To celebrate National Deli Month, these kosher-style restaurants will make a donation to South Florida nonprofits when diners buy selected delicacies. A visit is a great excuse to indulge in a pastrami sandwich, latkes or cheesecake, with a portion of proceeds going to organizations that support Jewish life and cancer patients or help the hungry.

Find the closest deli to you or go out of your way for your favorite comfort foods; the promotions are good through Aug. 31.

Mitch’s Westside Bagels, 2310 Weston Road, Weston; 954-446-6446; mitchsdowntown.com/mitchs-westside-bagels 

Mitch’s Downtown Bagel Cafe
601 N. Federal Highway, Hallandale Beach; 954-342-9960; mitchsdowntown.com/hallandale-beach
540 N. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 754-779-7599; mitchsdowntown.com/flagler-village

Mitch’s is donating $1 to the Jewish Federation of Broward County for every Rachel (pastrami, melted Swiss cheese, Thousand Island dressing and sauerkraut on grilled rye bread) or Reuben (same combo but substitute turkey or corned beef for pastrami). Both are $19 and must be purchased online or through their app.

TooJay’s, multiple locations in Broward and Palm Beach counties; toojays.com

Toojay’s has created a special National Deli Month menu featuring Brisket Latkes ($9.99); Dijon Chicken Salad ($12.99 for a wrap or platter); Pastrami Reuben Knishwich, a combo of pastrami, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing on a knish ($11.99); a Palm Beach Club ($15.49); and Chocolate Cheesecake Delight, by the slice ($7.99) or a whole cake ($35.99). The chain’s 20 locations in Florida plan to donate 10% of sales on these items to Feeding Florida, a statewide network of food banks.

Pomperdale Famous New York Deli, 3055 E. Commercial Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; 954-771-9830; pomperdalenydeli.com

With the purchase of a New Yorker, a sandwich stuffed with hot pastrami, hot corned beef and Swiss cheese and doused with Thousand Island dressing ($19.49 or $24.49), diners get a free bottle of mustard, a beer for $1 and a 10% discount on their order. Pomperdale is raising money for the Jewish Federation of Broward County.

3G’s Gourmet Deli & Restaurant, 5869 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach; 561-498-3910; 3gsdeli.com

3G’s will donate $1 to the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation for every New Yorker Sandwich it sells. The New Yorker ($22.95) consists of hot corned beef, hot pastrami, Swiss cheese, cole slaw and Russian dressing.

The Jewish Federations of Broward and Palm Beach counties are coordinating the recruitment effort, called The Learning Collective, which is in its second year. They are responding to a persistent shortage of synagogue religious school instructors that was aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which educators say spurred many teachers to retire or quit.

The federations will finance the stipends for those who take a six-week online training and are hired by a local congregation. Many schools are likely to employ these would-be teachers: There are about 40 openings at the 19 Reform and Conservative synagogues that are participating in the program.

With the new school year less than a month away, some school leaders are concerned their vacancies may not get filled before children begin filing into classrooms.

“We’ve always had challenges, but after COVID there have been even more challenges,” said Valeria Michanie, Lifelong Learning director at Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El in Plantation. She needs six teachers in almost every grade for her staff of 20 instructors.

One of the reasons it’s difficult to find synagogue school teachers, Michanie said, is the unusual schedule these instructors work. At most Reform and Conservative congregations, children attend religious school after their public school day. Classes are typically twice a week in the afternoon or on Sundays, offering teachers only about four hours of work a week.

Synagogue teachers do not need previous training but should have several important skills, including enthusiasm for Judaism, a willingness to learn classroom management, and patience and love for children, said Judy Levenson, director of development for the Jewish Federation of Broward County.

Educators say pay scales depend on the synagogue but mostly range from $35 to $55 an hour.

“We want to reach out to people who have never considered this work before,” said Robyn Hurvitz, director of teacher development and school services at the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, which covers communities from Boynton Beach to Jupiter.

She placed 10 teachers in the program last year. One of the instructors was Barbara Greenstein, 73, of Lake Worth Beach, a retired trade show specialist.

Greenstein said she got an email about the program that emphasized no experience was necessary. After several interviews, she was given the option of two congregations and chose Temple Beth Torah in Wellington, where she taught a class of 10 first-graders last year and will return for the coming year.

“We did Bible stories, Sabbath blessings, Hebrew letters and show-and-tell with Jewish history. These kids just needed to be heard,” Greenstein said. “It turned out we grew together as one unit.”

The Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, which covers Delray Beach, Boca Raton and Highland Beach, is not participating in the collective. But residents of those cities who want to become teachers through this program can work at participating schools in northern Palm Beach County or in Broward.

For more information, go to jewishtlc.org.

Democrat Moskowitz knows Republican Alston well; they served together as appointees on the same commission.

But some Democratic Party activists in Broward were outraged when they learned of the Moskowitz endorsement in recent days — and of a flyer that listed Alston as among the people scheduled to appear at a chapter of the conservative Moms for Liberty, which is loathed by many Democrats.

Moskowitz is the highest-profile Democrat listed as a supporter of Alston on the School Board candidate’s website. Having succeeded in getting Moskowitz to withdraw his endorsement, Democratic activists said they want other elected officials from their party to do the same.

Some have already done so, said Alfredo Olvera, Broward’s state Democratic committeeman, and Charles Horowitz, a board member of the Florida Democratic Party Jewish Caucus.

School Board seats are officially nonpartisan, but both political parties have often been involved in supporting candidates who are members of their parties.

“It’s a call to action for all Democrats,” Olvera said. “School board elections, even though they are nonpartisan, it is very clear where the party aligns with every single one of the School Board members.”

Alston said his endorsements from Democrats come from “people who know me, who know my issues, and know that I am independent minded. … That’s what has so many extreme activists agitated.”

Alston

Alston is well known in political circles in Broward, and he has held a variety of important jobs.

In 2021, he and Moskowitz were appointed at the same time by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill two vacancies on the Broward County Commission.

Earlier they both worked in DeSantis administration jobs; Moskowitz as director of emergency management and Alston as chief of staff at the Florida Department of Transportation. He is currently executive director of the Greater Miami Expressway Agency.

In 2022, he resigned from the County Commission when DeSantis appointed him to the School Board. He’s now running for election to the School Board.

“I am excited about the support that I have received from Democrats, Republicans and NPAs (independents) who know me very well, and who know all of my issues align with Broward families. Any comments to the contrary are clearly political and an attempt to add partisanship into the School board races,” Alston said. “There should be no partisanship on the School Board, and I have been very clear about that.”

Alston faces Democrat Rebecca Lynne Larew Thompson in the Aug. 20 election, which is open to all voters.

Moms for Liberty

Moms for Liberty produces deep political reactions.

Olvera, who is also president of the LGBTQ+ Dolphin Democrats political club, said Moms for Liberty is “such a dangerous group for the School Board.”

Horowitz said Jewish caucus members mobilized immediately after learning of the Moskowitz endorsement and Alston’s appearance on a Moms for Liberty flyer advertising a Tuesday night meeting with an array of candidates for Broward School board.

“We’ve seen that Moms for Liberty has proven itself to be an extremist group,” Horowitz said, citing its listing as an “extremist group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the liberal activist group, an Indiana chapter using a quote attributed to Adolf Hitler in a newsletter last year. (The Indiana chapter later apologized.)

“We’re extremely concerned about normalization of this rhetoric, especially as Jewish Americans living in Broward County. We want our education system to be free of people who support this hateful rhetoric,” Horowitz said.

Moms for Liberty’s Broward chapter, in a statement via text, said it is none of those things, describing itself as a nonpartisan organization advocating for parental rights in education.

“Moms for Liberty is a nonpartisan organization that advocates for parental rights in education. For too long, parents have been in the background, trusting our schools to teach our children reading, writing, and math — not to instruct them on social, moral, and religious issues. Parents have the fundamental right to determine the upbringing of their children, not the schools,” the statement said.

“Parents don’t want their children being taught about any sexuality while on school campuses. They don’t want their children exposed to gender ideology or to pornographic material in the school environment. Instead, parents want their children to be taught the fundamentals of education while being safe in their learning environment and they seek to hold their elected officials accountable,” Moms for Liberty said.

Moskowitz, serving his first term in Congress, after time in the Florida state House of Representatives and the Parkland City Commission, is Jewish and a leader in the Jewish community and has been a longtime supporter of the LGBTQ community.

“I endorsed Torey, we worked together during COVID, he helped me out when my dad was sick. However, I have asked him not to use my name further as a result of the Mom’s for Liberty flyer,” Moskowitz said in a statement sent via a campaign representative.

County Commissioner Mark Bogen said via text he was “totally opposed to Moms for Liberty. … I will not be associated with any group or person that publicly or privately states they support Moms for Liberty.”

It’s unclear if the reason Democratic activists cited for pushback on their party’s elected officials  — Alston appearing before Moms for Liberty — was even going to happen.

The Moms for Liberty flyer, which was on the Broward chapter’s website Tuesday, named Alston and showed his picture — plus the names and pictures of four other School Board candidates — as scheduled to attend the group’s gathering that evening.

It is unclear if he was formally scheduled as a speaker and he said Tuesday afternoon that he would not be attending.

Going forward

The issue isn’t ending quite yet. Three people on both sides of the controversy said Alston already had a mailer in the works when the congressman asked that he no longer be listed as a supporter. That’s apparently already on its way to voters.

Horowitz said she was still working the phones Tuesday afternoon, and had secured commitments from two other Democratic elected officials that they would withdraw their support.

As of Tuesday afternoon, multiple Democrats were still listed on Alston’s website as supporters, including Moskowitz.

They included Broward County Commissioners Bogen, Robert McKenzie and Hazelle Rogers, state Rep. Patricia Williams and former state Rep. Bobby DuBose. DuBose is a former Democratic Party leader in the state House. The supporters also include a full complement of current and former Republican elected officials, mostly mayors and city commissioners.

Complicating the issue is that some listed “supporters” hadn’t formally “endorsed” Alston, which under Florida law comes with a legal requirement that it’s in writing.

Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor was earlier on the website’s list of supporters but was no longer there on Tuesday.

“Harold Pryor and Torey Alston have known each other for a long time. The state attorney never endorsed him. When he was made aware that he was listed as a supporter on the website, he reiterated that he never endorsed him. He asked Torey Alston to have his name removed from his website,” said Sean Phillippi, a consultant for Pryor’s reelection campaign.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.

A refusal to partake in a Jewish group’s food at a school fair.

Graffiti in a campus bathroom with the phrase “from the river to the sea,” widely seen as a call for the destruction of Israel and killing of Jews.

Those are not ripped-from-the-headlines incidents from the pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the country this spring, where antisemitic rhetoric and actions were common. All reportedly took place at one of Broward County’s premier schools, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, described this week during a daylong symposium on combating antisemitism.

Hundreds of civic, business, religious and government leaders — mostly from Broward — heard sobering assessments of the breadth and depth of the antisemitism, grappled for anything that might alleviate it, and searched for reasons to offer optimism.

“We will never go back to business as usual,” declared Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee and a former Broward-Palm Beach county member of Congress. “We will be in this fight for decades to come.”

In speeches, panel discussions and interviews, neither Deutch nor more than a dozen other speakers had easy answers for combating hatred and conspiracy theories directed at Jewish people.

Surge

Antisemitism has surged in the U.S. and around the world in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks when Hamas killed 1,200 people, wounded, tortured or raped many more, and took 250 hostages with about half still remaining in captivity.

Even before the start of the ensuing Israel-Hamas war — with pro-Palestinian protesters pointing to the significant civilian death toll — antisemitic rhetoric and actions have been flourishing, both at home and abroad, said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Broward Democrat who was the first Jewish woman elected to Congress from Florida.

Wasserman Schultz said there have been “massive rises in antisemitism — and it is not just the isolated one-off incidents that probably each of us throughout our lives could share stories about … but consistent and systematic organized antisemitic attacks.”

Doug Emhoff, vice president Kamala Harris’s husband, described this week “an epidemic of hate, including a crisis of antisemitism, in our country and around the world. We see it on our streets, our college campuses, and our places of worship.” Emhoff, who is Jewish, made his comments this week at a White House event for Jewish American Heritage.

And in Broward, State Attorney Harold Pryor said he saw an increase in antisemitic incidents that predate the terrorist attacks and the war. “You saw the rise, and even higher rise since Oct. 7,” he said.

Wasserman Schultz has long warned about the wildfire-like spread of antisemitism on social media. More recently, she has described TikTok as a “horrific actor” where hate and disinformation is rampant on a platform that is a prime way young Americans get their information.

Wasserman Schultz said the messages can easily and dangerously leap from the virtual world to real life.

Long before the speed of the internet, antisemitism has always been present, including in South Florida.

Broward Mayor Nan Rich, a former Florida Senate Democratic leader and former national president of the National Council of Jewish Women, said when she was growing up decades ago in Miami Beach some establishments still had “no Jews” signs.

It was OK at mostly Jewish Miami Beach High School. But when Rich, who was a cheerleader, traveled to away games in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, they were sometimes taunted with antisemitic slurs.

“It’s always there,” she said.

Entire community

Multiple speakers and attendees at “Standing Together: A Community Response to Antisemitism” said it’s a problem for all, not just the Jewish community.

“We can’t just bring Jews together. This is bringing the whole community to respond,” Rich said.

Deutch called for a “whole-of-society approach.”

Close to 400 people attended the conference at the David Posnack Jewish Community Center in Davie, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee.

It was part of a broad AJC effort, supported with a $250,000 grant approved by Broward County commissioners, to combat antisemitism. It has funded training for law enforcement, education institutions, nonprofit organizations, corporations and elected officials on recognizing and addressing antisemitism, Rich said.

AJC and county commissioners began work on the program well before Oct. 7, and Deutch hopes it becomes a national model that can be replicated.

Across the spectrum

Antisemitism has adherents on the political right and political left. But there has been a shift, said Adam Kolett, the Broward/Palm Beach county executive director of Hillel, the international organization for Jewish college students.

“In prior years, antisemitism has been coming more from the right on the political spectrum. Since Oct. 7, it’s been coming more from the left. It’s a different reality,” he said.

The “Standing Together” event was bipartisan, and brought together people with divergent political views.

Keynote speaker Roy Atlman was introduced by Rich, who was an outspoken liberal when she served in Tallahassee, and championed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential candidacy.

Altman, who delivered history of Israel’s existence and discussed antisemitism for more than an hour without notes, is a Miami-based federal judge and member of the conservative Federalist Society — who was nominated to the bench by former President Donald Trump. He led a bipartisan delegation of federal judges on a trip to Israel in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks.

College contrasts

Maia Kofman said her career path has been altered by antisemitism she experienced.

Kofman received her bachelor’s degree in 2022 from the University of Florida. With the exception of one negative experience, she said UF was welcoming with a large and thriving community of Jewish students. (Hillel International said 19% of UF undergraduates and 14% of graduate students are Jewish, and it has the largest Jewish student population of any public university.)

It was different, she said, when she arrived at New York University — which has been the site of extensive pro-Palestinian protests this year — in 2022 to begin work on her master’s degree in animal studies.

She was planning on becoming a veterinarian.

An advance reading for one class compared factory farms to the Holocaust, during which 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis.

Kofman said she told her classmates on Day One that it was “a horrible comparison” that was “incredibly antisemitic” — and was told by a fellow student “that she values life of a Jew and that of a cow to be the same.”

NYU post-Oct. 7 “was so uncomfortable. You couldn’t go to class without walking through a rally of students chanting ‘from the river to to the sea,’ ‘intifada,’ ‘revolution,’ or ‘we don’t want no two state, we want all of it,’” Kofman said.

“As a Jewish student hearing those things, knowing that it’s calling for your destruction and the destruction of your people, How could you not feel harassed? How could you not feel uncomfortable? How could you not feel like you don’t belong in that environment?” she said.

She received her master’s degree in January. By then, her NYU experience made her change course, and decide she wanted to work in the Jewish community. She’s now AJC’s development coordinator in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. 

National picture

Kofman’s experiences echoed “harrowing stories” Wasserman Schultz said she heard when she recently met with a group of Jewish students in Washington, D.C.

Deutch described “ugly” scenes on many college campuses, with “Jewish kids being shouted at, told to go back to Poland and Israeli kids being chased and told they need to leave campus” and at times not allowed to pass.

Deutch said too many university leaders have struggled with what to say and how to respond. “Post-10/7 was a moment that begged for moral clarity. There is no gray. This was black and white,” he said. “It’s not hard but it has been on too many campuses.”

He said he has spoken with many university leaders who think — misguidedly, in his view — that if they make it to summer break, the problem will go away “and that by next semester hopefully everything will be fine.”

Florida universities

Deutch said the situation is different at universities in South Florida — Miami, Florida Atlantic and Nova Southeastern.

Kolett, the Hillel leader for Broward and Palm Beach counties, said there are antisemitic incidents on Florida campuses, and they have increased since Oct. 7. “We’re not immune to what’s going on in the world.”

But, he said, Florida stands out. Its universities have not allowed actions that have intimidated Jewish students elsewhere.

Leaders of Florida universities “have been really supportive and they’ve been enforcing their codes of conduct. That’s all it takes,” he said. “In Florida they’re working in tandem, in concert with each other and we’ve really been realizing the difference here. We’re fortunate here in Florida, and I just hope that others across the country can see the environment that it’s creating for students.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been among the most outspoken elected officials in the country with a zero-tolerance policy toward protests that infringe on other people’s well-being and disrupt the institutions’ operations. At one news conference, he praised what happened at Florida State University when a tent encampment formed and sprinklers were turned on. (Accounts deferred, and ultimately it wasn’t clear if the sprinklers were intentional or a coincidence.)

Stoneman Douglas

Antisemitic incidents at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which gained worldwide attention because of the Feb. 14, 2018, school massacre, were recounted by Maya Gordon, a senior at the school.

Gordon, who has interned for a congressman, a state legislator and a circuit court judge, is School Board Chair Lori Alhadeff’s appointee to the School District’s Human Relations Committee. She is president of the Jewish Student Union.

Her group has regularly participated in the twice-a-year multicultural food fair, at which different organizations bring foods that represent their cultures.

Offerings from the Jewish Student Union have included bagel with a schmear, sweet treats hamantaschen and rugelach, and falafel with little Israeli flags. She was always “really proud of the amount of coexisting that we had going on there showing that you’re one school, one community as a whole, not a bunch of individual(s).”

That changed in March 2023, when Gordon said she was told by another student that “we don’t want the Jews there.”

Gordon said her organization was able to participate after she reported the statement to the principal.

At the December 2023 food fair, Gordon said she wore an Israeli flag around her waist. She said some visitors to the table were “screaming free Palestine” and some “wouldn’t take our stuff because it was the Jewish one.”

Also, she said, there have been other incidents at school since Oct. 7, including the drawing of a swastika in the dust on a student’s car and “swastikas and stuff written in the bathrooms, multiple times,” including graffiti containing the phrase “from the river to the sea.”

“Since Oct. 7, I’ve seen so many things written in the school written on the walls and bathrooms,” she said.

Broward Public Schools painted a different picture.

Spokesperson Cathleen Brennan, responding for the school district, Alhadeff and Principal Michelle Kefford, said via email that Stoneman Douglas is “committed to offering an inclusive and supportive educational environment. At no time are displays or acts of bigotry and hate tolerated. If made aware of an issue, the school’s administration takes prompt action to resolve it. Students involved in any incidents receive appropriate disciplinary consequences.”

Brennan said the “river to the sea” graffiti was immediately removed and “the school’s leadership says this was an isolated situation and the school has not seen an increase in incidents.”

She said Kefford “is reaching out to Ms. Gordon to learn more about the experiences she shared” and “any student with concerns is encouraged to report them.”

The statement didn’t address whether there has been an increase in the number of antisemitic incidents districtwide.

Alhadeff, the School Board chair, is Jewish and speaks against antisemitism in a video on the School District website.

Outspoken judge

Altman, the federal judge, said Oct. 7 drove “an awakening inside me, and I realized I have an obligation to speak up for the Jewish people and for western civilization.”

He lambasted narratives he said emanate from some universities, media outlets and the United Nations, that “the Jews are the oppressors. … How can this be? The moral inversion, the moral confusion, the moral vulnerability we see all around us in the west is too pathetic for words. …

“Jew hatred is the lie that one society after another is willing to accept about the Jews. It is the lie that we are not yet inoculated against,” describing it as “the moral rot that eats away at the wooden framework of our house,” he said. “We have seen — as with COVID — societies that allow Jew hatred to proliferate are societies that are symptomatic, societies that are sick and dying.”

Going forward

Deutch and Wasserman Schultz advocated some, including calling for passage of legislation to implement the Biden Administration’s plan to combat antisemitism.

And Wasserman Schultz said the provision of federal law, widely known as Section 230, that allows social media companies to avoid legal responsibility for what’s posted on their sites should be modified or repealed.

Gordon, who is about to start college in the fall, said educating people is the answer — letting people know what is happening, what is antisemitic, and the implications of what they’re saying.

“That’s what we need more of: just casual open dialog, making sure that you actually understand what you’re saying,” she said. “I feel the issue that we keep on seeing is … that people just have no clue.”

Toni Weissberg and her husband, Rabbi Leon Weissberg, are both in their 70s, children of Holocaust survivors and explain history at the Mania and Max Nudel Holocaust Learning Center at the Posnack JCC campus. They remain “hopeful, yet concerned.”

“The uptick in antisemitism has us very worried,” Toni Weissberg said after hours of sessions about what’s gong on.

“We need to continue to educate,” she said. “That is the only way.”

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.

Craig R. Weiner, President of the Holocaust Learning and Education Fund, Inc. and the curator of the Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Reflection and Resource Center at Nova Southeastern University, expressed the purpose of the contest.

“The Holocaust Reflection Contest was created as a means by which to have many thousands of students learn about the Holocaust and to reflect on what they learn through their research of survivor testimonies. While classroom instruction is obviously vital, a contest such as this is far more effective in reaching so many more students through the use of the internet and giving multitudes of students the opportunity to learn and have the possibility of recognition for their outstanding entries. It’s so important for students and teachers to reflect and think about this history rather than just memorizing dates, names and events. This is the reason we ask students to read survivor testimonies. By reading them, or watching videos of survivors explaining their personal experiences makes us all think about what we just heard or saw and reflect on it. This is essentially experiential learning, which in our view, is far more impactful to the student than simply reading a history lesson.”

The contest drew middle and high school students from across Florida to study the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and reflect on them through poetry, essays, artwork and digital storytelling. The contest provides a creative opportunity to honor and remember the millions of victims who died in the Holocaust.

More than 1,300 student submissions were received this year and the winners are:

Digital Storytelling

High School First Place:
• “Six Million and One”
• Student: Rachell Janowski
• Teacher: Janet Conrad
• School: Rohr Bais Chaya Academy

Middle School First Place
• “Number 610”
• Student: Katherine Kolbar
• Teacher: Shira Greenberg
• School: David Posnack Jewish Day School

High School Second Place
• “Remember Rosie”
• Student: Rylee Schwimmer
• Teacher: Jack Rosenbaum
• School: Spanish River Community High School

Middle School Second Place
• “Solemnis”
• Student: Sebi Timbal
• Teacher: Steven Hammerman
• School: The Greene School

Art

High School First Place
• “… but there must be a time when we fail to protest”
• Student: Sarah Mira
• Teacher: Anncy Pitelli                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • School: Florida Christian School

Middle School First Place
• “Echoes of Night”
• Student: Ariel Malachovsky
• Teacher: Joshua Bender
• School: Don Estridge High Tech Middle School

High School Second Place
• “The Eternal Jew”
• Student: Lucas Izquierdo
• Teacher: Brian Lynn
• School: Charles W. Flanagan High School

Middle School Second Place
• “Love of Humanity”
• Student: Isabella Cerase
• Teacher: Jill Giancario
• School: Pioneer Middle School

Essay/Poem

High School First Place
• “Never Again”
• Student: Camille Blaker
• Teacher: Richard Ehrlich
• School: Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts

Middle School First Place
• “Aftereffect”
• Student: Serina Bligh
• Teacher: Shelly Sweeney
• School: Doral Academy Charter Middle School

High School Second Place
• “Echoes of Sorrow”
• Student: Gianni Santa
• Teacher: Suzanne A. Bates-Miranda
• School: F.W. Springstead High School

Middle School Second Place
• “Unforgotten”
• Student: Milena Arthur Gnibus
• Teacher: Marcia Zaldivar
• School: St. Thomas The Apostle

The event’s emcee was Ari Odzer, the education reporter for NBC 6. Among the speakers were Dr. Harry K. Moon, NSU’s president-elect and chief operating officer, Klaus Bormann, consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany, Gabriel Baredes, consulate of the State of Israel, Craig R. Weiner, president of the Holocaust Learning and Education Fund and Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez.

For more information, visit holocausteducationfund.com

The Seder is the annual retelling of the Jews’ liberation from Egypt as recounted in the biblical Book of Exodus. A key element of the retelling is sharing the story around a table, with family, friends, or for those newly arrived in Florida, community. A community Seder introduces participants to a new group of people with similar interests, including not only religion but food and enthusiasm for life in Florida.

If you’re looking for a Seder, check out these public offerings, and make sure to reach out to them soon. Deadlines are approaching, and the sponsors need to order food and set the right number of places at the table. Community Seders are a great way to observe the holiday, and a delicious meal of Jewish comfort foods is guaranteed.

BROWARD COUNTY

CHABAD OF CORAL SPRINGS 

Where: 3925 N. University Drive, Coral Springs

When: 8:15 p.m. Monday, April 22

Cost: $45 for adults; $36 for children; RSVP by Thursday, April 18

Information: coralspringschabad.org

LAS OLAS JEWISH CENTER, YOUNG PROFESSIONALS SEDER

Where: 1302 Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23

Cost: $54

Information: yjplasolas.com/tools/events

TEMPLE BETH EL 

Where: 1351 S. 14th Ave., Hollywood

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 23

Cost: $60 for nonmembers; $25 for guests age 5-18; free for those younger than 5

Information: templebethelhollywood.org

TEMPLE SOLEL

Where: 5100 Sheridan St., Hollywood

When: 6:15 p.m. Friday, April 26

Cost: $18 per adult; free for children younger than 12

Information: templesolel.com

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM AT CALVARY CHAPEL 

Where: 2101 W. Cypress Creek Road, Fort Lauderdale

When: 6 p.m. Friday, April 26

Cost: $75

Information: icejusa.org/calvaryseder

PALM BEACH COUNTY

CHABAD OF WEST BOCA RATON

Where: 19701 State Road 7, Boca Raton

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 22

Cost: $100 for adults; $50 for children

Information: chabadwestboca.com

BOCA RATON SYNAGOGUE 

Where: 7900 Montoya Circle N., Boca Raton

When: 8 p.m. Monday, April 22

Cost: $75

Information: brsonline.org/about-3-3

BOCA BEACH CHABAD

Where: 120 NE First Ave., Boca Raton

When: 8:15 p.m. Monday, April 22, and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23

Cost: $89 for adults; $54 for children

Information: chabadbocabeaches.com

ANSHEI EMUNA CONGREGATION

Where: 16189 Jog Road, Delray Beach

When: 8:05 p.m. Monday, April 22, and Tuesday, April 23

Cost: $109 for nonmembers; $99 for members

Information: ansheiemuna.org/schedule–events.html

TEMPLE BETH SHIRA 

Where: South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 23

Cost: $60 for nonmembers; $36 for guests age 13-19; $18 for age 12 and younger

Information: templebethshira.org

During a ceremony, complete with a fire rescue salute of the inbound plane named after the northern district city of Nof Hagalil, Israel’s consul general from Miami, airline executives and county officials gathered to mark the moment. A full flight of an estimated 240 passengers were aboard the wide-bodied jetliner, which docked at 4:29 p.m. at the airport’s Terminal 4, a conduit for most international flights which El Al has been using since last fall to operate seasonal trips to Tel Aviv pegged to the high Jewish holidays.

The plane was scheduled to make its eastbound run back to Israel a short time later at 6:30 p.m.

Late last week, El Al’s launch of regular twice-a week service appeared in doubt as Iran’s government engaged in sabre rattling about retaliating against Israel for its missile strike on the Iranian embassy in Syria that killed three high-ranking Iranian military officials. The threats became a reality on Saturday as more than 300 missiles and drones from Iran roared toward Israel, though most of them were intercepted by air defenses.

By early Sunday, Israel had reopened its airspace and the national airport authority resumed operations at Ben Gurion International Airport, the end point for most flights arriving from overseas.

Israel-bound travelers have been long aware that their destination is at the center of a geo-political hot zone made dangerous by military operations, terrorism and civil unrest, according to American diplomatic authorities.

Last week, the U.S. State Department updated its travel advisories for the region, urging people to “Reconsider Travel” to Israel and to the West Bank due to “terrorism and civil unrest.” The department also maintained its “Do Not Travel” advisory for Gaza, citing “terrorism and armed conflict.”

Unity, determination amid somber feelings

But at the ceremony, the officials and Jewish religious leaders collectively hailed the airline as a unifying factor for a country and people in need. Top El Al officials said the new Fort Lauderdale service was never in doubt.

Simon Newton-Smith, senior vice president-The Americas, told reporters that both the Fort Lauderdale flight and all other outbound El Al flights made it out of Israel over the weekend as planned despite the aerial attacks.

“This as on track even as late as this weekend,” Newton-Smith told reporters. “We had people say, ‘Is this really going to happen because of what happened in Israel on Saturday evening?’ This is a reflection of the Israeli determination. This was the plan, this was the date that was set, and the team was committed to delivering the flight on the 15th of April.”

“Effectively, El Al has become a lifeline, not just (an) airline,” he said. “It’s huge. The Jewish community in South Florida is 230,000 strong. It’s the fourth largest Jewish community outside Israel. The simple fact is that you know anything happening in Israel is impacting a huge portion of the community here in South Florida and vice versa. An airline is about connecting people.”

Newton-Smith acknowledged that the mood among those traveling to and from Israel, as well as among those in the travel community, is “somber.”

“I think the mood is driven by that connection between the communities here,” he said. “Obviously there is a lot of concern. The community based here has got family and friends in Israel everybody is concerned about and vice versa.”

“It’s clearly a difficult time for everybody,” Newton-Smith added. “There is nobody that is not impacted by this in some shape or form. But again, in terms of air service, sometimes during this uncertainty it is important to have people and families connect. That’s why we do what we do.”

At the same time, Maor Elbaz-Starinski, the consul general of Israel based in Miami, warned of difficult times ahead with Iran.

“Somebody asked me if they were just trying to save face,” he told reporters. “Don’t be fooled. We know the nature of the Iranian regime. What happened is what we have warned for decades. Iranians are developing ballistic missiles. Iranians are exporting terrorism. And Iranians are developing nuclear weapons.”

All will someday be used against Israel and nations elsewhere, he warned.

Whatever lies ahead, Broward officials —vranging from Mark Gale, the airport president and CEO, County Administrator Monica Cepero, to Commissioner Mark Bogen, who said he has been an El Al customer since 2019, to Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale —  all vowed to support the airline and its newly inaugurated service.

Tel Aviv Pride, a weeklong series of events which occurs in early June as part of the international observance of Gay Pride Month, will be receiving support from Visit Lauderdale, which is sponsoring the event, the first time her tourism promotion agency is going to Israel “to sponsor any event at all,” Ritter said.

“We are doing it because of your flight,” she said. “We recognize that with nonstop service to Tel Aviv from FLL, we have an entire new region that opens up to us with tourism and we cannot wait — we cannot wait to welcome the people from Israel to our destination.”

Suddenly, the carrier had become the main source of air transportation to and from the country as other international airlines, including U.S.-based American, Delta and United, suspended service in the face of an all-out war.

Inaugural El Al flight arrives at Fort Lauderdale in wake of failed Iranian attack on Israel

Now, operations have “stabilized,” officials say, as new passenger traffic patterns have been identified and management has adjusted the airline’s route system. Among other things, El Al has dropped lightly traveled routes and buttressed its schedules with more flights to bigger cities and population centers, particularly in the United States.

Even with heightened concern after a thwarted Iranian missile attack on Israel over the weekend, El Al is scheduled to kick off year-round regularly scheduled service on Monday with twice-weekly flights between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, with the airline’s Boeing 787s departing the Broward County airport on Mondays and Saturdays.

The move by El Al, which operated seasonal service between Fort Lauderdale and Tel Aviv last September and October during the Jewish High Holidays, means the carrier is following through on a previously announced commitment made before Oct. 7, 2023, to operate regularly scheduled flights in Broward and serve Florida travelers who live farther to the north.

“We’re no longer in emergency mode,” Simon Newton-Smith, senior vice president, The Americas, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in an interview late last week. “When Oct. 7 unfolded we had a lot of people booked to travel who didn’t want to travel, and people who wanted to travel who were not booked. There were a lot of pressures on the business. It was an all-hands-on-deck exercise to help our customers as we moved through the last quarter of 2023.

“We’ve got a better view of who needs what, where, when and how,” he added. “We are operating a bigger flying program and it’s more of a business-as-usual environment.”

Besides adding flights to South Florida, where the carrier also serves Miami International Airport, the airline is operating up to six flights daily at New York’s JFK International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Additional frequencies are also being added in Boston and Los Angeles.

“We’ve reworked the network to bring more aircraft flying into the U.S., so we can operate more flights,” Newton-Smith said.

Significant demand

In the first quarter of this year, El Al operated 31% more flights than it did in the same period of 2023, increasing its seating capacity by 50%.

“There is a huge business (travel) demand,” Newton-Smith said. “The U.S. continues to invest in Israel and Israel continues to invest in the U.S.”

“Load factors since Oct. 7 are in the very high 90s, which many would think counterintuitive,” he said. “We have strong demand from visiting friends and relatives. The people we haven’t seen are those traditional tourists to Israel. Understandably, they would want to see some stability over a long period of time.”

Along that vein, tour operators “have told us that 2024 is not the right time for them,” and the same message has been received from cruise line operators.

But families and other supporters of Israel such as volunteers continue to travel there.

Newton-Smith declined to go into detail about security procedures and protections for passengers.

“El Al security is pretty unique,” he said. “It is famous for having a level of security that is way above the typical security requirements of other airlines,” he said. “Have we done anything differently? I wouldn’t feel comfortable commenting on that.”

In an updated travel advisory issued Thursday, the U.S. State Department reiterated its months-old advice against traveling to Gaza, scene of major military operations by the Israeli defense Force against Hamas. It is also advising would-be visitors to “reconsider travel” to Israel and the West Bank.

“The security situation remains unpredictable, and U.S. citizens are reminded to remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness as security incidents, including mortar and rocket fire, often take place without warning,” the department said in its comments on Israel and the West Bank.

This past week, Israel was bracing for the possibility of a retaliatory move from Iran over Israel’s recent attack that killed an Iranian general in Syria.

Delta Airlines is scheduled to resume its own flights to Israel on June 7. United resumed service in early March after conducting what management called “a detailed safety analysis in making this decision, including close work with security experts and government officials in the United States and Israel.”  American is reportedly pointing to a late October resumption after setting earlier dates this year, according to the travel website simpleflying.com.

European airlines including Lufthansa, Ryanair and Air France resumed operations earlier this year.

El Al maintains code-sharing arrangements with Delta and JetBlue Airways, which means travelers can board a U.S. domestic flight on one of those airlines that will allow them to catch an El Al flight from one of its international departure points.

El Al and Florida

Two years ago, El Al moved its U.S. headquarters from Manhattan to Margate. At the time, local elected and economic development officials said the carrier made the decision to move after vetting the area for schools, religious facilities and the availability of local aviation industry talent.

“El Al has a special place for a lot of people in South Florida,” said Broward Commissioner Michael Udine, who was also serving as county mayor. “There is a vibrant Jewish community from Miami Beach up to Boca Raton and all of Broward County.”

The headquarters’ operational departments include all of the carrier’s U.S. financial, administrative and marketing functions.

Up until now, most of El  Al’s direct service to Tel Aviv from South Florida has emanated from Miami International Airport, and that service will continue.

El Al currently operates five flights weekly from Miami. “El Al Airlines remains the sole carrier offering a non-stop flight to Israel from MIA, with daily flight operations reaffirming our commitment to connecting Miami-Dade directly to this vital global destination,” Ralph Cutie, the aviation director, said in an emailed statement.

Looking forward, Newton-Smith said he sees a significant amount of Florida traffic flowing through Broward because many travelers from Palm Beach County and points north and west disliked the prospect of having to drive to Miami to catch their flights.

“We found a lot of our customers from West Palm Beach would take a connecting flight rather than do the drive down to Miami,” he said.

Craig R. Weiner, President of the Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Museum of South Florida, shared details about the exhibition.

“The organization, Yahad-in Unum, based in Paris and New York, was founded by French Catholic Priest Father Patrick Desbois who has spent his life researching the Holocaust, fighting antisemitism and furthering relations between Catholics and Jews. ‘Holocaust By Bullets’ focuses on Father Desbois and Yahad-In Unum’s research in Eastern Europe. In 1942 a French military prisoner of war named Claudius Desbois attempted to escape and was subsequently deported by the Germans to Rawa Ruska, a small village in Ukraine. Claudius never spoke about his experience until one day when he finally told his grandson, Patrick, how awful things were for him: no food, no water, always thirsty. Claudius said as horrible it was for him, it was much worse for others. This lead Father Desbois to learn more about the killing fields throughout Eastern Europe. Twenty years later, Father Desbois and his team uncovered through eye witness testimonies, some 3,300 mass graves where Jewish men, women and children were murdered and left in remote forests. The exhibit gives viewers an opportunity to learn about this lesser‐known side of the Holocaust through eyewitness testimonies, photographs and maps. The  exhibit  presents  Yahad’s  identification  of  five  steps of  the  crime  that  took  place  almost  systematically for every mass killing throughout Eastern Europe leading up to the executions: • the arrest, • the road (transporting), • the undressing, • the shooting and after the executions, • the looting. The steps are described through quotes from eyewitness testimonies and through archival photographs. A short summary defining each step and highlighting the criminal nature of ‘Holocaust by Bullets’ is provided on an introductory panel.”

Weiner explained how “Holocaust  By  Bullets” is unique from related exhibits in other Holocaust museums/venues.

“People are generally under the impression that all Jews were murdered in gas chambers which, of course, is not the case. One third of the Jewish people, 2 million men, women and children, were murdered one by one in forests throughout Eastern Europe through 1944. Their friends/neighbors all knew what was happening and often went to witness these mass shootings. Many eyewitnesses were asked: Why did you go as a young child to see these
shootings?’ Invariably the answer was one of two things:

• ‘It was entertaining for the children to watch people being killed

• They were required to stand and watch so that they would understand what would happen to them if they hid Jews

It is critical to understand that there were three basic ways with which to murder people: • inside gas chambers • by bullets and through • starvation. We all must also try to understand how people, who were friends and playmates, could suddenly turn on their longtime friends simply due to propaganda.”

Weiner explained how the exhibit relates to current crimes against humanity.

“While this exhibit specifically deals with the murders and mass graves resulting from mass shootings in the killing fields, we must recognize that this type of genocide has taken place again since the Holocaust. The Yazidis in Iraq, Rwanda and other sites have experienced very similar methods as were used by the Nazis. They would assemble people in a small village and tell them that they were being taken to a new home, ghetto, or another place. The killers would invite their intended victims into vans for a supposed ‘safe and easy journey to their new home’ so that the Jews would believe their story. Then the perpetrators would simply drive a mile or two to the nearest forest and brutally murder them. This is genocide and it unfortunately has taken place
several times since the Holocaust.”

Weiner expressed what he hopes visitors take away from seeing the exhibit.

“Our hope is that visitors leave this exhibit emotionally impacted so as to carry this torch forward recognizing that ALL HATE, ALL PREJUDICE is bad for all of us in society. Just look at what hate and antisemitism and prejudice can lead to. Look at the Holocaust. Look at these murderers facing their victims one by one as they shoot them and the victims facing their murderers straight back in the eye. Propaganda is so dangerous, especially to our young people who are not yet experienced enough in life to thoroughly analyze and reflect on what they are looking at on social media. We must not ‘accept’ what we see on the internet or on television talk shows. It’s up to us to THINK about what we are seeing and hearing and ask ourselves:

• Does this really make sense to me?

• What is my upside if I do what is being suggested?

• What potential downside can I suffer by doing what is being suggested?

Unfortunately, many people simply accept as truth whatever they see on social media or on TV talk shows. It’s up to all of us to think about what we see much more carefully. It’s up to all of us to see and fully understand how dangerous hate is. Hopefully, by showing people exactly what happened and  reading the actual eye witness testimonies of these non-Jewish elderly people, they will leave this exhibition feeling the same obligation as we do: STAND UP AGAINST HATE. LET’S NOT JUST TALK ABOUT IT. WE MUST ALL BE PROACTIVE AGAINST ALL FORMS OF HATE, PREJUDICE AND INTOLERANCE, or else the world will keep suffering these catastrophic events.”

The Alvin Sherman Library is located at 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Blvd. in Davie. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

For more information visit https://libguides.nova.edu/holocaust-by-bullets?_gl=1*12m0p9f*_gcl_au*MzIyMTQ2NTQ4LjE3MTA4NTE5NjI.

The Fort Lauderdale Fire Department acted swiftly and extinguished the flames as they bellowed over the rooftop, but unfortunately, the damage was already done. The building which is the home to three incredible nonprofits is currently closed. The back of the building sustained severe damage, the kitchen is gone and the entire facility almost a week later is still filled with the stench of smoke.

What has this done to us as a community? It has shaken us to the core! Over the past 10 years, Las Olas Chabad Jewish Center has held annual backpack drives supplying more than 1,500 children with essential school supplies. Thanksgiving turkey drives warming the hearts and bellies of families in need. When Hurricane Ian ravaged the West Coast of Florida the Las Olas Chabad Jewish Center stepped up and was transformed into a hub which daily sent trucks across the state with supplies to help families. And since the horrific attack on Israel on October 7th, we have done everything to provide for our brothers and sisters needs.

Monday-Friday the center is home to an incredible Life Skills and Job Training Program for adults with special needs. This unique program utilizes the location and allows for daily hands-on training in the kitchen to prepare the Friendship Grill restaurant for the day ahead. Now the kitchen and restaurant which held so much life and excitement a week ago is simply gone.

Our weekends are full with Shabbat services and dinners, Sunday Hebrew School programs and then with a quick turnover, our Friendship Circle programs come in. Friendship Circle programs meet five times a month for social programs supporting children, teens and adults with special needs. Right now, all of this is at a standstill.

We know that the pain that is felt by this terrible act of hate is not just our pain, but the collective pain of our community. Our home has been set ablaze, our safe space is in ruins and it feels like everything we have worked so hard for has literally burned.

Yet, amidst the ashes, a flicker of hope remains. The Torahs including a Holocaust Sefer Torah, thank G-d, all made it out unscathed amidst some smoke damage. Although the Rabbi’s entire van was burnt down to the frame, the Prayer book that sat in between the two front seats miraculously stayed intact. This is a strong reminder that amidst it all, G-d is watching over and protecting us.

As we confront the darkness, our resolve burns brighter than ever. The flames that once consumed our home now fuel our determination to rebuild, to rise from the ashes stronger than before.

We call on our community to stand with us and help rebuild our home. On behalf of The Friendship Circle of Greater Fort Lauderdale, Israel Heart 2 Heart, and the Las Olas Chabad Jewish Center, we extend our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support.

Donations to rebuild our center can be made through the following link: https://www.charidy.com/rebuildfclasolas/FRIENDSHIPCIRCLE

Any inquiries on additional assistance can be directed to OutreachDirector@Friendshipfl.org

Nechama “Natalie” Gutman is the Friendship Circle Outreach Director at the Las Olas Chabad Jewish Center.