Kabbalah class looks at alternate view of time

Portland is one of 160 locations around the world where a new course in Kabbalah will be offered starting Feb. 8.

The purpose of the course, called “The Kabbalah of Time,” is to help individuals cope with the implications of our increasingly high-speed world.

It is an eight-week course offered through the Jewish Learning Institute, the adult education arm of Chabad Lubavitch.

“We live in an age obsessed with time,” states the promotional material for the course. “On the one hand, we have managed to speed up many of our mundane daily activities so that they take a fraction of the time they once did. Yet we do not find that we are more serene or happy. To the contrary, there are ever-increasing demands and intrusion on our time, creating an increasingly fragmented existence.”

Chabad A Key to Worldwide Kosher Growth

Major kosher certification agencies have in recent years dramatically increased kosher supervision in some 75 countries throughout the world, contributing to the worldwide explosion of kosher foods, particularly ingredients, but many in the kosher food industry credit the worldwide Chabad (followers of the late Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, Lubavitcher Rebbe) movement for many of these gains.

Some of the mashgichim (kosher supervisors) in remote locations in Southeast Asia and elsewhere are in fact emissaries (shluchim) of Chabad who “freelance” for some of the largest kosher certification agencies. “They just happen to be everywhere,” said a leading authority on kosher, “and it makes sense to utilize their knowledge and understanding of the local community.” There are no numbers of the number of shluchim who double as mashgichim but one source told Kosher Today that it is in the high hundreds.

This involvement by Chabad is over and above the service the organization provides to tourists and businessmen who visit many locations that do not have any kosher food. The latest Chabad Center to open is in Warsaw, where a new center will also feature a kosher restaurant. Chabad has also been involved in educating many Jews about the benefits of kosher with such programs as group visits to supermarkets. A New York kosher purveyor said that “when you add up what they’ve done for kosher over the years, it’s huge.”

Officers Went Missing During Gunfight

After recieving a bunch of calls inquiring about the massive police movement yesterday [Wednesday] at around 7:20pm, here is clarification as to what has happened. Nearly every police officer in the 71st precincts district responded to a call of shots fired, leaving very few squad cars parked at the station.

An officer patroling on foot called in an incident of shots being fired on Winthrop & E. 94th St. and following this report the dispatcher was unable to get back in touch with the unit. The dispatcher immediately classified it as an officer unaccounted for, sparking this huge response to make sure the officer was ok.

It took some time but all the officers that were on foot were accounted for, and thank G-D no Police Officer was hurt, but the original call for the shots fired was accurate, a man was shot and police continued to look for the shooter.

Police apprehend a mugger wanabe and dump thief

Earlier this week a Bochur who was walking on Eastern Parkway was approached by 2 black men which began walking beside him and told him “don’t make a big fuss, just hand us over the money, we have a gun”, the Bochur who took the risk thinking they didn’t have one, pulled out his cell phone and called 911 as they were standing next to him. The perps immediately fled.

When the Police showed up on scene (within 3 minutes) they took the Bochur around to search for the perps, who had fled into a building, and saw that the building had a rear exit, and had lost them. The detectives then filed a report and gave the Bochur a cell phone number to call in case he sees them again.

Today was that day, the Bochur was walking Eastern Parkway again and spotted one of the muggers, and called the detective who was there instantly and apprehended the suspect (18), who has a prior record.

Police apprehend 16 year old car thief

CrownHeights.info received a report that this morning [Wednesday] at around 8:30am two police officers that were sitting in an unmarked police cruiser on Eastern Parkway and Brooklyn Ave. spotted a 16 year old black male looking into cars and forcing entry by breaking the windows of 2 cars.

The officers apprehended and arrested the kid, and in a search of the suspect’s possessions the police found a sum of cash and change among other things taken from the vehicles. B”H it seems the police are getting out there and taking care to put a stop to the absurd occurrence of so many cars being broken into. Thank you NYPD keep up the good work.

STATEMENT BY AGUDAS CHASIDEI CHABAD OF THE FORMER SOVIET UNION ON THE ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACK IN MOSCOW

JANUARY 11, 2006—We are outraged by the vicious anti-Semitic attack against Agudas Chasidei Chabad of the Former Soviet Union and those gathered in its Moscow Headquarters and Synagogue. We join with people of conscience around the world in condemning this hateful act, and send our prayers to those injured during the assault.

Victims of the despicable attack include Rabbi Isaac Kogan, who testified in April, 2005 before the U.S. Helsinki Commission about Chabad’s efforts to retrieve the Schneerson Collection of sacred texts from Moscow. Rabbi Kogan is a famous refusenik appointed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, to be part of Agudas Chasidei Chabad of the Former Soviet Union. The other leaders of the organization are Rabbi Yosef Aronov, Rabbi Boruch S. Cunin, and Rabbi Sholom Ber Levin, who are now en route to Moscow.

Among those seriously injured and hospitalized is Rabbi Kogan’s son- in-law, Rabbi Michoel Mishulovin, who had emigrated with his family from Russia to Los Angeles in the 1970s, but recently returned to Russia to assist the Jewish community there. Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Commonwealth of Independent States has been aiding efforts to secure medical care for the wounded, with the assistance of Lev Leviev. Russia’s Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Berel Lazar, has been in touch with police authorities to ensure that justice is done.

Man goes on stabbing spree in Chabad House

A man armed with a knife stabbed several people in a downtown Moscow synagogue Wednesday, with some seriously wounded, before the rabbi’s son wrestled the assailant to the ground, police officials and witnesses said.

At least six people were hospitalized in the attack at the Chabad Bronnaya synagogue, a duty officer with the Central Moscow district police precinct told The Associated Press.

A secretary at the synagogue who gave her first name as Tatyana told AP that the attacker wounded seven, some seriously. She said she heard people screaming as the man stabbed them, but the man himself was silent.

in other words

Chabad-lubavitch is one and entirely the same thing for starters. Its not the wal-mart of Jewish life, yet it is a mega phenomenon that keeps growing at a remarkable rate, by entering the underserved areas, and by assessing the lack of basic services by certain well-funded organizations, and in turn providing, the all important services.

Growth provides the impetus and resources for additional growth. Wal-Mart provides better pricing by employing cost saving techniques such as outsourced product labor, wholesale, and the like. And Wal-mart provides long overdue relief for all those not in the first income bracket, so-so much for wal-mart.

Slashed menorahs deemed hate crimes

A recent spate of attacks on Hanukkah displays, two of them in Gaithersburg, are being investigated as ‘‘hate crimes” and will be reported to federal investigators, county police said last week.

‘‘Montgomery County Police take reports of hate crimes very seriously and they are thoroughly investigated,” police said in a statement Friday. ‘‘In addition, reports of hate crimes are provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

The move follows two incidents late last month and another early this month in which vandals destroyed inflatable menorahs that were parts of ‘‘Chanukah Wonderland” displays in Gaithersburg and Rockville, and then damaged another menorah after stealing Chanukah signs from it.

Religious Intolerance?

This Chanukah Chabad enjoyed the most positive press it ever received, and this seems to irritate some other religious groups as well as freelance rag writers. Several organizations and newsletters have recently published Chanukah photo galleries with pictures of Chabad Menorah Lightings but would not dare give any credit or even a mention of Chabad. One such example; the Five Towns Newspaper in its photo gallery of Chanukah has a description for every one of their pictures. The big Menorah – with no description. Why?

What particularly got me to write this report was a recent article in The Jerusalem Post by Marvin Schick, one who has a massive chip on his shoulder, may he be blessed (his soul needs it). An article which criticizes Chabad, ridicules, its traditions and accuses its Shluchim of permitting synagogue regulars to drive to Shul on Shabbos, and while I would expect an article to at the very least have facts, this once contains none. I didn’t find anything of truth in the article and I feel pure hatred against Chabad in reading his article. He very nicely complains of how Chabad is growing too quick while other outreach organizations cannot keep up to it. The truth is, he is absolutely correct and sad for him because they will never catch up. I will paraphrase what I’ve heard from a rabbi of Ohr Same’ach: “We will never get anywhere close to Chabad and I don’t know how they do it, I have to pay rabbi’s to do a 9 to 5 job while in Chabad they leave on Shlichus not knowing if they will ever earn a penny”.

Scripture, Meet the Web: Placing Limits on 24/7

And on the seventh day, online retailers rested. At least some of them.

Consumers have grown to expect around-the-clock pampering from Internet merchants, who have been pushed by rivals to offer customer service even on weekends and to remedy site glitches immediately, no matter when they happen.

But this trend is being bucked by some electronic retailers – many with religiously observant owners and executives who leave their sites up and running on their Sabbath, but do not complete orders, work on the site or otherwise do anything to help customers. And despite an increasingly competitive environment and ever more demanding customers, they say their businesses have not suffered.

More car Break-ins

I have received quite a few more reports from people about their cars getting broken into, one on Kingston & President, another on Eastern Parkway & New York Ave. and one more on Eastern Parkway & Brooklyn Ave.

If you are a victim of a break-in you MUST report it to the police and file a police report, this falls under the category of Auto Larceny which the mayors office claims has only been falling for the past years, which we all know is not true. So if you had a window broken file that police report, and also call it in to the Shomrim Hotline so the patrolling units will know where to focus.

You can call the Shomrim Hotline at (718) 774-3333 24/7

Late Night Patrols

Motzoai Shabbos there were a number of patrols out, keeping an eye on our communities streets. At around 3:00am the Shomrim Hotline received a call of a robbery at the Machon Chana building (on the corner of Crown and Albany). The caller who was awoken by the noise was watching trough a window as the perpetrator was rummaging through an office apparently looking for something of value. Within a minute there were a number of Shomrim units on the scene who quickly went through the Shul and rooms, noticing that one of the office doors had been forced open. Although it didn’t seem like anything was taken, the administration had been notified. The perpetrator was not apprehended.

In another incident at 5:00am at the corner of Kingston and Montgomery someone noticed a black man under a minivan when the van’s alarm went off, the perpetrator in shock started to run, with our witness on his tail calling Shomrim, who once more had units patrolling and responded in under a minute and chased the perp who then got into a minivan of his own and began to flee, the Shomrim members got his license plate number but could not stop him. They then returned to the original scene of the crime where they notice parts of the van were dismantled but left on the street. The police arrived shortly after and filed a police report along with the information of the guy’s car from the Shomrim members.

Shomrim has units patrolling at nights but can only be in one place at a time, therefore it is critical that if anyone sees something they should call it into the Shomrim Hotline so the members can be dispatched to the right places. So if you see something don’t hesitate to call at any time of day and on any day of the week (718) 774-3333.

Sharon Recovering From Brain Surgery

With Prime Minister Ariel Sharon recovering from emergency brain surgery Saturday, his doctors said it was still too early to assess how much damage the Israeli leader has suffered from a massive stroke. Independent experts said the prognosis remained grim.

An official determination on Sharon’s condition will likely take place Sunday, when doctors plan to wean him off the drugs that are keeping him in a state they described as a medically induced coma.