Daily Archives: May 26, 2006

Fatal bus accident boy ordered to foster care

The 8-year-old boy accused of causing the bus to run over a little girl has been ordered placed in foster care. The girl, Amber Sadiq, was run over and killed Monday by a school bus in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Police say the troubled boy fiddled with the controls and caused the bus to roll backwards over Amber.

There were two major developments here this afternoon. First the child’s father has been stripped of custody of the child. He will be placed in foster care for at least the next eight months.

Man Arrested Yesterday, Released

At 1:57pm today [Friday] the yungerman that was arrested yesterday for confronting a police officer after receiving a double parking ticket, had been released from central booking after spending the night in jail

The charges against him, obstruction of a government employee and the parking ticket, had been dropped.

NCFJE Seminar “Cycles of Abuse”

Nearly 100 professionals, educators, school counselors, and therapists were present on Monday, May 22, 2006, when Operation Survival, a division of NCFJE held a seminar titled “Cycles of Abuse.” The seminar featured renowned psychotherapist, author and addiction expert Ronald Potter-Efron, M.S.W., Ph. D. and noted physician and lecturer Dr. Susan Schulman. It addressed the topics of child abuse and the resultant feelings of shame, guilt, and anger that become risk factors for further abuses including substance abuse, as well as some solutions to the problem of the cycles of abuse.

Rabbi Shea Hecht, Chairman NCFJE, introduced the speakers with his trademark warmth and charisma, using stories and Torah thoughts to stress the value of each child and how precious they are to us. He also spoke about the importance of guarding our children’s safety by facing the issue of abuse and doing something about it. Rabbi Hecht’s message was synopsized with the saying, “Save one life and save a world.”

KU gets its own Chabad House

Lawrence, Kansas – New York philanthropist George Rohr aims to debunk the conventional wisdom that young Jews are bound to stray from Jewish practices during college.

That need not be true, Rohr believes, if on-campus opportunities for spiritual growth are provided. Moreover, Rohr is putting his money where his mouth is, and Kansas’ Jewish community will be the beneficiary.

The Rohr Family Foundation has provided a three-year supporting grant that allowed Rabbi Zalman Teichtel, his wife, Nechama, and their infant daughter, Mina, to move from Brooklyn to Lawrence a few weeks ago to open the new Chabad Jewish Center at KU and the Capital District. Right now, the Teichtels’ half of a pale blue duplex at 1201 W. 19th St. – a stone’s throw from Naismith Hall and the southern edge of the University of Kansas campus – doubles as the Chabad House. But by fall, they’ll have the building’s other half to use for offices, and a sign will beckon visitors.

Study of Chabad Houses Finds Jews Seeking Spiritual Growth

The Lubavitcher Chasidim are touting their rapidly expanding outreach programs on college campuses with a new study by a Hebrew University professor.

Many young American Jews are seeking authentic and meaningful Jewish experiences, and are not, as “common myth” would have it, defiantly breaking away from their heritage, said the year-long study, conducted by Barry Chazan and unveiled at the New York office of George Rohr, a businessman who has given tens of millions of dollars to Chabad over the years.

This was the first effort by researchers to examine the inner workings of the campus Chabad house – the Lubavitch movement’s Jewish outreach site. The study, “A Home Away From Home,” focused on Jewish students who had joined the Chabad rabbi and his wife for Sabbath dinner several times, and recorded observations of the dinners and the students’ impressions. Altogether researchers observed 22 dinners on five campuses and interviewed 33 students.