Swastika found on Holocaust memorial

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Officials are trying to determine who defaced the Holocaust Memorial on Albany Avenue in front of the Chabad House Synagogue.

A passerby notice the red swastika painted on the memorial.

The swastika was painted on a memorial that honors the death of 6 million Jews lost in the Holocaust during World War II.

“I was very hurt, very disappointed, and very worried,” says Rabbi Gopin.

Rabbi Joseph Gopin of the Chabad Lubavitch Center of Greater Hartford learned of the spray-painted swastika from a police officer early Sunday morning.

Education proclamation presented

In honor of April 9, 2006, corresponding to 11 Nissan 5766, which marks 104 years since the birth of The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, Mayor William D. Euille issued a proclamation of “104 days of education in the city of Alexandria.” The 104 days began on Sunday, April 9.

The Proclamation pays tribute to the Rebbe who has over his years of dedicated leadership, established more than 3,000 Chabad Lubavitch Centers, helping people of all walks of life throughout the world, from Australia to Africa, Holland to Argentina; from Moscow to Jerusalem.

Jewish Learning Institute grows with each new class

Although Portland has long been home to a vital and always growing Chabad Lubavitch organization, this has been the first year that Chabad’s seven-year-old Rohr Jewish Learning Institute has offered classes in Portland.

Every 12 months, JLI offers a new series of three courses in more than 150 cities around the world. The study year begins with a course focusing on basic aspects of Judaism. That is followed by a course on kabbalah, and then a course addressing a contemporary issue

According to Portland Chabad Rabbi Moshe Wilhelm, the adult study program attracted immediate interest among Portland area Jews and only has grown with each new class.

PBS FEATURE: Passover Matzah

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Every year as Passover approaches, Jewish children learn the significance of unleavened bread — matzah — eaten at each Passover seder. We found Jewish kids learning to make matzah at the Temple Sha’arey Shalom School in Springfield, New Jersey. The chief baker is Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum.

Rabbi ZALMAN GROSSBAUM (Chabad-Lubavitch, New Jersey): The matzah, because of its symbolism, is definitely the icon of Passover, and eating it is a biblical obligation. When we start the matzah bakery, we first introduce the kids to the story of Passover.

(Telling Joke to Students at Sha’arey Shalom Jewish School, Springfield, NJ): “Knock, knock.” Pharaoh says, “Who’s there?” He says, “Moses.” He says, “Moses who?” He says, “I don’t have time for knock, knock jokes.” “I have something very important to tell you.” He says, “What? What did you want to tell me?” He says, “I came to tell you to let my people …”

Move against Russian rabbi blasted

Russian Jewish leaders criticized a lawmaker’s motion to check how one of Russia’s chief rabbis received Russian citizenship.

The development concerns Berel Lazar, chief Lubavitch emissary in the former Soviet Union and head of the Chabad-led Federation of Jewish Communities, the region’s largest Jewish group. Last Friday, the Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, authorized a committee to file an inquiry with the authorities to clarify why Lazar, an Italian-born U.S. citizen, was made a Russian citizen without undergoing required naturalization procedures.

The motion was proposed by Boris Vinogradov, a member of the nationalist Motherland Party.

Synagogue ripped on its parking

Chabad at the Beaches, a Jewish worship group in Ponte Vedra Beach, has grown considerably since its creation two and a half years ago.

And since the group is based out of a home across from the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library on State Road A1A, complaints from neighbors about noise and parking have grown as well.

“As that congregation has grown, so has the parking problem,” Curtis Long, a next-door neighbor at 523 A1A, told trustees of the Ponte Vedra Municipal Service District (MSD) Monday night.

Long was seeking “some relief” from the dozens of cars that are sometimes parked at an angle on the eastern shoulder of A1A.

Observing Passover in Manatee

In a matter of minutes, Rabbi Mendy Bukiet hurriedly transformed a quiet back room of the River Club at Lakewood Ranch into a temporary place of worship for the first night of Passover.

As Bukiet, of Chabad of Bradenton, poured potatoes and carrots into a cup – one of several dishes consumed during a meal called a seder – he said Passover serves as a reminder to not forget the past. But just as important, it begs to pay attention to today.

Passover, commemorating the flight of the Jewish slaves from Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II, is said to be a spectacle to excite the curiosity of children.

Jewish inmates observe Passover

For two hours a month, a plain conference room becomes a synagogue for a handful of Jewish inmates at the Connally Unit state prison.

Seated on folding chairs around a small table, they cover their heads with yarmulkes. They munch on matzo crackers and macaroons. They drink red grape juice in white Styrofoam cups.

And they make toasts with the man who links the Jewish free world to the faith they struggle to observe behind bars.

Rabbi Yosef Marrus of San Antonio makes an hour-and-a-half drive to this South Texas prison.

“Ovad Chossid Min Haaretz”

Pictures of the Levaya and Shiva of R. Mendel Shemtov OB”M.

8-day, 2-Seder observation forms a pillar of Jewish faith

The story of the Exodus of Hebrews from Egyptian bondage forms a foundation of the Jewish religion, and many Tucson Jews will hear it not only tonight, when Passover begins, but again Thursday night.

Though Passover dinners, called Seders, can last for four hours and require complicated cooking, it’s common for Jews to attend two straight Seders.

University of Arizona sophomore Sarah Langert will attend one with her parents tonight and a second one at her grandparents’ house Thursday night.

Boro Park’s Night Of Shame And Disgrace

I was sitting in a local hotel room in Albany, after a late New York State Assembly legislative session, when I received the first call that alerted me to a volatile scene in Boro Park. I was secure in the knowledge that the community’s relationship with the NYPD and my personal relationship with the 66th Precinct and One Police Plaza would foster a climate of understanding and conciliation.

Confident that Boro Park residents would conduct themselves in the manner of bnei Torah, of shomrei Torah u’mitzvos, I expected the next caller to tell me it was all over, that calm heads had triumphed and that people continued to go about their extensive pre-Pesach preparations. Instead, for nearly four hours lawlessness, chaos, and disorder reigned in Boro Park and cast the community in a light from which I hope we can recover untainted. But I am not sure we will.

Cyprus Celebrates Pesach As Never Before!

This Pesach, Chabad of Cyprus will be organizing four sedorim with hundreds of people in attendance. The main seder will be held at the Chabad House in Larnaka, where a over 250 people have made reservations and even more are expected to attend. The local Jews of Larnaka will be joined by many traveling business people from around the world, as well as Israeli and American tourist. Rabbi Zeevi Raskin will lead the Hebrew seder, while Motti Seligson and Yudi Steiner will run the seder in English.

Another two sedorim will take place on the Turkish-North side of Cyprus, where bochurim have koshered an Israeli owned hotel and are expecting many Israelis who often spend their vacations in Cyprus, to take part in the seder. A number of bochurim have flown into Cyprus from Israel to assist in the Pesach preparations, including Shaykee Farkash, Motti Herzog, Yosi Prag, Menachem Shikevitch and Aharon Ullman.

NY State Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Suozzi Visits the Ohel!

Earlier today Tom Suozzi, Democratic Candidate for Governor of New York State, visited the Ohel accompanied by R. Mendy Heber Shliach to Glen Cove, the hometown of Mr. Suozzi.

More Pictures in the Extended Article!

Chabad to organize first seder dinner for students

Matazh, red wine and a variety of traditional Jewish dishes will be some of the items decorating the table at the Chabad House on the night of April 12, when the Jewish holiday of Passover begins. This eight-day holiday will start off the celebration with the first Passover seder for FIU students.

“It’s not your average seder. It’s going to be interactive and entertaining,” said Rabbi Levi Friedman of FIU’s Chabad House, the organization for Jewish students at FIU that will be hosting the Seder.

Chabad’s seder is for students of all Jewish backgrounds, even those who have never experienced a seder before. For Jews outside of Israel, the Passover seder takes place the first two nights of the eight-day holiday. So on the night of April 13, students will have another chance to experience the second seder.

Host In Chief

Hawaii governor makes kosher seder in her mansion an annual event.

In early 2002 Linda Lingle, the former mayor of Maui and then head of the Hawaii Republican Party, stopped by the seder we were running at the Chabad House in Honolulu. We had already finished the fourth cup of wine, so my husband, Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky, duly introduced her to the guests as the “future governor of Hawaii.”

It was six months before the gubernatorial election, and she had not yet officially declared her candidacy for that office.

Lingle, who is Jewish and had known us for six months, stood by quietly and smiled.