Authorities clear suspicious bag found at JFK parking lot

Five hours after getting reports of a suspicious bag at a John F. Kennedy International Airport parking lot, investigators determined the unattended package was not a threat and authorities began allowing vehicular traffic back to the area early Friday.

The bag did contain a powdery substance, but a hazmat team deemed it non-hazardous, said Pasquale DiFulco, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport.

The terminals, among eight in use at the airport, serve several international airlines, including Air France, plus Continental and Delta airlines.

Hatzalah’s CH-1 Replaced

CH-1 has been in service for 12 years, and today has been replaced by a ‘new’ CH-1, donated by an anonymous donor.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

Shabbat services feed faith

Newark, DE — There’s a friendliness that Stephanie Gordon finds inviting at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life, a student organization at the University of Delaware.

Maybe it’s the welcoming blue color of the house on South College Avenue.

Chabad House’s Sefer Torah was painstakingly created over nearly a year

Eugene, Oregon – Asi Spiegel doesn’t make a habit of bold predictions, but he’s making one for today: Eugene will see a record influx of street-dancing rabbis.

Board to weigh Chabad concept

Princeton, NJ — Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Mercer County is in the infant stages of designing a new, larger synagogue, as well as an extravagant new house for its rabbi.

The Jewish Orthodox sect will present a concept plan to the regional planning board tonight, which will provide a rough sketch of the proposal for the board and the public to comment on. After the meeting, Chabad can decide whether or not to move forward with the plans.

The first building Chabad is proposing is a 5,400-square-foot residence for Rabbi Dovid Dubov to be built on the approximately 18.4 acres of land it bought along the north side of State Road in the township.

Children learn Jewish traditions

Venice, FL- In a tradition that dates back thousands of years, 18 children learned to make an ancient Jewish musical instrument, a shofar, at the North Port Educational Center Sunday.

Their teacher, Rabbi Sholum Schmerling, had an assortment of animal horns spread out on a table, as he talked about the horn used on the Jewish high holy days of Rosh Hashana, which begins today.

This program was an outreach program of the Chabad of Venice and North Port and is in its second year. Children don’t have to be affiliated with the Chabad to attend or be Jewish.

Arrest Made In Boro Park Home Robbery

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Joseph Fiel, 30, was arrested Wednesday and charged with breaking into a Brooklyn home then attacking and robbing the couple who live there.

Fiel has been charged with robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.

Police say he broke into the couple’s boro park home on 54th Street around 9 p.m. Monday.

Boro Park Robbery Stuns Area Residents

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Two masked robbers wielding box cutters tied up a couple in Brooklyn and made off with cash and jewelry from their safe Monday, authorities reported yesterday.

Police said around 9:45 p.m., two men wearing black jump suits and ski masks broke into a 54th Street residence in Boro Park, where they reportedly used duct tape to tie up its residents, Sarah and Wolf Sicherman. After securing the couple to chairs inside the kitchen, police said the robbers coerced them into opening a safe containing the valuables.

Sources familiar with the investigation said the robbers entered the home by breaking open a window in the rear of the property and removing the screen. While police did not disclose the value of the cash and jewelry they took, authorities indicated the suspects fled in a white SUV.

Guest and Keynote Speakers Announced For This Years Kinus

In a little under two months the International Kinus Hashluchim with over 2000 Shluchim worldwide will convene all under one roof for the annual banquet that takes place each year.

Recently CrownHeights.info has learned that the Keynote speaker this year will be R. Yosef Chaim Kantor the head Shliach to Thailand. Mr. Shmuel (Sami) Rohr, who heads the Rohr Family Foundation that support Shluchim around the world as well as programs headed up by Chabad, has been announced as the guest speaker.

Amidst the hustle and bustle; meaningful programming for Bochurim

The streets of Crown Heights are bursting with action, men women and children from around the world have gathered for “Tishrei in the Rebbe’s Court”. While sometimes the extra load of people can be burdensome; extra long lines in our local stores, extra pushing and shoving in 770, over flowing usage of the Mikva’s, to name a few. We know that the Rebbe was very supportive of hachnosas orchim, and the residents of the Shechuna, as always, have stepped up to the task.

Amidst all this hustle and bustle, The Vaad Hatmimim – International committee for bochurim – have taken upon themselves the task of making the month long stay meaningful and inspirational, for the estimated 1000 guest Bachurim. A wide array of programming assures that the bachurim not only use their time here wisely, but also that they go back home with a greater understanding, in how they can be real Chassidim in today’s trying times.

Chabad’s Prison Chaplaincy: Reaching Out Behind Bars

Most 20 year-olds from Brooklyn would agree that a road trip through California would rank near the top of the list of great things to do during the summer. But for Ari Shapiro and Chaim Bronstein, the road trip experience focused on something other than fun and sun. These two young Chabad rabbis have spent the hot summer weeks touring California’s prisons.

Jews reflect and cleanse on Rosh Hashana

When children crafted shofars by curing, measuring, saw-ing, drilling and polishing rams’ horns Sunday, Rabbi Raleigh Resnick hoped that the experience would leave an everlasting impression on their young minds.

By using their hands to fash-ion, their noses to smell and their ears to hear the sound the instrument makes, Resnick — rabbi for Chabad of the Tri-Valley — aimed to help the youth make a connection to Rosh Hashana.

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, began Friday and heralded the start of the 10-day period called the Days of Awe that culminates on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Brooklyn Politics: The Changing Same

In a race marked by racial tensions and the declining fortune of the Brooklyn Democratic machine, Yvette Clarke squeaked out a Democratic primary victory in central Brooklyn’s 11th Congressional district on Sept. 12. Clarke came in with 31 percent of the vote, just ahead of insurgent candidate David Yassky’s 26 percent.

A new staff for Moses

From the living room of his Scripps Ranch home, with an iced green tea from Starbucks and an iBook laptop plugged into cyberspace, Rabbi Dovid Smoller is ready for another evening of making like Moses.

For three hours each Thursday evening, Smoller uses the keyboard to lead people out of the wilderness of questions to a Promised Land of answers.

He is one of 40 Jewish scholars from around the world who take turns fielding online chats for AskMoses.com, a Web site sponsored by Chabad of California and named for the prophet who, among other accomplishments, led the Hebrews out of Egypt and delivered the Ten Commandments.