Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1451 - 1475 of 3636
No group in America is more sensitive about religious freedom than the Jewish community. Although we have many differences of opinion concerning public policy issues I think it is fair to say we speak with one voice when it comes to defending religious freedom. Government’s non-interference in how, when or with whom a person prays or otherwise expresses his religious beliefs and convictions is a cornerstone of American pluralism. The 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is clear and unambiguous; the very first words of the 1st Amendment a... Full story
(JNS)—The carry-on about the dangerous spread of COVID-19 within the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community in Israel is understandable. While the rest of us are cooped up at home, with increasingly severe limitations on our freedom of movement, certain ultra-Orthodox towns and neighborhoods have been conducting business as usual. Indeed, the contrast between Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood and the city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv with the shuttered shops and empty playgrounds of cities from Metula to Eilat naturally causes rage on the part of a... Full story
Two Fridays ago, on a final grocery store run before officially locking myself alone inside my Brooklyn studio apartment, I purchased a box of 72 “Standard Shabbos Candles” for the first time in my life. I had recently reclaimed the candlestick holders I got for my bat mitzvah from a family storage unit outside Chicago, so as I stood in line at the grocery store looking into my basket—essentials for this pandemic programming—I felt grateful I’d somehow decided that Shabbat needed to be part of what will help me live through these unprecede... Full story
(JNS)—A Palestinian activist’s harsh response to the first Israeli fatality from the coronavirus has sparked some controversy. It’s a tempest in a teapot, but it also contains an important lesson or two. The activist, Ms. Leen Dweik, was president of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at New York University in 2018-19. In response to the news that 88-year-old Holocaust survivor Arye Even died from the virus in Israel, Dweik tweeted a contemptuous message referencing the painting of her fingernails. Her sneering comment was so ugly... Full story
Dear teachers and Staff of the ECLC: For those who don’t know me, my name is Jeff Greenwald. I am the vice president of the Roth Family JCC Board, a parent of a 4-year-old in Room 3 (and 2 other boys that have since graduated), and the husband of one of your co-workers (my beautiful Michelle). I was with my 9-year-old today and he said to me that “he will never forget his third-grade year.” When I asked him why, he said it was because the “Rona” as he calls it has “made it different than any other year so far.” I sat for a bit and thought about... Full story
(JNS)—The coronavirus pandemic is not the first deadly contagion to ravage the globe, but it is clearly the first that modern nations have sought to combat by essentially shutting down public life and much of their economies. While most of us may have initially thought that this necessary effort would be of short duration earlier in the month, few are still laboring under the illusion that things will soon be back to normal. But whether we emerge from this hiatus from our normal lives within a few weeks or a few months, it’s clear that the econ... Full story
Every spring, the Jewish community is treated to a colorful variety of new editions of the Passover Haggadah. There’s something for everybody—you can find haggadahs that focus on everything from the environment to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel TV show. And now, just in time for the 2020 holiday, brace yourself for the most disturbing version yet, courtesy of J Street: The Anti-Israel Haggadah. That’s not its official name, of course. And J Street will surely bristle at the notion that anything it does can be described as “anti-Israel.” But almos... Full story
We can argue if it really happened, but there’s no doubt that the Exodus is a great story, with or without Hollywood stars or best selling authors. Yet it has also been associated with problems. The association of Passover and Easter brought forth an increase in Christian animosity and violence. Too often in European history it was a season of pogroms rather than celebration. There’s no better evidence for the stories of Jesus than for the story of the Exodus. Both rely on what was written by religious partisans, with the story of Jesus’ trial... Full story
(JNS)—Some Israeli political leaders are about to do something that would severely alienate a large portion of Diaspora Jewry. No, I’m not talking about the arguments over prayer areas at the Western Wall or the “Who is a Jew?” dispute. I’m referring to a very different threat to Israel-Diaspora relations: The prospect that terror-supporters will be given a significant role in the makeup and policies of the next government of Israel. Last week, a newly elected Arab member of the Knesset, Mrs. Aida Touma-Sliman, made a dramatic announcem... Full story
With the recent outbreak of the coronavirus in Gaza, all eyes are (strangely) on Israel. Let’s explore why and if that’s well founded or helpful. Some background is important. During the British occupation of the Land of Israel (1917-1948), Gaza was meant to become part of an Arab state per a two-state solution which they, and the rest of the Arab world, rejected. Many refugees fled Israel in the 1948-49 War of Independence, where they lived in squalor under Egyptian occupation. Gaza was captured, along with all of Sinai, from Egypt (and Jud... Full story
WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA)—Like so many others, I am feeling the spiritual loss and pain of our current inability to learn Torah and pray together in person. Many mourners are devoted to the customary recitation of Kaddish for a deceased close relative and struggling with how to do so in the absence of a minyan. Some rabbis are encouraging internet-based solutions to hold us over until this crisis abates. I’m concerned that those solutions come with a significant cost. The decision to blur virtual reality with actual reality and relax the rules of... Full story
By Jonathan S. Tobin (JNS)—It seems like a devastating argument. If Israeli Jews are willing to accept life-saving treatment from Arab doctors, why won’t they give their representatives in the Knesset a seat in the country’s government? That’s the point The New York Times’ Jerusalem bureau chief David Halbfinger made last week both on Twitter and in an article that made the same point. It’s been echoed elsewhere in features in the Israeli press. But the premise is false. The idea that objections to giving anti-Zionist Arab parties a role in t... Full story
Most columnists dread the well-known malady of “writer’s block,” particularly when their editor’s deadline for submission edges ever closer and closer. My problem, as I worked on this week’s column was not “writer’s block” but too many current topics that interfered with my ability to focus on any one of them. If I had to compare this virtual smorgasbord of subjects to a physical phenomenon it would be like trying to listen to many conversations at once, each interfering with another, leaving me unable to hear anything but combined gibber... Full story
(JNS)—Did you hear the shocking news? Sixty Congress members just signed a letter demanding that the federal government stop dismantling illegally built homes belonging to whites, though they didn’t object to the dismantling of illegal homes built by African-Americans. Oops, wait! Sorry, I got that mixed up. The 60 Congress members demanded that the Israeli government stop dismantling any illegally built homes that have been built by Arabs. But they did not object to Israel’s continuing policy of dismantling of illegally built Jewish homes... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—I know that many American Jews are not the biggest fans of President Donald Trump. But I also know that when it comes to Jewish issues, no candidate is better. President Donald Trump is the most emphatically pro-Israel U.S. president since the Jewish state’s founding in 1948. He is the most instinctively philo-Semitic president at least since Abraham Lincoln spoke of America as an “almost chosen people”—and perhaps since George Washington himself assured the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island that each child of the “Stock of... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Now that the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination in America is narrowing to a two-person race, the case for Joe Biden is even more compelling and urgent. I have known and worked with him since he entered the U.S. Senate more than 40 years ago, and then as vice president. From the start of this tortuous political contest, I never had any doubt that he deserves the overwhelming support of the American Jewish community. Joe Biden has worked tirelessly with American Jewish organizations for tikkun olam, making our c... Full story
(JNS)—I knew it, I knew it, I just knew it... so they closed the coffee place. I hadn’t even recycled my paper cup from Monday when I saw the online notice that night. Foiled. Even though I passed right by my friendly barista on the street on Sunday, when she assured me they would be doing takeout for the foreseeable future. Instead, I went to the local bagel shop, another neighborhood haunt. I picked up a dozen bagels for dinner (defrosted the lox last night), but stared for a minute when I first got there. Right. St. Patrick’s Day for some... Full story
(JNS)—The numbers are rolling in, and they make for grim reading. In four European countries with significant Jewish communities—France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy—statistics gathered during 2019 by communal organizations and law-enforcement agencies published in the last month noted in a steep rise in anti-Semitic offenses across all of them. Arguably, the most worrying pattern to emerge from this data is the growing tendency among Jew-haters to physically assault their victims. True, such outrages still account for only a small... Full story
By Laura Ben-David JERUSALEM (JTA)—For the young and healthy, the coronavirus itself is likely to be mostly an inconvenience. But for many workers, the COVID-19 pandemic could literally cost them their livelihoods. Obviously, many of us are deeply concerned about catching the highly contagious respiratory illness or about the growing possibility of being put into a 14-day quarantine. But in several tourist-generated businesses in Israel, many workers I have spoken with are in a state of despair. Work hours are being slashed, and some places a... Full story
I am proud to be Israeli and I am proud of my government. In the last few days, as the coronavirus was spinning out of control around the world, Israel has consistently been taking proactive decisions, the likes of which cannot be found anywhere in the world. I spent five days in India, and during that time, I mainly watched two news stations circle the world to explain what is happening: BBC and CNN. Israel was not mentioned when they spoke about possible vaccines. They didn’t mention the scientists and doctors who are working towards a v... Full story
(JNS)—It’s time to take the threat from the coronavirus seriously. That’s as true for local Jewish communities as it is for governments. But just like some of our leaders have been slow to comprehend the peril from the spread of the disease, the same is undoubtedly true for those in charge of schools, synagogues and communal organizations. But now that more cases are being reported, there’s little doubt that overcoming resistance to canceling events and reverting to virtual services or classes where possible is rapidly becoming an imperat... Full story
(JNS)—I read in The New York Times this week that German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that two-thirds of the German population could end up infected by the coronavirus. That would be 55 million people—in one country alone. Meanwhile, all of Italy is under quarantine. I think that’s worth repeating: All of Italy is under quarantine. The World Health Organization has officially labeled the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, meaning a disease spreading in multiple countries simultaneously. A tiny virus is taking on humanity, and so far, it’s... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—In recent weeks, we’ve seen an unprecedented epidemic of the coronavirus spread across the world. Unfortunately, we’ve also seen a spike in anti-Asian violence and prejudice. In the U.S., racist and xenophobic outbursts, assaults and discriminatory practices against Asian Americans have been reported from coast to coast. Chinese restaurants are witnessing 30 to 80 percent drops in business. Misinformation about COVID-19 is rampant on social media. Blaming or insinuating that Asian Americans are somehow responsible for, or even... Full story
(JNS) There are a lot of people who are relieved that Michael Bloomberg has dropped out of the Democratic primary race, and not all of them are named Biden. The withdrawal of the former mayor of New York City gives a boost to former Vice President Joe Biden. Bloomberg’s jumping on the Biden bandwagon removes the last competition for more moderate Democratic primary voters and lessens the chances that Sen. Bernie Sanders will become the Democratic nominee. That’s a relief for both centrists who fear the Vermont Socialist can’t beat President Don... Full story
(JNS)—It was one of those weeks where every day brought another great idea for a column. First, I attended an insightful lecture by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik at Beth Jacob Congregation that connected the festival of Purim with Abraham Lincoln and slavery. Then it was “Comeback Joe” Biden’s resounding primary victory in South Carolina that reset the Democratic primary race. Then it was the AIPAC Policy Conference I attended in Washington, D.C., where the drama and anxiety were at a peak. And, of course, there was how Prime Minister Benjami... Full story
