Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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IDF dismantles kilometer-long Hamas tunnel in Gaza By JNS Staff (JNS) — The IDF announced on Monday that it had destroyed a kilometer-long (0.6 miles) Hamas tunnel in the Beit Lahiya area amid its ongoing operations in northern and central Gaza. Separately, Israeli troops also uncovered a rocket production workshop, as well as launchers, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Dozens of terrorists have been eliminated, the military added. “IDF troops will continue to operate against terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to protect the citiz...
(JNS) - The Western Wall Heritage Foundation removed tens of thousands of prayer notes from Judaism's second-holiest site on April 2 in preparation for the Passover holiday, which starts on April 12. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites, oversaw the annual extraction of prayer notes, which will be buried alongside disposed sacred writings according to Jewish customs. "The removal was carried out according to halachic guidelines, using gloves and disposable wooden...
Temple Israel Sisterhood has recently taken their sense of camaraderie and creativity to new heights by organizing a series of exciting crafty events, including glass blowing at the Orlando Glass Blowing Center, pottery painting, and painting by numbers. These activities offered members a unique chance to come together, tap into their artistic side, and enjoy some much-needed relaxation. Glass Blowing at the Orlando Glass Blowing Center: A Spark of Creativity One of the most exciting and dynamic...
By Mike Wagenheim (JNS) — Former hostage Amit Soussana was decorated with an International Women of Courage Award by the U.S. State Department on April 1 as she called for a global effort to free the remaining captives held in Gaza. Soussana, who was sexually assaulted after being taken from her Kibbutz Kfar Aza home during Hamas’s rampage through southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was the only one of the eight award recipients asked to give a keynote speech. “While I am here, my friends remain in the darkness, 543 long days and nights,” said So...
(JTA) — As Sen. Cory Booker broke the record for the longest Senate speech and made clear he was going for 25 hours, Jewish social media lit up with jokes. “This is the closest Cory Booker will get to experiencing Yom Kippur,” tweeted Sami Sage, the co-founder of Betches Media, in one representative post. As Jews do on Yom Kippur, Booker fasted during his entire Senate speech, consuming only a few sips of water. He also apologized for his and his party’s errors that allowed Donald Trump to retake the presidency. And with the help of his Dem...
(JNS) — America’s youngest adults continue to be an outlier in their views of Hamas and Israel, according to a poll released on Monday. The Harvard Harris poll for March found that 48 percent of American 18- to 24-year-olds say they support Hamas over the Jewish state, making them the only age demographic for which Israel did not enjoy at least double-digit support over the terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. By contrast, 93 percent of Americans 65 and older say they support Israel compared to just 7 percent who say they support Hamas. Ove...
(JNS) — A 2,200-year-old pyramid-shaped structure from the days of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid rulers is being unearthed in the Judean Desert in one of the richest and most intriguing archaeological excavations in the area, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday. The mammoth structure discovered just north of Nahal Zohar near the Dead Sea is made of hand-hewn stones, each one weighing hundreds of kilograms, the state-run archaeological body said. Two millennia old historical documents written in Greek on papyrus, bronze coins, w...
(JNS) — Chocolate bars under the three-year-old snack brand Feastables, founded by YouTube star MrBeast, are now certified kosher by the Orthodox Union. Jimmy Donaldson, 26, who goes by MrBeast, boasts the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, with 375 million followers as of March 2025. The Orthodox Union certification of the bars as kosher and dairy began in February stateside. The company expects to roll out kosher bars in Canada and Mexico this spring and in Europe and Australia in the fall. “As the fastest-growing global chocolate brand, we...
(JTA) — The Nova music festival, where more than 350 people were murdered on Oct. 7, 2023, has quickly become one of the most visited tourist destinations in Israel. More than 200,000 people per month visited the site, at Kibbutz Reim near the Gaza border, on average over the last six months, according to Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund. If sustained, that pace would put Nova on track to draw more visitors than the Dead Sea or Tel Aviv’s Anu Museum, which focuses on the Jewis...
(JNS) — Avida Bachar, who lost his wife and 15-year-old son in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist assault on Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza border, called on the Israeli government to extend “full sovereignty” over Judea and Samaria to prevent another Oct. 7-like attack. “We must have full sovereignty here. If we don’t, another Oct. 7 is just a matter of time,” said the farmer, who lost a leg when a Hamas terrorist shot him during the cross-border assault. Bachar made the comment during a tour of Samaria with Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria R...
(JNS) — The European Union presents itself as a defender of democracy, fairness and human rights. It claims to promote peace and cooperation among nations. However, when it comes to Israel, the European Union shows a clear bias that contradicts these ideals. Israel is a strong democracy yet faces unfair treatment. In March 2024, Israel declared more than 1,900 acres of land in Judea and Samaria (commonly called the West Bank) as state property. The European Union strongly criticized this action, calling it “illegal” and threatening diplo...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — A deeply concerning trend has emerged in Norway, where Jewish community members fear seeking medical care due to growing anti-Israel sentiment among healthcare workers. In an unprecedented letter to health authorities, Jewish leaders warn that community members are hiding their identities in medical settings—a situation not experienced “since World War II.” The letter, signed by Marius Gaarder, chairman of the Jewish community in Oslo, and John Arne Moen from the Jewish community in Trondheim, raises alarming concern...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces is seizing territory in the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’s refusal to release the remaining 59 hostages, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Wednesday. “Last night in Gaza, we switched gears,” the premier said in a Hebrew-language video statement. “The IDF is seizing territory, striking the terrorists and destroying the infrastructure.” “We are also doing something else. We are seizing the Morag Corridor,” he said, calling the security strip “an additional Philadelphi Corridor.” Netany...
(JNS) — The United States opposes the candidacy of the Palestinian Authority for the presidency of the United Nations General Assembly. Riyad Mansour, the authority’s longtime “permanent observer” to the global body, is mounting a bid to helm the assembly presidency in 2026-27, despite the authority holding non-state “observer” status. The 22-member, U.N. Arab Group, which passed the nomination onto the 55-member Asia Pacific Group, backs the nomination. The latter group holds the rotating slot for the presidency in two years, based on re...
Delta resumes flights to Israel By JNS Staff (JNS) — Delta Air Lines is restarting flights to Israel on Tuesday, becoming the latest major carrier to renew service suspended due to the Israel-Hamas war. The moves comes two weeks after chief rival United Airlines resumed service to Tel Aviv, and ahead of the busy Passover and Easter travel season this month. The Atlanta-based Delta said it is restoring its daily flights to Tel Aviv from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The daytime service on Delta will add nearly 2,000 wee...
After rebuffing U.S. President Trump’s requests to absorb Palestinian civilians from Gaza, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has said he is willing to temporarily absorb half a million Gazans, according to the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper. Sisi made the remarks during meetings with other Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. After Sisi and King Abdullah of Jordan rejected Trump’s request that they absorb 2 million Gazans during a planned reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, Egypt formulated its own proposal for rebuilding and gov...
If you’re looking for a home-cooked Passover meal, then join Temple Israel for a meaningful second-night Seder filled with fabulous food and friends. The date is April 13, at 5 p.m. Rabbi Joshua Neely includes all ages in this meaningful and participatory Seder that blends tradition with modern-day relevance. “The Seder tells us each year to feel as though we too were slaves in Egypt before our liberation. The last year and a half has made it easier for Jews around the world to empathize with our ancestors and all who are oppressed. To dee...
Chana Ben-Abraham, Gotlib Jewish Academy Head of School, announced that Jacqueline Drazen McGrail will be joining the school as the new Director of School Operations, beginning the week of March 24. In this role, she will oversee business operations, admissions, marketing, fundraising, and school events, taking on responsibilities previously managed by the executive director as part of a realignment of administrative duties to strengthen the school's growth and operations. McGrail brings over a...
(JTA) — Almost one in four U.S. adults raised Jewish do not identify as religiously Jewish anymore, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. The study, published March 26, surveyed “religious switching” around the world, and found that significant percentages of people raised in religious homes in the United States and internationally are now religiously unaffiliated. Smaller numbers have converted to another religion. Among Americans raised Jewish, 17 percent now describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated. An addit...
(JTA) — Nearly 80 members of Congress from both parties are calling for the Trump administration to end a freeze on security funding for religious institutions. The halt to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, or NSGP, began recently as part of an overall funding freeze on FEMA, the federal disaster relief agency. Synagogues, schools and Jewish community centers have long relied on the funding, which goes to religious institutions of all kinds, to pay for measures like security cameras or bollards to protect their buildings. “At a time whe...
(JNS) — The U.S. Department of Education sent notices to 60 universities on Monday warning that they could face consequences if they fail to meet their obligations, under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, to protect Jewish college students from harassment. Linda McMahon, the U.S. education secretary, stated that university leaders must do more to combat Jew-hatred on campus. “The department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eru...
(JNS) — Representatives from seven countries released a statement condemning the “reprehensible acts of hostage-taking and unjust detention.” The “Joint Statement on Unjust Detention” was released by representatives from the United States, Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Israel and the United Kingdom at a bilateral meeting in Big Sky, Mont., on Tuesday, according to the U.S. State Department. “These acts are a flagrant affront to human rights. Perpetrators of these practices shatter lives and communities, undermine peace, and threaten gl...
(JNS) — The University of Pittsburgh, a more than 235-year-old public school in Pennsylvania, placed the campus Students for Justice in Palestine chapter on “interim suspension of registration” on Tuesday, the Pitt News, a student publication, reported. “Individuals acting on behalf of SJP” engaged “improperly” in “communications to members of the conduct hearing board,” Jamey Mentzer, associate director of student conduct at the highly-ranked university, reportedly wrote to the student group’s leaders. “This suspension has no specified end dat...
(JNS) — Egg prices remain high in much of the United States following an avian flu outbreak that led to the loss of many egg-laying chickens and has caused an ensuing egg shortage a month before the holidays of Passover and Easter in April, when eggs take center stage. Limited supplies as a result of what is commonly called the “bird flu” are related to the loss of many egg-laying chickens. According to CBS News, more than 148 million birds have been ordered euthanized since the current strain of bird flu was first detected in 2022. Curre...
(JTA) — Days after Yeshiva University announced that it would recognize a club supporting LGBTQ students, its president said the values espoused by a typical “Pride” club are “antithetical” to the school. Rabbi Ari Berman also claimed that the Modern Orthodox school’s decision to allow an LGBTQ club, after years of fighting in court not to recognize one, did not represent a reversal. He apologized for how the school had initially communicated the announcement. “I deeply apologize to the members of our community — our students and parents, al...
