Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Israel’s controversial Oscar submission gets snubbed on the 2022 Academy shortlist By Tom Tugend LOS ANGELES (JTA) — There was no holiday cheer for Israel’s filmmakers in the shortlists for the 2022 Academy Awards. The country’s official submission for this year’s Best International Feature Oscar, “Let It Be Morning,” was not among the 15 entries that made the cut in the category, despite being helmed by a pedigreed director (Eran Kolirin, of “The Band’s Visit” fame) and attracting global attention for its all-Palestinian cast. The movie, wh...
Hadassah Orlando presents author Yvonne David at its Jan. 4 monthly in-person meeting at 11:30 a.m. at Congregation Ohev Shalom, 613 Concourse Parkway South, Maitland, 32751. David will discuss her award-winning historical fiction, “The Apple Tree Series.” The books in “The Apple Tree Series” follow the Bieman Family over four generations in the Catskills Region of New York. Filled with spirituality and spirit, humor and heart these stories detail the importance of the Catskill Mountains in Jewish-American history. Reservations are require...
(JTA) - A Swiss-Jewish artist has asked the Zurich Art Museum to return her paintings due to concerns that the museum features works bought for below-market prices from Jewish refugees in dire circumstances in the years leading up to and during the Holocaust. Miriam Cahn, 72, made her wishes known publicly this week, the Tachles Swiss-Jewish newspaper reported. "I no longer want to be represented at the Zurich Art Museum and would like to withdraw all of my work from it. I will buy them back at...
(JNS) - The last time Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, co-director of Chabad of the Bluegrass, had been in Hopkinsville, Ky., he was joined by thousands of other people to see a total eclipse. He returned to the area on Monday to find a much-changed landscape after a massive tornado ripped through the western part of the state on Dec. 10, rendering much of it temporarily uninhabitable. The tornado was one of a series of others that struck six Midwestern states on Dec. 10. "The kindness they had shown to...
"Do you love coffee? Do you love history? If the answer to any of those questions for you is "yes" as it is for me, then you don't want to miss this unique event," said Rabbi Yanky Majesky of Chabad North Orlando. "I know you'll enjoy the secret Jewish history of coffee with the "Caffeinated Rabbi" Moishy Korf." Participants of the evening will learn the Jewish history, Halachic discussions and Kabbalistic meaning of coffee as well as learn how to start drinking better coffee. We will have fun...
Stetson University spent the last four years growing its Jewish community. As shared before, Stetson now offers a Jewish studies minor, Kosher grab and go food on campus, and a thriving Jewish community at Stetson University Hillel. This investment in the Jewish community has led to an increase in enrollment, and our recognition as a university of choice among Jewish high school juniors and seniors can be seen in our ever-growing Jewish enrollment. “We know that the Jewish community has invested in Stetson, and we want to continue to invest b...
On Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando presented the Inaugural Michael McKee Volunteer Award. Held at the Winter Park Farmers' Market, the event recognized and celebrated McKee's years of dedication and leadership in support of JFS Orlando. McKee served on the Board of Directors since 2009 and was Board president from 2013 to 2018. In late 2018 through mid-2019, McKee served pro bono as interim executive director during JFS's transition, making it possible for...
A wonderful time was had by all on Friday, Dec. 3rd at the Cascade Heights Chanukah Shabbat party hosted by Jewish Pavilion. Residents and volunteers were dressed up in their Chanukah best. It was delightful to be a part of the Chanukah candle lighting and Shabbat ceremony. Mmmm Mmmm good, the potato latkes were delicious, our compliments to the chef!! Shown here are (l-r), Debbie Meitin, Shirley Schoenberger, Bernice Davids and Alex Lehrer. - Alexandra Lehrer, Jewish Pavilion...
(JNS) — The Council on American Islamic Relations is backing an organizational leader following a speech that national Jewish organizations are calling virulently antisemitic. During a speech at the American Muslims for Palestine’s 14th annual convention on Nov. 27, Zahra Billoo, the Pakistani-American director of CAIR California-San Francisco Bay Area, told the audience that “polite Zionist” organizations that support a two-state solution, condemn Islamophobia and promote interfaith cooperation, such as the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — It has been for decades a recurring confusion for some in Washington: does AIPAC, the country’s largest pro-Israel lobby, have a PAC? Not until today. The PAC in AIPAC stands for Public Affairs Committee, not political action committee. But after countless explanations over the years, the group is getting into the fundraising business. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Thursday launched a regular political action committee, which funnels $5,000 maximum donations to designated candidates per race, and a sup...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A bill that would create an Islamophobia monitor in much the same cast as the State Department’s antisemitism monitor cleared its first hurdle on Friday, after a House committee debate about antisemitism. The bill, whose lead sponsors were Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., one of three Muslims in Congress, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who is Jewish, was approved Friday by the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee along party lines, with the majority of Democrats voting for it. It now goes to the House floor. During an...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - "An intensification of Israeli military threats against Iran seems to suggest that the Zionist regime has forgotten that Iran is more than capable of hitting them from anywhere," began an article published Tuesday in the Tehran Times, a newspaper identified with the Iranian regime. The article ran under the headline "Just One Wrong Move!" and featured a "map of Israeli targets," which showed nearly every populated community in the country labeled with a red dot. The...
(JNS) — As many as 250 Britons stood outside of the headquarters of the publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation in London on Monday night to demand that it take accountability for anti-Jewish coverage on the network. There, they chanted “BBC, where the proof? BBC, tell the truth” in response to an on-air report during Chanukah about an attack on a bus full of Jewish teens in Central London. In its coverage of the event, according to Campaign Against Antisemitism, the BCC reported that...
(JNS) — In the last academic year, pro-Israel college students have felt vilified and ostracized as anti-Israel and anti-Zionism sentiment proliferates at schools nationwide, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League. Findings included in “The Anti-Israel Movement on U.S. Campuses, 2020-2021,” identify the campus anti-Israel movement as being led by student groups and certain professors. Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace continue to be two of the most influential anti-Israel campus groups, allied often...
(JTA) — Fox News removed a cartoon depicting George Soros as a puppet master from social media after the Anti-Defamation League called out the conservative news giant for peddling antisemitic tropes. “As we have told @FoxNewsnumerous times, casting a Jewish individual as a puppet master who manipulates national events for malign purposes conjures up longstanding antisemitic tropes about Jewish power and contributes to the normalization of antisemitism,” the ADL wrote Wednesday in a tweet. “This needs to be removed.” The cartoon, by A.F. Bran...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed at his private palace in Abu Dhabi on Monday in the first official visit by an Israeli premier to the United Arab Emirates. The growing economic ties between their two countries were on the official agenda, though analysts tell JNS that behind the scenes the key topic of Iran was likely front and center. The optics couldn’t have been better for Bennett. Upon arrival on Sunday, he was greeted by an honor guard and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zay...
UK lawmaker apologizes for evoking Nazi Germany in debate over COVID measures By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) — A lawmaker from the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party apologized for evoking Nazi Germany while criticizing restrictive measures meant to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Marcus Fysh, a former business executive who entered parliament in 2015 as a representative of the Yeovil constituency in western Britain, made the apology in an op-ed published Monday in the Jewish Chronicle. “I am sorry that during debate about the curre...
(Israel21C via JNS) — When it comes to the Miss Universe pageant, most people firmly belong in one of two categories: those who consider it to be a global celebration of women and beauty, and others who find it an old-fashioned, patriarchal event that belongs deep in the past. Whether you find it to be an incredible, sparkly international affair or not, there’s no disputing that this year, it’s one that’s (relatively) close to our hearts, being held as it is for the first time in Israel,...
(JTA) - Violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank are nothing new. But the phenomenon has reached alarming new level of frequency this year. Violent attacks perpetrated by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank exceeding last year's attacks by nearly 50 percent, according to a report by The Times of Israel. In 2021, there have been 397 attacks so far, compared to 272 in 2020, The Times of Israel reported based on data from the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency....
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando held meetings Dec. 12 and Dec. 13 (at the Roth Family JCC and Rosen JCC, respectively) to discuss the results of the community study, conducted by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University with the assistance of UNH Survey Center. The last study was done in 1993 – 28 years ago, and a lot has changed! There are 51,400 Jewish people (41,700 adults and 9,700 children) living in 25,500 Jewish households in Central Florida. In a...
(JNS) - Former longtime Kansas Republican senator, leader and 1996 GOP nominee for president Bob Dole died on Dec. 5 at the age of 98. Dole's death was announced by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation on Sunday morning, saying that Dole died in his sleep after it became known early this year that he had stage IV lung cancer. His passing was met with words of respect from a bipartisan swath of the Jewish community. Dole was the recipient of the Jewish Federations of North America's 2020 Lifetime...
(JTA) - Israeli officials are expected to attend the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing next year, unlike their American counterparts who will boycott the game to protest China's human rights abuses against the Uighur Muslim minority. Haaretz reported the news, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official who called the Americans' decision to boycott "bizarre." Earlier this week, the United States announced that no American officials would attend the games. The boycott only applies to diplomatic...
At the end of the first quarter as the spotlight glared at the stage, the Grand Menorah Lighting at Amyway Center captured the thousands of participants as Jewish musical artist Jimmy Levy from American Idol led with singing the Brochos. Chanukah Night gave the city of Orlando the opportunity to celebrate and share the fun spirit of Chanukah. The Grand Menorah was lit in the presence of thousands proclaiming the timeless message that light ultimately triumphs over darkness. "There is no better...
(JTA) - When she won the privilege of representing Puerto Rico in the Miss Universe contest, Michelle Marie Colon spoke of her pride in making history as the first Black woman from the territory to seize the honor. This week in Israel, where the contest is being held, she has been touting pride in another aspect of her heritage: her Jewish great-grandfather who escaped the Holocaust. Last week, Colon posted a photo of her holding hands with Noa Cochva, the Israeli entrant into the contest,...
After almost 2 years, this foursome was finally reunited. (l-r, standing) Jill Cousins, Dale Perreault and Debbie Meitin have been playing mahjong with Ruth (seated) for over six years. Ruth resides in Tuscawilla Nursing Home and they all look forward to their biweekly game. Throughout the pandemic, Jill, Dale and Debbie corresponded with Ruth many times, through phone calls and letters. Friendships and special bonds like this are very common through connections made through the Jewish...
