I knew it was happening, I even heard the drumming, but I did not attend the annual 71st Precinct Family Day Picnic.
I don’t like the police, I think they are just a tool used to fill the city’s coffers.
There was a great buzz of excitement when it was announced that Netanyahu had been invited to deliver an address before the entire congress. It was to be his second congressional address since he was first invited 15 years ago. On the evening following his address, I was told by a friend that it was one of the greatest speeches he’d heard in his life, featuring 29 standing ovations. I eagerly went to watch the speech, anticipating a great rebuttal to Obama’s pressure on Israel to give away our G-d given land to the Arabs. To my sorrow, it was anything but.
No, I am not one of those brazen young women who walk down the streets of Brooklyn in steep necklines that beg for cover out of sheer embarrassment, or bare feet tipped brightly in red nail polish, peering out cheerfully from between flip flop separators.
Forgive the imperfections contained in this column. I am writing it quickly and late at night in order to respond to Chabad feedback I have received the entire day concerning the launch event I staged this past Sunday in Alpine, New Jersey with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor as guest of honor.
In case you have spent your Passover vacation on another planet, you have not heard that the wedding of Prince William of Wales and Catherine (Kate) Middleton is scheduled to take place at Westminster Abbey on Friday.
I had a business relationship with the owner of a local mattress retailer. On one of my sales visits to him, in addition to our discussing his regular display ad in the paper he began inquiring into placing a classified ad, seeking a new salesman/manager. I detected a smirk on his face, so naturally I asked him what that was all about.
What more is there to say about the Lubavitcher Rebbe 16 years after his passing, on the occasion of his birthday, that has not already been said? I was pondering that question as I walked the streets of my boyhood town of Miami Beach over Passover.
‘Living what she spoke’, Rabbi Chaim Wolosow – Shliach in Sharon, MA – writes an amazing tribute to his dear mother Sara Relke OBM, whose year of mourning recently concluded.
Miriam Sherr, the mother of Yossi Sherr, who 20 years after his passing, writes a letter thanking his school and teachers for keeping his memory alive at the annual Yud Aleph Nissan Mitzvah Tank parade.
Winds of uncertainty are blowing across the globe. A tsunami in Japan, renewed terrorist attacks in Israel, a middle-east – from Egypt to Libya, Syria to Yemen – in crisis. And the future remains unsure. Will the sun shine again? Will stability re-emerge after the storm dies down?
Pashkevilim against education guru Rick Lavoie were put out in Crown Heights shuls, prompting a heated debate. Yehuda Adelist wrote a response.
We were nearing the end of our Shabbat meal, this past Friday night. Filled with the warmth of the pleasant family atmosphere, our younger children are preparing for bed. Binah, who recently became bat-mitzvah, asks for permission to go to her friend’s house for a Shabbat gathering.
The argument that publicity will give the community a “bad name” and “why air our dirty laundry in public?” does not supersede the obligation to protect the innocent from being hurt. Of course we all agree that our essential concern should be protecting our children and families, not our perceived reputation.
Ripple effects do exist. We don’t usually realize it, but we affect our own life and the lives of the people we encounter on a daily basis. There are many small things that we do or see, and they make a difference in our lives. Sometimes those things are in our control, and at other times they are not. Most of the time we cannot see the results, since it takes so long for the results to be yielded, but seldom are there times that do we see an outcome.
Mrs. Lapine was stabbed to death “al kedush Hashem.” The Rebbe was broken and devastated. But, 19 years later, few leaders showed up to give her honor.
In a letter addressed to the Crown Heights community, a grateful Shlucha thanks residents for their help during the snowstorm.
CrownHeights.info received an email from a concerned member of the community with a letter addressed to the community. Please shovel the snow from the sidewalk in front of your house or building.
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