Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2141 - 2165 of 2213
JERUSALEM—Women praying at Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall, need not fear police threats of arrest if seen wearing traditional ceremonial attire associated with the religion’s males following a Jerusalem District Court ruling handed down April 25. The order, which says women may pray with prayer shawls and phylacteries, is seen as a major victory for a group called Women of the Wall, which has been struggling for almost 25 years against police and Orthodox Jewish authorities in charge of the site, for the right to defy tradi... Full story
For some, green is the color of money, but for others it’s the color of the environment. Those who favor the latter gathered in Jerusalem last week to experience everything from an “eco-cinema” (a solar-powered movie broadcast on the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City); to panel discussions; to environmentally-themed walking tours. An estimated 250 million people make pilgrimages each year according to Jerusalem deputy mayor, and conference organizer, Naomi Tsur. The conference hopes to highlight sustainable urban and economic development, eco-tou... Full story
Polish politician receives U.S. Holocaust museum’s highest honor (JTA)—Polish politician and historian Wladyslaw Bartoszewski was scheduled to receive the Elie Wiesel Award from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The award, given Sunday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the museum, is the highest award given by the museum. Bartoszewski was a former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner, the Polish minister of foreign affairs and an honorary citizen of Israel. He is currently the secretary of state in the Polish prime min... Full story
El Al Airlines and the Israeli Finance Ministry signed an agreement on last Monday afternoon that ended a one-and-a-half day strike by all three Israeli airlines and prevented a wider work stoppage that would have frozen all activity at Israel’s only international aerial gateway, Ben-Gurion Airport. According to the agreement, the details of which were hammered out by Finance Ministry employees and El Al representatives, the government will cover 97.5 percent of El Al’s security costs. It previously covered 80 percent of those costs. This amo... Full story
JERUSALEM—While Israel is fast becoming a leader in the biomedical and biotechnology fields, industry experts say the Israeli Health Ministry may be unduly hindering its growth. Famously called a “start-up nation,” a nickname coined by Dan Senor and Saul Singer in their 2009 book about the Jewish state’s economic miracle, today Israel proudly parades that title, proving to be a fertile ground for thousands of tech start-ups. But Steve Rhodes, CEO and chairman of the Trendlines Group, a company... Full story
WARSAW, Poland (JTA)—In Warsaw, sirens wailed and church bells rang to mark the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, a valiant but failed revolt by Jewish fighters against the Nazi occupiers who already had deported hundreds of thousands of Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp. An official commemoration, held April 19 in a plaza between the monument honoring the ghetto heroes and the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews, was attended by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski an... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Natan Sharansky’s proposal last week to expand the space for non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall could be historic. But for most Israelis, changes at the Western Wall are of only trivial interest. Far more pressing are state restrictions on marriage and conversion, Sabbath bans on public transit, and haredi Orthodox exemptions from Israel’s mandatory draft. The haredi draft exemption was a central issue in January’s elections for the Knesset, and it has been a hot topic o... Full story
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened his most recent copy of Time magazine, with its list of the 100 most influential people in the world, to find that his name, which had been on the list for the past few years, was gone. Instead, the name of his new finance minister, Yair Lapid, appeared. Lapid, a political newbie who led his Yesh Atid [There is a Future] party to an impressive showing in the recent elections—19 out of 120 possible seats in the unicameral body—is keen to show that he has what it takes to be Israel’s next prime minis... Full story
CAIRO – Against the backdrop of accusations of religious intolerance being leveled at the Morsi government, the scene in Cairo last week as Muslims participated at the funeral of former Jewish community leader Carmen Weinstein was both incongruous and encouraging. To some, it was an example of growing Egyptian Muslim interest in the dwindling Jewish population, especially since the Egyptian Revolution in 2011. “This is the first time I have seen this number of visitors and journalists come to the synagogue,” marveled Magda Haroun, Weins... Full story
(JTA)—Having grown up in a devoutly Christian home, Irene Lopez would probably not be raising her daughter Jewish if not for David Lazar, the charismatic rabbi of the Great Synagogue of Stockholm. Lopez and her Jewish husband, Samuel Sjoblom, are among the Swedes who were drawn to the Great Synagogue in recent years by the magnetic, if occasionally prickly, personality of Lazar, the energetic Israeli-American who has held the position since 2010. “My decision to convert my daughter was very muc... Full story
Get out your squeegees and glass cleaner. In Berlin, Jews are being put on display in a transparent box, and you might want a clear view. Called “Jews in a Showcase,” the exhibit, which runs through August, invites a Jew to sit and answer questions. It’s part of an exhibition called “The Whole Truth … everything you always wanted to know about Jews” that opened at the Jewish Museum Berlin last month. “At selected times, a Jewish guest will take a seat in a showcase and will—if desired—react to visitors’ questions and comments,” says the... Full story
While the Israeli economy has managed to steadily weather the global financial crisis of recent years, a growing budget deficit now threatens to disturb the relative economic stability of the past several years. Freshman Knesset Member and newly minted Finance Minister Yair Lapid must now attempt to raise government revenues by increasing taxes and slashing expenditures in order to close sizeable gaps in the 2013 budget. The uncomfortable measures, and remaining budget shortfalls, leave many... Full story
Hundreds of Jewish markings catalogued in Portuguese town (JTA)—Portuguese researchers have catalogued hundreds of secret markings that Jews left on structures in Seia in the 16th century following their forced conversion to Christianity. A three-member team said it found 500 markings in Seia, a north Portugal municipality, including coded Hebrew letters and words carved into walls of homes where converted Jews used to live. Alberto Martinho, Jose Levy Domingos and Luiza Metzker Lyra, the research team, said they also found distinctive i... Full story
AMMAN, Jordan—The death of a Jordanian tourism policeman killed while guarding visiting Israelis have evoked threats by members of the victim’s tribe to abduct or kill Israeli tourists unless the government opens an independent probe into the incident. “Any Israeli could find himself the target of a kidnapping or other measures,” Mohammed Jarah, brother of Sgt. Ibrahim Jarah, told The Media Line by telephone from his home in the town of Mazar, 110 miles south of Amman. “We want to know what happened to my brother. The government must open an i... Full story
Ma’arat Numan, Syria—When the jihadist organization Jabhat al-Nusra announced it was joining Al-Qa’ida last week, Syrians in rebel-held territories cringed. “Now everyone will think our revolution is nothing but a jihadist power grab,” complained 28-year-old Muhammad Ansari to The Media Line. “Who will support us now?” With the Syrian revolution faltering and secular rebel groups disintegrating amidst infighting and civilian abuses, it is the jihadists who have benefitted most. But the attention they have received from foreigners has angered S... Full story
Id Khamis Jahalin sits in his sparsely furnished, illegally-built shack, and worries about his future. A father of seven, he was born in this community of tents and shacks about 10 miles east of Jerusalem. Sitting on a thin mattress that substitutes for a couch during the day and a bed at night, Id Khamis told The Media Line that a new Israeli plan to relocate the Jahalin Bedouin community, “is the worst one yet. It is not appropriate for us at all. The place they want to move us to is surrounded on all four sides and it is very crowded. I a... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Natan Sharansky said the implementation of his plan to expand the non-Orthodox prayer site at the Western Wall could begin in as little as one month. In an interview April 11 with JTA, Sharansky sounded cautiously optimistic about his proposal to create an egalitarian space equal in size to the current men’s and women’s sections combined. The Jewish Agency for Israel chairman was charged last year with finding a solution to mounting tensions over women’s prayer at the Western... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Here are some stories out of Israel that you may have missed: A better bomb shelter app An app that helps Israelis locate the nearest bomb shelter was updated in response to the civil war in Syria. The Merkhav Mugan app had been launched six months ago for southern Israelis being bombarded by rockets from the Gaza Strip. Now, with the Syrian unrest spilling over the border into northern Israel, the app will include all secure bomb shelters and areas throughout Israel, the T... Full story
Abbas accepts Fayyad’s resignation JERUSALEM (JTA)—Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad after an internal power struggle. Abbas accepted the resignation Saturday at a meeting of the two Palestinian leaders at P.A. headquarters in Ramallah. Fayyad reportedly had offered his resignation earlier in the week. Abbas asked Fayyad to stay on and lead a caretaker government until a new government is formed, the WAFA-Palestine News Ser... Full story
In an unprecedented move, the head of Egypt’s 2,000-year-old Coptic Christian Church, Pope Tawadros II, recently slammed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi for what he called a weak response to violence that left several Christians dead and its religious institutions violated. Pope Tawadros’s statements come at a time of increasing political deadlock and the threat of economic collapse in Egypt. Halim Meawad, co-founder of Coptic Solidarity, a U.S.-based international Coptic Christian human rights organization, told JNS.org that Pope Taw... Full story
SANA’A—Women living in areas of rural Yemen are increasingly losing their say regarding whom they marry as they become caught-up in the widespread phenomenon of ‘exchange marriages,’ in which money and family ties outweigh romance. The expression rises from the phenomenon of spouses from two families being traded in what is essentially more of a business arrangement than a traditional marriage, Dr. Abdul-Baqi Shamsan, professor of sociology at Sana’a University, explained. Shamsan told The Media Line that the main victim of this type of marria... Full story
RAMALLAH—While use of the Internet and social media is growing in the Palestinian territories, some experts warn it has also brought with it the danger of cyber crime—especially against women—more harmful and at a greater rate than it is worldwide. Arabic society’s conservative and patriarchal nature runs counter to the Internet’s call to share everything with everyone, and makes women more vulnerable to cyber threats. As a result, many are very deliberate about not using pictures on the Internet, not only in personal use, but also in their... Full story
Ofer Prison, West Bank—The long strings of blue and white Israeli flags, set up for Israel’s upcoming Independence Day, flap incongruously against the background of barbed wire and tall gray watchtowers. Inside, some 710 Palestinian prisoners, including 100 minors, wait for their transfer to other prisons or for their release. Mohammed Jamal Al-Natshe, 55, a Hamas legislator from Hebron with a trim white beard, says that he was arrested most recently last month and placed under administrative detention, meaning that no charges have been fil... Full story
(JTA)—“When Gilles Bernheim speaks, France listens.” That’s how Avraham Weill, the chief rabbi of Toulouse, describes what he believes was the main appeal of his charismatic mentor, who on April 11 resigned as chief rabbi of France after admitting to several instances of plagiarism and falsely using an academic title. The media frenzy that led to Bernheim’s resignation after five years on the job was part and parcel of the 61-year-old’s strong media presence—a presence that may have attracte... Full story
Tiny Bahrain consists mainly of a 34-mile island connected to Saudi Arabia by a causeway, but aside from having modest oil and gas reserves, a booming market-based economy and lots of tourism, it also happens to be the home of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet that patrols the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea. Bahrain’s strategic military location is complemented by its symbolically important place in the Arab world for a relatively liberal and tolerant society despite its own brief ver... Full story
