“Strange Bedfellows” – Part 1

There is a famous saying about politics “Politics makes strange bedfellows”, of course I’m hoping that people won’t take the above sentence in it’s literal sense – to avoid some serious halachic and moralistic complications.

Many pleasantly surprising alliances are taking place at these times; people who once fought neck-to-neck are now aligning themselves to destroy a common evil.

Do you remember the “Dollars” scene? Who were the main actors in that episode? The answers may be quite surprising. Normal, sensible, and truth-seeking people have finally come to ends with their senses and have awakened to a terrible by-product which was only recently created by themselves.

Mayor Bloomberg Visits Again

Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited Crown Heights once more after visiting just a few days ago. And was greeted by Assemblyman Dov Hikind and Baalie Batim including Rosh Hakohol Moshe Rubashkin, Chanina Sperlin, Shaya Boimelgreen, Meyer Eichler and Chaplin Col. Yakov Goldstein.

After a brief tour of Kingston Ave. the mayor held a form of a press conference in front of the Jewish Children’s Museum, asking for our vote in the upcoming election.

Abandoned chickens saved from death

They just dont let up.

Their name is their fate – broilers. And, but for the efforts of a local animal sanctuary, 200 or so abandoned Brooklyn broilers were saved from a fate worse than deep-frying during the weekend.

Animal rescue officials believe a dozen crowded crates of starving chickens discovered Sunday in an empty Coney Island lot were unused leftovers that had been scheduled for slaughter as part of an unusual religious ceremony.

The atonement ceremony, called “kapparot,” is practiced in some ultra-Orthodox Hasidic sects on the eve of Yom Kippur. The ceremony requires a man or woman to wave a chicken over his or her head three times while reciting a prayer. The chicken is then slaughtered and given to the poor.

Mayor Bloomberg Visits Crown Heights

On Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg arrived for a visit to Crown Heights. The Mayor started out at the home of the former chairman of the Community Council, Reb Shmuel Melamed where he stayed for a half an hour during which a discussion about Sukkos was held . The guest then continued to the home of Rabbi Chanina Sperlin where news personnel and various Crown Heights activists awaited him. Rabbi Chanina Sperlin, the chairman of the Jewish Community Council – Rabbi Rubashkin and Rabbi Shmuel Butman, director of Tsach in the U.S. spoke at this reception.

Video in Pirsum Rishon: Tishray 5737

Every Thursday night there is a video presentation in the small “Zal” upstairs of 770, and this Thursday night in honor of the many guests that came for the month of Tishray there was a special display of Tishray 5737 from the archives of R. Levi Y. Fraidin Z”L presented by JEM.

Dancing In The Street

Simchat Torah has shuls evaluating security and spiritual concerns.

A month that has already seen terror alerts for New York subways, along with ongoing alerts for numerous public spaces, will also see local synagogues dancing into the streets on Simchat Torah.

The dancing may seem spontaneous on the night of Oct. 25 and the next morning, but many shul officials have already begun checking in with their local police precincts, who in turn are awaiting approval from the police intelligence division downtown.

One Jewish official told The Jewish Week that he hasn’t heard of any particular threats, “but I think it’s too early to know; it can change in a day, with intelligence information closer to the event.”

Jewish Learning Institute begins classes

Portland is one of 160 cities worldwide where the Jewish Learning Institute will offer courses.

The Jewish Learning Institute is a program of the Chabad Lubavitch movement for adult students pursuing intellectual and spiritual growth.

Rabbi Moshe Wilhelm of the Northwest Campus of Jewish Life, Chabad Lubavitch of Oregon, said the institute will offer three six-week courses to be held consecutively in the fall, winter and spring.

Dancing Around a Delicate Issue

“Joy shatters barriers,” says a well-known Jewish aphorism. It’s a phrase that many Orthodox synagogues will take literally Tuesday evening with the beginning of Simchat Torah, one of the Jewish calendar’s most joyous days. When the yearlong Torah-reading cycle comes to a close, all Orthodox congregations will dance with their Torahs. But some will do so in a sanctuary that’s been altered temporarily. In some communities, the mechitzah (the barrier separating women from men) will be taken down.

Miriam Hoffinger, 70, remembers the mechitzah coming down in the Hasidic shtibl (prayer house) her family attended in Paris in the mid 1950s. “It was the one time during the year when the mechitzah came down and we were all together, celebrating in the same space,” she said.

FDNY’s Yom Tov Warnings

$340M ‘BALL’ GAME HOTTEST TICKET AROUND

Aspiring millionaires crammed gas stations and convenience stores in 27 states yesterday after the jackpot for the Powerball lottery game shot up to an all-time high of $340 million.

Residents of New York and New Jersey, where the game isn’t offered, flocked across state lines after Saturday’s drawing failed to produce a jackpot winner, automatically boosting Wednesday’s pot o’ gold.

Brooklyn truck driver Joe Losh [A member of our community and Gabai in 770], 55, drove to the Putnam Shell gas station in Greenwich, Conn., with $300 in his pocket — enough to buy tickets for 300 friends and relatives.

Inferno on bridge!

Blaze shuts Queensboro for hours – traffic in both directions forced to back off span

Newscast of the blaze

A raging fire on the Queensboro Bridge pumped black smoke into the afternoon sky and forced the closing of the vital span yesterday [Tuesday], snarling traffic into the night.

“I’m glad the bridge didn’t burn down,” said Vincent Gagnon, 45, a frustrated deliveryman who was trying to get into Manhattan. “But it’s hard enough to get around in this town. My whole day is shot.”

What really happened at Kol Tuv

Inside Camera’s [1:12]
Outside Camera’s [7:16]

Shabbos morning at 5:00 a group of 4 males of mixed races walked passed the Kol-Tuv grocery store and began planning their robbery, they walked back and fourth for more then a half an hour, during which they had cut the gate [at appx. 5:28] then continued walking back and fourth.

At 5:30 one of the group actually got into the store. Now contrary to what has been reported by other news sources, the alarm had been functioning properly, the reason it did not go off immediately was since the expansion of the grocery they had demolished a wall, and on that wall there was an alarm sensor mounted, it had been moved from its proper position rendering it useless.