Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 4484 - 4508 of 4518
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
SAN FRANCISCO—When local asparagus and rhubarb start showing up in your market, can Passover be far behind? These harbingers of spring always appear on my seder table, as they did on my mother’s table and her mother’s. You can get asparagus grown in Mexico any time of year, but the real deal comes from Stockton, Calif., the “Asparagus Capital of the World.” These sultry stalks always generate discussions about what to buy and how best to cook, prepare and eat them: white or green or lavender, thick or thin, cold or hot, cooked in a skillet o... Full story
Tel Aviv—Lower back pain is a common complaint, and treatment often requires many hours of physical therapy over multiple weekly clinic visits—a costly commitment. Now Dr. Michal Katz-Leurer of Tel Aviv University’s Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine says that a simple aerobic walking program is as effective in alleviating lower back pain as muscle strengthening programs that require specialized equipment in rehabilitation clinics. The program includes walking two to three times a week for a perio... Full story
Spielberg to lead Cannes jury NEW YORK—Snubbed at the Oscars for best director, perhaps Steven Spielberg will see this as some sort of consolation prize: The Cannes Film Festival named the “Lincoln” director to lead its jury in May. Spielberg called his selection an “honor and a privilege,” according to a statement. “My admiration for the steadfast mission of the Festival to champion the international language of movies is second to none,” he said. ”For over six decades, Cannes has served as a... Full story
BALTIMORE (JTA)—Recalling her childhood friendship with the girl across the street fills Rozanne Dittersdorf with immense sadness but also deep gratitude. More than six decades later, the pain her friend evinced still brings Dittersdorf to tears. But by her very existence, the girl also unwittingly helped shape Dittersdorf’s Jewish identity. Now 78 and living in Great Neck, N.Y., Dittersdorf hopes to find her friend, whose name was Phyllis Garfunkel (or Garfinkle) when they lived during the lat... Full story
You might only know Alex Karpovsky as Ray Ploshansky, the caustic barista who fitfully romances the naïf Shoshanna on HBO’s zeitgeist-y hit, “Girls.” But while shooting that show, Karpovsky also has managed to write, direct and star in two independent films that recently premiered at Lincoln Center in New York: “Red Flag,” a meta-comedy in which he plays a self-absorbed independent filmmaker named, well, Alex Karpovsky; and “Rubberneck,” a psychological thriller about a scientist who becomes da... Full story
BOSTON (JTA)—When he was 5 years old, Marian Marzynski’s parents hatched a plan to smuggle him out of the Warsaw Ghetto. It was 1942, and Marzynski and his family were among the 400,00 Jews rounded up two years earlier by the Nazis, confined to the 1.3-sq.-mile ghetto in the heart of the city. To stay alive, Marzynski’s parents warned him, you must forget who you are. That lesson in survival shepherded the young boy over the next three years as he hid from his tormentors, separated from his p... Full story
GIVATAYIM, Israel—“The Retrospective” is a work of art inspired by another work of art, a novel with roots in a painting. A few years ago, A.B. Yehoshua and his wife were visiting Santiago de Compostelo, Spain, and he saw a graying reproduction of a disturbing painting, with a prisoner feeding at the breast of a young woman. He took a photo of the painting, something he rarely does, and then showed it to an expert. The painting is “Caritas Romana” or “Roman Charity,” based on an ancient Roman legend of Cimon, imprisoned and sentenced to... Full story
The bountiful buffets that have made “Israeli breakfast” famous among tourists usually include shakshouka, a spicy North African concoction of eggs poached in a tomato-pepper-onion sauce. So it was no surprise that Lonely Planet included the shakshouka at Jerusalem’s Tmol Shilshom café on its recent Top 10 list of the world’s best breakfasts. But Jewish food writer and historian Gil Marks tells ISRAEL21c that this signature dish is actually a latecomer to the already laden Israeli breakfas... Full story
Benjamin J. Feinman, a 6’ 3”, 225lb, senior right hand pitcher for West Broward High School has been appointed as one of 16 U.S. team members to play for the United States Junior Maccabi Baseball Team and will be representing the United States in Israel. The Bobcat Senior currently plays under Head Coach/Manager Sergio Ambrose and has been a member of the West Broward Bobcat Team for the last four years. Feinman started playing baseball as a pre teen at Pasadena Lakes Optimist. He later moved on to Cooper City Optimist and finally to Pem... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Little kids will laugh at anything. The simplest knock-knock joke or a tickle fest—even the threat of one—can so easily end in hysterics. They laugh because they are surprised by something unexpected in a world they are constantly discovering. If only that kind of laughter came as easily as we got older. While the laughter of childhood is characterized by the element of surprise, the laughter in adulthood becomes a way of managing stress (filmmakers know this well and skill... Full story
