Mumbai Dossier Reveals Chilling Celebrations of Pakistani Masterminds

MUMBAI, India — Transcripts of their conversations and a confession statement of the lone surviving gunman reveal how Lashkar e Taiba leaders, a group which was once sponsored by Pakistan’s intelligence services, carefully managed the slaughter from afar.

The transcripts are part of an Indian government dossier which claims the plot was planned and remotely controlled from Pakistan by LeT chiefs using live television news coverage and continuous satellite phone conversation with the gunmen.

Chabad Gives IDF Soldiers An Inspired Sendoff

As IDF soldier’s prepare to enter Gaza, Chabad representatives give them an inspiring sendoff with gifts of food, extra clothing, and specially printed prayer books designed to fit in their uniform pockets.

Chabad.org New Section on War in Gaza

Chabad.org has launched a new special section on their website on the war in Gaza, with news updates, commentary and more.

Playwright Pens Script on Postville

NIWOT, CO — A stage drama inspired by the struggles in Postville could appear in theaters this year, once a Colorado playwright finishes his script.

The play “Postville” features characters that include longtime residents, Hasidic Jews and a veteran journalist. It may also portray immigrant workers from a local meatpacking plant, based on Agriprocessors Inc.

The Agriprocessors plant in Postville was the site of a real-life immigration raid in May 2008, when federal agents detained nearly 400 workers for allegedly being in the country illegally. A top executive was later charged with harboring and hiring illegal immigrants, Agriprocessors was forced into bankruptcy, and the town suffered financially as the work force evaporated.

Op-Ed: Bayis Molei Seforim

Much is being said about the state of book buying and learning. But if we are going to discuss seforim, we should really look back to Hei Teves—the victory of the seforim. Put simply, the message the Rebbe conveyed at that time was that we should do more:

“In recent years great and wonderful things in the area of spreading Yiddishkeit have been accomplished … If so, the question is raised, why was it necessary that in this era and in this area there should be a problem?”

Two Kings Book Series Released

Revolutionary Educational Tool Launched. It took three thousand years! But, the truth is out! And now you can read it to your children, as well! And it’s spreading fast! The powerful king is not so unstoppable. And the seemingly incapable man is actually a king! We are speaking about the two kings each of us has inside. The Bad King, is our selfish impulsive side, the yetzer hara. The Good King is our rationale, good side, the yetzer tov. But we all know that. Right?

It’s not so simple. It took the author four years developing this latest book series for it to finally reach press. Two Kings is here and available now! Two Kings is being presented as a worldwide educational revolution evolving. It is being launched by Israel Book Shop a world s leading Jewish publisher based in Lakewood, N.J. And authored by Rabbi Fishel Jacobs (www.RabbiJacobs.com) a well-known Chabad rabbi and halachic author.

Op-Ed: Mumbai’s Far-Reaching Impact

Jewish tradition tells us the first 30 days of mourning are the most intense. This week we mark end of this period since the terrorist attack against the Chabad Center in Mumbai. It’s been a watershed event for world Jewry and Chabad. It will have a long lasting effect in diverse ways.

It has sparked an existential dialogue within Chabad. “Why have we become a target for the unfathomable.” A few days after the attack, a group of Jewish security experts told me, “You guys are on the frontlines, it was only a matter of time.” That’s the practical perspective you would expect from security gurus. At a farbrengen held last week for California shluchim that question was at the core of the evening. Rabbi Ezra Schochet, rosh yeshiva, dissected the issue. The intellectual inquiry did not bring him, or us, solace. At the end he said, “We have a question, a question without any answer.”

FOR MILLENNIA Jews have grappled with the same questions, seeking to pierce the mystery of divine providence. Shluchim were promised special blessings. Years ago a Chabad supporter suggested to the Rebbe in a private audience that he give more kudos to his shluchim. While the Rebbe showed appreciation, it was done in his classic understated style. Hassidim felt it an honor to serve the Rebbe’s higher purposes. After hearing the question, the Rebbe’s face took an austere look. He told the man, “They all have children.”

No Fine Against Landlord in Hanukkah Party Accident

WOODMERE, NY — No fine will be levied against the landlord who owns the Woodmere storefront on Broadway where a car careened into a Hanukkah party, a Hempstead Town spokesman said yesterday.

More than 100 people were at the gathering at 1052 Broadway on Dec. 25, the fourth day of Hanukkah, authorities said. Town code prohibits using the property, zoned for retail use, for public assembly.

Chabad Committee Formed to help Rubashkin Defense

NEW YORK, NY [JTA] — Chabad members formed a committee to support the legal defense of former Agriprocessors manager Sholom Rubashkin.

Rubashkin, who managed the now-shuttered kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa, was arrested in late October on charges that he helped illegal immigrants secure fraudulent documentation that permitted them to be employed at Agriprocessors. While free on bond he was arrested a second time on bank fraud charges. Rubashkin is now being held in custody following a judge’s determination that he poses a flight risk.

iVolunteer and Louis Vuitton Distribute Chanukah Gift to Darchei Menachem

BROOKLYN, NY [CHI] — For the first time since the inception of gift giving to children’s schools during holiday time, Jewish children received gifts in honor of Chanuka this year. Because of a devoted volunteer at iVolunteer who is also an employee at Louis Vuitton, Darchei Menachem of Crown Heights benefited from a most unusual gift giving program. The children wrote a wish list of what they wanted and they wishes were happily fulfilled last week when a shipment of beautifully wrapped presents arrived at the school door.

Chabad Visits Injured from Kassams in Netivot

NETIVOT, Israel [CHI] — In the Soroka hospital in Be’er Sheva, where the injured from Kassam attacks on Netivot are hospitalized, Rabbi Menachem Kutner from Chabad’s Terror Victim Project, together with the Shliach to Be’er Sheva, Rabbi Zalman Gorelik, visited the injured in the various departments. They lit the Menora and encouraged and uplifted their spirits, while distributing jelly doughnuts to the patients and their worried families.

Judge Again Denies Bail to Rubashkin, Dampening His Hopes to be Released for Chanukah

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA –The former leader of a controversial meatpacking plant in Postville was back in federal custody Friday morning.

This time Sholom Rubashkin, 49, is facing federal bank fraud charges. Two weeks ago, he made an initial appearance on federal charges of conspiring to hire undocumented workers and document fraud.

Let There be Light – A Response to the Mumbai Massacre

The funerals are over and the bodies are buried, but I’m still shaken by the Mumbai Massacre. So many innocents lives have been so violently snuffed out, so many families were so senselessly destroyed.

While the number of people murdered hovers the 200 mark, numbers essentially belie the true catastrophe; they tend to coalesce the crime and blur the dreadfulness of the calamity. Each victim is in reality an entire world. Each is a loss that shattered the hearts of many.

On one hand I find myself in the company of billions of civilized members of the human race whose heart aches for fellow humans who were violently massacred and wounded in a far off land. On the other hand, as a Jew, this catastrophe is for me far more personal. Leibish Teitelbaum, Yocheved Orpaz, Bentzion Chroman, Norma Shvarzblat Rabinovich are my Jewish brothers and sisters. Rabbi and Mrs. Holtzberg, the Chabad team who settled in Mumbai to create a Jewish oasis for locals and tourists, are my own, colloquially speaking, flesh and blood.

An Already Eclectic Mix Gets an Upscale Bar

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn — A mash-up of cultures, is home to both the annual West Indian American parade and the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim. Adding an upscale bar and beer garden to the mix might seem counterintuitive.