www.770easternparkway.com: february 2006
www.770easternparkway.com: february 2006
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monday, february 27, 2006
condolences for ilan halimi hy"d
hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille shimshon benhamou - eli - israëlhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille moshé benhamou - paris 19èmehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille elbaz - jérusalemtoute l'équipe de radio kolmevasserpartage la douleur de la famille halimiet que le maitre du monde leur donne la force de surmonter cette épreuvede tout coeur avec vous dans cette terrible épreuve, qu'hachem vous apporte la consolation et amène machia'h maintenant pour que tous nos êtres chers se relèvent avec lui et nous accompagnent tous en vie à yerouchalaïm. hachem vous bénisse dans tous vos besoins.famille bronfman (tante de menahem rotban)hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimdevorah raccah et enfantstoutes nos condoléancesfamille fargeon france paris 19epas de mots pour vous exprimer notre peine que d. vous aide à surmonter cette épreuve et que son sang soit vengérebecca bittanque d-ieu repose son âme et qu'il apporte à la famille que de bonnes nouvelles, amen.vive le peuple d'israëlfamille ayache gadhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille ohana (paris)toute notre affection et notre soutien vont à la famille d'ilan z"l.hamakom yenahem ethem im chear avle tsion veyeroushalaim.david scetbonque d.ieu vous réconforte dans cette douleur et qu'il protège tous les enfants d'israëlfamille its'hak sultan - paris 19émeilan, mon frère, ta perte me cause un chagrin immense, tous les jours je pense à toi, bien que tu ne me connaisses pas. le rabbi a dit que tous ceux qui ont souffert pour le peuple juif ont leur place au gan eden près des tsadikim, madame halimi j'ai un jour croisé votre regard au centre rachi, mais, qui aurait cru que je me souvienne de vous pour de telles circonstances. sachez que vous n'êtes pas seuls, que la force du peuple juif est la solidarité, surtout en de tels moments je vous envoie du courage de mon cÅ“ur et vous soutiens de toute mon âme,car moi aussi j'ai perdu mon frère : ilan halimicynthia assabanaucun mot, aucun geste humain ne pourra jamais consolerla maman, le papa, les frères et soeurs (s'il en avait), la famille et les amis d'ilan.mais croyez que nous sommes tous, proches de vous dans ces moments difficiles, que nous prions tous les jours hachem pour qu'il vous apporte la sérénité.qu'ilan repose en paix auprès des tzaddikim, et qu'il prie pour notre téchouva et la venue de machia'h amenfamille cukierman - parishamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimmendel benhamou - eli, israëlhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayima la famille halimi,que d-ieu vous apporte la nehama et qu'il repose son âme . amen ! ilanzal veille sur vous d'en haut. la geoula est krova .de tout coeur avec vousfamille silberstein, haifahamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimau nom dugrand rabbin mendel belinowdes institutions ohr menahem lubavitch et de la communauté d'agglomérations de la plaine communeet du rav isroeil belinowet de toute la communauté de saint denis et voisines,nous vous envoyons nos plus sincères condoléances pour votre fils, ilan halimi hatsadik vehakadoch et à la famille et aux amis et à toute la communauté ilan hatsadik hakadoch qui est mort parce qu'il était juif al kidouch hachem.veuillez nous croire que hachem le protège près de tous les saints, et qu'hachem vous donne la force madame, monsieur, la famille et les amis de pouvoir surmonter cet acte de barbarie, et que nous méritions de le revoir prochainement comme les sages nous le promettent et nous le disent avec le roi machia'h en israël amen.nous remercions le gouvernement pour son implication rapide.et particulièrement nicolas sarkozy qui, une fois de plus, a été à la hauteurnous attendons malgré tout, toute la lumière.que d.. repose son ame en paix amenhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimqu'il prie pour nous, que machiah vienne très vite, daï latsarotehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimje tiens à adresser toutes mes condoléances à la famille halimi,plus particulièrement à sa maman, son père, ses frères et soeurs.je leur souhaite beaucoup de courage, que d... vous réconforte pour cette tragédie, qu'ilan z''l repose en paix.je suis de tout coeur avec vous, et que ce malheur soit le dernier pour le peuple juif amen.jaki partouche paris 19ème.hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimune grande pensee dans ces moments terriblespour votre famille et toute notre communaute.qu'hachem nous aide et reÇoive ilan au gan eden.je suis triste et terriblement toucheje suis de tout coeur avec vous.sylvain mullerhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimil faut être avec hakadoch barouhou, je suis très touchémoshe halimi israelhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimque d repose ton ame en paixtu te reposes de ce martyr qu'ils t'ont fait subirpersonne ne t'oubliera... meme si beaucoup de gens ne te connaissent pascourage et mes condoleances a toute ta famillefamille allali madarhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimque d.ieu vous réconforte dans cette douleur et qu'il protège tous lesenfants d'israëlde la part de la famille gozlan d'aulnay s/boishamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimque d fasse que son âme siège au gan eden et que machiah arrive et restaure israëlalex cohen, miamihamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimcela me fait beaucoup de peineperla basange petite fille de 9anshamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille elie attalhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimce qui s'est passé est un acte horrible, c'est un malheur pour le peuple juif.chacun de nous a ressenti cette peine.chacun de nous doit réfléchir à un moyen pour que cela n'arrive plus.pour cela chacun a réagi après ce triste événement à sa façon, en allumant une bougie pour ilan halimi qui est parti de ce monde en martyr et donc considéré comme un tzadik (un juste) à la même enseigne que les justes qui sont morts pour le peuple juifmais combien de temps faudra-t-il à cette bougie pour se consumer, un mois, un an ? le nom du tzadik ilan, veut dire arbre, un juif est comparé à un arbre des champs qui produit des fruits, un juif doit produire des actions. pour que la mémoire d'ilan soit vivante, nous devons prendre chacun une décision dans l'action qui va garder en vie l'âme d'ilan, une décision qui va être prise avec responsabilité. grâce à cette décision que chacun prendra le peuple juif s'enrichira d'actes de bonté qui protègera le peuple juif et amènera machiah' très prochainement avec la résurrection des morts. personnellement, je prends sur moi de consacrer 5 minutes d'étude de torah par jour pour ilan halimimïkaël cohen, ccf new yorkhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille mergui emmanuel mendelhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimilan halimi...une personne que je ne connaissais pas jusqu'à ce jour...pourtant, une personne si proche de nous..ilan, frère juif, tu me manques.ta perte me cause un sentiment de grande tristesse et de peine.je ne cesse de me remettre en question , je n' arrête pas de penser a toi ...aucun mot ne peut exprimer notre douleur ,celle de sa mère, de son père , et de ses frères et soeurs.ilan ton décès doit nous servir à quelque chose.réagissons am israël prions pour que plus rien d'aussi atroce n' arrive à notre peuple notre famille !!que son âme repose en paix dans le plus beau des endroits qui puisse exister : le gan edenaujourd'hui tu es heureux d' être là -bas . mais nous, nous te pleurons...nous pleurons un frère...un fils...que dieu nous aide à tous et surtout à la famille halimi à surmonter cette terrible épreuven'oubliez pas que tout juif est là pour vous, vous n'êtes pas seulsnous partageons cette souffrance..joyce bellaiche - parishamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimtoute la famille raccah se joint à vous dans ce moment de douleur insupportableet vous présente ses condoléances.nous prions pour que l'âme d'ilan soit en paix à jamais au gan eden.hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille menahem asserafnous sommes de tout coeur avec vous et prions pour que d...vous aide dans cette épreuve nous sommes sûrs qu'ilan est près d'hachem .. tendrementfamille chichportiche aulnay sous boishamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimqu'ilan halimi repose en paix.je vous souhaite beaucoup de courage pour surmonter cette tragédie et qu'hachem vous soutienne tout au long de votre vie.que chacun de nous fasse une mitsva à la mémoire d'ilan. .que chacun de nous étudie la thora à la mémoire d'ilan.que chacun de nous allume une bougie à la mémoire ilan.que chacun de nous fasse des efforts pour faire son alya et habiter notre terre sainte.le machiah est à nos portes, préparons nous à l'accueillir.salomon assaban, rabbin d'argenteuilhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimmr et mme guedj et leurs fillesde chatillon (92320)hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille moshé benhamou - paris 19èmehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille gerbi – le havrehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille moyalsinceres condoleanceslechan fredericcela nous a vraiment fait mal au coeur de savoir qu'ilan (un jeune garçon juif)nous a quittés le jour de tou bichevat en souffrantnehama asseraf petite fille de 9 anscette horrible nouvelle a anéanti tout le peuple juif, aujourd'hui nous crions que nous voulons machia'h c'est tout ce qui nous reste comme espoir, en attendant partons en israël, notre avenir n'est plus ici.quant à ilan, nous pensons à toi tous les jours et nous espérons que tu ne seras jamais oublié de nos mémoiresfamille goutvaks parishamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille sudry 14ehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimtoutes les familles merguihamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimrepose en paix petit frère...hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimpourquoi? pourquoi toi ? même si ll'on ne se connait pas, tu me manques mon frère !!! il ne se passe pas 1 jour où je ne pense pas à toi, pas 1 jour où ma rage de te venger ne grandisse !!!que hakadoch baroukh hou garde ta nechama toujours auprès de lui et auprès des tsadikim !!on t'aime !!!!david sabbahhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimnos plus sincères condoléances ...les mots ne suffiront peut être pas à apaiser la douleurdes parents d'ilan et de toute sa famille.que tu reposes en paix amen et que les auteurs de la barbariedont tu a été victime paient pour ce qu'ils t'ont fait.sache que de là haut, tu es devenu un saintet que nul ne pourra t'oublier dans le coeur.en souffrant comme tu as souffert, c'est chacun d'entre nous qui souffre aujourd'hui.nous soutenons la famille entièreet les amis de ce petit ange disparu trop durement et si rapidementtoutes nos pensées vont vers vous afin de traverser cette douloureuse épreuve.ilan, nous ne t 'oublierons jamaisfamille binisti de lyon villeurbannehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimtoute nos condoléances à la famille d'iilanc'est un ami qui est parti rejoindre hashem au gan eden.qu'hachem vous donne la force d'affronter cette épreuve.la famille bismuthhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimce soir nous avons allumé nos bougies pour ilan, demain nous les allumerons pour chabbat en pensant encore à ilan. il est certain qu'ilan halimi sera une éternelle flamme pour son peuple .à la famille halimi.kassabi de parishamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimdes valeurs invariables et absoluesla communauté juive est en deuil, la france est sous le choc ; un arbre, un plant, a été arraché à la vie. ilan halimi nous a quittés le jour de tou bichevath – nouvel an des arbres dans le calendrier hébraïque.a l’heure où les arrestations se suivent, les hommages et les manifestations s’enchaînent, les questions fusent, là dans nos esprits pêle-mêle des interrogations de tout ordre tant philosophiques que matérielles. pourquoi tant de haine et de violence quotidienne? jusqu’à quand tant de souffrance? pourquoi nos médias et les pouvoirs publics, après tant d’années de malheureuses expériences, n’arrivent toujours pas à nommer un chat, un chat, et un acte antisémite, un acte antisémite !certains accusent déjà l’échec de l’enquête. certes, la police a montré son efficacité, mais trop tard. malheureusement, toutes ces questions, ces révoltes, viennent faire de l’ombre à des interrogations plus essentielles : comment en sommes-nous arrivés là ? comment ce groupe composé d’individus – relativement jeunes – d’origines ethniques diverses – pouvait-il commettre de telles atrocités ? le procureur avait, d’ailleurs, dès les premiers jours, signalé que ce groupe était connu des services de police pour des actes de violence gratuits.il est évident que ce gang n’est pas le seul du genre sur notre territoire. la violence chez les jeunes est devenue banalité. lorsque, il y a quelques mois, des hordes de jeunes faisaient la loi dans nos cités en les mettant à feu et à sang, certains s’empressèrent à expliquer, à comprendre et à justifier les actes de «ceux qui se sentent délaissés par la société.» la violence serait devenue le recours du désarroi des minorités et des laissés pour compte. non ! la violence n’est pas justifiable. rendons-nous à l’évidence: violente est le qualificatif le plus approprié pour notre époque.la violence fait vendre. les jeux de consoles vidéo font de la surenchère sur ce thème. le csa a beau avoir imposé un barème pour les émissions télévisées – des fictions aux talk-shows – celles qui remportent le plus de succès sont celles qui proposent violence, vulgarité et arrogance. la musique que nos jeunes écoutent est plus que révélatrice de ce malaise. certains clips pourraient même être interdits en salle mais ils passent aux heures de grande écoute le mercredi dans le petit écran. tout y est bafoué, toutes les valeurs d’une société saine. nos enfants se nourrissent de scènes de violence, de machisme, de sexe et de racisme sans que personne ne se soucie des conséquences. la paracha de cette semaine – michpatim, les lois – énonce une série de commandements qui pourraient être qualifiés de simples. ils constituent l’essentiel des codes civil et pénal des sociétés modernes et justes. nos sages disent que ces commandements sont d’une telle évidence que si la torah ne nous avait pas été donnée, nous aurions déduit ces lois de bonne conduite grâce à la bonne logique humaine.pourtant, d-ieu les énonça ; il leur donna une place d’honneur en les dictant juste après la promulgation du décalogue et avant les lois strictement rituelles. il procéda, ainsi, pour les dix commandements où les principes fondamentaux du monothéisme rencontrent des lois aussi basiques que le crime et le vol. pour nos sages, il ne s’agit pas ici d’un mélange des genres. ils affirment que la garantie pour que ces valeurs d’égalité et de justice – énoncées dans michpatim et sur la deuxième table – soient protégées, il faut qu’elles ne restent pas le fruit de la logique humaine. celle-ci est relative et soumise à la subjectivité égocentrique de l’homme prêt à justifier ses actes à tout prix. ces valeurs sont absolues et invariables autant que les principes fondamentaux de la foi.le talmud décrit les temps pré-messianiques d’époque de confusion, de temps où les définitions du bien et du mal seront ambiguës. nous y voilà ! préparons-nous, alors, à la venue de machia’h, le plant issu de la maison de david – ainsi qu’il est écrit (isaïe xi – 1) : «un rameau sortira de la souche de yichaï, un rejeton poussera de ses racines…» – pour que cessent les souffrances et règnent la justice, l’équité et le bonheur.rav eliahou dahanhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimflorian alleoudilan tu nous manques , ton départ 15 chevat nous as tous laissés ... , ilan... , ttou bichevat... ?? vas comprendre, une chose est sure, c(est que ton sang sera vengé comme il est écrit :"nations, félicitez son peuple , car d-ieu venge le sang de ses serviteurs; il exerce vindict sur ses ennemis, réhabilite et sa terre et son peuple !" (devarim 32; 43) im a lev(32) gam (43). je souhaite de tout mon coeur que nous puissions te revoir ou tout simplement te connaître lors de la résurrection des morts parmis lesquels tu seras tout de suite immédiatement concrètement,amen !!!!hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimnos plus sincères condoléances ...famille samama yossef haïm et haya betar iilitehamakom yenakem et'hem betoch chear avle tzion veyeroushalaimtrès touchée par la disparition d'ilan al kiddush hashemque d-ieu vous soutienne dans votre douleurc'est notre frère, c'est notre douleurqu'il soit notre envoyé auprès de hakadosh baruch houet nous envoie le mashiah maintenant.daniella katzenberg (bouskila) montréal canadaje souhaite qu'aucune tragédie ne se reproduise au sein du peuple juif et que d-ieu venge son sanget que l'antisémitisme cesse!pour l'élévation de son âme, je prends sur moi une très importante mitsva, de mettre une pièce de tsedaka tous les jours, en espérant que la venue du machia'h se rapprochera avec ilan à nos côtés ainsi que tout le peuple juif à yérouchalaïm reconstruit!menahem s., étudiant à l'ecole beth 'hanna garçonshamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayim.qu'hachem vous apporte la consolation et amène machia'h maintenant. pour toute la famille des bonnes nouvelles.famille bensoussan - (strasbourg)hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayim.sincères condoléancesfrédéric lechanhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayim.que d.vous aide à surmonter cette terrible épreuve, nous nous joignons à votre douleur et prions pour ilan.que machiah arrive au plus vite afin que vous soyez à nouveau réunis!gai serehenhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimune flamme pour ilan.la maison de yaacov sera un feu. la maison de yosseph une flamme. la maison d'essav un amas de chaume, ils le brûleront, ils le consumeront, et rien ne survivra de la maison d'essav, c'est l'eternel qui le dit. et des libérateurs monteront sur la montagne de tsion, pour se faire les justiciers du mont d'esdav et la royauté appartiendra à l'eternel (ob 1-18/21)la flamme de l'Âme sainte d'ilan, s'associe à toutes les flammes des âmes saintes de tous les tsadikim pour brûler le dernier voile de l'exil et demanderont à hachem la réalisation de la promesse qu'il a faite, de la libération finale, par la venue immédiate de notre juste machiah, qui effacera définitivement nos larmes et apportera avec lui la joie éternelle qui éclairera nos visages par le retour de nos chers disparus.famille yaacov alvo - fontenay sous bois - francetoutes nos condoléanceshamakom yénahem et'hem beto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille cohen stephane paris 19emetoutes nos condoléances et que d. tout puissant venge son sanget le ramène avec machiah' immédiatementhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille chalom et myriam sabbah (place des fêtes)a toi ilan notre frère juif qui nous a quittés dans la souffrance et la barbarie de gens qui n'aspirent qu'à la haine! tu ne peux siéger qu'auprès de d.... ta perte est un grand malheur pour chacun d'entre nous! nous avons perdu un frère! même plus qu'un frère une partie de nous-mêmes le peuple juif ne formant qu'un seul être... nous prions tous pour toi que ton âme repose en paix auprès des justes et qu'on puisse te revoir très rapidement avec la venue du machia'h. a toute la famille halimi beaucoup de courage que d-ieu soit toujours auprès de vous et vous console. nous sommes de tout coeur avec vous amakom yéna'hem et'hem beto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalaimfamille asseraf (st ouen)hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamilles abitbol de créteilhamakom yena'hem ete'hem beto'h chaaré avalé tsion viyerouchalaïmbérélé lubecki, parishamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion viroushalayim.famille sidèstoutes nos condoléancesnous sommes une même famille et fière de l'êtrehamakom yénahem et'hem beto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille sebag mendel antibes jlp francehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimbra'ha coenhamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion viroushalayim.hashem yinkome éte damoqu'hashem console et envoie les forces à toute la famille du jeune défunt ilan z"l afin de surmonter cette terrible et douloureuse épreuvefamille partouche - sarcelleshamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion viroushalayim.famille yehouda levy paris 19èmehamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion viroushalayim.que hachem vous envoie la force et le courage.toutes nos condoléances.famille colin parishamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion viroushalayim.que d. vous apporte la consolation et venge son sangerezhamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion virouchalayimfamille rajchmanhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimh ier comme aujourd'hui rien ne change,nous pleurons une fois de plus l'un de nos frères.que d. vous apporte la consolation.famille aouizeratehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille acher bensimonhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayim"quand le sang d'un juif coule c'est tout le peuple d'israel qui pleure....."que ton âme repose en paix au gan edende la part de yael f.ilan fait aujourd’hui partie des plus grands,que d… fasse qu’il soit hissé au niveau des justes d’israël.avec nos chaleureuses condoléances.famille partouche de vincennesque d-ieu repose ton âme après tant de souffrances sur terre et surtout aide ta famille à surmonter cette douleur atroce.que ta mort puisse apporter l'unité au sein du peuple juif et dans le monde et que nous puissions quand même te venger.r.i.p. p'tit frèrestephane tayar paris 19e.toutes mes condoléances à toute la familleje suis triste comme si un membre de ma famille était parti tout ceci me boulverse.je ne sais pas quoi dire sauf que je suis triste très triste à jamais pauvrre ilansincères condoléances à toute la famille d'ilanmazalsincères condoléances à toute la famille de notre ilantoute l'équipe de www.feujcity.com le site portail des feujspartage la douleur de la famille halimiet que le maître du monde leur donne la force de surmonter cette épreuvesincères condoléances à toute la famille.famille elbazcondoléance à toute la famille d'ilan halimi, je suis un juif, j'ai 16 ans et j'aurais pu être à sa place.. je pense fort à la famille d'ilan que je soutiens ainsi que toute la communauté juive de marseille qui le montrera dimanchehamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion viroushalayim.famille abitbol (sarcelles)hamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion viroushalayim.ilannotre coeur a été pétrifié de cette nouvellecomme on n'en veut plus jamais.l'obsession d'imaginer chacun de tes appels au secours,chacune de tes indicibles souffrances.une seule consolation à présent,te savoir au gan eden, heureux et soulagé.proche à présent de tous les tsaddikim.ruth, chère maman qui pleure son enfant au regard si doux, pense queton fils prie à présent pour tout son peuple,que machia'h ne peut que venir dès à présent pour nous sauver, penseque tous les juifs sont unis main dans la mainet te souhaite tout le courage et toute la force. tu es toi aussi unetsaddekete. par toi et ton fils, tu as précipité la rédemption.tous les méchants disparaîtront, les ennemis des enfants d'israël.que d.ieu ait pitié de nous, qu'il nous bénisse, et nous accorde unedélivrance immédiate.famille halimi, beit-chemech, israël.hamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion viroushalayim.que ton âme repose en paix au gan eden de la part de la famille saada 'heiloparis 19e francenotre souffrance est trop grande pour notre frère ilan .bientôt cet exil amer va prendre fin avec toutes ses épreuves et ses souffrances.notre juste machia'h va vite arriver et il ramènera avec luinotre cher ilan avec la guéoula à yerouchalaimprès du beth hamikdache hachlichi.qu'il trouve la paix et la félicité près du trône célesteetudions tous la thora et la (hassidout) faisons beaucoup de tehilims, aimons-nousles uns les autres et pratiquons la bienfaisance, amenye'ria et yo'heved bensaidainsi que haya mouchka zenouilan,la dernière fois que j'ai eu des nouvelles de toi c'était en aoûtet c'est ta soeur qui m'en donnaitaujourd hui je ne pourrais plus savoir si tu vas bien ou pasils t'ont arraché à la vieet à 12 ils s'y sont misça fait plus d'une semaine que t'es partimais je ne m'en remets pas comme tout notre peupleje suis à l'envers comme beaucoup d'entre nousil n'y pas une seconde ou je ne pense pas à toi et aux souffrances que tu as endurées chacune de mes visions me projète ton visage.tu vas nous manquer petit frèrecomme les mots qui me manquent en écrivantet on se sent impuissants fâce à çapuisse d. venger ton sang qui a coulé si inutilementyoann natafhamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion virouchalayimfamille brodowiczhamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion virouchalayimj'ai entendu cette tragédie horrible lorsqu'ellea été rapportée dans les journaux ici à londres. mes pensées sont avec la famille.soyez forts! je prie qu'hashem vous donne la force en ces moments difficilles.tammy-ben-dayan (londres-angleterre)en apprenant cette tragédie, on se dit "c'est pas possible...ce jeune garçon n'avait que 23 ans...il avait encore la vie devant lui... pourquoi ces gens ont tant de haine?pourquoi toute cette haine contre nous, peuple juif?"jusqu'à maintenant je me pose ces questions mais je n'y trouve pas de réponse...je ne connaissais pas ilan (z"l) mais en apprenant ce qui lui est arrivé,j'ai éclaté en sanglots...c'est comme si je venais de perdre mon frère!!je ne m'en remets pas et je ne sais pas si un jour je m'en remettraisilan (z"l) est, maintenant, au côté des plus grands!!que d. fasse en sorte que le machia'h arrive viteet qu'il bannisse toute cette cruauté.......je tiens à présenter toutes mes condoléances à la famille d'ilan (z"l)je suis de tout coeur avec elle dans l'épreuve tragique qu'ils vivent...sachez que vous n'êtes pas seules, tout le peuple juif est avec vous!!de là où est ilan (z"l) il vous protège et prie pour vous...soyez forts! que d. vous aide, amen!hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimshirley attia (créteil)ad matai????jusqu'à quand ??????ilan je ne t'ai jamais connu, mais je pleureet je pense à toi tous les jours depuis que tu as quitté ce monde.c'est impossible d'imaginer quelles souffrances tu as enduré tout ce temps.que tes cris se fassent enfin entendreet que d... nous amène la délivrance!!!!mr et mme halim,i je partage votre souffrance et peine,que d... vous aide à surmonter cette horrible épreuve.que le peuple juif soit à jamais protégé de souffrance et de barbarie!hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimzelda rotenbergmes condoléances à toute la famille d'ilan et je compatis à votre douleurmoi-même maman cela me touche énormémentque d. repose l' âme d'ilanet un gros bisou à toute la famillehamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion virouchalayimjudie malhoufhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimque d.ieu vous réconforte dans cette douleur et qu'il protège tous les enfants d'israëlfamille attal - choisy le roitoutes nos condoléances à la famille d'ilanque ton âme repose en paix auprès des tsadikimune pensée à ta soeur yaël que je connaissais (ozar hatorah)qu' hachem vous donne la force de surmonter cette épreuvehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimyael abbou (saffar)qu’hashem donne les forces à toute la famille de supporter cette terrible epreuveet qu’il venge le sang innocent d’ilan.hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille sojcherje suis chrétien d'origine arménienneet je souhaite envoyer toutes mes condoléances à la famille halimi.pierre m.je présente avant toute chose toutes mes condoléances a la famille d'ilanet à tous ses proches!on ne se connaissait pas et pourtant cette tragédie nous a tous rapproché detoi ilan z"l de ta famille et de tous tes proches qui avaient tant subi cesderniers temps.cette tragédie il a fallut que ca t'arrive a toi, que tu revive ce qued'autre ont vécu dans le passé il y a plus de 60 ans. comme quoi le monde nemontre guère grande évolution. on est en 2006 tu es le 1er depuis bienlongtemps mais des gens continu et continueront surment encore a tuer dujuif pour le plaisir.ilan depuis que tu n'es plus la le vide s'est installé en moi, je ressensune profonde tristesse, je ne fais que penser a toi, à ce qui t'es arrivé!je me dis pourtant qu'il ne faut pas se laisser abattre, il ne faut pas quetu sois mort pour rien. il faut ke ta disparition reveille le peuple juif etqui nous luttions, tous unis, contre cette maladie qui touche beaucoup tropde personne: l'antisemitisme. que nous luttions contre ces gens qui ont lahaine du peuple juif.aujourd'hui je me présenterai, comme beaucoup, a cette manifestationorganisée en ta mémoire. et je marcherai a coté des tiens pour les soutenircar ils ont besoin de nous pour traverser cette épreuve! soyons tous unispour que cette atrocité ne se reproduise plus, pour que personne neconnaisse ce que tu as connu.prions pour que ton ame repose en paix au gan eden et pour que ta familletrouve la force de traverser cette épreuve....repose en paix tsadik protége tous les tiens de la haut...hamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayima. tracyle malheur qui vous frappe d'une manière si brutale me bouleverse profondément.les desseins de h-achem sont parfois impénétrables, or c'est auprès de lui seul que vous trouverez un apaisement à la douleur qui vous terrasse.mon coeur pleure auprès du vôtre en vous redisant mon immense compassion.puissiez-vous trouver le courage nécessaire afin de surmonter cette terrible épreuve.amen.carole chuwesclichy (92110)hamakom yénahem etjèm béto jear avlé tsion viroushalaimhashem vous réconforte dans cette douleur et qu'il protège tous les fis d'israëles-israel.orghamakom yéna'hem et'khèm béto'kh chear avélé tsion vyirouchalayimque d... vous aide à surmonter cette terrible épreuvesidney et eveline attalhamakom yenahem ethem betoh chear avle tsion virouchalaimfamille cohenmaintenant tu es au gan eden avec hakadoch barouhou, tu es avec tous les grands justes: le rabbi de loubavitch, le rabbi nahman de breslev, baba ssalé, rabbi shimon bar yohai et bien d'autres... ou tu te trouves tu nous protègera de tous ce qu'il peut se passer dans ce monde, de toutes ses barbaries. tu veilles sur nous. repose en paix et beaucoup de courage pour tes parents et ta soeur que je peux comprendre car nous sommes passé par ou est passé ta famille, tu es à côté de mon frère... lui aussi il avait 20 ans... que d. repose son âme...aurevoir ilan...famille goeta villemomblehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille grynberg - oiknine - belgiquehamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion virouchalayimfamille rotszteintu sera notre ange on ne toubliras jamaisrepose en paixcondoleances a mme halimi et tous ses proches puisse qu sa terrible disparition de ce monde nous reveil et que la ou il se trouve il puisse intervenir pour que tous le peuple d israel a fin que plus un juif lui arrive cette atrosite.s.dnous partageons la douleurhamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimque d... vous aidehamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimfamille afriathamakom yéna'hem et'hèm béto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalayimde la part de chalom dov ber basangerque d.vous aide à surmonter cette terrible épreuve,nous nous joignons à votre douleur et prions pour illan.que machiah arrive au plus vite afin que vous soyez a nouveau réunis!
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threadless t-shirts - ashkefardic ultra refoconservadox, by shmouel halimi
free plug for whover came up with this shirt!
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sunday, february 26, 2006
land of confusion: youth is the engine of the world...
there has been a lot of talk about matisyahu lately. i see him on mtv, mtvu.com, hear him on the radio and read blogs. i figured i will speak a little about him as well.i recently watched the new "youth" music video and i was really inspired. first off the lyrics really touched me. he sings about how the youth makes the world go 'round and because of that they have to make the right choices in life. at times everything looks grey and nothing seems right but it is up to them to make the right decisions and make the world a brighter place. now the video itself looks like any other professional music video that we see on mtv. there is just one thing missing. all the normal trash that we have become accustomed to see is not there. no scantily clad women or grillz on the teeth. just a really hip entertaining clean video.when i was speaking to a friend about the new video, he had this to say. "matisyahu said in an interview that he won’t be jumping into crowds anymore since there may be women in it and that would be against his religion to be touched by another woman". he went on to say how he looked carefully on the video and he is "sure" that there was woman in the crowd. well here is some news for you:music featuresmatisyahu: spiritual and spiritedby bram teitelmanfeb 23, 2006, 19:00 gmtand there continues to be a fine line to tread between pushing the music and observing his beliefs. because of his religion matisyahu belongs to the chabad-lubavitch branch of hasidism he cannot touch women or sing romantic love songs, which means his days of audience diving may be over unless there is advanced planning.when he made the first low-budget video for 'king without a crown,' he asked his rabbi if he could jump into the crowd, caplan recalls. 'the rabbi said, `sure.` he tries not to jump on a woman. his wife says, `i don’t think you can do it.` the rabbi comes back and says, `what? there are women in the crowd? no, you can’t do that.`' so, caplan adds, for the 'youth' video, the audience that matisyahu jumps into is all male: 'his religion is the most important thing to him.'so there you have it, an excerpt from an article on www.music.monstersandcritics.comanother "problem" someone brought up to me is the fact that on one of the clips a woman is dancing by herself. is there really a problem there? she is fully dressed. you cannot see an inch of her skin. secondly she does not do anything that would be considered provocative. am i wrong on this one? is it wrong to have a woman dance by herself on the video?i get the feeling that people cannot stomach the fact that he is a huge success. why is it that when someone is doing good in the world, spreading judaism and a teaching life lessons to the youth, why is it that they get a thrashing for it? this is his way of doing it and he is doing a great job.the opening clip of the "youth" video starts off with someone taking off their tefillin. do you know how many people, specifically jewish teens, will be seeing that? i think it is unbelievable and amazing. posted by on my own at 1:48 pm
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jewish org. unites all faiths over traditional friday dinners
shira nanus friday, february 24, 2006every friday evening, mendel and henya matusof open up their home on west gilman street to students of diverse religious backgrounds to relax, share discussion and enjoy a homemade shabbat meal.the matusofs are co-directors of the uw-madison chapter of chabad, the largest international jewish outreach movement dedicated to supporting jewish life and observance.“chabad is a warm and friendly jewish environment where students are always welcome,” said henya matusof, originally from crown heights, n.y., who moved to madison to start up chabad. “in many ways, it is a home away from home.”the international organization first appeared at uw-madison in 1972, serving both students and the madison community. however, in the early ‘80s, chabad’s presence on campus fizzled when it opened up a preschool and moved to regent street.“campus started slowing down in the mid ‘80s and the community picked up—so that became the main priority,” said mendel matusof, originally from madison.this year, the program’s focus is shifting back toward students with the help of the international chabad committee, which gave madison’s chapter seed money to refocus its outreach on campus.the organization is still in its beginning stages, but since september it has grown from having a few students attend friday-night dinners to over 30.chabad also offers diverse classes and social events and has plans to co-sponsor events with hilel in the future. mendel matusof said the goal is not to inundate students with religion, but to provide insights into jewish tradition.“it’s to educate and teach people by a living example that judaism has meaning in today’s day and age,” he said. “we have more of an attraction for the completely unaffiliated. those that know nothing find chabad very open, all-inclusive and teaching.”henya matusof agrees, saying that when students get involved in chabad, “they come to realize that being proud of being jewish and acting that way is not as scary as many of them thought it to be.”uw-madison sophomore adam poster, who is active in chabad, said it is a great escape from everyday student life.“a lot of kids, you know, they don’t want to be religious,” poster said. “i think it’s a great way to keep the traditions and keep the culture, and obviously the religious part is there. there’s a whole array of things you can get from it.” copyright © 1892-2006 the daily cardinal media corporation. all rights reserved.
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groundbreaker matisyahu is spirited and spiritual
by bram teitelman new york (billboard) - of all the artist-development stories to emerge in 2005, matisyahu's was perhaps the most unique. not only was his breakout album, "live at stubb's," hastily recorded for $8,000 (4,600 pounds) at an austin, texas, club, but its first single, "king without a crown," is a modern-rock smash -- a nearly unheard-of feat for a reggae track. and then there is matisyahu himself: a hasidic jew whose reggae- and rock-tinged sound celebrates his faith. yet while the 26-year-old artist is devoutly religious, he is not letting that stand in the way of getting his music heard. "who doesn't want success?" he asks. "there's some artists that say they don't, and they're not looking for it, but i'm not one of those artists." clearly his music is resonating with the public. "king without a crown" is in the top 10 of billboard's modern rock chart and is starting to make an impression on top 40 outlets. "live at stubb's" has topped billboard's top reggae albums chart for eight weeks. it has sold 340,000 copies so far and is no. 43 on the billboard 200. on march 7, his new studio album, "youth," comes out on jdub/or/epic. sources say the initial shipment for the album will be 400,000 units. is matisyahu an artist with staying power or a novelty? believers say he has longevity. "is it novelty? of course it's not. it's too real to be novelty," declares bruce warren, assistant gm for programming at the influential non-commercial wxpn philadelphia, which was one of the first stations to play "king without a crown." "it was our sense that this was the kind of musical discovery our listeners listen to public radio for," warren says. the song is "very spiritual, and it touches people regardless of what their race or religion is. it reminds me of bob marley in that matis has a universal message and some great grooves to match." kimmel clip's the clincher matisyahu's debut album, "shake off the dust ... arise," was released with relatively little fanfare in 2004 on jdub, a nonprofit label and event production company. when michael caplan, co-founder and then-president of or music, first heard of matisyahu, he wrote him off as a novelty. but several months later, "i watched a clip of him performing on the jimmy kimmel show, and my reaction was like most people's: the first 30 seconds, it's novelty, and 90 seconds in, you realise it's real," he says. caplan, who is now senior vp of a&r for sony music, got in touch with jdub and found out matisyahu was playing at a jewish high school the next day. impressed by his live show, caplan and his partner, larry miller, signed him to or music (now or media group). caplan thought the studio album did not accurately represent matisyahu's music, so one of the label's first moves was to have him record "live at stubb's." there was a strategy to taping in texas. "austin was perfect because it screams 'goyim,'" caplan says with a laugh. "it wasn't like taping it in crown heights (a brooklyn, new york, neighbourhood with a large jewish population). i wanted to show it works here too." indeed, caplan says that so far, matisyahu is playing well to the mainstream. "this is an informal observation, but secular jews have more of a problem with it than (non-jews). in the larger world, people are yearning for spirituality. some people are going, 'is this a christian song?'" the clip of matisyahu performing on "jimmy kimmel live" was circulated on the internet. digital success continued when mtvu.com embraced the live video of "king without a crown": the song ended 2005 as the web site's most downloaded video. after "live at stubb's" sold 20,000 units, it was moved from or music to parent label epic. the radio hurdle with matisyahu's jump to the majors came the difficult task of getting radio to view him as more than a gimmick. his appearance and beliefs never struck him as something that might hinder his success, however. "i became religious, and that was a very serious thing for me, and music was always a serious thing for me, so this was just an expression of my life -- the decisions i made and the music that i make," he says. "i was never worried about it." at modern-rock kroq los angeles, "we threw it on and it got immediate phone response," music director lisa worden recalls. "lyrically, it's really striking a chord with people." for several weeks, "king without a crown" was kroq's most-played song. considering that at the end of 2004 matisyahu was doing a regional hanukkah tour, he has enjoyed the past year. "i didn't know what to expect," he says of his success. "i've always been a lover of music, and i've always wanted to be able to perform and make music. when it's just an idea or a dream, you're not aware of the details of the process, what goes into it." and there continues to be a fine line to tread between pushing the music and observing his beliefs. because of his religion -- matisyahu belongs to the chabad-lubavitch branch of hasidism -- he cannot sing romantic love songs or touch women other than his wife, which means his days of audience diving may be over, unless there is advanced planning. when he made the first low-budget video for "king without a crown," he asked his rabbi if he could jump into the crowd, caplan recalls. "the rabbi said, 'sure.' he tries not to jump on a woman. his wife says, 'i don't think you can do it.' the rabbi comes back and says, 'what? there's women in the crowd? no, you can't do that.'" so, caplan adds, for the "youth" video, the audience that matisyahu jumps into is all male. "his religion is the most important thing to him." reuters/billboard
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federal attorneys sue city of hollywood in religion case
by shannon oboye south florida sun-sentinel february 17, 2006the u.s. department of justice is accusing the city of hollywood of withholding evidence in a religious discrimination case and failing to provide full answers to questions.the federal agency is suing the city over an orthodox jewish group's right to hold religious services in a house in a residential neighborhood. the city says the chabad violated zoning laws by gutting the hollywood hills home and converting it to a synagogue.as part of its case, the justice officials asked the city in august for all records pertaining to rosa lopez, who claims the virgin mary appears at her west hollywood home on the 13th of each month. approximately 100 people show up monthly to pray and seek miracles.the city has never tried to shut her down like they have the chabad. officials say lopez's home is not a house of worship and therefore does not need a special zoning exception.hollywood's lawyers in september supplied some documents to the justice department but failed to turn over a series of memos from police chief james scarberry detailing police surveillance of the lopez home. those were turned over feb. 2 -- after depositions were taken from top hollywood officials.justice attorney sean keveney argued that had the department known police were watching the lopez house, it would have done its own surveillance to possibly "rebut any testimony offered by the city." he also accused the city of providing incomplete information regarding why it contends the lopez home is not a house of worship.keveney asked u.s. district court judge joan a. lenard on monday to issue sanctions against the city and to allow the federal government to re-interview several city officials at the city's expense. lenard has not yet ruled on the motion.on thursday, city attorney dan abbott referred questions to outside counsel tom mccausland, who could not be reached for comment.the city outlined 16 reasons in january why lopez's house is not comparable to the hollywood community synagogue. they included that the property has not been "architecturally or structurally altered" and that lopez does not claim publicly that her home is a place of worship.what the city did not mention, according to keveney, is the city attorney visited the home in 2004 and noticed gift shop hours posted on the house and "huge religious artifacts," including a sign, a crucifix and a fountain, in the yard."i don't know if there have been a lot of structural modifications to the house," abbott later told city commissioners during a closed-door meeting, "but it certainly does not look like a typical single family house."shannon o'boye can be reached at soboye@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7912. copyright © 2006, south florida sun-sentinel
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riga synagogue sees new life ahead
by paul morton riga - in 1904, a small group of wealthy jewish merchants fought a maze of rules to open a synagogue in peitavas street in riga’s old town. it would be far from the moscow district where they lived, but close to the shops and markets where they worked. in czarist russia, synagogues were prohibited from being built too close to churches, so they had to get permission from the pastor of a reform church with which it would share the block.the german architect wilhelm neumann (who had also been responsbile for the striking museum of fine arts), a follower of the jugendstil school, had been contracted and a total of 150,000 rubles had been spent. finally, in the days before rosh hoshannah, they had gotten everything ready when the local government decided to forbid the synagogue’s opening.a meeting between the wealthy benefactors of the synagogue and a local governor followed. an article in a yiddish newspaper from the 1930s recounts a key speech:“young people are being led astray by the revolutionary movement. and with each day, the movement’s influence is stronger and stronger. so in order to restrain young people from these ideas, we decided to build a beautiful synagogue.”the answer, perhaps goaded by fears of the incipient threat of 1905: “go and pray.”forty years later, it was the only synagogue among hundreds in the country to survive world war ii. an obscure psalm was written atop the marble alter, “blessed art you the good, for you did not allow teeth to tear me,” to remember the 80,000 to 100,000 latvian jews who did not. michael freydman, the synagogue’s guide, claimed that a pastor at that local reform church had instructed the nazis not to burn the synagogue as it put his church in danger.the riga synagogue still functions today and if you come by anytime from sunday to friday you’ll probably meet freydman, a plump sardonic bachelor of 47. it’s the winter now and he’s receiving few visitors. in the summer, he gets a deluge of american and israeli tour groups, “the allied forces” as he calls them. when i came by on a weekday afternoon, a repairman was fixing the hinge on the congregation hall’s green wooden door. freydman: “it’s no great tragedy.”freydman grew up with the synagogue, and recalls its problems under soviet rule in the 70s. “jews were suspicious. [russian authorities] thought zionism and judaism were the same thing.” jewish holidays were celebrated in as integrated a way as possible. “we would be outside the synagogue drinking vodka, russian-style.”for as long as freydman has known the synagogue, it hasn’t changed. it still has the same dilapidated brown-and-yellow pews, and the same splintery green door. much of the synagogue will be renovated soon.there’s an old black piano in the basement embossed with a star of david and accoutred with two candlestick holders. in the back of the congregation hall is a bookcase of 19th-century talmuds printed in vilnius, which was once one of the great centers of jewish learning. they survived only because the nazis couldn’t find them. the bindings are peeling, and the pages are ripped.two palm fronds are etched atop the doorway and the pillars are stacked with lotus leaves. freydman has what some others feel to be a dubious theory that the decorations are related to the era in which the synagogue was built. in 1904, zionism was in its nascent state in germany. “this was a time when jews were trying to remember their roots [in egypt],” says freydman.a few days later, i sat in the office of rabbi mordechai glazman, an israeli-american hasid who first came to riga in 1992 with his wife and son to start a chabad service. he became the synagogue’s head rabbit in 2004. now has 10 children – “a minyan.” he told me i had to take much of what freydman had told me with a grain of salt.he didn’t believe the story of the priest. “of course, the germans didn’t want to burn the synagogue down. it was in the middle of a crowded city.” the books freydman honored were of course spiritually valuable, but in his opinion, no more worthy of study than any modern prayerbook. he rolled his eyes at the idea that the palm fronds could have any zionist connection. (glazman didn’t say so himself, but the art nouveau style that was popular in riga at the time involved prettifying buildings with an elegant kitschy style, playing with strange decorations and patterns that meant absolutely nothing.) so much for guides.sabbathsaturday, the sabbath, is the one day of the week when freydman doesn’t attend the synagogue. riga’s jewish community – approximately 5,000 strong – was represented in the main hall by a group of 50 or so men. in keeping with orthodox tradition, the women and children sat in the rafters, sometimes peeking behind a blue curtain.there were a few hasidim dressed in black, including an american who was living in riga and worked in marketing. the cantor, zeev shulman, a 33-year-old round-faced trained opera singer with glasses and some light facial hair, stood at the pulpit and sang out the prayers. the congregation was made up of old men in old fraying suits and ties, wearing yarmulkes, milling about through the service from pew to pew, casually socializing. there were some younger more devout members rocking back and forth in prayer. a few whispered casual conversation to each other. one man sat and read a russian newspaper.there were a few 90-somethings in the group, a few of whom, i had been told, were swept up by the russians in the gulag system before they could be sent to a nazi death camp.when i looked up into the rafters, where in accordance with orthodox jewish custom, women and children sit far from the men, i caught the eye of a young redhead who immediately closed the curtain in front of her. during the torah reading, the more devout became impatient with the casual parishioners. they banged on the banisters and demanded silence, which they never fully received.when i asked glazman about this later, he said, “do you expect 80-year-old men to learn and study hebrew?”at 12:30, we had the kiddush meal. long tables had been set up with theater seats from a failed movie theater serving as chairs. plastic plates and cups. radishes, gefilte fish and matzo bread. a bottle of wine and shots of vodka in plastic cups for all the men. the women and children still sat separately. but now, everyone was in the same room.i talked to shulman, the cantor. “before the war, the synagogue had a very good children’s choir,” he said. “they played at the latvian opera house. ‘carmen.’” with some foreign funding, he’s looking to revive the tradition.freydman had told me that he greatly disliked prague’s jewish quarter, in which old synagogues had been converted to museums charging admission. “it was part of hitler’s dream to turn judaism into a museum.” the riga synagogue, in the time before its renovation, may feel more old than young. but it is emphatically not a cemetery.
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10:57 am
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shul food
not many people think of going to shabbat services as a gastronomic experience. yet after diligently praying for heavenly goodwill, many appreciate temporal rewards in the form of jewish soul food. the occasion for the indulgence is the kiddush, which technically means a blessing over wine, but has been extended to refer to a light meal served at the ceremony. chabad web sites advertise this bonus on the saturday schedule: "morning prayers, followed by kiddush with hot cholent." for those who are not computer literate, i've often heard the rabbi finish his recitation of upcoming services and classes with the announcement: "and we have the best cholent in town." the tasty, well-seasoned cholent at our local chabad synagogue contains little cubes of beef, potato chunks, sweet vegetarian kishke, barley and beans. those who want something lighter than cholent usually find tuna salad, gefilte fish with horseradish, egg salad, coleslaw, crackers, cookies and marble cake. occasionally there might be potato kugel, smoked whitefish salad and even chinese chicken salad with a sweet ginger dressing and fried chow mein noodles. and for "l'chayim," a shot of vodka. but there's much more to shul food; it varies by location and by congregation. when i was growing up, kiddush at our shul was composed of typical american-jewish brunch food - bagels with lox and cream cheese, mini gefilte fish balls, marinated herring, jello molds and iced white and chocolate sheet cakes. several years ago, my mother and i visited honolulu and found the shabbat experience at chabad of hawaii completely different from any we'd had before. first of all, the shul was in a hotel. the kiddush was a full lunch, for the benefit of tourists searching for a kosher shabbat meal. on our visit, the israeli-moroccan buffet included spicy fish and cooked pepper salad, as well as the islands' sweet pineapple in a fruit salad, and the local soft, block-shaped hawaiian sweet rolls. when there's a bar mitzvah, shul spreads can become elaborate or even downright fancy, especially if the family brings a caterer into the picture. a shul in montgomery county, maryland, where i grew up, offers kiddush dishes that i never heard of as a child, like balsamic four bean salad, sesame cabbage salad, crisp apple rice salad and cumin-flavored corn and bean salad. a rhode island kosher caterer suggests french style quiches for a kiddush menu: one of mushrooms and caramelized onions and another of eggplant, roasted peppers and goat cheese. in melbourne, australia, the kiddush food of passionate kosher catering is eclectic. in addition to the usual ashkenazi-jewish items, you can have indian and japanese vegetables, moroccan couscous, persian brown rice and a sabra cake made of orange and chocolate cake layers, chocolate mousse and chocolate ganache. with such offerings, going to the synagogue is practically like visiting a gourmet restaurant. small shuls have their own selections of tempting kiddush treats. at a neighbor's bar mitzva kiddush, the shul's caterer happened to be persian. his menu featured three types of cholent. the one i liked best was a vegetarian one, consisting mainly of deeply browned rice, carrots, tomatoes and sauteed onions. the most memorable shul food i've had to date was in the humblest of surroundings - yemenite shabbat services in the converted garage of a los angeles house, the rest of which serves as a moroccan synagogue. there the meal was potluck. some people brought typical israeli items like potato burekas, spicy carrots, humous, tehina, pickles and pita. for me, the highlight was the wonderful yemenite shabbat cake called kubaneh, made of a rich, slightly sweet yeast dough. the woman who baked it overnight kept it warm at shul by covering the pot with a blanket. a favorite shul food of mine is jerusalem kugel (kugel yerushalmi), which is not known to many american jews. i often wish it would appear on the kiddush tables at american synagogues to evoke the flavors of jerusalem. jerusalem kugelthis caramel-flavored kugel is dense and rich and has an intriguing peppery yet slightly sweet taste. it bakes all night in a very low oven and turns deep brown throughout. don't worry if the caramel forms pieces when you mix it with the other ingredients; they will melt during the baking. to cook the kugel faster, you can bake it uncovered at 175c for 1 hour. it will still taste good but its color will not be as brown. you can reheat any leftover kugel slices by wrapping them in foil and heating them in a oven at 175c, or microwaving slices uncovered on a plate. 350 grams fine egg noodles3 large eggs1⁄3 cup sugar1⁄2 cup vegetable oil1 tsp. salt1 tsp. ground pepper generously grease a round, 2-liter casserole. cook noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water about 5 minutes or until barely tender. drain, return to pot, and toss briefly with 3 tablespoons of the oil. keep on stove so noodles remain warm; do not cover. pour remaining oil into a heavy saucepan, then add sugar. heat over low heat, shaking pan gently from time to time; do not stir. cook 15 to 20 minutes or until sugar turns deep brown. gradually add mixture to noodles, mixing well with tongs. beat eggs with salt and pepper. add to noodles and mix well. transfer to greased casserole. cover with foil and with a lid. refrigerate kugel if not ready to bake it. put kugel in oven set at 82-95c. bake kugel overnight, or for about 14 hours. run a knife around edge and turn out onto a round platter. serve hot, in slices. makes 8 to 10 servings. faye levy is the author of feast from the mideast (harpercollins).
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10:54 am
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hasidic reggae? yah, man
by paul de barrosseattle times jazz critic in the three-ring circus of american identity, where a minnesota jew can adopt the name of a welsh poet and write african-american blues, nothing should be surprising. but somehow, matisyahu is even more startling than bob dylan. a converted, 26-year-old hasidic lubavitcher, matisyahu (née matthew miller), sings reggae and hip-hop about the actual jerusalem, not the metaphorical rastafarian one, wearing a yarmulke and scarf. unfortunately, unless you already have a ticket for this sold-out show, you're not going to be able to see matisyahu, at least this time around. he plays at 8 p.m. monday at the showbox, 1426 first ave., seattle; $10.77 (800-325-7328). you can hear him, though, on "live at stubbs" (jdub), currently perched at the top of the billboard reggae chart and no. 33 on the top 200. or on his forthcoming disc, "youth," a major-label debut slated for march release. you'd be part of a big crowd. matisyahu recently played a sold-out show at manhattan's 1,500-seat webster hall and performed last year at the bonnaroo and carifest festivals. so what's the fuss? for starters, the guy has a huge, cantorial voice and knows what to do with it. sometimes, he thrusts it skyward into yearning, anthemic arcs that recall robert plant or anthony kiedis. at others, he lip-dribbles reggae toasts like a speed-demon auctioneer, or scats the nonsense syllables hasids call niggun, with the folksy phrase, "diggy-diggy-do" being a particular favorite. the kid's also a pretty good poet, in that cinematic, hallucinatory style dylan copped from allen ginsberg. (most of the songs are in english, though some are in yiddish). on "aish tamid," a song about the coming of the third jerusalem, he raps: "the daughters of zion, lyin', cryin', in the mist, morning light slips in, shifting through the darkness, like a mourning wife, reminisce!, having vision of her long gone prince, memories drip raindrops, sowing emptiness intermixed with tears, like fears, that got fixed ... " occasionally, matisyahu's affection of a bob marley accent is a bit silly, but there's so much urgency and joy in his delivery, it's hard to mind. his band sound is distinctive, too, a bold and bouncy, west african-inflected reggae, with candy-colored guitar lines shadowing the words. none of those languid jamaican smoke rings for this true believer. matisyahu was born in pennsylvania and raised in berkeley and white plains, n.y., by reformed jewish parents who were social workers. his conversion (and name change) to a hasidic sect that believes the messiah arrived last century in the person of the late menachem mendel schneerson came later — after college, in oregon. matisyahu now lives in the lubavitcher neighborhood of crown heights, brooklyn, which figures in some of his songs. his popularity on the east coast, where there has been a resurgence of interest in jewish roots among the young, is as logical as his sold-out show in politically correct and profoundly un-jewish seattle is surprising. maybe he's more than a novelty. but this is also a guy who expresses nostalgia for theocracy ("refuge"), refuses to shake the hand of any woman outside his family and believes israel's borders are ordained by god. that deep reggae bass is irresistible, though. paul de barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com copyright © 2006 the seattle times company
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10:52 am
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union rats
by ariella cohen the brooklyn papers while some new yorkers still follow the jingle’s advice and “look for the union label,” you won’t find one affixed to brooklyn’s construction boom. last year in brooklyn, the department of buildings awarded more construction permits than it had in any year since the 1973. the vast majority of these projects are being built by non-union laborers. “we’re being hammered,” said anthony pugliese, organizer of new york district council of carpenters. during brooklyn’s last construction boom in the late 1960s, construction union membership was around 40 percent nationwide. now, it’s 13 percent. locally, the result is that only 50 or 60 of the 4,000 residential construction projects green-lighted last year were built by union hands, according to the carpenters union. union organizers see this as a historic crossroads in the labor movement: after all, the next 10 years will bring more construction jobs to the city than any period since world war ii, according to deputy mayor dan doctoroff. yet the trend is clearly moving away from union labor, leaving organizers little to do but pump up their giant rats and walk around with picket signs, as they did this week at locations in dumbo and the south slope. “it’s just plain wrong that they are building these huge, 100-unit buildings without unions,” groused joe rizzo, a laborers’ international union organizer who spent this week protesting the construction at 84 front st. the building’s developer, shaya boymelgreen, was persuaded to go union at one of his building sites in manhattan. but at his luxury residential developments in dumbo and on smith street in carroll gardens, he did not feel similarly compelled. part of the reason, experts said, is because manhattan’s labor locals are more powerful politically, and the projects themselves have traditionally been larger. yet even as manhattan-sized buildings are increasingly being built in brooklyn, union power is waning in the borough. hiring union laborers does considerably ramp up the cost of a construction project, but there is still a huge political benefit to using union muscle, union leaders say. pugliese estimates that his union will get 10,000 jobs at bruce ratner’s atlantic yards megadevelopment — which won ratner union support. “the construction industry has sway over elected officials and its support [of the project] has a major impact,” said councilwoman letitia james (d-prospect heights), who opposes the atlantic yards project. yet ratner remains the exception to brooklyn’s growing addiction to non-union construction. as a result, brooklyn has become the hot-sheets motel for an odd case of strange bedfellows: union construction workers are now teaming up with opponents of over-development to halt or harass non-union projects. james, for example, has been spotted recently walking the picket lines below the inflatable gray rat, and teaming up with the very unions she battled over atlantic yards. “we talk about overdevelopment and some of them really understand,” said james. “they don’t want it where they live either.” james’s point was on display this week in the south slope, where the non-union construction of some 30 new residential projects has incited protest from neighbors — whether they draw union or non-union paychecks. crude messages slamming developer isaac katan — such as “katan is satan” — were spotted on vans parked next to a 12-story condo at 162 16th st., which is being built by non-union workers. protest organizer bo samajopoulos has two, seemingly conflicted, gripes: he doesn’t want the too-tall condo in his neighborhood — but if it must go up, he wants his workers on the job. union workers. “[the builder] is exploiting workers with no insurance and little or no training,” samajopoulos said, actually using the term “overdevelopment” to describe the building — a surprising word choice for a union builder. “i kept out of the fight at first,” he said. “unions usually want big work, but who wants to live next to a monstrosity, especially if it’s a monstrosity built by men and women making $10 an hour?” pugliese considers non-union labor to be a public safety issue. in the past year, two day-laborers were killed on job sites in brooklyn, including one who was fatally crushed by an 800-pound beam as he laid the foundation of a condo building on 20th street in the south slope. and this week, a worker was carried off by co-workers and placed into a car-service taxi at the 16th street site. witnesses believe he was shaken up in a construction accident, but the foreman on the job denied it, telling the brooklyn papers to “have a nice day.”
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10:49 am
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rocking the house to sell condos
by motoko rich you could call it a real estate battle of the bands. a week from today, two new york condominium developers will vie for the attentions of the city's top brokers and most promising buyers with performances by the pop singer seal on the upper west side and by john legend, this year's best new artist grammy winner, in the financial district. in an effort to spur sales in a cooling (some real estate agents prefer to say "stabilizing") market, these developers are trying to outdo their peers in cities like miami, where fireworks, circus performers and all the tuna tartare you can eat became de rigueur last year. without the cachet of "starchitects" like richard meier and jean nouvel or the locations that buildings like 15 central park west or the plaza hotel can boast, these developers are turning to pop music muses to create buzz for their projects. "there is a lot of new development coming on the market and we want to differentiate ourselves from everything else and this will really do it in a way that no one else has done it," said pamela liebman, chief executive of the corcoran group, the manhattan brokerage firm that is helping extell development company market the avery, a new condominium going up on riverside boulevard. extell is spending more than $500,000 to inaugurate the sale of apartments in the building, due to be completed in the fall of 2007, with a party next thursday on a strip of grass next to its construction site. seal will perform there under a tent designed to hold 800 people. "these kind of events have been held in other parts of the country before, but never in new york," said ms. liebman. (at least not since jewel and marc anthony gave a concert at time warner center's grand opening party two years ago.) until recently, most new york developers tried to woo brokers and buyers with a few hors d'oeuvres and drinks and maybe a d.j. that's apparently not enough for this year's buyers, who have a surfeit of condominium units to choose from. "i don't think people are really interested in coming to another party where you're given a package of information and a few drinks," said michael shvo, a real estate marketer who is working with leviev boymelgreen, the developer of 20 pine: the collection, a newly opened condominium in the financial district with interiors by armani/casa. according to invitations sent out this week, mr. legend will be performing on thursday at the building, where prices for studio apartments start at $600,000. you can certainly see why the developers want to do whatever they can to rise above a crowded field: there are about 7,600 condo, co-op and rental units being built in manhattan this year, and another 20,000 planned, according to yale robbins, a real estate publishing company in new york. "we're going to throw a big party so people will at least look at us," said gary barnett, president of extell, which together with the carlyle group paid $1.8 billion to buy 20 developable acres of land between 59th and 65th streets, along with a few other properties, from donald trump and a consortium of hong kong investors last year. extell and carlyle plan to build a series of six buildings on the land, which overlooks the west side highway and the hudson river to the south of the seven luxury condominiums built over the last few years by mr. trump. the avery will feature one-bedrooms starting at $750,000, with penthouses going for about $3.9 million. mr. barnett said this party was as much as anything about "signaling that there's new ownership and we're doing things a bit differently." mr. barnett hastened to distinguish the avery party from the dozens of extravagant affairs held by condo developers in miami in the past couple of years. that was "marketing to say 'come in and buy buy buy because it's urgent,' " he said. prospective buyers at the avery party would be able to make appointments to visit the sales office, he said, but would not be able to put down any deposits or reserve specific units as they sometimes did at the miami parties. "there's another kind of marketing," mr. barnett said: "buy if you want a really fine place to live in." seal, evidently, was deemed the best performer to send that message. the building's marketers said they carefully chose him from a list of about 20 possibilities. acts like the girl band the pussycat dolls and blondie were ruled out as "not appropriate" for the 30- and 40-something professionals the developers were trying to attract, said selma nasser, a publicist with corcoran. sting, while appropriate, was not available. meanwhile, mr. shvo, who seemed unaware of the other party featuring a grammy award-winning pop star, insisted that the 20 pine fete, which is being held in part as a benefit for the new york academy of art, was designed to be different from all other parties. "anything that we're trying to do, including the building itself, is different," he said. the project's developer, however, has used lavish parties to hype buildings before, including a two-karat diamond giveaway a year ago at the marquis, a 306-unit condo in miami. boymelgreen spent about $200,000 on that party (about what it will spend on the 20 pine party), and sold about 60 percent of the building within a month. (sales have since slowed, and the developer has fired two marketing companies in a row.) not all developers are persuaded of the value of such extravagant events. "i cannot say that we've had to do that," said arthur zeckendorf, a partner in the development at 15 central park west, where 115 of the 201 units have already sold at an average of more than $3,000 a square foot. "it's probably a lot of hype for not much return except to get some press articles." but bassie deitsch, boymelgreen's marketing and sales director, said the parties were worth the cost. "it promotes the project in a way that gives it a big jump start," she said, noting that 20 pine's invitation-only party would attract "different characters from new york, different socialites." she declined, however, to name any of them.
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10:46 am
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chabad opens jewish center at oxford
chabad opened a jewish student center at oxford. the oxford university chabad society opened this 900-year-old british university’s first official jewish student center on jan. 26. the $500,000 rohr jewish student center, sponsored by new york philanthropist george rohr, houses a synagogue, cafe, entertainment room with internet access and dining hall. it was designed by a student committee, which also chose the books in its library. until now, jewish students were served only by the oxford jewish center, a 30-year-old community-run institution that holds orthodox, reform and conservative services
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10:40 am
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burial in jewish cemetery is available for unaffiliated jews
jews who are not affiliated with a congregation that has a jewish cemetery can still be buried in a jewish cemetery in portland, according to rabbi moshe wilhelm, head of chabad of oregon.wilhelm said he occasionally gets calls from people wanting information about some aspect of jewish burial or mourning process and he said it dismays him that some people do not realize there is a local option for jewish burial even if they are unaffiliated.last fall, chabad of oregon dedicated a section of riverview cemetery as a jewish burial ground. the chabad section, which is open to any jew, is adjacent to a section designated jewish by congregation shir tikvah and p'nai or last spring. riverview, a century-old, nonsectarian, nonprofit cemetery, is located at 0300 southwest taylor's ferry road. the jewish section has 600 available plots and is separated from the rest of the cemetery by a hedge of winter-blooming camellias.for information on a plot in the jewish section overseen by chabad, call wilhelm at 503-977-9947.
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10:39 am
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say aloha to purim
chabad slates luau march 14 by toshio suzukijewish review as the book of esther outlines, purim has been celebrated thousands of times with charity, a festive meal and intoxicating beverages. but who's to say the jews wouldn't have gone to hawaii to celebrate their victory over the persians had they the opportunity?"everybody has a good time in hawaii, from youngsters to elders, that's why we chose it," said simi mishulovin, co-youth director at chabad lubavitch of oregon and organizer of their hawaiian purim luau.this march 14 at 6 p.m., the mjcc auditorium will turn into america's official tourist spot, our 50th state, complete with a sandy beach volleyball court, in celebrating a hawaiian purim. the luau will feature many of the customary perks available on the island while also mixing in reminders of judaism and the celebration of purim. for instance, attendees are encouraged to wear hawaiian attire while singing and dancing to jewish music. and the hawaiian buffet dinner will feature delicacies such as hearts of palm, while the traditional hamantaschen will be provided with optional tropical fillings.mishulovin herself was guarded about what she intended to wear to the celebration but acknowledged she'll probably see plenty of leis, hawaiian shirts and hula skirts. "i'd love to see even more creative ideas," she said. mishulovin said some men would even be wearing "aloha" kippahs, made specially for hawaiian-themed events. to fully appreciate tropical hawaii, and as tradition requires, libations available will be anything but ordinary. those of age will be able to enjoy a cash bar that will feature more substance than fancy straws and decorative umbrellas. there will also be a non-alcoholic smoothie station where multiple flavors of fruit will be at your disposal. other festive events for the family will include professional hair stylists providing caribbean hair braiding and a "sandy candy" factory. mishulovin says this is all in an attempt to "make things more innovative and exciting." "it's completely a community event, for all jews in the portland area and further, from here to hawaii," she said. a megilah reading will start at 5:30 p.m. admission is $10 for adults and $6 for children. to rsvp or for more information, call 503-977-9947 or visit www.chabadoregon.com/purim.the web site's virtual purim also features an online, world-wide purim costume contest. anyone, child or adult, can enter by following the instructions at www.chabadoregon.com/costumecontes
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10:38 am
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chabad members return from israel
jenna ciaramella , register citizen staff litchfield - six chabad lubavitch members who recently went on a spiritual trip to israel were welcomed home friday at a dinner in their honor. the members of the executive mission shared stories about bringing toys and thousands of dollars to victims of terrorism. "everything we’ve studied and learned about came to life," chabad member nathan zimmerman said.friends and members of the chabad lubavitch, a branch of jewish hasidism that began more than 250 years ago in lubavitch, russia, came to hear the stories and songs and enjoy israeli food at the liorah greenberg jewish center, 77 village green drive.the group took an eight-day mission from feb. 7 to the 18 to tour the their spiritual home land, rabbi yosef eisenbach said. the mission was to represent a synergy of learning, fun activities, spiritual and meditative acts and political and historical actions, he said.the group traveled through the jordan valley and river, visited the ruins of bethshean proceed to tiberias, walked along the western wall, drove along the sea of galilee to capernaum, visited ancient synagogues, kabala, tel aviv, oscar schindler’s grave, and swam in the dead sea, eisenbach said.chabad members also visited a family of a father and two daughters who lost their mother to a terrorist shooting, eisenbach said."there were emotional times, but we were all uplifted with prayer and each other," chabad member alain levy said.thousands of people of all different cultures and chabads around the world were dancing together and treating each other with peace and respect throughout the entire trip, zimmerman said.levy said one of the memorable moments of the trip was after the group exited the holocaust museum."after all that pain, the path we were walking on widened and i could see 10,000 light bulbs that lit jerusalem up," levy said. "there was so much hope in that moment."contrary to common belief, israel is a very safe and beautiful place, chabad member warren cyr said. the group met many soldiers patrolling the land and were able to connect with them as well, cyr said."the teenage israeli soldiers remind me of sabras, the cactus fruit, that is prickly on the outside but sweet on the inside," eisenbach said. "we all thought we were going to inspire and uplift their spirits, but the beauty is that we came back uplifted ourselves."jenna ciaramella can be reached by e-mail at litchfield@registercitizen.com.
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monday, february 20, 2006
melody maker
the true story of a white plains boy who found both god and reggae mike rubin writing for nextbook.org essay by mike rubinwalking through brooklyn last summer, some tattered advertising on a scaffolding stopped me dead in my tracks. peering out from the upper left corner of a red, yellow, and green poster for the annual reggae carifest, the giant showcase for the top stars in jamaican music, was a photo of a bespectacled young man in a black fedora and suit, solemnly stroking his thick beard. i'd fallen somewhat out of the cultural loop in the previous months while taking care of my new baby and was dumbfounded: who was this lone white face among dancehall titans buju banton, bounty killer, luciano, and elephant man?next to the ad hung a poster for a newish cd titled live at stubb's by matisyahu, featuring a silhouette of the same young man clutching a mic. the poster led me to a website trumpeting the artist as "the hasidic reggae superstar." whether that means he's a superstar who plays "hasidic reggae" or a reggae superstar who happens to be hasidic is moot. right now, both statements are true: live at stubb's spent most of the last year near the top of the billboard reggae charts, peaking at no. 1, and if hasidic reggae is a movement then matisyahu is a genre unto himself.2005 was a banner year for matisyahu, and he's braced for even greater success in 2006. he recorded two songs with born-again headbangers p.o.d. for their recent cd, and is set to release youth, his first major-label album on epic this march. in addition to carifest, his recent gigs range from sold-out shows at manhattan's hammerstein ballroom and webster hall to the bonnaroo festival in tennessee, where he performed bob marley's "no woman, no cry" alongside phish veteran trey anastasio in front of 90,000 people. it's been a remarkable journey for a high school dropout, now 26, who followed that same jam band across the country a decade ago.hasidic reggae: the very phrase sounds like fodder for a saturday night live skit, and a predictably unfunny one at that. by dressing in the anachronistic manner of lubavitch forebears—call it "old shul"—and shunning the temptations of the secular world, an adherent of orthodox judaism would seem an extremely unlikely candidate to entertain the masses. it's certainly an attention-grabbing combination, a surprising marriage of secular and sacred, black and white, made richer by the memory of the 1991 race riots in matisyahu's adopted neighborhood of crown heights.to read more please follow the link... mike rubin has written about music for the new york times, spin, gq, and rolling stone
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sunday, february 19, 2006
leaders of major american jewish organizations visit azerbaijan
02/19/2006 a delegation representing the conference of presidents of major american jewish organizations of the usa visited baku last week. the delegation included more than 80 jewish leaders, who were welcomed at the ohr avner chabad school in baku by rabbi avraham berkowitz, the executive director of the federation of jewish communities of the cis, and rabbi meir bruk, the chief ashkenazi rabbi of azerbaijan and director of the ohr avner chabad educational complex. headed by chairman harold tanner and his deputy malcolm hoenlein, the delegation arrived on february 10th. during their stay, the guests have met members of the jewish community in azerbaijan and visited local synagogues and jewish organizations. members of the delegation discussed numerous issues with local leaders, including the dynamic changes in the fsu countries, their influence on the life of the jewish community, and the living conditions for jews. during their stay in baku, the american jewish leaders also met with azerbaijani officials and public figures, including foreign affairs minister elmar mamedyarov and the chairman of the department of caucasus muslims, sheikhulislam hadji allahshukur pashazade. the visitors also met with azerbaijan's president ilham aliyev, as well as israeli ambassador arthur lenk and usa ambassador rino harnish. apart from visiting the country's capital, the guests also had the opportunity to see ancient jewish settlements in the kuba region, where mountain jews reside for the last three hundred years and to meet with leaders of these respective jewish communities including rabbi yonah yakubov who was recently posted to kuba as the chabad lubavitch representative. the local ashkenazi jewish community and chabad rabbis organized the guests' accommodation and kosher meals while in azerbaijan. upon leaving the country, the delegation have graciously donated about 100 kg of kosher food, including dairy and meat products, cookies and sweets to baku jewish day school which the guests brought with them on a specially chartered plane from israel. afterwards, the delegation will depart for jerusalem to partake in the annual conference of presidents of israel's leadership mission, which will take place from february 14th through 18th.
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a mashgiach rules with a kosher fist
only the most devout need apply for the task by peggy grodinskycopyright 2006 houston chronicle when an observant jew eats at a restaurant, or attends a wedding at a hotel, or goes grocery shopping, she wants to be sure that what she is eating or buying is kosher. the job of confirming that — kosher quality control, you could call it — is the responsibility of a mashgiach. about 20 of them, most part-timers, can be found in houston working in a handful of restaurants, supermarkets, factories, even on the occasional cruise ship setting sail from galveston. the word, pronounced mah-shkee-ach, means "overseer" in hebrew — and it is surely one of the more unusual occupations in the food industry. as described by a newly minted mashgiach in houston, the job is to prevent nonkosher hanky-panky. the laws of kosher, or kashrut, stem from the hebrew bible and they are much too complicated to explain here. observant jews may not eat meat unless it has been slaughtered according to kosher law. they may not mix dairy foods with meat in a single meal or on the same set of dishes (foods categorized as "pareve," or neutral, go with either). jews may not eat pork, birds of prey or shellfish. among mammals, jews are permitted to eat only those that have cloven hooves and chew their cud. cows, yes; camels and dogs, no. to a nonbeliever, the laws of kashrut may seem hopelessly exacting, even weird. but to observant jews they are a matter of faith, "a god-given commandment," as rabbi betzalel marinovsky of houston's chabad lubavitch center puts it. that makes the work of a mashgiach a heavy responsibility. "if i, god forbid, was to make a mistake and somehow milk got into the restaurant and someone ate it, i would be held responsible by hashem (god) for causing other people to transgress against the laws of kashrut," said yoel moore, the 27-year-old mashgiach at suzie's grill, a kosher meat restaurant in meyerland. "they are trusting me that it's kosher." moore's work day begins at 9:30 a.m. he unlocks the refrigerators and freezers and lights the stoves. the meat is kept under lock and key when the restaurant is closed, to ensure that nothing untoward — no wayward dairy product, no pig's blood — contaminates it. kosher law states that food for jews must be cooked by jews. but over the centuries, rabbis have determined that it is sufficient for a jew to light the stove; in certain traditions, a jew must place the pot of food on the stove, as well. when vegetables are delivered, moore inspects them carefully for bugs. "winged swarming things," says the book of leviticus, are not kosher. "it's said by orthodox jews, if you eat one bug, it's as if you had two porks," says susan goldstein, proprietor of suzie's grill. moore follows a fastidious protocol for washing the greens to dislodge any insects. at the nearby seven acres senior citizen's home, mashgiach jane alexander is beginning her day, too. seven acres maintains two separate kitchens, one for preparing meat meals, the other dairy meals. the staff goes between the two, changing aprons each time. among her daily chores, alexander must check "every item in every kitchen" to ensure that a dairy pot, utensil or plate hasn't strayed into the meat kitchen. "that which belongs in the meat kitchen should stay there. that which belongs in the dairy kitchen should stay there, and never the twain shall meet," explained rabbi mark urkowitz, chaplain at seven acres and supervisor of mashgichim for the houston kashruth association. if the twain accidently meet, alexander "re-kashers" the offender, according to established procedures. she may heat the item to a certain temperature, boil it in bleached water, plunge it in earth, immerse it in a special ritual bath, say a prayer. like moore, alexander is also responsible for checking food shipments. she's looking for a hekhsher, a symbol that certifies that a product is kosher. there are more than 800 different hekhshers, including one given out by the houston kashruth association. some are considered more reliable than others. if alexander doesn't like what she sees, she rejects the shipment. recently a big order of cereal arrived at seven acres, containing hekhsherless boxes of shredded wheat. out they went. many curiosities arise — for instance, the seven acres puréeing predicament, caused by the breakdown of one of two institutional food processors. in a place where many residents are unable to chew their food, it's a vital piece of equipment. re-kashering the sole reliable machine between dairy and meat meals proved cumbersome. rabbi urkowitz investigated the relevant jewish law and ruled that molecules can't transfer when food is cold; as long as the food was processed chilled, the machine could be used for both dairy and meat products. neither culinary nor theological training is required to qualify for the job of mashgiach. moore is a young man, soon to be married, who has previously managed restaurants and a walgreens. alexander is a mother of four, trained in social work, and a substitute teacher who "wanted to make a contribution to the community." in fact, the larger kosher certifying organizations, such as the new york-based orthodox union, do offer occasional seminars on kosher food inspection. more important than specialized training, however, is that a mashgiach be "a godfearing person that the rabbi trusts," chabad rabbi marinovsky said. a mashgiach must keep a kosher home, observe the sabbath and be otherwise devout. and he shouldn't think he has all the answers. kashrut is a confusing business; jewish scholars have debated its finer points for thousands of years. "when in doubt, ask," alexander said. "always ask." "or when in doubt, do without," urkowitz interjected. some mashgiachim supervise factories that manufacture products that carry a hekhsher or are used in kosher food preparation. in such cases, training in chemistry or industrial processes is useful. several times a year, rabbi marinovsky visits a chevron plant to check on its food machinery line. probably no one but a mashgiach could think of the right questions: is the oil used to grease the inner workings of a commercial meat slicer — one that could one day slice kosher pastrami — itself kosher? rabbi marionvsky scrutinizes batch numbers, piping systems, dedicated kettles, the chemical makeup of the oil. it was the industrial revolution that led to the modern-day mashgiach. centuries ago in the shtetl, jews patronized butchers, bakers, fishmongers, butter and egg men from their own communities, people they knew personally and trusted, people they sat next to in synagogue. today, food is produced in far-off places for a global market. religious jews need to know beyond a reasonable doubt that olive oil from spain, apple juice from upstate new york, ketchup from a plant in venezuela, are manufactured in conformity with kosher law. typically, a mashgiach is paid by the certifying agency for whom he works, an arrangement meant to ensure he isn't pressured by his employer to disregard a breach. rabbi urkowitz declined to say what the houston kashruth association pays, but there's general agreement that the job is not especially lucrative nor that money is what motivates people to do it. "a mashgiach is only as good as they are reliable, as they are trustworthy. you are doing a job and he" — alexander pointed to rabbi urkowitz, "is not there watching. god is watching. this is very important. when you are a mashgiach, people depend on you, that you are honest and that you are absolutely, completely straight and sure about what you are doing. i never would do anything that would be wrong. it's a holy act. it's a privilege to do this work. you're protecting god's torah. you're protecting the jewish people. you're doing it for god." peggy.grodinsky@chron.com
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wellesley-weston chabad’s torah scroll completed
by jason bedrick and simon bollen/ special to the townsman thursday, february 16, 2006 - updated: 01:37 pm est the u.s. postal service has a building in new york city, inscribed with the motto "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." well, on sunday feb. 12, a massive blizzard kept just about everyone indoors. many local events were canceled, and hundreds of flights were canceled in boston, leaving thousands of stranded travelers. but, in wellesley, more than 100 friends and community members gathered in the midst of the storm for a historical event - the completion of a torah scroll. written by hand, using a quill and special ink on dozens of sheets of hand-prepared animal parchment, all sewn together to form a long scroll, jews believe that a torah is a living embodiment of the divine will. specially trained scribes, known as "sofers," spend up to six months writing each torah. there are 304,805 letters in a sefer torah. if one letter is extra or missing, it renders the torah invalid for use until the blemish is repaired. originally planned to be held at the wellesley free library, the heavy snowfall meant that the library was forced to close for the day. this, in turn, meant that wellesley-weston chabad center’s rabbi moshe bleich had to resort to plan b: hosting the event in his own home. "it was an absolute miracle," said rabbi bleich, "a dozen people stepped up to the plate to make this event happen," including several local students and community members. worcester kosher catering company g & t caterers were concerned about their ability to reach wellesley on sunday, so they brought the food a little early ... at 3 a.m.! since more than 200 people had made reservations to be at the event, a handful of people had to field phone calls all morning. others used a snow blower and shovels to clear the driveway and front lawn, which became a makeshift parking lot. several others cleaned the house, set up tables and chairs, prepared the food and made other last-minute preparations. in the end, more than 100 people braved the weather and icy roads to attend the ceremony, including many local families, students from wellesley college, and babson college, including 12 brothers of babson’s chapter of alpha epsilon pi. it is a mitzvah (commandment) that every jew should write his or her own torah scroll, but since that is extremely difficult, jews are allowed to purchase a letter in the torah and thereby fulfill their obligation. everyone at the dedication ceremony had the opportunity to purchase a letter, word, or verse in the torah and to hold the quill as the scribe wrote the letter into the torah. the torah scroll was donated by sandra brand, a holocaust survivor and author who passed away this year. this program was funded in part by the ufaratzta endowment for chabad on campus though matisyahu, the famous chassidic reggae superstar, had to cancel his appearance, attendees had the pleasure of dancing to piamenta, whom rolling stone just called "the jewish hendrix." anyone who is interested in buying a letter in the torah should contact rabbi bleich at 781-239-1076 or e-mail chabadwellesley@aol.com. wellesley-weston chabad’s next major event will be its annual purim bash on the evening of monday, march 13, at the wellesley community center. this year’s theme is "in the shtetl."
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dating site for ukrainian singles
a new, on-line jewish singles service was inaugurated in ukraine. the web site www.mazeltov.org.ua is a brainchild of udi ben ami, israel’s consul-general to ukraine, and was supported by a donor in the dnepropetrovsk jewish community. ben ami said the service aims to help those “who want to create a real jewish family,” a major challenge for ukrainian jewry, which faces a problem of assimilation. a man or woman who wishes to meet someone through the service can forward a request to the site coordinator, who will arrange a meeting between the applicant and a rabbi or other figure. once approved, the candidate will be given a password to access the web site. operating under the auspices of the local chabad rabbi, the site accepts only those considered jewish according to halacha. shmuel kaminetzky, chief rabbi of dnepropetrovsk and a chabad emissary, said he expected the new service to expand to other communities in the former soviet union.
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lubavitch women convene
some 2,000 women emissaries of the lubavitch movement are gathering in brooklyn for a weekend conference. for these women, married to chabad rabbis posted to outreach centers in more than 70 countries, the yearly get-together is a chance to touch base with peers, share information and best practices and see family members scattered across the globe. “the main reason we’re here is to get reinvigorated,” said baila gainsburg, an emissary in coconut creek, fla. “we learn from each other and go back with the feeling that we can do anything, that we’re not doing this alone — we have a huge family, our brothers and sisters all over the world.” topics include the revival of world jewry, combating terrorism, using technology in spiritual outreach and breaking the ice in new communities.
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widening their reach
friendship circle unites special-needs, volunteer children so all profit from companionship saturday, february 18, 2006frank bentayouplain dealer reporter slender and dark-haired like her mother, shifra kal man steps forward to shake hands, meeting an adult visitor's gaze directly, his greeting -- "how are you?" -- with a simple response. "hi. i'm fine." standing straight in a white blouse and dark skirt, shifra seemed poised beyond her 10 years. but jeaniene kalman knows the anxiety her daughter harbors when she encounters new people. like all concerned parents, she and her husband, michael, focus sharply on their oldest child's emotional and social needs. family, therapists, teachers and a tutor trained to work with kids with special needs have sought for years to help shifra break out from her shyness and reticence with outsiders. this monday, though, two patient teenage volunteers gently nudge her to brave further the scary world of social interaction. esti fox, 15, and ariana bander, 16, sophomores at the jewish akiva high school in beachwood and volunteers for friendship circle, spend an hour a week playing with shifra at the kalmans' cleveland heights home. they talk and listen and work on projects, from cookie-making to arts and crafts, often drawing in shifra's siblings, gila, 5, and rafi, 2. the young volunteers and hundreds of other jewish teenagers commit time and energy to this national program that matches them with younger kids who, like shifra, need someone near their age to talk to, share with and model. that's how chabad rabbi yossi marozov and his wife, estie marozov, envisioned the program they started here and have run, partly out of their university heights home, for three years. estie marozov mobilizes and oversees nearly 100 area youth to connect with children whose disabilities interfere with the magical process of friend-making. the jewish chabad movement in cleveland gets local financial support for volunteer training sessions and appreciative perks (scarves, mugs, ski caps - all with the friendship circle logo) that special-needs families and volunteers receive. 'he can feel like a regular kid' a day before the girls' get-together, andrew sokolov, a lively 12-year-old diagnosed with autism, plays monopoly at his solon home with his circle friends, matt hornstein, a junior at university school, and josh aizen, a junior at solon high school. in contrast to the calm art project at the kalmans', where the girls fashion a pictorial fruit mobile with cut-out paper shapes, bright markers, red yarn and a wire coat hanger, the boys' game is more like rugby on the kitchen table. pastel monopoly money flies across the board; andrew pumps his arm with each roll of the dice, calling out the number; friendly, competitive jokes sail through the air. matt lands on tennessee avenue, improved with a hotel. "how much?" he asks. barry sokolov, andrew's father, hovering over and advising his son, inspects the deed, smiles wickedly and says, "$950." "what?" matt barks, tensing his face. josh, leaning over a diminishing cache of bills and mortgaged properties, says, "andrew, you're killing us." when the boys' hour-plus game ends, and the teenagers leave, the sokolovs talk about the effect of the noisy games, the bowling outings, the neighborhood walks, the planned ice-skating afternoon. "it's great for andrew," maureen sokolov says. "he gets all this attention, but he's just another boy in the crowd. he can feel like a regular kid." jackie schwartz, andrew's private tutor who helps him with his schoolwork and more, agrees. "it's really important for autistic kids to spend time with normal kids. andrew's come a long way since i first met him. his parents have fought for him to be mainstreamed in school and active with other kids. friendship circle is a good step." benefits to all involved marozov says the benefit to the kids with special needs, "seems positive. but the other side is really important, too." that's the effect that giving time - reliably meeting each week for an hour in friendship circle - has on volunteers. "they get so much pride and satisfaction out of befriending their children. it's . . . it's inspirational," the exuberant 30-year-old rabbi says. a spiritual leader at the chabad synagogue in beachwood, marozov also has been pleased to see the program as a way to pull reform, conservative and orthodox jews together, sectors of the broader jewish community that seldom mix. now operating in two dozen cities (including columbus) in north america, friendship circle grew out of an effort rabbi levi shemtov, national executive director, and his wife, bassie, first started in detroit a decade ago. "we always wanted to set up a nonprofit to solve some of society's problems with friendship," he says in a telephone interview. the couple looked for unmet needs in their community and found that many children suffer an isolation volunteers can salve. "and it's more natural for people to connect when they're around the same age," shemtov says. the detroit-area group now has 400 volunteers, and the special-needs parents "say their kids are becoming so much more enriched." the marozovs have almost 100 volunteers in their program, they say, and they're eager to spread it beyond current boundaries. with support from the jewish community, friendship circle is buying a building from workmen's circle, a 105-year-old mutual aid society in south euclid. the society agreed to remain as a tenant for a couple of years, according to board member neil grossman, before moving into a new structure. marozov thinks having its own space will facilitate friendship circle's expansion in northeast ohio. the marozovs and participants are excited about the program, though its effects remain unstudied. shemtov acknowledged that "there is no scientific evidence that what we're doing advances these kids. but we know it does." dennis drotar, a cleveland psychologist and case western reserve university medical school professor, agrees that, "on the face of it, this is a kind of attention children with special needs benefit from," but he adds that few psychologists have closely monitored the long-term effects of friendly encounters. shifra kalman's experiences with her own small circle of friends have unfolded only within recent weeks. still, watching the girls cut and color paper figs, apples and olives on a coffee table, her mother feels confident her daughter will break out of her shell. jeaniene kalman smiles from the couch and whispers, "i think this is just what shifra needs." to reach this plain dealer reporter: fbentayou@plaind.com, 216-999-4116 © 2006 the plain dealer
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mitzvahed at long last
a holocaust survivor gets his dueby frank eltmanassociated press writer mineola, n.y. - in the eyes of the jewish faith, 76-year-old herman rosenblat is now a man. the holocaust survivor and his wife -- whose incredible love story has hollywood knocking -- were honored thursday by a small congregation at the beth shalom chabad synagogue, where rabbi anchelle perl presided over the florida resident's much-delayed bar mitzvah. ''we live in a time where we need hope and a positive outlook in life, and herman's story reminds us that goodness will always overcome badness, and light will overcome darkness,'' perl said after the service. ``when you listen to the story of herman, he was always bar mitzvahed inside, and today just brought it out.'' herman and roma rosenblat, now of north miami beach and formerly of bayside, queens, actually met as children -- he as a 12-year-old in a nazi concentration camp and she as a 9-year-old who for months tossed apples and bread across a fence to help that little boy survive. one day, he was transferred to another camp and thought he had seen the last of his petite benefactor. fourteen years later, rosenblat -- now living in new york -- was cajoled into joining a buddy on a blind date. the nervous couple spoke of their mutual backgrounds as polish émigrés. the conversation eventually turned to his childhood in a concentration camp, and roma volunteered that she had lived near a camp where she would visit a young boy every day and sneak him food across the fence. ''that was me,'' rosenblat said he exclaimed. ''now that i found you, i'm not going to ever let you go'' and proposed marriage right on the spot. her initial response? 'she says, `you're crazy. we just met.' '' six months later, they were married. they went on to raise two children: a son, kenneth, and a daughter, renee. ''i'm very happy, i'm very proud of him,'' roma rosenblat said of her husband's bar mitzvah. herman rosenblat explained that after missing his bar mitzvah while being held by the nazis, he simply got on with living life after his release, raising a family, and never got around to it. he'd think about it while attending other ceremonies over the years but figured he had missed his chance. when the rabbi learned of the rosenblats' love story from a mutual friend and television news producer who had featured the couple in a valentine's day feature last week, he contacted herman rosenblat. 'i said, `let's make a bar mitzvah,' '' perl said. ``his whole story is about how the hand of god brought him and his roma together after many years, and i felt the hand of god continued with him now and we should bring him this bar mitzvah.'' speaking to a modest group of about 25 congregants, rosenblat testified about the horrors he survived at the hands of the nazis, noting he was tattooed with the number 94,983. 'i told my brother, `don't call me herman no more, call me 94,983,' '' he recalled. he remembered being so cold that, ``i don't remember summer. all i remember is winters.'' he spoke how his brothers each gave him a quarter of their daily allotment of one slice of bread because ``i was a growing boy.'' ''that's love,'' he said. ``when all you have to eat is one slice of bread and you break off a quarter for someone else? that's love.'' rosenblat retired as an electrical contractor in 1992 after being shot in his store in brooklyn. he later was inspired to write a book about his experiences, including his encounters with that little girl who tossed him apples across the concentration camp fence. although the book has yet to be published, rosenblat said there has been interest from hollywood producers who want to turn his life story into a film titled the fence. ''his life story and his bar mitzvah today is giving us hope that ultimately the destroyers won't have the last say,'' the rabbi said. ``good people of all faiths will overcome.''
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new torah to join mt olympus synagogue
posted by semhar debessai on feb 19, 2006, 23:10 hollywood hills – chabad of mt. olympus is welcoming a new addition to their holy family. more than two years after the first line was written in israel, the synagogue and the chabad community is bringing home their very own torah scroll, the most important object in judaism. rabbi sholom rodal of mt. olympus is very excited about a feb. 26 event that will honor this momentous occasion and those who made it possible. “we have been using a used [torah] until now,” said rabbi rodal. it is a lengthy and delicate process to obtain a new torah. there are many requirements that must be met before the document can be called complete. this includes being written on parchment, the skin of a kosher animal, as well as written by a special scribe using a feather quill. the feb. 26 event, which will be held at the woman’s club of hollywood from 11 am to 2 pm, will feature the completion of the final letters of the torah scroll. this will be followed by a luncheon and special dance on the streets that will be similar to that of a traditional wedding dance that welcomes a bride and groom. the special wedding procession is done to show how much “we value our relationship with god,” rabbi rodal explained. “[we are] partners with god.” chabad of mt. olympus is part of an international organization involved in a grassroots movement to educate others on the jewish faith. it is dedicated to sharing a “nonjudgmental way of enjoying judaism” and is open to everybody. with approximately 200 people expected to attend, rabbi rodal extends an invitation for the greater community to take part in this “unique experience.” as the first torah scroll to be used on a permanent basis in the hollywood hills, much celebration will occur on that day and for years to come. although it took a lot of time, planning and financial contributions, when asked to what he attributes receiving this special gift, rabbi rodal simply responds, “sometimes it's fate.”
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thursday, february 16, 2006
shoulder, mentor, friend
thursday, february 16, 2006by merry firscheinstaff writerchris pedota / the recordarrowchana rayman with ariel kahan. ariel's mom, michal, says her children look forward to the teens' weekly visits.making new friends can be a challenge for any child, but it can be extra difficult for children with special needs. one bergen county program pairs orthodox jewish teens with physically and mentally disabled jewish youngsters in an effort not only to form new friendships but also to provide role models.the program, friendship circle, under the auspices of friends of lubavitch of bergen county, helps families with special needs children and gives teenagers the opportunity to learn more about people with disabilities, said zeesy grossbaum, program organizer.friendship circle, with about two dozen chapters in the united states, canada and australia, already was successful in the livingston area. grossbaum and husband moshe formed the local chapter in october 2003 and run it out of their paramus home.chabad center of passaic county, in wayne, has a similar program, called goodness group.zeesy grossbaum said the program is her way of helping others. "any help we can give these families, any little bit of assistance is good," she said.the program works with families who have children in the "whole spectrum" of special needs, including those with autism, cerebral palsy and down syndrome. children with attention disorders also are included -- because their social life suffers, she said.the bergen friendship circle started with four families three years ago; now 60 families are enrolled, with children from ages 2 through 21. about 120 teen volunteers, in seventh through 12th grades, are the "friends."the volunteers, in pairs, make weekly visits during the academic year to a family with a special needs child. their goal is to help the child feel just like other children who have play dates, grossbaum said.two teams of friendship circle volunteers, one on mondays and one on thursdays, visit the teaneck home of michal and david kahan to play with elie, 6, a special needs child, and his siblings, ariel, 4½, and aliza, 2½.on a recent thursday evening, yocheved greenberg and chana rayman, 14-year-old teaneck residents, came to "play." for 90 minutes, they played various games with the three children. someone made sure elie was included in every activity.michal kahan said friendship circle is one of her support systems."i wanted to have people with him who learn to love him for who he is and have the opportunity to ask me questions before making up their minds [about special needs children]," she said.yocheved has been visiting elie for a year and a half. "they're great kids and fun to work with," she said. "it helps me, when i see other special needs kids" to have this relationship, she said.the teen volunteers get as much out of the program as the children.aliza greenberg has participated in friendship circle for three years. this year the 14-year-old is visiting a 6-year-old autistic boy who lives in river edge. she said she can tell that the boy is happy to see her; he tries to unzip her jacket when she arrives and he hugs her when she leaves."i love watching [children with disabilities] be able to grow and learn new things," she said. "aside from them being a little slower than people without disabilities, they are just the same. they have the same emotions; they know what's going on, even if they can't express it all the time."at the kahan home, yocheved and chana have learned to interpret elie's sounds into needs and wants. they make sure he is always supervised. they constantly remind elie to keep toys out of his mouth, and to look at the toys as he's playing with them.they also give him lots of reinforcement when he puts a puzzle piece in the right spot. and they shower attention on ariel and aliza.grossbaum works hard to protect the volunteers as well as the families in the program.she tells the families that the volunteers are not baby sitters. parents of the special needs children sign a waiver that an adult will be home at all times.she also tries to safeguard the families. she checks references of the potential volunteers -- even a seventh-grader knows someone unrelated who could vouch for him or her, she said -- and meets their parents before allowing the students to participate.friendship circle also holds parties and programs for the children at jewish holidays. there's also a "moms night out" program, which recently had a party at a local chocolate shop.elie loves the girls who come to visit him, michal kahan said. and it's a "little respite.""for my other kids it's been wonderful," she said. "it's so exciting to have a play date with someone who is 10 years older than you. ... it's someone they look forward to every week."e-mail: firschein@northjersey.comcopyright © 2006 north jersey media group inc.
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friendships on the main line
the friendship circle held its monthly play session jan. 29 at lower merion synagogue. pictured (from left) are anna golinkoff, 10, and riva kashuk, 12, who were taking advantage of the drama room. the lubavitch house project, funded by a grant from the jewish federation of greater philadelphia, provides play therapy by pairing special-needs children with other local kids in supervised activities.
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onetime lubavitcher creates new life out of whole cloth
by rukhl schaechterfebruary 17, 2006on a recent sunday evening at the height of new york's fashion week, the cafe deville was bustling. backstage, beneath the downtown bistro's dining room, designer levi okunov's latest line of coats hung from a set of racks. a hairdresser and a makeup artist were busy doing up the models according to this year's theme: the courtesan. upstairs, the crowd was eager for the start of the show.at age 20, okunov is one of the fashion scene's hot young stars. although he has had no formal training aside from a single course he took at the fashion institute of technology, his cutting-edge women's coats have earned him some serious attention.the biggest surprise, though, is that okunov was born and raised in the lubavitch community in crown heights, brooklyn, and speaks yiddish fluently. "my father is russian, my mother israeli, and i have 12 brothers and sisters," okunov told the forverts. "and we all speak only yiddish at home."at 15, okunov discovered a sewing machine in a friend's basement and was entranced. he turned to his aunt, zlata okunov — a seamstress well known in new york's ultra-orthodox community for her wedding designs — and asked her to teach him the trade. last year, at his first fashion show, he showcased a line of colorful raincoats filled with down. that same week, women's wear daily included him in a list of "new wave of designers"; the web site new york cool has called him one of today's "fashion gurus."the coats in this year's show were reversible: monochromatic on one side, and custom painted by designer sascha ascher on the other. "if not for ascher's splashes of color, the garments wouldn't have been so compellingly attractive," remarked okunov's friend and assistant, sion mitrani.what's most notable about okunov and his entourage is that most of those quietly helping him behind the scenes were, like the designer himself, raised in one of new york's ultra-orthodox neighborhoods. one such acolyte, a bearded business consultant in his early 40s named yitschak schoenfeld, explained what drew him to okunov: "he's able to create this persona 'out of whole cloth,' so to speak. it's like madonna re-creating herself again and again. the other thing is, he has this unique capacity to embrace you even before you have a chance to say anything. all of this makes him highly marketable."schoenfeld was hardly the only orthodox jew at the show. milling about among the fashionistas — models, photographers, journalists and buyers — were a number of men wearing either yarmulkes or the baseball caps favored by orthodox trying to be inconspicuous. when asked why they had come to a show in which the models were not dressed modestly, all of them responded: "because of levi."schoenfeld explained that most of those attendees were part of the so-called "alternative community" — a loosely knit group made up mostly of men between 20 and 45 years old who were raised in ultra-orthodox communities but now find themselves on the periphery of the ultra-orthodox society. some are still observant; others have lapsed. "we're not talking about hasidic kids at risk, like the ones doing drugs," schoenfeld explained. "these men are older. they may be divorced or going through a divorce, or never married, or are having problems buying into the belief system."the group has been meeting regularly since the mid-1990s, and now it rents an apartment in boro park expressly for that purpose. tuesday nights are set aside for talmud class; thursday nights, for chulent and shmoozing. anywhere between five and 20 people show up on a given night, and most hang around till 2 a.m.members of the group who attended the show praised levi's respectful attitude toward the religious community in which he was raised. "you know, he still lays tefillin!" said one, requesting that his name not appear in print. another related that a week before last year's show, levi invited a well-respected lubavitch rabbi to his showroom to study torah with him. "the models kept coming in, so the rabbi made sure to keep the door open," he added, referring to the law requiring that a door remain open when men and women are in a room together.okunov said that even his mother has been cautiously supportive of his career, and she has commented that had the show had a mechitsa (wall separating the men from the women), she might have attended. "this is probably what hashem [god] wants from him" she said.technically, the show was flawed. the lighting was uneven, and the runway, which wasn't set up until an hour after the designated time, was too low for audience members to get a good view. but the crowd didn't seem to mind. all the models were greeted with enthusiastic applause as they walked along the runway.reporters from the new york times, people and vogue were in the audience, as well as buyers from bergdorf goodman and neiman marcus. another guest was michael gallagher, whose comprehensive archive of fashion magazines gets orders from such fashion industry a-listers as marc jacobs and donna karan. after okunov's show, gallagher remarked: "some people i know came from other shows just to see him. they see there's something fresh here."this article is adapted from a version that appeared in the forverts.
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torah! torah! torah!
matisyahu - just your everyday orthodox jewish reggae star - wants to 'actually be a light unto other people, and be able to illuminate'by george vargaunion-tribune pop music criticfebruary 16, 2006associated pressif the grammy awards introduce a best hasidic reggae & rap category next year, matisyahu is sure to be a top contender.brooklyn – if the grammy awards introduce a best hasidic reggae & rap category next year, matisyahu is sure to be a top contender.then again, unless ziggy marley converts to judaism, or the beastie boys become a yarmulke-wearing reggae act whose religious zeal centers more on the holy land of jerusalem than jamaica, matisyahu will probably be the only contender.at 26, this maverick musician-cum-missionary is single-handedly exploring and combing the surprisingly compatible rabbinical and rastafarian traditions that so inspire him.or, as matisyahu sings on “heights,” an upbeat track from “live at stubb's,” his commercial breakout second album: torah food for my brain / let it rain 'til i drown / thunder / let the blessings come down!a former deadhead who cites bob marley and phish among his biggest artistic inspirations, this pennsylvania-born vocalist, songwriter and bandleader is quickly becoming one of the music world's most unlikely new sensations. his faith-leaping musical approach might sound contrived on paper, but not on record or at his increasingly popular concerts.“it was very organic, very natural,” matisyahu said of his bicultural fusion during an interview last month in the brooklyn office of his publicist. “it wasn't even an intellectual process, of me having a flash moment where i thought: 'oh, i can do this.' it was just like a part of who i am and what i do.”often singing in a jamaican-tinged patois, he delivers his psalms-inspired lyrics in both english and yiddish, and is also accomplished at beat-boxing. he recently quit stage diving into the audience at the end of his shows, however, citing a dictate in the talmud (a book of rabbinical teachings that compiles jewish civil and religious law) that prohibits physical contact between unmarried women and men.matisyahu's best songs, such as “refuge,” “jerusalem” and the radio favorite “king without a crown” (which has been embraced by san diego alternative-rock station fm 94.9), are lyrically and rhythmically charged. backed by his polished three-man band, he combines sinewy reggae rhythms and jam-rock guitar licks with timely, if not timeless, messages.what results is a clean, crisp blend that is inviting, if hardly unique, at least musically speaking. but there is no one else remotely like matisyahu, who looks more like a rabbi than a rasta and sings like a cross between bob marley, black uhuru's michael rose and anthony kiedis of red hot chili peppers.acutely aware that his music and appearance might suggest a never-aired adam sandler skit from tv's “saturday night live,” matisyahu takes his work very seriously. he is also careful to avoid anything that might hint, however unintentionally, at self-parody.“certainly, in judaism there's also a major role for humor. but i think what i'm doing is not that,” he said. “because of my being hasidic, religious, and doing this style of music, which may be on the border of what some people would consider to be humorous, i had to make sure to stay away from that.”bob marley meets phishlike many disaffected teens searching for meaning in their lives – “at 16, i was pretty much in the midst of a major rebellion,” he recalled – matisyahu rejected religion when he was younger. before dropping out of school to follow phish on the road, he took a trip to israel and had a spiritual awakening that set him on his current path.“i was really into music. and even before i was religious, i was connected to the music in judaism in certain ways,” he said. “then, i became really religious.”matisyahu realizes that his music is unlikely to inspire mass conversions by members of his growing audience. but his uplifting songs have struck a resounding chord with jewish and non-jewish listeners alike.“for sure, the main goal i have is to provide a cathartic experience for my audience,” said matisyahu, who was born matthew miller and stands 6-feet-3.“i remember the first time i heard a bob marley album and the first time i went to a phish concert, and what an impact it had on me. there's no one within judaism that i look to, to be inspired by, in terms of music. but in terms of reggae, without a doubt, nearly all reggae artists have some type of religious or spiritual devotion, and they sing about it.”so does matisyahu, whose success has been swift. after selling out the 700-capacity belly up tavern in solana beach twice since last summer, he is now moving up to a much larger venue.on monday, matisyahu will be at the ipayone center at sports arena to co-headline the 25th annual bob marley day festival. he'll share the stage with such jamaican music stalwarts as the wailers, gregory isaacs, freddie mcgregor and barrington levy at the marathon show, a benefit for san diego's nonprofit world beat center.new album, new vistasthe ipayone gig is a prelude to the march 7 release of matisyahu's third album, “youth,” to be released in a double-sided dualdisc format (one-side cd, the other dvd) by major label powerhouse epic. it was produced by bill laswell, whose past credits include albums by everyone from marley, yellowman and proto-rapper gil scott-heron to miles davis, george clinton and san diego's stevie salas.yet, whether he's appearing in a club or an arena, matisyahu seeks to entertain and elevate his audiences while remaining true to his religious beliefs. and whether he's recording for a tiny company like jdub, which released his 2004 debut, “shake off the dust ... arise,” or for a worldwide behemoth like epic (the same label that, at least for now, includes michael jackson on its roster), his quest remains the same.“i just want to reach my potential, do the best that i possibly can do,” he said, sounding not unlike a recruiter for a rabbinical branch of the marine corps. “i mean, in terms of being the best vocalist, to reach that potential spiritually – the potential within myself that i'll actually be a light unto other people, and be able to illuminate. and to be able to create those moments that set people off and have them start searching for themselves, and figuring out how to create those moments for themselves.”in concert, matisyahu performs in the traditional hasidic garb – a conservative black suit, white shirt and black brimmed hat – that he wears when worshipping in a temple or while at home with his wife and their 6-month-old son, laivy yitzchok.a devout member of the orthodox jewish group lubavitch, matisyahu adheres to a strict religious discipline that mandates he not perform during the weekly sabbath (that is, between sundown each friday and sundown each saturday).such a restriction could put a crimp in the touring schedules of most bands, if not impede their careers. but matisyahu regards observing the sabbath as a distinct advantage.“the big thing is that you have a day where you don't turn on your cell phone, you don't have to call your agent, or travel, or worry about the van getting a flat tire, or paying the tour bus driver,” he said.“you have a day off, not half a day off, where all you're doing is, you're with your family, or eating with the community and praying, and taking time to take a walk and meditate. that is so important for the survival and success, i feel, of what we're doing. and having to arrive at a town a little earlier, so that we can load in (our equipment) the day before the soundcheck, is irrelevant.”
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wednesday, february 15, 2006
rabbi yehuda chitrik, scholar and storyteller, dies at 106
february 14, 2006, 11:49 pm est new york (ap) _ rabbi yehuda chitrik, a 106-year-old lubavitcher scholar known for his storytelling and longevity, died tuesday.chitrik had been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack feb. 8, said rabbi zalman shmotkin, a spokesman for the chabad lubavitch movement.a book of translations of chitrik's stories, "from my father's shabbos table," was published in 1991."he can repeat stories word for word that he heard 50 years ago," chitrik's great-grandson eliezer zalmanov told the new york times for a story published in december 2004.chitrik, born in 1899 in krasnolok, russia, was sent by his father at age 15 to the town of lubavitch, where he studied at the central chabad lubavitch yeshiva until communism and persecution forced him and other scholars to leave.in 1926, he began teaching in what is now the ukraine, where he married kaila tumarkin. while there, he also met rabbi menachem schneerson, who later became the seventh lubavitcher rebbe, the spiritual leader of the chabad lubavitch movement.after world war ii, chitrik's family lived in belgium and holland before moving to montreal, where he taught in a yeshiva, an institution for study of the torah. he moved to brooklyn after his wife died in 1983.chitrik's memories of schneerson, who died in 1994, have helped scholars learn more about the late rebbe, shmotkin said.chitrik is survived by more than 300 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.the lubavitchers' movement is one of many forms of hasidism, a religious lifestyle and ideology focused on prayer and the study of jewish holy books. its world headquarters is in crown heights, brooklyn.
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tuesday, february 14, 2006
men & women in chasidic thought
i just learned something interesting in my last class so i decided to run up here to post it before dinner. "chabad" comes from the words "chochma, binah and daas" which roughly translate to "inspiration (often 'wisdom'), understanding, and knowledge." men are compared to chochma while women are compared to binah. how is this so?chochma is a flash of inspiration while binah is the development of that idea. (note: the following contains generalities that will offend individuals too "nuanced" to appreciate natural truths and general social mores. get over yourselves.) men make the money, women do the shopping and provide for the family and home. men would kill the animal, the women would turn it into a meal. men provide the seed, women carry and birth the child. both are necessary: an undeveloped idea or flash of inspiration is wasted but without it, there is nothing to be developed or understood.we also learned in a sicho (discourse on the torah) from the lubavitcher rebbe that the jews were freed from egypt in the merit of shifra and puah, the two jewish midwives who refused to obey pharoh's orders to kill male jewish babies because "they feared g-d." i don't remember all the details of the lesson (and i'm hungry so i'm going to go to dinner now) but we also discussed how women are spiritually superior to men, therefore men require more mitzvot (commandments). this is compared to a bull which requires more restraints than a cow. and, finally, when moshiach comes (may it be today!), women will teach men the secrets of chasidus.i'm wondering if i'm in yeshiva or wellesley college!
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saturday, february 11, 2006
butz’s denial of holocaust irritates nu
tenured professor’s views anger students, faculty, but no action can be taken by jasett chatham february 07, 2006 a northwestern professor’s support for the iranian president’s denial of the holocaust is angering students and faculty across the university. mccormick prof. arthur butz recently backed iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad in comments published by several iranian news agencies. calling the holocaust a myth, ahmadinejad said israel should no longer exist as a country. the remarks are causing global controversy. “i congratulate him on becoming the first head of state to speak out clearly on these issues and regret only that it was not a western head of state,” butz said. his comments were reprinted in saturday’s chicago tribune. butz’s statements circulated campus through student listservs, includes ones through hillel cultural life and shepard residential college. one widespread e-mail asked students to sign a petition calling for the university to take action and prevent butz from causing future embarrassment. butz did not return phone calls or e-mails asking for his comment. in a statement released monday, university president henry bienen said the university cannot take action against the tenured professor because butz has kept his views out of the classroom and unaffiliated with the school. “we cannot take action based on the content of what butz says regarding the holocaust — however odious it may be — without undermining the vital principle of intellectual freedom that all academic institutions serve to protect,” bienen wrote. stuart loren, a weinberg sophomore, created the petition against butz on saturday after reading the professor’s statements in the tribune. the petition has about 200 signatures. “the importance of the petition is not so much whether he is fired or not, but to make a loud response from the jewish community and the university as a whole,” said adam dorsky, a communication freshman who signed the petition. loren said he hopes the petition will encourage nu to clarify its standard of conduct for faculty and make wiser decisions when giving tenure to professors. “northwestern should not serve as a forum or haven for the spread of hatred or historical inaccuracy,” loren said. butz’ stance is nothing new. in 1976, just two years receiving his tenure, he published book denying the holocaust titled “the hoax of the twentieth century.” since, his views have been published through various articles and speeches. his latest statements have reverberated beyond nu’s campus. since saturday, loren has received e-mails from nu parents, alumni and a holocaust survivor. “i think we’re forming a respectful and civilized platform to hold a dialogue on,” loren said. “i’m glad people are being respectful.” for many, the appropriate limits of free speech remain the salient issue. some, like chabad house rabbi dov hillel klein, define the professor’s message as “hate speech.” “the pain and hurt associated with this is beyond words,” klein said. “i just want to sit down and cry every time i think about it.” rabbi josh feigelson from the fiedler hillel center has also issued a response condemning butz’ comments. aside from signing the petition, some jewish students in mccormick also refuse to take courses that butz teaches. “i would never take a class with him; it would be very uncomfortable to take a class with someone who denies the holocaust,” said alex thaler, a mccormick sophomore. students have taken action against butz roughly every five years since he first published his book, said prof. peter hayes, chairman of nu’s german department. hayes, who teaches history of the holocaust, describes butz as “a crank and a fool.” “i just hope people will not overreact to this,” hayes said. “he loves the attention and why should we give it to him? this is how he publicizes his crazy views and we should just treat them with the contempt they deserve.” a community forum on holocaust denial will take place tonight at 8 p.m. in room 212 of the fiedler hillel center. reach jasett chatham at jasett@northwestern.edu.
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a partisan comic strip
steve lipman a u.s. army reconnaissance unit parachutes into vilna in 1943.surrounded by the nazi and russian armies, under heavy shelling, the american soldiers rendezvous with a lithuanian partisan, a bearded hulk of a man named bear. stepping out of the rubble, bear declares “we got package for you, very valuable, very … breakable.”then the soldiers overpower a pair of german tanks. bear and the resistance fighters find refuge from the barrage in the shell of a building. bear departs, and returns with his “very valuable package,” someone covered with a cloak. then…then you have to wait a month to find out what happens next.the wartime encounter is the storyline of “the prophecy,” a six-part series in dc comics’ “sgt. rock” that just went on sale. it’s the creation of joe kubert, an iconic 79-year-old comic-book artist and founder of the kubert school for cartooning and graphic arts in dover, n.j., who wrote and drew the entire series.sgt. rock is sgt. frank, dc comics’ premier war hero, leader of the fictional easy company, who has appeared in the dc pages on and off for some 50 years. the human cargo delivered by bear turns out to be a young rabbi, who has to be smuggled out of lithuania to tell the world about the holocaust.kubert’s story is based on a true tale, the rescue of rabbi joseph schneersohn, leader of the chabad-lubavitch chasidic movement, from warsaw in 1940. it was the subject of bryan mark rigg’s 2004 book “rescued from the reich: how one of hitler’s soldiers saved the lubavitcher rebbe.”a friend gave kubert the book last year. “i felt it was a real interesting story,” he said. sgt. rock and the rabbi in vilna — called vilnus in the comic — were born.“the prophecy” comes out three years after “yossel” (ibooks), kubert’s graphic novel that ponders what would have happened to his family had his father, a kosher butcher and cantor, not brought them out of poland in 1926. “yossel” is set in the warsaw ghetto uprising.kubert is not going through a late-in-life literary jewish phase, he tells the jewish week. “i don’t want to be taken for a crusader.” he doesn’t see a shoah-in-graphic-novels trend, though several similar books have followed art spiegelman’s 1986 “maus.”“these are stories that are striking to me,” he says. “they are exciting stories — things that should not be forgotten.”at the drawing board, kubert pictures landsmen from poland, refugees, he met at his parents’ home during world war ii. “i see these tattoos on their arms.”
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group claims right to assemble
federal permission randolph twp. – a lawyer for the chabad jewish center said the constitutional right to freedom of religion trumps local zoning and state construction code laws.the center is challenging zoning and construction codes so it can continue to religious services in the home of rabbi avraham bechor on west hanover avenue.bechor was due to appear before municipal court judge ira cohen on wednesday, feb. 1, to respond to summonses that had been issued by the township. bechor did not speak but his new attorney, ronald s. heymann, told judge ira cohen that his client intended to take the matter to trial.responding to several neighbor complaints of increased traffic and parking problems, zoning officer barrie krause issued a summons in december stating that bechor’s home, constructed as a single-family dwelling, violates local zoning because it is being used as a place of assembly.construction code official frank howard said on feb. 3 that bechor’s home does not meet state code requirements for places of assembly, as it does not have sufficient firewalls, sprinkler systems, and handicap accessible bathrooms.“rabbi bechor has the right to worship in his own home under the provisions of the (federal) religious lane use and institutional persons act (rulipa),” said heymann in an interview on friday, feb. 3. “the act prohibits any government from imposing any regulation, including assembly, unless they can demonstrate a compelling governmental interest, and any imposition has to be by the least restrictive method.”heymann said rulipa was enacted in 2000, and there have been several court decisions in other jurisdictions that would favor his client.heymann referred to the case of rabbi konikov in orlando, fla. the 11th circuit court decided konikov’s congregation, which had a schul at another location, could gather for worship at the rabbi’s home because it was within walking distance of their homes and they had to honor orthodox restrictions against driving a vehicle on holy days.“there was another case in somerset involving a minister, with 35 members in his parish, holding church services in his home,” said heymann. “the superior court said the congregation could worship in the minister’s home because somerset’s ordinance was constitutionally vague.”in addition to not complying with local and state building regulations, bechor has been notified by the state department of environmental protection (dep) that he is in violation of the freshwater wetlands protection act as well.the notice from the dep, dated jan. 25, was sent by certified mail to bechor and the builder of his home, s&h country builders. it states that 4,200 square-feet of area of a deed restricted modified freshwater wetlands transition area is being used for parking vehicles, and that a copy of the approved deed restriction has not been submitted to the state.heymann said he will be meeting with representatives of the dep to resolve any problems, stating that one of the problems is that motorists sometimes use a portion of the wetlands transition area to turn their vehicles around when coming off nearby radtke road.township manager john lovell said, however, the real problem lies in the parking of vehicles by congregants on the rabbi’s lawn.dep representatives could not be reached on friday and monday to verify which is correct.“parking is an issue,” said heymann. “they cannot park on west hanover avenue because it is unsafe, but they can park on mount freedom avenue.”in a meeting in early december, township officials agreed that the holding of a “minion” or small religious counseling sessions did not violate regulations. a minion is a group of usually not more than 10 to 12 congregants.heymann compared the holding of other religious services to someone who has 25 friends who visit to watch a football game on a fairly regular basis.“that would be allowed,” said heymann. “there were three neighbor complaints about services at the chabad, mostly about parking on nearby roads. the police investigated and verified the cars were parked legally.”even if the rulipa legislation precludes enforcement of local zoning regulations against the chabad, the issue of fire and safety code violations may remain.lovell said the township has been advised by the state that fire and building codes must be followed in order to have a place of assembly that is being used on a regular basis.randolph’s construction code official, frank howard, agreed with lovell.“we’re not concerned with zoning,” howard said. “our concern is life safety.”howard said s&h country builders had originally received local approval, variances, and even a dep waiver to build a one-family residence on the property. when the home was nearly complete, the builder submitted revised plans that required tearing out the three garage doors that had already been installed, and combining the garage area with an adjacent family room into one, large room that encompassed half the lower floor.the revised plan, filed in march 2005, states the combined area would be used as a “pool table/game room.” the plans also moved the kitchen from the first to the second floor.planning director darren carney said in december that the township had questioned the builder as to the intended use of the property when the modified plan was filed, noting it was unusual for a new single-family home to have a second-floor kitchen and no garage.in a letter dated july 6, 2005, heymann advised the zoning officer, “mr. saltz is selling this property as a single-family residence which closing is scheduled to take place on friday, july 8, 2005. the septic system as designed has been approved for a single-family residence. rabbi beckhur, his wife, and five children will be residing in this home following the closing.”lovell said a question remains of why the township was not informed of chabad’s intended use of the property before closing.bechor and his attorneys planned to again meet with township officials and attorneys on friday, feb. 10, in the hope of reaching an agreement that will prevent further litigation. if not, the matter has been scheduled before cohen at 7 p.m. on wednesday, feb. 15.
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idea of `healing' world catches on
by holly lebowitz rossi the dallas morning news february 10, 2006 the world was perfect once. it is a simple but radical suggestion, with a corollary that is even more startling--the world could be made perfect, whole, again. the term for this idea in judaism is tikkun olam, or "repair of the world." the recent movie "bee season," which tells the story of one family's struggle to repair itself within the framework of jewish mysticism, is the latest emergence of this ancient idea into mainstream culture. jewish mystical theology holds that soon after god created the world, it experienced a cosmic "shattering" that sent sparks of goodness and godliness flying all over the earth. tikkun olam calls upon jews to gather those sparks back together, re-forming them into a unified whole and, ultimately, bringing about the coming of the messiah. "this extraordinary idea that we can restore what has been shattered--in fact, it's our responsibility to try, each of us, to make our world whole again," says saul naumann, the jewish cantor played by richard gere in "bee season," which is based on a myla goldberg novel of the same name. but as with many points of jewish theology, there are multiple ways of interpreting--and living by--the idea of tikkun olam. from the mystical, or kabbalistic, to the political, the idea is as complex as the religion it comes from. lawrence fine, a professor of religion and jewish studies at mt. holyoke college in south hadley, mass., said tikkun olam's status as a "mantra or slogan," a widely used rallying cry for everything from personal moral behavior to social justice advocacy, is a relatively recent phenomenon. "for most of jewish history," he said, "jews were concerned about their own well-being, their own welfare." it wasn't until the late 18th century that a more "universalistic or humanistic" view of repairing the entire world--rather than just protecting and perfecting the jewish people--came into jewish thought. fine is the author of "physician of the soul, healer of the cosmos," a 2003 intellectual biography of isaac luria, a 16th century kabbalistic scholar. fine traces the term tikkun olam to two major sources. one is the ancient prayer amidah, in which jews pray "to repair the world under the kingdom of the almighty." the other is luria's theology. luria, who lived and wrote in the israeli town of safed, advanced the term as a way of creating "a world of repair, which is a spiritual world, other than this world, pristine and perfect," fine said. tikkun olam (pronounced tee-koon oh-lomm) is a defining concept for many contemporary jews who are intrigued by the call to action that the term implies. "we must dedicate at least part of our time, energy, resources to improving the lot of others," writes rabbi elliot n. dorff, an expert in jewish law, in his new book, "the way into tikkun olam." rabbi michael lerner--editor of tikkun magazine, head of beyt tikkun synagogue in san francisco and leader of the tikkun community, an organization that claims 50,000 members nationally--has built his career around his passion for the idea of tikkun olam. it's not purely a spiritual idea, he says. it also has political and social justice implications, including inspiring people to give to charity, volunteer to help the poor or participate in government by voting or writing members of congress, he said. "the world can be fundamentally transformed and healed," lerner said. "our whole religion is based on that insight." at a time when kabbalah has been popularized by celebrities such as madonna and britney spears, some scholars are wary of any attempt--especially in fictional works like "bee season"--to mine the concepts of jewish mysticism too deeply for new, modern applications. other scholars say tikkun olam fundamentally describes every aspect of what it means to be jewish. rabbi zalman shmotkin, director of chabad.org, the web site of the mystically oriented lubavitch hasidic movement, said tikkun olam represents a perpetual opportunity to "transform the physical into the holy, and infuse the holy into the mundane." "every moment of our lives, we are involved in tikkun olam," shmotkin said. "every situation we come across is an opportunity to bring god into the world."
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unbeaten jewish boxer guided by faith
by michael weinreb staff writer february 11, 2006, 11:00 pm est once they saw the video evidence, once they saw that this man in their midst was indeed something tenable, something real, the voices of the assembled at adolf schreiber hebrew academy of rockland county rang out from every corner. it was then, after the rabbi delivered his introduction and the dvd of dmitriy salita's career highlights as a boxer was completed and the lights in the segregated auditorium again were lifted, that the questions came pouring forth. the questions came from the right side of the aisle, from the boys in the technicolor yarmulkes, and the questions came from the left side of the aisle, from the girls in the flowing print dresses. the questions were brutalistic (what was your worst injury?) and the questions were status-conscious (have you ever been on "sportscenter"?) and the questions were practical (how much money do you make?) and the questions were academic (where do you go to college?), and after a while, the rabbi just wanted them all to be quiet and keep their tuchases in their seats so they could hear the answers to their own inquiries. "i go to a college called touro," dmitriy salita said, and there commenced much whispering in the auditorium, and someone said: "oh my god! my sister went there!" salita, a compact 140-pound junior welterweight with a 24-0 record as a professional, has what his promoters would call a "winning" smile, a bemused smirk that endears him to strangers on sight. he is 23 years old, and he is still finding his way as a public speaker in the same way he's still finding himself as a jew, and as a boxer. he had never entertained an audience as young as this one; most of the yeshiva audiences he spoke to (and it is orthodox tradition to separate males and females) previously were of high school age, not elementary and middle-school students. but the rabbi here, leible chaitovsky, had heard salita's story on a radio show one morning, a tale of an orthodox jewish boxer who refused to fight on the sabbath, perhaps the only one of his kind on this earth. once the rabbi had gotten over his disbelief, he had begun a yearlong e-mail campaign inviting salita to come up to monsey, to their little red-brick yeshiva set on six wooded acres near the new york state thruway. now that the fighter was here before them, the questions kept on coming. they began to delve deeper, into issues of faith and identity, into the subjects that have loomed over salita's career, over his life, since he committed himself to orthodox judaism as a teenager, in the wake of his mother's death from cancer: how do you feel, telling people that you can't fight on shavuos? have you ever dealt with anti-semitism? questions like these have always made salita a little uneasy. because, really, who is he to speak with authority on such things? religion, he says, is a personal thing, and the laws of the talmud, the governing principles of the jewish faith, are famously arcane and complex, and when he was the age of his inquisitors, salita knew nothing of them. he still knows so little. he is so new to all of this, and already he has been endowed with so much meaning. "i'm trying to do the best i can, you know what i mean?" salita had said at a brooklyn kosher restaurant a few days earlier. "i might slip somewhere, because i'm human, you understand? the media has a tendency to make athletes perfect, and then it's a crash landing, and that's something i want to avoid, you know?" soon the question-and-answer session was cut short, no more, put your hands down, the rabbi said. it was time for the afternoon prayer, time for the boys to daven mincha. but they wouldn't let salita alone. the boys began clamoring onto the stage and begging for autographs ("menachem, sit down!"), and salita obliged every one of them, because every little act of kindness, every little mitzvah, counts for something. he signed for menachem, he signed for matthew, he signed for esther, he signed until the rabbi had to pull him away so they could start the afternoon prayer, and afterward, he signed until the driver he'd hired to take him to monsey pulled him out the door. "he looks like a yeshiva boy, sitting there," a female teacher cooed. "such a baby face." on road to big screen in a short time, if all goes according to plan, dmitriy salita's life story will become subject to the whims of the hollywood machine, courtesy of a screenwriter named gregory allen howard ("remember the titans") and a producer named jerry bruckheimer. it will most likely be sanitized and compressed and embellished, because this is what celluloid does to true-life stories, especially when those true-life stories are produced by bruck.heimer, who has the distinction of producing some of the worst and some of the highest-grossing films in american history (categories that often -- as in the case of "pearl harbor" -- aren't mutually exclusive). if it happens, it could make salita into one of the most famous boxers in the united states, and the sort of boxing role model jews haven't had since fighters such as benny leonard and barney ross emerged from the lower east side ghettos in the 1930s. it also will expose the world to salita's made-to-order story, which goes something like this: born in odessa, ukraine, amid a culture infected by anti-semitism; moves to brooklyn, and at age 14, meets a black trainer named jimmy o'pharrow at the overwhelmingly black starrett city boxing club; becomes a fixture at the gym; while his mother is dying of cancer, meets an orthodox jew in the hospital who engages him on his faith (or lack thereof) and directs him to a local chabad synagogue; slowly, under the tutelage of a rabbi named zalman liberov, salita embraces the traditions of orthodoxy; possessed of preternatural skills and quickness, he becomes a legitimate contender in his weight class, despite (and perhaps because of) his refusal to fight on the sabbath and other jewish holy days. "i think he has a market most other boxers don't have," said promoter lou dibella, who -- because salita won't fight in any of the televised friday-night boxing series, which fall on the sabbath -- has used him as the headliner on his broadway boxing card. these are a series of thursday-night fights at the hammerstein ballroom in manhattan, populated by ethnic fighters with neighborhood followings, such as edgar santana, a puerto rican from spanish harlem, and curtis stevens, a black middleweight from brooklyn. what dibella's experiment has led to are homogenous scenes such as the one at salita's last fight, in december, against a no-name from denver, robert frankel: great packs of orthodox jews in the front rows, identifiable by their head coverings, intermingling with blacks and hispanics, the whole thing resembling the opening of an off-color joke. "i see it as the american dream," said chaim marcus, an advertising and pr man who counts salita among his clients. "all these people are getting out of the synagogue, getting out of their closed communities, to mingle with others." amid the hot knishes and the corned-beef sandwiches at the kosher concession stand, amid the waitresses with t-shirts pulled up to the breaking point and the old-school rap beating out of the speakers and the bearded elders in brimmed hats who resembled talmudic scholars, you could find men like dov friedman. he is 23, nattily dressed and curly haired and gregarious, the same age as salita (whose fans refer to him as "dima"). he had rounded up 100 tickets for his friends, and for friends of friends, for anyone who wanted to catch this phenomenon while it was still on the upswing. "for the first time in my life, i know i have a guy i can go for," said friedman, who is orthodox, and who works as a mortgage broker. "he's part of you. he's your people. my whole heart is behind him." it took 10 rounds and a narrow (but unanimous) decision for salita to put away frankel. there were some anxious moments for his flock, including a flukish first-round knockdown of salita, and the consensus among his people afterward was that he needed a test like this, that he needs more tests like this if he hopes to make it as a championship contender, that he's still a year or two away from a major fight. what they would like is to bring him along slowly. "right now, he's on his way up the ladder," o'pharrow said. "he's in the incubator yet." pressure of being a role model normally, in this day and age, when the fight game is mostly an exercise in nostalgia, when even promoters such as dibella admit that boxing is "on a downswing," the wait for a fighter to mature wouldn't be such a big thing. but there is nothing typical about this situation. this is a fighter who is managed by the brother of his rabbi, a fighter whose bouts are regularly covered by the jerusalem post, a fighter whose sponsors include a kosher catering service, a fighter who already has been showered with absurd nicknames such as "the kosher kid" and "the hebrew hammer" and "star of david." all of which breeds the sort of ratcheting hyperbole that, salita insists, "didn't come from me. it is what it is. it becomes like a game of telephone, you know?" "it's creating an anxiety in him which may not be fair to the kid," said hank kaplan, a boxing historian who's met salita several times. "he's trying to be a hero to his followers. with that kind of anxiety, the artisanship suffers." but how can they help it? this is a community that hasn't had an athletic role model in so long that they seem to have forgotten such a person could exist. in salita, they see possibility. in him, lord knows, they see themselves. "i already told him and i told the rabbis, 'god put him on this earth to do more than just box,"' said o'pharrow, who recently gave way in the day-to-day training to hector roca, who works out of gleason's gym in brooklyn. "he's going to be a world leader, i believe." this is a great burden to put on any man, let alone a man still finding his way. but here he is, a role model at age 23, standing in a rockland county yeshiva with his head buried in a prayer book. he's davening in a series of dips and bows, murmuring through pursed lips, a borrowed yarmulke perched atop his head in place of the calvin klein winter hat he'd come wearing. and the boys cannot stop stealing glances at him, this stranger in the back of the room who looks like them, who prays like them, and who, by clenching his fists, has shown them a whole new way of being. copyright 2006 newsday inc.
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he's a mystic, mon
hasidic reggae? matisyahu, inspired by chabad-lubavitch judaism and bob marley, just may have invented the genre. by chris lee special to the times february 12, 2006 nothing in the talmud specifically forbids orthodox jews from stage-diving at live gigs. and nowhere does jewish scripture recommend precisely how one should behave in the mosh pit. so jewish reggae phenom matisyahu had to learn through trial and error that it was a good idea to clip his yarmulke into his hair so it wouldn't fall off when he bobbed his head to a hip-hop beat. and that if he tucked his tzitzit into his trousers, the tassels of his prayer shawl were less likely to be yanked away in the pit's mass of writhing limbs. such are the travails of the world's foremost hasidic reggae star, a guy who might've sprung fully formed from a united colors of benetton ad. he convincingly melds jamaican roots rock with messages of spiritual uplift peppered with religious imagery, rapping and singing over reggae "riddims" intermixed with ancient jewish melodies. dressed according to orthodox custom in a starchy black suit and sporting the heavy beard of a yeshiva student, he launched into fans' outstretched hands at the end of nearly every show he performed last year. it became his signature move. late last fall, however, matisyahu, 26, renounced stage-diving after he learned the cherished punk practice could run afoul of talmudic rules dictating the separation of unmarried women and men. "there could be a girl in a crowd full of guys when you stage-dive," he explained from his home in brooklyn's crown heights. "women aren't supposed to touch me." not exactly the kind of tour worry shared by mötley crüe. but it's been no deterrent to stardom. matisyahu has been on the road for nearly two years straight, a tour that will bring him to the long beach arena feb. 19. and his 2005 concert cd, "live at stubb's" (sony), has claimed the top spot on the reggae chart for six straight weeks, selling more than 300,000 copies. "we're moving 25,000 copies of the live album a week," points out charlie walk, president of sony subsidiary epic records. "that's spectacular! it's a new movement." in october, kroq-fm (106.7) put matisyahu's single "king without a crown" into rotation. the song has ranked among the station's three most requested ever since. "from the first time we played it, the phone reaction was immediate," says kroq's music director, lisa worden. " 'who was that? we love it!' we decided to jam it based on that response, and it's been huge." such buzz bodes well for his march release, "youth," produced by studio veteran bill laswell along with jimmy douglass and ill factor. it's matisyahu's first studio album since 2004's "shake off the dust … arise," and yet another milestone for the man who was once matthew miller, a dreadlocked hippie from white plains, n.y., with a taste for lsd and a vague religious yearning. his transformation into an international star of devout faith is a story of two redemptions. one occurred through his embrace of the chabad-lubavitch branch of hasidism, an eastern european sect of mystical judaism. the other came via his sonic inspiration, bob marley. "these are the two things that are closest to me and who i am," matisyahu says. "i've always wanted to make music. and in the last 10 years, i've had a very strong connection to judaism. once i became religious, all the parts of my life were united. everything became holistic. and music is a big part of that." * bringing secular, orthodox jews together the standing-room-only audience at hamaabada, a jerusalem venue whose name means "the lab" in hebrew, was packed with blissed-out reggae aficionados, visiting american students, more than a few scantily clad young women and a contingent of orthodox jews, recalls guil bonstein, israel's foremost reggae concert promoter. not just any early december night at the club in israel. hyped by weeks of newspaper editorials and a nationwide publicity blitz, the crowd erupted when matisyahu hit the stage to perform. "you never saw a jewish hasid performing in front of a mixed crowd — both men and women, secular people and orthodox jews," said bonstein, the organizer of matisyahu's 2005 israeli tour. "this is hard to understand if you are in america: you just don't see hasidic jews in clubs." jerusalem is name checked frequently on "youth," most notably in a paean to the city in which matisyahu sings in mellifluous baritone, "jerusalem, if i forget you, let my right hand forget what it's supposed to do." the holy city exerts a powerful influence on the singer — he experienced his first religious epiphany atop mt. scopus after traveling there on a hebrew school trip at 16. "that is the place i had my first real connection to judaism in a real way," he says. "it was a very powerful moment when i connected to that place — and to a certain place in myself as well." that resonance wasn't lost on his fans at hamaabada — or sony executives. matisyahu's four concerts in israel were filmed for a planned dvd release. bonstein says the mixed audience was more raucous than any he had seen in 24 years of concert promotions. "the separation between the nonreligious and the religious is sometimes very deep," he says. "it's very special for us israelis to mix like this." after the performance, matisyahu retreated to a balcony with nearly 100 male fans. together, they prayed. turns out that one of the roads into this world of spirituality for young miller was the musical path that led him to reggae. when he was 18 and looking for the kind of inspiration he'd gotten atop mt. scopus, he followed the hippie jam band phish. "i was having spiritual experiences at phish concerts," he explains, "taking a lot of lsd and watching the walls melt. when i came back from israel, where i had some genuine spiritual experiences, i didn't know how to relocate them or where to go. i was looking for a spiritual high." he then found refuge in the soulful rebel music of bob marley and formed a reggae band, soul for i. he grew passionate about the dancehall reggae "toaster" sizzla, a performer who sang about spirituality and social consciousness in a melodic hip-hop style, over beat-heavy instrumentation. after a chance meeting with an orthodox rabbi in new york's washington square park, miller began taking classes in religion at the new school, a progressive university in manhattan. and soon he was attending the carlebach synagogue on the upper west side. established by shlomo carlebach, a chabad-lubavitch rabbi who proselytized through song, the house of worship was filled with ancient jewish melodies. "his movement is a cross between religious judaism and new age hippiedom," matisyahu says. "that totally appealed to me at that stage in my search." he fully embraced hasidism five years ago and never lost his love of music or the thirst to perform. studying at yeshiva, he was encouraged by his rabbi to play a small show at an east village venue. first, miller traded his given name of matthew for its hebrew incarnation: matisyahu. while reggae's predominating rastafarian culture — with its laid-back embrace of marijuana, pacifism and hippie ideals — and orthodox judaism might seem to occupy different ends of the spiritual universe, the religions overlap in several crucial ways. "the star of david, the lion of judah, they share much of the same imagery, and both place great emphasis on the old testament," says reggae historian roger steffens, coauthor of "bob marley and the wailers: the definitive discography." "they trace their histories back to king solomon and are both monotheistic. rastafarians consider themselves the lost tribe of israel." it was a comfortable fit for both the aspiring artist and his religious teachers. "my rabbi asked, 'are there people you can have a positive influence over?' " matisyahu recalls. " 'can you go in there without getting sucked into the environment?' maybe proselytizing was how he saw it." * links with rastafarianism while matisyahu's most famous single, "king without a crown," bears all the hallmarks of a modern reggae classic, closer examination of the lyrics reveals several unmistakable hasidic touchstones. for one, matisyahu mentions "hashem" (the traditional jewish honorific for god) in place of "jah" (the traditional rastafarian name for the creator) and exhorts "moshiach now!" the hasidic entreaty to the messiah to redeem mankind. the song's spiritual content ultimately persuaded kroq's worden to put the song on the playlist. "one day i printed the lyrics out and read them," she remembers. "and i was like, 'oh, my god!' i brought ['king'] to my program director and said, 'dude, we gotta play this.' " the song's lyrics urge positivity and self-reflection: be thankful for what you've got, look inside yourself to find true happiness, praise god. unlike many reggae anthems, however, "king" implicitly condemns sinsemilla — a strain of marijuana. asked what about the song appealed most to local listeners, worden said: "it's got that california vibe. it's got a reggae-rap feel, but i think the lyrics inspire people. that's what led to it being one of the most requested songs at the station." but despite matisyahu's emerging mainstream allure, steffens isn't yet persuaded that his talent extends beyond its gimmicky face value. "his music generally comes under a reggae rubric, but i think it's got a more hip-hop feel. it's got great novelty effect," he says. "it's an american doing an interpretation of jamaican toasting." the new studio album is a musically solid effort that includes touches of metal and acoustic hip-hop as well as straight-ahead roots rock reggae. matisyahu still rhymes "shtetl" with "put the pedal to the metal," and jewish imagery and references abound. but he has never been out to make converts. and "youth's" conscious, omnispiritual messages are unlikely to alienate anyone who has ever enjoyed a steel pulse or black uhuru album — or, for that matter, listeners partial to christian bands like p.o.d. or creed. epic has been careful about exploiting matisyahu's uniqueness, organizing what president walk terms "an elegant introduction" to fans. label executives have turned down invitations for the singer to appear on the hbo series "entourage" and be interviewed for "60 minutes" so as not to overexpose him. for matisyahu, religious, personal and musical growth have become inextricably intertwined. "i made 'shake off the dust' while i was still in the first couple of years of being religious," matisyahu says. "i had a certain excitement for it all. also, i would say my knowledge of ideas was somewhat shallow. i was taking hebrew, putting it in the song, taking a word like 'moshiach' and putting it in the song. "this time around, i've grown in my understanding of religion, in understanding these concepts in a deeper way," he continues. "my feeling is, it's all coming from jewishness in a big way. i'm trying to get to a deep and honest place."
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thursday, february 09, 2006
rabbis visit to celebrate student's bar mitzvah
wednesday, february 9, 2006 students at cayman prep high school had a chance to learn more about jewish traditions when rabbis from a non-profit jewish organisation visited the school to talk about the bar mitzvah. local student benjamin stoner had his bar mitzvah last week to celebrate his turning 13, which means he has become a man. rabbi zalman shneur said to the class that becoming an adult also means becoming responsible for yourself and your environment. "it is important to remember that success is good only if you value the present moment as it is," said rabbi shneur. "if you see somebody in distress then value the moment and help them without expecting to get something back in the future." he explained to the students the prayers during the bar mitzvah and the traditions. the yarmulke or kippa is used to cover the head to recognise that god is above you. the tefillin contains boxes with the torah inside of it and is attached to the head and arms. benjamin said he felt prepared for his bar mitzvah because he had been taking lessons every sunday from a local medical student. "i feel really good about passing through being an adult," said benjamin. "i am very excited about my bar mitzvah and everyone wants to come." the rabbis had visited the cayman islands last year at the request of jewish students at st matthews university school of medicine to celebrate the jewish new year. they were sponsored by chabad lubavitch, a non-profit jewish organisation which sponsors rabbis to visits rural jewish communities all over the world.
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judeopundit: the 10th of shevat
the 10th of shevat is a "chabad holiday." chabad.org describes the significance of the day as follows: "yud shevat" -- the 10th day of the hebrew month of shevat -- is a most significant date on the chassidic calendar. it is the yahrtzeit (anniversary of the passing) of the sixth lubavitcher rebbe, rabbi yosef yitzchak schneersohn (1880-1950). it is also the day when, in 1951, the seventh rebbe, rabbi menachem mendel schneerson (1902-1994), formally accepted the leadership of chabad-lubavitch with a historic maamar (discourse) and address at a farbrengen (chassidic gathering) marking the first anniversary of his predecessor's passing. as i usually point out on these kinds of days, on wednesday night your local chabad house or chabad center will probably be having an event, a farbrengen, at which any jew will be welcome. the proceedings will involve eating, drinking, singing chassidic melodies, and hearing an inspirational speaker. try to attend.editors note: perhaps those who attended would like to share some words of inspiration they heard, be it a story, a torah or a message.
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all in the family: chabad house extends traditional branch of judaism to community
by meredith bowenamid the shifting colors of scarves and ski jackets in the hustle of schine student center, rabbi yitzchak creeger stands out. he and his eldest son, schneur, 4, have become local figures of sorts throughout the past semester. the father dressed in the traditional black jacket, hat and beard of chasidic rabbis, and his son, his stop-you-in-your tracks red hair topped with a pint-size yarmulke, are hard to miss, handing out fliers around the high holidays or tabling in schine. creeger and his wife, dina creeger, took over the student outreach program of chabad lubavitch house in the fall, and since then, their family has grown from their two children, schneur and yossi, 1, to include both regular chabad attendees and any student who comes to the front door.chabad lubavitch is an orthodox jewish sect that focuses on the intellect and has long had a presence on college campuses. chabad has been in syracuse since 1984, and there are more than 3,300 centers in the world, serving both colleges and communities.chabad's student outreach had lost its momentum in recent years, as rabbi yaakov rapoport grew increasingly involved in his work with the central new york community, which the ostrom house serves. "there's no indoctrination, we don't want people to be like us," creeger said. "we just want to welcome people into our home."the unassuming two-floor building at 825 ostrom ave. serves both as the chabad house and as the creegers' home, a combination they say has helped make the center more of a home away from home for all jewish students.it is a home that hustles and moves, becoming the location of everything from friday evening shabbat services and dinner to woodworking and baking. the calendar is filling up with events, and, slowly, so are the seats. a table featuring a scribe drew a steady flow of jewish and non-jewish students, and a presentation by super bowl 1992 champion alan veingrad drew nearly 40 people.at everything from cooking lessons to sushi dinners, the creegers are slowly educating more jewish students about the culture and history. even schneur gets into the act, effectively attracting half a dozen women in schine, creeger said.the creegers are trying to reach out to reformed jewish students as well as orthodox or traditional students who might be more familiar with chasidic practices and prayers. reformed judaism is the most liberal branch, allowing traditional practices to be adapted to modern circumstances and not requiring strict observance; orthodox judaism is stricter, requiring the law of the torah be kept.it was strange at first for jonathan shlang, who began going to chabad services alone in september. the freshman in the martin j. whitman school of management soon felt comfortable, welcomed by the creegers' warmth, and now returns weekly, often bringing friends."it's keeping me tied with my religion," shlang said, who was raised in a more traditional home. "while i'm away from the norm of how i practice at home, it's keeping me on track." the house is not only a home for students; during yom kippur, the creegers put up a woman stranded in the airport for the night and welcomed her for the holiday."that's what we're here for," creeger said. "whether you're stranded for four hours or living here for four years."it was the warm hominess that drew rebecca glass, a sophomore history major, back to chabad, despite that the first night she went on oct. 21, she ate the shabbat dinner outside on one of the coldest nights of the year to observe succos. "it's just completely done away with all of my previous notions of traditional judaism," said glass, who was raised in a reformed home and now serves on the student executive board. the notions are common fears the creegers are well familiar with. though he understands how his beard and black suit can be intimidating, creeger still finds the idea of never trying chabad because of old assumptions unfair to the students who miss out."it makes me feel bad that someone is cutting themselves off of a jewish branch," creeger said. "i don't know if they know what they're being separate from."what they're mission is education, and the creegers readily open up to anyone inquiring about judaism, from students wishing to understand their faith more, to non-jewish students who are interested in studying it or just working on a class project."god wants us to teach them, and (the torah) shouldn't be kept to ourselves," creeger says. "it should be taught and shared."the torah, the first five books of the old testament of the bible, is the basis of judaism. chasidim refrain from writing the name of the lord to preserve its sanctity.the creegers are branching out, adding new programs and working with other organizations, including hillel. while hillel services draw a bigger crowd, no one sees this as a loss or a challenge."it's a personal preference of how to pray, of what environment," shlang said. on friday nights hillel gets 75 to 80 students, while chabad may have five or six, but creeger is nothing but happy for hillel and the students there, and joel miller, executive director of hillel, is equally happy for chabad. there is always a need for more yiddish-keit, or the feeling of jewishness on campus, miller said. "we all feel there are close to 3,000 jewish students on campus," miller said. "there are students that need to be touched in one way or another." the variety of choices only makes things more popular, dina creeger said."if there's two shabbat parties or three shabbat parties," she said, "it makes it seem as if it's more of a thing to do."students are starting to bring friends; word-of-mouth and peer pressure are useful advertisements. the do-what-you-can-when-you-can attitude, in a feat of reverse psychology, was in part what made glass up her commitment and join the board."it's not like some of the other things i've gotten involved in," glass said, "where its life or death if you don't come."shlang has been convincing friends to come, his eye on getting enough attendees on friday nights to consistently have minyan, a group of 10 men or more, which allows additional prayers to be said."(rabbi creeger) knows what he needs to do," miller said. "he's got a vision of what he wants to do on this campus."though still settling in - the final touches are being put on a student lounge and the creegers are still hunting down furniture for their home - the couple has their eyes toward the future. plans are already in motion to start a monthly program with state university of new york-oswego, where jewish students have a chabad presence. while they constantly hope for the coming of the moshiach, or the messiah, the creegers are also planning for a long tenure at syracuse and making plans to be a permanent fixture on the su campus. and, of course, they are constantly thinking of new ways to help students, if only for a little while."slow and steady is fine by me," creeger said. "one or two a week is a success. and if they come back, that's an even bigger success."
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marvin schick: the debate within chabad
none of my columns has evoked anything close to the reaction to the two articles questioning the direction chabad is taking in too many places and situations. overwhelmingly, those who commented were critical, some very strongly, but there were more than a few expressions of support. several days after the second article appeared, a chabad emissary in the former soviet union and his wife came to see me. they knew nothing about the articles. they heard that i had helped chabad institutions in the fsu and they needed help. three days later, i was at a chabad school in brooklyn. it is seeking a one-million dollar interest-free building loan from a fund for which i have responsibility.similar stories could occupy an entire column and more. i will just add the following about the request two or three years ago from perhaps the leading chabad rabbi today that i provide guidance regarding difficult administrative issues. this led to a brief paper that was shown to a senior shiliach or emissary who circulated it to the entire worldwide chabad network. at his suggestion, my name was deleted from the document.chabad is world jewry's largest movement. when i raise questions about the direction it is taking, they arise from concern and not hostility. i questioned why alan dershowitz was featured at the recent conference of emissaries. of course, the issue isn't dershowitz - he is, in any case, a powerful advocate for israel - but the implications of the invitation.it turns out that there was strong opposition to the dershowitz invitation within chabad. as one emissary put it, there were "email fisticuffs." rabbi hirschy zarchi, chabad's man in cambridge who arranged the invitation and who sharply criticized me in a letter published last week in this newspaper, wrote on the shluchim website that "there is hail and brimstone regarding the invitation" within the movement. in his letter, zarchi claims that "no jew at harvard has done more to support halachic judaism than professor alan dershowitz in his capacity as faculty advisor to chabad at harvard."we should wonder what advice he is giving regarding intermarriage in view of an article under his byline in the harvard crimson called "why judaism must embrace intermarriage." not jews, but judaism which is our religion; not just accept, but embrace. the article, published at his instigation, was doubtlessly read by thousands of jewish students and many faculty, people who were exploring what jewish path to take. it included such interesting sentiments as "judaism must become less tribal, less ethnocentric, less exclusive, less closed off, less defensive, less xenophobic, less clannish."this was written in 1997 and there is no indication that he has changed his mind. we have more recent indications of his views in abigail pogrebin's just-published book ("stars of david") of interviews with jewish notables, including dershowitz. his interview concludes: "when i'm in the synagogue, i don't believe a word of it and i'm totally irreligious. when i'm sitting on the beach under the stars in martha's vineyard, i get a leap of faith."i would rest my case, except, again, the issue isn't dershowitz or zarchi who has accomplished much good in cambridge or what i think. the issue is what is happening in chabad as world jewry is being radically transformed by judaic abandonment, by the wholesale rejection of our principles and practices. in the name of tolerance, too much that is alien is being tolerated. an example is the extraordinary recent chanukah menorah ceremony in tiblisi, georgia. chabad's chief rabbi and the patriarch of the georgian orthodox church performed the ceremony, with the christian leader lighting the menorah and the two clergymen singing the blessings, one in hebrew and the other in his native language. i am looking at a photo of the event as i write.too much of this is going on and that's the bad news. the better news is that there is heightened concern and discussion within chabad regarding the issues that i have raised. what i did not know is that much of this predates my columns, but the focus is now stronger. as a shliach put it in an email, "all issues that you raised have been and are actively discussed by shluchim on an on-going basis." i am also encouraged by what a noted fsu rabbi wrote: "i am sure that there is one person who will be eternally grateful to you and that is the lubavitcher rebbe, zecher tzaddik levracha."a similar sentiment came from an eminent chabad lay leader who pointed to a discourse many years ago by the rebbe (published in likutei sichos, vol. i, parshas vayigash). the rebbe said "one is constantly obligated to be concerned with every one, regardless who it may be, and to bring him closer to yiddishkeit. nevertheless, one must always keep in mind never to budge from principle. befriending others and bringing them closer to yiddishkeit must never compromise torah and mitzvoth. for there is a well-known saying: when someone is drowning one must save him; but one must also take great care not to be drowned oneself." also, while we must befriend everyone, we "must do so by way of bringing them closer to torah, that is, one must bring these people to torah without compromise, as opposed to adapting the torah to the minds of the people."this is why the issues that i raise are about chabad, not about alan dershowitz. as a man of honor, he now owes one-thousand dollars to a charity of my designation, a pledge that he made if i could refute his denial of my claims. the contribution should be to bobbie's place, the wonderful voluntary project that provides new clothing each year to thousands of needy jewish children. this charity is named, in his words, in memory of the "wonderful woman who baked great hallas" - my mother. posted by marvin schick @ 3:23 pm
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chabad group nabs ‘jewish slot’ on ukranian state television channel
by vladimir matveyevkiev, ukraine, feb. 8 (jta) —ukraine’s state television will start a new weekly jewish-themed show to replace a previous one that was canceled under controversial circumstances earlier this year.the new show will be produced by journalists affiliated with the federation of jewish communities of ukraine, a chabad-led group.a few weeks ago, ukraine’s state television company, nktu, decided to cancel the “mazel tov” show after five seasons. that show was produced by a company affiliated with vadim rabinovich, a ukrainian business tycoon and jewish leader who is the head of the of the all-ukrainian jewish congress and the united jewish community of ukraine.the show is the latest evidence of competition between rabinovich’s groups and the chabad-linked federation regarding which is the leading group representing the jewish community.last month, rabinovich suggested that the state television’s decision to cancel “mazel tov” was politically motivated, a charge that state television officials denied.now some jewish leaders, including rabinovich himself, are questioning whether the chabad federation could have influenced the earlier decision to cancel “mazel tov” in order to have state television run its own jewish-themed show instead.for its part, chabad denies this accusation.the conflict is not the first between chabad and rabinovich. in one incident, the dedication last year of a synagogue in the town of sumy was marred after rabinovich prevented a local chabad rabbi from speaking, sending his “own” rabbi to the ceremony instead.on feb. 1, state television officials and leaders of the federation of jewish communities signed an agreement that allows chabad to present its own 30-minute weekly jewish-themed show to be aired over the state-owned ut-1 television channel.the team in charge of the new show is headed by oleg rostovtsev, a chabad spokesman in ukraine based in the eastern city of dnepropetrovsk, where for years he has served as producer and anchor of a local jewish tv show, also released under the auspices of the chabad federation.despite the new show’s chabad connection, federation leaders said they would target a wide audience, jewish and non-jewish.“it is very important to acquaint ukrainian viewers — regardless of their ethnicity and faith — with the fascinating world of jewish culture and tradition,” said rabbi meir stambler, head of the federation’s board.the federation said it invited all jewish groups in ukraine to support the new tv show. indeed, many jewish organizations received letters from stambler that tried to assure them the new show will not be used as a public relations tool serving only chabad.stambler also wrote to rabinovich seeking his support. “we are open to discuss new ideas, forms of cooperation and creative solutions,” stambler’s letter reads.in response, rabinovich said he would support any jewish media-project that “truly and honestly covers real life.”however, rabinovich described the state television decision to change the team in charge of its jewish show “a victory” of one jewish organization over another.some jewish leaders echoed this view.“this is not a good step on the part of the federation,” said rabbi moshe reuven azman, a longtime supporter of rabinovich. azman suggested that the show’s replacement “was probably planned by the federation beforehand.”rostovtsev denied the accusation, saying his group first learned about “mazel tov” being canceled only when rabinovich went public about it last month.“we then decided to save the show and produce a new jewish media project,” he said.the ukrainian jewish community today has a dozen jewish-themed weekly shows on local airwaves in the provinces, some 50 jewish newspapers — mainly monthlies — and several radio shows.but many leading figures in the country’s jewish community believe that the situation surrounding the jewish show on ukrainian national television reflects the lack of unity in ukrainian jewry.“the situation with the controversial cancellation of one jewish show and replacing it with another brightly mirrors the general situation in the community that now has several chief rabbis,” said mikhail frenkel, the head of the association of jewish media in ukraine.
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sunday, february 05, 2006
chabad @ super bowl xl
first-ever stadium-adjacent jewish fan outpost to serve ford field crowds during the motown winter blast and super bowl west bloomfield, mich., jan. 31 /prnewswire/ -- you've seen themeverywhere. one of the oldest contemporary jewish quips is that two thingscan be found worldwide: coke ... and chabad. even at the super bowl? you bet. the shul of west bloomfield, a popular detroit chabad synagogue noted forits diversity and unique programming, has secured a prime storefront locationa stone's throw from ford field. located at 1515 woodward ave. at the centerof the winter blast between clifford and park, chabad at the super bowl,sponsored by lubavitch foundation of michigan, will serve visitors with foodfor body and soul. "we'll be asking people to put on tefillin, giving out shabbatcandlesticks, brochures -- all the regular chabad stuff," smiles rabbi yudimann, a rabbi of the shul. "in addition, we'll be selling sizzling kosherfood and snacks; subs, burgers, hot dogs, etc., and there will be a judaicgift shop." indeed, with the game day crowd so immense as to require 15,000 areapolice officers, there are sure to be many jews in attendance -- which isexactly where you'd expect to find chabad. even if it's only for the weekend.says rabbi mann: "come score a mitzvah at chabad of the super bowl!" for more information, please log on to http://www.chabadsuperbowl.com orcontact rabbi yudi mann at 248-788-4000. source the shul of west bloomfield web site: http://www.chabadsuperbowl.com
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rabbi says it's about freedom of religion
randolph chabad leader fights summonses for services at his home by matt manochio daily record randolph -- the rabbi who operates the chabad center of randolph is maintaining that summonses issued by the township over the center's large prayer services violate his constitutional right to freedom of religion, his attorneys told a judge in municipal court.rabbi avraham bechor was in court on wednesday over zoning summonses issued against him in october for holding large services in his home on west hanover avenue."there are serious constitutional issues," bechor's attorney, jack dashosh, told municipal judge ira cohen."it's going to get to a religious issue," added bechor's other attorney, ronald heymann.municipal prosecutor michael cresitello asked to move ahead with the matter of the four summonses. they were issued last year for not having proper site plan approval, not having the correct zoning permits for change of use, not having a certificate of occupancy required for use and deviating from the original approval.cohen eventually adjourned the case until feb. 15.bechor and his attorneys have scheduled a feb. 10 meeting with township attorney ed buzak and township manager john lovell in an attempt to resolve the issue.the house was built a couple of years ago, according to township officials. the developer received variances from the board of adjustment when building the single-family home. during construction there was a permit change to convert a three-bay garage into a family billiards room, as well as a request to move the kitchen upstairs.the township began receiving complaints from neighbors over parking issues after people using the center parked on the lawn. there apparently were school services held for children there as well, officials said. another potential problem was that the septic system was designed for a small family, not a congregation."i would say that we're going to be good listeners," lovell said on friday. "i think the township has staked out its position very clearly, and i think chabad understands its position."lovell balked at the notion that the township was interfering with the rabbi's religious practices."we delayed any actions until after the (high holy days), much to the chagrin of the neighbors, who were furious with us," lovell said.the township and bechor initially came to an agreement that the chabad center could house the following activities:• small family prayer services;• a minyan, or a gathering of at least 10 men for prayer; and• counseling.the township told bechor that, if he wanted to continue to use the house as a chabad center, he would have to make the required changes to the home and would need the township's approval to do so. for example, emergency exits and fire doors would be required."there are four summonses that say we're in violation because we need a use variance for a zone change," heymann said last week."we received a variance for a single-family residential (use). the rabbi lives there with his wife and ... children. the law allows him to assemble and pray there."heymann conceded that the issue of parking likely will need to be addressed."i'm hoping that the meeting on the 10th has some resolution," heymann said. "my principal concern would be parking. short of that i don't have too many concerns."lovell said his concerns specifically address zoning laws and the safety of the center members and neighbors."there are zoning issues and construction code issues," he said."there are handicap and fire codes. it's now recognized as a house of assembly. ... the other aspect is parking on a side lot violates a wetlands area. these are very real issues. it's not just the town versus chabad ...we're carrying out state mandates as well."
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future mrs. reiss: my thoughts on chabad at nyu
i especially enjoyed viewing the chabad website. the influence of the chabad-lubavitch movement in the jewish world has increased tremendously over the last few years. this may be because many chabad individuals agree to travel and live in places all over the world where very few jews live. the chabadnicks have a tremendous level of tolerance toward those who are non-observant. they seem to have unconditional love for every jew, regardless of their degree of jewish knowledge and observance. it is their mission to reach out to all jews wherever they are, regardless of their background, and to teach them about judaism, their faith. one of their big tools is chanukah. chabad sets up a large menorah in public locations and attracts many people to the lighting of the menorah. personally, i have found the chabad people extremely friendly and hospitable and they give off a true feeling that they care about others. i had several chabad teachers at the jewish day school i attended and i always found them very warm and tolerant to others. they invited their students to their homes for holiday celebrations and they showed interest in their students. recently, chabad has opened new chabad houses on many american college campuses. here at nyu, rabbi korn, the chabad rabbi, and his wife, sarah, are very warm and personable. chabad provides free delicious meals on friday night at the chabad house that rebbetzin korn prepares herself. each shabbat there is another food theme- good ol’ shabbat, american shabbat, hawaiian shabbat, sushi shabbat, italian shabbat, sephardi shabbat, etc. rabbi korn recites kiddush for everyone and goes around pouring each and every person wine. everyone washes, makes hamotzi over bread, and partakes of the meal. then, there is a short torah thought given on the week’s torah portion (parsha) and people mingle with each other in a warm, non-judgmental atmosphere. many unaffiliated jews are attracted to the shabbat dinner and everyone is made to feel comfortable. the shabbat dinner gives these individuals the opportunity to learn about shabbat and spend several hours with their fellow jews socializing and enjoying the shabbat spirit. it is a great opportunity to be part of this warm and welcoming atmosphere. on wednesday nights, many people gather at the chabad house for café chabad/hookah night. it is a get-together that consists of a discussion on jewish philosophy, together with socializing and an open forum to discuss ideas and ask questions. of course, refreshments are served and there is hookah. i, personally, have not gone to this, but lots of people love it. rabbi korn is comfortable mingling with all students at nyu. often one can see him sitting outside weinstein offering hot apple cider and other goodies to the students. he’s the guy with the long black beard, saying “are you jewish?” he draws students into conversation and invites them to participate in chabad activities, which include a ski trip, concerts, etc. more information about chabad at nyu can be found at www.jewishlifedowntown.com.i am not on the chabad board, nor am i lubavitch, so i have no selfish reasons to promote chabad. however, chabad at nyu, and rabbi korn, specifically, are truly awesome. he’s just…amazing and down-to-earth. he met his wife at a grateful dead concert. can’t get much cooler than that. posted by lisa
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saturday, february 04, 2006
february is kabbalah month
by stacey dresner for rabbi yosef wolvovsky, kabbalah is not about selling red strings and kabbalah water or celebrity sightings. it is about finding deeper meaning in judaism. "jewish mysticism has so much to say about the purpose of life and meaningful living," explained rabbi wolvovsky, executive director of chabad: east of the river, located in glastonbury. to shed more light on the mystical jewish practice of kabbalah, february has been branded "kabbalah month" all around connecticut. this month, chabad-lubavitch centers in 17 towns across the state -- including west hartford, glastonbury, stamford, new haven, new london, and chabad at both uconn and yale -- will be holding a series of kabbalah-inspired classes and programming targeted to a variety of audiences. "recently we have seen a big interest and thirst from people wanting to know about the spiritual side of judaism," rabbi wolvovsky explained, adding that with the growing interest in kabbalah, several chabads around the state were already planning on running kabballah classes in february. "there were so many events, we thought, "why not put them all under one umbrella?" 'hidden wisdom' kabbalah, also called the "hidden wisdom" by the baal shem tov, is the esoteric study of the torah. until recently, kabbalah was really only studied by the most knowledgeable jewish scholars - mostly within the orthodox world - and not by the general jewish population. the most important book in kabbalah is the zohar (hebrew for "splendor") which is the mystical commentary on the torah, the nature of g-d, the universe, the soul and good and evil. recent interest in kabbalah has meant bringing the advanced study of the mystical subject down to earth for less jewishly-trained students. "during the years kabbalah has evolved from something not understandable by people who were not well-versed enough in other areas of torah," explained rabbi shua rosenstein, executive director of chabad at yale. "the work of lots of writers and kabbalists, who have written extensively on the subject in recent years, gives us the ability to teach to people from all walks of life." rabbi wolvovsky said that the kinds of kabbalah courses being offered now have been altered from past kabbalah courses. "in the past we would offer basic courses like kabbalah 101 or introduction to kabbalah," he said. "now we are designing courses around specific subjects, like kabbalah of relationships, the interplay between men and women, and the kabbalah of time, on the jewish calendar." "the kaballah of time," an eight-week program of the jewish learning institute, (jli) which looks at the jewish calendar through the lens of kabballah is one of the courses that will be offered around the state during kabbalah month. the course will not only be offered at seven locations around the state, but like other jli classes will also be held at 160 locations around the world.
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becoming observant in the land of the nittany lions
february 2nd, 2006 - illanit meckley if i were to give one piece of advice to a couple engaged in the process of becoming more observant, i suggest this: move to a remote, slightly rural location with few jews and an even fewer observant jewish community. it has become apparent to me, since this is what my husband and i did, that not being in a jewish community has had a direct correlation to our thought process and decision-making regarding our observance. we live in state college, pa - home to penn state university and the nittany lions, and located within 3.5 hours of pittsburgh, philadelphia, and baltimore. nittany valley is home to football-crazed fans, about 40,000 undergraduate students, and more pizza shops than one can count. it is also our home since we got married 2.5 years ago, and remarkably, i can’t think of a better place to become more observant in judaism.yesterday, after lunching with our chabad friends, and it being a glorious, unseasonably warm day, we decided to spend the afternoon walking around in downtown state college. for whatever reason, perhaps it was the warmth or the fact that a game was going on, there were many more people walking around than usual. about 20 minutes into our walk, i noticed something. everywhere we went, people watched us. and i watched them watching us. and i noticed that their eyes were fixed on one thing - the blue knitted kippah on my husband’s head. i pointed this out to my husband. he didn’t believe it, then asked if i thought he should take it off. i shook my head. we kept walking. internally, i marveled at my husband and myself. not living within a jewish community has given us the freedom to grow in our observance at our own pace. when we moved here, not only did we have the challenge of building a foundation for our marriage (and getting used to each other’s hot buttons), but we also had the challenge of developing the kind of jewish home that we wanted. away from jewish communal life, a jewish newspaper, judaica shops, and the other accoutrements that come with a jewish community, we have identified the features of jewish life that are important to us, that we will look for when we move on from here. we delight in the seemingly little things, like the surprising variety of kosher wines in our local liquor store, the weekly selection of fresh kosher meat (itself a year-old development) in the grocery store, and perhaps most frequently, the questions from our non-jewish friends and classmates, for many of whom we are the first jews they have met. we absolutely love shabbat and savor its uniqueness as our little island of peace. not only do i get to perfect my challah baking (courtesy of no classes on fridays), but we also try to have people over every friday night specifically to celebrate with others. perhaps the best part about living here is that, even though my husband and i do not come from religious backgrounds, we have the confidence that when we enter a jewish community we will be comfortable in what we do, what we know, and what we don’t know. there are millions of advantages of becoming more observant within a community, and frequently we long for one. but to be honest, i am going to miss my little home (read: apartment) when we move to a big city, where my home is one among many with a mezuzah; here it is the only one in the entire apartment building. i am going to miss the uniqueness i feel, knowing that one grocery store began carrying kosher challah because my husband called the challah distributor without the grocery store knowing about it (during a period of less-than-tasty challah at home). i can’t wait to join the larger jewish community, but at the same time, i will miss the time and space i have here to define judaism for myself, on my own and together with my husband. this entry was posted on thursday, february 2nd, 2006 at 5:00 am and is filed under community. you can follow any responses to this entry through the rss 2.0 feed. you can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 12 responses to “becoming observant in the land of the nittany lions” david linn february 2nd, 2006 09:20 1 while i think it is tremendous that you and your husband were able to grow in a community with few observant jews, i can’t say that i agree with your advice to do so as a conscious decision. while growing in your yiddishkeit outside of a community will remove the external pressures to grow at a pace faster than what might be proper for you, a community brings many, many positive necessities. a community brings more learning and growth opportunities, a greater choice of rabbeim, teachers and friends, support, minyanim, etc. (not to mention kosher pizza!) imo, true growth is possible outside of a community (you are living proof of that!), growth outside of a community is praiseworthy but, all things being equal, the choice to go to a place without a community may be fraught with difficulties. as it says in pirkei avos: do not separate yourself from the community. steve brizel february 2nd, 2006 10:49 2 i envy the author of this post in some ways but i wonder what they will do for chinuch eventually. it is very hard for kids to grow up in a community as the only frum jews. chana february 2nd, 2006 14:04 3 i have often wondered this about families of chabad shalichim who plant themselves in a location where there are no frum jews in order to do kiruv. it amazes me. what is their secret of being so unafraid of “reverse kiruv”, that is, of their children being negatively influenced by the majority? and yet, it appears the kids are not affected, in the chabad families i have known. gershon seif february 2nd, 2006 14:29 4 well, i’ve been deep inside the frum community for decades. every time we go on a family trip and pass by farmland, i tell my wife, one day i’d love to live out here. just give me a few good jewish books, my guitar, open fields and good weather…. perhaps we canstart a small community out here with families that are looking for cheap housing and space. at which point she responds, well i hope you enjoy the farm, because the day you do that, i’m outta here! while david linn is right in saying that we are not islands (nor are we rocks…sorry s&g) there is much to be said for your privacy and going it almost alone. there is an intimacy with hashem that develops, because nobody else is doing it around you and it’s for real. you can take baby steps and grow at your own pace when there aren’t expectations of kiruv professional all around. in many ways it’s a healthier way to go. and i write this even though i am a so-called kiruv professional. i still recall the powerful bond i forged with hashem when i was the only one in my high school keeping shabbos. i still remind hashem of it on rosh hashana, in the hope that it will serve as my own little akeidas yitzchok. (on the other hand, there’s the possibility that this very situation can be the very cause of all that inspiration fizzling out. with little frum socializing and community support, it can get rough and lonely) illanit is well aware that this is only a temporary phase. one day, they’ll be in a bigger town and chinuch and integration will happen. i would only suggest that you need to have direction even when you’re doing it this way. otherwise you’ll find yourself fixing a lot of misconceptions both halachically and perhaps philosophically. good luck on your journey, and if you pass by a farm just outside a big town, let me know about it. perhaps my wife and i can work something out… mark february 2nd, 2006 15:25 5 chana - i was listening to rebbetzin heller’s tape on community and she discussed the issue you mentioned. she brought down that rabbi aharon kotler, when promoting the community kollel concept, invoked the principal that something that is giving forth does not absorb. ie, if you are busy spreading torah you won’t absorb the non-torah influences. she also said that chabad shluchim and their children have avery strong sense of who they are so they are less likely to be effected by outside influences. lc february 2nd, 2006 16:02 6 and chabad shluchim are also willing to send their children away for school at a young age (i’ve seen when the local day school isn’t on par with what they want for their children’s education. i wouldn’t recommend moving *into* such circumstances, but i would agree that living in them does give someone a very strong sense of self and direction. ilanit february 2nd, 2006 16:29 7 first of all, thank you for your comments and i am really touched and inspired that people read my post! i have never blogged before so i am very excited. i should add that the primary reason that brought us here is that my husband was director of student life for penn state hillel, which he has since left and is now a student like me. the involvement with hillel filled our lives and made judaism front and center. in addition, being in the role of a role model, educator, counselor, friend, and advisor really drove my husband (and by extension, me) to grow in our own knowledge. it was quite inspirational to see the students who would make the effort to shlep all the way to the spiritual center for friday night services and dinner, regardless of their affiliation or knowledge of judaism, and seeing this inspired me to really make judaism my own. i would even argue that, because we don’t have a lot of people we can rely on, because we don’t have many community institutions, and because we don’t even have a lot of friends who fully understand shabbat or keeping kosher (jewish and non-jewish - i suppose we are also doing kiruv!), we have to get creative and figure out how we make this work regardless of our circumstances. at this point in our lives, without children and without job responsibilities (the student life!), we can sort out what is important to us, how we want to raise our children (b”h), what kind of community and shul we want, so that we will be more prepared when we join a larger community. thank you again for your posts! gershon seif february 2nd, 2006 17:07 8 i assume you know yehudah and orit seif? http://www.jli.co.il/penn/section.asp rabbi seif is my second cousin. we;ve never met, as i lived in israel whenhe was growing up in nj and then moved to chicago. i hear he’s doing great outreach work out in your part of the world. please tell them their long lost cousin says hello and wishes them well! ilanit february 2nd, 2006 18:35 9 to gershon - i wish i knew yehudah and orit seif, but they are at upenn, and we are at penn state (about 3.5 hours west). sorry! yael nehama february 2nd, 2006 18:55 10 i can relate to your post so much, since when we started this journey we were pretty much on our own and it was a very exciting time in our lives. we moved about five years ago to a frum community from very rural lancaster (read: all neighbors were amish). when we moved here we were very ready to get into a community for my children and for our sakes in order to grow in our observance. i have to tell you though i truly missed our home and country life for a very long time. i still miss it but i am close enough that if i need a ‘fix’ i can take the 1.5 hour drive to lancaster and visit. also i just try to live my country life here in the city. as much as i miss it, i know it was the right decision for us. i really love it here during the yomim tovim! i especially love sukkot and all the ’sukkah hopping’ that gets done. we are a small commuity so it is pretty heimishe here. i wish you all the best and continued growth where ever you are! mordechai y. scher february 2nd, 2006 19:42 11 well, yael, at least in lancaster county they dress like frum folks! shayna february 3rd, 2006 07:43 12 sometimes i think it’s easier to define yourself when there’s you’re an enormous contrast from the status quo. i could easily explain to a 7-year-old why we don’t imitate the behavior at secular relative’s homes but it’s infinitely harder to explain why she can’t go barelegged in summer when other frum girls do! ilanit–if you’d like to experience an opposite type of shabbos, you’re welcome to be our guests in monsey! jayneiris@optonline.net
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770 stamp
for the first time in israel a stamp connected to the chabad movement has been issued.although previous offers to issue a stamp of the rebbe rayatz and then of the rebbe were rejected due to the fact that stamps are pounded upon (which is a disgrace to photos of tzaddikim), this new stamp of 770 will be available to the public this month and will serve as a visual 'replica' of 770 similar to the buildings in new york, yerushalayim, melbourne, california,brazil and other locations.according to an article by idan yosef on nfc, rabbi shlomo maidanchik, ob'm was the one to suggest that the israeli postal service issues a stamp with the image of 770, being that it symbolizes the spreading out of light to the entire world.although it took some time this request will be fulfilled at the end of this february, and the stamp will be available in all postal offices in israel. great efforts were exerted on creating the stamp elegantly with golden print. the stamp shows 770 with the words 'chochma, bina and daas' (wisdom, understanding and knowledge) on the background of the globe, symbolizing that the center disperses light to the entire world. the tab of the stamp contains pictures of tefillin, shabbos candles and the mivtzaim symbol of 'uforatsto' (the numerological equivalent of 770 and 'beis moshiach').the stamp will be sold for 2.5 nis, which is a bit over the ordinary price of israeli stamps and is suitable for letters weighing 20 to 100 grams. the stamp was skillfully designed by artist dana zada, who specializes in drawing on stamps and it comes with add-ons including an envelope depicting the first day of issuance, a seal showing the date of the stamp and a brochure explaining the essence and significance of 770.
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nyorleans
but i didn’t want to get too far away from baton rouge if i was to get a call for deployment. i probably could have gotten away with it, and i guess i did that last shabbes. a fellow in the beth shalom congregation, sam breen, came up to me at the kiddush and asked me if i’d like to drive down with him to the chabad house in metairie to help make the shabbes minyan the next morning. the man spoke in the slow droll of a native nyorlinean. he had observed my davening during the silent amidah and thought i might be orthodox. so sam and i met in the beth shalom parking lot the next day and he drove me down to nyorlean. and after shul (where i did in fact make the minyan), he gave me a tour of a number of devastated neighborhoods of new orleans, and some of the affected suburbs like metairie.
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friday, february 03, 2006
friday tefillin
there are these two religious guys that came by the store a week or two ago on friday and asked me to put tfilin on (a jewish practice, if you're curious, search wikipedia).anyways, they were very insistant that i do it, but i politely told them that i wasn't interested.while it seemed like it had crushed them emotionally, it just wasn't something i felt like doing, especially at the store.so today they came back, introduced themselves, and i asked them where they went to highschool.they told me that they're in yeshiva which is kindof like high school.so i told them that i understand since i went to yeshivat or chaim (for those of you who aren't familiar, i was raised in the orthodox day school system), and that my entire grade except for me is currently in israel, studying in actual yeshivas (again, for more information, see wikipedia).so then thet tell me that they've never heard of or chaim and that they're from yeshivat chabbad lubavitch, (and thus the ideal to try to get every jew to do as many mitzvas as they can [mitzvahs=positive commandments]).they then asked me if i felt like putting on tfilin this week.i told them no and they asked me why.after brief a conversation about how i came to associate judaism and religion with oppression during my upbringing, how i was never intellectually comfortable with monotheism, the position of agnosticism, the flaw of pascal's wager, the problems with nationalist-centred thinking, as well as how i've more recently been able to appreciate judaism for it's pragmatic worth, i told them that while i am cautiously warming up to the idea of judaism in the national sense, i was nowhere near embracing it as a religion, and was by no means going to practice it in the store, a place that should have no clear association with any particular religion.they were again crushed after what seemed like endless pushing and gave me the weekly lubavitch pamphlet that i used to read in shul when i was little, and told me that they'd visit again and that maybe one week i'd want to put on tfilin.
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wednesday, february 01, 2006
where is god?
by rabbi mendel kaplanin the latest anti-semitic attacks there, a skinhead stabs and attempts to kill some muscovite jews whose sole sin is the desire to pray. despite the remarkable rapport russia’s chief rabbi enjoys with the country’s president, the jewish community feels impelled to create its own self-defence apparatus. they can no longer rely on the state’s protection.on the brink of achieving nuclear capability, iran’s hatefully twisted president denies the holocaust and threatens israel’s annihilation. the un’s unusually deliberate reaction is mild at best. in this international crisis of epic proportion, israel alone feels the brunt of the pressure.despite its hollow promises, the ruling infrastructure of the palestinian authority does nothing to hinder the murderous activities of the terrorist organizations in its jurisdiction. instead, they warmly welcome these groups onto the political stage and include them in the upcoming democratic process. the world says little or nothing in protest other than to emphasize that israel must learn to be more “tolerant and accommodating.”the fashionable, politically correct and morally smug left readily acknowledges the european holocaust by villifying nazis and fascists, but refuses to call their new islamic incarnation anything more than “freedom fighters.”has anything really changed in 2,000 years? it seems that the galut (diaspora) odyssey, punctuated by the same, age-old pattern of anti-semitism, continues. why does god allow this to happen again and again?the midrash (bereishit rabba 16) tells us that the spiritual origin of all exile is the biblical egyptian exile. accepting this premise means the torah’s narrative of the first jewish bondage and exodus should offer us a clue.in the second chapter of exodus, the scripture tells us about a humble shepherd who sees a bush that is on fire but isn’t burning. what ensues is a fateful meeting that will forever change the world’s destiny. moses meets god and is charged with redeeming his brethren and establishing a chosen people.“when they ask me your name,” queries a distraught moses, “what shall i say to them?”god’s cryptic answer: “tell them: i will be as i will be.” rashi expands the sentence by quoting the talmud’s words for clarification. “imo anochi betzara” (i will be with them in their present suffering just as i will be with them in their future suffering).this enigmatic exchange begs for explanation. why is moses so sure that the people will ask for god’s name? and why is the location of the divine presence the answer?in the winter of 1983, as israel was suffering heavy casualties in lebanon, the lubavitcher rebbe explained these verses in an emotionally charged address. a kernel of that moving, scholarly rumination goes like this: names are more than id tags. names define relationships. a person may be a child, sibling, spouse, parent or professional. the different names characterize and reveal those various persona.“‘ma shmo [what is his name] – what type of strange god is this?’ the people will ask. if he is omnipresent and cares for us, where has he been for the last 90 years of slavery, degradation and death? and what i shall tell them?” moses demands.god’s answer: “imo anochi betzara – tell them i have been with them all along, i didn’t forget or turn a blind eye. whenever they suffered, i was in pain with them.“my ways forever remain mysterious… there are some things humankind can never comprehend, but tell them that nonetheless i am not aloof.”the bush is on fire, but flames cannot consume it because god is in the fire. the jewish nation is threatened with annihilation time and again, but it will never die because god is always with them. then, now and forever.rabbi kaplan is the founder and spiritual leader of chabad@flamingo in thornhill, and serves as a chaplain of the york regional police.
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moscow rabbi urges return of sacred jewish books
moscow, february 1 (ria novosti) - the rabbi of a moscow synagogue has asked russia's authorities to return thousands of "jewish sacred objects" seized by soviet authorities. "there are 12,000 books of the lubavitcher rebbe nearby, in the lenin library. this is the heritage of lubavitcher hasids," yitzhak kogan told a news conference in the synagogue. the books should be moved back into the possession of hasidic jews, he said. kogan was referring to the schneersons' library in lubavichi (on the territory of the present smolensk region), which was the center of a branch of the hasidic movement. most of the items from the library, built up by the schneerson dynasty over a 200 year period, were confiscated by soviet authorities and have since been kept in the lenin library. in the early 1990s jewish activists held regular pickets near the library in an attempt to get the manuscripts back. they are reported to believe that the manuscripts would give them new mystic evidence, as well as prophesies about the future, and would help them to extend the influence of the lubavitcher movement worldwide.
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