Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1951 - 1975 of 3636
JNS.org Aish Hatorah Resources Arabs came to the protest in Tel Aviv because they oppose the very existence of a Jewish state, including its most innocuous symbol. Ever since Saturday night’s demonstration against the nation-state law in Tel Aviv, which was organized by Israel’s Arab community, people have been talking about the presence of Palestinian flags. But too little attention has been paid to something even more disturbing—the enforced absence of Israeli ones. Certainly, demonstrators who wave Palestinian flags while chanting sloga... Full story
Hold on to what’s important and let go of the super detailed image you have in your mind. One day they tell you you’re young and beautiful. You have a bright future ahead of you, they say. Then the next day, with no warning, they say you are being too picky, that you’re not getting any younger, and you need to think more seriously about settling down. That day happens at different ages and stages depending on your culture and community as if there’s an expiry date stamped on your forehead for all to see. Very few things are more painful... Full story
They say that silence is golden. Yet, now is a time that we cannot stay silent. For over four months, communities facing the Gaza border in Southern Israel have lived through a daily barrage of incendiary kites, balloons, and rockets. For these families, one night of silence would be welcome. Instead, they are woken up each night by the sound of sirens blaring as they gather their children and rush to bomb shelters. Children are afraid to take a shower in case a siren goes off. Farmers watch their livelihood burn as hundreds of thousands of... Full story
(JNS)—In recent weeks, a handful of American Jews have loudly complained about being questioned by the Israeli police over their contacts with Palestinians. They would have us believe that the Israeli authorities are a bunch of iron-fisted totalitarians who are trying to suppress dissent. I don’t buy it. The latest complainers are Simone Zimmerman and Abby Kirschbaum, who spent last weekend in the Sinai (that is, Egypt) and were questioned upon their return. Zimmerman is one of the founders of the Israel-bashing organization “IfNotNow.” Her hos... Full story
When did the idea take hold in public policy conversations that every American was at first morally bound, and now legally required to love every other American? “Love” is not a legal term and as best I can tell, not being a religious scholar, religious texts only seem to deal with the concept of love as an emotional factor between and among individuals who are familiar with one another, such as spouses, children, relatives, neighbors and friends. Love of the divine is beyond the scope of this column. Psychology concepts broaden the use of the... Full story
(JNS)—Increasingly, I perceive Diaspora Jewish communities inexorably moving into a self-destruct mode on several fronts. David Rothkopf, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, has published “this government of Israel and what it stands for must be opposed in every way possible, including, given the absence of other effective options, boycotts... [as] its acts have not only undermined its legitimacy... “...[it is a] country part of one of the most dangerous movements afoot on the planet today... Full story
(JTA)—This is Leonard Bernstein’s centennial summer, and the Tanglewood Music Center in the Berkshires is staging a series of outdoor performances to celebrate its favorite son. I’m not saying that everyone who goes to Tanglewood is Jewish, although I always think a typical evening there is what the High Holidays would look like if the Israelites had enjoyed picnics and white wine. Last month I had lawn tickets when the Boston Symphony performed Bernstein’s score of “West Side Story” live while the film was shown on large screens. The effect... Full story
(JNS)—A recording that aired on Israeli TV channel Arutz 20 this past week revealed the tactics employed by the New Israel Fund when it disapproves of legislation proposed in the Knesset, such as the recently passed nation-state law. In the recording—a conversation between NIF’s Israel director Mickey Gitzin and NIF’s U.S. CEO Daniel Sokatch—Gitzin described how the NIF and its beneficiaries organize opposition in the Knesset (“tackling the system,” as Gitzin called it), demonstrations on the Israeli street, and the recruitment of academics,... Full story
I think I have read almost every commentary on the Nation-State Law that the Knesset passed last week by a slim margin (62 in favor, 55 against). Most of the commentary has been by people with more experience than I have in analyzing such laws and perhaps even more intelligence. And the arguments on both sides, for and against, all make sense given the differing perspectives of the writers. But without going into the merits of the law, or the lack thereof, once again the passage of the Nation-State Law demonstrates the government’s inability t... Full story
(JNS)—In ancient times, people looked to portents involving the heavens and earthbound events in order to try to understand the baffling world in which we live, as well as to discern the will of their Creator. In the 21st century—armed with science, sophisticated technology and mass communication—we’re much smarter than that. Instead of pondering the stars, we now expect the fall of a loose rock in an old stone wall to explain it all. When a boulder that was part of the ancient Western Wall fell this past week, it was just a matter of gravity... Full story
(JNS)—Last Thursday, a Palestinian teenager stabbed a young Jewish father to death and wounded two others. On Sunday, a Palestinian teenager who assaulted Israeli soldiers was released from prison to international acclaim. Later on Sunday, two Palestinian teenagers with machine guns and bullet magazines were intercepted on their way to massacre Jews. Palestinian children are not born hating Jews or loving violence. Who is to blame for encouraging and inspiring these young people to engage in such murderous behavior? We can, of course, d... Full story
Should we worry about the future? Of course. But how far into the future? We should certainly complete the obligations we have committed to for today. And maybe next week. Beyond that, however, something unforeseen may get in the way. In matters of politics and public policy, it’s much more complex. How much to worry about the incompetence of the American president? Or the tilt to the right of the Israeli prime minister? Each of those characters may be the most weighty influence on the near future of the U.S. and Israel, but there is lots e... Full story
This week, the fourth of my children visited Poland. Though the immediate threats to Jewish life in Poland today are not what they were 75 years ago, I can’t escape the need to protect her from Poland, our history, and its horrors. I don’t fear for her physical safety, but I do fear her loss of innocence as she will be exposed to the horrors to which our people, and specifically dozens of our relatives, were subject, and murdered. I’ve been to Poland and I’ve witnessed concentration camps, death camps, the gas chambers, and the cremato... Full story
By Martin Sherman (JNS)—One of the most mendacious and widely propagated myths regarding the Middle East conflict is that Israel’s defensive actions against hostile Arab initiatives—whose sole aim is to murder or maim Jews, simply because they are Jews—constitute “racism.” The apparent reason for these grave accusations is rooted in the fact that some of the coercive measures, necessary for the effectiveness of these defensive Israeli actions, are carried out differentially (and therefore, allegedly, discriminately) against Palestinian... Full story
(JNS)—Since Sept. 11, 2001, whenever there has been a terrorist attack in the West (and there have been many), the question everyone asks is: “Where are the moderate Muslims?” Well, we are here, but our voices have been drowned out by the hysterical din of the Islamist narrative. In light of the urgent need to promote the voices of progressive liberal Muslims, a conference was held on Aug. 8 at the Jewish Community Center-Chabad of Aspen, Colo., in which five reformist Muslims spoke about challenges faced within the Muslim world. The key questi... Full story
Due to an unusual conflation of events, over the past two weeks we’ve caught a rare glimpse of the face of European foreign policy. We shouldn’t let it pass unremarked. Last Friday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini presided over a curious summit in Vienna. In the same hall where she and her colleagues concluded the nuclear deal with Iran three years ago, Mogherini and her comrades tried to concoct ways to save the deal by undermining American power and defying its decision to abandon the deal. Mogherini was joine... Full story
By Mel Pearlman As if we have not been emotionally exasperated and mentally mutilated by the endless debates regarding the existential question of “Who is a Jew,” playwright Joshua Harmon has come along to challenge us with an even more vexatious question: What makes a Jew a “good” Jew or a “bad” Jew? Growing up in Brooklyn in a neighborhood of Orthodox Jews and not one, but two orthodox synagogues down the block on which we lived, we always did Shabbat dinner on Friday night and regularly attended Shabbat services. My parents kept kosher and... Full story
Florida is not a panacea especially when it comes to the scourge of anti-Semitism. Nowhere is and especially not the United Kingdom. In April 2016 I wrote a piece for the Heritage “thanking U.K.’s Labour Party for mainstream anti-Semitism.” At the time I was still in the process of becoming an American citizen (which I achieved earlier this year) and was very worried about the blatancy and openness of anti-Semitism in the U.K. especially in the Labour party, a party in political terms to the left of center. I ended the piece by ironi... Full story
Holocaust denial isn’t just getting “a few things wrong.” It’s a pernicious form of anti-Semitism that serves no other purpose than to attack Jews. Dear Mark Zuckerberg, I’m one of your many fans. Like over two billion people around the planet, I use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, hear new ideas, and digest news. Your decisions about social media affect my life every day. Unbelievably, now those decisions include giving Holocaust denial free reign. On July 18, 2018, you gave an interview to Kara Swisher of the tech site Recode in... Full story
A digital-age cautionary tale about privacy, shaming and hurtful words. It started as a cute online romantic tale. A woman began tweeting photos and updates of a supposed “love story” that was happening before her eyes while flying on an Alaskan Airlines flight. After requesting a seat change to sit beside her boyfriend, the passenger thought that the strangers who now sat side by side may be discovering each other and “the love of her life.” She began photographing the pair from her seat that was directly behind them. The trip was documented s... Full story
Did US President Donald Trump commit treason in Helsinki when he met Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin? Should he be impeached? That is what his opponents claim. Former president Barack Obama’s CIA director John Brennan accused Trump of treason outright. Brennan tweeted, “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki [with Putin] rises to and exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors.’ It was nothing short of treasonous.” Fellow senior Obama administration officials, including former FBI director James Comey... Full story
Jews used to be used to losing. The poor shlep. The cringing schlemiel. The Hebrew prayers that call for God’s help; God’s blessing. While Jabotinsky was exhorting the Jews of Eastern Europe to either leave for what was then Palestine or arm themselves, most Jews shrugged and continued to live their miserable lives. Some listened to Jabo. The rest shrugged and sighed. And 20 years later - died by the millions. Out of the Holocaust the Third Jewish Commonwealth was born. They took in millions of Jews. Some fleeing persecution and death, oth... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—There are many problems with the Nationality Law nearing passage as the Knesset wraps up its summer session on Sunday, not the least of which is that there is no reason for it. No Israelis challenge the Jewishness of the state, thus the law is unnecessary. Unfortunately, something unnecessary can also be harmful. The language of the bill, which is officially called “Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People,” gives constitution-like force to the notion that Israel is a state for the Jews, from its flag and n... Full story
(JNS)—On being designated prime minister of Poland this past December, Mateusz Morawiecki made the extraordinary statement that he and his government want to “transform [the European Union], to re-Christianize it.” Struck by this grand vision of Poland’s destiny, and particularly interested in the near-total ban on Muslim migrants (Morawiecki again: “We will not accept migrants from the Middle East and North Africa in Poland”), I just spent a week in Warsaw to understand why that country differs so sharply from Western Europe and what this i... Full story
For the past century the American Jewish Congress has stood as a staunch, robust opponent of any and all who would harm our people. While this is our primary mission, we are equally duty bound to call out friends and family should they stumble in their uncompromising defense of the Jewish people. In this vein, and with a heavy heart, I feel it is my obligation to critique the State of Israel for signing a joint statement with Poland praising the latter’s efforts to end a dispute over Holocaust legislation that would have criminalized i... Full story
