In 2014, the Connecticut Jewish Ledger listed Rabbi Levi and Chanie Schectman on their annual “Movers and Shakers” list. For those who knew them, this didn’t come as a surprise; since the couple had opened Chabad at Wesleyan in 2011, they had had an increasing impact on Jewish students at Wesleyan University, hosting a variety of programs for the university’s 600 Jewish students from their modest home.
Live kaparos will be continuing in New York City, at least for now, as a Manhattan Appellate court affirmed a lower court’s decision that refused to ban the practice because of claims that it is cruel and unsanitary.
Children’s Filmmaker Chaim Hershkowitz and his Mitzvah Boulevard crew film the second volume of ‘The Rebbe’s Niggunim’ in a Crown Heights home.
This week, we present a letter from the Rebbe to Rabbi Benjamin Blech of Yeshiva University, a well known lecturer and Jewish leader, in which he encourages Rabbi Blech in his exemplary work for yiddishkeit – specifically for taharas ha’mishpacha – and in general praises Young Israel – analyzing the significance of its name. A second letter from the Rebbe to “Mr. Young Israel,” R’ Yitzchok Meir Bunim, is included as well. The letters, written originally in English, are from the archives of the Rebbe’s personal trusted secretary, Rabbi Nissan Mindel.
On Friday, 15 Sivan (June 9), there will be a rally at the Ohel for all children ages 5 to 12, featuring arts and crafts, prizes, sandwiches and an amazing program. Buses will leave 770 at 1:00pm and return at 3:45pm. Transportation will cost $3.
Continuing what has become an annual tradition for Rabbi Borenstein’s Eighth grade class, they all got together in the backyard of his Balfore Place home for a Siyum and a barbeque.
“We are so focused on the clothing aspect of tznius that we may be missing the forest for the trees,” writes a member of the Crown Heights community in this op-ed shared with CrownHeights.info.
Hailing a yellow cab, grabbing a slice of pizza after a Yankees game, strolling through Central Park . . . these are some of the indelible parts of a New York City experience. So, too, is the sight of yeshivah students clamoring from a converted RV—better known as the “mitzvah tank”—tefillinand Shabbat candles in hand as they ask tourists and locals alike: “Excuse me, are you Jewish?” This is their story.
Mrs. Esther Sternberg is the director of the Shabbos Candle Lighting Campaign, a division of the Lubavitch Women’s Organization. She lives with her family in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. She was interviewed by JEM’s My Encounter with the Rebbe project in her home in July of 2012.
Jacob Chartoff was born and raised in Boston. As a young man, he attended Harvard University enrolled in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, graduating with a degree in English literature. He chuckled when recalling that annual tuition back then was a whopping $500.
