Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 3633 - 3657 of 3706
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
By Gary Rosenblatt David Passig, a professor at Bar-Ilan University, is the first to admit that he is neither a prophet nor a seer. Still, his job is to predict the future, based on the new academic discipline of Future Studies. His latest book, “2048,” describes the conflicts that likely will dominate the next half-century, including a major world clash between superpowers by 2020, the emergence of Turkey as a key regional power and buffer between the U.S. and Russia, and a major Israeli attack on its northern neighbors that will result in... Full story
The news that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) unfairly targeted conservative groups has brought renewed spotlight on a 2010 lawsuit filed by the pro-Israel group Z Street, which alleges it was also singled out by the IRS when applying for tax-exempt status. The Z Street case, whose first hearing is set for July 2 in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, has raised eyebrows in the Jewish community. But Z Street’s claims, if true, would not mark the first time the IRS has been used against Jewish activists. During the Holocaust e... Full story
During his visit to China last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recalled that the city of Shanghai was “one of the few places that opened its gates” to Jews fleeing Hitler. Officials of the Chinese Communist government, standing nearby, beamed with pleasure at the expectation that people all over the world would read how their regime rescued Jews. But is it true? As the prime minister noted, the port city of Shanghai was a haven for many European Jewish refugees during the Hitler years, at a time when most other countries, inc... Full story
In a crummy economy, people are always looking for good investments—a promising stock, a real estate opportunity, a star mutual fund. It’s really not that different in the “mitzvah economy”—donors and do-gooders are also looking to squeeze the maximum amount of goodness out of every charity investment. On that note, I’d like to share with you a mitzvah that has a ridiculously low investment and an incredibly high return. It’s a mitzvah called shmooze. I think of this mitzvah every time I’m stuck in freeway traffic and I call my mother in Montr... Full story
By Ira Sharkansky The latest numbers about the 2-year-old Syrian civil war are 80,000 deaths, one million refugees over the borders in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, and a total of four million displaced Syrians either over the borders or away from their homes in Syria. As always, we must be suspicious about round numbers published by organizations with an interest in portraying the carnage. Nonetheless, by all the indications, the death, dislocation and destruction have been great. Perhaps greater than Afghanistan, and more than in every other... Full story
What’s your definition of a “major national Jewish organization”? Could it be made up of less than 20 people? Don’t laugh. Consider the case of the American Jewish Congress. The storied organization, dating back to 1918 and led in its early years by such illustrious figures as Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Felix Frankfurter and Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, suspended its activities in the summer of 2010, having lost virtually all of its money and staff in the Madoff scandal. But while many mourned the loss of a once proud, grass-roots defense... Full story
How much Islamophobia is just enough? That’s probably the least sensitive way to pose a question that has been bothering me lately. The Boston Marathon bombings gave a new boost to the cottage industry of “anti-jihad” activists, like Pamela Geller and Daniel Pipes, who have thrived since 9/11. The anti-jihadis exploit an incontrovertible fact—that a radicalized form of Islam has spawned repeated terrorist attacks around the world—to concoct an indictment of Islam and all of its practitioners. Every good question they ask about, say, the prior... Full story
In a recent, exhaustive study of anti-Semitism, the German scholar Clemens Heni explains the significance for Christian theology of the story of Ahasver, a Jewish shoemaker in Jerusalem who, legend has it, refused Jesus a resting place as he made his way to Golgotha bearing the cross on his back. Ahasver’s punishment, says Heni, was to wander the world for eternity, an image that formed the basis for what the Nazis famously called “der ewige Jude”—“the eternal Jew.” “The attribute ‘eternal’ cries out for redemption,” writes Heni. “For Christia... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Until recently, I thought of Ruth, the heroine of Shavuot, as a positive role model, a woman who made good choices, was strong and fulfilled. But lately I’ve been rethinking this and focusing on the strange dynamics of what appears to be an unhealthy, possibly abusive, relationship between Ruth and Naomi, her mother-in-law. Abuse is about power and control, and abusive relationships are not limited to romantic situations. Any relationship has the potential to be abusive, including relationships among friends and families or bet... Full story
By Ed Ziegler The United States is known for welcoming immigrants seeking freedom and a better life. The vast majority of immigrants embrace our language, customs and laws. However it appears that many Muslims have developed a pattern to change our way of life to satisfy their religion and customs. In 2010 Safoorah Kahn, a new teacher (a Muslim) in the Berkeley, Ill., School District filed a law suit against the school for refusing her a 19-day leave in mid-semester to travel to Mecca. Her request did not meet those set forth in the... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is correct to describe a new proposal by the Arab League to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks as “a very big step forward.” Yet there will be no serious movement toward peace until Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responds to the Arab League initiative by evoking the words of the late Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat before traveling to Jerusalem in the later 1970s, vowing “to go to the ends of the earth”—even to the Qatari capital of Doha or the Saudi capital of Riyadh—in o... Full story
Tolerance is justifiably one of liberal Democracy’s most cherished values. But what do we do when tolerance, with its openness to multiple views, permits and even supports intolerance? This is particularly an issue today when open prejudice against Jews and Israel, and anti-Semitism, go unchallenged. Fundamentalism and prejudice are rife in the Middle East, where many countries practice forms of gender, religious, ethnic and sexual apartheid. Yet, Saudi Arabia remains a U.S. ally despite the fact that women there are subjugated and it is i... Full story
FALLS VILLAGE, Conn. (JTA)—Judaism is designed to be a person’s operating system, the platform on which other areas of one’s life functions. But for many Jews, religious practice sits on a shelf alongside theater subscriptions, gym memberships and soccer practice, relegated to one of many offerings from which we can pick and choose. For Jewish educators like myself, this mindset poses particular challenges, forcing us to adopt the tactics of public relations agencies to induce Jews to participate in Jewish life. Why can’t these opportu... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—It’s that time of year, when Jewish institutions pull out their 2013-14 calendars and fill them with events. Many of the programs are very good, with clever names and slick marketing: Jews and Brews, for young Federation leadership; L’mazeltov, for expectant parents; Torah and Tacos, for synagogue members who favor a certain southwestern cuisine with their Bible study. And yet, after all this well-meaning effort, membership in synagogues and JCCs is declining, federation campaigns are flat and a generation of young Jewis... Full story
Dear editor: The executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Tampa, Mr. Shibly, was extremely troubled by a letter from Sandra Solomon, advising us to Stand Strong Against Islam [Heritage Florida Jewish News, April 12, 2013]. I am extremely troubled that CAIR never really condemns the terrible crimes committed in the name of Islam, and the evil influence of comfortably situated imans in our free society on young idealistic people to convert them to mass murderers. Most recently a 30-year-old student who was... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—I have mixed emotions about Natan Sharansky’s proposed agreement to expand the public space at the Western Wall to include the currently secluded area known as Robinson’s Arch. As a lifelong Conservative Jew, I applaud any plan that seeks to treat egalitarian worshipers and women’s prayer groups as full members of the Jewish people deserving of a place to pray at Judaism’s holiest site. But I worry that in the zeal to achieve equality, Reform and Conservative Jews are about to shut the door on a unique spiritual experienc... Full story
When I was a junior in high school, I decided to skip my senior year and go straight to college. No one questioned my decision. Everyone thought I knew best for myself, in large part because the world perceived me as a really smart kid. Which was true, up to a point. I was also unsure, unclear, with no path before me and no real idea who I was. So I applied to college, without anyone advising me where to go or what to look for. Harvard told me to wait a year. Amherst and Yale turned me down dire... Full story
By Ira Sharkansky Barack Obama has said that Syrian use of chemical weapons is a “game changer.” According to the lead paragraphs in a New York Times article, the President said “…he would respond ‘prudently’ and ‘deliberately’ to evidence that Syria had used chemical weapons, tamping down any expectations that he would take swift action after an American intelligence assessment that the Syrian government had used the chemical agent sarin on a small scale in the nation’s civil war... He was seeking further proof of culpability for c... Full story
At a synagogue talk I recently gave, the topic turned to the treatment of Israel’s Arab citizens. A woman in the audience was obviously upset. “You talk about the Israeli Arabs, but how much more should we give them?” she asked. “They have schools, they get health care, they can get jobs. Isn’t that enough?” This, in my business, is known as a “slow pitch.” “You’re right, you don’t have to give the Israeli Arabs anything,” I said. “But the real question is, what kind of country do you want Israel to be? We call it the only real democracy in th... Full story
CAIRO (JTA)—My first visit to Egypt was eight years ago. My guide was Carmen Weinstein, the head of Egypt’s Jewish community, and on a hot September day we drove through the usual chaotic traffic with our driver to visit 10 synagogues. I am the son of American Jews, the grandchild of Jews from Poland, Lithuania and White Russia, and knew little about the history of Jewish life in Egypt. But the synagogues tell that story. Together, the ancient Ben Ezra synagogue in Fustat; the stately Shaar Hashamaim on Adly Street; the soaring interior of the... Full story
Dear editor: I must respond to Mr. Hassan Shibly, Esq; CAIR Florida; Tampa executive director letter printed April 26, 2013. Make no mistake about it, Mr. Shibly, CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood have a “hidden agenda.” Mr. Shibly cries “crocodile tears” about being misunderstood; about being discriminated against because he is a Muslim; about being the target of disparaging comments. So be it. Let the facts speak for themselves. Mr. Shibly gets very emotional in his condemnation of the truth because he and his ilk don’t want the truth to... Full story
Dear editor: According to RAND Database of Worldwide Terrorism Incidents, the number of deaths as a result of terrorist attacks in Europe and North America from 2000 to 2010 was 4,873. Of those 4,873 people killed, 4,703 were casualties of attacks committed by Muslim terrorists. That is over 96 percent. Terrorism is a violent act used to advance a political agenda. If you look at the constitutions of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc...they are listed as “Islamic States” under Islamic Law. Islam is politics of expansion. Pol... Full story
Dear editor: There is no doubt that Sandi Solomon went overboard in her condemnation of the entire Muslim religion [Heritage Florida Jewish News, April 12, 2013]. Her interpretations of Quranic text (e.g. “Muslims can lie to non-Muslims…”) seems somewhat reminiscent of hundreds of years of Talmud distortions and libel by anti-Jewish haters of every stripe. However, her denunciation [Heritage Florida Jewish News, April 26, 2013] by Hassan Shibly of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is somewhat disingenuous and brings to mind... Full story
