Four Jewish federations in south Florida urged Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) to sign on to legislation opposed by the Obama administration that would enhance Iran sanctions. The Dec. 30 letter was sent amid a renewed post-holiday push by some pro-Israel groups to pass the legislation, initiated by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Sen. Mark Kirk…
A U.S. federal judge has ordered the Florida prisons service to provide kosher meals to all prisoners with a “sincere religious basis” for doing so. The ruling issued earlier this month requires the order be implemented by July 1, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday. The ruling comes after the Florida Department of Corrections has dragged…
In many ways, Mark Goldman’s a traditional cantor. He serves a 900-member Reform congregation, in Plantation, Florida. He’s performed around the world, including a historic group gig at the Vatican. And he loves to chant the “haunting, yet familiar” Kol Nidre. But this year, the UK expat became a trailblazer. After nearly two decades as…
The dingy, cavernous steel fallout shelter hastily built on a man-made island off Florida’s heavily Jewish ‘gold coast’ is a stark reminder of the harsh realities President John F. Kennedy faced from the first days of his presidency at the height of the Cold War. As the Kennedy family vacationed minutes away at the Palm…
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said she was “disappointed” in fellow Florida Jewish Democrat Alan Grayson’s likening of the Tea Party to the Ku Klux Klan. “Obviously I am disappointed in the use of that imagery,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement to Politico. “Both sides need to…
A fire that destroyed two kosher restaurants in Hollywood, Florida will be investigated as suspicious. A fire early Sunday morning destroyed the Achla Pita Grill and Bon Ami Café, located adjacent to each other at a shopping plaza in a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The restaurants are both owned by Ilan…
A Florida driver under investigation for the death of a Jewish woman on her way to Yom Kippur services has a long record of driving infractions — and was behind the wheel during a 2009 crash that killed a 6-year-old girl. Esther Benzohar Ohayon, 57, and her daughter Orly, 16, were crossing a highway intersection…
A teenage girl who was hit by a car while walking to attend Kol Nidrei services on Yom Kippur is in critical condition after undergoing several surgeries. Orly Ohayon, 16, from Jacksonville, Florida, was rushed to University of Florida Health hospital. Her mother was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver hit the pair as…
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