Crown Heights JCC Leader Sued

Adam Dickter – The Jewish Week

Board members say chairman owes council millions; Rubashkin claims row is over bet din.

A state court in Brooklyn is weighing whether to require the chairman of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council to turn over financial records to his officers after two directors alleged that he has misdirected funds for personal gain.

But Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin emphatically denies the charges, insisting ‘not a dollar, not 50 cents, not a penny’ was misused. And at least one communal leader says the charges appear ‘baseless.’

Judge Francois Rivera of state Supreme Court earlier this month called on Rabbi Rubashkin to show why an order should not be issued by the court requiring him to open the books. The motion also prevented the installation of three rabbis to a bet din whose election on April 30 is in dispute.

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The Weekly Sedra – Parshat Bamidbar & Shavuos

This week’s section Bamidbar (which means In the desert) begins the fourth book of the Torah and sets the stage for the holiday of Shavuot this coming week.

The Baal Shem Tov (who passed away on Shavuot some 250 years ago) taught that every detail of Creation and especially every word of the Torah contains deep, mystical, and personal messages.

So when the holiday of Shavuot comes in the week of Bamidbar, there must be a major message, and here it seems to be obvious: the Torah was given in the desert (Exodus 10:1).

And the Talmud explains that this comes to teach us that just as a desert is ownerless and anyone can take what’s in it for free, so also the Torah is available to everyone free for the taking.

KSCVK’s ‘Ice Cream Social’ A Great Success

Yesterday evening Keren Simchas Chosson VeKallah held a unique evening entitled ‘Ice Cream Social’. Many women baked cakes that were displayed for all to see, then the lucky participants were able to’ bid ‘on the cakes chinese auction style. There were over 25 cakes on display. There was an ice cream buffet, both Milchig and Pareve which was served with all different types of toppings. Hot apple turnovers, warm chocolate chip cookies, waffles, mouth watering cheesecakes and beautifully arranged fruits were just a few of the large variety of things to savor.

The event took place in Bais Rivka Campus Chomesh and was emceed by our beloved Mrs. Miriam Swerdlov. A letter from the Rebbe on the subject of Tznius was read followed by a video entitled “Who Am I” which featured lectures about Tznius. This video was being played in over 100 different places worldwide.

More pictures in Extended Article

Florida Teen Honored On Capitol Hill

CBS4
Ehud Olmert addressing a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill

Daniel Wultz, the Florida teenager wounded in a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv in April was honored by family, friends and political leaders on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

Political leaders within the House of Representatives and the Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, were on hand in Washington to memorialize the teen and his life.

Full transcript of Olmerts speech in the Extended Article.

Fox Chapel Chabad signs lease on building in Aspinwall

Jewish Cronicle

Chabad of Fox Chapel has signed a lease on a building that will become the new Fox Chapel Center of Jewish Life.

The newly leased building is located on Freeport Road just past the intersection with Fox Chapel Road, about a half mile from the Waterworks shopping area and near an exit off Route 28.

Chabad, a Lubavitch organization, opened its Fox Chapel branch almost five years ago. Since then it has operated primarily out of the home of its directors, Rabbi Eli and Shternie Rosenfeld.

Appointment of Monitor Adds Teeth to Fight Against Anti-Semitism

The Jewish Exponent
Newly appointed anti-Semitism monitor Gregg
Rickman (second from left) with (left) Sen.
George Voinovich (R-Ohio), the UJC’s William
Daroff (third from left) and the WJC’s Shai
Franklin in a 2002 photo

The U.S. State Department just added a set of teeth to its fledgling office monitoring anti-Semitism.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday named Gregg Rickman, a dogged investigator who has tracked the Swiss banks’ role in the Holocaust, as the first special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism around the world. Jewish leaders unanimously agreed that the appointment would push the office monitoring anti-Semitism, in existence barely 18 months, to the department’s front burner.

“It creates a strong point person that will be able to coordinate all the different parts of our government that deal with anti-Semitism,” said Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ, a group that advocates for Jews in the former Soviet Union and that lobbied for the position.