A Dangerous Caricature

As the Arab world fumes at the recent publication of the cartoon ‘depicting’ Muhammad as a terrorist. There were massive demonstrations, and the torching of European embassies around the world, one this stays extremely clear, the Arabs know how to keep their ‘respect and honor’ of their religion well. It’s a great shame that the world does not react at all when the Arab caricaturists are drawing up such terrible things about us Jews, a thing the happens daily in all the Arab newspapers.

COL.org.il’s Weekly Caricature in the eyes of the artist Yechiel Offner.

Bringing light to the world

Rabbi Yosef Levin admits being Jewish carries with it a heavy stigma.

Jews have been exiled since Babylonian times, consigned to ghettos, subjected to pogroms in Russia, tortured and murdered en masse during the Holocaust, and reviled by some to this day, Levin said.

But Levin isn’t mired in anger, fear or shame. “God created this world as a place of challenges. … There is a reason for darkness. The challenges give us strength and make us shine,” he said.

On Feb. 26, it will be Levin’s turn to shine. On his 50th birthday, a grateful Jewish community will fete him and wife Dena for 25 years of providing a positive example. The couple has been pivotal in building a vibrant Jewish community in Palo Alto, through Chabad of Greater South Bay, many in the community said.

Vaad HaKohol Fires back; There Was A Vote, Sperlin is Misleading

In a response from R. Moshe Rubashkin [to what Chanina Sperlin spread] he said that there was a vote and there was a majority of the vote for these elections. He goes on and says that Chanina Sperlin is misleading the community, he is creating an impression that the Rebbe was opposed the Vaad “Arranging” the elections, by presenting only a piece of a letter, Rubashkin said that the Vaad gave Chanina a week to present the letter in its entirety, but he failed to do so, and the move to vote was made.

Rubashkin promises that these elections will be held under the watch “of a third party with no affiliation” and he also added that the process of electing R. Shwei was a complete disobedience of the Rebbe’s will.

The full letter that Moshe Rubashkin released can be seen in the Extended Article.

Leftist group stirs IDF row

The army won’t let Chabad in but they would let one of the most left oriented groups in to go on and give lectures!

Group that monitors troops at roadblocks invited to talk to soldiers amid objections

Women from Machsom Watch, a human rights organization that monitors soldiers and police behavior at West Bank checkpoints, were invited to talk to soldiers to prepare them for road block duty, but not everyone agrees with the initiative.

A soldier’s mother turned to IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and asked to cancel the lecture.

“You can’t mix military and politics,” the mother said in her letter. Right-wing activist and leader of the Women in Green movement Nadia
Matar also joined the protest.

Doing it All, Doing it Well: Women in Leadership

“You are the most potent force in the Jewish world today,” said Diane Abrams, guest speaker at the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchos, Sunday evening.

Speaking to an overflow crowd of 1750, Mrs. Abrams, an accomplished lawyer and wife of the former New York State Attorney General Bob Abrams, shared her memories of the many exchanges she had over the years with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and the way he impacted her in her own life. “The Rebbe played a big role in my life,” she said, referring to a personal blessing he had given her, which was fulfilled in the birth of her second daughter, Becky.

Some New York City Jobs Pay $178,000, and a Pension Now

One of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s first acts on starting his second term was to write a letter to personnel officials asking that his correction commissioner, Martin F. Horn, be allowed to collect a pension along with his $178,200 salary.

But to accomplish that under a state retirement law that seeks to prevent such “double-dipping,” Mr. Bloomberg had to make the case that Mr. Horn was singularly qualified for the job, and that no one else of his talents and skills could be found for it.

So Mr. Bloomberg essentially declared that Mr. Horn, who also oversees the Probation Department, was the greatest commissioner in the world, and would, he wrote, “bring qualifications to these positions which cannot be matched by any other individual.”

‘The Community Council is not to Deal with Appointing Rabonim’

In response to a letter publicized by Moshe Rubashkin chairman of the Vaad HaKohol that the council would shortly hold elections for Rabonim, a different member of the council, Chanina Sperlin publicized a copy of the Rebbe’s handwritten reply opposing any involvement of the community council in appointing Rabonim.

In a special interview, Chanina Sperlin said he was surprised about the letter (presented here) in which the council attempts to appoint Rabbis despite the fact that this was clearly rejected by the Rebbe.

Chanina Sperlin intends to send out a letter of his own to members of the community and it can be seen in the Extended Article.

Elections for a new Rov to the Bais Din

Moshe Rubashkin, chairman of the Vaad Hakohol announced in the name of the Vaad Hakohol that in the very near future democratic elections will be held for additional Rabonim to the Beis Din, explaining that the increasing number of Shailos and Din Torahs brought to the Bais Din require the addition of new Rov to cope with the work load.

The letter states that the “Rebbe made it clear that community must democratically elect its own Rabonim…” and expresses that in the very near future a list of highly qualified Rabonim will released and elections will be held.

A copy of letter can be seen in the Extended Article

Widening their reach

Friendship Circle unites special-needs, volunteer children so all profit from companionship

Slender and dark-haired like her mother, Shifra Kalman steps forward to shake hands, meeting an adult visitor’s gaze directly, his greeting — “How are you?” — with a simple response.

“Hi. I’m fine.”

Standing straight in a white blouse and dark skirt, Shifra seemed poised beyond her 10 years.

But Jeaniene Kalman knows the anxiety her daughter harbors when she encounters new people.

Thousand people in Paris demand justice for Ilan Halimi

More than Thousand Jews marched on Sunday in the streets of Paris, demanding justice for Ilan Halimi, the 23-year-old Jewish man who was abducted, tortured and killed near Paris by an organised and dangerous gang.

The spontaneous gathering failed to get support from any Jewish organization.

Information on the demonstration circulated within the Jewish community through mobile phone and e-mail messages.

Marchers walked down Voltaire Boulevard, past the mobile phone store where Ilan Halimi used to work and where he was approached by his killers a month ago.

raging blaze in Brooklyn

Our FireFighters, Our Heros

An 80-year-old woman and several other terrified elderly residents were plucked to safety by hero firefighters battling a ferocious blaze that left dozens homeless in Brooklyn yesterday.

“Thank God I’m here,” said Carrie Agard, 80, after being rescued from her fiery, second-floor Crown Heights apartment building.

“I was scared, but [the firefighter] said he was with me, and he kept me calm. You couldn’t see for all the black smoke. It was hard for me to breathe.

”I was glad he had me,” added the shaken woman, a retired postal worker who had lived in the four-story apartment building at 1440 Pacific St. for five decades.