Sheloshim For Levi

They are unusually inspiring people. I’m sitting with Rabbi Zalman and Mrs. Chanie Wolowik just 22 days after their nine-year-old son, Levi Yitzchok, a’h, suddenly and inexplicably passed away. This coming Monday night, the Five Towns and Far Rockaway communities, and indeed Jewish communities far and wide around the world, will be marking the sheloshim, the end of the 30-day period since Levi’s passing.

“The house feels empty without Levi,” says Chanie. “He was my sidekick and went almost everywhere and did everything with Zalman,” she said. Their older son, Mendel, is away attending Yeshiva in Detroit and the next boy is seven years old, she explains, so just when they had started to have another big boy around the house they are now once again, she feels, dealing almost exclusively with little kids.

As Chabad sh’lichim in the Five Towns, the Wolowiks are natural born leaders. Still, however, they are first and foremost parents, who are raising a beautiful family and who raised a remarkable young man who left us for reasons that are far beyond our comprehension but certainly way too soon.

Feelings: 17 Years – We Are Orphans, Without A Father

Yesterday was the twenty seventh of Adar. There are many Bochurim in Lubavitch who weren’t even born. At least I remember when it happened. The question of course is, what does this day mean to us? What does it do to us? And what do we do for it? The answers to these questions are not simple ones. In fact, I don’t know if anyone even has the answers. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have to ask the questions. Because if you don’t even have the question, how can you ever expect to work out the answer? Because that’s what it’s really all about.

Every person has to look inside their heart and say, “Hey, what’s up? What have I accomplished? What does 17 years without mean to me? Have I gotten over it, or am I still in mourning? Have the chai, the living, Yiten El Libo, taken it to heart? Or was this generation’s Parah Adumah completely wasted? Those are the types of questions we all have to ask ourselves.

Pur Translation

The distinction of language gets lost in translation. In rendering the biblical holy tongue, much of the original script loses its unique expression. The spring reenactment of liberation called Pesach is turned into Passover. Shavuot, the day on which G-d gave His Torah, is popularly referred to as the festival of weeks, or Pentecost by the church. Autumn’s Sukkoth is known as Tabernacles, and even the infamous Tisha B’Av, simply meaning the 9th day of Av, has been classified “the feast of destruction.”

Only the holiday of Purim has retained its original rabbinical designation. What is interesting, however, is that while secularists or other sects have not tagged Purim with a foreign name, the rabbis themselves did. Purim is not a Hebrew-rooted word, but a Persian one, alluding to the “Pur” or “lots” that were cast by Haman to determine the date he would execute his plot of genocidal massacre of the Jews.

Shalach Manot, Don’t Forget your Classmates! An Innovative Idea

Lubavitcher Yeshiva of Crown Street came up with a great idea in which every child will get to properly enjoy Purim, by receiving and giving Shalach Manot to his fellow classmates. The following could be a true story:

Dear Parents ,שיחיו

It was Purim morning and Sholom was in high spirits. He stood by the mirror adjusting his costume. He smiled as he remembered how excited he was to be the first one in his class to buy a purim costume. He spent his chanuka gelt and allowance and bought his purim costume as soon as they went on sale. Before purim his mother took him shopping for the nosh he wanted to pack into the shalach manos he would give to his friends, and he spent a better part of the whole last week packing them neatly and creatively into the little bags he made. A small “to: from:” tag adorned the cute packages as they stood in the dining room waiting to be delivered.

Op-Ed: Celebrating Purim

Hashem put us humans into this world. A world with its never-ending ups and downs, both physically and spiritually.

How lucky we are, us Yidden:
We received the Torah as a gift.
It is a gift from Hashem.

Hashem knows what is best for us and there IS NO OTHER TRUTH besides the Torah.
When we follow the Torah guidelines, we are assured by Hashem that we are living our lives in the best possible way, and in the derech that Hashem wanted us to live.

To help us live by the Torah’s ways, Hashem gives us leaders to help guide us and remind us of the correct way of life for a Yid.

Op-Ed: A Letter from A Single Guy to his Married Friend

Dear Mendy,

It was nice to spend some time with you and your family at the Shevah Brochos last Monday night. Your wife was gracious as always and your soon-to-be one year old son Yossle is B’H more precious than ever.

We chatted about this and that; I asked you how married life was treating you and you responded by telling me how Yossle wakes you up about ten times a night, You asked me about single life and I replied with a shrug “ah you know how it is” Then we all had a good laugh when you shared that story from our year in Sheir Gimmel Misivtah that you love telling (although you do add a new detail every time).

As I said, I had a great time but this one thought won’t seem to leave me. It started with a soft murmur two years ago – A few months after your wedding and has steadily gotten louder every time you kid me about not being married or tell me an adorable anecdote about your son.

Op-Ed: All Jews Should Know They Are Welcome in A Chabad House

Article and comments removed by the request of the readers and author.

From the author,

I just noticed that it was posted, and read through some of the comments. I am begging you to please take it off the website asap. I did not realize people would take it like this and do not want to hurt anyone. I do not want to embarrass the Shluchim.

I realize that this article does not belong in public and should have been private. for the sake of people’s feelings and Ahavas Yisroel, please remove it right away from the site.

Op-Ed: An Urgent Message from a Shadchan

Each time I watch my wedding video, tears roll down my face; happy tears. The joy of being married to my soul mate is indescribable, that special day was the start of my beautiful family. I recently heard an ad for a secular matchmaking website; it goes “life is too short to not find your soul mate”. How true. From the time we are young children we talk and dream about our wedding and our future spouse: why is it then that when we reach marriageable age we often become our own impediments to that dream?

After I got married I vowed not to forget my single relatives, friends and the many singles that I know. Now that I am married I have the point of view of the single and the shadchan. Although some of the complaints about shadchanim are valid, the singles/parents must make sure they are doing as much as they are able to increase their chances of finding Mr. / Mrs. Right. Everybody needs to focus on what they need to do because we can only change ourselves and the way we do things, we can not change others.

I would like to mention a few of the things one should and shouldn’t do to bring more singles closer to finding their bashert.

Continued in the Extended Article.

Op-Ed: Noblewomen

Had Barack Obama not clinched his party’s nomination, and had the democratic ticket still won the election, the outcome would still be overwhelmingly historic. This country would have elected its first female president. Hillary Clinton’s inauguration would have drawn larger than usual crowds and brought women’s liberation to its crescendo.

Our Western superpower has much to learn from a younger Middle Eastern democracy. If exit polls are accurate, Israel has elected its second female Prime Minister in 60 years. To be sure, Golda Meir was her country’s fourth head of state, but she was hardly the first Jewish woman in a leadership position. Israel’s being ahead of its time, is as old as time itself. Throughout our people’s history, Jewish women have not only been looked up to and respected, but followed and revered.

Op-Ed: My dear Shluchah…

My dear Wife,

As I sit at home with the kids while you are away at the Kinus Hashluchos, I thought it would be a good time to put my thoughts on paper.

I would like to make a tribute to you;
To your constant work (yes I think it is real work)
To your constant smile (even when there is no reason to)
To the constant hosting (and they get excited at 15 guests for Rosh Hashanah dinner)
To your constant example to our children (I can tell by the look in their eyes)
To inspiring a whole town about the truths of life (think of all the people you have touched)
For dealing with a less than perfect husband (no comment on that)

Op-Ed: Thank you Susie Essman!

Although living in Beijing, China, which would seem far from the US and its TV programs, being the Chabad Lubavitch Shlucha here makes me the one that people turn to when they have a Jewish, Chassidic or “Torah perspective Women’s” question. Last week was no different and the big buzz was about the comments made on “The View” by Susie Essman, who plays the role of a Lubavitcher woman in a movie titled “Loving Leah”.

The comments and questions were the talk of my Friday kitchen as I prepared for Shabbat with some University students and the young Shluchot who help us in the Chabad House. I silently listed to them discuss this with a mix of anger, shock, outrage and confusion and a disbelief that in today’s modern and “open” world comments such as hers could be publicly heard and not refuted! They were further more infuriated that noone on the show stopped her or challenged her comments. They turned to me for my thoughts on boycotts, websites and angry emails in response to this outrage.

Op-Ed: The People’s President

As an observant Jew I do not study scripture, but rather I try to live by it, using the word of G-d as a script for life. In that sense I am a slave. This week’s biblical portion tells the story of my people prior to our redemption from Egypt.

Today, I witnessed the freedom of a people embodied in the ascension of one man to the single most powerful position on earth. The new leader of the free world is the son of people the world has been cruel to. A man who long ago would have been judged by the color of his skin has been elected to deliver on the promise of his character. It is a great day for America, and for all Americans, whether or not they voted for President Obama.

Op-Ed: Rejecting Bail Denies Equal Protection

American Jews, beware. If you run afoul of the Justice Department, your chances for bail are slim to none. That’s the new legal concept created by the office of U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth in northern Iowa. The policy singles out Jews as a special category to be denied bail due to Israel’s “Law of Return.”

The Israeli law provides citizenship to any Jew immigrating to the country. It’s much like the asylum clause in U.S. immigration law, designed to offer refuge to Jews fleeing oppressive regimes. It’s never been used to give haven to American criminals. The United States and Israel have an active extradition treaty. Routinely, accused criminals are sent from one country to another.

Op-Ed: Protestors Awake the Jew Inside

This past Monday night I joined 1100 other Denverites at a solidarity rally for Israel at the Hebrew Education Alliance synagogue. The feeling of common purpose in the room was tangible as rabbis, cantors, community members from every affiliation joined hands in support for Israel. The purpose of the rally was two fold. Firstly it showed Israel that they have friends thousands of miles away here in Colorado who support the war in Gaza, and secondly it helped participants to understand how critical it is for Israel to take military action to defend herself against an ongoing terrorist threat.

Editorial: Alan Dershowitz: The CNN strategy

As Israel persists in its military efforts — by ground, air and sea — to protect its citizens from deadly Hamas rockets, and as protests against Israel increase around the world, the success of the abominable Hamas double war crime strategy becomes evident. The strategy is as simple as it is cynical: Provoke Israel by playing Russian roulette with its children, firing rockets at kindergartens, playgrounds and hospitals; hide behind its own civilians when firing at Israeli civilians; refuse to build bunkers for its own civilians; have TV cameras ready to transmit every image of dead Palestinians, especially children; exaggerate the number of civilians killed by including as “children” Hamas fighters who are 16 or 17 years old and as “women,” female terrorists.

Op-Ed: Magisterial Bigotry

Jews have been the target of injustice for centuries. From judges on the bench to the chancellors who might appoint them, our people have enough historical experience to know when it is time to defend ourselves.

Magistrates preside over cases dealing with minor offenses, and over preliminary hearings that deal with more consequential ones. But a statement made by Magistrate Jon Stuart Scoles on Nov. 20, concerning the bail of an orthodox Jew, was a major offense to every American Jew. It must evoke a harsh response from the Jewish community. In his ruling, the Judge cited Israel’s Law of Return as grounds for not permitting a Jewish defendant to be released on bond, even though he had already surrendered his passport.