Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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On Sunday, Nov. 15, children gathered at Chabad of North Orlando to experience kosher in a whole new way. The program channeled children's inner designers, entrepreneurs, and chefs as they created their own kosher restaurant startups. This was a showdown where everyone was boss. Children planned and showcased their very own startup ideas, and learned important Jewish lessons along the way. "It was a fresh activity that got the kids excited about the mitzvah of kosher," said Chanshy Majesky, co-d...
In the times of the Baal Shem Tov (founder of the Chassidic movement) there was an outbreak of a dreadful disease. The holy master suggested that the community participate in the creation of a new Torah scroll. In the merit of this Torah, miraculously, the community began to heal. With COVID-19 raging around the world, Meir and Shawna Waizman and their family have stepped up to generously donate a new Torah to Chabad of North Orlando and Nate's Shul in Longwood for the protection, health and...
In May 2019, Dr. Ken Hanson, coordinator of the Judaic Studies program at UCF, traveled to Israel to produce a video documentary titled "The Druze." He was accompanied by his editor, Milos Ajdinovic, visiting lecturer in the Nicholson School of Communication, and Shmuel Kilstein, an undergraduate history major. Together, they spent two weeks traveling from northern Israel to Jerusalem to interview several members of the Druze community. Hanson undertook this project for several reasons. The...
Ten Jewish seniors and 10 excited Jewish school-age children have already been connected through an adoptive grandparents program through the Jewish Pavilion. The children are preparing cards, pictures, letters and gifts for a monthly mailing to their "grandparents," and the "grandparents" are waiting expectantly for their new connection in the Jewish community and the surprise coming to them in the mail each month. One participant, third grader Rebekah McNarney, had this to say about the...
Jewish Academy of Orlando students, faculty, and alumni participated in a cleanup of the school's beloved Kindness Garden. Participants weeded the entire garden and trimmed back the trees and bushes. From the youngest participants to the faculty and parents, everyone was able to lend a hand to kick off the school's Kindness week. The garden, which is a segment of the campus playground, was created by the 2019 graduating class and funded by a grant that incorporates fine arts into the school's...
This past summer, our country was experiencing the height of the pandemic, masks were mandatory but not always easy to find. Around the same time, some people around the country began to express anti-police feelings which sometimes tragically turned violent. To show their support of local law enforcement, Rabbi Yanky, Chanshy Majesky and Chabad North Orlando ran a police appreciation project where custom masks were made for law enforcement officers with the logo of their department. The program...
Many of the Jewish community facilities that partner with RAISE are not currently open, but it has not stopped RAISE Director Loren London, RAISE Director of Employment and Education Rachel Slavkin, and their leadership team from continuing with this year's program, albeit with a slightly modified virtual approach. The RAISE team quickly assessed the current COVID situation and decided to continue the RAISE program online by concentrating on the participants' job preparation and social skills...
The Jewish Academy head of school, Alan Rusonik, recently informed the JAO Board of Directors of his decision to relocate and not to renew his contract with the school at the end of his contract, which coincides with the end of the academic year in 2021. Under Rusonik's six-year leadership, JAO has flourished. School enrollment increased and several new faculty members were added to the staff. He created the whole-child curriculum and encouraged innovation at every turn. He helped make learning...
Jewish Academy of Orlando is providing an academic program to serve the community. Transitional Kindergarten will be offered again for the 2021-2022 school year. TK is a grade that serves as a bridge between preschool and Kindergarten, providing students time to develop fundamental skills needed for success in an academic setting. "We are finding more and more that an extra year of maturational growth has long-term positive impacts on a child's social, emotional, and academic success. The gift...
JFS Orlando would like to give a BIG “Thank You” to all who supported their first-ever High Holiday Hope Drive (Sept. 1 — Oct. 15, 2020). Over the past several weeks, thanks to generous supporters, JFS surpassed their goal and raised more than $11,000 to support their community services! During the COVID-19 pandemic, families across Greater Orlando have needed hope now more than ever. Hope that can only be found through relief services like JFS Orlando’s Pearlman Emergency Food Pantry or Family Stabilization Program or Counseling, Growth and De...
It has been along 8 months for everyone, but especially for residents in long-term care communities. Jewish Pavilion Program Director Julie Levitt donned PPE and safely socially distanced so she could spend a few minutes to visit. "I may have been more excited to reunite with my friends than they may have been. Life Care of Altamonte did an amazing job to make sure the visit was safe for all of us and putting the residents safety an upmost priority. Knowing that this visit was such a success, I...
Jewish Academy of Orlando completed the recording of "Alice in Wonderland." The full-scale musical production, which was previously scheduled for May, is now being produced as a video production. Out of an abundance of caution, the school moved away from a live audience performance to video production. Shown here are Alice and the cast. Stay tuned for the final video....
This is the 22nd annual Central Florida Jewish Film Festival and it has two "firsts." It's the first time there are two film shorts to enjoy, making a total of eight films; and the first film fest that can be enjoyed from the viewer's own living room. Because of circumstances beyond everyone's control, the film festival is virtual this year. Even though theater goers can't enjoy the ambiance of the Enzian and its wonderful food and drinks, the up side is that films can be viewed at the viewer's...
This year's Jewish Film Festival hosts two film shorts - usually there is only one short - and both of them have local ties. "Resemblance" is almost "home grown" Written, directed and produced by Kevin J. O'Neill, who lives in Central Florida, the short was filmed at Canterbury Retreat in Oviedo. The executive producer, Bethanne Weiss, is well-known in the community, and in a scene on the facility's patio, some familiar faces can be spotted: Weiss, Jacqueline Levine and Harriett Weiss. Starring...
After 17 years of service to Congregation Ohev Shalom, Rabbi David Kay’s leadership will be completed at the end of his contract, July 3, 2021. The COS Board of Trustees determined that it would be in the best interest of the congregation to change the rabbinic leadership. “Congregation Ohev Shalom is very fortunate and so pleased that Rabbi Kay will remain fully engaged as our rabbi through the end of July 2021. Rabbi Kay has been an extremely dedicated and valued member of our clergy for ove...
This past Monday, Nov. 2, The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center reopened with a limited schedule. Attendance at any of the programs must be by reservation as the Center has implemented many new procedure for safety. Visitors are also encouraged to review the safety guidelines, found on the website, holocaustedu.org. The next event, a live virtual conversation with Holocaust survivor Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, will be held on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 3 p.m. Dr. Paldiel is a leading scholar on...
Temple Israel is proud to bring another quality adult education program to the local Jewish community with ScholarStream. Two four-part Zoom series throughout November and December give communities the opportunity to learn from the world's leading Conservative movement scholars and engage deeply with Jewish texts and traditions. ScholarStream is an initiative of the Rabbinical Assembly, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies...
Recently featured on the TV program A World of Difference were RAISE director, Loren London, RAISE director of Employment and Education Rachel Slavkin, and three gainfully employed RAISE alumni. A World of Difference is a monthly TV series that celebrates neurodiversity, which is a viewpoint that brain differences are normal, rather than deficits. The idea of neurodiversity can have benefits for children with learning and thinking differences. This concept can help reduce stigma around learning...
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando is sponsoring a population study of the Jewish community of Central Florida. Studies like this are conducted by Jewish communities all over the United States to estimate the size and characteristics of the local Jewish community and to assist Jewish communal organizations to make well-informed, data-driven decisions for the benefit of the entire community. The study will be conducted by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University,...
Monthly events for the new Jewish year 5781 are being offered for women with zoom and in-person options. "Jewish women don't usually need an excuse to get together," says Chanshy Majesky co-director of Chabad of North Orlando, "but, if they did, the feminine theme of the new Jewish month offers a perfect opportunity" This year the events, which begin Nov. 19, will include educational lessons as well as art activities. Some arts in the lineup for this year will be drip painting, truffle...
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Chabad of North Orlando has continued to innovate new ways to engage, educate and connect with the community. There was the Drive-In Lag B'Omer concert, Zoom classes and guest speakers, Holidays in a box for those celebrating at home, Sukkos Drive Through Experience to mention a few. The Jewish trivia game JText for teens has been very popular over the last two years in the Orlando Jewish community with over 100 local teens signed up. With no end in sight to...
Laughing has been an important part of Judaism since biblical times. Abraham and Sarah, were not able to have children. When G‑d's messenger gave the elderly couple the happy news, they both laughed. Because of this laughter, the heir to Judaism and the first Jewish child ever born was named Yitzchak (Isaac), which means "laugh." The history of Jewish merrymaking does not end in the Bible. We find in Talmudic times the account of how a great sage, Rabbah, used to begin each of his lessons w...
On Oct. 5, more than 100 households gathered on Zoom for a virtual thank you party in honor of Robby Etzkin, who left his position as executive director at The Roth Family Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic after nearly eight years of service. Guests included former and current JCC staff and members, staff from the JCC Association in which Etzkin has been an active fixture for nearly 15 years, as well as friends and family from across the...
Chabads of North Orlando and Greater Orlando will be hosting Holocaust survivor Dr. Jacob Eisenbach, who lived through the horrors of the Nazi occupation of Poland, a labor camp and concentration camps, will tell his story of survival at a special zoom event on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Dr. Eisenbach, 95, was the sole survivor of the Holocaust from his extended family of about 100 people. He immigrated to the United States in 1950, married a fellow survivor and built a dentistry practice he operated f...
The future needs of healthy and independent seniors are not on the radar of their family members until a crisis arises. An unexpected fall is often the beginning of a family member’s transition into caregiving. All of a sudden, the new caregiver has to learn so many things about their loved one: what insurance they have, who are their medical professionals, what are the rehabilitation options, are their finances in order, is their living environment still a safe and viable choice, and so much more. In 2012 the Orlando Senior Help Desk was f...
