‘Warm, close family’ part of Chabad’s appeal

If there’s a key to the success of Chabad Lubavitch, it’s the combination of its emissaries’ strict adherence to Jewish law and their non-judgmental embrace of other Jews, says Sue Fishkoff, author of The Rebbe’s Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch.

Speaking last week at Chabad Lubavitch of Markham, the California-based JTA correspondent noted that in less than 40 years Chabad has become a billion-dollar outreach empire with more than 4,000 shluchim in more than 70 countries.

Raising Their Voice Against The Pullout

At Midtown rally with a major Lubavitch presence and protests worldwide, Jews express solidarity for settlers and displeasure with Israeli government.

Tzivos Hashem Joins World Wide Rally To Vanquish The Enemy

On Sunday morning the news hit Crown Heights that the Rebbe’s Shliach to Gush Katif, Rabbi Kirshenzaft, was seriously wounded in a terrorist attack. He was in a car together with a visitor from California when a bomb exploded close by. All the car windows were shattered, and both passengers suffered wounds from the flying debris. At first it was reported that Kirshenzaft had sustained life threatening wounds. A few hours later it was learned that the wounds were not as serious as first reported B”H.

The students of the Chabad Yeshiva that was recently established in Gush Katif heard the sound of the nearby explosion. Rather than going to see what happened, and possibly being on the scene during a follow up attack, the students said Tehillim for Rabbi Kirshenzaft for two hours straight. [In the afternoon when I called Rosh Yeshiva Tzvi Bogomilsky, he answered his phone just as the boys were singing “Utzu Aitza.” The singing was incredibly loud and enthusiastic. It is very encouraging to hear the words “Contrive a plot…but it will not materialize, for G-d is with us” coming straight from Gush Katif.]

Opponents of Gaza Pullout Admit Defeat

Opponents of Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip abandoned their efforts to stage a thousands-strong protest march in support of Jewish settlers late Wednesday. As the demonstrators headed home, the anti-pullout movement appeared increasingly chaotic with the withdrawal less than a month away.

Todays Daily News

Rabbi Moshe Binyomin Kaplan OBM

With sadness we inform you of the passing of Rabbi Moshe Binyomin Kaplan of Jerusalem and father of Rabbi Nochem Kaplan – Crown Heights, Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan – Shliach to Baltimore, MD and Mrs. Cherry Ulman – Jerusalem. He was 85.

The Levaya will take place Wednesday afternoon in Jerusalem.

R. Moshe Binyomin was a prominent member of the Crown Heights community and was a Baal T’filah at the Rebbes Shul 770 for Shacharis on Yomin Noraim, he moved to Yerushalayim a few years ago.

Thief Cought Red Handed In 1414 And Resisted Arrest

At about 3:00 AM when all the Bochurim were still at Farbrengens, a thief went around into rooms and took money.

Then some Bochurim noticed what was going on they tried to stop the guy but couldn’t control him so Shomrim were called and they couldn’t hold the man either so the cops were called and they managed to control him and arrest him.

Reb Yoel Farbrenged with Kvutzeh Bochurim

In honor of the Chag Hageulah of the Frierdiker Rebbe on Yud Bais-Yud Gimmel Tammuz Reb Yoel Kahan Farbrenged with Bochurim.

Remembering The Struggle for Russian Jewry

Seventy-eight years ago today, Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn (1880-1950), sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, and the leader of Russian Jewry at the time, was freed from Soviet-imposed exile.

The date was 12 Tammuz, corresponding to today’s date, which is celebrated widely by Chabad and Jewish communities as an important watershed in the history of Jewish life in Russia.

Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn was targeted by Soviet authorities for his activism on behalf of Jewish education and Jewish religious and communal life. He was the only Jewish leader who chose to remain in Russia following the communist revolution, and built a network of underground yeshivot and a Jewish support system that functioned clandestinely through all the years of communism.

At grave risk to himself and to his Chasidim, Rabbi Schneersohn thus kept the moribund embers of Jewish life alive. In 1927, he was arrested in his home in Leningrad, on accusations of counter-revolutionary activities. He was sentenced to three years in exile and sent to the isolated townlet of Kostroma in central Russia.

At rallies around the world, crowds call on Israel not to leave Gaza Strip

NEW YORK, July 19 (JTA) – For Mendy Lieder, a student at a Chabad-Lubavitch yeshiva in Detroit, stopping Israel’s upcoming withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is a political and religious obligation.

“Our brothers are being taken out of their homes,” said Lieder, 18. “We need to be with them, praying to God.”

“America and England aren’t withdrawing their troops from Iraq,” he added. “Why should we?”

Similar sentiments were on full display Tuesday in a rally in Manhattan’s Times Square, where Lieder joined more than 1,000 people, including many students, to voice their opposition to the Israeli government’s plan to evacuate Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.

Today’s Rally in Pictures

A massive crowd gathered on Manhattans Broadway between 40Th and 41St Street, at 12 o’clock in the afternoon the NYPD shut down 2 lanes of this very busy street for this gathering, which in its own was a very big statement. Then later on as more and more people gathered the police ended up shutting down even more lanes.

An estimate of more then 2000 people gathered for the rally on this hot Tuesday, Camps Gan Menchem, Camp F.R.E.E. and LeMaan Achai attended on the boy’s side and Bais Rivka day camp and Bais Chaya Mushka day camp attended on the girls side. Cold water and ices were distributed to the campers throughout the rally.

The demonstration was timed to coincide with similar protests against Israel’s planned withdrawal from Gaza in Paris, Melbourne, London and Amsterdam, according to organizers.

At the rally in Midtown, the stage was shared by young kids saying the twelve Pesukim, singer Avraham Fried belting out lines like “Gush Katif – You are not alone!” and New York State Assemblyman, Dov Hikind, who reminded the crowd, “Hashem is watching us.”

The rally was organized and arranged by Tzivos Hashem.

Click the “Extended Article” link to see all the rest of the pictures. UPDATE: 86 Pictures are now online.

2,000 pack Times Sq. for Gaza rally

A couple thousand people jammed a busy midtown Manhattan street Tuesday afternoon for a prayer, song and protest rally against Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Organized largely by the Lubavitch youth organization Tzivos Hashem, the rally brought hundreds of Orthodox children from New York-area summer camps to the demonstration, some of them leading the crowd in prayer and declarations of solidarity with the settlers of Gush Katif.

“The land belongs to every Jew who ever lived, and no one has the right to give away even one inch, especially if it puts into danger the lives of other Jews,” one young boy declared from the podium.

Rally For Israel

Today in Times Square @ 12:00PM to 2:00PM there will be a rally/concert for the situation in Israel.

Avrohom Fried and Mordechai Ben David will be singing at the gathering.

[Times Square is located on Broadway btw. 41st and 42nd St.]. For more information please call (718) 467-6630

This even is arranged by Tzivos Hashem and Camp Gan Israel.

Update: For those of you that cant make it, you can still watch the event live By Clicking Here

Speech Reflects Chabad Split

A prominent Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi delivered a speech this week in Brooklyn lambasting his movement’s leadership for not aggressively fighting Israel’s plan to dismantle settlements in Gaza and the northern West Bank.

“When I read that the Lubavitch took a position that we’re not to get involved, it went against everything I know,” said Rabbi Avraham Hecht, 83, at an anti-disengagement event held Sunday night at the Jewish Children’s Museum, located across the street from Chabad’s worldwide headquarters in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights area. “How stupid can these people be? This is deportation, not disengagement. Even the Nazis didn’t do it this way.”

Hecht, who is no stranger to controversy, spoke on the 11th anniversary of the death of the movement’s late rebbe or grand rabbi, Menachem M. Schneerson.

Reoccurring Tragedies

Fridays tragic accident is also the day that marked another major tragedy, 2 summers ago on an extension of this very highway [rt. 17b] the Sheinfeld and Raksin families suffered a major loss, grand parents and mother were killed when a truck collided with their car.

Ches Tamuz is their Yortziet.

UPDATE: investigation into Fridays car accident

The preliminary investigation revealed that a 2003 Chevrolet Venture driven by Abraham Weisz of Williamsburg, Brooklyn was traveling westbound on the highway in the Town of Blooming Grove yesterday afternoon with a young married couple as passengers. Weisz and Zev Tietielbaum, 23, and his wife, Faigy, 20, were killed. They were all wearing seat-belts.

UPDATE: Pictures From Friday Car Accident

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More Pictures In Extended Article.