As the Royal Commission Hearings on Child Abuse rip through the heart of Australia’s Orthodox-Jewish community, one Sydney Chabad Shliach – Rabbi Danny Yaffe – wrote the following heartfelt open letter, which was published in the local Jewish Media outlet J-Wire.
A Crown Heights teacher sent us the following op-ed, in which she decries the apparent lack of safety protocols in the community’s schools – despite the recent terror attacks in Israel and France – and questions whether our educational institutions are adequately protected.
A concerned member of the Crown Heights community submitted this op-ed, in which he laments the apparent lack of consideration some homeowners have towards the elderly and those with young children when it comes to shoveling the snow in front of their property.
With the explosive dissemination of iPhone, Android and Windows smartphone and tablet devices, and the plethora of apps they run, many bemoan the way these new technologies are distracting young students, leading them to advocate for these devices to be banned or at least restricted within our schools. Rabbi Schneur Hayes, a teacher in Miami, makes the argument that, on the contrary, not only should these devices and apps be allowed in the classroom, but that they should be incorporated into the lessons – both Torah and secular – and that students should be encouraged to use them.
A post-seminary Lubavitcher girl wrote the following op-ed, which she shared with CrownHeights.info on condition of anonymity, regarding the feelings of discomfort she and her fellow students would often have while being mentored by male rabbis and Mashpi’im.
CrownHeights.info received the following op-ed form a Shidduch-aged girl who is frustrated that parents of eligible boys keep turning her down for reasons that have nothing to do with her – nor with what should matter to the prospective Bochur.
In an op-ed published originally by the Jewish Daily Forward, Crown Heights attorney and community activist Eli Federman lays out why he believes Federal Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner overstepped his bounds in his Halacha-quoting decision striking down Chabad Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein’s lawsuit against Northwestern University.
Crown Heights community member Mendy Hecht makes the case in this op-ed that his fellow voters should throw their support behind Rob Astorino, the Republican challenger to the Democratic Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, in today’s election.
In its glory days, Crown Heights was a hotbed of political activity, where hopeful candidates would come and grovel before the community for its coveted vote, says activist Meir Yediya in his latest op-ed. Read more to find out why this is no longer the case, and what could be done to bring the ‘good old days’ of Crown Heights’ political influence back.
In an op-ed published in the New York Daily News, Crown Heights resident Eli Federman responds to the criticisms of ‘animal rights activists’ regarding the ancient Jewish tradition of Kaporos, laying out in clear and concise terms why they should leave the pre-Yom Kippur practice alone.
The following op-ed was sent by an anonymous member of the Lubavitch community in Miami to CrownHeights.info, describing the hardship borne by a large family with copious Yomtov expenses when shelling out $23 for each Kapparos chicken, a phenomenon he describes as “price gouging.”
There’s a story told about a great pious Rabbi who was becoming deaf in his old age. His students could not understand “why is this happening to you, a man who has spent his whole life studying and teaching the Holy Torah”. They felt that Zechus should protect him from ailment. “What can I say… I sinned in my youth and now Hashem is helping me atone for those mistakes”. He explained that as a young prodigy he was very well versed in Choshen Mishpat and would sit in on many Din Torahs, “but I lacked maturity and succumbed to the temptation of bribery.”
We’re in one of the rooms in the Pediatrics Department at Downstate Medical Center. My brother, 16, was suffering from severe stomach pains, and our doctor sent him for some tests and rest until they’ll have it all figured out. I’m sitting beside his bed scribbling on the margins of a Sudoku book; he’s watching a video on my phone. While contemplating my future summer plans, an official looking guy – dressed casually, but definitely working for the Hospital – with a big smile walks in, and explaining that his job is to ensure that the Hospitals patients don’t fall behind in their studying for the upcoming high school Regents, asks if my brother will be needing any help.
I am the proud mother of a happy teenager who goes to Bnos Chomesh High School in Crown Heights. I am writing this op-ed anonymously because, after all, my daughter is a teenager, and needs her privacy. But remembering how I agonized at this time last year, I felt that I just had to share my story in the hopes that maybe it will help someone else.
Lately there’s been a social media craze that looks so good, so special – on the surface. It’s so encouraging to see so many people who are willing to take the challenge and get themselves drenched in freezing water just to bring awareness to a disease which debilitates fellow human beings. Although they are perhaps not personally affected by this horrible disease, yet they are ready to do this selfless act to help total strangers in need.
As a close observer of, and someone who is concerned with, the recent Israel-Hamas war, and with the knowledge that such a war is as much about winning the world’s support and sympathy as it is defensive and offensive, I find Israel’s PR strategy disheartening and insufficient.
The current war in Gaza did not have to happen. It is a result of the actions of the Israeli government and its supporters, including American backers, and complacent Jews in Eretz Yisroel and abroad. This war is one of the grave consequences of The Disengagement Plan, i.e., the expulsion of Jews, both soldiers and residents, from the Gaza Strip, and the resultant predictable empowerment of Hamas.
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