Brooklyn Bridge shut down due to a suspicious package

At around 12:00pm today the Brooklyn Bridge was shut down on the Manhattan bound side after the police received a call that there was a suspicious package on the ramp. The police immediately cleared the bridge and shut it down to all traffic.

The Bomb Squad, ESU, EMS, and FDNY responded and identified the package as not being a threat and the bridge should be open by now.

French Jews Worry Violence May Spread

Concern they might become ‘scapegoats’ if rioting takes on anti-Israel tone.

As France was plunged into a state of emergency Wednesday after nearly two weeks of rioting by poor and disenfranchised immigrant youth, some Jewish leaders worried that the uprising could morph into the kind of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel violence that gripped the country during the height of the second intifada.

Many of the rioters are Arab Muslims, and the concern is that Islamic groups could exploit the situation, shifting the focus away from the domestic issues thought to have touched off the riots — racism, urban poverty and the failures in immigrant absorption — and toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Memories of a Tzivos Hashem Soldier – Levi Piamenta

Six years ago, on the 7th of Mar-Cheshvan, the Tzivos Hashem soldier, Levi Piamenta, OBM, passed away. The large number of people who arrived to the Levaya proved above all, to what extent he was loved by Kfar Chabad residents. Levi radiated with warmth and would help everyone. One day he was found to be infected by ‘the illness’, but he recovered from it after several months. However, the symptoms returned and he remained ill until his passing.

Wednesday, Reb Avi Piamenta, his father related some interesting anecdotes involving his son. “Several years ago a Bochur, paralyzed in his entire body, lived in Kfar Chabad. His condition was so severe that the only things he could move were his eyes. When Levi saw the Bochur, he became friends with him and found a way to communicate with him. He would sit near him and play with balls. It was amazing. I personally view this as a manifestation of the warmth Levi would impart to every person, even to such a Bochur who could not communicate ordinarily with others. That Bochur was ‘Niftar’ a few months after Levi”.

Pittsburgh archeologist discovers ancient alphabet in Israel

A “spectacular find” unearthed this past summer by a Pittsburgh archeologist is the most concrete evidence of written education in Israel in the 10th century B.C.

The discovery — an inscription of a complete alphabet on a tablet dated to the 10th century B.C. — is expected to feed a hot debate between biblical skeptics and proponents, who disagree on the extent to which the Bible represents historical truth.

The Re-Elected Mayor Bloomberg delivering his victory speech

In the background its Chanina Sperlin Chairman of the CH-PAC and Assemblyman Dov Hikind.

A New Home For Chatsworth’s Jewish Community

For Yolanda Richman, there’s no place like home. Or at least, after two years of praying in a rented office space, there’s no place like Chabad of Chatsworth, CA,’s new home.

“It is a wonderful, warm feeling. Every time you come to the door, you see the sunlight coming through the beautiful windows,” said Richman. “You feel like ‘aahh’ you’re home.”

Matisyahu Spaces Out

There’s one thing Hasidic reggae man Matisyahu won’t do on his new U.S. tour: stage dive.

“There’s a law that no man and woman may touch unless they’re married,” says the twenty-six-year-old MC. “I was caught doing it. So I checked, and, no, can’t do that anymore — there’s women touching you for sure. That, and I also I got dropped once. I took, like, six people down.”

His religious beliefs also prohibit Matisyahu — who dresses in the traditional bekishe (long black robe), gartel (prayer belt) and black hat — from shaking a woman’s hand, though he did look this interviewer in the eye.

The Results are in, Bloomberg for a second term

After such a dramatic and nerve racking campaign, in which we were in such suspense as to who would be our next mayor, in such a tight race, neck in neck, ahhh I cant continue with this…

Well as the poll predicted, Mayor Bloomberg won the election over Fernando Ferrer by 20% with 723,635 votes. For the list of votes, click the extended article.

American Jew Missing in Egypt, Family Calling for Prayers

The family of Chava bat Yocheved is calling on the public to pray for her safety.

Chava, an American Jew, has been vacationing in Israel and crossed into Egypt over the weekend. She was due to fly back to the United States on Tuesday night (8 November).

Israeli border officials have verified that as of 3:00 PM Tuesday, she has not reentered Israel from Egypt. No one has heard from her for three days.

American and Israeli embassies in Israel and Cairo are involved.

Army of volunteers gave plenty of assistance in wake of Hurricane Wilma

Excerpt of the article:

Other religious groups such as the Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue of Pompano Beach helped too, handing out jugs of water to Century Village residents trapped in their homes after the power outage rendered elevators useless.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Rabbi Moishe Denburgsaid, balancing four jugs of water in his arms. “The electricity doesn’t work and many residents here can’t use the steps. But you see so many people willing to help their neighbors. You see so many neighbors helping each other and it’s great.”

Wrapping Up, Mayor and Ferrer Ask Voters to Ignore Polls

On the final Sunday before the election, the New York City mayoral candidates made competing last-minute appeals to voters on the need for change versus the need to stay the course, and both sides made urgent appeals to their supporters to turn out tomorrow despite polls predicting a lopsided victory for the incumbent.

With just three days left in the contest, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his Democratic challenger, Fernando Ferrer, concentrated on rallying voters in areas containing their most faithful supporters as their organizations began a final blizzard of phone calls and door-to-door canvassing aimed at getting supporters to vote tomorrow.

“Reaching for the Infinite:” Scholars At NYU On the Lubavitcher Rebbe

“Menachem Mendel Schneerson is larger than life,” said Elliot Wolfson, a professor at NYU and scholar of Chasidism. “To speak of him is fraught with danger.”

And yet that’s precisely what a cadre of academics and scholars of Chasidic thought are attempting to do this week as they tackle a variety of themes related to the Rebbe and his legacy. Coming to NYU’s Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, from as far as Australia, Israel and the U.K., the academics are presenting at a conference billed “Reaching for the Infinite, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Life, Teachings and Impact.”

Binghamton University Chabad House given Torah

There was a wedding on Sunday with cries of mazel tov as members of the Jewish community were married to God during the completion of the Torah at Binghamton University.

BU’s Chabad House took part in writing the last letters of a new scroll, known as Siyum Sefer Torah. The Torah contains the first five books of Hebrew scripture.

Lundberg Survey: Retail Gas Falls 23 Cents

Well in case you havent noticed the gas prices did ease up a bit.

Retail gas prices plunged an average of 23 cents nationwide in the past two weeks, marking a return to pre-Hurricane Katrina levels, according to a survey.

The weighted average price for all three grades declined to $2.45 a gallon on Friday, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations around the country.

Lessons for the soul

Kabbalah, the ancient Jewish mystical tradition that has captivated Madonna and Britney Spears and spawned accoutrements such as red bracelets that ward off evil, is coming to St. Petersburg.

But don’t expect the faddish Kabbalah of the stars. This version of the ancient teaching is rooted in the Orthodox Chabad Lubavitch movement and is being brought to St. Petersburg by Australian author and lecturer Rabbi Laibl Wolf. Wolf, who lectures on the topic around the world and travels to about 80 cities a year, will speak at a St. Petersburg synagogue on Nov. 14.