Op-Ed: On Public Display

As a young girl I was always fascinated by the beauty and mystery of the Mikvah experience. We were constantly told about the purity and holiness that the ritual brings to the individual, the marriage, the family and the home. I couldn’t wait to become a kallah and be able to finally participate in this exclusive and mystical experience.

Op-Ed: Enough is Enough

Everyone, listen to yourselves! This is a little long, but please hear me out, since this is very important!

As a 16 year old Lubavitcher girl born and raised in Crown Heights, I observe adults who are supposed to be my role models getting all fired up about such little things! With all due respect, I just don’t understand why you’d be willing to give up Ahavas Yisroel, the most basic, fundamental principle that the entire Torah is based on and have such petty arguments!

Enough is enough!

Op-Ed: A Flame before Nations

Before assuming his new post as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in 1984, Benjamin Netanyahu was guided by the Lubavitcher Rebbe who referred to the international institution as a “house of darkness.” The Rebbe encouraged Netanyahu to light a candle that would be seen from afar. Bibi was to serve, quite literally, as a ‘light unto the nations.’ Twenty years later, at the sixty-fourth UN General Assembly, Netanyahu spoke truth to power, and turned a house of darkness ablaze, as the Prime Minister of the Jewish State.

Op-Ed: They’re coming….

As the sound of rain makes pitter patter noises at my window, and it conjures up an image of little feet in padded slippers, pajama bottoms, steaming cups of hot cocoa, wind, howling outside, thunder so loud it makes you bolt upright in the middle of the night, while you were having a sweet sweet dream, lighting that strikes so fast and so bright, for a second you are not sure if it is day or night. Almost like a pilot that can’t tell the difference between sky and ground. Fingers tapping at the keys so fast they are getting ahead of themselves and tripping over the words. Excitement building inside of you, this bubble that grows and grows and feels like its gonna burst. Shivering with excitement, shivering with cold, shivering with lack of sleep. So many things colide together to form one great picture.

Walking down Kingston with friends, so happy to be in their company once again. Hearing a language that is foreign, yet so so familiar. Out of place, yet belonging all the same. The scent in the air, that feeling, that knowledge that something is about to happen. The human mechanism that tries to prepare for a blow, and yet can never duck quick enough. It is coming, oh yes, and we can’t stop it. These times, they are almost upon us. You know of what I speak. You know, because you think about it too.

Op-Ed: The Tishrei Guests

The Crown Heights as we know it today, is diverse on their opinions in many matters. One of which is the Tishrei Orchim [guests]. Most are well aware of the great kiruv the Rebbe gave to his orchim, and many are in admiration of all those who spend of their hard earned money to be in 770 for Tishrei.

And perhaps in the point of being the Rebbes Orchim and orchim to 770 is precisely where the dissention amongst Crown Heights residents finds itself. If all of these people would truly have this matter ingrained in the depths of their hearts, that they are in Crown Heights as the Rebbes Orchim then much up of the pent up uneasiness amongst the locals would subside.

Op-Ed: An Everlasting Memory

I grew up in a Chabad House. Chabad of Tidewater to be precise. Throughout the years, hundreds upon hundreds of different people have come and gone. Some we remember quite well. For others, it may take a moment. But only a select few are etched in our everlasting memories.

Michael Allen Noeth was born to a Jewish mother and Roman Catholic father. Sometime after, his mother turned Roman Catholic and his father an observant Jew. Michael was a very gifted artist and joined the navy as a painter. His father requested he visit Chabad wherever his military duties lead him. In 1997, it was Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, VA. Michael was added to the catalog of people to stroll through our Chabad House doors. Instantly, he became a fan favorite.

Letter: A Lull in the Labor Day Chaos Give Cops a new Insight into Jews

The following letter was written by a frum NYPD cop, and sent to his father-in-law. Names were omitted.

Dear Schver,

I just got home from working a triple shift- I went to work at 4:30pm on Sunday, and it is currently 1:20am on Tuesday. Nonetheless, I feel it is important to e-mail you concerning an incident which occurred tonight.

I was sent to the West Indian Parade Detail in Crown Heights earlier tonight, together with ten other officers. During a lull in the chaos the [revelers] on the street were creating, my Sgt. overheard me saying that the G. family had invited me over to eat by them. He was intrigued that anyone would want a cop eating over in their house in that neighborhood, and asked if he could join me.

Shliach’s Thoughts on Jews Defending Their Loved Ones

Dear Friend,
and whom this may concern,

With the most recent exposure of the “Martial Arts & Gun training” training story in the media, also now known by many other names – puns and embarrassing terminologies of which I was associated with – I would like to make some things clear. I will not go into the plethora of Torah sources for self-defense and the like rather address the issue at hand.

Op-Ed: Subject: Help please

The following is a letter that was sent out through facebook a few weeks ago by a parent that is having difficulties enrolling her child into a Lubavitcher Cheder in Crown Heights. In this letter the parent pleads for help in having her child enrolled in a school.

Shalom Friends,

I guess at the end, almost everything boils down to being someone’s financial dilemma. However, this letter is not addressing one of those dilemmas.

To spill it out, my wife and I are sending this message to whomever we believe might be able to assist me in any way. Boruch Hashem, Shalom, our oldest son, has outgrown the moisad/school in Flatbush which he attended, and he came to the point where he is ready to go a proper Cheder. Unfortunately, Lubavitcher Yeshiva on Crown Street as well as Oholei Torah is completely full, or so they tell us.

Op-Ed: On Foreclosure, Loan Modifications and Credit Repair

PSA – Thirteen Cardinal Rules on Home Foreclosure/Loan Modifications and Credit Card Repair/Settlement or Consolidated debt.

Since my last article generously published by CrownHeights.info, I have met with dozens of local families and have worked with many to modify their loans and fix their credit.

Every case is unique and different and there is no one set of rules or advice that can be given.

With more than 200 local families currently several months behind in their mortgage payments, spiraling credit card debt, and tuition bills that need to be addressed at the beginning of the year, not to mention, the upcoming month of Tishrei, I felt the need to share just a few thoughts to help all those families that are either too embarrassed to ask for help, or who think they can do it themselves.

There is no specific order to these rules, each is important in its own right.

Op-Ed: Why can’t the summer be over already?

Huh? A teenager actually waiting for vacation to end? Is that a misprint?

Two years ago I would have thought so too. But A lot has changed for me since then. Here is my story (the short version).

Toby Eagle OBM, She Would Have Been 22 Now

The following was written by a friend and classmate of Toby’s in connection with her upcoming Yohrtzeit which falls out on Sunday, the 19th of Av.

To the Eagle family,

I spent my seminary year in Yerushalayim with Toby. Although I didn’t know her at all before seminary, she was one of the first people to befriend me.

Op-Ed: Why Judaism is not Confined to Spirituality

…And What Matters Most In Judaism

Peace, Love, and Friends

What comes to mind, when you hear the word “peace”? How about the words “love”, “friendship” or “spirituality”?

Sunday Humor: Op-Ed: A Letter From Somebody

I am a somebody.

You will recognize me in the street as a somebody, and we may cross each other’s path every day, or daven Shacharis, Mincha, and Maariv together in 770 every single day.

My wife and I are well-off financially. Not because we are well-educated or because we have great jobs, but because our parents are rich with “old money”. We are accustomed to getting discounts at most Crown Heights stores because our parents know the owner and because our families donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to the yeshivas and girl schools.

I am gezhe.

Lubavitch Magazines and newsletters love writing articles about my great-great-great grandfather because we call him “elter zeide” and because his childhood story includes White Russia, hiding from Russian police and learning in an underground cheder.

Op-Ed: The REAL Crisis

There is not a day that goes by when I do not hear about our “Shidduch Crisis.”

Maybe there is no Shidduch Crisis. Maybe there is a bigger crisis, a crisis we cannot fully control.

Is Shidduchim the only default we are up against? How about our community, anyone see a crisis there? Look at the heads of our community, is everything smooth on top? Look around you. Look deeply at your neighbors, friends, teachers, family, is everything else REALLY at peace?

Face it; we are in Golus and therefore have a dark cloud hovering around us. That is the source of all our crises.

Op-Ed: Taking Responsibility for your Family Finances

For the past 18 years, the Global Jewish Assistance & Relief Network (GJARN), an international humanitarian assistance organization I founded in 1992, has helped hundreds of thousands of people throughout the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and since 2000 in Israel.

Due to the economic crisis, and with donations declining on a regular basis, I began looking into credit repair and loan modifications, first as means of helping many of our donors who were facing difficult times, and more lately, as a means to supplement my personal income, while I continue to manage directing Global Jewish on a greatly reduced salary.

Day by day, I am shocked to discover local families who outwardly seem to be faring well, to actually be on the verge of home foreclosures, tanking credit, over burdened with debt, etc.

Op-Ed: What we can all Learn from the Shuk Story

Who would have believed the selling of the SHUK would make such headlines?

Businesses come and go, and some predicted the demise of the SHUK the minute Kol Tuv opened Empire Kosher? After all, can our community actually support two large kosher supermarkets? (I believe it can, but that depends on you, read on…)

As a close personal friend of Shloimie for over 20 years, I have been following this issue long before it became a “sensation” and certainly before the beautiful stories posted by various individuals,

We find ourselves in the three weeks, and as such, comments posted with regards to why people ask for credit, who gives them the right, who is a bigger ball tzedokah, etc, all have no place, nor virtue in this discussion.