Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — The “State of World Jewry” speech given by New York Times columnist Bret Stephens at the 92nd Street Y on New York City’s Upper East Side in February sparked some intense debate over whether the Jewish community should focus on fighting antisemitism or invest its resources into Jewish culture and education. This debate, though important, obscured a point Stephens made about the sources of Jewish strength and survival: the Jewish imperative of saying “no” to a majority culture when its demands encroach on Jewish particulari...
(JNS) — They file in gradually, descending the two flights of steps leading to the bomb shelter. Some remain silent, heads down. Others exchange knowing glances, shrugging as if to say, “Here we go again.” Newcomers to this particular space follow veterans, learning the rhythm, the corners, the spots where cell reception is best. The last one to enter when the air-raid siren stops wailing pulls the heavy door shut and lifts the handle until it clicks—a required act to stave off blast-damage. The room has white walls, dingy from basement dust, v...
(JNS ) — “Operation Epic Fury” is a watershed moment in the moral and geopolitical realignment of the Middle East. It is the execution of a strategy that has been forming for years. Beneath the headlines about strikes and sorties lies a coherent framework aimed at reshaping the region by distinguishing governments that terrorize and destroy from those willing to cooperate in a new regional order anchored in stability, economic growth and peace. The military dimensions of the operation focuses on breaking the mechanisms through which radic...
(JNS) — The war against Iran is having a most clarifying effect. It’s shining a light on those who are prepared to stand with civilization against barbarism and flushing out those who are not. The usual suspects—those who hate Israel, despise America and stick pins into effigies of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—are willing Iran to win, or more to the point, willing Trump and Netanyahu to lose. Those who get news of the war only from mainstream media outlets in America and Britain have little idea of w...
(JNS ) — As Michigan’s Jewish community counts its blessings following a nearly catastrophic terrorist attack last week on Temple Israel, a cherished synagogue in my hometown, a political takeover is quietly underway in the state. It’s one that doesn’t just tolerate Jew-haters; it elevates them, dressing antisemitism up in political rhetoric and calling it progress. The Michigan Democratic Party will hold its State Endorsement Convention on April 19. Any registered Democrat who attends the convention in person can help decide who the Michiga...
(JNS) — Every year at the Passover seder, we recite the description of “The Four Children.” The Haggadah describes each one with his own characteristic quality of learning and, especially, questioning. But upon a deeper reading, what appears to be a lesson about children’s queries is really an insight into the importance of our response as parents and educators. At Hidden Sparks, our work is grounded in a simple but powerful belief: When we actively try to understand a child’s needs, we unlock their potential to grow and thrive. We guide tea...
\(JNS) — Watching the Academy Awards used to be a simple pleasure. Movie stars received statues, thanked their agents, thanked God, and occasionally, remembered to thank their parents. Now the Oscars have become something else: an improvised foreign-policy seminar conducted by people whose professional expertise lies in pretending to be someone else. This year’s ceremony followed the now familiar script. Comedian Conan O’Brien, this year’s host, reminded viewers that these are “very chaotic, frightening times.” Later, comedian and TV show hos...
(JNS) — The last time I went to Carnegie Hall to see something Jewish, it didn’t go well. In October, I went to hear the Israel Philharmonic but was denied entry because my pocketbook was “too big.” Security had nothing to say about the hundreds of protesters screaming, spitting and throwing stuff at the Jews in line. Recently, holding the tiniest bag I could find, I looked at the heavy police presence from across the street with a group who were there to see a performance of traditional Japanese arts. “Why so many cops?” one woman asked. “Wel...
(JNS) — If you walk through central London or other major cities in Western countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and across Europe, you may see Iranians gathering and openly supporting actions taken by the United States and Israel against the Iranian regime. One chant that can clearly be heard at these protests is: “USA, Israel—Thank you, thank you!” For some people watching these scenes, questions naturally come to mind: How and why would people support attacks connected to their own country? The answer lies in how people di...
In the America in which I was born, Jews did not need to have armed guards to pray, send their kids to school, go shopping, or take public transportation. Yes, there was antisemitism and discrimination. Quotas limiting Jewish enrollment in universities. Neighborhoods and upscale apartment buildings were off limits to Jews. “Exclusive” clubs preventing Jewish members. Antisemitism in the pews. Jewish children chased and beaten up for “killing Jesus” or whatever other antisemitic tropes other children had been raised with. Jews were discrim...
(JNS) — The American Jewish community is still reeling from the attack on a Reform temple in the Detroit area. Thankfully, no one was killed on March 12 other than the attacker, though several first-responders were injured. It’s a near miracle that roomfuls of children in the building that afternoon got our safely with teachers and synagogue staff. As I write this, Jews throughout the United States are preparing for Shabbat. This Shabbat is called Shabbat Hachodesh. It takes its name from the beginning of the special maftir (last Torah sec...
(JNS) — There is a vast distinction between living in the Western hemisphere and living in the Middle East. When your destiny is anchored to this region, there is literally nowhere else to go. People living in the north of Israel have been bombarded by Hezbollah. People in the center have been pummeled by the Islamic Republic. Even Eilat has gotten its share. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always said that it plans to annihilate “the Great Satan” (the United States), but its first course is “the Little Satan” (Israel). At this point, in...
(JNS) — Without detracting in the least from the considerable merits of the far-reaching military operation currently being carried out in Iran by the joint forces of the United States and Israel, it must be said that if these incredible efforts and incomparable successes in the field are not ultimately crowned with regime change—with the absolute toppling of the Islamic Republic and its replacement by a moderate, friendly state—much of what has been accomplished to date will have been in vain. In fact, it may well come back to smack us in th...
(JNS)— On the morning of the outbreak of “Operation Roaring Lion,” which also fell on the Torah portion Zachor (“Remember”), I once again found myself exchanging my Shabbat clothes for a military uniform. As a reservist soldier in the Israel Defense Forces and the CEO of AFJS: American Friends of Judea and Samaria, an organization working to strengthen the bond between friends of Israel in the United States, and Judea and Samaria, the transition from national mission to operational duty was sharp and unmistakable. It represented a united We...
How would you define the word “holy?” It’s not “religious,” nor is it “spiritual.” I actually prefer the word “distinctive.” You see, one doesn’t have to be otherworldly to be holy. Take money, for example. It’s greasy, often corrupt, the ultimate expression of materialism. But give it to a pauper, and you’ve sanctified it. Last week in Vayakhel—the first of two portions read last Shabbat—the Mishkan, or sanctuary built in the wilderness, was finished. The people had contributed all the various materials necessary, and the sanctuary was complet...
(JNS)— Iran stood at the peak of its power on Oct. 7, 2023. For decades, the Islamic Republic armed, trained and funded Hamas. On this day, the terrorist organization inflicted the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas gunned down young concertgoers in an open field, dragged children dragged from their beds and massacred residents in 21 communities dotting southern Israel. Hamas murdered more than 1,200 innocent men, women and children—some burned alive or beheaded—including 46 Americans. Another 251 were taken hostage, 85 ne...
“No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight,” boasted U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to the people of Iran shortly after unleashing a joint attack that may have finally ended the theocratic nightmare that has been their miserable fate since 1979. He was right: For nearly half a century, the Iranian clerics who ruled the country with its morality police and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps did everything imaginable to deserve the retaliatory fury of the United States. Yet aside from last summer’s 12-day war, which...
(JNS) — Australia is an open, tolerant democracy and that is worth defending. But openness should never mean blindness. Currently in the country, events are being organized to honor the memory of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 86-year-old theocratic dictator slain on Feb. 28 in the joint U.S.-Israel war on Iran, who ruled the Islamic Republic for nearly four decades through one of the most repressive regimes in the modern world. The disturbing part is not only that these memorials are being planned. It is that they are proceeding openly, including...
(JNS) — Congressional critics of the war with Iran are not in short supply. Their statements and social-media posts read as if they come from the same song sheet. No surprise there. These voices are marching in lockstep on the applicability of the War Powers Act, breaches of “international law” and “illegal regime change.” And there is no question that party politics play a role in all of this. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) decried the attack on Iran that occurred during Ramadan, saying, “I am convinced it isn’t what these countries [Iran now and...
Iran’s evil regime has been fomenting terror and instability in the region and far beyond almost since its inception in 1979. Trampling human rights is its bread and butter. The ayatollahs who lead it have harnessed Iran’s resources to destroy Israel and advance a messianic religious vision. That is why dealing it a lethal blow is the right and moral thing to do. In moments like these, the shameful hypocrisy of some leaders of the American and European left is plainly exposed. Instead of joining the fight against evil, they condemn Israel and...
(JNS) — There is a war going on in Israel. Iran is launching barrages of ballistic missiles at targets all over Israel, particularly at night, to keep them exhausted. The country is locked down in a state of siege. No one can leave their homes to do anything that will bring them more than a few minutes away from a shelter. Everyone there, whether they admit it or not, is terrified of the dangers they face. And yet I desperately want to be in Israel now. Here is why. I am a strong advocate for Israel and a huge supporter of the war we are w...
The United States, Israel, and Qatar have now attacked the Islamic Republic of Iran along with several other countries providing defensive coordination. News across the U.S. has been about the success of the military operation, congressional approval or lack thereof, the cost of the war in gross numbers and to Americans individually, and whether this war is justified. As an Iranian-born American who was arrested and sentenced to death by hanging because of my faith in Jesus, let me assure you it is not only justified but necessary. I spent...
(JNS) — There is a great deal of anger swirling around California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s description of Israel “as sort of an apartheid state.” That anger is entirely justified. The smear that Israel has duplicated the cruel Jim Crow-style segregation in the U.S. South that prevailed in South Africa for most of the previous century was originated at the height of the Cold War by the Soviet Union, as an ideological justification for both its alignment with Israel’s Arab enemies and its persecution of its domestic Jewish population. But rather lo...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump has done much to stabilize the Middle East and support Israel, but as during the Iran-Israel 12-day war in June 2025, it is imperative that Israel should once again do this operation as much alone as it can. Not only should it initiate and go first, but it must also remain the heavy-lifter and guide this through. In retrospect, one can argue that it would have been better last summer to avoid having “Operation Rising Lion” become “Operation Midnight Hammer,” although managing American pressure to intervene...
(JNS) — Harvard, Penn and other “elite” universities were Patient Zero for the recent resurgent contagion of Jew-hatred. What should be done on other campuses where such pathogens have yet to spread? We are higher-education leaders in Texas who have lessons to share in this context. We served together as regents of Texas Southern University, a Historically Black College and University in Houston’s historic Third Ward. Our student-focused approach centers on economic mobility, international experience and interfaith outreach. Our experie...
