Jewish and Muslim Communities Cooperate to Pass US’s First Kosher-Halal Law

Northern Virginia – Over eleven million Americans will buy kosher food this year, according to LUBICOM, a marketing and consulting group for kosher interests. Up from six million in 1990, the trend represents an explosion of kashrut consciousness across the United States. Of this figure, one million Jews and three million Muslims consume kosher for religious reasons, while the rest do so believing that they are getting higher quality products. But despite the widespread prevalence of kosher food, confusion abounds as to what exactly makes something kosher.

Council approves synagogue’s request for symbolic boundary

After accusations and denials of anti-Semitism were thrown around at City Hall, a La Jolla synagogue will be allowed to create a symbolic boundary using city streets.

The San Diego City Council voted unanimously yesterday to support Congregation Adat Yeshurun, despite the concerns of opponents who said a religious symbol has no business in the public right of way and that it will encourage “resegregation” in a neighborhood with a history of discrimination against Jews.

Members of the Orthodox synagogue were overjoyed by the council decision.

New CD of the Rebbe’s 14 Niggunim – “Expressions of the Soul” A Resounding Success

After over three weeks since the release of its new CD “EXPRESSIONS of the SOUL” – the Rebbe’s 14 Niggunim, Infinity Productions is reporting that sales, namely in Crown Heights, “continue to be just remarkable”. The Kehos bookstore, Tzivos Hashem, Merkas Stam, Judaica World and Hamafitz, on Kingston Avenue, have all received additional shipments (some for the third time) after having sold out of their initial orders just a few days after the CD’s release.

A letter from Darchai Menachem’s Chesed Club

Dear CrownHeights.info

Hi my name is Mendy Chaimson and I am 11 years old. Sitting next to me is my friend Levi Schonbuch, he is 10. We are both the co-directors of the Yeshiva Darchai Menachem Chesed Club. B”H now that our school has grown from 30 to 50 students, we have a lot more Volunteers for our club.

We were wondering if you can post our Chesed reports on your web site, this way we can expand our volunteer list. For example, let me tell you what we did in honor of Sukkos. On Monday, the first day of Chol Hamoed, some of our boys from the new Mesivta Division, headed by Rabbi Marozov, along with their friends went on route. They took a Sukkah mobile with their Chassidus teacher, Rabbi Sandhaus, and shook Lulav and Esrog with over 65 people; it was an unbelievable experience meeting all sorts of different people. On Tuesday, my friends and I went with Rabbi Perl, the school administrator, to an old age home. Not only did we have the Mitzvah of Bikur Cholim, we also got to shake our Lulavim and Esrogim with them. It was a lot of fun and the people were very happy.

A "Tent of Peace" On the Korean Peninsula

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea’s Kim Jung II may be detonating nukes and playing war games with the international community, but Jewish U.S. troops in South Korea are not in duck-and-cover mode. With Uncle Sam’s blessing, they’re out in the sukkah Chaplain (Col.) Jacob Goldstein built on the Yongsan Military Base in Seoul.

Program Sparks Candle Lighting on Campuses

It wasn’t until Kasiah Weeks, 21, began her undergraduate studies at Arizona State University that she began to earnestly explore her Jewish identity.

“I grew up in a very small town where the Jewish population is very small; and there is only [a Reform] synagogue,” says Weeks, a global politics and foreign languages major originally from Las Cruces, New Mexico. “It wasn’t until I got to college that I even found out about Chabad.”

Since then, Chabad House at ASU, run by Rabbi Shmuel and Chana Tiechtel, has become Weeks’ Jewish lifeline. She attends Friday night dinners and lectures, and most recently discovered a new program that she says has changed her life: “Friday Light.”

After years of creeping into English, Yiddish experiencing own revival

Jonathan Boyarin’s feelings toward the Yiddish language go beyond mere scholarship.

“I heard a lot of Yiddish in my childhood, growing up in a community of Jewish chicken farmers,” he says. “I can’t say I learned the language there, but I picked up a heritage of nostalgia for it at least.”