Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2781 - 2805 of 3706
Dear Editor: I am writing in response to David Bornstein’s editorial on Feb. 12. For the second consecutive year, David Bornstein has chosen to write an editorial which seeks to encourage members of the Orlando Jewish community to “sit this one out” when it comes to our community agencies (especially the Jewish Academy of Orlando). Last year, I encouraged him to stop by the JAO and take a tour. I’m not sure whether or not he took me up on that offer but had he visited, he would have noticed several developments. He would have visited the sch... Full story
With the public announcement that David Wayne, executive director of the Jewish Community Center, is moving on to a new phase in his life, and the JCC is conducting a nationwide search for a new director, questions inevitably arise regarding the change. While I am not privy to the inner workings of the agency, or any behind-the-scenes reasons for his departure, a few points can easily be made. First, there are no questions or doubts about the integrity or decency of Mr. Wayne. He has always... Full story
“When in Rome, do as the Iranians do.” That was the core message emerging from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Europe this week, in a bid to boost trade relations now that the sanctions related to Tehran’s nuclear program have been lifted. Arriving at Rome’s venerable Capitoline Museum for a meeting with his Italian counterpart, Mateo Renzi, Rouhani was swiftly escorted past the museum’s priceless collection of Roman statues, including many nudes that had been covered up—yes, really—to avoid offending the sensibilities o... Full story
We’ve had another round of clamoring about who is responsible for the failure of Israelis and Palestinians to reach an agreement ending their disputes. There are two fronts in the recent verbiage. One consists of accusations by Mahmoud Abbas and Benyamin Netanyahu about one another’s willingness to meet. Another concerns the prospect that a former commander of the IDF, Gabi Ashkenazi, will enter politics as a moderate, and lead one or another party to make peace with the Palestinians. Both fronts are convoluted by other considerations, and we... Full story
Last week Jews worldwide were treated to two stabbings, one murdering a Jewish mother of six bereaved children. The consequence of the second is the imminence of more to come. The immediate threat is to Jews, but there are many reasons why everyone should care. In Israel, Dafna Meir, a Jewish mother of six, was stabbed to death fighting off an Arab terrorist who broke into her home. Her children were home as she struggled with the terrorist to protect them. Her actions were selfless and heroic, and her death equally sad and grotesque. Israelis... Full story
Followers of Islam face a growing threat of becoming a pariah community in the United States, as a consequence of now frequent acts of mass-murder committed by co-religionists here and abroad. Horrified by the war in Syria, violence in Africa, and in about 50 areas around the world, where Muslims interface with non-Muslims, and Muslims of different sects, disgust and fright at the rise of the Islamic State, cause otherwise tolerant Americans to set aside natural instincts for acceptance of others and their religion. Widespread violence in the... Full story
(JTA)—The relationship between Israel and American Jews is a complicated mix of good news and bad news, and this week’s government compromise on the Western Wall, or Kotel, is a case in point: It’s a step forward in providing access for non-Orthodox Jews, but may also reinforce the reality that the main plaza doesn’t welcome Reform or Conservative Jews, who comprise the majority of affiliated American Jews. The main Kotel plaza may never accommodate non-Orthodox prayer, but a new poll by the Ruderman Family Foundation provides some hope an... Full story
Another week, another litany of ugly incidents targeting Jews, along with expressions of concern about rising anti-Semitism around the globe, and even the odd solution offered up. But as we’ve been slowly learning since the turn of this century, not much really changes. Let’s start with France, where in the last four years Islamist terrorists have executed two massacres at Jewish sites—first at a school in Toulouse in 2012, which resulted in the murders of a teacher and three children, and then at the Hyper Cacher market in Paris in Janua... Full story
Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon justifies terrorism and incitement: “It is human nature to react to occupation.” Actually, stabbing a pregnant woman or a mother of six is not human nature. Instead of making excuses for murders, Ban Ki-moon should take the first step towards eradicating terrorism and follow International Law. UN Security Council Resolution 1377 states: “Reaffirms its unequivocal condemnation of all acts, methods and practices of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, in al... Full story
There is sadness along with satisfaction in recent stories of Palestinians captured or killed as a result of their attacks against Jews. A 13-year-old girl was shot to death as she charged, with knife raised, against a security guard on the border between a Palestinian town and Jerusalem. Subsequent pictures showed where she had lived in a cluster of Bedouin tents and shacks alongside the buildings of Anata. It could not have been comfortable during winter cold and rain, without decent heat, running water, electricity and toilets. We hear that... Full story
Dear Editor: In your issue of Jan. 22, a prominent lady who does many good things for our Jewish community published a letter addressed to local Islamic leaders expressing her “empathy and support” for their suffering from “ever increasing bigotry and discrimination.” I agree with the part of the letter where she says that we Jews “stand with all those who unequivocally condemn and reject hateful interpretations of Islam.” Unfortunately, I am unconvinced that the latter statement applies to most spiritual and self-appointed leaders of Islam. I... Full story
Dear Editor: In response to the article in the Heritage by the Jewish Community Relations Council on Jan.22, 2016, I think it would be a good idea for all Jews to buy a copy of the Quran and read it. It will help you to gain insight into the minds and actions of many Muslim terrorists around the world who follow the Quran to this day. While the Bible has passages of violence, it is rare for Jews to follow that mindset today. Judaism has evolved in many ways. Judaism also has the Ten Commandments, which Islam does not have. Judaism expresses... Full story
Dear Editor: I want to compliment the leadership of the Jewish Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando for reaching out to the local Muslim community. It is through interactions such as this that we as Jews can learn more about the Muslim community and Islam. We have much to learn! How many are aware that the early chapters of the Quran were written in Mecca and talk of tolerance and co-existence but the later, and superceding chapters, were written in Medina and are filled with violence, espousing death to inf... Full story
Dear Editor: In the Jan. 22, 2016, issue of the Heritage it was reported that Ina Porth, Rhonda Forest, Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), and the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando voted to “stand with all those who unequivocally condemn and reject hateful interpretations of Islam.” I am in full agreement and condemn the second paragraph of the Hamas Charter that states, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it” (The Martyr, Imam Hassan alBanna, of blessed... Full story
On Jan. 26, the Roth Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Greater Orlando’s Facebook page posted a letter from Executive Director David Wayne explaining that the Jewish Academy of Orlando had received a bomb threat, but that the area was found “clear” and everyone was safe. The story circulated throughout both the local and global Jewish media, but a Jan. 28 Google search for “maitland bomb threat” brought up no results more current than the actual day of the incident, Jan. 26. Even if the outside world forgets, the Jewish Community of Central F... Full story
The U.S. State Department has been so pro-Palestinian for so long that it might seem startling to suggest that there is a current of anti-Palestinian racism at Foggy Bottom. But just consider: The official Palestinian Authority (PA) daily newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, published an article on Jan. 21 suggesting that the U.S. carried out the 9/11 attacks in order to have a pretext for causing “creative anarchy” in the Arab world. The article, by regular columnist Dr. Osama Al-Fara, claimed that there are “many questions” about 9/11 “that p... Full story
The rulers of the Arab Gulf states are, it seems, increasingly attentive to what Israel has to say about the balance of power in the region. As a rising Shi’a Iran faces off against a Sunni coalition led by Saudi Arabia, the core shared interest between Israel’s democracy and these conservative theocracies—countering Iran’s bid to become the dominant power and influence in the Islamic world—has rarely been as apparent. Hence the interview given by a senior IDF officer to a Saudi weekly, Elaph, which laid out how Israel analyzes the present w... Full story
Usually, most people don’t take a real interest in politics until at least spring of an election year. Admittedly this year is different. The rise of The Donald continues to amaze. Obviously Bernie Sanders has touched a nerve. Jews have been almost solidly Democratic for over a hundred years. The reasons are simple. The Democratic Party stood by the unions. The Jews who became citizens in the early 1900s and beyond knew that their only chance against the “Stinking Bosses” was to organize. My grandfather, Abraham Shiplacoff (go ahead, Googl... Full story
A New York Times review of a book describing what may be the world’s largest refugee camp, near Kenya’s border with Somalia, notes that 60 million people have been displaced throughout the world as a result of conflict and other mass misfortunes. We can paraphrase Stalin: one person forced from home to a condition of poverty and wandering is a tragedy. Sixty million of them is a statistic. Other headlines are about a million refugees moving from the Middle East to Europe in 2015, another million projected for 2016, with European gov... Full story
Malicious campaigns to intimidate Jewish and other pro-Israel students and faculty into silence are occurring on far too many North American college campuses. Driven by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and its many off-campus enablers, the campaigns are loud and they do not care about appearing extreme. They create chaos and feed off the ensuing controversy to gain attention for their anti-Israel accusations. The goal: to create an atmosphere of political conformity based on an assumption of ill-will against Israel and its supporters.... Full story
It was one of those encounters that had happened to me so many times on book tour in America: the car ride back to my hotel from the Jewish Community Center after a few hours of lecturing, answering questions and signing books. Usually, the drivers in these short rides were enthusiastic volunteers who were fans and /or members of the book committee that had invited me in the first place. This ride was no different. Slim, pretty, with expensive diamond rings, driving the latest hybrid, my driver spoke to me knowledgeably about my books and... Full story
“I am proud of my son,” the father of 16-year-old Morad Adais, of the Palestinian village of Dura, declared this week. What do you suppose was the occasion for this burst of parental pride? What was it that young Morad did which so pleased his father? An impressive report card? Helping with home repairs? Taking care of younger siblings? No, what Morad did to bring honor to the Adais family was that he broke into the home of a young Israeli Jewish mother of six and brutally stabbed her to death. Not that the elder Adais is the exception. On the... Full story
So numerous were the omissions, distortions, and flights of extraordinary fancy in President Barack Obama’s Jan. 12 State of the Union address that you’d be hard-pressed to pick the most egregious passage. For what it’s worth, then, I offer my personal selection. “On issues of global concern, we will mobilize the world to work with us, and make sure other countries pull their own weight,” Obama said. “That’s our approach to conflicts like Syria, where we’re partnering with local forces and leading international efforts to help that broken soc... Full story
It’s that dirty little secret nobody wants to talk about, because it makes everybody uncomfortable. It hovers in the background, it’s hidden in the closet, and it lingers in the recesses of our minds. But it’s there, written in black and white in the Oslo Accords, and it can’t be erased: the Palestinian Authority (PA) is obligated to surrender to Israel any terrorist whose extradition the Israelis request. Which is what makes the ongoing standoff in Bulgaria such an inconvenience! A Palestinian terrorist who escaped from an Israeli prison... Full story
In one of the episodes of the TV drama, Homeland, a CIA operative reports to a meeting of senior officers about his experience in Syria. The discussion proceeds something like this: There are too many militias to count, and more than a few considered important. The US has no strategy guiding its personnel on the ground. Where does it come from? They’ve been at it since the 7th century. What would it take to fix it? 200,000 US troops on the ground, and billions to create and teach a new kind of education for the younger generation. That is n... Full story
