Shoulder, mentor, friend

Making new friends can be a challenge for any child, but it can be extra difficult for children with special needs. One Bergen County program pairs Orthodox Jewish teens with physically and mentally disabled Jewish youngsters in an effort not only to form new friendships but also to provide role models.

The program, Friendship Circle, under the auspices of Friends of Lubavitch of Bergen County, helps families with special needs children and gives teenagers the opportunity to learn more about people with disabilities, said Zeesy Grossbaum, program organizer.

International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women in Session

The 18th annual conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchos, known more simply as “the Kinus,” is in session at Lubavitch Headquarters. With more than 1700 women registered for tonight’s main event, the banquet dinner at the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel, the conference’s highlight event will soon be going the way of the men’s banquet, which has outgrown all facilities in Brooklyn and has had to move it to Manhattan.

Along with the Shluchos—or female representatives—are about 150 lay leaders who have joined their respective Shluchos from around the world. A program designed for the lay leaders running parallel to the Conference program, introduced the guests to Shluchot and fellow lay leaders who were drawn to Chabad under interesting and sometimes unlikely circumstances.

garbage truck crashes into garage

On Sunday afternoon a NYC garbage truck driving westbound through the alleyway between Union St & President – Albany & Kingston crashed into a roofless garage belonging to a member of Anash who lives on Union St.

The garbage truck crashed into the roll-up gate pushing it onto and smashing the front of the parked minivan. The crash also led to the collapse of the cinder block walls on both sides of the garage.

The cops were called and ticketed the driver of the garbage truck.

Though there was extensive damage done, B”H no one was hurt.

Click extended article for more pictures

Six city bus passengers injured in crash

Click Here for a Newscast of this event

Six passengers — including some children — on board a city bus involved in an accident, are injured.

They were hurt when the driver of the bus, for some unknown reason, lost control and slammed into several cars.

It happened in Crown Heights. Eyewitness News Reporter Jeff Pegues is there with late details.

It was a terrifying ordeal for a lot of people. One passenger on board that bus told us that there was widespread panic on the bus and that some passengers stepped over each other to get off that out of control bus.

Holocaust research center in honor of Simon Wiesenthal to be built in Vienna

Officials at the University of Vienna announced Monday they plan to build a new Holocaust research center in honor of the late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal.

The 14.5 million (US$17.1 million) center, to be called the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, is targeted to be completed by 2009 or 2010, project leader Anton Pelinka said during an evening presentation.

“The institute will give a worthy framework to the archives and legacy of Simon Wiesenthal,” Pelinka told reporters. He said Wiesenthal, who died last September at age 96, had wanted the records he amassed over decades of sleuthing around the world to be preserved in the Austrian capital.

Over 1600 B’nos Chabad High School Girls in Crown Heights for International Inter-School Convention

This Thursday, February 16, over 1600 high school girls from throughout the world converged in Crown Heights for the annual Chof Beis Shevat Inter-School convention, entitled “Reaching Beyond the Horizon.” Bais Rivkah of Crown Heights, the flagship school of the Lubavitch Educational network for girls, is hosting the convention for the over 22 participating schools arriving from locations throughout the world, such as Sydney, Chicago, Worcester, Florida, Canada, London, New Haven, Manchester, Seattle, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and many others.

The packed Convention schedule includes inter-school farbrengens, an inspiring concert by singer Chanale Fellig, Mivtzoim, an exciting Chidon competition where finalists from participating schools met to match wits on the subject of Moshiach and Geulah, and a viewing of the annual Bais Rivkah High School Production. The highlight of the convention was the grand banquet on Motzei Shabbos, with dancing, singing, choirs, and more.

The annual B’nos Chabad convention is highly anticipated throughout the year by all the students who attend; the atmosphere is always permeated with a tremendous sense of achdus and pride, and the feeling of ashreinu ma tov chelkeinu is remembered by all for a long time.

Lubavitch Center of Howard County Will Mark Its 20th Year With A Dinner

This coming Sunday a dinner will be held by Chabad of Howard County Baltimore, which is known for its unique address 770 Howes Lane. The famous violinist Mark Zinger will perform Niggunim throughout the night. The Chabad House is headed by R. Hillel Baron who as stated has been working in spreading Yiddishkiet there for 20 years.

Tenants hit roof over cell antennas

It seems the daily is pretty hard boiled over 706 Eastern Parkway (second article in 2 days)

A Brooklyn landlord could be forced to pull the plug on some of the lucrative cell phone antennas on his building as activists charged yesterday the devices could be health hazards.

City officials said yesterday the maze of antennas and other equipment atop 706 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights appeared to far exceed allowable limits after the Daily News detailed tenants’ health fears.

“The irresponsible siting of cell phone towers has reached epidemic proportions,” said Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) at a City Hall press conference calling for stricter regulations. “We don’t know enough to allow this to happen.”

Miami Smicha Program Tested On Bosor Becholov

On Tuesday, the 14 Bochurim of the Miami Smicha Program took their second test of the year. The test was on the laws of “Bosor Becholov” the prohibition of mixing meat and milk.

It was an honor for the program and for the students to host world renowned Rabbi Y. Yeruslavski to test them. Rabbi Yeruslavski was deeply impressed by the broad knowledge the Bochurim displayed as well as by their depth of understanding

Lubavitch women convene

Some 2,000 women emissaries of the Lubavitch movement are gathering in Brooklyn for a weekend conference. For these women, married to Chabad rabbis posted to outreach centers in more than 70 countries, the yearly get-together is a chance to touch base with peers, share information and best practices and see family members scattered across the globe.

“The main reason we’re here is to get reinvigorated,” said Baila Gainsburg, an emissary in Coconut Creek, Fla. “We learn from each other and go back with the feeling that we can do anything, that we’re not doing this alone — we have a huge family, our brothers and sisters all over the world.”

Topics include the revival of world Jewry, combating terrorism, using technology in spiritual outreach and breaking the ice in new communities.

New Torah to Join Mt Olympus Synagogue

Chabad of Mt. Olympus is welcoming a new addition to their holy family.

More than two years after the first line was written in Israel, the synagogue and the Chabad community is bringing home their very own Torah Scroll, the most important object in Judaism.

Rabbi Sholom Rodal of Mt. Olympus is very excited about a Feb. 26 event that will honor this momentous occasion and those who made it possible.

“We have been using a used [Torah] until now,” said Rabbi Rodal.

Wellesley-Weston Chabad’s Torah scroll completed

The U.S. Postal Service has a building in New York City, inscribed with the motto “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Well, on Sunday Feb. 12, a massive blizzard kept just about everyone indoors. Many local events were canceled, and hundreds of flights were canceled in Boston, leaving thousands of stranded travelers.

But, in Wellesley, more than 100 friends and community members gathered in the midst of the storm for ahistorical event – the completion of a Torah scroll.

Written by hand, using a quill and special ink on dozens of sheets of hand-prepared animal parchment, all sewn together to form a long scroll, Jews believe that a Torah is a living embodiment of the Divine Will.

Holocaust survivor, 76, finally gets his bar mitzvah

It may have taken 63 years but Herman Rosenblat is finally able to celebrate being a man.

Rosenblat, formerly of Bay Terrace, received his Bar Mitzvah today at Congregation Beth Sholom Chabad in Mineola. Although most Jewish boys celebrate at age 13 — the age when the child becomes responsible for himself under Jewish law — Rosenblat was hardly in a position for balloons and streamers: the 76-year-old Polish immigrant spent his 13th year in a concentration camp during World War II.

Rosenblat celebrated with about a dozen friends and local congregants, eating cookies and dancing the Hora. But his journey from near death in a German concentration camp to celebrating his life in a Mineola temple is just one of Rosenblat’s amazing tales.

Chabad leader pleads guilty, gets fine

Rabbi admits to wrongful use of his property; other charges by town dropped

Rabbi Avraham Bechor, who operated the Chabad Center of Randolph out of his West Hanover Avenue home, pleaded guilty Wednesday night in municipal court to deviating from the originally approved use of the property. The charge was based on his running a religious school in the house. Bechor was fined $250 and costs, and three other related charges against him were dropped by the township.

The cleric also pleaded not guilty to another charge related to safety regulations under the township construction codes. That charge will be heard in township court at a later date.

The school originally run in the house now is based at the Mount Freedom Jewish Center.