Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 3551 - 3575 of 3712
Twenty four years ago a man, a woman, and a child stood in the arrival hall of the Boston Logan airport. Tired and disoriented after a long flight from overseas, their old life in the USSR left resolutely behind, they were hopeful for a better future. In Boston, they were met by a group of people representing an organization whose name the woman didn’t know. Nor did she know that this organization would soon become her life and her passion. In April, the board of directors hired that woman (yes, you guessed right, that woman was me) as an e... Full story
Dear editor, It is clear that the author, Chris DeSouza, of the Heritage’s article on Brown’s Deli in the Aug. 23 edition did not do her homework. Just checking the local Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando’s website, www.jfgo.org, and clicking on the sub-link “Kosher Food” in the “Passport to Jewish Orlando” link would have shown that there are at least two other kosher restaurants in the metropolitan Orlando area, which have been in the area for at least a few years. Other restaurants, but a distance away such as in Ormond Beach are als... Full story
Back in 1976, when the burgeoning punk movement began transforming the rock ’n’ roll landscapes of London and New York, a young man named John Lydon scrawled the words “I Hate...” on his Pink Floyd t-shirt. With this one stroke, Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, the lead singer of The Sex Pistols, demarcated the past from the future: eschewing the lengthy and ponderous compositions of Floyd’s front man, Roger Waters, Rotten and his mates set about delivering sharp, angry tunes in a compact three-minute format. Almost 40 years later, popular music has... Full story
Much attention, here and elsewhere, is given to encouraging American Jews to have a deeper understanding of contemporary Israel, in all its complexity, as a country that is seen by much of the world as Goliath while it perceives itself as David. But for all of our emphasis on the importance of the relationship between diaspora and Israeli Jews, our Mideast cousins get a pass; there is far too little focus on the responsibility of Israeli Jews to know us better. In truth, most Israelis have little understanding or appreciation of the diversity... Full story
I don’t know, maybe it is age, but the years roll around awfully fast (yeah, it’s age). Was it a full year ago we were preparing for the High Holy Days? OK, so we know that Jewish holidays are never “on time.” “Oy! Didn’t Yom Kippur come early this year?” “Passover is when? Too late this year!” The drill is the same. Ten days to figure out whom you really wronged over the past year and make amends. That is highly subjective. Did I really wrong him? “Ah—he deserved it and besides he wouldn’t even notice!” That’s not the idea and he probably di... Full story
LOS ANGELES—The holiest days on the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are largely spent in synagogue. Yet prayer isn’t usually the focus when Jews prepare for the High Holidays, observes Cantor Arik Wollheim. “Hopefully people go through this process of repentance, and they give charity, but what about prayer?” Wollheim tells JNS.org. “People neglect that. How many people open the prayer book before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and go over the davening?” The answer, Wollheim says, is almost no one. But he is looking to change that... Full story
By Dore Gold JNS.org On Israel’s popular morning radio station, Reshet Bet, broadcaster Aryeh Golan recently interviewed Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin about the latest demands by the European Union (EU), that its research and development grants not be applied to territories beyond the 1967 lines. Since mid-July, there have been reports of new EU guidelines that are expected to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014, and are to apply to grants, prizes, and other financial instruments to Israeli bodies. Reflecting some of the growing rage in I... Full story
(JTA)—Everyone knows that an ocean separates Israel and the United States. Yet after three days in New York recently, I realized just how big that ocean really is. Along with five Israeli journalists, I participated in a seminar organized by the Ruderman Family Foundation meant to help us understand the diverse U.S. Jewish community. But as we met with more and more Jewish leaders whose Judaism is their passion—and for some their profession—I realized just how wide and absurd the gap is between American Jewry and Israel. We met two kinds of Jew... Full story
One of the oft-repeated criticisms of the movement to boycott Israel is that it portrays the Middle East’s only healthy democracy as the ultimate rogue state, ignoring at the same time those authoritarian regimes that violate the most basic human rights on a daily basis. Frankly, that’s why I’m pleased to announce that the boycott I’m writing about here, one that is picking up pace, has nothing to do with Israel, the Palestinians, or the Middle East in general. This time, the target is Russia. Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has reverte... Full story
By Andrew Silow-Carroll An old friend who happens to be both gay and Orthodox once surprised me by defending matrilineal descent—not in terms of Halacha, the code of Jewish law, but in terms of people hood. By defining a Jew in unimpeachable biological terms, he said, we make it so Jews have to look at each other as members of a people. If you take away biology, then the only way to judge whether someone is Jewish is according to what he or she believes. Thanks to matrilineal descent, a secular Jew in Tel Aviv and a pious hasid in Brooklyn h... Full story
Living in a Jewish country has its attractions. One of them is that you can enjoy being a Jew without being religious. Living in a Jewish country also has its problems. One of them is that you cannot avoid Judaism. Even outspoken Jewish atheists are surrounded by stimuli associated with the faith they deny. Virtually every item on the daily news touches the subject. Either Jews are quarreling about an issue with religious implications—and almost all of the local topics have such implications, such as comments about environmental protection o... Full story
Hezbollah has had a rough time recently. After years of indecision, the European Union designated its “military wing” as a terrorist organization. This move, long overdue and yet incomplete, had been vigorously opposed by Lebanon, home to Hezbollah, and by Iran, the group’s chief state sponsor. Canada and the United States long ago designated the entire Hezbollah a terrorist organization. And, after the EU vote, the Gulf Cooperation Council’s six members—Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates—agreed to impose s... Full story
Bayit Yehudi MK Ayelet Shaked has released a scathing open letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, for pushing the Israeli government to release convicted terrorist murderers. In the letter, Shaked—who recently called for the death penalty to be implemented for terrorists—wrote that: “In light of the current situation that you have brought about, I feel that I cannot be bound by the restraints of ‘politically correct’ wording, and I therefore will allow myself to convey my following message to you in the most straightforward fashion.” She... Full story
Among the handful of post-war leaders who could always be relied upon to support the United States unstintingly, the name of Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, stands out. Blair wasn’t content to merely support U.S. foreign policy. He energetically advocated for American engagement and warned of the negative global consequences of an America in retreat. In April 1999, at the height of the NATO operation against the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo carried out by Serbian forces, Blair delivered an historic speech to the Chicago Council o... Full story
Like most Israelis, I am an eternal optimist. Living day to day in our neighborhood and faced with continued threats to our legitimacy and even our existence, what choice do we have? That being said, I am extremely pessimistic about the latest round of peace talks that have been initiated in Washington, D.C. There is no shortage of reasons why I should be skeptical, but what worries me most are the personalities involved in these talks and the faulty premises they represent. Almost 20 years after the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin attempted... Full story
The privacy bugaboo has struck twice at the summit of Israel’s government. Two nominees for the important post of Governor of the Bank of Israel have had to withdraw their candidacy after embarrassing details began circulating in the media. One had been caught leaving a Duty Free shop in the Hong Kong airport without paying for a garment bag. He held on for a couple of weeks, saying it was all a misunderstanding, but was tripped by a sloppy cover-up. The story he told was plundered by journalists who found more holes than substance. It might h... Full story
Common sense suggests that one of the most effective ways of heightening Jewish identity and Israel engagement among young people is through summer teen trips to the Jewish state. The younger our kids are exposed to the miracles and challenges of Israel today, the better, and longer, their connection. And the more involved they and their families will be. But the reality is that summer travel programs to Israel for teens are “languishing,” according to experts in the field, who cite the fact that the numbers have decreased dramatically fro... Full story
In Israel’s history, hawkish leaders have often ended up advocating tough concessions for the sake of peace. Think Menachem Begin at Camp David, Yitzhak Rabin and the Oslo Accords and Ariel Sharon who at the end of his career found himself mulling a withdrawal from the West Bank. Add Moshe Dayan and Ezer Weizmann to the list—military heroes both of whom came to see that Israel’s future could only be assured through peace agreements with its neighbors. And let’s not forget President Shimon Peres, who for much of his career was a tough guy, until... Full story
If a whistle sounds in a crowded space where everybody can’t help but to hear it, does it matter? What about dozens of whistles? Yesterday, for over an hour, I stood behind barricades with Women of the Wall, guarded by police, from my people. Our people. People (haredim) who are absolutely certain that our female voices, and our prayers, said out loud for the world to hear in “their” place, are designed to be the downfall of our religion. Having elected to wear “modest” clothing this morning, I threw on a floor length long black maxi skirt at... Full story
The victory of Hassan Rouhani in June’s Iranian presidential election has once again thrust the word “moderate” into the center of the agonized debate over western policy toward Tehran’s nuclear program—a debate whose latest iteration centers on the implications of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s planned visit to Iran next month. But what “moderate” actually means in this context remains unclear. If the various western pundits and politicians who have embraced Rouhani are to be believed, this wise successor to the hyperbolic Mahmoud Ahmadin... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—After 20 years of stops, starts and a bloody intifada in between, John Kerry believes he can pull out a final status Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in nine months. What clock is the U.S. secretary of state trying to beat? According to his aides, the one ticking down as Syria and Egypt roil into unknowable futures and Palestinians fume at the prospect of never achieving sovereignty. “It’s becoming more complicated on the ground, and a feeling of pessimism is settling in among Israelis and Palestinians,” said a State Departm... Full story
By Ed Ziegler We know that our children are our future. Therefore our future is what we teach our children. An effective way to brainwash children is by using textbooks that contain false and distorted information. In such misleading textbooks Christianity and Judaism are denigrated, favoring Islam. The Council on Islamic Education (CIE) was established to enhance Islam’s image over other religions. To accomplish this Muslim activists such as Susan Douglass and Shabbir Mansuri (founder of CIE) got themselves on advisory boards of textbook p... Full story
Anti-Semitism in Europe, often in the guise now of anti-Israel rhetoric and actions, has become too big a problem to ignore or rationalize away. And it is taking place on two levels: as official policy, and within societies where, according to recent polls, Israel is considered the most dangerous nation in the world, more of a threat to world peace even than Iran or North Korea. But getting the word out about this deeply disturbing trend has not been easy. The latest European Union attempt, in advance of Mideast peace talks, to, in effect,... Full story
In the museum attached to Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, there is an exhibit called “Free2Choose.” Videos pose various scenarios: Should YouTube ban Holocaust denial? Should public schools allow Muslim girls to wear head scarves? The visitors are asked to vote, and the tallies are projected on a screen. “There are many lessons to be learned from the past,” the museum guidebook explains. “The fate of Anne Frank, as well as the millions of other victims of the Nazis, shows that violating human rights can have far-reaching effects.” But there i... Full story
Sunday’s vote by Israel’s Cabinet to approve the release of 104 Palestinian terrorists with blood on their hands may have been the right move in the context of the re-started peace talks, but definitely at the wrong time. As a business person I enter into negotiations with prospective clients all the time in an effort to craft an agreement that addresses the needs of both of us: the client’s need to have work done to his/her satisfaction and our need to be properly compensated for the work we do. But we never enter into a negotiation by saying... Full story
