The Indian Phone Rep Recalls Mumbai Shluchim

From The Inbox:

Yitzchak Sapochkinsky from Chabad of Westlake Village, CA was speaking with an American Express representative at an indian call center, when the rep suddenly expressed interest in Chabad. The indian rep went on to say “I live in Mumbai, India, next door to the Chabad House” and spoke about the Holtzberg’s.

Editorial: Prosecutions are Not the Answer to Immigration

It sounds like a simple approach to this country’s illegal immigration problems: Crack down on businesses that employ undocumented workers.

But it’s not so simple. Just consider the jury’s verdict of “not guilty” for Sholom Rubashkin. The former Agriprocessors Inc. executive had been charged with scores of child labor violations and was acquitted on all of them. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office alleged Rubashkin knew there were many children working in the Postville slaughterhouse prior to the 2008 federal immigration raid – but that he did nothing to put a stop to it.

Rubashkin Aquittal: Behind The Smoke And Mirrors

The dramatic vindication of Sholom Rubashkin in the state child-labor trial last week has wreaked havoc with the public’s view of him. Given his media-battered reputation, no one expected him to be acquitted of the state charges. Bias against him, especially in Iowa, was rampant. Many described their shocked reaction to the verdict.

The government had promised they had a solid case and there was no reason to doubt it.

The public had long been convinced that Sholom Mordechai presided over a crime-ridden plant where, in addition to minors being forced to work with dangerous chemicals and machinery, workers were subjected to forced labor and other outrages.

Op-Ed: Friedman and Paltiel: Chassidishe Openness or the Thought Police?

A great person once told me that whenever she enters a room, the first thing she notices is the racial makeup of the people in the room. As an observer at last night’s question and answer session with Rabbis Manis Friedman and Yossi Paltiel, I was struck by how un-diverse the audience was. The room was brimming with an almost entirely young moderate- to very-chassidish crowd or those with the hergesh to wear white shirts on Gimmel Tammuz, if you will. Mostly older 770 bochurim and yungerleit.

What was more glaring was who were not there – the so-called single working class and the young Lubavitch college students. It is ironic that a program put on by the newly founded Besht Center did not attract an audience from their target group at one of its largest events of the year. But it is unsurprising considering how predictably unfulfilling these events tend to be. I only came down there because I felt I must do something on Gimmel Tammuz and because my friend paid my five-dollar admission fee.

Op-Ed: The Never-Ending Lynching of Sholom Rubashkin

So much for Christian charity.

Sister Mary McCauley, the former pastoral administrator at St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Postville, Iowa, who provided support for families affected by the Agriprocessors raid, publicly condemned the complete acquittal of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin on charges of child labor violations as a tragedy. “I was heartsick,” she declared. “I had to just sit and deal with the heartbreak I was feeling.”

Never mind that a jury deliberated only 12 hours to reach a verdict exonerating Rubashkin on all 67 counts. Never mind that Rubashkin, a father of ten with a long of history of charitable acts feeding the hungry and the poor, has been so demonized in the press that it was practically impossible for him to receive a fair trial, and still he was found innocent. The good sister is convinced that the man should have gone down. Her heart tells her so. The jury be damned.

Reizes on Elections and Voting

To Crown Heights Residents, Toshvei HaShechuna Sheyich’ :

We are holding community elections to choose candidates for Vaad Hakahol / CHJCC and for Gabboim, to run the crown jewel of crown heights, 770 Eastern Parkway – the Rebbe’s shul.

I will ask of you to please read the following with the attention that it deserves, and don’t judge the ideas by the writer but by the content.

The Rebbe once said that everything which happens in Crown Heights has an effect on the entire world. In a footnote, the Rebbe adds that (being that this generation is the last generation of golus, and the first generation of geulah, hence the culmination and climax of all generations therefore, the Rebbe emphasizes that) everything that happens in Crown Heights has an effect (not only on this generation but also) on all the previous generations.

Op-Ed: The Issue of the Withdrawal of Mesira

In an open letter to the community titled “Re: various claims on the issue of the withdrawal of Mesira,” Yosef Katzman and Yanky Sufrin explain the various claims on the issue of the withdrawal of Mesira.

Helen of Oy, Reuters, and the Deceitful Press

There was a time that I figured everyone to be mortal except for Helen Thomas. However, the 89 year old “Queen of the Press,” has proven her mortality through a royal indiscretion that will discredit her legacy.

Millions have now seen the footage of Thomas suggesting that Jews, “Get the hell out of Palestine,” and “Go back to Germany and Poland.” What’s more, Thomas’ awful remarks were made at a White House reception celebrating American-Jewish heritage.

Op-Ed: Hamas Hunger Strike or PR Strike on Israel?

I first heard about the Israeli commando counter charge of the now infamous flotilla while waiting to cross the U.S. border from Canada. As my wife and I listened to unconfirmed reports of casualties, I was reminded of a time while at the same U.S. entry port, I waited on queue along side a Red Crescent ambulance in tow. The West Bank-bound vehicle was being donated by a Muslim group in Quebec, and was subjected to a mandatory inspection as any vehicle would that was crossing into the United States.

18 Sons-in-law and counting…

From the Inbox

Being single is great, as we all know.

We can do with our lives whatever we want.

Op-Ed: Are Shalom Bayis Op-Eds OK for the Public?

Just the other day, as we were getting ready to set up dinner, my 12 yr old daughter asked me an extremely shocking question. “Why don’t you and Tatty get along?” My heart skipped a beat. I finally found my breath and asked, “Why would you say that?” In a most innocent voice, she simply replied, “Because Tatty is always on the computer.”

CNN Op-Ed: Stop the Hypocrisy About Israel

Enjoy hypocrisy? This past weekend you could glut the appetite.

On Monday, Israeli ships stopped a flotilla carrying materials that could be used for war, including cement that Israel maintained could be used to build bunkers, to Hamas-ruled Gaza. The crew of one boat resisted violently, triggering a firefight in which nine people were killed, most of them Turkish nationals.

Op-Ed: Non–Tznius Magazines in Frum Establishments

From the inbox: I am not against all secular magazines, but when I went to a Jewish owned beauty salon in CH I was surprised to see among the reading material, some magazines that have virtually no redeeming value whatsoever and the only reason that someone would read such as magazine would be to see what the less moral side of the world is doing.

Op-Ed: Chillul Hashem and a Census Bureau Worker

From the inbox: Dear Editor, this is a true event that happened earlier this evening when a census bureau worker knocked on my door.

Customer is Pleasantly Suprised with Stores Honesty

From the inbox: When a local business provides exceptional customer service, I think it should be publicized. I was in a Kingston shop yesterday and bought some things totaling a little over $100.00, the owner, called me to say there was a mistake in the charge.

Op-Ed: Achdus? Can It Really Happen?

I received a call from a neighboring Shliach the other day. It was about a student of his, originally from Atlanta. This student comes from a minimal Jewish background. Besides for the Pesach Seder and the High Holidays (“sometimes,” as the mother shared with me), there is no Yiddishkeit to talk of.

“We don’t do Friday night dinners,” confessed the mother. “We have too much going on. Julie (names have been changed) goes to dance, the boy plays sports, and we are not really motivated for Shabbos.”

Their oldest daughter, at college, away from home for the first time, has fallen in with a group of students from a different religion. She is now “discovering G-d,” and feeling really good about it. The G-d she should be looking for is, of course, a G-d she knows very little about. She has now finally found something to confide in.

Op-Ed: Achdus among Chassidim (Yidden)!?

Let us sit together and ponder. We’ll come up with ideas on how to achieve Achdus.

WRONG!

We are approaching the issue backward!

Why do we crave Achdus? What truly unifies us? Simple — our Neshamas are all part of one unit and therefore we intuitively crave Achdus. Intuitively, we feel fragmented without Achdus.

Practically, what is the key to expressing the Neshamah’s desire for Achdus? Torah and Halacha. Simply put, adherence to Halacha unifies Yidden. Without Halacha as our guide, all efforts for peace will at best be temporary. Halacha creates true homogeny and guides us to a single cause. Why do we eat food that has a Hasgachah from a Rav that belongs to a community that is very different from us socially and ideologically? Because we share common ground –Halacha.