Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 4509 - 4518 of 4518
On Jan. 27, the Jewish Community Center’s Jack & Lee Rosen Southwest Orlando Campus hosted its 4th Annual Winter Festival, featuring wintery activities and snowy delights.... Full story
Farewell, my friend… Just a little tribute to a wonderful man I was fortunate to meet when he visited our Orlando Jewish community some years ago. I refer to former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, who died recently. Mayor Koch was a man I always admired, especially my being a native New Yorker (Brooklyn), and realizing all the good he had done. For one, I can remember Times Square in Manhattan being a really seedy place with X-rated movies and show bars where “low-life” criminal types hung out.... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Who knew the man behind the Brooklyn homecomings of Jay-Z and Barbra Streisand had a thing for heimische melodies? Bruce Ratner, the developer and majority owner of the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, which opened last September with a Jay-Z show and hosted borough native Streisand a month later, holds a special place in his heart for cantorial music. “My parents are both from Eastern European descent, so that type of Jewish music is in my blood,” Ratner told JTA. “I grew up... Full story
BALTIMORE (JTA)—Even as he sits on the Cleveland Cavaliers bench, watching yet another game proceed without him, Omri Casspi is working to improve. He studies his teammates and his opponents, focusing on the player he’d likely be defending if he were on the court. Casspi uses the time to prepare for whenever he is summoned to participate—now or the next game or the one after. For Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA, his fourth season in the elite league for pro hoopsters has been the most trying. The 6-foot, 9-inch forward doesn’t play... Full story
For many students, one of the most difficult parts of their bar/bat mitzvah preparation is writing the speech about their Torah portion. While there are many Torah commentaries, it’s rare to find one whose comments relate directly to the lives of contemporary teenagers. Fortunately, the publication of “Text Messages: A Torah Commentary for Teens,” edited by Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin (Jewish Lights Publishing), solves this problem. Its title contains a play on words that refers to the younger generation’s dependence on technology: Salkin notes t... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—It’s hard to imagine two more divergent perspectives on Israeli-Palestinian relations: that of a Palestinian farmer whose village is resisting the encroachment of a nearby Jewish settlement and of the security service chiefs responsible for maintaining order in the Palestinian territories. Surprisingly, however, these protagonists in two documentaries vying for an Academy Award in the best documentary feature category come to much the same conclusion: that military force alo... Full story
The surprise of Israel’s 2013 election was the rapid ascendance of the new Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, led by former television celebrity Yair Lapid, at the expense of Israel’s known political entities. The party surpassed all polling estimates to be come the nation’s second-most powerful party in Israel’s 19th Knesset. With 19 out of 120 parliamentary seats, Yesh Atid is in prime position to dictate many of the terms of Israel’s next ruling coalition, to be led by re-elected Prime Min... Full story
AMUKAH, Israel (JTA)—They walked up a tree-lined path through stony hills to a square, white building—men in black hats, beards and frock coats; in T-shirts and jeans; in sweaters, slacks and velvet kippahs. They came by the hundreds—19-year-olds looking for a match, 40-year-olds losing hope that they would ever find one, boys of 15 praying for the unmarried. They had come for a special ceremony: They would blow 1,000 shofars, encircle the building seven times and recite penitential prayers led... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—After years of watching synagogue members die or move away, the Sephardic Jewish Center of Canarsie made the difficult decision to downsize. The 50-year-old Brooklyn synagogue had been a thriving center for the area’s Sephardim. But after accepting that it could no longer pull together enough money to cover expenses, let alone muster the 10 men necessary for daily prayer, the synagogue disposed of most of its belongings and began holding Shabbat services in a nearby Ashkenazi cong... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Spiderman heroically dispatched countless foes since he arrived on the scene in 1962. Nearly a half-century later, Brian Michael Bendis managed to kill him. In 2000, Bendis was hired to write Ultimate Spiderman, a modern-day retelling of the classic Spiderman story. More than 10 years, 160 issues and several blockbuster Hollywood adaptations later, Bendis did the unthinkable, killing off the superhero’s famous alter ego, Peter Parker, and replacing him with a half-black, hal... Full story
