Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 3610 - 3634 of 3706
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Last Friday’s Iranian presidential election was fraught with fraud and fear—candidates vetted for their loyalty to the Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guards, the press muzzled by the imprisonment of independent journalists, and the leaders of Iranian civil society in detention. The absence of any free or fair election is a manifestation of the larger repression in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Simply put, the Iranian government imprisons and tortures thousands of activists, executes dissidents without due process, ruthl... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—The JTA Op-Ed championing human rights in Iran is very compelling but for two facts: It was co-authored by two of Israel’s greatest advocates, and they published it in JTA, a Jewish media outlet. As a community, we can be willing to bomb Iran into oblivion in order to stop its nuclear program, or we can worry about the rights of its citizens. We cannot, and should not even pretend, to do both. The co-authors, Canadian lawmaker Irwin Cotler and U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), are high on the AIPAC speakers list because they are lea... Full story
In the children’s magazine Highlights, home to those moral opposites Goofus and Gallant, we can imagine that revenge is for the likes of Goofus, while Gallant waits for judge and jury. Vengeance is unseemly, the province of the unhinged, while justice is a Greek goddess holding the scales outside a government courthouse. Even when it comes to Nazis, Simon Wiesenthal titled his book, “Justice, Not Vengeance.” Even after 9/11, President George W. Bush declared, “Ours is a nation that does not seek revenge, but we do seek justice.” Thane Ros... Full story
In a recent article in The New Yorker, John McPhee (one of my favorite authors) writes about the pain and difficulty of, not just writing, but writing well. He recounts all the work a real writer knows: the multiple rewrites, the problems with writer’s block, word selection, subject selection, the constant feeling that your writing is worthy of a second grade reader. And yet this is John McPhee, who teaches at Princeton and has written dozens of books about matters as diverse as tennis and nucle... Full story
By Ira Sharkansky Among the unpleasantness that Israeli Jews experience is the awareness that Jews along with Arabs and others are demonstrating against Israel. Noam Chomsky’s involvement in persuading Stephen Hawking to cancel his appearance at an Israeli conference was a prominent example, consistent with Chomsky’s record and perhaps reinforced by his own denial of entry to the country as an undesirable person. There are Israeli Jews who have joined the Palestinians’ campaign of BDS (boycott, disvestment, sanctions). They fit the image of ma... Full story
The nomination of Samantha Power for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations has drawn the Jewish community’s attention to her controversial 2002 remark about hypothetical U.S. action against Israel to protect Palestinians from genocide. But Power’s confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate is also likely to address a broader question: How can lawmakers judge her record on responding to genocide, when the government agency she has headed for the past year has no office, no staff, no phone number, and no public record of taking any action to... Full story
By Laurence Morrell I have a confession to make. This may come as a major surprise to everyone, but I strongly support the concept that all Palestinian Refugees have the Right of Return. Now before you get your panties in a wad let me clarify the term Palestinian Refugees. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, (UNWRA) is the designated agency to oversee the care of the Palestinian Refugees In the original U.N. Resolution 194, Article 11 dealing with the creation of the UNWRA, the definition used and accepted was “someone whose normal p... Full story
An unexpected obstacle to efforts within the European Union (EU) to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization emerged last week when the new Bulgarian foreign minister, Kristian Vigenin, stated in a radio interview that evidence connecting the Lebanese Shi’a organization with last year’s murderous assault on a busload of Israeli tourists in the resort town of Burgas was “not conclusive.” Vigenin produced no new evidence to counter the conclusion, shared by American, Israeli and British intelligence agencies, that Hezbollah was behind... Full story
Dear editor: How could it happen that some Jews, young and old, could and would embrace an ideology and people that call for their own destruction? How could it happen that some Jews, young and old, call for boycott, divesture and sanctions of the only country, Israel, that would save them when they would be in danger of being killed in acts of Jew hatred? How could it happen that some Jews, young and old, care for the Palestinians more than their own people when the Palestinian charter calls for the destruction of Israel and all Jews. How... Full story
My second-favorite joke about Jewish newspapers takes place in New York in the 1930s. Two Jews are sitting on a bench; Leo is reading the Yiddish paper, Morris is reading the Nazi tabloid Der Sturmer. Leo glares at his friend, asking, “How can you read that Nazi rag?” Unabashed, Morris asks, “What’s your Jewish newspaper reporting? In America, there is a depression going on and the Jews are assimilating. In Palestine, the Arabs are killing Jews. In Germany, they’ve taken away all our rights. You read it and just get more and more depressed. “Yo... Full story
JERUSALEM—On the night we arrived in Israel two weeks ago, my wife and I went for a stroll to see the newly renovated train station complex in the center of town. As we walked through the gates and saw the large, enthusiastic crowds, we realized we were entering not only a beautiful addition to the cultural life of the city but a tangible example of the local government’s efforts to keep Jerusalem relevant and appealing to non-Orthodox Israelis and tourists. Indeed, it doesn’t take long for a visitor in this country to sense that tensions betwe... Full story
Things have never been better for many of us. Europeans are quarreling rather than killing one another. Jews are capable of reaching the top of virtually all professions, with decent housing and no worry about gentlemen’s agreements or restrictive covenants, and safe from plunder and pogroms. Life expectancy and other good stuff are at historic heights in much of the world. No longer do we tell our children and grandchildren to clean their plates because Chinese or Indian children are starving There are problems. South Koreans—at levels of deve... Full story
As we witness the latest attempts to restart the comatose peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, we heard about the recent shutting down of Better Place, a much-ballyhooed Israeli venture that aimed to revolutionize the world of electric cars. It’s hard not to see a poetic link between these two failed ventures—one dreamed of being free of war, the other of being free of oil. The closer you look at them, the more similarities you see. First, they both suffered from the poison of too much hype. It’s not true that all publicity is go... Full story
With the beginning of summer comes a time of reflection. School’s out and summer break is starting, so now is a time when we look back at the past year. And this past year was difficult. It included major natural disasters (tornadoes in Oklahoma, Hurricane Sandy) and human tragedy (Boston Marathon bombing, the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary). We sense that our world is in need of repair. And those of us who think of ourselves as global citizens, as well as Jews, feel called to do something to counteract this chaos. Working to fix our b... Full story
It is so very difficult, indeed utterly unbearable, to sit silently by while Jews, and now the general religious and secular communities, completely misuse and distort the term Tikkun Olam—certainly not intentionally or out of any malice, but rather out of ignorance in the pursuit of virtuous goals and principles which may be applicable to general society and civilization but which have tragically become a poor substitute for authentic religious observance. This repair rhetoric has become an obsession, a catch-all credo. Everything today is T... Full story
My Aunt Rita Levy died last week. Of all the siblings in her family, she was perhaps the least well known. Her sister Dorothy (Dottie) Morrell was considered the gatekeeper to the Orlando Jewish Community for many years, greeting and introducing new residents to those who lived here, and the cultural series at the Jewish Community Center was named after her. Sister Florence (Flossie) founded the Neighborhood Law Center in Orlando that served the poor and indigent for many years. Bea Ettinger... Full story
Roman Blum died a few weeks ago. He was 92, and he wasn’t well. He died a very rich man. According to estimates from his accountant and lawyer, somewhere in the area of 40 million dollars. A nice area. Roman Blum left no family. His wife died a few years ago. Roman Blum was a Holocaust survivor. He said he was from Warsaw, but the few records found about his early life say he was from Chelm. Those of you who know Yiddish folk tales will appreciate why Roman Blum did not want to be known as someone from Chelm. According to what records are a... Full story
“Of making many lists there is no end, and much blogging wearies the eyeballs.” Ecclesiastes doesn’t say that, exactly—but might have had the author lived to see the proliferation of lists ranking the most influential rabbis and other Jews. The latest entry in an increasingly crowded market is the Jerusalem Post’s “50 Most Influential Jews.” According to the newspaper, its honorees have “a proven record of incredible political, social, and cultural influence on the Jewish world and the world at large.” Its top 10 includes a mix of Israeli po... Full story
If ever there was a time to come together as Jews, it is now. Either we learn from history and survive, or we ignore it, and suffer the consequences. With rising anti-Semitism around the world, which is often disguised, as anti Zionism, we must be proactive as a community. What should we do? I am far from being an expert, but I do have a few observations to offer. First of all, we need to let go of the labels that divide us. It does not matter what stream of Judaism we identify with, what synagogue we do or don’t attend, or if we are s... Full story
(JTA)—Throughout our four years in college, Hillel has been our home on campus. We have been involved extensively, with one of us serving as president on campus and on the Hillel international board. While we both found in Hillel a supportive community, when it came to our relationship to Israel, Hillel was not always so welcoming. One of us often avoided expressing political views in Hillel board meetings for fear of losing credibility. The other openly expressed her political views, which was met at times with harsh criticism. We both r... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—What could Goebbels have done with 140 characters? The question, disturbing as it might sound, can no longer be approached only as theoretical. As the arch-propagandist of Nazism, Joseph Goebbels spread the demonic messages of his Fuehrer via the written word, mass demonstrations, radio and film. He used those avenues to near perfection, promoting what perhaps was the most evil publicity campaign in the history of humankind. Some eight decades later, the tools are different but the motivations are the same. In the place of v... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—What happens when the rabbi who delivered the invocation at your nomination inveighs against you? Three controversies in quick succession have earned President Obama opprobrium from some of his most steadfast liberal supporters, including Rabbi David Saperstein, who directs the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center. The controversies besieging the White House in recent weeks have included State Department emails suggesting the White House tried to change the administration’s talking points concerning the deadly attac... Full story
By Andrew Silow-Carroll New Jersey Jewish News First, let’s take a deep breath. Stephen Hawking’s decision to join the academic boycott of Israel may be infuriating, but it’s not the end of the world. On balance, I’ll prefer to remember it as a week in which Facebook appeared ready to buy its third Israeli company and the Washington Post declared Israel “a major player in the Mediterranean, and perhaps even the European, natural gas market.” Hawking’s decision makes news, after all, because it’s not the norm, and the Boycott, Divestment and... Full story
Newspaper estimates of the numbers taking part in recent demonstrations tell us something about the ranking of items on the agendas of various sectors. What is impressive is not the precision of such numbers, but great differences in their magnitude. On Thursday evening of last week, it was estimated that 30,000 haredim massed outside the Jerusalem recruitment office, with some of them expressing the low level of violence likely to occur when riled by their rabbis. Several protesters and police were injured, eight haredim were taken into... Full story
April’s Israel divestment vote at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is just the latest unfortunate expression of how hateful an environment the anti-Israel movement can create for Jewish students and supporters of Israel on campus. I witnessed this firsthand during my four years as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley from 2007-2011. In 2010, when the last similar initiative was proposed before the ASUC (UC Berkeley’s student government body), urging the University of California Regents to divest funding from companies doing bus... Full story
