A Cappela Single from Beri Weber for the 3 Weeks!

Download this free track of “Aheim” originally recorded on the debut album “Bezras Hashem Yisbarach” from Beri Weber.

This song contains no musical instruments and is intended for use during Sefirah and the 3 weeks. (Or the rest of the year!)

International Crooks Posing as Chabad Rabbis

A Shliach in Western Europe sent CrownHeights.info and email alerting us of two crooks posing as Chabad rabbis attempting to swindle money out of Jewish communities. The two men, Israeli citizens are Dudu (David) Biton (36) and Ezra Idan (21).

Florida Smicha Program Graduates

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida [CHI] — Bochurim in the Fort Lauderdale Smicha Program, took their final Smicha Test Tuesday with Rabbi Yitzchak Yehuda Yeruslavski. They spent the year learning and helping out with community activities, making a deep and lasting impression in the Fort Lauderdale and Lauderhill Chabad Community.

Video: Chabad of the West Side’s 18th Annual Dinner Video

Rabbi Manis Friedman Clarifies His Statment

I would like to clarify the answer published in my name in last month’s issue of Moment Magazine.

First of all, the opinions published in my name are solely my own, and do not represent the official policy of any Jewish movement or organization.

Additionally, my answer, as written, is misleading.

It is obvious, I thought, that any neighbor of the Jewish people should be treated, as the Torah commands us, with respect and compassion. Fundamental to the Jewish faith is the concept that every human being was created in the image of G-d, and our sages instruct us to support the non-Jewish poor along with the poor of our own brethren.

G.M. Seeks Bankruptcy and a New Start

General Motors filed for bankruptcy on Monday morning, submitting its reorganization papers to a federal clerk in Lower Manhattan.

G.M. said it had $82.3 billion in assets and $172.8 billion in debts. Its largest creditors were the Wilmington Trust Company, representing a group of bondholders holding $22.8 billion in debts, and affiliates of the United Auto Workers union, representing nearly $20.6 billion in employee obligations.

Lev Leviev’s Q1 Profit Soars to $163 Million

JERUSALEM [Reuters] — Real estate developer Africa Israel Investments AFIL0.1TA on Sunday reported a surge in first-quarter net profit, boosted by accounting changes, efficiency measures and improved results at its subsidiaries.

The Israeli company, controlled by billionaire diamond dealer Lev Leviev, recorded net profit of 647 million shekels ($163 million), up from 45 million shekels a year earlier.

As Holidays come and go, War Barely Takes a Break

The Marines stood solemnly in a small auditorium at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. Rows of hardened faces stared ahead as the national anthem played and a slide show flashed images of happier times – and lives cut short.

“For those that have lost a loved one, Dear L-rd, please be everything that they can no longer be,” said the chaplain.

At that moment, two years ago, the war stopped for these Marines. It was for a rare chance to grieve. But it was just a moment. The Marines wiped their tears, got up and went back to work.

Stamp Prices go up Again – From 42¢ to 44¢

NEW YORK [ABC] — Rising operation costs are forcing the U.S. Postal Service to raise the price of postage once again. Postal Service officials say the price for a one-ounce First Class Mail stamp goes up two cents from 42 to 44 cents May 11th. Customers can continue to use the Forever stamps.

Missing Child B”H Found

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn [CHI] — A panicked mother called Shomrim after she noticed that her 5 year old son wandered out of an Albany Avenue store, and went missing. Many Shomrim units responded to the scene and quickly spread out in search of the child.

The $328,000 Air Force One Photo

WASHINGTON [CBS] — On the same day that the White House released the photograph that cost $328,000 and turned the stomachs of thousand of New Yorkers, President Barack Obama accepted the resignation of the official who authorized the presidential aircraft flyover in lower Manhattan last month, CBS 2 reports.

Bright Beginnings – Montreal Auction Winners

Jackpot Linda Rosenblum
Split The Pot Shlomi Denburg

U.S. Supreme Court Slaps Postville Prosecutions

WASHINGTON — In a unanimous decision issued today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that many of the convictions and sentences given to immigrant detainees from the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville were in error.

Jewish Diseases Make Jews Smarter?

The question had been gnawing at Gregory Cochran for years: Why are European Jews prone to so many deadly genetic diseases?

Natural selection, the self-taught genetics buff knew, should flush dangerous DNA from the gene pool. Could the mutations causing these diseases have some benefit?

An Incredible Tefillin Story – From Hashem are Man’s Footsteps Established

Mr. “A.L.” lives in the Jewish community of Chicago. During the summer of 2007 he traveled 350 miles to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, for a three day business trip. Arriving shortly after 1:00pm, AL decided to “daven” (pray) the afternoon service before starting his appointments. His siddur (prayer book) had been packed together with his tefillin. He opened his suitcase and found the siddur, but noticed that his tefillin were absent. Frantically, he began searching everywhere throughout the interior of the car, the trunk, and his suitcase, but all to no avail.

AL was sure he had brought the tefillin with him, for he absolutely never leaves home without them. In fact, he had not missed a day of putting on tefillin in thirty-six years, so his present predicament had him feeling quite beside himself. Here he was, in a small mid-western city with no orthodox synagogue or rabbi (it was a three hundred mile round trip to the closest rabbi), and he needed a pair of tefillin for the next two days.