administration of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, half of the nation’s Jews have reportedly fled the country. “Now that Chavez has retained his office in the recent fall elections for anothe... Full story
