Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) - Could the new owner of Ben & Jerry's Israeli business interests rename a flavor "Judea and Samaria"? Avi Zinger, who bought the company's Hebrew and Arabic branding from parent company Unilever last month, recently told an Israeli news outlet that he had the right to do so, and even proposed renaming "Chunky Monkey" to the biblical name for the West Bank. And that threat, Ben & Jerry's lawyers say, is reason enough why the sale shouldn't legally go through. "If Ben & Jerry's wanted to pr...
(JNS) — Newfound technology enables the use of nanoparticles to assist the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. The technology, developed by a research team at Bar-Ilan University, uses nanoparticles to eliminate obstacles in the malignant tumor’s environment that impede the normal activity of natural killer cells (a special sub-type of white blood cells called lymphocytes). The research was published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. Natural killer cells are a potent defense weapon of the body that assists the immune system in it...
The judge who signed the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago warrant is facing violent antisemitic threats By Madeline Fixler (JTA) — Bruce Reinhart, the federal judge in Florida who signed the warrant allowing the FBI to raid former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property on Tuesday, has been hit with a wave of antisemitic threats online. The outburst has appeared on right-wing social media platforms and message boards, where users have published the judge’s name, address and personal information. Threats have been directed at his children and supposed fami...
(JNS) — Shortly after Cairo helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Egyptian diplomat let loose a barrage on Israel on the international stage. At Monday afternoon’s emergency session at the U.N. Security Council, Egyptian Ambassador to the United Nations Osama Abdel Khalek surprisingly tore into Israel, hours after his Israeli counterpart praised Egypt for mediating a halt of violence. Abdel Khalek made no mention of PIJ during his speech, labeling all Gazans killed in the weekend’s clashes as “martyrs,” with...
(JTA) — When Deborah Lipstadt recently met with a Saudi diplomat, she recalled, “He stood up and he said to me, ‘I come from a city where there were Jews.’” That interaction in Saudi Arabia, a country that has been widely criticized for its human rights abuses, was a highlight of Lipstadt’s recent Middle East trip, her first tour as the U.S. State Department’s special envoy for antisemitism, which she recounted in a virtual briefing Monday. She characterized the interaction as cordial — but it also spoke to the costs of the sentiments that...
The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous has appointed veteran educator Andrew Buchanan as its senior education program associate. Buchanan joins the foundation after more than 21 years teaching middle and high school students about the Holocaust. He will report to JFR Executive Vice President Stanlee Stahl. The JFR continues its work of providing monthly financial assistance to more than 130 aged and needy Righteous Gentiles, living in 13 countries. Since its founding, the JFR has provided more than $42 million to aged and needy rescuers – h...
(JNS) - A total of 700 Jewish teens from 32 communities in seven countries completed a life-changing seminar in Israel as part of a year-long Diller Teen Fellowship, an immersive leadership program for teenagers from across the world. The three-week program included a Shabbaton retreat, a "Community Week" and a "Global Congress" with all 700 teens (including 350 international Fellows gathering with 350 Israeli Fellows) for a period of cultural exchange, exploration of Jewish peoplehood and...
(JTA) - All but one of the family members of the 11 Israeli athletes murdered during the 1972 Munich Olympics are planning to boycott a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the incident, calling the financial compensation that the German government will offer them "a joke." According to a German government memo obtained by The New York Times, various agencies have thus far paid a total of 4.6 million euros ($4.8 million) to the families, and Germany is expected to offer an additional 5.4...
The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday was preparing for a "week of fighting" against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, as terrorists in the enclave fired over 1000 rockets at the Jewish state within 48 hours. The IDF said that the Iron Dome missile defense system had successfully intercepted 95 percent of the projectiles fired by PIJ that were headed for populated regions. One projectile struck a family home in Sderot, whose inhabitants had secured themselves in a shelter and were...
(JTA) - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ratcheted up the fight over the state's new 15-week abortion ban Thursday when he suspended a Tampa-area state attorney who had vowed not to prosecute violations. The move also vaulted yet another Jewish figure into the fight's foreground. Andrew Warren, the state attorney for Hillsborough County, had joined more than 90 other attorneys nationwide in pledging not to prosecute individuals who seek or provide abortions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's...
Congregation Ohev Shalom is extremely excited to announce the arrival of its new spiritual leader, Rabbi Geoffrey Spector. Rabbi Geoffrey Spector from Livingston, N.J., where he was the senior rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston for 17 years. Prior to that, he served as the spiritual leader of Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation in Metairie, Louisiana. Rabbi Spector is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in Jewish Studies. He received his rabbinical ordination...
Terrorists in the Gaza Strip on Sunday night fired heavy barrages of rockets at southern and central Israel, including at Tel Aviv, ahead of an Egypt-mediated ceasefire between the sides that was slated to come into effect at 11:30 p.m. local time. Just eight minutes after the ceasefire took effect, Islamic Jihad terrorists fired more rockets at southern Israeli communities. Since then, the ceasefire seems to be holding as Israelis are experiencing much needed quiet. According to several media reports, the Israeli government had agreed to an...
Founder and Director Loren London and Director of Employment and Education Rachel Slavkin have been busy during these summer months promoting RAISE (Recognizing Abilities and Inclusion of Special Employees). They are actively expanding to South Orlando this year and look forward to having a RAISE presence there soon. The expansion is not only to South Orlando. They are continuing to launch ‘RAISE on the Road’ in order to replicate the RAISE program model in other Jewish communities. London and Slavkin have met with leaders in interested cit...
(JTA) — The chair of a county Democratic Party in Michigan apologized after the group made a social media post reading “Zionists have no place in office,” apparently meant to support a member of Congress, Rep. Andy Levin, who identifies as a Zionist. Washtenaw County Democratic Party chair Chris Savage issued an apology Saturday for the TikTok post, which was sent Friday by the @WashtenawDems account and referenced the millions of dollars’ worth of pro-Israel money that has flowed into Michigan’s 11th District primary. The race, a redistric...
(JNS) — Despite repeated refrains by Biden administration officials that negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear deal cannot go on indefinitely, which the U.S. president himself reiterated during the Israel leg of his Middle East trip in mid-July, Washington has refused to set a deadline for ending talks even though they appear to be on life support and are possibly unsalvagable given Tehran’s recent claims that it could easily build a bomb. Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Washington, D.C.-based Foundation for Defense of Dem...
(JNS) — Attempts at mediation in the lawsuit filed by the board of ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry’s against its parent company Unilever for transferring the rights to produce its ice-cream in Israel to an Israeli distributor have failed. According to the New York Post, an attorney from Ben & Jerry’s wrote a letter to U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter asking to restore the company’s request for a preliminary injunction, as no agreement could be reached between the two sides to settle the case out of court. Another letter, from attorneys represe...
(JTA) – AIPAC marked its second major defeat of the Democratic primary cycle this week, as one of the two Democratic House candidates in the Detroit area that it backed failed to win his Tuesday primary. Michigan state Sen. Adam Hollier had more than $4 million spent on his behalf by AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, before narrowly losing his primary battle for Michigan’s 13th district to state Rep. Shri Thanedar. With about 68 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday, Thanedar was leading Hollier by five percentage point...
PONTIAC, Michigan (JTA) — A Jewish political dynasty’s four-decade run in Congress has come to an end after Rep. Andy Levin conceded to Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s 11th congressional district Tuesday. Stevens’ decisive win concluded a bank-busting primary that attracted more than $4 million in pro-Israel outside spending to a face-off between two incumbents in the Detroit suburbs. “She ran a strong campaign,” Levin told his supporters. “My hat’s off to her.” He pledged to support Stevens in the general election. In his concession speech...
On Aug. 3 Jewish Funeral Group launched OrlandoJewishFunerals.com in partnership with Allen J. Harden Funeral Home, a StoneMor, Inc. property. The interactive resource provides comprehensive support, education, and information for those planning or searching for funeral services to understand and choose traditions and rituals appropriate for them. With a Jewish population of more than 50,000 in the Greater Orlando area, OrlandoJewishFunerals.com is the go-to resource for families in need of funeral and burial planning services and information....
(JNS) — The White House’s liaison to the Jewish community Chanan Weissman announced on Wednesday that he was stepping down from the role. In a news release from the White House, Weissman wrote that he was transitioning to a new role in the U.S. State Department and said farewell as point person for the last year. “I am honored beyond words to have served in this capacity on behalf of an administration I so deeply admire and as a link to a community with whom I so deeply identify,” he wrote. “As I wrap up my time, I’m excited to hand over the ba...
(JTA) — When Benjamin Netanyahu, then Israel’s prime minister, failed to meet his own deadline to announce a plan to annex portions of the West Bank during the summer of 2020, it wasn’t just his usual critics and advocates for the prompt creation of a Palestinian state who breathed a sigh of relief. The missed deadline was also a relief to insiders at the Trump White House, who knew that annexation would derail their ambitious effort to make peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. In fact, the very afternoon of the annexation deadlin...
Trial over ‘dissolution’ of Jewish Agency activities in Russia set for Aug. 19 (JNS) — A Moscow court on Thursday set an Aug. 19 trial date that could result in the “dissolution” of the Jewish Agency’s activities in Russia, even as an Israeli delegation was in the Russian capital in a bid to resolve an issue that has created a major diplomatic spat between the two countries. The Russian Justice Ministry earlier this month sent a letter to the Jewish Agency outlining a list of demands that created the legal basis for Thursday’s initial heari...
(JNS) - The Jewish Agency, which helps Jews immigrate to Israel, stands on shaky ground in Russia, as a Moscow court is set to hold a trial on its dissolution August 19. Even though it's operating under a cloud of uncertainty, and immigration to Israel has skyrocketed, the Agency continues to operate business as usual, JNS has learned from a government source familiar with the matter. Since the outbreak of the war on Ukraine in February, 19,100 Russians have immigrated to Israel, a leap from...
(JNS) - "If you could change anything in this world, what would it be?" asked NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom, while seated among 30 Jewish, Christian and Muslim, children during a break in the action at a youth basketball camp he was helping to run this week at the YMCA in Jerusalem. To Freedom's delight, the most popular answer given by the children was: "We would want peace!" The 11-year NBA veteran, who currently is a free agent and a well-known human rights activist, was in Israel to lead...
(JNS) — The Jewish Federations of North America has announced the launch of a Ukrainian Resettlement Grant Initiative to support refugees seeking safety in the United States. The new funding is in addition to the more than $70 million that JFNA has already pledged to help resettle refugees from Ukraine abroad. “The Jewish people have been refugees in so many countries, yet we have been blessed with freedom and protection in the United States,” said Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of JFNA. “Supporting refugees and vulnerable populat...
