Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 3268 - 3292 of 3854
Several months ago, there was some alarm in my local community regarding numerous sightings of coyotes. The trouble was a few cases of missing and dead small animals—cats and dogs alike. In discussing this matter with friends and neighbors, it seems there was a general confusion and puzzlement. How could these wild troublemakers have found their way to the civilized metropolises of College Park and Winter Park? One thoughtful friend suggested that they must have been dropped off from some wild animal park. In the last years, brown bears have tu... Full story
As 2014 draws to a close, I can’t help but reflect on this year’s dramatic increase in anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attacks, and hope that the coming year will see more Jews actively join the fight to reverse these trends. In Israel itself, 2014 saw another round of the now-familiar cycle: Israeli concessions to “advance” the fake peace process, Palestinian Arab rejection, and increased violence against Jews. This year’s violence included the murder of the three teenage boys, car attacks killing adults and infants, multiple murders by stabbi... Full story
The most notorious living perpetrator of genocide can sleep a little easier. The International Criminal Court (ICC), which five years ago indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for organizing the genocide in Darfur, recently suspended further action on Darfur because of the failure of the United States and other countries to help bring Bashir to justice. Ironically, the ICC’s announcement came just before the 70th anniversary of a long-forgotten double-cross by the Roosevelt administration of its own ambassador to the Allied c... Full story
Do we need Holocaust Remembrance Day? Since some of you may be incredulous that I even asked that question, let me first explain why I am doing so. Over the last week, a scandal has erupted in Ireland regarding whether or not Israel can be mentioned at the forthcoming official Holocaust commemoration on Sunday, Jan. 25. (The official international remembrance day follows two days later.) It was Yanky Fachler, the avuncular Irish-Jewish broadcaster who has been master of ceremonies of the event for several years now, who alerted the outside worl... Full story
At some point in the life of the average adult, the conversation shifts from “How are the kids?” to “What’s happening with your parents?” If you’re lucky, you can talk about two silver-haired retirees, enjoying their relative good health, their Road Scholar vacations, and their time with the grandkids. But no matter how lucky you or they are, the conversations will one day become less pleasant and more fraught. Mom or dad will inevitably decline, and you’ll start to talk about “options”: perhaps an aide to help around the house, or maybe a... Full story
It sounds worse than it really is. This is an optimist’s view of Israel’s condition with itself and in the world. Most of the resolutions seeming to recognize a Palestinian state are advisory. Resolutions expressing the sense of the house, but not requiring action, are a dime a dozen among what legislatures do. Moreover, many of them hitch on to their sentiments the process of a negotiated settlement. Several of them are explicit in mentioning a two-state solution. The U.S. is prominent in demanding a negotiated agreement, and opposing an impos... Full story
By The new U.S. policy of rapprochement with Cuba, which was accompanied by the celebrated release of imprisoned Jewish aid worker Alan Gross, probably will give American Jews greater access to a Jewish community with which few are familiar. But visitors will find that the years have not been kind to once-thriving Cuban Jewry. During the centuries of Spanish rule in Cuba, no more than a scattered handful of Jews lived there. Catholicism was the only religion the Spanish colonial authorities permitted. The modern Jewish connection to Cuba began... Full story
Jewish-American aid worker Alan Gross arrived home to celebrate Chanukah after five years in a Cuban prison, prompting the Jewish world to both celebrate and breathe a collective sigh of relief. But analysts say Gross’s humanitarian release and the subsequent U.S.-Cuba prisoner swap have little to do with the prisoners and everything to do with the Obama administration’s final two years—and the reverberations might be felt as far away as the Middle East. “You could say the president was saving face [by renewing diplomacy with Cuba],” said Rees... Full story
For years, Palestinian leaders and their media allies have claimed that the “Second Intifada”—the mass violence of 2000-2001—was a “spontaneous” uprising against Israeli “oppression.” But occasionally they tell the truth: it wasn’t spontaneous at all. It was organized by the Palestinian Authority leadership itself. Last week Mahmoud al-Zahar, co-founder of Hamas and its former foreign minister, let the cat out of the bag in an interview with the Hamas television station, Al Aqsa TV, on Dec. 12. He revealed that PA chairman Yasir Arafat hims... Full story
We live in an age of clichés. They surround us, influence us, often controlling the way we speak and think. They are nefarious in their ability to suck meaning out of important statements and events. And they are, in general, dead wrong (which, by the way, is a cliché.) A few painful examples: If you work hard you can achieve anything. Dreams really do come true. If you’re not first, you’re last. Which goes with winning is everything. True love. Love at first sight. You’re comparing apples... Full story
In the 1920s, Vladimir (Zev) Jabotinsky traveled through Eastern Europe trying to warn Jewish communities of a coming disaster. His was a lone voice in the wilderness. Jews knew of pogroms under the czar of Russia who was now gone. They were aware of the extreme anti-Semitism of the Catholic Church, which seemed to be under control. They lived mostly in the shtetls, the little towns or villages surrounding the large cities of the time. Those who lived in the cities such as Budapest in Hungary or Warsaw in Poland lived a fairly good life. They... Full story
Jews have had a Diaspora at least since the middle of the sixth century before the Common Era. During the time of the Second Temple, a substantial number, perhaps even a majority, lived outside of the Judean homeland. The Jerusalem-centered Diaspora figures in Christian anti-Semitism, via the episode of Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers. The story features elements of Jews whose concern for money competes with what should be sacred. The reality was that money changers were essential to the religious rites. Jews came for the... Full story
It’s an article that’s more than 10 years old now, but I still maintain that anyone who wants to get an insight into the dynamics of anti-Semitism in France would do well to consult “France’s Scarlet Letter,” published by the journalist Marie Brenner in the June 2003 edition of Vanity Fair. In that superlative piece, which had at its core a profile of Sammy Ghozlan, the Jewish ex-cop who started his own agency to monitor and expose anti-Semitic incidents, Brenner provided fascinating insight into the class divisions that streak the French Je... Full story
(JTA)—A former Clinton administration envoy has let the cat out of the bag on the issue of Palestinian incitement, putting him squarely at odds with Secretary of State John Kerry. Shibley Telhami was one of the Clinton administration’s representatives to the Trilateral U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian Anti-Incitement Committee. Never heard of it? That’s because after meeting a few times in 1999-2000, the committee stopped functioning. Now we know why. In a Washington Post Op-Ed on Dec. 6, Telhami revealed that the committee hit an impasse becau... Full story
“What will you tell the president when you see him?” was my daughter Eva’s first reaction when I told her I’d been invited to the White House Chanukah party (Actually, it was her second reaction. Her first was, “Take me!”). Kids are innocent that way. They don’t realize that when you have over a hundred people crowding the leader of the free world, it’s not so easy to get in a word edgewise. But I got lucky. It’s not what I told the president that mattered, it’s what I heard him say when few people were paying attention. After the president... Full story
Dear God, If I were Christian and under age 10 I suppose I’d be writing to Santa Claus, but I’m not. I’m Jewish and 58 years old and I don’t know who else (what else?) to turn to, so I’m writing you, and hoping you read the Heritage. I’m not asking for much. Just eight simple requests, one for each night of Chanukah. Which brings me to my first ask. God, can you please tell me the correct spelling for Chanukah? I’m so confused. Is it Hanukah, or Hanukkah, or Chanukkah, or Chanukah? Is... Full story
It is an absolute fact. The number of Islamic terrorists are growing rapidly as are their violent actions killing more and more non-Muslims. We must stop thinking there is nothing one person can do. There are many options on how an individual can get involved in counteracting terrorists. Below are a few ideas how you can help defend our freedom. A small amount of assistance from a lot of people can make a big difference. The very important first step is a firm commitment to learn, with an open mind, about Islam and the terrorists. Clearly,... Full story
Currently Israeli politicians are wrapping themselves around a high intensity bit of meaninglessness, which is also dangerous, about the country’s self definition of being a Jewish state. The issue was settled 60 years ago when the founders left dangling in the Declaration of Independence the wonderful sounding ideals of being both Jewish and democratic, with rights for all. It’s worked, as well as democracy and equality has worked in other western democracies. Not perfect, but it ain’t perfect anywhere. Minorities generally suffer short share... Full story
A winter of discontent is brewing in America. Over the last fortnight, large parts of the country have seethed with anger, first at the decision of a grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown—18 years old, and black—and second, at the decision of a grand jury in New York not to indict Daniel Pantaleo, the Staten Island police officer who placed Eric Garner—43 years old, and black—in the chokehold that contributed to his death minutes later. The proximity, in terms of timing,... Full story
They don’t have plush offices or secretaries or gala dinners, but a group of 15-year-olds on Long Island are providing an inspiring model of leadership for the rest of the American Jewish community. Tenth graders at the Rambam Mesivta High School in Lawrence, New York, recently initiated an on-line crowd sourcing campaign, which has raised an astonishing $2.4-million for the families of the four American-Israeli rabbis, and the Druze police officer, who were murdered in a Jerusalem synagogue last month. We were all horrified and saddened by the... Full story
In the 21st century, Chanukah is celebrated by more Jews than any holiday other than Passover. Both are performed at least one night a year by almost 90 percent of American Jews, more than the number who observed Chanukah in the 1930s. The sociological reason is surely related to the competition with a commercialized, publicly observed Christmas and holiday season. Yet Jews could have also adopted a secularized Christmas, as many German Jews did in the 19th century and early 20th century. If social pressure and a desire to be like everyone... Full story
To properly understand how the Holocaust has been seared onto Israel’s collective consciousness, one should visit the country on the 27th of Nisan, a date in the Hebrew calendar that falls in either April or May in the solar one. On that day, Yom HaShoah, the unsuspecting visitor is dumbstruck by the sight of an entire country coming to a halt. At 10 a.m. on the dot, a siren sounds across the country. Schools, hospitals, trading floors, garages, news rooms, tech start-ups—all these and more freeze exactly where they are as Israeli citizens obs... Full story
It all started when I took out some anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) information sheets at a Brooklyn College-sponsored event last year that featured Omar Barghouti, the founder of the BDS movement. You’d expect that of any student opposed to the speaker’s anti-Israel views. I planned to challenge Barghouti by taking notes as he spoke and asking questions during the Q&A period. But I never got the chance to participate. A member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the event’s main organizer, had other plans. He had the v... Full story
It would be prime material for a standup comedian if it were not the reality that could do us all a lot of harm. The current triumvirate dealing with three interdependent, national entities, with more than the average capacity to affect wider catastrophes, have all been operating as political caricatures, making things worse while proclaiming their certainty about making things better. They are Mahmoud Abbas, Benyamin Netanyahu, and Barack Obama. A cynic would say that they deserve one another. They all speak in hyperbole, talk past one another... Full story
By Dr. Norman Berdichevsky Many observers of the Israeli scene are convinced that the extreme views of the elected Arab Knesset members and scenes of violent demonstrations, stabbings and other acts of terrorism are the only true measure of the Arab minority community’s rejection of any accommodation of living peacefully and harmoniously with the Jewish majority. To do so is a common error in the mistaken and often ignorant understanding of Arab culture and the realities of Middle Eastern politics. George Deek is a young Christian Arab from Jaf... Full story
