GILAD FINALLY COMES HOME

... but many worry at what future cost

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As Israel watches, Gilad comes home



JERUSALEM – It seemed that all of Israel breathed a sigh of relief when Gilad Shalit returned to Israel after being transferred from Hamas captivity in Gaza into Egyptian custody. After more than five years of campaigning for Shalit’s release, and seeing little of him other than the same images again and again, Israelis were eager for the fresh images […]

Florida is fourth in anti-Semitic incidents

Anti-Defamation League releases audit of 2010

After four years of decline, the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Florida has jumped – from 90 incidents in 2009 to 116 in 2010 including some in the Tampa Bay area – according to figures released this month by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The increase of anti-Semitic incidents in Florida marks a notable shift from the levels of anti-Semitism tracked […]

What is it about Israel that wins Nobel Prizes?



JERUSALEM – Dan Shechtman remembers the day he was kicked out of a research group because of the theory that earlier this month won him the Nobel Prize in chemistry. “Read this book. What you say is impossible,” the group leader at the National Bureau of Standards in Maryland, where Shechtman was doing his sabbatical in 1982, told him. “I […]

Just a nosh…



Madoff ‘clawback’ suit goes after Jewish group The trustee charged with recovering assets lost in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme is suing the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged for $5.2 million. The case, Picard v. Jewish Association, filed Oct. 14, is one of hundreds of “clawback” lawsuits filed by bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard in order to collect money received […]

Obituaries



ROSALYN DAVIDOW GELLER, 90, of Seminole, died Sept. 30. She was born in New Bedford, MA. She and her late husband Norman moved to Florida in 1973 and lived in Redington Beach and St. Petersburg. She was a graduate of Bryant College in Providence, RI. For many years she was executive secretary at Tifereth Israel Synagogue. She later became a […]

Movie reveals ‘Sholem Aleichem’ to non-Yiddish world, Tampa Bay area



The pioneering Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem was born in a shtetl in the middle of the 19th Century, and even today his name is synonymous with the Old Country and a vanished way of life. Blame Fiddler on the Roof, which was adapted from a handful of Aleichem’s bittersweet Tevye stories. The musical introduced the once hugely popular author to […]

Temple Beth-El youth create a Sukkot mitzvah with Benjamin Tower seniors



Despite inclement weather, BEEFY, Temple Beth-El’s youth group, went to Philip Benjamin Tower Sunday, Oct. 9 to help senior residents make decorations for their sukkah. Between rain showers, several volunteers managed to secure palm fronds to the roof of the hut, while other participants made yards of colorful paper-chain fruit and Judaic icons to fill the sukkah. Residents of the […]

Jewish Celebrity Roundup



Scarlett Johansson, expensive date NEW YORK – Interested in taking Scarlett Johansson out for an evening on the town? It’s going to cost you – $41K to be exact. That’s how much ScarJo went for at a British charity auction for breast cancer research after a small bidding war erupted over the actress, who was not present. The winner was […]

Book Festival writers explore starkly different topics



Author Thanassis Cambanis examines the reasons why seemingly ordinary citizens choose to become suicide bombers, while author Ted Gup unveils a secret he discovered about his grandfather – that the man quietly aided many families suffering through the Great Depression. Cambanis and Gup are among eight writers whose diverse works are included in the Tampa Jewish Book Festival, which runs […]