Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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By Ed Ziegler By searching the Internet it is easy to confirm that a very large number of Muslims continue to generate murderous terrorist attacks. The vast majority of these attacks are perpetrated on infidels (non-Muslims) who are peaceful and unarmed. It is not uncommon that these fanatics state a reason for the attack that has nothing to do with the victims. A typical example was on June 23 the BBC.co.UK reported that gunmen killed 10 Chinese and Ukrainian tourists, at a base camp The tourists were preparing to climb Nanga Parbat Mountain... Full story
Is the American Jewish community about to go over “the leadership cliff?” That phrase, which appears in a sober new study by the Jewish People Policy Institute, an independent think tank, reflects a growing sense that at a time when as many as 90 percent of the top executives of our largest national Jewish organizations, major seminaries, big-city federations and JCCs will retire in the next few years, there is a serious lack of preparation for the transition, with potentially dire consequences for the communal future. The 26-page JPPI rep... Full story
(JTA)—Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent four days of meetings in Jerusalem and Amman yielded no breakthrough and no Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. One hurdle he must overcome: 42 of the 120 members of the Israeli Knesset vehemently oppose a two-state solution. Though those 42 members comprise only one-third of the Knesset, they hold nearly every important position in the government and the Knesset, and have a stranglehold on the actions of the government. They are strongly committed to settlements and occupation. (Prime Minister Ben... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—After two months of Jewish communal squabbling following the disclosure of a flubbed opportunity to detect a massive fraud scheme at the Claims Conference years before it was stopped, the Claims Conference appears to be moving on. At its annual meeting this week, the organization’s board of directors debated for more than six hours the circumstances surrounding an anonymous letter sent to the conference in 2001 alleging that multiple false claims had been approved for restitution payments. Despite two investigations that yea... Full story
Words can do much harm. Words such as two-state solution, land for peace, occupy, occupation, divestment, sanctions, boycott, have done much harm to Israel. Everyone gets on the bandwagon, including Jews, to put those words into action. On the other hand, lack of words, Islamic terrorism, radical Islam, mutilation, honor killings, can hide the true nature of dangerous forces we are all up against, but many of us have no clue. We do not see or hear about the danger to our country and Israel in the media. Those dangerous words have been stifled,... Full story
It’s tempting to see the chaos in Egypt right now, with President Morsi ousted and his Muslim Brotherhood party discredited, as just another failure of government. But there’s another aspect to this failure—and that is religion. It’s conceivable that if human beings didn’t have to eat, the holy clerics who have been running Egypt into the ground over the past year would still be in power. But if they want to ever regain their credibility with the people who soured on them, they will have to learn a lesson that every religion needs to learn: God... Full story
A few years back, the following clue appeared in the New York Times crossword puzzle: “Curly ethnic hairstyle, colloquially.” The answer? “JEWFRO.” The word made Patrick Merrell, the Times’ puzzle blogger at the time, anxious. “JEWFRO! Really? Is that something we can say?” he wrote. Don’t worry, Mr. Merrell—most Jews that I know have embraced the word (if not the hairstyle), and this (straight-haired) Jew approves. I suspect it’s the use of “Jew” as an adjective—a la Archie Bunker talking about “Jew lawyers”—that makes people... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—I had only known my girlfriend for a few weeks when she invited me to a friend’s house for Shabbat dinner on the Upper West Side. As a 44-year-old secular Israeli who had moved recently to New York City after my divorce, I didn’t have much experience with American Jews. Her friends were great: educated, liberal traditional Jews who seemed genuinely interested in getting to know me. While their religious rituals were new to me—I never saw people washing their hands and not speaking before making blessings on the challah... Full story
By Ira Sharkansky Chaos in Syria and now in Egypt, with instability in Lebanon increasing as Hezbollah is deeply involved in Syria. Hamas in Gaza is most likely planning its response to the problems of its patron in Egypt. Jordan’s king may be even more worried than usual about threats to his regime, and who knows what is going through the minds of the Palestinians in the West Bank who are close to their government or waiting for an opportunity to take over their government. Is all this good for the Jews? In the short run, we don’t have to wor... Full story
Following the ugly battle between the Egyptian military and Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi, resulting in Morsi’s ouster on July 3, as well as the ongoing bloodbath in Syria, the arguments for the preservation of the Jordanian model—politically moderate, more democratic than its neighbors, and proudly Islamic yet amenable to good relations with western nations and with Israel—are self-evident. When King Hussein of Jordan died in early 1999, Israel mourned him, as the veteran journalist Eric Silver pointed out at the time, “as o... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)—For the second time in less than three years, Egypt is erupting in chaos, with a popular protest movement leading to a swift change in the country’s leadership. For Israelis, the Egyptian military’s removal of Mohamed Morsi from the presidency last week is a cause for optimism. An Islamist and a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi’s brief tenure saw a further estrangement between Israel and Egypt. The Brotherhood advocates Israel’s destruction and supports Hamas, the terrorist group that governs in Gaza. And while... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—On Yom Kippur, we ask “Who by fire?” Sadly, this year at Tisha b’Av we already know who—the 19 firefighters who perished in Arizona. “This is as dark a day as I can remember,” Gov. Jan Brewer said in a statement. Unknowingly, the governor connected me to the mood of the Ninth of Av, the Jewish day of mourning that begins this year on the evening of July 15. Each year we come from the sun of summer unprepared for this darkest day on the Jewish calendar. With the itinerary of vacation days on our minds, we reluctantly s... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—In the early 1970s, while I was CEO of the Seagram Co., public dialogue about gay rights was largely nonexistent in corporate America. Social discourse had not yet even evolved into the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ethos that dominated the following decades. Homosexuality was simply not discussed and therefore, by implication, was shameful. During that time, as the head of a company with thousands of employees, personnel issues often came across my desk. One day, the director of human resources came into my office with a recommend... Full story
It’s a familiar pattern. The citizens of a Middle Eastern state explode with frustration against their corrupt, repressive government. They gather for noisy, impassioned demonstrations in their capital city. The authorities react violently. Images of middle-aged women and wheelchair-bound individuals being tear-gassed, clubbed, and sprayed with water cannon race across social media platforms like wildfire. The protests then spread to other cities. The authorities step up their repression. And then, inevitably, the country’s political lea... Full story
The IRS’s targeting of organizations connected to the Tea Party reminded me of the 1960s and ’70s, only in reverse. This time, the IRS was investigating right-wing groups. During the Nixon presidency, left-wing groups—particularly those who opposed the war in Vietnam—were deliberately selected for audits. Even worse, the FBI spied on those who marched in protests or signed petitions against the war. The reason behind the IRS and FBI selections is the same in all these cases: The people or groups oppose the current government’s stance on an iss...
The name “Evian” will forever be remembered as the site of an international conference, 75 years ago last week, that was supposed to save the Jews of Germany—but instead sealed their doom. Evian, however, should also be remembered for its link to the rescue of a different group of refugees in the 1970s, the so-called “boat people” fleeing the Communist takeover of Southeast Asia. Now, perhaps Evian will go down in the history books for yet another reason—as a turning point in addressing the problem of the tens of thousands of African ref... Full story
Over the last few weeks, there has been much reflection on the legacy of the former South African president, Nelson Mandela, as his health has deteriorated. And in the coming weeks, we can anticipate a febrile exchange over his true views on Israel and the Middle East. We shouldn’t underestimate the significance of such a debate. Mandela has entered the pantheon of 20th-century figures that exercised the most extraordinary influence over global events, touching the lives of ordinary mortals in the process. In the 1940s, many Britons could t... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Is Judaism the problem or the solution to women’s equality? Try telling agunot, women who are chained to their husbands unable to obtain a get, a religious divorce, that they are equal to men. Overarching Jewish values like b’tzelem Elohim—that all people are created in the image of God—may teach equality, but the day-to-day reality of too many women tells us of a struggle that is far from complete. Is the pervasive inequality of women in Israel and in many other societies God’s will or men’s will? The majority of God language... Full story
I sometimes joke that my synagogue is not just Conservative with a capital C, but with all the other letters capitalized as well. It prides itself on the dozens of Conservative rabbis and JTS faculty members in the pews, on the number of its kids who attend Solomon Schechter and Camp Ramah, on its tight bond with the Masorti movement in Israel. I guess that would make me a movement man, except I’ve always been catholic (small c) in my Jewish choices. I grew up in a Reform synagogue, joined a havura in my 20s, and then a Conservative shul a... Full story
Jews were a peoplehood long before we were a religion. I’ve said many times, I know a lot of ex-Catholics, but I never met an ex-Italian. When we became a religion we suddenly had a bunch of rules to follow and the peoplehood and the religion kind of merged. For a long time people left us alone and we did pretty well. Then along came the Babylonians and then the Romans and pretty soon we were for the most part out of our native land and this great Diaspora was created. We lost our Temple and most of our social organizations that held us t... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—When two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in April, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital found themselves well prepared for the aftermath. Two years earlier, Israeli medical experts had helped update the hospital’s disaster response plan to deal with mass-casualty incidents. Drawing from expertise honed over decades of treating victims of terrorist attacks, Israeli doctors and nurses shared best practices with their American counterparts, including how to distribute the wounded to hospitals and... Full story
Summer is here and kids are getting ready to go off to camp, where they’ll swim, play games, do arts and crafts and, probably, complain about the food. Or, if they’re in the Gaza Strip, they’ll smear green paint on their faces, brandish mock rifles and pretend to kill Israeli soldiers. That’s right, folks, it’s time once again for summer camp Hamas-style, where, in addition to fun and games, youngsters receive paramilitary training and ideological indoctrination that, according to one organizer, will prepare them to fight for the liberation of... Full story
Remember the opening of the “Mission Impossible” TV show? The assignment was recorded on a tape that self-destructed so no record of the conversation would exist. That gave everyone deniability if the mission went awry. It’s far more difficult, though, to make a thing disappear in contemporary society. Between email, text messages, online stores, GPS trackers and reward cards, it’s possible to track our movements and purchases. I’ve joked that if you want to keep a purchase secret, go to a store and pay for the object in cash without using the... Full story
Jerusalem—In the hour she spent with 150 young Jewish entrepreneurs and social activists from around the world last Wednesday morning at the annual ROI (Return on Investment) Summit here, new Knesset member Ruth Calderon chose to teach a Talmudic text, coax thoughtful comments about it from her audience, apply the discussion to modern-day situations, and then welcome questions about current affairs. It was a vintage performance by the academic-turned-politician, encapsulating who she is, what her priorities are, and, as she left the stage to e... Full story
EIN PRAT (in the Judean desert between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea)—How do you encourage young Israeli Jews, both secular and observant, to deepen their “Israeli-ness,” exploring their Jewish and national identities in a way that is serious, thoughtful and open? Micah Goodman, 38, a popular and respected Religious Zionist thinker, author and lecturer here on Zionism, Judaism, the Bible and contemporary Jewish life, has come up with a creative model that could have a profound impact on Israeli life. And his approach seems almost the oppos... Full story
