After announcing last month that an International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony held in Tampa for the past five years was coming to an end, Vincent Genovese, who organized the event, announced May 3 that the event is back on again under a new flagship organization. Genovese, who was consular correspondent for Italy, had called off future ceremonies after Al Savage, […]
2017-05-05
Israeli romantic comedy to open locally
The Wedding Plan, an Israeli romantic comedy, is scheduled to open locally May 26. A poignant and funny romantic comedy about love, marriage and faith, the film is in Hebrew with English subtitles. Rama Burshtein, the writer and director of the film, won the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards for best screen play as did Noa Kooler for best […]
TOP Jewish Foundation celebrates ‘Life & Legacy’ donors with family event
The Tampa Orlando Pinellas Jewish Foundation (TOP) will honor those who have remembered a Tampa or Pinellas Jewish organization with a legacy pledge of funds when TOP holds a celebration on Wednesday, May 24. The family-friendly event will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Florida Holocaust Museum, 55 Fifth St. S., in downtown St. Petersburg. The celebration […]
Hillel Academy offers informational session May 17
In the informal setting of a private home in Tarpon Springs, the public can learn about Hillel Academy. Hillel Academy, located at 2020 W. Fletcher in north Tampa, is a private Jewish day school for children in kindergarten – eighth grade. Topics of discussion will include secular academic programming, Hebrew and Judaics, art, music, physical education and technology programs. Hillel […]
USF, Israeli institute forge research pact to seek new solutions
The University of South Florida’s Patel College of Global Sustainability has officially joined ranks with Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in southern Israel. Both schools are also joined in the idea that environmental science trumps personal ideologies. USF and Arava have worked together for the past two years, by sharing information on environmental ideas and projects. But now they have […]
Gulf Coast JFCS bolsters Holocaust survivor assistance with new programs
Two new efforts to make life better for Holocaust survivors are underway at Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services. With a grant from the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), the Holocaust Survivor Program staff is creating a special training program for workers from homecare agencies that Gulf Coast contracts with to provide aid for Holocaust survivors. Although caregivers […]
Chabad of Clearwater outworks 500 charities to win Give Day Tampa Bay fund-raising contest
Chabad of Clearwater beat out 500 other local nonprofit organizations to win $11,000 in prize money for its fund-raising prowess during the 4th annual Give Day Tampa Bay event. For 24 hours on Tuesday, May 2, Bay area charities, both large and small, encouraged locals to donate to their cause via an online page. Give Day Tampa Bay is sponsored […]
Author shares parents’ story of triumph over tragedy
On April 20, the University of Tampa Chabad Jewish Student Union hosted a special event at the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values. Author Roslyn Franken shared tales of the horrors her mother experienced in Auschwitz and of her father’s suffering as a prisoner of war in Japan when she spoke recently at the University of Tampa Chabad […]
Israeli-born chef wins cooking’s top ‘Oscar’
(JTA) – Israeli-born restaurateur Michael Solomonov was named outstanding chef – the top award in the profession – at the 2017 James Beard Foundation Awards, the culinary world’s equivalent of the Academy Awards. Solomonov, whose Philadelphia restaurant fiefdom includes Zahav, Federal Donuts and Abe Fisher, is often credited with spreading the popularity of Israeli, Sephardic-style food in America and around […]
Recipient persuades ‘Jewish Nobel’ to nix event over Syrian crisis
(JTA) – The Genesis Prize will not hold its annual award ceremony at the request of 2017 recipient Anish Kapoor, a refugee advocate who deemed a celebration inappropriate in light of the worsening Syria crisis. Kapoor, an influential artist and social activist, and the Genesis Prize Foundation “agreed that in light of the escalating war in Syria and the resulting […]