Rare Video of the Rebbe

The blizzard that hit NYC in the beginning of this week had awakened some memories in the staff over at shturem.net. Presented here is a very rare video clip of the Rebbe arriving at 770 during a snow storm around 30 years ago.

Click Here To View The Video

Lawsuit exposes Chabad power struggle in Israel

Our dirty laundry hits world financial news

Chassidei Chabad Lubavitch Yeshiva Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Wilshansky, Beit Chana Schools head Rabbi Shlomo Raskin, and members of Chabad Israel, which manages the movement’s activities in the country, have petitioned the courts to prevent Tzeirei Agudat Chabad (Chabad Youth Organization in Israel) chairman Rabbi Yosef Y. Aharonov and five members of Tzeirei Chabad from taking it over.

Wilshansky and Raskin asked the court to forbid the respondents from making material changes Tzeirei Chabad’s foundation documents, signatory rights, directors, and membership, or making any other fundamental changes. The petitioners claim that this is an attempt to illegally take over Tzeirei Chabad, and through it, Chabad Israel in general.

Food fight waged in Texas prisons: Lawsuit seeks kosher diet for Jewish inmates

Efforts being made to help rehabilitate Jewish prisoners through Yiddishkeit

In early October 2005, a lawsuit was filed in federal court against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for denying kosher meals to an observant Jew incarcerated in Texas. The suit charges that by not providing the plaintiff, Max Moussazadeh, a nutritionally sufficient kosher diet, the TDCJ is in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which otherwise secures “the free exercise of religion by protecting inmates from any unlawful imposition of a substantial burden on an individual’s religious exercise.”

Counsel for the plaintiff is The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, an interfaith, nonprofit agency based in Washington; co-council is Latham & Watkins LLP. Defendants in the suit are the TDCJ and the Eastham Unit in Lovelady, Texas, where the plaintiff is incarcerated, and which receives federal funding for the meals it serves. These include a pork-free, meat-free or regular diet tray only – none of which qualifies as kosher under the laws of kashruth.

The New York Post on R. Chitrik’s Passing

Reflections of a Former Matchmaker

I am a former matchmaker, and I have recently quit the field, and am moving on to a new profession. The reason for which I have quit my job, is because of troubles that I have been experiencing with the parents of my clients.

I wanted to bring to people’s attention, a issue which troubles many, the issue of “Shadchonus” – matchmaking. Many parents are struggling in finding a suitable match for their sons and mainly, their daughters. This is not the place to detail all the causes which have brought upon these difficulties, but the following words may cast more light on the issue

I am a former matchmaker. The reason why I have quit this ever-important field is connected with many of you, the parents. Many of these incidents [which have caused me to stop working] should not strike you by surprise, as they have happened with you. So please take this to your attention

We will first begin [discussing] the perspective of I, the matchmaker. I am here in order to help you with one of the uttermost crucial and essential tasks of your lives. Since this is such an important task, then why do people wait and expect me to chase them? Why do I have to wait an entire week in order to receive an answer or update? Why don’t people call and tell me how the date went; was it successful or not? Is it proper that I should be left in the dark?

New Shluchim To Washington DC

Rabbi Bentzi & Rochie Sudak from Crown Heights will be moving to Washington, DC where they will be joining Rabbi & Mrs Levi Shemtov of American Friends of Lubavitch.

Hatzlocha Rabba!

The Sudak’s can be reached via e-mail: bsudak@chabad.org

Hitler Goes on Trial in Boca

“The False Witness,” a Chabad-sponsored play that puts Adolf Hitler on trial for crimes against humanity, enjoyed a two-day run in Boca Raton, Fla., this past weekend.

Part courtroom drama and part history lesson, the interactive performance — in which the audience is sworn in as the jury — brings a virtual who’s who of antisemitic history to the stand in an effort to ascertain just who bears final responsibility for the Holocaust.

According to the play’s co-authors, Robert Krakow and Ilan Lewinger, the piece breaks fresh ground in its approach to the question of where ultimate responsibility for the Holocaust lies. Playwright Krakow, a onetime trial lawyer who has been at work on the piece for 17 years, also has a bit part in the production. At the play’s end, he appears in the guise of jury foreman and polls the audience for a verdict.

Over 600 pack Hall in historic celebration of Shabbos

Munching on gefilte fish and challah, over 600 Harvard affiliates—Jews and gentiles alike—packed Annenberg Hall last Friday night to observe the beginning of the Jewish sabbath.

Embattled University President Lawrence H. Summers delivered the opening remarks of the event, dubbed Shabbat 1000.

When his name was announced, the audience responded with vigorous applause, which surged again when Summers stepped up to speak.

“It’s a thrill to attend a warm and friendly Harvard meeting,” quipped the president, who arrived at 6:45 p.m. accompanied by his wife of two months, Professor of English and American Language and Literature Elisa New.

Governor, Jewish Community Fight Xenophobia in Perm Region

At a recent youth conference on various aspects of modern life in Russia, Governor of Perm Region Oleg Chirkunov made an important statement in support of inter-ethnic tolerance. During the discussion, a participating member of the National People’s Party and an activist in the Movement against Illegal Immigration, Mr. Kirilovich stated that he and his friends have decided that racially-motivated murder was no longer effective and, therefore, they would instead be pursuing legal ways of their political struggle. The Governor denounced this statement, remarking that there is no place in the Perm Region for organizations that incite racial or national hatred within society and that legal proceedings should be initiated against the group based on this statement.

New Shluchim to Singapore

Rabbi Shai & Naomi Vaknin of Montreal, Canada will IYH be moving on Shlichus to Singapore where they will be working with the Bochurim and the local
community. The couple can be reached via email shyyehoshua@hotmail.com.

The Vaknin’s were appointed by Rabbi Mordechai Abergel and facilitated by Rabbi Aharon Fehler of the Shluchim Office Placement Bureau.

The Placement Bureau works with Yungerliet and Shluchim to assist them in finding their ideal position for Shlichus. We have positions available! If you are looking for Shlichus, or a Shliach look to fill a position please go to www.shluchim.org/placement today.

Hatzlocha Rabba!

Chabad Representative Offers Invocation To Albany Legislature

It’s just about that time of year in Albany, when legislators might be heard wishing for money to grow on trees. Tu-Bishvat, the New Year for Trees, is celebrated around the time lawmakers return from the holiday recess and settle in to shape the budget. On Monday, Chabad of the Capital District was found in the Capitol lobby looking to give legislators a taste of the holiday of Tu Bishevat.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was among the 200 legislators, legislative aids and staff who munched chewy dried fruits in honor of the day that celebrates trees. Serving fruits of Israel – dates, pomegranates, figs – is traditional, but Chabad representative Rabbi Yisroel Rubin mindfully added a New York State twist by including New York grown apples and pouring sparkling Kedem grape juice, made from concord grapes grown upstate. For the first time since Rabbi Rubin began offering the Tu Bishevat spread in 1979, the festivities were just outside the Assembly chamber instead of in a side room or legislator’s office.

Chabad Of The Rivertowns Announces Opening Of New Preschool

Dobbs Ferry, NY – Rabbi Benjy Silverman has announced the opening of a Preschool in the Rivertowns starting in September of this year.

Chabad Preschool is a place where young Jewish children will receive an exciting, creative and nurturing experience that will provide them with the foundation to grow educationally, socially and spiritually.

“We offer small classes with excellent teacher/student ratios”,said Rabbi Silverman, “a professional staff of early childhood specialists and a welcoming facility equipped with the most educationally sound early childhood equipment. Most importantly, your child will receive a well rounded, enriching education, filled with Jewish traditions and customs intertwined with a wide array of academic subjects, personal development, values, socialization and learning skills. If you are looking for a remarkable Jewish Preschool experience for your child, we invite you to enroll in the Chabad Preschool”.

Hundreds Escort R. Chitrik to Rest

The eldest Chosid R. Yehuda Chitrik passed in front of 770 the Lubavitch World Headquarters where hundreds of people gathered, Bochurim for the nearby Yeshivos and men that were Davening and on their way to work. From there the Levaya made its way to the Montefiore Cemetery in Queens and was buried close to the Ohel.

Major News Outlets Report The Passing Of R. Chitrik OBM

The New York Post Reports: “BROOKLYN RABBI DEAD AT 106

Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, a 106-year-old Lubavitcher scholar known for his storytelling, died yesterday.” Click Here for More

The Associated Press Reports: “Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, scholar and storyteller, dies at 106

Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, a 106-year-old Lubavitcher scholar known for his storytelling and longevity, died Tuesday.” Click Here for More.

Isreal Insidea Reports: “Lubavitcher scholar passes away at 106, survived by over 300

Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, a 106-year-old Lubavitcher scholar known for his storytelling and longevity, has passed away.” Click Here for More.

Antisemitic Leaflet Posted on Kiev Synagogue

An antisemitic leaflet was posted on the door of Kiev’s Brodsky synagogue, according to a February 14, 2006 report by the AEN news agency. “Chabad is the road to hell! No to Judeo-Fascism!” the leaflet read, along with demands that the synagogue building, which served as a puppet theater after the Soviet regime confiscated it from the Jewish community, be returned to the puppet theater.

Strangely, the puppet theater has already found new accommodations. The leaflet contained a threat of antisemitic violence. “Today our children don’t go to the theater—Tomorrow they will grab a gun and go on a pogrom,” the leaflet read, picturing skinheads at a neo-Nazi concert. The leaflet’s author claims to represent a marginal political party, whose spokesman denied that it had anything to do with the leaflet.

A New Chabad Centre for Oxford Students

Amit Pundik began lugging a satchel of books and paper around Oxford University four months ago when he arrived to study law. Excelling in an environment populated by a select group of scholastically driven students and some of the world’s finest minds as faculty, where final exam crunch time arrives every few weeks requires discipline. But when Pundik wants to set his heavy load down and unwind he heads for the brand new, half-million dollar Rohr Jewish Student Centre.

For Summers, Shabbat Is Rest from Week of Rancor

Munching on gefilte fish and challah, over 600 Harvard affiliates—Jews and gentiles alike—packed Annenberg Hall last Friday night to observe the beginning of the Jewish sabbath.

Embattled University President Lawrence H. Summers delivered the opening remarks of the event, dubbed Shabbat 1000.

When his name was announced, the audience responded with vigorous applause, which surged again when Summers stepped up to speak.