City Urges Halt To Ritual Practice

Unprecedented open letter says controversial circumcision technique is dangerous; haredim say they won’t heed warning.

In the face of a beis din’s failure to conclude its investigation of a mohel who health officials say transmitted herpes to three babies, New York City’s health commissioner issued an unprecedented public warning Tuesday that a controversial circumcision procedure is endangering the lives of Jewish infants.

“There exists no reasonable doubt that metzitzah b’peh can and has caused neonatal herpes infection,” Dr. Thomas Frieden wrote in “An Open Letter to the Jewish Community” about a procedure routinely practiced by mohels in some sectors of the Orthodox community. “The Health Department recommends that infants being circumcised not undergo metzitzah b’peh.”

Menorah Lights Triumph Yet Again

In Shrewsbury, MA, a Chanukah miracle took place when the town Board of Selectmen voted to reverse their original vote to deny the Chabad Jewish Center permission to light the menorah on the town common. Chabad representative Rabbi Michoel Green will kindle the menorah there on December 25th at 5:30 p.m. and the menorah will be lit every night of the eight-day Chanukah holiday.

Public menorah displays testament to the growing acceptance of Chabad

Ten years ago, the American Jewish Congress sued the city of Beverly Hills, Calif., to block the local Chabad house from erecting a 27-foot menorah in a public park near City Hall.

Displaying the menorah — a Jewish religious symbol — on public property, the AJCongress argued, was unconstitutional.

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the city, allowing Chabad to put up the large candelabra. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals later reversed the decision.

Virtual Chanukah Launched!

Chabad.org has launched their Virtual Chanukah website which contains a lot of information about Chanukah from stories to insights, games and greeting cards and loads more.

Chanukah Live; the program that Chabad.org runs every year, which gives us a live broadcast of menorah lightings from around the world, will be accessible through the Virtual Chanukah website as well.

Click Here to check it out!

Class, Brass and 23 Doors

A very interesting article about a house in Crown Heights on how it was back in the day, which appeared in the NY Times.

Beulah Smith lived for 44 years in a brownstone at Park Place and Brooklyn Avenue in Crown Heights. She never took in boarders, and after the death of her husband, Ivan, she lived alone among the oak paneling, stained glass and flowery wooden fretwork of her turn-of-the-century house.

When Ms. Smith died in 1996, at age 94, much of the interior of the house had remained unchanged since 1900. The shower, for example, was a brass affair with a huge dome-shaped spout, suspended above a large, wide-rimmed tub.

Last Thursday, in a self-storage warehouse at Third Avenue and First Street, near the Gowanus Canal, David Goldstein examined that tub with delight. “It’s got these great three-inch rims, which are fantastic,” he said. “I’m not crazy about claw feet, and it hasn’t got claw feet.”

Hassidic Reggae Star Matisyahu Captivates Israeli Audiences

Up and coming Reggae music star Matisyahu played to sold-out audiences in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem last week.

The Israeli public warmly received Matisyahu’s mix of Reggae and Rap music with content containing strong Jewish spiritual messages. Matisyahu’s third album ‘Youth’ is slated for release by Sony records in January 2006.

Matisyahu, born 26 years ago as Matthew Miller, was an upper middle class unaffiliated Jew until he underwent a spiritual transformation during a trip to Israel. Upon his return to the US, Miller attended the New School for Social Research and explored the possibilities of Reggae music at various New York City clubs. At the same time, he continued to pursue his religious identity, eventually changing his name to Matisyahu and becoming a Lubavitch Hassid, studying Jewish texts at a Yeshiva (rabbinic seminary) in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Bruk, OBM

With great sorrow we report the passing of R. Menachem Mendel Bruk of Kfar Chabad son of Reb Chaim Shaul Bruk, A”H. The Levaya will leave tomorrow, Wednesday from his home in Kfar Chabad at 9:00am and from Yerushalayim at 11:30am.

R. Bruk was survived by children Avrohom Aharon from Flatbush, Levi Yitzchak, Yossi, Shmuel, Chaim Shaul from Crown Heights, and his married daughters: Mrs. Noishtat from Rishon Letzion, and Mrs. Siroka from Bnei Brak, Mrs. Lishner and Mrs. Rivkin from Kfar Chabad, Mrs. Wilhelm A”H who had passed away just over a year ago. Rabbi Bruk was born on 13th of Cheshvan 5679 and just a month ago had celebrated his 87th birthday.

Chaim Shaul Bruk will be sitting Shiva in his house at 1335 Carroll St. and Tefilos will be: Shacharis at 9:30AM, Mincha at 4:00pm and Maariv at 5:15pm

Hamokom Yenachem Eschem Besoch Shaar Avaylay Tzion VeYerushalayim.

New Shluchim to Kansas

R. Zalman Teichtal and his wife will be moving out to Lawrence, Kansas next week to open a Chabad House at the local university where they will be organizing activities for Jewish students. Rabbi Zalman will be joining his brothers who have all gone out on Shlichus and have established Chabad Houses.

The new Shlichus post in Kansas has been made possible by combined efforts of R. Moshe Kotlarsky, the Campus Committee and the Rohr Foundation. The Tiechtels were appointed by R. Sholom Ber Weinberg, the Head Shliach of Kansas.

Chabad of the Rivertowns To Hold Chanukah Balloon Fest

Dobbs Ferry, NY – Rabbi Benjy Silverman, Director of Chabad of the Rivertowns, has announced a Chanukah Balloon Fest to take place on the first night of Chanukah, Sunday, December 25th beginning at 3:45 pm at Chabad, 303 Broadway in Dobbs-Ferry.

The free event will include a balloon drop, balloon rockets, balloon typhoon, balloon sculptures and a balloon carnival — something for everyone from the youngest children to senior citizens. Featured will be a Giant 12 ft Balloon Menorah in keeping with the giant structures that Chabad of the Rivertowns has become known for since being founded four years ago by Rabbi Benjy and Hinda Silverman.

“Our objective in sponsoring this and other events,” said Silverman, “is to provide a warm and friendly place where all feel welcome, where no membership or affiliation is required, where children can participate freely in our wonderful facility, and where residents of all ages can share the joys of Chanukah with family and friends.”

Growing faith at Hanukkah

Dozens of families turned out Sunday at the Lubavitch Jewish Center in northwest Gainesville for the sixth annual “Chanukah Factory,” an afternoon of fun and games to teach the children about their Jewish faith.

Also known as Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday begins Dec. 25.

Children who were contestants in a trivia game were quizzed about their knowledge of the holiday with Rabbi Berl Goldman presiding as the game show host. The children also played “Jewpardy” after the TV game show Jeopardy, testing their smarts about Judaism.

Chanukah To Light Up Universal Studios

Video of the event: Choose quality High Definition, High, Medium or Low Quality

Will the ten thousand people who flood Universal City Walk’s cinema square to witness Chabad of the Valley’s menorah lighting and watch the giant Astrovision screen beam scenes from Chanukah around the world on Tuesday, December 27, from 5-9 p.m., know where to look first?

City Walk’s streetscape that features a sky-scraping electric guitar, a giant ape hanging from a storefront, and enough neon to rival Vegas, is the perfect backdrop for Chabad’s upcoming Chanukah Menorah lighting that will feature a kaleidoscope of important people, Jewish rock, and patriotic tributes. In the past Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Red Sox right fielder Gabe Kapler were hoisted up by cherry picker to light Chabad’s 18-foot tall steel menorah that weighs in at well over 1,000 lbs.

Haddonfield to light Hanukkah menorah

Haddonfield is having its first-ever public Hanukkah celebration, sparking a debate on whether religious ceremonies should be held on public ground.

Haddonfield Talks, an online discussion forum on the Yahoo Web site, has been buzzing with activity since the borough granted a request by a group of residents to allow a menorah-lighting ceremony to take place on x-mas Day. The first night of Hanukkah falls on Dec. 25 this year.

“There’s a lot of activity out there, a lot of discussion,” said Ilise Feitshans, who spearheaded the effort. “It can only be good to have that kind of back and forth.”

Ask The Clergy

An Arkansas Newspaper has a column called “ask the clergy” in which they “ask three clergymen three different questions specific to their faith groups.” Well only one is relevant to us, the question posed to the Shliach of Little Rock Arkansas R. Pinchus Ciment.

A READER ASKS: What is the reason for the Jewish custom of altering the spelling of a name when referring to The Deity, as in G-d and A-lmighty?

Rabbi Pinchus Ciment is the spiritual leader of Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Center in Little Rock.

When mentioning The Deity in any form, it is to be treated with sacredness. When using any of the different names by which G-d is referred to in the Bible, even in a language other than Hebrew, one is to take care to treat the word respectfully.

Being that one does not know with certainty how you will treat the paper after reading it, and out of concern that it might end up in an inappropriate place with other items deemed to be insignificant, we are careful to not write the name of The Deity in its entirety. Rather, we make a slight change to the word that allows the reader to know what we are referring to without actually writing it, and thus we remove the concern of possibly treating a name of The Deity with disrespect.

Real Estate Observes a Law Even Higher

An intresting article that appeard in the NY Times about real estate, Torah and Mitzvot.

To be a real estate agent in Riverdale, the leafy enclave in the northwest Bronx, is to be mindful of not only the rules of property ownership but also the rules of the Torah. The neighborhood is home to an ever-growing number of Conservative and Orthodox Jews, and when hunting for houses or apartments, they tend to follow a stricter course than the typical New York talismans of hardwood floors and sweeping views.

“Let me start with kitchens,” Bradford Trebach, a broker at Trebach Realty, said the other day. A kosher-friendly kitchen, he explained, has two separate stainless-steel sinks to keep meat and dairy apart and a two-tray, stainless-steel dishwasher for the same reason. “The ideal is to have duplicate areas for preparation, cooking and cleanup,” said Mr. Trebach, who is Jewish, though not Orthodox, and has the air of someone who has spent years pointing out patios that are ideal for building sukkahs.

Crown Heights JCC members in Washington

Members of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council of Crown Heights, Rabbi Chanina Sperlin and Dr. Tzvi Lang met this week with US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt and with the director of the Office of White House Political Affairs Miss Sara Taylor.

Overcoming hatred of a culture

Walid Shoebat learned early to hate Jewish people.

His family, his teachers, his church and his society taught him that Jews were animals, killers, evil.

He learned the lesson so well that as a boy he picked up rocks to throw at rabbis in prayer at the Wailing Wall.

Then he picked up Molotov cocktails. Then bombs.

Shoebat talked about the lessons the Palestinians taught him, and how he later taught himself a different lesson, Sunday night at the Simon Family Jewish Community Center.