Seeing The Best In Society

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn — I’m a big believer in people — generally prone to see the best and the possible instead of the worst. But even I was surprised by the depth of generosity I witnessed today.

Hershey Fellig, an orthodox Jew from Los Angeles, desperately needed a kidney. Marisa Hester, a Christian mother-of-two from Alabama, gave one to him. The two were complete strangers. Marisa had never even met a Jewish person before. She read about Hershey online and made the selfless decision to help.

Op-Ed: So what are your Plans for Next Year?

1. Hmm… I’m going to the waiting room (770).
2. Whatever…
3. Haven’t thought about it yet…
4. Plans? Fe! The Aibishter firt di velt.
5. Jump from one L’chaim to another and dance at a Chasunah in between.
6. I’ll take any job that’ll come my way.

Hello friends,

After so many years living in the system, you’re kinda sick of the ‘system’ and all that it stands for. So with shlichus, Semicha and a successful survival thorough the system all behind you, you feel that it’s time to finally live the life, a.k.a. do whatever you want with zero responsibility and no productivity.

Continued in the Extended Article!

Kids Museum Hosts Day on Par with the Big Guys

BROOKLYN, NY [CHI] — On Monday June 30th, Museum friends and supporters will gather on the range for the second annual Golf Celebration, a day of competitive golf, barbecues and prizes benefiting the Museum.

More in the Extended Article!

Rubashkin: It’s all a lie

NEW YORK, NY [JTA] — Aaron Rubashkin, the owner of the embattled kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors, denies he has engaged in unethical labor practices and blames the failure of U.S. immigration policy for his mostly illegal workforce.

In the first substantive comments by an Agriprocessors representative since the government rounded up more than a third of its employees on immigration charges in a May 12 raid of its Iowa plant, Rubashkin flatly denied allegations of worker mistreatment and plant mismanagement.

Shavuos Father and Son Learning – My Shliach

Father and son learning for young Shluchim, download the Shavuos sicha for your age from MyShliach.com. Learn half of the sicha with your mentor and on Shavuos learn the second half with your father.

More info in the Extended Article!

Op-Ed: Reacting to the Rubashkin Imbroglio

The scandal is all over the Jewish blogosphere and it’s the word in streets and shops in Jewish neighborhoods throughout the country: the Rubashkin “animal house of horrors” has finally been exposed. After a raid by customs enforcement officials over two weeks ago, allegations and rumors abound about the country’s largest Kosher meat plant, forcing the Jewish community to think captiously about the food they’re eating. Responding to the allegations, certain elements and groups are calling for an outright boycott of all Rubashkin products based on their violation of “American and Torah law.” On ethical grounds these groups claim that we should not eat meat which was produced under unlawful and dangerous conditions- especially because the owners are Orthodox Jews and the meat Kosher, an icon of humaneness and justice.

Agriprocessors Inc. to replace CEO

The chief executive officer of Agriprocessors Inc. will be replaced, according to a press release issued by the company late today.

The announcement comes nearly two weeks after the largest single-site immigration raid in U.S. history which occurred May 12 at the Postville plant.

Op-Ed: What can we do? One woman’s response

In 5727 (1967), a young chassid from Australia traveled to New York to spend Shavuot with the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Brooklyn. He arrived a few days before the festival, just a short time after the Rebbe, at the outbreak of the Six-Day War, had inaugurated the campaign to arouse all Jewish males to perform the mitzvah of wrapping tefillin. He had cited the verse, “The fear of the nations will be upon you,” and the traditional interpretation that this results when our enemies see our head-tefillin. In the aftermath of the miraculous victory and the Jewish arousal that accompanied it, the Rebbe recommended to continue and even increase the tefillin campaign.

The lines above are the opening paragraph of an article by Yrachiel Tilles that appeared on the ascentofsafed.com website. The punch-line of the story, that the bochur and his friends got a cranky old man to agree to put on tefillin because the Australian had mistakenly brought along some stale hamantaschen, caught my attention and I decided to publish this heart-warming story as a “Slice of Life” in L’Chaim.

Op-Ed: Would Everyone Just Shut Up and Unite!!

It is times like these that we need unity. Unity doesn’t just refer to us Jews, we need unity among ALL the residents of the Crown Heights community–blacks and Jews.

A number of years back when Mayor David Dinkins passed before the Rebbe during the distribution of dollars, he said to the Rebbe that he hoped that “our two communities” can live together in peace. The Rebbe responded that it is one community where we all live together.

Most attacks against Jews in our community are perpetrated by black youth. (I challenge anyone to point out the last time a Jewish resident of Crown Heights cornered anyone and asked him to hand over his wallet.). However, that does not mean that the crime in our community is a Jewish issue. It is a community crisis that affects black and white residents alike.

Aftershocks Continue in China as Local Jews Distribute Water and Blankets

BEJING , China — As villagers and suburban dwellers descended on the Chinese city of Chengdu to flee the death and destruction of a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake that flattened schools and homes, relief workers reported that such basic necessities as water bottles and blankets are going fast.

Up to 700 Arrests Estimated in Postville ICE Raid

POSTVILLE, IA — Four Homeland Security buses with U.S. Immigration and Customs tags on them have entered the Agriprocessors Inc. complex.

The buses, along with a trail of SUVs and vans with Minnesota license plates, arrived at about 11:45am

Centuries-Old Cemetery Unearthed in Maastricht, Netherlands

MASSTRICHT, The Netherlands — The Jewish community of Maastricht, Netherlands, together with the municipality and the local Sphinx Tiles manufacturer, arranged for the reburial of Jewish remains from an 18th century cemetery.

According to local historians, the area surrounding the planned construction of a new Sphinx building was used by the Jewish community as a cemetery from 1782 to 1822. When officials with the company learned of the cemetery’s supposed presence, they notified Rabbis Yaakov Yitzchak Schapiro, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Limburg and North Brabant, and Binyomin Jacobs of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Netherlands and a member of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, who suggested that a team of archaeologists supervise the necessary digging.

3 Iyar: Yohrtzeit of Rabbi Hodakov OBM

Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Eizik Hodakov (1902 – 1993), Chief of the Rebbe’s secretariat for more than 40 years, was born in the Russian town of Beshenkowitz in 1902 on the 4th of Shevat to Horav Hagaon Reb Sholom Yisroel, a descendent of Chabad Chassidim and to Chaya Treina Hodakov. Two years after his birth, the family moved to Riga, Latvia, where he was brought up under the auspices of the famous Gaon and Tzadik Reb Yoel Barantzik. As a young man, he began spreading Torah and Yiddishkeit, and the famous Chabad chossid, Reb Mordechai Dubin, the leader of Agudas Yisroel in Latvia and a minister in the government, directed him to utilize his shining talents in chinuch.

More in the Extended Article.