Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — At a moment of sharply rising antisemitism, a Jewish social media star known for her dance videos is getting deadly serious. Montana Tucker’s 10-part docu-series, “How to: Never Forget,” has drawn millions of views on TikTok since launching at the end of last month. The series, edited into digestible two-and-a-half minute segments, is the result of an intense trip by Montana and a film crew to Poland, where they capture the story of Tucker’s grandparents during the Holocaust. The produ...
Observe your gratitude. Giving thanks isn't just a single event or season, but a practice we should repeat each day. Start with observation and reflection. What are some areas in your life that need a little more gratitude and a little less negativity? Reflect during a time and place that works with your schedule, like before bed or during your commute, whenever you have some quiet time. Practicing gratitude can help us feel more positive, but sometimes it's easier said than done. JFS...
This piece contains spoilers. (JTA) – At the fancy private school where he has just started his first day, Jewish sixth-grader Paul Graff (Banks Repata) is asked by a major donor what his last name means. Sheepishly, he admits that it was shortened from the longer family name - one that ends in "-stein." The donor who asks him about it, sneering at his name, turns out to be none other than Fred Trump (John Diehl). The scene, filled with quiet menace, is a defining moment in "Armageddon Time," a...
(New York Jewish Week) — In “The Calling,” a new miniseries streaming on Peacock, a Jewish NYPD detective fights crime and solves mysteries by letting his Jewishness lead the way. Jeff Wilbusch plays Avraham Avraham, a detective whose Judaism is both central to his character — in more than one scene he says the Mourner’s Kaddish for a murder victim — and an identity that influences the way he does his job. “It is so beautiful that, in our profession, as actors in the storytelling business, tha...
The timing may be coincidental but there are no coincidences. This week, two parallel, complementary organizations – one run by an Orthodox Israeli American Jew, and one run by a Chinese American Christian – announced a partnership to bless and comfort Holocaust survivors in Israel. The need and opportunity are great, and time is of the essence the aging population of Holocaust survivors are dying at an alarming rate. As they age, they also find themselves in challenging and stressful sit...
(JTA) - There's a good chance that right now, Nathan Steuer is playing, or thinking about playing, Magic: The Gathering. The trading card game, which Steuer used to play with friends at Jewish summer camp, has become the 20-year-old Berkeley native's lifelong passion and full-time job. Steuer - who had a bar mitzvah in addition to attending the Union for Reform Judaism's Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, California - competes in online tournaments every weekend for about 12 hours each on Saturdays and...
The Book of Job - dealing with the fundamental unfairness of the universe and the prospect of horrific undeserved suffering that has existed in every generation - has fascinated many thinkers over the years. One of the most recognizable of these was Jewish Holocaust survivor and Nobel prize winner Elie Wiesel who taught the book for decades and wrote about it extensively as well. Of his own experience with the book, he wrote this: "For years, he [Job] would not leave me; he kept on haunting me....
Isaac Posner, son of Erick Posner and Sara Collins, stepson of Travis Johnson, and great-nephew of Gil and Risa Dombrosky of Fern Park, Fl., was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Oct. 29, 2022 at Temple B'nai Shalom, Fairfax Station, Va. What made this bar mitzvah unique was that Isaac's parents are both deaf, so there were two sign-language interpreters on hand - one signed in English, the other signed in Hebrew. Another special part of the ceremony was that the Torah Isaac read from was...
After submitting his letter to the editor about the beginning of the Holocaust Center, Paul Jeser wanted to add something to his letter. The addition was too late for the Nov. 4 issue. Here is, as Paul Harvey used to say, the “rest of the story”: Hy Lake, Tess and Abe Wise were against the Federation spending local campaign funds settling Russian Jews in Orlando. They believed that Federation funds should only support their settlement in Israel. When the Federation Board voted to fund local settlement, she and Abe, and Hy, decided to give the...
Jewish tradition is opposed to magic, divination, and sorcery. Exodus 22:18 reads: "You shall not allow a witch to live." And Deuteronomy 18:10-11 is more elaborate: "Let no one be found among you who consigns his son or daughter to the fire [i.e. who offers their child as a sacrifice, as some neighboring religions did], or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead." Magic of this...
Sometimes forgiveness doesn't go as planned. You reflected, you decided, and then when you finally got the clarity and strength to ask someone for forgiveness, they end up blaming you without taking any responsibility or maybe refuse your apology altogether. Remember, apologizing is not for the other person, but for you. If they are not in a place to accept your apology, it is not up to you to change them. What's important is that you work on you. Use this situation to motivate you to focus on...
(JNS) - Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots football team, and his family are set to receive a national leadership award on Tuesday for their support of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The award will be presented during the museum's "What you do matters" 2022 Northeast Tribute Dinner. The honor comes just days after a TV ad urging Americans to stand up against Jew-hatred aired during Sunday's NFL game between the Patriots and the New York Jets. The ad was sponsored by the...
(JTA) - After a years-long battle to reacquire two paintings the Nazis stole from their ancestor before he became one of their early victims, the descendants of Austrian Jewish cabaret performer Fritz Grünbaum will auction the Egon Schiele works off at Christie's in November. The proceeds will go to support up-and-coming performing artists from underrepresented backgrounds, starting with a student from a Washington, D.C., arts high school who will play the piano at an event celebrating the...
Want to give your brain a boost? Try these easy remedies: • Sing. Seniors choirs offer joy and a feeling of togetherness. Musical instruments are appealing and playing boosts brain health. Safe Sauna bathing Researchers say that the heat may activate protective proteins and better cardiovascular functioning, reduce inflammation, offer better sleep, reduce stress, and increase relaxation. • Tai chi. Tai chi is a slow-motion exercise for self-defense and meditation. • Cultivate a positive attitude toward aging. Negative attitudes about aging...
(JNS) — On Oct. 27, the fourth anniversary of the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, hatred of Jews was a palpably inescapable reality in America—from the Kanye West scandal, to a series of anti-Semitic incidents in Los Angeles, to the discourse surrounding the U.N. Commission of Inquiry. Yet those in search of a more uplifting message on that same day could find one at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, Calif., where a delegation from the Sharaka NGO participated in a town hall meeting to art...
New York, NY — Dianne Lob, Chair, and William Daroff, CEO, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, issued the following statement: “We commend President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken for reiterating the importance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and for encouraging its greater use and adoption as an essential tool to combat antisemitism. “On Nove. 4, U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price stated: ‘The United States unequivocally condemns...
(JTA) — As Kanye West extended his antisemitic spree by tweeting about Jewish agents in Hollywood, the rocker John Mellencamp took the stage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and said this about his longtime lawyer: “Allen is Jewish.” The line began an impassioned speech about the importance of non-Jews standing up for Jewish people at a time of antisemitism and anxiety for many of them, especially as white supremacists have taken up West’s comments as a rallying cry. Mellencamp was speaking on behalf of Allen Grubman, a prominent music i...
“Four Bam, One Crack, Six Dot.” Generations of Mah Jongg players and their children and grandchildren recognize the names of the small decorated tiles used in the Chinese game that found a devoted American audience among Jewish women. For thousands of Jewish women from the city, the suburbs and the Catskills alike, the weekly Mah Jongg games, with their friendly wagers, were as much a ritual as lighting Friday night Shabbat candles. Nearly synonymous with the playing were the ring jells, Bridge mix, Entenmann’s coffee cake and other iconi...
Did you know that some of America's most popular candies (Tootsie Rolls! Peeps! Peanut Chews!) were invented by Jews? How and why this came to pass is a remarkable tale that needs no sugarcoating. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Jewish beet farmers throughout the Russian empire produced the bulk of the sugar necessary to satisfy the high demand of the European market. When many of these impoverished farmers fled their shetls at the turn of the 20th century and immigrated to the United States, th...
After reconciling with someone is a good time to sit back and reflect. The journey to forgiveness has shown what doesn't work, but you still may not know what could work. For example, what could be done to manage your temper or react to someone else's temper, to avoid reacting negatively next time? Now would be the time to learn a new skill to help handle these situations. Do some research. Ask someone you know who has struggled with the same concern. You might be surprised to hear what helped...
(JTA) – Trish Adlesic was visiting her father in Pittsburgh on the day a gunman walked into the city's Tree of Life synagogue building and murdered 11 people. Almost immediately, the director started filming her surroundings with the aim of producing a documentary about the tragedy, bringing on a Tree of Life congregant, Eric Schuman, as an editor and producer. Drawing on her own experiences conducting "trauma-informed" interviews, Adlesic reached out to survivors hoping to create "a platform fo...
Jews have played a major part in inventing, creating, and running companies. Here are three early industry game-changers. Levi Strauss: Jeans from Jewish Genes Bavarian immigrant to the U.S. Levi Loeb Strauss (1829-1902), in partnership with Latvian-born inventor, Jacob W. Davis (1831–1908), and Levi's brother in-law, David Stern (1820-1875), also from Bavaria founded Levi Strauss & Co following the "creation" of the ubiquitous jeans by Strauss and Davis. Levi Strauss arrived on American soil i...
(JTA) — Two weeks ago, Ariel Elias, then a little-known standup comedian performing at a club in New Jersey, had a beer thrown at her head from a group of Trump-supporting hecklers who discovered she voted for Joe Biden. After the beer smashed against the brick wall behind her, she picked up the splattered can and chugged its remaining contents. It made for a very viral video and caught the attention of comedians from Whitney Cummings to Jimmy Kimmel, prompting the latter to invite her onto his late-night talk show. “I’m Jewish and from Kentu...
(JTA) - As rap star Kanye West continually refuses to back down from his antisemitic rants, some of the many institutions he has ties with have begun to jump ship. The fashion tastemakers Balenciaga and Vogue have announced they will no longer be working with him. Hollywood talent giant CAA has dropped him, and a planned documentary about him has been scrapped. But one formidable company remained, until recently, in West's corner: Adidas. Despite the German sportswear conglomerate's...
Hatred of Jews has been a feature of world history for centuries. But only in the late 19th century did a new specific word emerge to describe it. What prompted the coining of the neologism “antisemitism” was the perception of an altered relationship between Jews and the peoples among whom they lived that could not accurately be described as mere “Judeophobia” or “Jew-hatred.” The need for a new word affected not just self-identified antisemites. It was recognized by Jews and non-Jews throughout Europe and wherever Europeans settled in...
