Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Meeting with European diplomats on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly went as one would expect of representatives of countries that have been recognizing a state of “Palestine,” which the Jewish state and others say rewards Hamas, according to Daniel S. Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith International. “What we have here on an international level is a ‘don’t confuse me with the facts’ worldview,” Mariaschin told JNS. “All of these arguments, which we feel are well grounded, are clearly not getting through in terms of p...
The 27th annual Central Florida Jewish Film Festival will be held Nov. 1-3, and opens at the Orlando Science Center Digital Adventure Theater. This year there are five movies in the lineup but all five are full-length features - two documentaries, one unsettling drama, one comedy, and one animated drama. Without further ado, here is the review. Saturday, Nov. 1 at 7:45 p.m. at the Orlando Science Center Digital Adventure Theater Shari & Lamp Chop Take a step back into your childhood and revisit...
At 9:10 p.m. on Sept. 19, the security footage captured Rabbi Simon Jacobson, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Charlotte County, and cousin of Rabbi Yanky Majesky of Chabad of North Orlando, exiting the synagogue after Shabbat services. Ninety minutes later, Jacobson's phone rang. By the third ring, unease had crept in. Being Shabbat and hearing repeated calls at that late hour Jacobson feared an emergency. He glanced at the screen: Punta Gorda Police Department. The quaint city of Punta Gorda...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a plan to end the war in Gaza, with a 72-hour deadline, which begins when Israel accepts the agreement, for Hamas to return the hostages it holds in Gaza. Speaking at a press conference after the White House released the plan, Trump said that Hamas has not agreed to the proposal but that Arab and Muslim countries are negotiating with the terrorist group. “We’re relying on the countries that I named and others to deal with Hamas, and I’m hearing that Hama...
The Jewish Pavilion Senior Services recently hired Vanessa Stein as the new assistant director. Stein is also on the Board of Directors at Congregation Ohev Shalom. Stein brings both professional expertise and personal experience to her role. She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology with minors in gerontology and Jewish Studies from the University of Florida in 2005, followed by a Master of Social Work from the University of Central Florida in 2008. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker,...
(JNS) — The Israeli mission to the United Nations held an event honoring the “women who stepped forward when the world stood still” at U.N. headquarters in New York City on Tuesday. “On Oct. 7, not only was the cruelty of Hamas revealed to the world, but also the heroism of Israeli women,” Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, said at the event. “In the face of terror and murder, they stood up like lionesses,” he said. “They fought, saved and protected.” “We carry their spirit with us. The women of Israel have proven...
The Jewish Pavilion invites the community to a complimentary grief support program offered twice yearly over five weeks. The next series will meet on Tuesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., beginning Oct. 21 and concluding Nov. 18, at Village on the Green in Longwood (470 Village Place, D Building Lounge). Facilitated by Vanessa Stein, LCSW, assistant director at the Jewish Pavilion, the program provides a safe and compassionate space for individuals to navigate their grief through a Jewish lens. Participants are encouraged to attend all five...
To enhance the lives of seniors of all faiths in eldercare communities and to assist families in obtaining necessary resources through the Orlando Senior, Jewish Pavilion Senior Services will host a Harvest and Post-Sukkot Networking Festival on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, from 4 – 6 p.m. The event will be held at Watercrest, 1501 Glendon Pkwy, Winter Park. Enjoy delicious appetizers, desserts, drinks, raffles and prizes! Donations of $25 per person are accepted in advance ($35 at the door). Register at jewishpavilion.org or call 4...
(JNS) — World leaders reacted swiftly and largely positively to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement Monday of a comprehensive plan to end the Gaza war and secure the release of the remaining hostages. French President Emmanuel Macron was among the first to respond, posting on X (formerly Twitter): “I welcome President @realDonaldTrump’s commitment to ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of all hostages. I expect Israel to engage resolutely on this basis. Hamas has no choice but to immediately release all hostages and follow...
(JNS) — Washington will defend Qatar from future attacks, including with military force if needed, according to an executive order that U.S. President Donald Trump signed on Monday. “The United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States,” the order states. If the Gulf state is attacked, Washington “shall take all lawful and appropriate measures —including diplomatic, economic and, if necessary, military...
(JNS) — European Jewish Association Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin said on Friday that the deadly terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur “proves what we warned of a year ago: Jews in Europe live under constant threat.” “We called for a state of emergency then, and if leaders had acted, lives might have been spared,” Margolin said, adding: “This is not random violence; it is the result of a climate where demonizing Israel has become acceptable, and Jews everywhere pay the price.” Police on Thursday identified the suspect i...
(JNS) — Marco Massari, mayor of the Italian city of Reggio Emilia, was presenting a civic honor to Francesca Albanese, a United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, on Sunday, when he told an audience of hundreds, “the end of the genocide and the release of the hostages are necessary conditions to start a peace process.” The U.N. adviser, who has a long history of Jew-hatred, reportedly scolded Massari, as the crowd jeered the mayor. “The mayor was wrong and said something that is not true,” Albanese said. “Peace does not need co...
(JNS) — Wikipedia, one of the most viewed sites on the internet, has hosted a page on “Gaza genocide” since Dec. 29, 2023. Since Sept. 22, Wikipedia has linked to the “Gaza genocide” article, which accused Israel of war crimes, in an “in the news” section on its main page, which millions of people view daily. The American Jewish Committee told JNS that Wikipedia is “elevating reckless and biased charges of genocide as fact,” and given how many genocide scholars disagree with that statement, the crowd-sourced encyclopedia “showcases how da...
(JNS) - Michelle Rukovicin, the most severely wounded survivor of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacres, married her partner on Tuesday night in a ceremony celebrated as a symbol of resilience. The IDF intelligence systems technician, who was critically injured defending Kissufim base from Hamas terrorists and spent three months in a coma, wed her boyfriend of five years, Rinat Kasimov, the partner who remained at her side throughout her grueling recovery. She was struck by seven bullets, wounde...
(JNS) - Edan Alexander, the last living American hostage who was freed in May after 584 days in Hamas captivity, was honored with a street named for him in the borough in which he grew up. "To have a road named here in the place I call home is something I never would have imagined," Alexander said during a ceremony before the street sign was unveiled. "Every time I see this road, I will remember not just the struggle but the love and unity that brought me back home." Alexander, who was...
(JNS) — The New York City mayoral race has narrowed to three candidates following incumbent Eric Adams’s decision to drop out on Sunday, but polling suggests that that will do little to increase the odds for former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to defeat the Democratic frontrunner, state representative Zohran Mamdani, in the general election in November. Experts told JNS that the political defeat of one of the most philosemitic and pro-Israel mayors in the city’s history at the hands of a self-described socia...
Sara Netanyahu visits gravesites of Lubavitcher rebbe and rebbetzin in Queens, NY By JNS Staff (JNS) — Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the Ohel in Queens, N.Y., late Sunday night under heavy security, reported the COLlive news site. It is the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson; his wife, the rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson; and his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. There, she prayed for the Jewish people; the defeat of their enemies; and the s...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled a comprehensive proposal to end the Israel-Hamas war. Below is the full text of the proposal: • Gaza will be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors. • Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough. • If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release. During this time, all military operati...
(JNS) - Several hundred family members, friends, members of Knesset and Israel Defense Forces soldiers gathered at the Oz VeGaon Nature Preserve in Gush Etzion on Sept. 28 for the annual Lion of Zion prize in memory of renowned Israel advocate Ari Fuld, on his seventh yahrzeit. Fuld, 45, who was born in New York and made aliyah in 1994, was murdered by an Arab teenager in a 2018 terrorist stabbing, several days before Yom Kippur, outside a mall near the Gush Etzion Junction. With his last...
By Alex Traiman (JNS) - In August, barely a month ago, U.S. President Donald Trump referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "war hero" over the near-perfect 12-day war in June that thoroughly neutralized Iran's illicit nuclear program. Now in September, Netanyahu received less than a hero's welcome at the United Nations. While the entire world obsesses over nearly every Israeli military and diplomatic action, nations of the world collectively walked out as Israel's prime...
Jewish Family Services’ annual Hope Challenge kicked off Sept. 15 and will be open until Oct. 15. The community’s need for help with food, mental health counseling, transportation and family stabilization has soared by over 30 percent since 2023. Right now, every dollar donated will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Pearlman, Minkow and Bolton families up to a total of $25,000. A donation of $55 will feed a family of four for a week through the Pearlman Food Pantry; a gift of $200 sponsors a family in the Family Stabilization Program; $15...
(JTA) — French President Emmanuel Macron formally announced his country’s recognition of Palestinian statehood on Monday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. “True to the historic commitment of my country to the Middle East, to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, this is why I declare that today, France recognizes the state of Palestine,” Macron said, receiving a loud applause from the more than 140 leaders in attendance. During his announcement, Macron also outlined his vision for a “renewed Palestini...
On too many college campuses today, Jewish students aren’t asking for special treatment — they’re asking to be able to study in peace. Recently, that basic expectation has been shattered. Into that breach stepped Mothers Against College Antisemitism — a parent-led network that rocketed from a Facebook group to a national force almost overnight, now with more than 63,000 members. Their premise is simple: If universities won’t protect Jewish students from harassment and open calls for their eradication, parents will. Elizabeth Rand, attorney...
Shalom Orlando will host an Author Meet & Greet, sponsored by Writer’s Block Bookstore, at the Roth Family JCC on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 2 p.m. Leland Vittert will discuss his newly released book, “Born Lucky,” about how he stood firm and refused to be defined by an autism diagnosis. Register at Eventbrite.com...
