Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2001 - 2025 of 10728
New head of Birthright’s foundation an alumnus of its inaugural trip to Israel Elias Saratovsky, who participated in Birthright’s inaugural trip to Israel in 1999-2000, has been named the new president and CEO of the Birthright Israel Foundation. Saratovsky, who will start the new position on Sept. 1, has worked at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee for more than two decades, most recently as national director of regional affairs. “I remember standing at Birthright’s Mega-Event in Jerusalem alongside thousands of other young Jewish...
(JTA) — A survey by the Anti-Defamation League found that significant portions of people in 10 European countries believe a range of antisemitic stereotypes, including more than one in three people in Poland and Hungary. The ADL measures antisemitic attitudes across a range of countries by asking respondents if they believe a set of 11 stereotypes about Jews, ranging from “Jews have too much power in the business world” to “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars.” This survey, taken from November to January, polled more than 6,500...
After more than a decade in planning and three years of construction with a multi-disciplinary team of archaeologists, architects, curators, researchers, designers and creatives, the new Tower of David Jerusalem Museum opened to the public in the ancient citadel as the capital's official museum on June 1st with a completely immersive experience that combines ancient Jerusalem and interactive technology. And, for the first time in its history, the ancient citadel is now accessible. The Tower of...
(JNS) - After 30 years of legal and political battles, Israel will inaugurate an elevator to improve handicap accessibility at Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs on June 8. The Defense Ministry's Civil Administration sent out invitations on Wednesday. The Tomb of the Patriarchs is the burial place of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca and Leah. It is one of Israel's most visited tourist sites. The $1.6 million project includes a sloped path linking the parking...
This is an ongoing article. Heritage will print articles as JTA reports them. Day 1: 911 dispatcher and rabbi take the stand PITTSBURGH (JTA) — When Shannon Basa-Sabol was asked to recount the events of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in court on Tuesday, what stood out was her memory of the death of Bernice Simon. Basa-Sabol, a 911 dispatcher, took the stand for close to an hour, describing the ins and outs of her job. But when the crowded courtroom heard a recording of Simon’s 911 call from the Tree of Life Congregation, Basa-Sabol pau...
Two weeks ago, the White House released a national strategy to fight antisemitism. In December, President Biden established a government task force to create a national strategy to counter antisemitism and other forms of religious bigotry. Among the initiative, monitoring technology platforms was mentioned, with over 10 separate calls for tech companies to establish a zero-tolerance policy for hate. This part of the strategy will help shield our students from the onslaught of online antisemitism. President Biden said, “It sends a clear and f...
Summer is just starting but now is the best time to plan for the next school year 2023-2024. When the school day ends many parents know this is just the beginning of homework, enrichment activities and searching for ways to entertain their children while they continue working. The Rosen JCC After-School Program offers just what the busy parent needs. The After School program offers onsite certified tutors to provide homework help. The staff supervises kids with playground time, games, snacks and crafts. It offers enrichment activities...
(JTA) — Israel’s under-20 men’s team defeated Brazil 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup on Saturday, their most shocking win in a string of dramatic underdog victories at the tournament. The player who scored the winning goal in extra time dedicated the win to three Israeli soldiers killed in an attack the previous morning. The team, making its first-ever appearance at the under-20 World Cup, is now through to the semifinal round, in which they will face Uruguay on Thursday. Israel — facing a country known for its interna...
(JTA) — A man rushed the stage and unfurled an Israeli flag at a Roger Waters concert in Frankfurt on Sunday in protest of the former Pink Floyd frontman’s continued criticism of Israel. Video circulating on social media showed a group of fans chanting “Am Yisrael Chai” (“The people of Israel live”) while the protester makes it to the main stage, where he lasts a few seconds before security guards chase him away. Since at least last week, Berlin police have been investigating Waters over a costume he has been wearing at concerts for years t...
(JNS) — German police have launched a criminal investigation after former Pink Floyd bassist and anti-Israel provocateur Roger Waters wore a Nazi-style uniform during a recent concert in the German capital. On May 17 at Mercedes-Benz Arena, the British musician dressed up in a costume resembling that of an SS soldier and pretended to fire a rifle. Waters also compared the murder of Anne Frank in the Holocaust to the accidental killing in Jenin in May 2022 of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. “The State Security Department at...
(JNS) - Police detectives working in eastern Jerusalem who stopped a vehicle discovered 2,000-year-old bricks with imprints of Roman seals, the Israeli Police announced on Wednesday. A 68-year-old Palestinian was arrested on Tuesday night and is suspected of intending to sell the bricks on the black market. According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, which has examined the artifacts, the bricks came from the Hebron area, and were used in a structure by the Roman military unit that destroyed...
(JNS) - The U.S. seeks to silence Israeli opposition to a revived Iran nuclear deal by offering to broker a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal in exchange, Israel Hayom reported on Thursday. Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi flew Wednesday to Washington for meetings with U.S. officials about the possible Iran deal, which Israel strongly opposes, and Saudi-Israel relations, which Israel strongly supports. Although U.S. President Joe Biden...
(JTA) - An Egyptian security officer opened fire on Israeli soldiers on a routine patrol, killing two, and hours later killed a third before being felled in a shootout, the Israeli army said, in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a "severe and extraordinary incident." The Egyptian military said the shootout occurred while the officer, who has now been identified as Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, was pursuing drug smugglers across the border. Cross-border attacks are rare between...
(JTA) — Israel’s health ministry tweeted that Elon Musk was engaging with “fake news” regarding COVID-19 data, the third Israeli government ministry to comment on the Twitter owner’s views in recent weeks. Musk had replied to a tweet from Zero Hedge, a far-right blog site that features conspiracy theories and has been accused of spreading Russian propaganda. The tweet claimed Israeli data showed “zero young healthy individuals died of COVID-19.” The billionaire businessman wrote “Zero …” In response, the health ministry wrote: “Elon, unfortunat...
Israeli man killed in shooting as West Bank violence continues (JTA) — An Israeli man was killed in a terror attack on Tuesday in the northern West Bank, the latest in a string of violent incidents in the territory this year. The Israel was identified as Meir Tamari, 32, a resident of the nearby settlement of Hermesh. He was shot while driving on a road close to the settlement and was treated by medics before his death was confirmed. Israeli forces have closed off roads in the area in order to find the attacker. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade c...
(JNS) - Trans activists failed in their efforts to cancel a talk by U.S. journalist Abigail Shrier to promote the Hebrew-language translation of her 2020 book "Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters." Activists' threats did succeed in driving the May 28 event out of Tel Aviv. Sella Meir, the Hebrew publisher, first intended to hold the book launch at the ZOA House cultural center, then moved it to Social Space, another Tel Aviv location, before transferring it to the c...
(JNS) - New York City Mayor Eric Adams made the controversy surrounding a law student's antisemitic remarks in a May 12 CUNY commencement speech his first order of business in his remarks at Gracie Mansion on May 31. Addressing a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the official mayoral residence, he railed against City University of New York Law School graduate Fatima Mohammed. The student's commencement remarks, which heavily criticized the New York Police Department where Adams once...
(JNS) - Thousands of participants from around the world joined the "March of Nations" event in Jerusalem to celebrate Israel's 75th year of independence. The event was organized by March of Life, an initiative founded by Jobst and Charlotte Bittner and the evangelical TOS Ministries from Tübingen, Germany. The southwestern German university town served as the training ground for the Einsatzgruppen, the SS death squads that murdered 700,000 Jews, primarily by shooting, during the Holocaust. Joine...
The Torah scroll is one of the Jewish people's most sacred objects. It has 304,805 handwritten letters. With a feather and special mix for ink, the scribe writes the five books of Moses on roughly 54 pieces of parchment. The average process takes over a year to produce the beautiful workmanship of a Torah Scroll. The writing of the scroll follows a strict set of laws that Jewish tradition has maintained for over 3300 years going back to the time of Moses. When a scroll is completed, it calls...
(JNS) — Celebrations were underway across Israel on Thursday for Jerusalem Day, the national holiday commemorating the city’s reunification in the Six-Day War. The main feature of the celebrations is the annual flag march in which tens of thousands of people waving Israeli flags walk through the streets of Jerusalem to symbolize the city’s unity. This year the parade followed the traditional route, departing from downtown and proceeding along King George and Agron streets before reaching the walls of the Old City. After this, the march split...
Heritage Florida Jewish News is accepting nominations for the 2023 Heritage Human Service Award, which will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando this summer. “For more than 30 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, time, energy and effort to the Central Florida community have been honored with the selection and presentation of this award,” said Jeff Gaeser, editor and publisher of the Heritage. Last year’s recipient was Dr. Edward Zissman. Former recip...
(JTA) — Citing “a major crisis in Jewish education,” Israel’s Diaspora ministry plans to pour about $40 million into training educators at Jewish schools in the United States and Canada. Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of Diaspora affairs, announced the initiative, called “Aleph Bet” after the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, on Monday. He hopes enrollment will increase at Jewish day schools, fearing that “we are losing large parts of the Jewish people,” and said the initiative would “focus on training teachers for Jewish educatio...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Biden administration said a visit to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount by Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, was “provocative” and cautioned against changes at the contested holy site. Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount, which Muslims revere as the Noble Sanctuary, on Sunday morning, and declared that Israel was “in charge” of the sensitive site. The visit came days after Thursday’s annual “Flag March” through Jerusalem’s Old City, a right-wing parade that celebrates Jerusalem Day and perennially featu...
(JNS) — In a seemingly never-ending war of narratives, the Palestinians got center stage on Monday at the United Nations, though Israel was victorious in dwindling the audience down. May 15 marked the first official U.N. “Nakba Day,” per a resolution that the U.N. General Assembly passed in December. In Arabic, the word means “disaster” or “catastrophe,” in relation to the establishment of modern-day Israel on May 14, 1948. The ceremonies took place Monday morning at the United Nations, despite the history of the alleged “catastrophe...
(JNS) — Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan on Sunday sent a personal letter to all member state representatives urging them not to attend a “Nakba Day” event scheduled for the next day. Erdan characterized as “abominable” the planned event at the U.N. General Assembly in New York that commemorates what the Palestinians call the “catastrophe” of Israel’s establishment in 1948, saying that it destroys the prospects of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It is marked annually on May 15, the day after the nascent Jewish st...
