Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

(JNS) — Regular readers of my column know that I like to bring some historical perspective to current affairs that is missing from most reporting and analysis. I happened upon some interesting tidbits that may help us understand the recent...

Since I moved to the “Deep South” my cultural education gets a rough shock almost daily. From governors trying to undo a legal election to who is eligible to vote and where and when you can vote to the newest twist on an old subject to be taught...

A friend of mine and faithful reader of my column (I hope!) asked me to share with him my perspectives on the new political situation in Israel and the impact it will have on future relations between Israel and the U.S. government, American Jewish...

(JTA) — The COVID-19 epidemic proves you cannot just treat a plague’s symptoms — you must root it out. Yet as incidents of Jew-bullying in the U.S. more than doubled in May compared to the same time period in 2020, too many American Jews...

(JNS) — Standing up to hatred is hard. When those who take a moral stand against it act together, however, it can be confronted to an impressive degree. What started as four Jewish Democrats in Congress attacking the comments of Rep. Ilhan Omar...

(JNS) — The Washington Post’s support of the currently popular trend to call Americans racists is well-known. Its readers, including me and many others who do not share the Post’s premise, read its stories and opinion pages warily but are...

(JNS) — Perhaps to non-Israeli followers of Israeli politics, soon-to-be-king Naftali Bennett is doing what is only natural for a politician: making the best deal possible, while extricating the country from a political quagmire that has lasted...

It was exactly 20 years ago. My wife and I were attending a Shabbat dinner in Madrid on June 1st when someone gave us the news. A suicide bomber had struck a seaside discotheque, the Dolphinarium, in Tel Aviv. There were reportedly many casualties. T...

(JNS) — According to a May 29 report in The Hill, U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) is in the final stage of preparing a motion to censure Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) over concerns about her extremist views. Schneider said that the basis...

(JNS) — In 1992, Israeli Labor Party leader Yitzhak Rabin came to power with an overwhelming 44 seats against the Likud’s 32. Then-Likud chairman Yitzhak Shamir suffered a major defeat and subsequently resigned. This was when Benjamin Netanyahu...

On March 28, 2021, three student organizations from the University of Miami Law School — the South/West Asian and North African Law Students Association, the Black Law Students Associations, and Miami Law National Lawyers Guild — welcomed Ahmad...

Whether you like Prime Minister Netanyahu or not, you cannot deny that during his 12 years in the premiership Israel has advanced technologically, financially, and influentially on the world stage. By all accounts, and obviously last month not withst...

Dear Editor: Aside from the well-informed and intellectual analysis of relevant facts by Mel Pearlman, the Heritage reported the narrative-oriented nonsense of Mr. Shipley, the affinity of the BLM for Palestinian terrorism and the petition of 90...

Unlike many Israelis, I am not spiking the ball or dancing in the end zone today. (Forgive the exclusive American cultural reference for those who don’t follow U.S. football.) Prime Minister Netanyahu, Bibi, is not public enemy No.1. But his time...

(JNS) — Whenever I get asked about Israeli politics on the radio, the first thing I do is point out that Israeli politics isn’t American, it’s European. Israel was controlled by the British. More of its founders were European than American....

Next Sunday, June 20, is Father’s Day. In the more than 30 years I have been writing this column I have never devoted an entire column to my dad. I have often thought about it, but my feelings of loss for him have always overwhelmed my ability to...

(JTA) — The cease-fire agreement announced last week between Israel and Hamas conjures up the wisdom often, if dubiously, attributed to Albert Einstein: “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” Unfortunat...

(JNS) — There is little point at this stage of the game in mentioning the depths of moral depravity and treachery into which Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked have descended. Now, as the two self-proclaimed “leaders” of the ideological right...

(JTA) — “Rabbi Adar, is it dangerous to wear my Jewish star?”  In 12 years of teaching “Introduction to the Jewish Experience” through HaMaqom | The Place in the San Francisco Bay Area, no student ever asked me that question in those...

Obviously these past few weeks have been difficult for so many people, mainly the Palestinians and Israelis who have been enmeshed in conflict and under fire. Thankfully there’s now a cease-fire that everyone hopes will hold — but the aftermath o...

It’s not the most talented who succeed. It’s those who never stop trying. Congratulations graduates! I remember being where you are today and looking out across the future, which seemed unlimited in its possibilities. I thought I knew so much...

(Jewish Journal via JNS) — Words have meaning. And in fraught times, in matters of life and death, it is critically important to use the right words. To resolve our disputes, to solve our problems, we must accurately describe what is happening, so...

How bad is substance use in the Jewish community? Well, it is worse than many people think. And that’s probably because substance use — whether recreational or prescribed pain medication — is so commonplace. Not to mention, getting drunk or...

(JNS) — “Operation Guardian of the Walls” may have been the most targeted and accurate precision-bombing campaign ever facilitated by any military, anywhere, in the history of conflict and war. In the 11 days before the ceasefire, more than...

Dear Editor: According to members of Congress Israel started the latest Gaza War and T’laib, Omar and Bernie Sanders are leading the charge to defund Israel just as the left wing governments of many of our cities and states are defunding the...