Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — For the second year in a row, the Jewish Federations of North America decided to go virtual, condensing its traditional multiple-day General Assembly into a 90-minute online video stream on Sunday due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The conference highlighted the fact that despite an unusual year-and-a-half, JFNA has had more to do than ever in the midst of the COVID crisis and a worldwide rise in anti-Semitism. Multiple speakers noted the goal of strengthening Jewish communities, both in identity and physical security. Despite t...
Kenneth Hanson, professor and program director of Judaic Studies, was invested into the Tess and Abe Wise Endowed Professorship in Judaic Studies on Thursday, Sept. 30, in a virtual ceremony. The endowed faculty position, which was established thanks to generous gifts from Tess and Abe Wise and their family, recognizes Hanson's accomplishments and will allow him to advance his work and research. Hanson is an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the co-editor of "The Annotated Passover Haggadah"...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Jewish Federations of North America is launching a campaign to expand its security program to every federation in the country, an initiative that will cost $54 million. JFNA CEO Eric Fingerhut announced the initiative on Monday at the organization’s General Assembly in Washington. The new funding, to be raised over three years, will assist the 101 communities that have faced fundraising obstacles in establishing the security points in their communities so they too can join LiveSecure, a program launched after a spate of...
Using history, Talmudic sources, Jewish mysticism, and contemporary expert analysis, the course addresses some of the niggling questions we grapple with as individuals and as a community. Why does antisemitism persist? How can we make hate go away? How can we counter Israel-focused antisemitism and prevent our own youth from unwittingly lending their voices to antisemitic agendas? "Many Jews are anxious about rising antisemitism today and worry about how to respond to it," Rabbi Mendy Bronstein...
The tree of life is a symbol of a fresh start on life, positive energy, good health and a bright future. It is a symbol of immortality and a symbol of growth and strength. A tree grows old, yet it bears seeds that contain its very essence and in this way, the tree becomes immortal. In 2019, the leadership of the Jewish Pavilion determined that they would like to add a Tree of Life to the office décor and worked with Joanne Fink of Zenspirations to design the tree. Fink's response was...
With the Delta variant still not allowing so many to join the holiday celebrations, the Majeskys of Chabad North Orlando found an innovative and fun way to bring Sukkot to them. Rabbi Yanky and Chanshy Majesky and their children, rode their "Sukkah on a Bike '' from door to door giving community members the chance to be in a sukkah and to do the mitzvah of Lulav and Esrog. "I was looking out the window and thought I was dreaming," said Jerry B. "There was a sukkah pulling into my driveway." For...
JFS Orlando is currently enrolling new households from Orange County, City of Orlando and Seminole County for its Family Stabilization Program. The Family Stabilization Program is a preventative, six-month case management program. The program is designed for families to obtain self-sufficiency by teaching them critical skills and tools to resolve crises and avoid future hardships while achieving long-term stability. The program’s primary objectives are to improve financial management skills, employability, family stability and mental health fun...
Local resident Sandi Solomon has been painting for many years. She had so many works of art that she displayed them on all the walls of her home. Now she has them on exhibit at JamArt Gallery, located at 304 Live Oaks Blvd., Casselberry. Solomon’s artwork will be on display through the month of October....
(Cleveland Jewish News via JNS) — Someone in a vehicle reportedly threw a beer bottle at a 13-year-old Fuchs Mizrachi School student in an Orthodox neighborhood in University Heights, Ohio, and screamed, “F******g Jews, you’re f*****g idiots, Jews,” and then drove away. Naava Prero had just gotten off a public school bus at the corner of Milton and Groveland roads at about 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday when the reported incident took place. As the bus pulled away, another vehicle pulled up to the girl, her mother, Rachel Prero, told the Clevela...
(Israel21c via JNS) — The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine loses considerable effectiveness six months after the second dose, according to new Israeli research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study echoes findings published by Pfizer and Kaiser Permanente in Lancet earlier in the week, showing the vaccine’s effectiveness drops from 88 to 47 percent after six months. This study also proved the vaccine 90 percent effective for at least six months at preventing hospitalization of infected people. The Israeli study inv...
(JNS) — Hillel International has teamed up with the Anti-Defamation League and the Secure Community Network to launch an online portal where college students can report anti-Semitic incidents on their campus and receive immediate support. The creation of ReportCampusHate.org is in response to the growing threats of anti-Semitism on college campuses. Hillel International recorded 244 anti-Semitic incidents on college and university campuses last year, up from 181 the year before. It also comes after a recent survey found that 74 percent of c...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Republican Sen. Rand Paul blocked an expedited vote to approve $1 billion in funding to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system and received swift criticism from an array of pro-Israel groups. Sen. Robert Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, launched a bid Monday to pass the bill by unanimous consent, a procedure that accelerates passage by minimizing debate. Paul objected, saying he wanted the funding to come out of money earmarked to assist Afghanistan as it recovers from yea...
(JNS) - A new campaign by The Jewish Chronicle calls for a British spy who saved 10,000 Austrian Jews during World War II to be recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Gentile. "It is not about how many lives but this man has received no recognition for quite literally saving Austria's Jewish community-I think it is as simple as that," said historian Helen Fry, who wrote about Col. Thomas Joseph Kendrick in the new biography Spymaster. "That is why I think it is important that people know his...
(JTA) — The award for best feature film at Israel’s Ophir Awards, the country’s top film honor and its automatic nominee for the foreign film category at the Oscars, went to “Let It Be Morning,” a film about an Arab-Israeli man forced to grapple with his identity as both Palestinian and Israeli. But most of the Palestinian stars of the film skipped the award ceremony Tuesday night, calling out what they described as appropriation of a Palestinian story. “In a normal situation, I would feel happiness and recognition for the prize, but to my dism...
PITTSBURGH (Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle via JTA) - Tahara, the act of washing and purifying the deceased, is paramount to Jewish burial. So when the pandemic descended on the United States in March 2020, members of a Pittsburgh-based Jewish burial society devoted to the practice made a difficult decision. Given fears of COVID-19 transmission, members of the New Community Chevra Kadisha stopped traveling to funeral homes and performing the sacred act of tahara in person. Instead of physically...
(JNS) - Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid inaugurated the Jewish state's embassy in Bahrain on Thursday, a year after the two countries signed the Abraham Accords to normalize ties. "Bahrain, like Israel, encompasses an ancient history along with extraordinary capabilities of the new technological world. Our opportunities are shared, our threats are shared, and they are not far from here," Lapid said in a joint press conference with his Bahraini counterpart, Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin...
More than Facebook crashing, news in Israel this week has been about the vague announcement and gripping story of efforts to locate Ron Arad, an Israeli Air Force officer who has been missing in action since October 1986. Ron Arad was a 28-year-old Lieutenant Colonel whose plane crashed during a mission over Lebanon. It is believed he is dead, though there are conflicting reports as to when and how he died. Arad and his pilot Yishai Aviram ejected from their plane, damaged when a bomb apparently exploded prematurely. Aviram was located and...
(JTA) — When Rivka Taub Rivera decided to apply for a religious exemption to New York City’s vaccine mandate for teachers, she didn’t turn to the rabbis of Borough Park, the Orthodox neighborhood in Brooklyn where she lives. Instead, she asked Michoel Green, a Chabad rabbi who has openly opposed vaccination, to submit the required letter from a clergy member. Based in Massachusetts, Green was disaffiliated by a Chabad organization because of his anti-vaccination social media posts and has become a folk hero for some Orthodox Jews who oppos...
(JNS) Basketball player Deni Avdija was the talk of the town in Israeli and Jewish circles last season. The 19-year-old Israeli was drafted No. 9 in the first round of the NBA draft by the Washington Wizards and was off to a fairly impressive start until he fractured his right ankle on April 21 during a game against the Golden State Warriors. Avdija, now 20, has been recovering and rehabilitating, and is cleared to return for his second year in the NBA. He will play on the same Wizards team,...
London lawmakers reject plan for high-rise building next to historic synagogue By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) — City council members in London voted against a controversial plan to build a high-rise building near an 18th-century synagogue. The plan by developers would have replaced a seven-story building adjacent to the Bevis Marks synagogue in central London with a 48-story tower. The plan was rejected on Tuesday in a vote by a vote of 14-7, the BBC reported. The custodians of the synagogue, which today serves the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish c...
BERLIN (JTA) — Last year, as Rabbi Rebecca Blady approached the first anniversary of the Yom Kippur attack on a synagogue in Halle, Germany, she knew she wanted to commemorate it on her own terms. Blady runs Base Hillel Deutschland, an organization for young Jews in Berlin, and was praying in the Halle synagogue on Yom Kippur in 2019 when a gunman attempted to break down the door. The gunman then went on to kill two people nearby, and is now serving a life sentence in prison. Rather than suffice with the state-organized memorial on the a...
(JNS) - "Hands out of your pockets, sir!" barked a U.S. Secret Service agent at a bewildered pedestrian as Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett walked down the Fifth Avenue sidewalk in New York City, accompanied by a large entourage of Secret Service and Shin Bet agents, aides and reporters. A long motorcade of Black Secret Service Suburbans and police cars rolled alongside with blue lights flashing, keeping pace with the walkers. It was the eve of Shemini Atzeret, and Bennett had just come...
The year is 1144 and in England, a Christian boy was found dead in the woods with stab wounds. The Jews were accused of ritually murdering the boy and with this began the long ugly history of the Blood Libel. Though proven false time and time again, this lie reared its ugly head hundreds of times alleging that Jews would reenact the crucifixion every Easter or that they needed Christian blood for their Passover Matzah. Besides the obvious biblical commandment prohibiting murder, and the...
(JNS) - A state-of-the-art security command center was unveiled this week by the Secure Community Network to ensure that the Jewish community is prepared in the event of any violence or threats. Dubbed the National Jewish Security Operations Command Center, JSOCC, was built with funding by private donors and gives the SCN - the security arm of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations - a high-tech, centralized location where...
(JNS) — In his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas demanded that Israel return to its pre-1967 borders or face consequences. “If the Israeli occupation authorities continue to entrench the reality of one apartheid state as is happening today, our Palestinian people and the entire world will not tolerate such a situation,” he said in a pre-recorded video. “Circumstances on the ground will inevitably impose equal and full political rights for all on the land of historical Palestine, within...
