Car Brake-in Blitz In Crown Heights

Yesterday [Tuesday] there were 7 reports that came into the Shomrim Hotline of people complaining that they had their car broken into. Most reported that the stuff that was in the car were just rummaged thru but hardly anything taken, while others had the window broken and nothing even touched.

All this takes place the very night that our known car thief Derrick [Terrence] Nelson was released from police custody, now we aren’t sure this was all his doing but it’s interesting this all happens the very night of his release. The cars that were broken into were scattered across Crown Heights, on Montgomery & Nostrand, Eastern Pkwy & Brooklyn, President & Albany and on Carroll & Albany. Police reports have been filed (much help they would be…) but you must remember a crime not reported is a crime that didn’t happen.

A number of things we want to recommend, is that you should not leave anything visible in your car, move the stuff over to the trunk if it must stay in your car. And if you see something make sure to call Shomrim at (718) 774-3333 any time of day and any day of the week.

A point of light, learning

According to Rabbi Schneur Oirechman, most people at the Chanukah Carnival on Sunday weren’t members of his synagogue or of Chabad Lubavitch of the Panhandle, the Jewish organization he leads. Many weren’t Jewish at all.

During the carnival at Lake Ella that marked the first of the eight-day Jewish holiday, people came out for fellowship, to experience a different culture and to be proud of who they are.

A Beautiful Photo Gallery is included in the Extended Article!

Hanukkah brightens up night

Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky of Chabad of Hawai’i, his wife, Pearl, and their children observe Hanukkah according to strict guidelines.

“There’s a theory that malassadas, a Portuguese food, was eaten by Jews in hiding (during the Spanish Inquisition),” she said. Like latkes, malassadas are fried in oil to commemorate the miracle of the oil lamp.

Eight-day Hanukkah celebration begins

Rabbi brings his family to light up the life of a member of his congregation who is at Sarasota Memorial Hospital

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz began his Hanukkah tradition 15 years ago, when both Sarasota and his family were much smaller.

Shortly after moving here from California in 1990, Steinmetz, unfamiliar with the area and hampered by a lack of street lights, and with his wife and two infants, got lost on the way to the nursing home where they planned to light a Hanukkah menorah with a resident who had fallen ill.

On Sunday, Steinmetz easily found his way to Sarasota Memorial Hospital to pay his annual Hanukkah visit — in the company of his wife and six of their eight children.

“Most people have their holidays at home, but we go out,” said Steinmetz, whose congregation is Chabad of Sarasota.

Families celebrate festival of lights

They came — braving the rain and the cold — to celebrate Hanukkah on ice.

Nearly a hundred East Bay families gathered at Walnut Creek’s downtown ice rink Sunday to commemorate the first night of Hanukkah.

“It’s the story of Hanukkah,” said Rabbi Yacov Kagan with Chabad of Contra Costa, which sponsored the inaugural outdoor “Hanukkah on Ice” event. “The brave and the few who came out despite the rain. It reminds me of the brave few who came out of the bitter darkness to fight for the Jerusalem Temple.”

Moscow Greets Chanukah by Lighting Giant Menorah Near the Kremlin

Chanukah celebrations get underway in Moscow on the evening of Sunday, December 25th at 4:30 PM. At that time, Manezhnaya Square, located just opposite the Kremlin, will feature the lighting of a giant 24-foot Menorah, ushering in the holiday in Russia. The Menorah lighting ceremony will be graced by the presence of Moscow Mayor Yuri Lushkov, Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar and Federation of Jewish Communities President Lev Leviev, along with other celebrities, dignitaries and hundreds of Moscow Jews.

The Menorah lighting will be followed by a festive Chanukah concert, which has already been sold out, at the ‘Russiya’ concert hall. 2,500 persons will enjoy this festivity, featuring performances by leading Russian artists.

From the Brooklyn Bridge to the Great Wall of China: Chabad Lights Up the Skies

It’s hard to litigate against light, which explains why despite scattered attempts around the country by church and state purists to take down the eight-armed menorahs from public spaces, America’s skies are illuminated with the Chanukah lights beginning tonight, the first night of Chanukah.

Millions are by now accustomed to the menorah display in their respective town squares, and, Jewish or not, they welcome the light, often joining in the festivities celebrating the message of Chanukah. After all, the menorah’s message is universal, which explains why governors and mayors and councilmen nationwide are eager for the chance to get into those ubiquitous cherry pickers and put flame to wick.

National Menorah lighting to mark start of Hanukkah

Click Here for a Newscast of this story

Hanukkah begins the same day as xmas this year, and the District will mark the Jewish festival of lights celebration with one of the biggest menorahs anywhere.

The holidays are close every year, but rarely are they on the same day, said Rabbi Levi Shemtov, director of the D.C. office of American Friends of Lubavitch.

The menorah symbolizes the Jewish Maccabean army’s defeat of Syrian enemies for the right to practice their religion more than 2,000 years ago. It has eight candles to represent the miracle of how one day’s supply of purified oil burned for eight days when the Jews were rededicating their temple in Jerusalem after the victory.

A comprehensive picture gallery of the event can be seen in the Extended Article!

Israelis, Chinese Jews light Hanukkah candle at Great Wall of China

Click Here for a Newscast of this story

The flame of the Hanukkah candle crossed roads for the first time in its millennia-long tradition Sunday evening with the symbol of a second ancient cultural symbol: the Great Wall of China.

Some 200 Israelis and members of Beijing’s Jewish community gathered at the Mujianyu site of the wall outside the Chinese capital to light the first candle of Hanukkah against the backdrop of the winding wall.

The Israeli Ambassador to China, Dr. Yehoyada Haim, hosted the ceremony, saying at its onset, “This is an historical moment where two great and ancient civilizations come together.”

Shliach R. Metzger on FoxNews Homepage

With Chanukah just a few hours in, the world media seems to not be able to get enough of it. FoxNews’s homepage has the picture of R. Metzger Shliach in Manhattan and family lighting the Menorah as the picture leading the article it ran on Chanukah.

Stay tuned to CrownHeights.info for coverage on all the world media coverage Chanukah will get.

Tzerei Hashluchim Camp in Oracle, Arizona

This year over 100 young shluchim joined the Tzeirei Hashluchim Camp in Oracle, Arizona. Over a warm and Heimishe environment they experienced a most moving Shabbos together with their dedicated staff. The joy and emotion that can be seen in their eyes as they take in every moment of these short 10 days will give them the strength and chayus to go back to their remote places on shlichus and be a dugma chayoh and help to all of the Jews in their hometowns.

As far as Milan and Hong Kong through CA, TN, AL, GA, AZ, NV, NM, NY, MA, WI, IN, TX, UT, have they come to share their own hardships on shlichus with their friends and get the chayus needed to go back out on the field after 10 days which will invigorate their lives with learning and living in the atmosphere of Shlichus and Chassidishkeit.

Special Thanks to Rabbi Moshe Pinson for coordinating this wonderful program.

Visit the Chabad Menorah And Maybe You Can Save 15% Or More On Car Insurance

In a monthly magazine published by Gieco (the insurance company) they include a list of tourist attractions to go and visit. In this months publication the Chabad menorah in the Boston common.

Chabad Menorah Vandalized in Upstate New York

This is an excerpt of the Shabbos newspaper that was published upstate.

Tonight at sundown, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah starts. The eight day “festival of lights” is highlighted by the lighting of the menorah, a candelabra on which an additional candle is lit each evening.

Even before the holiday began, a large community menorah donated by the Chabad group, was vandalized and destroyed in the New Windsor-Cornwall [about 60 miles north of NYC] area.

Police were called to the scene to investigate.