Rosh Chodesh Kislev Farbrengen

The annual Rosh Chodesh Kislev farbrengen, celebrated on Thursday night in 770 is considered a ‘Seudas Hodaya’ (thanks giving) meal, and is one of the only events in 770 that attracts a diversified crowd of Crown Heights residents. The Farbrengen, arranged for the past 28 years, by Rabbi Meir Harlig, who also chaired the event opened with an address by Rabbi Yisroel Gordon, who read the Rebbe’s kapitel Tehillim.

A ‘Dvar Malchus’ was delivered by Rabbi Sholom Dovber Lipsker a Mashpia in Chovevei Torah Crown Heights and two interesting speeches were delivered by Rabbi Yossi Goldman, Shliach and chairman of the Federation of Rabbis of Johannesburg, South Africa, and the famous speaker Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson. These were followed by enthusiastic dancing until late at night, commemorating the joy that had filled 770 in the first ‘Rosh Chodesh Kislev’.

By popular request we got Rabbi Jacobson’s Speech, for your listening pleasure. It can be downloaded or listened to as a stream. Stream (WMA 2.9mb)

And here is Rabbi Yossi Goldman’s speech. It can be downloaded or listened to as a stream. Stream (WMA 500kb)

Yet Another Didan Notzach: Nine-foot-tall display to be erected in park…

Ed’s Note: At the end of the article there is a rather peculiar statement made by 3 “Rabbis” of Mercer County NJ stating that “we believe that the Menorah is a deeply religious symbol, belonging in synagogues, Jewish homes” and that is not true, how can these people be called rabbis???

West Windsor, NJ — With every Christmas tree we light — on public property, in an age of political correctness — come questions of freedom of speech and the separation of church and state.

Going back on a preliminary legal opinion not to allow Rabbi Sholom Leverton and Chabad of the Windsors to erect a lighted menorah in the Ron Rogers Arboretum at Clarksville Road and Route 571, township attorney Michael Herbert said the group should not be barred from displaying a menorah near the township’s Christmas tree display.

“We issued a preliminary opinion that it would not be permissible because cases hold that public property cannot be used to promote a religion,” Mr. Herbert said. “We’re simply trying to follow the law without taking sides.”

Valley couple opens Jewish center

PLEASANTON — A peek behind an embroidered covering with the words “Chabad of the Tri-Valley” reveals a smaller-than-average Torah, smuggled out of Communist Russia.

But the keepers of the scrolls, Pleasanton residents Rabbi Raleigh and Fruma Resnick of Pleasanton, want Judaism to be practiced far less clandestinely than was necessary at the time in Eastern Europe.

The New York natives have come to the Valley to form a Chabad Center they hope will serve as a “beacon of light” that draws Jews together to celebrate the sabbath, holidays and their faith.

As More New York Blacks Wear Blue, More Are Dying in the Line of Duty

Maybe they are only numbers: Four out of five.

Five times since the terrorist attacks of 2001, police officers have been shot dead in the line of duty. Four of those times, the families of black officers have taken front-row seats for the funerals.

The number of black people in the 37,000-member Police Department has risen slowly over the decades, but more rapidly in recent years. Blacks now make up 17.4 percent of the force – up from 9.2 percent in 2001 in a city where more than 25 percent of the population is black. Since 2001, though, the names of black officers and detectives have all but filled the list destined for permanent inscription in gilded bas-relief above the entrance to Police Headquarters: “Those Who Died in Performance of Duty,” as the plaque says.

New Chabad Centers Open at University of Kansas and CAL State Northridge

By the time students at University of Kansas and California State University, Northridge, return from holiday break, they will meet the two newest members of the 19 representatives Chabad on Campus sent to college this year.

As their departure for Kansas date nears, Rabbi Zalmy and Nechama Dina Teichtel are printing up postcards they’ll use to announce their presence on campus and pricing Chabad rep must-haves like a giant menorahs. Rabbi Chaim and Raizel Brook, who are on their way to Northridge, CA, are boxing up the contents of their Brooklyn apartment and brainstorming content for their first Torah classes.

Chabad Center to hold Hanukkah event at Union

As Hanukkah falls during winter break this year, the Chabad Center of Champaign-Urbana is holding a Hanukkah event Thursday from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. in the Illini Union Recreational Room.

“The Hanukkah Bowl,” is an evening of bowling, billiards, food and fun, all in the Hanukkah spirit, according to the Chabad Web site. This is the only and first Hanukkah event ever sponsored by the Union Recreational Room.

Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel, the director of the Champaign Chabad Center, said this year marks the second year the event has been held. The whole room will be transformed into the Hanukkah spirit, he said. At the entrance to the Union, there will be a large menorah for all to enjoy.

Didan Notzach: Menorah to light up common

After legal pressure, Shrewsbury [Massachusetts] officials will allow all holiday displays on the town common and in front of Town Hall, no questions asked.

That’s the latest decision by the Board of Selectmen, which last week reversed its decision to deny a request to place a menorah on the common.

”If they’re exercising their First Amendment rights, they can do whatever they want to do,” Town Manager Dan Morgado said. ”The board’s position is they don’t endorse, approve, or disapprove” any activity on the common.

In August, the Chabad Jewish Center in Westborough asked Shrewsbury for permission to erect a menorah on the lawn of Town Hall or on the town common for eight days starting Dec. 25, the first night of Hanukkah.

Chabad of Oregon opening “Everything Jewish” store

Everything Jewish opens Dec. 5 in the former Starbooks location at 6684 S.W. Capitol Highway, Portland.

Rabbi Chayim Mishulovin, who moved to Portland in April with his wife Simi to run Chabad youth programs, will oversee the store’s operation. The store will offer a 10 percent discount for its first 10 days of operation with details available in the store, said Mishulovin.

Mishulolvin emphasized the store was not created to compete with other stores but is designed to further Chabad’s mission of bringing everything Jewish into the community. Chabad attempts to make Judaism affordable by providing items at reasonable cost. He said all profits will go back into the store.

Doughnuts and Oil on Tap at Strip Malls

Giant dreidels, life-sized Judah Maccabeecut-outs and computers loaded up with Chanukah games are coming to strip malls in Montgomery, Chester and Bucks counties.

Chabad Lubavitch’s idea of bringing “Chanukah Wonderlands” to area malls stems from the desire to make the story of the Jewish revolt against the Syrian Greeks come alive for children during a month where all things Christmas are seemingly everywhere.

“If you are a little Jewish boy or girl, it might not be all that comfortable during this month,” said Rabbi Yossi Kaplan of the Chabad Lubavitch of Chester County: Jewish Center in Devon. “We really emphasize the miracle of Chanukah.”

Holocaust Education on Track

Six-part adult-ed course taught here, and throughout the world

Rabbi Efraim Mintz divides the decades following the Holocaust into different stages based on Jewish reaction to its horrors: the shock and silence of the first two decades after World War II, followed by years marked by the urgency to tell, document and, most importantly, never forget.

The most recent period, said the director of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute, is now coming to an end, with Holocaust memorials in nearly every major city, millions of dollars being poured into Holocaust museums worldwide, and several documentation projects under way.

With that in mind, Mintz and his organization sought a way to begin a new era of Holocaust memorialization, an era of deriving moral lessons for the current generation from the tragedies that befell millions – finding underlying messages in the face of extreme terror.

Construction On Kingston Ave.

For all those of you that are wondering what is going on at the Kingston Ave. and Crown St. intersection. The electric company is replacing an old transformer and its wiring, which spans across the entire intersection and then some.

The construction will have traffic all messed up till the work will be completed.

Here is where I would like to repeat the phrase “you know a city streets pavement is completed, is the first time they drill in it” how true I feel it is.

More pictures in the Extended Article

UPDATE: FedEx phonies lift $4M in Gem District

Note that there are many Jewish and Lubavitch men and woman that work and own businesses in the diamond district, and it’s arguably the single place (once block) where the most cash flows.

Click Here to watch a NewsCast of this story. (NY1)

A pair of armed bandits dressed as FedEx workers fast-talked their way into a Diamond District jewelry business yesterday and pulled off a brazen $4 million stickup.

Brandishing guns and plastic handcuffs, the robbers were in and out of Doppelt & Greenwald Diamonds, a sixth-floor jewelry wholesaler at Fifth Ave. and W. 47th St., in just a few minutes.

Replica of the Rebbe’s chair

From COL: A Jewish carpenter has crafted a replica of the Rebbe’s chair, and was displaying it for sale outside 770.

CHJCC Closed For Business

CrownHeights.info has received word today that the offices of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council did not open up today. The reason we heard was that the CHJCC employees were outraged by the fact that their health insurance policies were altered with out their knowledge or agreement.

From what we were told that this isn’t a coordinated strike, it is each employee expressing their outrage at whoever is behind this.

We will publish more information as we hear about it. If you have anything to add to this you can email me or post it in the comments.