2021-04-23 E-Edition

Happy birthday Israel!

Just as it is done in Israel, folks throughout the area celebrated Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day) with picnics this year. To encourage such celebrations, the Jewish Federation of Florida’s Gulf Coast distributed 50 picnic kits complete with a blanket/tablecloth, some well-known Israeli games, marbles and “Safta’s knitting.” The kits were created by the Jewish Agency for Israel. Among those […]

Jewish Community Camp: safety first, fun close behind

Kids in Pinellas County will be heading back to summer camp, for real. Jewish Community Camp, a program of the Jewish Federation of Florida’s Gulf Coast, is planning for on-site summer day camp, keeping in line with all health guidelines. Last summer, camp was held virtually due to the pandemic. This year, camp director Lisa Schmid says campers are looking […]

TGH, top Israeli hospital enter partnership



A new partnership between a major Israeli hospital and Tampa General Hospital (TGH) was born last year during a chance encounter when Dr. Debbie Rinde-Hoffman, a leading cardiologist at TGH, attended AIPAC’s national policy conference. The 2020 conference, held in early March, days before the spread of COVID-19 prompted a national lockdown, includes a huge area where Israeli companies showcase […]

What is Israel’s Mount Meron and why were so many Orthodox gathered there for the Lag b’Omer?

“If you haven’t seen the joy of Lag b’Omer on the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, you haven’t seen joy at all,” wrote the author Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israel’s first Nobel Prize laureate. That description reflects an aspect of the annual pilgrimage to Mount Meron in northern Israel that was underlined by the deaths on Friday, April 30, of […]

‘Minute of Yiddish’ reflects lifelong quest to make folks laugh



Have you met Cookie Kibbitznik yet? Of course you have. She’s your Bubbe, Aunt Molly and Cousin Esther all rolled into one funny schtick. Husband Sid is in the schmatte business; the dog is named Babka; opinions flow freely and frequently, unsolicited and unfiltered. “Cookie’s a caricature of my grandmother and all her friends back in the days when people […]

Letter from the Editor

When you are out and about – assuming you’ve been vaccinated – it is easy to think that the pandemic is behind us and we can get back to life as we once knew it. But like those Covid long haulers who continue to feel poorly months after their supposed recovery, many businesses are feeling long-term economic struggles. The Jewish […]

Terry-Doppelt

Louis H. Terry and Brooke Doppelt were married Sunday, Feb. 21. The bridegroom is the son of Martha Terry and the late Alan Terry, of Gulfport. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, receiving his PhD in electrical engineering. He works as a quantitative trader. The bride is the daughter of Joan Doppelt and the late Jeffrey Doppelt, […]

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it’s off to camp we go

Some of my fondest memories are of my time spent at summer camp. I attended Camp Louise in Cascade, Maryland for 10 years. I still remember the songs we sang by the campfires, the dances we danced in the field and in the social hall. My jewelry box is filled with earrings I made in copper jewelry class. I am […]

Blinken says US will continue Trump policy to urge countries normalize relations with Israel

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he anticipates more normalization agreements for Israel in the next year. Blinken spoke Wednesday evening, April 15, in Washington, D.C., at the Israeli Embassy’s virtual celebration of that nation’s Independence Day, or Yom HaAtzmaut. He was joined virtually by Israel’s U.S. ambassador, Gilad Erdan. “The United States welcomes and supports the […]