Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 3978 - 4002 of 11388
(JTA) — A Jewish man who asked for a new trial on the grounds that the judge who sentenced him to death was antisemitic will be granted a new trial. Randy Halprin, 44, was originally set to be executed on Oct. 10, 2019 but won a stay from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after he alleged that the judge who presided over his 2003 murder trial was biased against Jews and referred to him using antisemitic slurs, including “f—in’ Jew” and “k-ke.” The stay sent Halprin’s case back to Dallas County, where Judge Lela Lawrence Mays heard Halprin’s...
(Israel InSight via JNS) - The Northeast Alabama Cherokee held a ceremony on Sept. 25 in Guntersville, Ala., to establish a relationship with Israel. There, the tribe presented a resolution, unanimously passed by the Tribal Council, recognizing the "sovereign Jewish nation" of Israel, with Jerusalem as its "eternal undivided capital." "We vow our full support in the pursuit of the peace of Jerusalem and the Nation of Israel by whichever means may be necessary," it said. The event, centered...
(JNS) — Michael Oren says he has been “integrally linked to the Jewish Agency” for years. The former Israeli ambassador to the United States and former Knesset member is one of eight candidates to head the organization. He has a long history with the Jewish Agency for Israel, which he hopes will continue with him at its helm. According to Oren, 66, the Jewish Agency used to be viewed “as a sinecure for politicians.” “That practice seriously impaired [its] image and effectiveness,” he said. “It would be tragic if now, at this most critical t...
Israeli activists, philanthropists and aid workers have helped rescued 125 Afghans at risk from Taliban retribution in a complex and hush hush operation that happened earlier this month. The Afghans, which include judges, human rights activities, journalists, TV presenters, scientist, artists, diplomats, artists and even cyclists, arrived in Albania on October 2nd, after being evacuated from Afghanistan to a neighboring country. The operation took weeks to arrange and was a collaborative effort...
MAITLAND — The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida announces the exhibit Uprooting Prejudice: Conversations for Change, a first-of-its-kind exhibit that examines the indelible link between antisemitism and racism as told through the unique perspective of award-winning blues musician Daryl Davis. The exhibit opened Oct. 15. Davis has dedicated his life to fighting white supremacy by getting to know and de-radicalizing former members of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. He accomplishes these transformations through the power...
The men in this community are in for another year of a great prime rib dinner catered by Arthur's, top-shelf drinks and entertainment by the hilarious comedian Dennis Regan. "With the help of premium sponsors Alan Ginsburg an Aaron Gorovitz, as well as Platinum sponsor The Pargh Foundation, we are confident that this will be the best MNO year," said one of the organizers of the event. This one-of-a-kind event is organized by the Men's Clubs of Congregation Beth Am, Temple Israel, Congregation...
The Rosen JCC in Dr. Phillips is excited to partner in these two new events for the Orlando community. USA Memory Championship The USA Memory Championship is an annual competition that takes place this year on Saturday, Oct. 23, noon, at the Rosen JCC, as a Town Square offering for the community. Designed to test the limits of the human brain, the USA Memory Championship is an organized competition in which Memory Athletes attempt at memorizing as much information as possible from names and faces, to cards, to random numbers. The Rosen JCC is...
The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando is hosting a Zoom meeting on Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. about DNA and the surprises discovered through DNA testing. Put “DNA testing surprises” into your search engine, and you get almost 7 million results. A Pew Research Center survey in 2019 found that about 15 percent of U.S. adults have used a mail-in DNA testing service. Of those, about a quarter said they learned about close relatives they didn’t know they had — in other words, a DNA surprise. This program is about one of those surprises when a do...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Yair Lapid got what he wanted out of his Washington visit: the word “every,” instead of “other.” During Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s first meeting with President Biden in August, the American president, despite his desire to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, said that if Iran does not engage in good faith diplomacy with the nations involved in the deal, the U.S. would consider “other options” in getting Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions. It was a sign that Israel and U.S. Democrats, long far apart in their opinions o...
By (JTA) — Teachers in a Texas school district were told last week that a new state law requiring them to present multiple perspectives about “widely debated and currently controversial” issues meant they needed to make “opposing” views on the Holocaust available to students. NBC News obtained an audio recording of the official, the Carroll Independent School District’s executive director of curriculum and instruction, speaking to the teachers about how to work under the constraints of the new law, known as House Bill 3979. The law was passed...
(JTA) — In an interview that aired on HBO, both of the founders of the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand reiterated that they stand behind the company’s decision to stop selling their products in Judea and Samaria. But for Jerry Greenfield, being accused of antisemitism is “painful.” For Ben Cohen, it’s “absurd.” “I think Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever are being characterized as boycotting Israel, which is not the case at all. It’s not boycotting Israel in any way,” Greenfield said in an interview with Axios that aired on its HBO show Sunday night. The...
(JTA) — After months of controversy and tens of thousands of public comments, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed off on legislation that eventually will require students to pass at least one course in ethnic studies in order to graduate from California high schools. Under the law, schools will have to offer at least one class in ethnic studies by 2025, and the graduation requirement will go into effect in 2029. Newsom’s signature on Friday caps an extended debate over the legislation, which was accompanied by a recommended curriculum tha...
The six finalists for the 2022 Genesis Prize have just been released. The Foundation is asking the global Jewish community to vote for their favorite. Last year, they engaged over 3 million people via social media and 200K from six continents voted. The Prize Committee then selected Steven Spielberg as our 2021 Laureate. The finalists for the 2022 Genesis Prize are: • Albert Bourla (Greece/US), Chairman and CEO of Pfizer, under whose leadership the company delivered a COVID vaccine in record time • Sacha Baron Cohen (UK), Award-winning act...
In Mel Pearlman’s Everywhere column titled “Live streaming during the holidays” in the Oct. 8 issue of Heritage, the word “pragmatic” in the last paragraph should have been “problematic.” The correct paragraph is: Although, I understand and respect that live-stream religious services may be problematic from a Halacha law perspective for the Orthodox community, its benefits to connect with unaffiliated Jews potentially make it an effective tool to discourage assimilation and increase support for Israel. Heritage received an email from Joseph P...
(JNS) — Hundreds of Google and Amazon employees have signed a public letter demanding that the tech giants cancel Project Nimbus, a billion-dollar contract to provide public cloud computing services to Israel. In the letter, published by The Guardian on Tuesday, the authors state that they were “morally obliged” to speak out against the project, calling on Amazon and Google to cancel the contract and sever all ties with the Israeli military. “We cannot look the other way, as the products we build are used to deny Palestinians their basic rights...
(JNS) - On the first of a three-day visit to Washington, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid made his rounds in Congress on Tuesday, highlighting the Israeli government's push for bipartisan support for Israel in the United States. Lapid met with a bipartisan group of U.S. House of Representative members in the early afternoon and held a brief press conference in a Capitol hallway with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Pelosi began by saying that the U.S.-Israeli relationship has always bee...
Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s Jewish AG, declares candidacy for governor (JTA) — Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania attorney general who made national headlines last year pushing back against attempts to reverse Joe Biden’s win in the state, is running for governor of the state. Shapiro, a Democrat who has deep roots in the Jewish community, made the long-expected announcement on Monday, The Associated Press reported. The incumbent governor, Tom Wolf, who cannot run for a third term, said as long ago as 2019 that he favored Shapiro to succeed him....
(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....
