National Jewish Group Says Community Relations Are in Crisis
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Editorials ..................................... 4A Op-Ed .......................................... 5A Calendar ...................................... 6A Scene Around ............................. 9A Synagogue Directory ................ 11A News Briefs ............................... 13A WWW.HERITAGEFL.COM YEAR 43, NO. 25 FEBRUARY 22, 2019 17 ADAR I, 5779 ORLANDO, FLORIDA SINGLE COPY 75¢ A tribute to Rabbi Rubinger By Lisa Levine Congregation Ohev Shalom and members of the Orlando community will gather to- gether at the Shabbat service on Saturday, March 9, and at the evening Gala on Sunday, March 10, to honor and cel- ebrate Rabbi Aaron Rubinger’s many accomplishments and show the community’s heart- felt appreciation for his more than 28 years of service as Congregation Ohev Shalom’s rabbi. Anyone who has attended a service led by Rabbi Rubinger may very well have come away Rabbi Aaron D. Rubinger with the impression that he was practically born in a a Conservative congrega- The Jewish Academy second graders standing in front of the completed Habitat for Humanity house. synagogue. And, in a sense, tion—coincidentally, named he was. Congregation Ohav Shalom. “My first home was in a With no Jewish schools to synagogue,” Rabbi Rubinger serve Albany’s then-small JAO second graders support those in need recalled recently. The son Jewish community, Aaron Jewish Academy of Orlando second- the basics of homebuilding and inspec- and visit the Habitat sites. We are all so of a Conservative rabbi, Rubinger attended public graders raised $961 in a Fun Run to tion while conducting mock-inspections impressed and grateful for the donation Rabbi Rubinger was born schools and was an athletic benefit a Habitat for Humanity house. of the home. They applied mathematics that the students gave to Habitat. It is in Somerville, N.J., in 1952, youth, competing in run- The students later visited the house concepts, such as fraction measurement, through gifts like this that we are able to when his family’s home was in ning and high jumping and and presented the check to the orga- and money concepts. continue to provide affordable housing the living quarters above the frequently swimming at the nization. Students concluded their visit by opportunities for needy families. I really congregation where his father, Albany JCC. A gifted student, The annual program at JAO begins with visiting the completed house that last look forward to seeing Jewish Academy Rabbi Naphtali Rubinger, had his favorite subjects were a cross-curricular study of economics. year’s second-grade class supported. students each year and hope that we are a pulpit. social studies and literature, Students learn about the three basic They met the homeowner, toured the able to continue the tradition. I am so Later the family moved and as a teen envisioning his human needs: food, clothing, and shel- finished house, and were able to see the appreciative of all of the support that to Albany, N.Y., where his ter, while also learning the differences new homeowner’s appreciation for her Jewish Academy of Orlando has given father became the rabbi of Rubinger on page 14A between a want and a need. They build family’s home. our Habitat affiliate through the years,” their own model houses and conduct To conclude the trip, JAO students stated George. a Fun Run to raise money to support presented Hal George, president and “We are grateful for our partner- Habitat for Humanity. co-founder of the Winter Park affiliate ship with Habitat for Humanity and Trump calls on After completion of their studies, of Habitat for Humanity, with a check the opportunity for learning it gives students visited a construction site for a for $961. our students. The program not only Habitat for Humanity house; they asked “It is always wonderful and uplifting many questions and learned more about to have the second graders come out JAO on page 15A Omar to resign By Ron Kampeas the House Democratic leader- ship to remove her from the WASHINGTON (JTA)— influential Foreign Affairs National Jewish group says President Donald Trump Committee, noting that Re- called on Rep. Ilhan Omar, publicans removed Rep. Steve D-Minn., to resign from Con- King, R-Iowa, from commit- community relations are in crisis gress for what he said was her tees after he questioned why anti-Semitism. it was taboo to embrace white By Ron Kampeas public policy organizations, “It’s terrible what she said supremacy. the Jewish Council for Public and I think she should either King also apologized, but WASHINGTON (JTA)—An Affairs. resign from Congress, or she Trump did not call for his increase in anti-Semitism, In reports published this should certainly resign from resignation. King was an early an intensification of anti- week at its annual Wash- the House Foreign Affairs backer of Trump’s candidacy. Israel activity and decades of ington meeting, the group Committee,” Trump told Critics of the president neglect have created a crisis urged a radical shift among reporters on Tuesday. “What noted that he has not apolo- in the Jewish community its constituent Jewish com- she said is so deep-seated in gized for various comments relations field, according to munity relations councils, her heart that her lame apol- they described as bigoted. In the umbrella group for Jewish which advocate for Jewish ogy, and that’s what it was, it the past he has drawn fire for issues on behalf of the Jewish was lame and she didn’t mean calling for “a total and com- community at the local level. a word of it, was just not ap- plete shutdown of Muslims The shift would mean propriate. I think she should entering the United States,” engaging with other ethnic resign from Congress.” for saying a judge could not and civic groups and more Omar, in her first term in be impartial because of his assertively including Jewish the Congress, said Sunday Hispanic ethnicity, and, as voices in broader conversa- Risdon Photo on Twitter that the American recently as Saturday, mocking tions about bias, Israel and a David Brown speaks at the annual conference of the Jew- Israel Public Affairs Com- Democratic president candi- range of other issues where ish Council for Public Affairs in Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, mittee pays lawmakers to be date Elizabeth Warren’s claim Jewish communities have led 2019. Brown co-chaired a committee examining the Jewish pro-Israel. After condemna- to Native American ancestry in the past. community relations field. tions from Republicans and by seeming to invoke the Trail The JCPA wants constitu- Democrats, including the of Tears. ents to contribute toward Brown also referred to re- dealt with at the local level Democratic leadership in the “Mr. President, Congress- nearly doubling its existing ports of a rise in anti-Semitic by CRCs, often in coalitions, U.S. House of Representatives, woman @IlhanMN apologized budget with hopes of training attacks and an increase in including criminal justice re- she said she “unequivocally” for using an anti-Semitic a new cadre of Jewish outreach anti-Israel activity on cam- form, immigration, #MeToo, apologized after speaking trope and demonstrated officials across the country. puses. the social safety net and the with “Jewish allies and col- leadership,” Chelsea Clinton “The Jewish community “It’s become politically boycott Israel movement. leagues who are educating said on Twitter. Chelsea does not have the network of OK to say things that were The report undergird- me on the painful history of Clinton was among the first relationships it did with other certainly amped down for a ing Brown’s remarks, and a anti-Semitic tropes.” Democrats to call on Omar communities and leaders it generation or two,” he said. panel after he delivered them, Omar recently apologized to apologize. did 30 or 40 years ago,” David The four-day annual confer- painted a dire picture of the for a 2012 tweet in which she Brown, the co-chairman of a ence, which ran from Satur- decline of the prominence of accused Israel of “hypnotiz- JCPA task force that spent a day to Tuesday, drew some 250 the Jewish voice in such is- ing” the world, acknowledg- year presenting the report, professionals and volunteers. sues. It blamed a number of ing that she had unwittingly said Sunday. “We absolutely The sessions reflected the echoed anti-Semitic themes. need them.” range of policy issues being Relations on page 14A Republicans are pressuring PAGE 2A HERITAGE FLORIDA JEWISH NEWS, FEBRUARY 22, 2019 DNA success stories from an expert Noted Jewish genealogist Holocaust Memorial Resource and follow her on social media. She travels the world to share JewishGen’s Subcarpathian served. Time will be reserved Lara Diamond will share her and Education Center, 851 N. The meeting is free and open her interest and knowledge, SIG, is on Ukraine SIG’s board for meeting new members, compelling experiences and Maitland Ave., Maitland. to the public. and is sure to provide infor- of directors, and runs several mentoring, and carrying out extensive knowledge of DNA Diamond ‘s 25 years of ge- Diamond has been doing mation that will help you in town-focused projects to col- your own research. Bring your and genealogy on Sunday, nealogy research in her Jewish genealogy since she was a your family history. Her topic lect documentation to assist laptop to work on your own or March 17, noon, at the next ancestry enabled her to find teenager, and is an expert is “DNA successes in—and in all those researching ances- with a mentor. Registration is Jewish Genealogical Society fascinating tales of her pro- source in DNA for Jewish ge- spite of endogamy.” tors from common towns. She required for either in-person of Greater Orlando meeting.