Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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When a loved one passes away, those left behind often face a whirlwind of emotions and tasks. As friends, we naturally want to help, but all too often, we find ourselves saying, “Let me know how I can help.” While well-intentioned, this phrase places the burden on the grieving individual to identify and ask for assistance, which can be overwhelming during such a difficult time. Instead, consider making a specific offer. Rather than asking, suggest something tangible: “Can I pick up your son from soccer practice today?” or “Would it help if I...
On Aug. 18, 1790, President George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island. He assured them: “Everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.” He continued with words that the Jewish people, among many others, have carried close to heart for over two centuries: “The Government of the United States... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” It was a promise. It took time for it to become...
Jerusalem, Israel — A unique friendship and partnership between an Iranian and an Israeli has given birth to one of the most remarkable hands-on tourist experiences in Israel, drawing interest and participants from all over the world at a time when tourism in Israel is down, but when the importance of solidarity with Israel has never been more important. Root & Branch is a unique partnership between Marziyeh Amirizadeh and her nonprofit, NewPersia.org, and Jonathan Feldstein and the Genesis 123...
Most people think of Cuba as a land of cigars, salsa, sun-soaked beaches and antique cars. But to me, it symbolizes perseverance and the roots of a resilient Jewish community that contributed to the state of Israel. For many years now, Cubans have made aliyah to Israel to look for a better life, including my parents. As Nazi Germany destroyed Europe, a few nations offered refuge to Jewish people, while others, like the United States and Canada, enforced strict immigration laws. Cuba, with its...
Makes 4 burgers. 1/ 4 cup diced yellow onion 2 T. avocado oil or neutral oil, plus 2 T. for frying. 1/2 cup chopped spinach leaves 1 minced garlic cloves 1 lb. kosher ground chicken chicken 1/2 -1 T. fresh basil or 1/2 tsp. dried basil 1/8 tsp. dried mint (optional) 1/2 tsp. thyme 1/2 tsp. dried oregano 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1/4 cup bread crumbs 1 egg Bread wraps, pitas or buns to serve burgers. Garnish each burger with a lettuce leaf and a tomato slice. In a large saucepan, heat 2 T....
(JNS) - According to Steve Rubin, director of Tourism in the Jerusalem Development Authority, Jerusalem is the capital and most populous city in Israel as well as being holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. As the current war passed the 21-month mark, Jerusalem is also starting to bounce back as "a world leader in tourism and most certainly as the epicenter of culture in Israel," he said. In an interview in the JNS Studio in Jerusalem on July 7, Rubin said, "Since Oct. 7 [2023], Jerusalem...
(JNS) - Former Hamas hostage Eli Sharabi's memoir about his experiences in captivity in Gaza is scheduled for release in the United States on Oct. 7, 2025 - the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on the Jewish state, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. The book, titled "Hostage," the first published memoir of a freed Hamas captive, has become a best seller in Hebrew. The English edition will be published by Harper Influence, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. "It was...
BIRMINGHAM, England — I was not at Glastonbury when Bob Vylan and Kneecap led their anti-Israel chants. I was instead at Moseley in Bloom, an annual event that takes place in my leafy neighborhood in Birmingham in the middle of England, trying to make sense of what seemed to be a Jewish garden decoration. Like Glastonbury, Moseley in Bloom is very British; it’s also very bougie. The English love their gardens, and once a year, those with some of the most fantastic gardens imaginable open their doors to the rest of us to come and take a peek. Th...
(JNS) - On July 8, 2025, a new class featuring the likes of basketball's Amar'e Stoudemire, judoka Oren Smadja, Paralympian Moran Samuel, swimmers Sarah Poewe and Helen Plaschinski Farca de Finkler, sports commentator Chris Berman and tennis legend Shahar Pe'er was to be inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Following the postponement of the 2025 Maccabiah Games for a year, due to the war, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (known as "the Hall") followed suit and...
If you notice a loved one repeatedly asking the same questions, becoming more confused, or struggling with memory, you might assume they have dementia. However, these symptoms could also be signs of hearing loss. Recent research, as published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine, highlights the connection between cognitive decline and hearing loss, confirming what many health professionals have long suspected: hearing loss can significantly contribute to cognitive impairment. A groundbreaking study conducted by...
(JNS) - A bicycle is so much more than just a means of transportation. So says Adva Sharvit, who co-founded the not-for-profit organization Hamaslul with her husband, Karmy Shirby, in 2015 - with two groups, 20 youth, 15 pairs of bicycles and two counselors - to use the bicycle as an educational vehicle and explore the land of Israel. Sharvit, who earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience, researching post-traumatic stress disorder, discovered that cycling is a cogent therapeutic and educational tool to...
A golem has awakened in my bedroom. Rather than clay, this one is made of stone. Like other golems he is unable to speak — for now, that is. Yet, unlike such mythical creatures of the past he was not put here to seek revenge on the oppressors of our people. Nor was he created by a rabbi. Actually, he is the rabbi! So begins another day for a man well past retirement age. I start to move my fingers. One by one I repeat doing so until my hands no longer feel like hardened cement. While my body a...
(JNS) - It's difficult to imagine a face like Elliott Gould's becoming a matinee idol today. It is angular and brooding, with eyes that have carried a weight beyond their years and a voice that teetered between irony and sincerity. "Acting, for me, was always about truth," he said in a recent conversation from his home in California. "And the truth is, I never fit in. That's why I worked." Gould, 86, doesn't so much act as inhabit a mood. He was never Hollywood's golden boy - but that, in part,...
"We Will Dance Again," a documentary film detailing the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which specifically targeted the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re'im, won an Emmy on June 26 at the 46th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards, held in New York City. Produced by Paramount Plus, which also distributed "The Children of October 7," the 90-minute film won for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary. It uses interviews, recordings and Hamas bodycam footage to...
(JTA) — Hundreds of people lined the streets of Tenafly, New Jersey, on Thursday to welcome home native son Edan Alexander, who survived 584 days of captivity in Gaza before being freed in May. Alexander graduated from Tenafly High School before enlisting in the Israeli army and was serving on a base on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and took him and 250 others hostage. The last remaining living American citizen in captivity, he was freed in a one-off deal negotiated by the Trump a...
(JNS) — A pro-Israel Christian student organization on Wednesday donated $100,000 to honor the victims of last year’s deadly Hezbollah rocket attack on a soccer field in the Golan Heights village of Majdal Shams, which claimed the lives of 12 Druze children. The donation by Passages, which has been dubbed the “Christian Birthright” for its student tours to Israel, will go to a local foundation that supports community youth pursuing higher education and leadership roles, a memorial soccer tournament and other infrastructure projects. “In bri...
In ordering a preemptive strike aimed at significantly setting back Iran’s nuclear program, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was following in the footsteps of two of his predecessors. Menachem Begin ordered an attack in 1981 that destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor. And a quarter-century later, Ehud Olmert gave the green light in 2007 to destroy a nuclear reactor in its last stages of construction in northeastern Syria. But Israel was not in fact the first country in the Middle East to take aim at an enemy’s nuclear facilities. That disti...
In 2017, I interviewed Harry Lowenstein, a Holocaust survivor, and published his story in the Heritage Florida Jewish News. Little did I know that that would begin for me a journey that would span eight years, hours and hours of interviews, research, and writing, and over 40 stories that would culminate in my fifth book, tentatively called “Witness and Legacy: Profiles of Jewish Sacrifice, Survival and Strength,” will be launched this September. What follows is my introduction. “You reall...
One of the best things in life is to have the privilege of taking one’s grandchildren out for ice cream. Even during a war. Perhaps especially during a war. This week, my daughter and son-in-law brought my four grandsons for a visit, partly as a fun outing and partly as a respite for themselves. Since the war erupted with Iran, all school and pre-school programs have been canceled, leaving parents of young children to figure out how to juggle keeping all the kids occupied without pulling their own hair out, and keeping them safe and close to h...
On June 5, 2025, Lt. Leonard M. Keysor was posthumously honored with a historical marker at the location of his London home. It was the first public recognition of him as a Jew. Born in London, Leonard Keysor moved to Australia just before the outbreak of World War I. When war was declared, he enlisted in the Australian Army, joining the 1st Battalion. Serving with Australian Forces in the trenches of Gallipoli during World War I, Keysor was a bomber and a highly skilled grenade thrower. He was...
When we reflect on grief, our minds often turn to the emotions and processes following the loss of a loved one. However, the journey of grief begins long before death, especially when a loved one receives a life-threatening diagnosis. This pre-loss mourning is termed anticipatory grief, a concept illuminated by grief expert Dr. Therese Rando. Anticipatory grief encompasses the mourning of past, present, and future losses, shaping the emotional landscape of both care recipients and caregivers. From different vantage points, care recipients and...
Imam Hassen Chalghoumi of Drancy, near Paris, is astonished by what Israel is currently doing in Iran. He writes: I, a son of Ishmael, an imam, a Muslim, a man of peace, hereby present my sincere testimony about this extraordinary people: I must admit, I believe in religions and miracles. But there is something about this people - the people of Israel - that feels like a living miracle. A people the Pharaohs tried to erase 3,000 years ago... and failed. A people the Babylonians tried to annihila...
Israel was the first target of retaliatory attacks by Iran after Israel launched a massive military campaign against its nuclear program on Friday. But security officials are warning that Israelis and Jews abroad could also face consequences from the beleaguered regime. Iran has a long track record of sowing violence against Jewish and Israeli targets abroad, including over the last two years as its proxies in the Middle East have battled Israel on the ground. Among the many examples: Swedish teens who tried to attack the Israeli embassy in...
(JNS) - The television host Phil McGraw, known as Dr. Phil, has received death threats, been swatted repeatedly and faced an onslaught of hate mail for supporting Israel publicly since Oct. 7. "You get to a point where you have to decide what really matters in life, and right and wrong is not a relative term," he told JNS, shortly before taping an episode of his show about Jew-hatred with Eric Adams, the New York City mayor. "What happened on Oct. 7 was wrong at every level," McGraw told JNS. "I...
Nobody puts Brooklyn in a corner. The heyday of the Jewish Catskills may have come and gone, but this summer, New Yorkers have the chance to party Borscht Belt-style — without time-traveling or enduring a long, traffic-y drive on Route 17. On Tuesday, June 17, The Neighborhood: An Urban Center for Jewish Life, brought the spirit of the Borscht Belt to Brooklyn with “Catskills, BK: Dirtier Dancing,” a rooftop party at the Moxy Hotel in Williamsburg. The evening — which is partially inspired by “Dirty Dancing,” the 1987 hit film that takes place...
