Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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This article is part of a collaboration between the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Kveller about pandemic parenting and school reopenings. HIGHLAND VILLAGE, Texas (JTA / KVELLER) — I’m dubbing “school shaming” the new Mommy War of 2020. If you’re a parent of school-aged children and you’ve been on social media even once in the past few weeks, you know all about the heated and contentious back-to-school debate that is raging fiercely. It’s one of the many truisms of the internet: No matter what parents do, it will never be good enough for so...
NEW YORK (JTA) — On Friday afternoon, a few hours before Shabbat, I found myself scrolling through Twitter when I stumbled upon an anti-Semitic rant. This by itself is hardly unusual — the amount of anti-Semitic vitriol on Twitter is horrifying. But when I checked the account, I found that it had nearly half a million followers. Wiley, a Black British musician, used hateful language to articulate several conspiracy theories about Jews. I, along with many others, reported the tweets, but Twitter was slow to remove them. Again, this is not unu...
Dear Editor: There seems to be a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding concerning the United States government’s allocation of the sum of $3,800,000,000 of military assistance to the State of Israel for defense purposes. In reality, only 20 percent, or $760,000,000, leaves the United States. These funds can be used to purchase other military goods and services from other U.S.-approved nations. Of the remaining funds, $3,040,000,000 is designated to be used to purchase U.S.-manufactured military equipment. Those funds never leave the U...
(JNS) — Peter Beinart’s two pieces, one in The New York Times and the other in Jewish Currents, are calling for the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. Beinart no longer supports a two-state solution, but rather a binational state where Jews and Arabs share sovereignty in the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. This idea is ahistorical, unrealistic and holds Israel to an impossible standard and, if implemented, will likely lead to disaster. Many Jews feel guilty for the plight of the Palestinians. Beinart’s way of de...
(JNS) — Irony may be dead in America, but if any were left alive, this would count. Consider the work of Vincenzo Miserendino (1875-1943). An Italian-American sculptor, he created statues and busts of famous Americans and other notables, including several of Theodore Roosevelt and Christopher Columbus. In today’s America, they can only be called “endangered.” One of his Columbus statues in Hartford, Conn., has been removed quietly; another, in Reading, Pa., is the subject of a petition to remove it and already has been vandalized. It’s in...
(JNS) — On March 7, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Resolution 183 condemning anti-Semitism. The resolution, which passed 407-23, was initiated in response to anti-Semitic comments made by Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The text of the resolution, whose purpose was to “ensure safety” for the Jewish people, states that “accusing Jews of being more loyal to Israel or to the Jewish community than to the U.S. constitutes anti-Semitism.” Clause 1 rejects the perpetuation of anti-Semitic stereotypes, including...
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. (JTA) — The Babylonian Talmud in Tractate Kiddushin teaches that “devarim shebalev einam devarim” — words not put out into the universe are irrelevant — and that we must speak our minds when we feel the imperative to do so. I want to be clear that the following does not speak for, or represent, the congregation where I serve as a senior rabbi. These are my own words within my heart that I am bringing out into the open. During Rep. Ilhan Omar’s time in the House of Representatives, I have talked and worked with her, even t...
ST. MICHAELS, Maryland (JTA) — The day is one of my most vivid and treasured memories. I was associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and we were in the middle of our flagship public policy conference. One of my responsibilities was to assign Reform Movement leaders to introduce each of our speakers. The power went right to my head, and I began by assigning myself to introduce John Lewis, the congressman from Georgia who was an icon of the civil rights movement. Somehow the many higher-ups who reviewed the list eithe...
Dear Editor: I believe that it is worth noting that your fine publication noted in separate columns that the prime minister of the Palestinian entity has submitted in writing plans for a Palestinian state (“PA says it is ready to restart peace negotiations with Israel,” July 10; and “52 years late isn’t too late,” July 17). This was apparently a response to the solution offered on behalf of the Trump Administration after an extensive research by very knowledgeable and highly intelligent professionals. The Trump plan reflected the realizati...
(JNS) — For most observers of American journalism, The New York Times has long been regarded as the flagship of liberal thought and opinion. But after a woke mob essentially hounded Bari Weiss, a centrist Jewish writer who has been outspoken about anti-Semitism, to the point where she thought that her continued presence at the paper was untenable, it’s no longer possible to describe the Times as “liberal.” It’s true that in the shorthand of American politics, the paper’s point of view can be described as left of center. But while the meaning...
At two universities on opposite ends of the country, student government leaders recently found themselves mired in controversy for promoting anti-Semitism online. In June, the student senate president of Florida State University, Ahmad Daraldik, was revealed to have posted hateful messages to his social media accounts, including “#f**kisrael” and “stupid jew thinks he is cool” about a photo of an Israeli soldier. He also appears to have created a video and website equating Israelis with Nazis, a view he defended during a recent student governme...
Last week, I received an e-mail from a reader of my Everywhere column of July 10, 2020, titled “Black lies matter,” criticizing me for an attempt to be cute with the title by playing on the words, “black lives matter,” and suggesting that the title was “insensitive.” Since I appreciate feedback of all kinds from readers I went back and reviewed not only the title, but the column itself, and deeply reflected on the criticism that the title was insensitive; and that I was attempting to be “cute” with the title’s wording. Interestingly, th...
I grew up worshipping The New York Times. To this day, I live on the paper’s home page. Only lately, as much as I still enjoy much of its cultural reporting, my jaw drops when I see the homogeneity of opinion. Virtually every op-ed and regular columnist goes in the same narrow, progressive direction. The net effect is mind numbing. You could strongly agree with every opinion and still feel the same way. When it comes to diversity of thought, The Times has become all the boredom that’s fit to print. That’s why it was fascinating to read Bari Wei...
NEW YORK (JTA) — Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Zach Banner posted a video late last week in response to Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson’s anti-Semitic screed against Jews. After describing his horror at the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, Banner preached that as important as the work of Black Lives Matter may be, its achievements cannot come by stepping on the backs of other people or by vilifying Jews. In Banner’s own words, “We can’t preach equality but in result we’re just trying to flip the script and change...
Dear Editor: I’m writing to object to three statements by David Bornstein in his July 10 column. I’ve skipped others due to The Heritage’s word limit. Bornstien said President Trump denounced NATO. President Trump criticized our NATO allies for paying too little for our common defense, much less than they had committed. Since he objected, they have paid more. President Trump said he admired Vladimir Putin. What would Bornstein do if he was meeting Putin to advance American interests? Insult the man? Bornstein ignored President Obama’s open mi...
Dear Editor: As an avid subscriber to the Biblical Archaeology Review for over 40 years, I really appreciated Heritage’s article about some of the more important archaeological sites to visit in Israel (“The 10 most iconic archeological sites in Israel, July 3, 2020). There are so many it’s really difficult to decide. I, however, do feel that the almost totally unknown site is the Valley of Elah. The what? Where is that? Why is it important? It’s hardly mentioned in the Bible. So tell us why is it important. Easy. Think about the early biblica...
(JNS) — Peter Beinart has laid out his political vision once again. Once again, too, he trots out his ignorance, his serpentine reasoning and his shocking immorality. It’s always crisis time for him. However, this time, it’s not a solution of two states in the territory west of the Jordan River he is championing for “the classic two-state solution is dead,” he writes. The solution, rather, is just one state; well, sort of. And no, he is not promoting Caroline Glick’s book. Rather, he seeks an “equal Israel-Palestine.” Returning to an ideologic...
(JNS) — What, exactly do American Jews think about the possibility of reuniting small parts of Judea and Samaria with the rest of Israel? Rabbi Eric Yoffie, former president of the Union for Reform Judaism, says he knows. Writing in Haaretz this week, he declared: “American Jews are not happy.” Note he didn’t say “some” or even “many.” Rather, “American Jews” — all of them, apparently — are “not happy” about any possible annexation. According to Yoffie, all American Jews are “shocked,” “panicked,” “puzzled,” “confused,” and “above a...
(JNS) — As Israel considers how and when to apply sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria — drawing its map in cooperation with the United States and leaving a chair at the table for the Palestinian Authority — American Democrats, the European community, parts of the international Jewish community and to an apparently lesser degree the Gulf Arab countries have been busy pronouncing themselves “troubled” by the whole process. The silent party has been the Palestinian Authority. Until now. In a text message to “the Quartet” (the “peacemaking...
(JNS) — In the view of those cheering on the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement, this July 4 was one less of celebration than of soul-searching and reassessment. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the normal festivities were always going to be muted. But the brutal death of George Floyd on May 25 sent angry crowds of sometimes peaceful protesters into the streets seeking to topple monuments of not just Confederates, but also the nation’s Founding Fathers and a host of other historical figures who don’t measure up to the woke stand...
(JNS) — Given the racial strife in the United States during the past month, the news media appears determined to exploit every possible manifestation with partisan political purpose in mind. Or so it seems. A recent “news” story that captivated the nation’s headlines focused on the report of a noose found hanging in the garage stall of African-American NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace. It was, it appeared on merit, newsworthy. Until it wasn’t. But the lack of credibility of the story, and the obvious ramifications, continued to be exploited...
Dear Editor: Thanks for publishing the article about this anti-Semitic president (“FSU senate keeps new president”) and the article “Speak out against anti-Semitism on campus,” (both in June 26, 2020). I hope many of your readers decide to express their objections to retaining this student in a leadership position. The following is a letter I wrote to the president of UCF. Dear President Thrasher: Recently you issued a statement that “Anti-Semitism and religious discrimination have no place at Florida State University.” How does that transl...
I don’t know why I’m still surprised, after 3+ years and countless lies, that Trump’s followers have done more than swallow the poisonous stew he spews. They have become the stew. And nothing could be a better example of this than the recent article in the Heritage, “Time For Trump To Be Trump,” written by columnist Caroline Glick. Here’s a few of the falsehoods and exaggerations Glick stated so vehemently in her article: “America had become the laughingstock of its enemies and the worst nig...
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (JTA) — Over seventy years ago, Temple Beth El and Temple Israel in Charlotte were approached by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to support the placement of a monument dedicated to Judah P. Benjamin, a Southerner and a Jew, who played an important role in the Confederacy. While our respective Boards voted to participate, there were almost immediate misgivings. At the time of the monument’s installation in 1948, the Daughters of the Confederacy were in an open dispute with the national and state-wide chapters adv...
By Mel Pearlman As America wrestles with the issue of finding its way to racial equality, we must be careful not to destroy the constitutional foundation of our nation, which in reality is the only path to reach that much-desired goal. The events of the past, highlighted by events of the last few months have laid naked the ugly reality of police brutality in many communities across the country, inflicted by law enforcement officers in their encounter with black men, women and teenagers. There is justified anger in the black community in seeing...
