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

(JNS) The humiliating Gilboa Prison escape is nothing but a symptom. The flaws that led to it will be investigated, found and corrected, but to rectify the broader structural failure will require Israel to shake up the current law-enforcement...

“Who shall live and who shall die … who by water and who by fire … who by earthquake and who by plague …” (JTA) — Twenty years ago, people cried when they said these words on Rosh Hashanah, six days after the attacks of Sept. 11. The...

(JTA) — On the second night of Rosh Hashanah, in my second year of rabbinical school, while working at my first-ever High Holiday pulpit, I accidentally conceived. I had my first bout of morning sickness in our introductory Talmud course, and my...

(JTA) — Deborah Lipstadt, recently named by President Joe Biden as the U.S. Special Envoy To Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, won’t just combat anti-Semitism but may well eliminate it. And that would be a mistake. To be clear, the Emory...

(JTA) — Two nights after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, we were instructed to evacuate our building. There was talk of a potential attack on the nearby Empire State Building. My roommates and I covered our mouths and noses with towels to protect aga...

Dear Editor: As we approach the holiest period of the Jewish calendar, it becomes increasingly difficult to control one’s reaction to the noisy pronouncement of “progressive Jewish leaders.” As specifically named by Mr. Sales in his article in...

(JNS) — The reviews at home were mixed for Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s first meeting with President Joe Biden. Many of those who despise Bennett’s right-wing principles thought he did a good job, while most of those who share his...

As America licks its wounds and wrings its hands at the debacle of the last several weeks in the humiliating retreat and defeat at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan, let us pause to remember the brave and courageous men and women of our armed...

(JNS) The obvious lesson for Israel from America’s abandonment of Afghanistan to the Taliban is that it can’t count on the U.S. to protect it from the consequences of ceding more territory. This reality, however, is a disaster for those who have...

(JTA) — We are, once again, in a season of reckoning with sexual abuse in the Jewish community and in the country. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned after a state attorney general investigation found that he sexually harassed at least 11 women,...

(JTA) — Over the past year, I have led efforts to teach, guide and coach rabbis and other clergy of every Jewish denomination. We have worked with over 500 individual members of the clergy, serving hundreds of thousands of people since the...

(JNS) Three decades have passed since the Crown Heights pogrom, and any assessment of the memory of that tragic event must start with an acknowledgment that New York City is a very different place than it was in August 1991. It’s also true that...

This article originally appeared on Alma. A year ago, I was watching “Schitt’s Creek” with my wife. It was the last season, second to last episode, so things were already emotional. Then there was that scene. The one where David is sitting on...

(JNS) Any notion that the worst days of Islamist terrorism are long behind us was brutally shattered at Kabul Airport on Thursday, as twin bombs ripped indiscriminately through Afghan civilians and U.S. and other foreign servicemen trying to...

(JNS) German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition partner, the largely pro-Iranian regime Social Democratic Party, is polling even with her Christian Democratic Union ahead of the Sept. 26 federal election. A profound insight about left-wing...

(JNS) — For those old enough to remember the images of the last days of South Vietnam, recent events in Afghanistan are shockingly familiar. In each case, a flawed American ally facing a determined foe quickly collapsed once both sides to the...

(JNS) — Just as things were returning to normal, and rabbis across America were eagerly anticipating a full reopening for the High Holy Days, the Delta variant showed up. Oh no, not again. Need I remind you that nearly every synagogue and Jewish...

Rosh Hashanah is the time of year when we as individuals find ourselves at the center of the universe in direct communication with God. For a brief moment the present stops, the past does not recede and the future refuses to beckon us. The High Holy...

(JNS) — The diplomatic crisis unfolding between Jerusalem and Warsaw is unfortunate. Eastern European countries have been staunch supporters of the United States and Israel in a way that their counterparts in the Western continent have long cease...

(Jewish Journal via JNS) — If you’ve been following the ethnic studies controversy in California over the past few years and came away thinking the Jewish community had emerged relatively unscathed, think again. The Ethnic Studies Model...

Iran and Hamas on Monday effusively welcomed the final capitulation of the Afghan government to Taliban insurgents over the weekend, praising the hardline Islamist organization for its “brave leadership” in defeating the “American...

(JNS) — Next month, Americans will mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The trauma lingers in the memory of everyone who was then alive. But while that day of terror will never be forgotten, as an event that informs foreign and defense p...

(JNS) — In July, the United Church of Christ’s General Synod passed a “peacemaking” resolution that declared Israel guilty of sins against the Palestinian people. The resolution repeats the narrative broadcast by Palestinian Christians in the...

(JNS) — In the aftermath of the recent uproar over the Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream company announcing it would boycott the “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” it is worthwhile to take a closer look at that term. In 1964, Ahmad el-Shukairy...

(JTA) — Jewish culture is deeply rooted in traditional core values, structures and norms often held by our American Jewish organizations. At the same time, today’s American Jewish community is more diverse and represents more backgrounds than...