Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 68 - 92 of 96
(JNS) — A fraternity at the University of South Florida was suspended after photos circulated of a Feb. 11 event in which members of the group, including a Jewish student, reportedly had swastikas drawn on their “shirts or body parts.” Noting that the school’s rules against hazing and alcohol were violated at the off-campus “bid party” by the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, university officials said in a letter to the president of the fraternity that “the continual operations of the organization at USF likely pose an ongoing threat, disruption, o...
St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society presents a teaching among the most under-told stories in history — the Jewish history of St. Augustine. This important event shares the story of the Jewish people in the New World. The event is open to the community and is free. Register online via jcajax.org or call 904-730-2100, ext. 233....
(JNS) — Jewish groups and some politicians are decrying neo-Nazi activity that took place in Orlando, Fla., over the weekend, even as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis alleges his political enemies are trying to use the incident to “smear” him. On Saturday, some two dozen neo-Nazis from two hate groups, Goyim Defense League and National Socialist Movement, rallied in Orlando, calling Jews “the devil” and saying, “Jews rape children and drink their blood,” according to the watchdog group StopAntisemitism.com. They also hung flags with swastikas and bann...
(JTA) - Nikki Fried, the outspoken Jewish Democratic candidate running for governor in Florida, compared her rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis, to Hitler in an interview, prompting DeSantis supporters to defend his record on Jewish issues. Fried, Florida's current agriculture commissioner and a former marijuana lobbyist with ties to the state's Jewish community, made the comparison in an NPR interview on Friday. "He is doing everything possible to take power away from local governments, taking away...
(JTA) — Just ahead of Chanukah, the Jewish Federation of Broward County in Florida tried to purchase an ad on Facebook, a simple post calling attention to the problem of antisemitism as a part of a new nationwide campaign called “Shine a Light.” But Facebook’s automated system rejected the ad without explanation, leading federation officials to suspect the post was accidentally ensnared by a filter designed to block hate speech. “Unfortunately, Facebook inexplicably rejected our ads, presumably because they contained the words ‘hate’ and ‘anti-...
Michael A. Igel, chair of the Florida Commissioner's Task Force on Holocaust Education and Board Chair of The Florida Holocaust Museum, strongly denounces educators who claim there are two sides to the Holocaust. This comes on the heels of a Florida principal being reinstated despite refusing to acknowledge the Holocaust as a historical fact, and a Texas school administrator instructing teachers to balance Holocaust education with books denying the atrocities. Igel issued the following statement...
(JNS) The Florida State Board of Education adopted new civics and Holocaust-education standards for Florida’s public schools in July, which had been pushed by the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis. The new social-studies standards spell out what students should learn about civics and the Holocaust in their classes from kindergarten to 12th grade. Florida has required that students be taught about the Holocaust since 1994, but there had been no standards detailing what specifically should be covered and in what grade. The new standards aim to provi...
(ORLANDO, FL) — Investing two years of research and commitment, Laurie Cardoza-Moore, founder and president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations is grateful as both Civics and Holocaust Standards submitted by PJTN were approved late last week for adoption and use in Florida classrooms. She noted on the vote, “Our work in preserving America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and values in our children’s Civics education amid the national push towards Critical Race Theory will benefit the more than 1.8 million students in Florida classrooms — as will th...
(JNS) — The state of Florida notified Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, on Tuesday that it has 90 days to cease its “boycott of Israel” or face a ban on contracts and investments with the Sunshine State. The move is in response to the July 19 announcement that the ice-cream maker will stop selling its product in areas it calls “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” which includes the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem. It comes after Florida state officials held talks with Unilever’s investor-relations department on July 28 an...
(ORLANDO, FL) – Investing two years of research and commitment, Laurie Cardoza-Moore, founder and president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, is grateful as both Civics and Holocaust Standards submitted by PJTN were approved late last week for adoption and use in Florida classrooms. She noted on the vote, "Our work in preserving America's Judeo-Christian heritage and values in our children's Civics education amid the national push towards Critical Race Theory will benefit the more than 1.8...
This article will be updated as more names are identified by authorities in Florida. (JTA) - The Champlain Towers South building collapse is a national tragedy, one that has claimed nearly 20 lives so far and left over 140 still missing in the rubble as of Thursday. Among other groups, it struck a unique nexus of the American Jewish community in South Florida, home to a mix of Latin American immigrants, Israelis and retirees from the Northeast. The town of Surfside, the site of the collapse, is...
SURFSIDE, Fla. (JTA) - Nachman Shai's first visit to the United States as Israel's new minister for Diaspora affairs was not under normal circumstances. "In hard times, in times of disaster, we have to stand shoulder to shoulder with Americans," he said in an interview on Sunday in The Shul, the Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue located about a mile from the remains of the collapsed Champlain Towers building here that has left over 150 people unaccounted for. Shai, 74, was previously best known as the...
(JNS) - Controlled explosives on Sunday brought down the rest of the condominium in Surfside, Fla., that collapsed on June 24, leaving more than 140 people dead or missing. The confirmed death toll rose to 24 on Saturday with 121 still missing at the site in the heavily Jewish area. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava signed an emergency order to bring down the building due to the approach of Tropical Storm Elsa, which is expected to hit the Florida coast on Tuesday. Officials feared...
(Israel21C via JNS) - "I saw in the news that you were coming from Israel for us, and I was waiting for you," said a tearful young woman in Surfside, Florida, to members of the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit from United Hatzalah of Israel. "People kept coming up to us and saying how happy they were that we arrived," said Batya Jaffe, who was on the scene with her therapy dog, Lucy. They were part of the six-person PCRU team that landed in Miami Sunday morning, along with a search-and-resc...
(JNS) - A rescue delegation from the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command is using visual intelligence techniques and information received from families of the victims to precisely map out the wreckage of a condo that crashed in a Miami suburb last week. This mapping-out method is enabling rescue teams to more quickly reach the remains of victims and identify them accurately, military representatives said on Wednesday. In recent days, additional members of the Home Front Command joined the...
(JTA) - As the United States woke up to news of the building collapse in Surfside, Florida, it quickly became clear that the disaster is an American Jewish tragedy. The 12-story building in the heavily Orthodox enclave near Miami Beach collapsed just before 2 a.m. Thursday, as families slept in its 55 apartments just blocks from the beach. As of Thursday evening, almost 100 people are believed missing, and even as rescue efforts continue, officials fear that many of them are dead. At least one...
An apartment building in Surfside, Fla., partially collapsed early this morning, killing at least one resident and injuring others. The incident also sent first responders from Hatzalah of South Florida racing to the scene, some of whom received training from Magen David Adom specifically about responding to multi-casualty incidents like this morning’s disaster. Michael Strongin, an MDA paramedic currently volunteering for Hatzalah of South Florida until he returns to Israel next year, described a scene of utter devastation. “Half the bui...
(JTA) - Among Rabbi Mayer Berger's first thoughts on seeing the 12 stories of the Champlain Tower South pancaked upon themselves: This is like Sept. 11. Then as now, destruction of unimaginable proportions claimed many lives without warning in a manner that rendered traditional practices for burying the Jewish dead impossible to perform. Those practices call for bodies to be buried as soon as possible following death after undergoing a purification ritual called tahara. But with both Jewish and...
Tampa, FL — Tuesday afternoon, more than 1,200 people participated in a Town Hall Briefing on antisemitism organized by seven Florida Jewish federations (Orlando, Tampa, Gulf Coast, Sarasota/Manatee, Lee/Charlotte, Greater Naples and AJC West Coast Florida). This was assembled in response to the recent vandalizing of the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg on May 27. St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said, “The Florida Holocaust Museum was vandalized by a person or group on May 27, 2021 with antisemitic /racially biased gra...
(JNS) — One week to the day after the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg was vandalized, hundreds gathered on Thursday to say no to anti-Semitism and stand up for the Jewish community. It was back on May 27 that graffiti, including a swastika and the words “The Jews are guilty,” was discovered painted on the outside of the museum. It came amid an upswing in anti-Semitic incidents worldwide — many related to Israel’s recent conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip — and St. Petersburg...
After a successful career in the world of finance, Boynton Beach, Florida, resident Jerry Klinger has become a "professional rememberer." Klinger, 73, started this endeavor as a result of trying to locate the first Jewish house of worship in New Mexico, Temple Montefiore, Las Vegas, N.M., established 1884. Instead, he found a Catholic church. At that location, he established the first of many markers, plaques and monuments he has placed across the United States. The list includes the first...
Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, is asking Florida citizens who want Holocaust education in public schools to support the importance of teaching about the Holocaust and the ramifications of antisemitism. The Florida Department of Education invited PJTN to draft K-12 Holocaust Standards for consideration for adoption. Cardoza-Moore’s team of Holocaust experts worked diligently for four months to draft Holocaust Standards that address the rising threat of antisemitism. (See Heritage article “Laurie Car...
The Eighth Annual Commemoration of the largest mass arrest of rabbis in U.S. history will take place outdoors at the Hilton Garden Inn, Bayfront, 32 Avenida Menendez, St. Augustine, at noon, Friday, June 18. This 30-minute event sponsored by the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society, is free and all are welcome. The wearing of masks is requested. The event will be available on Zoom. On June 18, 1964, 16 rabbis and a Reform Jewish administrator were demonstrating in St. Augustine, at the...
(JNS) — A bill passed on Thursday by the Florida Senate will significantly increase state-provided scholarships for private-school students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Senate Bill 48 was passed in a 24-15 partisan vote and now goes to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to approve it. If put into effect, as of July 1, private-school students from working- and middle-class families with incomes that amount to 375 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible for the same scholarships that public-school students can r...
(JNS) — The student senate at Florida State University rejected a series of resolutions that supported the anti-Israel BDS movement and rejected the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition on anti-Semitism. The resolutions were authored by former Student Senate President Ahmad Daraldik, who repeatedly used his position to promote antisemitism in 2020. After being removed and later reinstated as a senator, he introduced three resolutions that were harmful to the Jewish community. Two of them attacked the IHRA Def...
