By her son, Dr. Lane Mercer Claire Mercer, a long-standing Orlando area resident, passed away after a brief illness on April 9, 2024 (1 Nisan 5784). She was 95 years old. Claire was born at the beginning of the Great Depression and spent most of her childhood in Newark, New Jersey. Growing up during the Depression, her childhood was difficult. She would joke that times were so tough her parents ..read more

Written by the family Paula Ann Jurin Roth left us on April 15, 2024, at the age of 78. The world has truly lost one of a kind. Paula was born in Portsmouth, Va., on Dec. 21, 1945, to Sareta and Yale Jurin. Growing up in Richmond, her family was always at the center of a large circle of friends… friends who felt more like family. Apart from the happy times spent in Richmond, Paula and her sisters ..read more

(JTA) — Columbia University has rejected a demand to divest from Israel and has failed to reach an agreement with pro-Palestinian student protesters who are occupying a portion of the school’s New York City campus, according to a letter sent Monday morning, April 28, to the community by President Minouche Shafik. “All year, we have sought to facilitate opportunities for our students and faculty to ..read more

Written by the family Mr. Melvin Bernstein, 87, passed away peacefully Friday, April 12, 2024, at his Mount Dora, Florida home following a brief illness. Mr. Bernstein was born Oct. 21, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York to the late Harold and Sabina (Kaplan) Bernstein of blessed memory. He was the owner of Melcolor Labs and a United States Army veteran. Mr. Bernstein is survived by his wife Elaine ..read more

(JTA) — A Holocaust romance, sparked when a prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau is forced to tattoo a number on another prisoner’s arm and they fall in love at first sight, sounds almost implausibly uplifting for a story set in a concentration camp. But “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” a new television series, is based on two Slovakian Jewish prisoners — Lali Sokolov and Gita Furman — who really did meet ..read more

(JNS) — Yale University police arrested 47 anti-Israel protesters for trespassing on Monday morning, as “Gaza solidarity encampments” continue to disrupt college campuses across the country. After the arrests in New Haven, hundreds of students continued to rally while university maintenance workers cleared Yale’s central Beinecke Plaza of tents, the Yale Daily News student newspaper reported. Anti ..read more

(JNS) — Jerusalem believes that the International Criminal Court in The Hague will issue arrest warrants against senior officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Diplomatic efforts to thwart ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan’s move have failed, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported. International arrest warrants are expected to be filed against Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallan ..read more

(JNS) — In part due to the unleashing of Jew-hatred in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, antisemitism in the United States spiked by a record 140%, according to figures released by the Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday. Nearly 9,000 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism—including more than 5,000 in the post-Oct. 7 period—were reported across America last year. The figure not only ..read more

Ludwig"Lou" Ziemba is a retired successful businessman, a descendent of "Jewish royalty'" and a Holocaust survivor. Lou's story begins in Poland. Rabbi Menachem Ziemba, was the chief rabbi of Warsaw, a renowned holy figure in the Ger sect of the Chassidic movement, and a key player in the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising through his pleas that urged inhabitants to fight ..read more

Camp J General Camp offers a fun way to beat the heat this summer. The General Camp offers a water option as an add feature. Children will go to the beautiful Rosen Aquatic Center. They will have have swim sessions tailored to their skill level along with personalized instruction. The facility has certified instructors and lifeguards on duty. At the end, the children will receive a Certificate of ..read more