Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — A constitution is the moment a national movement decides what it will leave behind—and what it intends to carry forward. When a national movement publishes a draft constitution, it is making a statement not only about governance but about its future intentions. It is saying: This is who we are. This is what we aspire to become. This is how we intend to live with others. The newly released draft constitution of the “State of Palestine” does many things. It speaks the language of rights. It promises democratic institutions. It describ...
(JNS) — The press contact person for the group Jews for Racial Equality and Justice released a position statement on Feb. 9 that included the joint agreement of the American Council for Judaism, the Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City and IfNotNow NYC. Sophie Ellman-Golan, “a committed activist working on issues of racial and gender justice, queer liberation and police violence” and “is a proud member of the #JewishResistance,” informed the media that they are urging New York’s City Council to reject “anti-democratic buffer zone bills” that p...
(JNS) — As the United States and Israel move closer to action in Iran, which is needed to make the world a safer place, they must cooperate more closely than ever before. Thankfully, the U.S. ambassador to Israel is a closer friend to the Jewish state than anyone who has ever been in the very sensitive role. Mike Huckabee recently told a delegation of more than 200 American lawmakers that Israel is akin to the “wife” of the United States. “If you came to my house tonight for dinner, and you came in and said, ‘Oh, Mike, we like you. We really...
(JNS) — When I was a kid, I remember always wondering why all the older people around us were forever using the Yiddish catchphrase Abi Gezunt—“as long as we have our health.” In my youth, I never understood why they kept saying that. Why was gezunt (good health) such a problem for them? When youngsters, our biggest health issues were the occasional winter cold or a bruised knee on the baseball field. What were all these people going on about, I wondered. Well, my friends, what should I tell you? All I can say is I wonder no more. Becomin...
(JNS) — Antisemitism, an enduring scourge that has plagued humanity for centuries, has resurged in recent years, challenging the assumption that the Holocaust fundamentally transformed attitudes toward Jews. For roughly three-quarters of a century after World War II, antisemitism was pushed to the margins of public life. Expressions of hatred were widely condemned and considered socially unacceptable. Today, that restraint is eroding. We are witnessing a troubling return of open hostility toward Jews, one that threatens the foundations of d...
Dear NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: In light of Spike Lee’s antisemitic attire at the NBA and the NBA’s failure to follow their own Fan Code of Conduct in this incident, I am writing this open letter to you about the NBA’s failure to follow your own fan code of conduct and choice to be silent in the face of blatant Jew hatred at your 2026 NBA All Star Game. Your league’s code of fan conduct states, “The National Basketball Association seeks to foster a safe, comfortable, and enjoyable sports and entertainment experience in which: Obscene o...
(JNS) — America’s classrooms are under siege. Not from budget cuts or test scores, but from an ideology that undermines our very foundations of liberty, equality and mutual respect. A new White Paper by the North American Values Institute titled “When the Classroom Turns Hostile” lays out the case in unmistakable terms: what’s happening in K-12 education is not a series of isolated incidents, but a systemic crisis that is robbing our children, especially Jewish children, of a safe, honest and empowering education. The battle for the minds of...
(JNS) — The proliferation of semi-autonomous Muslim majority communities in Western Europe applying aspects of “Sharia,” Islamic law jurisdiction, has alerted some U.S. lawmakers to this same developing phenomenon in America. During a Feb. 10 hearing titled “Sharia-Free America: Why Political Islam and Sharia Law Are Incompatible with the U.S. Constitution,” the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Constitution will examine evidence about the potential threat that Sharia poses to the basic freedoms underpinning our constitutional republic. Sharia is...
(JNS) — Among the many fascinating factors of maintaining offices in Metzuzat Ze’ev (Ze’ev’s Fortress) on King George Street in Tel Aviv, which has long served as the ideological and administrative headquarters of Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s movement, including Revisionist Zionism, Betar and the Herut/Likud movement, is how often Jewish history repeats itself. The building, which started as a Betar club, was renamed the Jabotinsky Institute. As when Betar became illegal during battles to remove the British from our land, it was clear that a museum—an a...
(JNS) — “Gaza Crossing to Egypt Reopens in Step Forward for Fragile Cease-Fire,” celebrated The New York Times on Feb. 2, Groundhog Day. And just like the 1993 Bill Murray film of the same name, it feels like we are seeing the same thing occur yet again. Only this is real life and far from funny. It’s deadly serious. Opening the Rafah border crossing while Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad continue to be fully armed benefits the terrorists more than anyone. Aside from handing Hamas more to brag about to everyday Gazans, it gives the terrori...
Robert Kraft deserves credit for something I have long urged: that wealthy Jews devote their philanthropy to Jewish causes and Israel. While his choice to spend millions—reportedly $15 million this year—on Super Bowl ads combating antisemitism is well-intentioned, it raises questions about the most effective use of limited Jewish resources. Kraft can spend his money as he wishes. But Jewish philanthropy is not unlimited. $15 million is more than spare change; it can endow an institution for decades or determine whether an organization sur...
(JNS) — I have long grappled with understanding the origins of evil. The events unfolding in Iran offer a stark example. Millions have taken to the streets, bravely demanding their basic human rights, in addition to such simple conditions as clean water in their homes and the necessities to provide for their families. As it stands now, one U.S. dollar is valued at about 42,000 Iranian rials. But what they are really after—what causes a pain in their hearts with a yearning so incandescently profound—is freedom. Freedom to walk about the stree...
(JNS) — When Israel demolished the abandoned former Jerusalem headquarters of the disgraced United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Western press reflexively condemned the Jewish state for a myriad of bogus transgressions. Their accusations falsely claimed Israel violated international law, threatened the welfare of Palestinian “refugees” and acted out of unwarranted political motivations. In fact, Israel has in no way violated international law, nor did its demolition of the UNRWA compound threaten the welfare of Pales...
(JNS) — The protests against illegal immigration enforcement, the Black Lives Matter movement, Occupy Wall Street, No Kings marches and the umpteen demonstrations against Israel and for terrorists—they are all branches of the same ideological tree. These are not like the civil-rights protests of previous generations, despite their best efforts to convince the public that they are. These people have exposed themselves to be divisive and hateful. Until people recognize that connection, they will keep losing the arguments, one issue at a tim...
(JNS) — I have read the recent statement by the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem warning against so-called “damaging ideologies” like Christian Zionism. As a native Aramaic Christian living in Israel, I feel I must respond—not to create division, but to share the truth about what life is really like for Christians living in the Holy Land. Christian Zionism is not a political ploy. It is rooted in the Bible. God spoke of the daughter of Zion and loved His fellow Jewish people. Christian Zionism honors that biblical heritag...
(JNS) — Zionists must step forward — not defensively, not apologetically, but proudly and thoughtfully. This is not a moment for silence or retreat. It is a time that demands clarity of language, depth of understanding, and the confidence to speak and act with conviction. Zionism has always required courage; however, this moment is an era of ever-increasing anti-Jewish hatred and bigotry. It calls not only to fight forward against it but also requires literacy and resolve. I am a Zionist not because it is fashionable or convenient, but bec...
(JNS) — After 843 days, Israel laid to rest the body of 24-year-old Ran Gvili, the final hostage held in Gaza. With his return last week, a promise made in the aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023, has been fulfilled: No Jew taken by force would be left behind. This moment is not about closure; it is also about agency. Oct. 7 was not only an act of mass murder, but an attempt to reorder Jewish history by force, to return Jews to a familiar role as hunted subjects. The brutality was deliberate, the spectacle intentional, and the message unmistakable. H...
(JNS) — Television rarely gets Jewish life right. Too often, Jewish characters are comic foils, political symbols or walking memorials of tragedy. That’s what makes Dr. Michael Robinavitch (played by Noah Wyle, who had a lead role in the TV series “ER” that aired on NBC from 1994 to 2009, and whose father, original name Weil, is Jewish)—in HBO’s medical drama “The Pitt”—quietly remarkable. He is not defined by neurosis or by slogans. He is defined by how he treats people. This lead physician goes by “Dr. Robby,” sparing patients the need to pro...
(JNS) — The Western liberal mind has convinced itself that to be decent and humane, society must engage in diversity. True, diversity of opinions is creative and constructive. There is, however, another form of diversity that has been disastrous for native European societies. Perhaps the best example of which is the case of Sweden. In the 1950s, Sweden was largely a homogeneous society. It was known for its low crime rates, characterized by a cohesive society with high trust, where people left homes unlocked and bicycle theft was minimal. T...
(JNS) — “And the Children of Israel were going out (of Egypt) triumphantly with an outstretched arm.” Rashi interprets with an “outstretched hand” to mean “with proud and prominent valor.” Triumphantly, indeed. The Israelites left Egypt openly and proudly, with their heads held high. I sometimes wonder: Whatever happened to that pride and strength that were characteristic of our people back then? Over the centuries of Jewish life in the Diasporas of the world, we seem to have lost that sense of pride. We keep punishing ourselves rather unmerc...
(JNS) — One by one, Israelis removed the yellow ribbon from their jackets on Monday. From streets and squares across the country, the portrait of the last hostage was taken down. Ran Gvili was no longer in the hands of Hamas. Gvili was a 24-year-old police officer who, at dawn on Oct. 7, 2023, did what Israelis have done too often to count: he ran toward danger. As young people fled the Nova festival, he grabbed his weapon and charged forward. Wounded in the arm, he fought on near Kibbutz Alumim, neutralizing terrorists until his final b...
(JNS) — International Holocaust Memorial Day has become a spur to write the Jews out of their own history. The United Nations chose Jan. 27—the date of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration/death camp—to commemorate the Holocaust, the term that developed specifically to describe the Nazi genocide of the Jews. Yet the message the United Nations posted on X omitted any mention of the Jews. It said: “The genocide started with apathy & silence in the face of injustice, and with the corrosive dehumanization of the other. Today and always,...
(JNS) — Medical organizations that were previously shouting allegations about Israel denying Palestinians basic medical care have become oddly silent regarding attacks by the Iranian government on hospitals. This selective mutism reveals that these organizations are not really concerned about the safe delivery of medicine, as they are in trying to score points against the State of Israel. Just last year, the head of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Sue Kressley, wrote on behalf of her organization to U.S. Secretary of State Antony B...
(JNS) — Right now is one of those moments in history that will pass quickly, but is so significant. The body of Ran Gvili, 24, has finally been recovered, and for the first time since 2014, there are no hostages in the Gaza Strip. Before this moment passes, I don’t want to miss the chance to pause for a minute and reflect. My friend Naomi Gal, who has dedicated the last two years of her life to advocating for the hostages, always says, “The period of time between Oct. 7 until the return of all the hostages will be a blip in history. How will...
There are epochs in which moral conviction becomes indistinguishable from choreography. Ours is such an age: a time in which public virtue is measured not by the suffering one alleviates, but by performative symbolism. The global landscape of outrage today resembles less a conscience than a stage—carefully lit, meticulously curated and strictly selective in the tragedies it chooses to acknowledge. The revealing contrast is that, in Congo, children starve in what experts unanimously describe as one of the worst humanitarian collapses of the cent...
