State of Israel

On May 15, 1948, the front page of the Orlando Morning Sentinel proclaimed the birth of the State of Israel.
At midnight, May 14, Britain surrendered control of Palestine and Israel proclaimed independence, creating the Jewish State of Israel. In Washington it was 6 p.m., and President Harry Truman became the first world leader to recognize Israel. Five neighboring Arab countries immediately sent armies across Israeli borders, and Egypt dropped bombs on Tel Aviv. Though greatly outnumbered and with no trained army, air force, tanks or planes, the Israelis prevailed in this War of Independence. Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria signed armistice agreements with Israel in 1949, gaining less than the 1948 boundaries.
Orlando Sentinel

Albert “Al” Morrell, an experienced Orlando citrus grower, advised the Israeli government on installing equipment to enhance the growth of the Israeli citrus industry, 1950.
Al Morrell was one of the first of many from Orlando to bridge the gap between the two countries by working together on projects of joint interest. In 1951, Morrell took a two-month trip to Israel to study citrus conditions and evaluated a new test designed by Israelis to help diagnose tree disease. Morrell was a charter member of the Florida Citrus Growers Organization and a charter member of Temple Israel.
Roz Ettinger Fuchs

Albert Morrell made contacts for the Israeli Division of Citriculture, 1962.
Al Morrell believed that mutual cooperation between the US and Israel would result in benefits to both countries. This spirit of cooperation continues today through numerous joint US-Israel programs in agriculture, life sciences, technology, space and security, among others.
Collections of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, originated by Marcia Jo Zerivitz, LHD, Founding Executive Director

Albert Morrell was featured on this invitation from the Jewish Museum of Florida for their Florida-Israel Connection exhibit in tribute to Israel’s 50th anniversary, 1998.
In the early days of Israeli statehood, citrus production was considered a valuable industry. As an experienced and respected Florida citrus grower, Morrell volunteered to assist in further industry development.
Laurence Morrell

Sidney Gluckman (left) visits a kibbutz on a mission to Israel, 1961.
Among Orlando’s hundreds of educational and cultural missions to Israel over the past 69 years were Federation missions for young professionals, family trips led by rabbis for congregation members, student trips during the holidays and trade missions for government and industry leaders. Others on this trip included Orlando community leaders Flossie Gluckman, Keenie Bear, Bea and Leon Ettinger, Dottie and Al Morrell, Ruth Esther and Joe Wittenstein and Ruth Weinsier.
Roz Ettinger Fuchs

ISRAEL’S SIX-DAY WAR—JUNE 5–10, 1967
Fifty years ago, following Egypt’s closure of the Straits of Tiran and UN forces withdrawing protection, 230,000 Arab troops from Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq mobilized on Israel’s borders. These Arab neighbors—with the backing of many other Arab nations—vowed to eradicate the Jewish state. On June 5, 1967, Israel staged a preemptive strike. Israel’s small Air Force, flying low to avoid radar, destroyed nearly the entire Egyptian Air Force. Jordan, Syria and Iraq attacked by June 6, but Israel again prevailed, capturing East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. Israel decisively won the Six Day War. In retribution after the war, the Arab countries expelled thousands of Jews from their Arab homelands.

On June 5, 1967, fearing the total destruction of Israel, Orlando’s Jewish community reacted immediately and urgently. The Jewish Community Council of Central Florida organized a community-wide rally on behalf of Israel. On June 6, 24 hours after the start of the war, more than 1,100 people gathered at Temple Israel to demonstrate their support the State of Israel.

This broadly distributed notice of the Emergency Rally for Israel on June 6 encourages widespread attendance, 1967.
Among the crowd that attended, some nervously listened on transistor radios for news from the UN Security Council’s meeting on the war. Emergency Fund Chair Hy Lake announced that $130,000 had been pledged.
Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando

The Jewish Community Council of Central Florida wires this telegram to Florida’s US senators and Central Florida’s US representative advising them of the rally and urging US solidarity with Israel, 1967.
Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando

This hastily produced brochure for the Rally for Israel asks readers to contribute cash payments to the Israel Emergency Fund, purchase Israel Bonds, send telegrams to elected officials and speak to friends urging moral support for Israel, 1967.
Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando

Orlando attorney Harry Jacobs (left) speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres (center), joined by Harold Kaplan, during a debate in Israel about Who is a Jew, Law of Return legislation, 1985.
The 1950 Israeli government’s Law of Return permitted immigration by every Jew, without defining who qualified. In 1970, Israel’s parliament clarified that this included those born from Jewish mothers and those converted to Judaism, but the standard of conversion was not regulated. In 1981, religious political parties attempted to limit Israel’s Law of Return only to Orthodox Jewish converts, recognized by Israeli authorities. American Conservative and Reform communities were incensed, and ultimately, this restriction was not added.
Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando

Orlando residents sign a petition to President Lyndon Johnson before entering the rally, 1967.
First to sign the petition was the Rev. Miles R. McKay from the First Unitarian Church of Orlando. More than 800 other Orlando residents added their names. Television cameras rolled and newspaper photographers flashed bulbs while Irving Slott read the petition out loud to a standing-room only crowd.
Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando

Orlando student Mitchell Meltzer was reunited with his parents after his flight from Israel was hijacked by Palestinians, September 1970.
Four planes from New York and London were hijacked by Palestinian guerillas, causing three landings in the Jordanian desert. Meltzer, 19 years old, was returning home from his summer on an Israeli kibbutz. He was aboard TWA Flight 741, along with 146 passengers. A hijacker with a revolver and hand grenade took control of the cockpit, and terrified passengers heard: “This flight has been taken over by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. We are taking you to a friendly country.” Meltzer was held hostage for three weeks while a Palestinian uprising against King Hussein was taking place outside.
Collections of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, originated by Marcia Jo Zerivitz, LHD, Founding Executive Director

L-R: Avie Abramowitz, campaign chair Norman Rossman, Sig Goldman, Alan Altshuler and Dick Weiner from Orlando’s Operation Israel United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Mission observe an armored tank base in the Golan Heights, 1970.
The Golan Heights rise on the northeastern border between Israel and Syria. From 1948–1967, Syria filled it with mines and used the elevated land advantage to snipe at Israelis in the Hula Valley below. The roughly 500-square-mile Golan Heights, considered a critically strategic buffer zone, was captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War. After touring the Golan Heights on the 1970 Mission, Rossman came home determined to raise $250,000 from the Central Florida community to meet Orlando’s fair share of the $250 million considered necessary to maintain security in the area—and he did!
Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando

Orlando Mayor Carl Langford issued a proclamation in honor of Israel Independence Day, April 30, 1971.
On the 23rd anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel, Mayor Carl Langford signed a proclamation stating, ”[The] people of both the United States and Israel have been compelled to take up arms to defend their freedoms and their liberty, establishing a bond of common experience and similar ideas between the two countries.” Commemorating the special day, the mayor also announced support for the three million Soviet Jews denied religious and cultural expression and that were prohibited from immigrating to Israel. Jerry Bornstein, Alan Altshuler, Rabbi Larry Halpern, Rabbi Daniel Kirshblum, Linda Aronoff and Rabbi Rudolph Adler attended the ceremony.
Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando

When Tel Aviv Mayor Shlomo Lahat visited Orlando, representatives of the Jewish Federation arranged for an exchange of city keys with Orlando’s Mayor Carl Langford at Orlando City Hall, 1979.
Once called “the Herod of Tel Aviv” due to the commercial and cultural growth of the city during his 19 years of leadership, Mayor Lahat also was admired as an astute military commander. He coined the phrase for Tel Aviv, “The City That Never Sleeps.” In July 2016, the City of Tel Aviv lit up its city hall with the rainbow colors of the Pride flag interspersed with the flags of the US and Israel to express solidarity with the victims of the Orlando Pulse massacre.
L-R: president Marcia Kerstein [Zerivitz], CRC chair Eva Ritt and campaign chair Sonia Mandell

Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHS) alumni at Jewish Federation’s annual Super Sunday telethon, 1994.
The Federation’s Super Sunday phone telethon raises funds for Orlando agencies, Israel and Jewish needs worldwide. Since 1972, more than 24,000 teens from around the world have participated in the AMHS program. Focused on teaching Israeli and Jewish history where it actually occurred, students spend from 6 to 18 weeks immersing themselves in the language, culture, and people of Israel. Many teens from Orlando have studied at AMHS, returning home to participate more fully in the Orlando community. The Jewish National Fund has administered the school since 2013.
Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando

Rabbi Aaron Rubinger practices pulling on his governmentissued gas mask in Israel, January 1991.
When Rabbi Rubinger joined the Orlando delegation on a UJA Israeli solidarity mission, the Persian Gulf was in crisis following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. During the week of January 18, Saddam Hussein deployed 26 missiles to Israeli cities, causing four deaths and 200 injuries. All residents, including children, were issued gas masks to protect against the possibility of chemical warheads onm Scud missiles. After the mission returned to Orlando, Rabbi Rubinger remained longer in Israel to express solidarity.
Heritage Florida Jewish News

Celebrating Israel Independence Day at Cranes Roost, 2011.
Israel Independence Day, or Yom Ha’Atzmaut, celebrates the original declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, by David Ben-Gurion, future prime minister. This day is celebrated in Israel around the fifth day of Iyar on the Hebrew (lunar) calendar, with picnics, flags and fireworks, much like our July 4. The Orlando Jewish community has sponsored an annual Independence Day festival for 50 years that regularly include Israeli and kosher foods, Israeli music, dancing and fireworks. Independence Day always follows another observance, Yom Hazikaron, the Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day.
Heritage Florida Jewish News