Daily Archives: March 28, 2006

J.P. Morgan Dined here

State tax agents have shuttered the 14 Wall Street restaurant in the 31st-floor penthouse of 14 Wall St., the land-marked, 1 million-square-foot office tower that Shaya Boymelgreen and his partners bought last year for $215 million. And nobody’s happier than Boymelgreen.

A spokesman for the state Department of Taxation and Finance said it “seized and padlocked” the restaurant on March 13 over $511,546.33 in unpaid sales and withholding taxes. “They put chains on it,” said a beaming Boymelgreen, who added that the restaurant hadn’t been paying rent, either.

The abrupt closing of the eatery in what was once J.P. Morgan’s private dining room gives Boymelgreen and his partners, Africa-Israel Investments, the chance to “create a very special restaurant” in an 8,000-square-foot aerie boasting what the Zagat Survey calls “astounding” harbor views.

Tefilin Bank Opens New Website

Since its establishment, The Kushner International Tefillin Bank has been met by exponential growth. Numbers speak for themselves, and in just a few short months The Tefillin Bank has distributed almost 3,600 pairs of tefillin, to newfound daily users around the world! Remarkably, the far reaching affects of this campaign, have extended even to volatile places like Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to peaceful towns in the Midwestern United States.

“The Tefillin Bank has directly impacted the lives of almost 3,600 people” said Motti Seligson, Coordinator of The Tefillin Bank, “The large influx of correspondence, expressing gratitude for not only the tefillin themselves, but the ripple effect it generates, has been incredible.”

President Bush Announces Joshua Bolten As White House Chief Of Staff

Earlier today, President Bush announced the resignation of Andy Card as White House Chief of Staff and nominated current Office of Management and Budget Director Joshua Bolten as Card’s successor. Bolten will be the second Jewish Chief of Staff following Ken Duberstein, who served as President Reagan’s Chief of Staff from 1988 to 1989.

Bolten is widely experienced in Washington, both on Capitol Hill as well as at the White House, where he was deputy chief of staff before becoming director of the Office of Management and Budget and President Bush was glad he agreed to replace Andy Card who just resigned from this position.

Bolton, whose father was employed in the CIA is a friend of Chabad, who participates regularly in Chabad events and took parts in Chanukah lighting events and more recently in megillah reading arranged by Chabad in the White House. The shliach to Washington, Rabbi Levi Shemtov, believes he is a perfect choice, being a wonderful person, modest and always willing to learn and understand.

For a complete transcript of today’s announcement, click the Extended Article.

Matzo lesson anything but flat at Jewish center

The children of Hillel School could hardly wait for the rabbi to call on them for answers to his questions about Passover.

The 19 or so first- and third-grade students sat on the floor at the Jewish Community Center on Monday and looked straight up at Rabbi Nechemia Vogel.

With a white apron about his waist and a chef’s cap on his head, the rabbi looked down at their little faces, flashed a pleasant smile and talked about the history behind making matzo.

War of Words Erupts With a Barrage of Open-Letters

R. Schwei recently wrote two letters to the community. One letter accuses the Rosh HaKohol Moshe Rubashkin has been running the Vaad HaKohol in an ‘unacceptable manner’. The other letter, states that R. Segal was illegitimately appointed. The letters also lays blame on R. Osdoba of being a ‘Nogeah Badavar’ and stated that R. Osdoba himself, has been called to a Din Torah.

In response, Rubashkin published a 67 page booklet, filled with letters on a number of issues, ranging from Rabonim Elections [which makes up the brunt of it] to the Purim Seudah.

Regarding R. Schwei’s statement, Rubashkin remarked, that “anyone would ask himself, wait R. Schwei is accusing R. Osdoba of being a Nogeah Badavar? He himself has his own issues between himself and R. Osdoba! What would that make R. Schwei?”

In the extended article are both the letters and the booklet.

UTJ fears thousands of Chabad ultra-Orthodox will vote for Baruch Marzel

The United Torah Judaism party expressed fears on Tuesday that large numbers of Chabad ultra-Orthodox would decide to vote for the rival National Jewish Front led by extreme-right figure Baruch Marzel.

The Chabad community has traditionally been a strong UTJ constituency.

In the 2003 elections, Marzel’s party (Herut, led by Michael Kleiner) received a large number of votes from residents of Kfar Chabad.