Mugging at Gunpoint on President and Schenectady

Tuesday, at around 3:00 in the afternoon a Jewish woman walking on President St between Schenectady and Utica with her two children, was approached by two male Blacks around 20 years of age who pulled out a gun and demanded her ring, the woman removed one of her rings and handed it over the two perps then demanded more, the woman then started yelling and the two perps fled.

The woman then flagged down a Shomrim member who was passing and told him what happened, who in turn called in additional units who began canvassing the area immediately but were unsuccessful in spotting the perps. Police were then called and filed a police report. An important note, this incident took place one house down from where a 20 year old man was shot and killed last night.

Jewish man removed from airplane for praying

Some fellow passengers are questioning why an Orthodox Jewish man was removed from an Air Canada Jazz flight in Montreal last week for praying.

The man was a passenger on a Sept. 1 flight from Montreal to New York City when the incident happened.

The airplane was heading toward the runway at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport when eyewitnesses said the Orthodox man began to pray.

Man Gunned Down on Schenectady and President

A man on his way to meet some friends in Crown Heights was shot and killed after an angry exchange with another group, police said.

The 20-year-old victim was gunned down about 11 p.m. at Schenectady Avenue and President Street. Police did not know what triggered the violence. 3 perps were being sought in connection with this shooting.

Crown Heights cars Are A Target Once More

As we have previously reported about 4 cars getting broken into, 4 more became victims. This appears to be the work of one individual who has a preference for cars with smaller windows he can compromise to gain access to the car then he searches for things of value, even if they aren’t in plain sight.

One car was broken into some time on Motzoai Shabbos on Albany between Carroll and Crown, a Tzedakah box was taken and the glove box contents were emptied and rummaged thru. Another car that was parked on Schenectady between President and Carroll and was broken into had an expensive toolbox taken from it. A minivan was broken into nearby on President between Schenectady and Troy, where a tzedakah box was taken. And the last incident was on Brooklyn between Montgomery and Empire, where a bag containing expensive stuff was taken.

Chabad telethon gives old message new edge

Media-savvy rabbis and producers have revamped the annual Chabad “To Life” telethon and will unveil a streamlined and contemporary program this fall.

The fundraiser will take place Sept. 10 from 4 p.m.-11 p.m. and can be viewed on KTSF channel 26 in San Francisco. Los Angeles: KCAL Channel 9. S. Diego: KUSI Channel 9. Las Vegas: KVMY Channel 12. New York/New Jersey/Connecticut: WLNY Channel 55. Nationwide: Dish Network Channel 9601.

An online simulcast of the telethon will be streamed on the Chabad Web site, www.tolife.com.

Thoroughly Modern Mikvahs

Beautiful article about the new Mikvah in the upper east side that appeared in this past weeks edition of the Time Magazine.

It was an obligation Tammy Cohen had fulfilled regularly, but never quite so fabulously. For years the 44-year-old New Yorker, like generations of Jewish women before her, had immersed herself monthly in a mikvah, or ritual bath. The act … was indisputably meaningful to Cohen, but some of the facilities she had been using were uninspiring. The pool, she says, looked “like someone had dug a hole and put some plaster in it”; its rabbinically mandated rainwater sometimes bore someone else’s hair. Cohen sighs, “You just wanted to get in and get out.”

Not so tonight. Descending a grand spiral stair at the newly opened Jacques and Hanna Schwalbe Mikvah on Manhattan’s wealthy Upper East Side, Cohen was met by an attendant offering fine towels from Israel. Then it was on to a prep room fragrant with vanilla-scented candles, floored in Chinese tile, furnished in red cherry and featuring an eight-jet Jacuzzi — rather than the standard shower — for pre-immersion cleanliness. The mikvah itself, beneath a mosaic of a blue sky and white clouds, was pristine. Cohen’s eyes widened. “It’s spectacular,” she gasped. “I feel like I’m at the Four Seasons.”

Colel Chabad distributing food baskets to needy

The holiday project of Colel Chabad, working together with the social welfare departments of the local authorities, will be handling an unprecedented scope of operation in Israel, by distributing food baskets to 120,000 poor and destitute throughout the Holy Land, the organization said in a press release.

The directors of Colel Chabad will be dealing with 55 municipalities and local councils who have submitted requests to be included in the activity of distributing food parcels for the upcoming High Holidays. Within the framework of the activity, it was decided to adopt 25,000 poor families who are recognized by welfare as unfortunately suffering from severe economic distress.

Chabad’s Torah to honor military

On behalf of Rabbi Dov Muchnik and the Chabad of Oxnard, I would like to invite veterans and their families to the dedication of a Torah (the whole body of Jewish religious literature, including the Scripture and Talmud), to honor and memorialize members of the U.S. military.

The ceremony will be Sept. 10 at Fisherman’s Wharf, Channel Islands Harbor (Victoria Avenue and Channel Islands Boulevard), beginning at 1 p.m.

The first letters of the Liberty Torah, as it will be known, will be inscribed by a Jewish scribe at the ceremony to coincide with the eve of the fifth anniversary of 9/11. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Liberty Torah will be sent to Israel, where it will be completed and returned to the Chabad of Oxnard.

Disengagement Video Presentation In Support Of Gush Katif Project

“Religious Zionists believe that Redemption will come through the state,” explained Mrs. Aliza Karp at a Shlaimos HaAretz gathering for women on Thursday night in Crown Heights. “This is part of the reason the Jews of Gush Katif were compelled to cooperate when the army came to tell them that the democratically elected government had decided their mission in Gush Katif was finished. We need to help them recognize that expelling Jews from Jewish land is a deep Golus – not part of a Redemption process – they need to understand that Redemption comes through Moshiach.”

“Many of the people who were expelled from Gush Katif are suffering from the trauma of how they have been treated,” added Mrs. Baila Kamman. “The Gush Katif women who come to the Farbrengens hosted by the women of Kfar Chabad are very encouraged. They see that Chabad has not forgotten them and they are open to learning Chassidus.”

New Torah Scroll in Greece – First Time Since WW2

This Sunday, for the first time since World War II, a Torah Scroll will be completed and instated in a synagogue in Greece – thanks to the efforts of a dedicated family and a Toronto woman.

Ms. Miriam Leah Danessis of Toronto, formerly from Greece, has spent over five years working on behalf of the dwindling Jewish community in the Mediterranean country. She began by arranging for the Lubavitch movement to send a “shliach” (emissary) family – Rabbi Mendel and Nechama Hendel – to Athens, and later proceeded to have a Torah scroll written for and delivered to an Athens synagogue.

Marking this landmark occasion of the new Torah scroll, a joyous ceremony will be held this Sunday, at the Synagogue of Chalkida in Athens. The invitation notes that the Torah Scroll is known as the “Love of Israel and Unity of Israel” scroll.

Rabbi Benny Zippel Addresses Luncheon with President Bush

On Thursday, August 31, 2006, United States Senator Orrin Hatch (R – Utah) hosted a fundraising luncheon at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City.

Rabbi Benny Zippel, Executive Director of Chabad Lubavitch of Utah was asked the give the invocation in honor of the luncheon.

New Edition of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur Machzorim Published in Russian

FREE Publishing House, the publishing arm of Friends of Refuges of Eastern Europe, has just released its newest publication, a new edition of the Hebrew/Russian Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur Machzorim.

The publishing of these new Maczorim was a joint project of the SHAMIR organization in Jerusalem and the FREE Publishing House in Brooklyn, NY.

The arrival of these new Maczorim is expected to create a more meaningful synagogue experience for tens of thousands of Russian readers, says Professor Herman Branover, Editor-in-chief of SHAMIR. Shipments of more than 10,000 Machzorim will arrive to Chabad Houses and Russian synagogues worldwide just in time for the High Holidays.