Community

Pablo Manuel Diaz is an inmate in a Florida prison. He was born in Cuba 37 years ago. His mother was Jewish. Pablo Diaz is a Jew.

Southern NCSY held its annual Spring Regional convention Friday, May 31- Sunday, June 2. More than 150 participants spent Shabbat together at the Marco Polo Resort in Aventura for a weekend focused on personal growth and achievement.

The Men’s club of the Young Israel of Deerfield Beach will be celebrating America’s Independence Day by hosting a fun-filled “Bar-b-que Bash” on Thursday, July 4.

Bat Mitzvah Club is designed for Jewish girls as they approach their bat mitzvah birthday. A Jewish girl's bat mitzvah birthday reflects a major turning point in her life. The club emphasizes that a bat mitzvah is a process, not a self-contained event that transpires in one day.

The RASG Hebrew Academy, located at 2400 Pine Tree Drive in Miami Beach, held a pre-kindergarten graduation celebration on Thursday, June 12.

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Rabbi Pinchas Gruman is the new rav of the Minyan at Aish Tamid. One of the most respected Torah figures in Los Angeles, Rabbi Gruman has been described as “The Los Angeles link in the mesorah of the yeshiva world” by Rabbi Nachum Sauer. As a talmid in Lakewood in the 1950s, Rabbi Gruman received semicha from Rav Aaron Kotler, zt”l, and Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l. Soon after, he moved to Los Angeles.

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The annual ritual has begun. Preparations are officially underway for Florida’s 2013 hurricane season. Weather forecasters air their dire predictions. Store shelves sag under planks of plywood, generators and other supplies. Many residents stockpile water, canned food and batteries.

Rabbi Pinchas Weberman gave the invocation at the Republican Executive Committee of Miami-Dade County at the group’s May 9 meeting. The event took place at the Renaissance Ballroom, located at 5910 S.W. 8th Street, in Miami.

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The students of Aventura-Turnberry Jewish Center in Aventura volunteered to stock the shelves of the Kosher Food Bank on Sunday, May 19. Co-chairs for this project were Heather Romeu and Deborah Thaler, parents of ATC children.

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Etta Israel Center’s 11th Annual Dessert Reception took place recently in Los Angeles. Etta Israel’s well-respected programs include the Ner Yaakov class for boys with learning disabilities, founded in memory of Aharon Yaakov Kornwasser, z”l, and the Ner Shoshana class, founded in memory of Shoshana Hayman Greenbaum, Hy”d.

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Florida is famous for sparkling water. We have the beautiful Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico surrounding our coast. We have bays, lakes, canals and, of course, an incredible abundance of swimming pools in homes, resorts, apartment complexes and city parks.

The buzz is back as Camp Gan Israel Florida Overnight gears up for another fantastic summer, CGI Florida style. What makes CGI Florida so different from all the other overnight camps? It’s all in the details.

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Jewish Press columnist Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, founder and president of Hineni, the international Torah outreach organization, recently addressed an overflowing audience at the Beth Jacob Congregation of Irvine in southern California. Rebbetzin Jungreis’s address theme, “Making a Good Relationship Magical,” was apropos for the evening’s main mission: raising funds for the Irvine community’s mikveh.

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South Floridians held their breaths last week waiting the outcome of a frightening situation. Three children were abducted in front of a Miami grocery store. Two of the little ones were 6 years old. The other was 5.

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One of the biggest Lag B’Omer celebrations in the country took place this year in Hallandale Beach, where more than 10,000 people showed up at Gulfstream Park.