Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2076 - 2100 of 3636
Our Torah tells us of a man named Abram who probably lived in what is now Iran. He was head of a small “Clan”—also identified as a “Tribe.” The Tribe consisted of a group of loosely connected family members: sons, daughters (of which Abram had none of either at the time), cousins, etc. Our Torah tells us that one day he decided to move the Tribe from the pleasant and fruitful land in which they dwelled to a barren strip of sand over a thousand miles almost due east. But, our Torah tells us God came to Abram in a dream and told him to go and th... Full story
Let’s focus on two qualities that make the biggest messes: anger and jealousy. How do I clean my heart of those? Cleaning the house for Passover is an opportunity to do a tremendous soul cleansing as well. On a spiritual level, bread products, or chametz, represents our negativity, or our yetzer harahs, those aspects of ourselves that we’d love to get rid of. Maybe on a deeper level that’s what’s so difficult about cleaning for Passover. Doing so requires us to come face to face with our chametz, our shortcomings. And really... who wants t... Full story
(JNS)—After more than a year of pretending that President Donald Trump was fomenting anti-Semitism, it’s been a bad month for some on the left. The fact that supporters of Louis Farrakhan lead the Women’s March, the movement organizing protests for the anti-Trump “resistance,” has proven deeply embarrassing. Responsible liberals and conservatives understand that the only thing to do about hate is to oppose it—no matter where its advocates fall on the margins of the political spectrum. But the focus on Farrakhan and his apologists has unsettl... Full story
(JNS)—The Trump administration’s conference on the situation in the Gaza Strip this week “focused on the need for the Palestinian Authority to take control over Gaza,” a White House official told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. If that report is accurate, it means that the United States still doesn’t understand the basic problem in Gaza—or how to solve it. The idea that Hamas is the “bad guy” and the Palestinian Authority is the “good guy” is a fallacy that began with the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, and is still the mindset of too many... Full story
By Ben Cohen (JNS)—Mention the name “Celine” to most people in the United States—or Europe, for that matter—and they will think you’re talking about the long-serving Canadian pop diva. But among French intellectuals, there is only one “Celine”: Louis-Ferdinand Céline, one of a handful of writers who redefined the mission and style of French literature in the 20th century. This Céline, whose heyday was in the 1930s, detested the Jews. No surprise there, given the unhealthy number of writers and artists outside Germany who sympathized with... Full story
There is a webpage, JewBelong and other web pages on the Internet, whose alleged purpose is to bring Judaism to new heights of “contemporary cool,” and thereby attract young Jews back to Judaism. The result of their methodology is to dilute Judaism. The current effort is to incorporate and to politicize the seder with contemporary issues, to change the symbolism on the seder plate to include symbols for gay rights and other causes, to read selections from Christian and Muslim sources, and to promote a progressive political agenda that has not... Full story
(Israel Hayom / Exclusive to JNS via JNS)—While Israel is mired in domestic scandals and coalition crises, the greatest threat the country has known since the eve of the Yom Kippur War—perhaps since the War for Independence—is steadily taking shape. This menace, posed of course by Iran, essentially consists of a wide range of growing threats closing in on us. The Iranians, who invented the game of chess, are exceedingly adept at playing several boards simultaneously, with the winner’s prize no less than control of the entire Middle East an... Full story
(JNS)vJ Street and the radical wing of the Democratic Party have worked hard in recent years to chip away at the party’s traditional support for Israel. And they’ve made some progress, to judge by recent public opinion polls, in the changes in the Democratic Party platform and the number of Democratic congressmen who have signed J Street’s letters criticizing Israel. But a speech at the AIPAC conference, made by the senior U.S. senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, has struck a powerful blow against those trends in his party. As the Senat... Full story
(JNS)—It turns out that in some cases, the Trump administration can behave just like its predecessors. President Donald Trump has been rightly accused of smashing precedents as the commander-in-chief, and many of his subordinates have behaved, spoken and tweeted in ways unlike anything we’ve seen before. Some of this unorthodox behavior is indeed troubling. But other decisions, including his willingness to buck the foreign-policy establishment on issues like the status of Jerusalem and trying to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for... Full story
(My Jewish Learning via JTA)—One of the most oft-repeated themes of the Torah is that we must remember that we were slaves and strangers in the Land of Egypt, and that God redeemed us with an outstretched hand. Both the experience of slavery and the experience of redemption are meant to radiate one central and fundamental call to action that the Torah comes back to again and again: Slavery and strangerhood: Love the stranger and care for him, provide for him and show him empathy. Feel his pain and act to alleviate it, deal kindly with him, for... Full story
(JNS)-Queen Elizabeth II is marking her 66th year of reign in 2018, which by any standards is an extraordinarily long time for a single individual to be a head of state. (By comparison, King David is said to have reigned for 40 years, and Queen Victoria-comfortably overtaken now by Elizabeth-managed 64.) Off the top of my head, I can't think of any current ruler who has remained in place throughout the Cold War and beyond. In that sense, historians will have a grand second Elizabethan era to... Full story
(JNS)—A Palestinian state in Israel’s backyard, international control over Jerusalem’s Old City and the mass expulsion of tens of thousands of Jews from Judea and Samaria: Is this the “price” that President Donald Trump recently hinted Israel would have to pay? According to Arab diplomats cited by the London newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, the Trump plan for the Middle East, soon to be unveiled, includes “U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital”; the imposition of “international protection” over Jerusalem’s Old C... Full story
(JNS)—After beating ISIS, the administration can’t stand by idly as the chaos in Syria leads to war between Israel and Iran’s Hezbollah auxiliaries. Donald Trump was elected president of the United States promising an “America First” foreign policy. That was an ominous echo of America’s pre-World War II isolationists, and as troubling as that sounded to anyone with a sense of history, it seemed to match his belief that the United States had spent too much blood and treasure on wars in the Middle East. Though he promised to defeat the terrori... Full story
(JNS)—It’s a very good thing that Poland took a step backwards against a decision that not only absolved it of guilt, but also made it a liar. It gave in to common sentiment, which populism tends to do. Wisely, the government decided not to implement a law that could lead to a fine and up to three years in prison for anyone who refers to Nazi extermination camps on its territory during World War II as “Polish death camps” or accuses Polish citizens of being complicit in the extermination of the Jews. Poland’s President Andrzej Duda signed th... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)—The latest episode of Iran flexing its regional hegemonic muscles in the Middle East came with a direct and unprecedented military challenge to Israel. Last week, Iran used a technologically advanced drone—reverse-engineered from a U.S. drone captured in 2011—to penetrate Israel’s airspace. Israel took the drone down, and proceeded to strike Iranian and Syrian military targets deep in Syria. While Israel lost an F-16 in the exchange, the message to Iran and Syria regarding Israel’s willingness to respond quickly and decisivel... Full story
(JTA)—In the aftermath of the fatal mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, the Jewish community should take note: Teenagers are not just the future of the Jewish people; they are the dynamic force driving social change today. Today we are witnessing history unfold as the American teenage populace is mobilizing. This moment will be recorded as one in which adolescents were the catalysts for societal change—and they will keep fighting because they know that they are on the right side of history. The irony should not be lost here. Generation Z (te... Full story
(JNS)—Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal after all. Instead of waiting until 2019 or 2020, the U.S. embassy to Israel will move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May. On Friday, the Trump administration said the ceremony converting a Jerusalem consulate into the embassy would coincide with Israel’s 70th birthday celebrations. Unlike Trump’s initial announcement recognizing the holy city as Israel’s capital, the reaction to this latest one turned out to be substantially low-key. The Arab world and Muslim populations didn’t take to the streets to... Full story
Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS via JNS President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Dec. 6 was not a political move, but rather the fulfillment of a true intention. The same goes for his decision on Friday to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, as part of the celebrations marking 70 years since the founding of Israel. The American announcement proves to the world that Trump doesn’t just make promises, he takes action. Remember his remarks two weeks ago in a special interview to Israel Hayom—that recog... Full story
Last week we observed the holiday of Purim with the reading in synagogues around the world of the Megillat Esther, partying with strong drink and masquerades, eating Hamantashen (named after the notorious Haman), and exchanging Shalach Monot (gifts of food and sweets). Purim commemorates a theme which occurs too frequently in Jewish history: our struggle for survival against those who “in every generation would rise up to destroy us”. Of course, the outcome happily is always the same: with the help of G-d, we prevail over our enemies. Ear... Full story
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was forced last week to deny being a Holocaust revisionist, after suggesting that Jews were complicit in their own genocide. Referring to a new Polish law making it illegal to say the country has responsibility for the Holocaust, an Israeli journalist and son of Polish survivors asked Morawiecki if he could face prison for recounting how his mother was betrayed by her Polish neighbors. The prime minister replied: “Of course it’s not going to be punishable... to say that there were Polish per... Full story
(JNS)—It has become a platitude repeated ad nauseam by former Israeli security officials: The Palestinian Authority must not be weakened because this might imperil Israel. The reasoning is that even though the PA is bad, at least it cooperates, to a greater or lesser degree, with their Israeli counterparts, whereas Israel does not know what kind of potentially radical monster would take over after a collapsed PA. This Sunday, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill that would deduct salaries given by the PA to convicted t... Full story
As our government continues to debate the gun law issues and what to do concerning protecting our schools, Israel has the problem very much under control. Since 1974 there have only been about one-half dozen terrorist attacks on Israeli schools. What is their secret? CBS News foreign correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti asked, “Does everyone have a gun in Israel?” No, said gun instructor Sharon Gat. “Gun laws in America are much more loose than gun laws in Israel.” What are the requirements to have a gun? • It takes up to three months to get a gun... Full story
(JNS)—Perhaps the saddest thing about the death of the Rev. Billy Graham on Feb. 21, at the age of 99, was the fact that virtually every obituary gave prominent mention to what was arguably his worst moment. Graham was a giant of American evangelism, whose worldwide fame as a preacher eclipsed that of any American religious figure of the 20th century. But it was impossible to do an assessment of a life full of achievements without also talking about the fact that he was caught on tape expressing anti-Semitic sentiments while speaking with f... Full story
(JNS)—Stop the presses! A vulgar American Jewish comedian has praised a Palestinian teenage girl who assaulted an Israeli soldier. Put it on the front page! The comedian, Sarah Silverman, recently sent out a tweet demanding that Israel release Ahed Tamimi, the Palestinian teenager who staged a video in which she repeatedly slapped a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces. Tamimi tried, but failed, to provoke the soldier to respond in a way that would make useful propaganda. “Jews have to stand up even when—especially when—the wrongdoing is by J... Full story
(JNS)—I interviewed Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister of Poland, during his September visit to New York. The public-relations maven who arranged the meeting pitched Morawiecki—then still deputy prime minister—as a rising star anxious to allay concerns in the Jewish community about controversial legislation (which was signed into law on Feb. 6) regarding terminology and the Holocaust. Indeed, when we sat down for our conversation, Morawiecki advanced the case that Jews and Poles have a common interest in commemorating the brutalities of th... Full story
