Chabad House Honors Tech Hero Librescu

BLACKSBURG, VA — In a quaint but spacious bed and breakfast here at the edge of the Virginia Tech campus, the university’s Jewish students and teachers hope to create a place they can call their own.

iVolunteer Hosts Kick-Off Event on the Upper East Side of Manhattan

NEW YORK, NY — “Since the Jews were shown unconditional hate during the Holocaust, we must show Holocaust survivors unconditional love in the last years of their lives”, said the coordinator of the iVolunteer kick-off event.

Last Thursday, over 60 people showed up to support the kick-off event of iVolunteer. iVolunteer is a dynamic team of volunteers who visit Holocaust survivors in their homes providing them with companionship and assistance in Manhattan. Since the program’s start in September, iVolunteer has trained and matched over 20 new volunteers.

Chabad of Oxnard Jewish Center to dedicate the Liberty Torah

OXNARD, CA — Shortly after Edi Boxstein’s son arrived in Iraq in January 2006, his Army platoon was assigned to cover a 17-mile stretch of road south of Baghdad that was swarming with insurgents.

The last platoon that took the assignment lost half the squad, a bleak sign for Jonathan Boxstein’s platoon.

A School, A Community, Grows with Chabad in Houston

HOUSTON, TX — The number of Jewish Day Schools in the U.S. has been on the rise for som time now. The AVI CHAI Foundation’s census of Jewish Day Schools count 759 in the 2003-2004 school year, with 80 new schools opened since five year earlier.

Down Under, Chabad Builds A Kitchen, Everyone’s At the Table

SYDNEY, Australia — Bringing sandwiches to evacuees, preparing soft beds for exhausted firefighters, Chabad’s response to crisis– wildfires, tsunamis, hurricanes, explosions – proves its universal commitments to goodness and kindness.

In Sydney, a 3,200 square foot example of Chabad’s service to the community a large opened.

Jewish Community Promotes Inter-Ethnic Accord

S. PETERSBURG, Russia — This week in Russia’s northern capital, the City Administration and community groups hosted the public campaign “March Against Hate”. Mark Grubarg, the Chairman of the Jewish community of S. Petersburg, took part in this event – a gathering whose objective is to demonstrate against inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatred. This movement was inspired by the memory of renowned ethnographer Nikolai Girenko, who was brutally murdered by nationalists in 2004.

$5.5M Goal Set for New Lubavitch Center

Philadelphia, PA — The spiritual influence of Penn’s Lubavitch leaders will soon translate into something tangible: a new home for over 100 students.

The Perelman Center for Jewish Life will house the Lubavitch House at Penn, as well as the Steinhardt/Cayne Jewish Heritage Programs.

Siberian Jewish Community Gets New School building

OMSK, Russia –- The West Siberian city of Omsk this week celberated the recently renovated Synagogue and completion and opening of the Ohr Avner Chabad Day School.

Following morning prayers in the Synagogue, which involved more than 100 congregants – an especially large number for a weekday – Visiting Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar affixed a mezuzah to the entrance of the building. The visiting Jewish leaders were joined by Chief Rabbi of Omsk Osher Krichevsky for a discussion with Governor Leonid Polezhaev, who personally assisted the community at every stage of construction.

Cosmetics Magnate Inaugurates Vienna’s Only Jewish University

VIENNA, Austria — A host of Austrian politicians joined international businessman and philanthropist Ronald S. Lauder last Wednesday to inaugurate Vienna’s only Jewish university. The fete in honor of the Lauder Business School coincided with a series of other events in the country’s capital celebrating the 20th anniversary of Lauder’s foundation, whose first project was the Lauder Chabad elementary and high schools in the city.

Ceremony Unites Jewish Community in Western Ukraine

ROVNO, Ukraine –- a unique event has occurred in the life of the Jewish community in a provincial town of Ukraine – Rovno. This week, the local community was happy to celebrate an Opshernish ceremony to mark the first haircut for the son of Chief Rabbi of Rovno Shneur Zalman Schneerson, who is also serving in the region as a Chabad Lubavitch emissary.

Located within the borders of Poland until World War Two, as many as 30,000 Jews were estimated to have lived in Rovno. Their existence practically ceased with the annihilation that proceeded under occupying Nazi troops.

Jewish Mysticism Now Served with Chopsticks

NEW YORK, NY — Jewish life at Baruch College is flourishing. There are many ways the students can get in touch with their Jewish roots. Recently, a new learning initiative called the Baruch College Torah Center, created by the Chabad Club, has had success in motivating to learn topics relating to Judaism.

Veterans’ Event Unites Jewish Generations in Dnepropetrovsk

DNEPROPETROVSK, Ukraine –- This week, the city of Dnepropetrovsk played host to an inter-generational meeting that brought together Jewish war veterans with youth. The event took place at the ‘Levi Yitzhak Schneerson’ Day School and was organized by the students themselves, under the guidance of their teachers.

‘Snack for the Soul’

CLARKS SUMMIT, PA — Chabad’s Jewish Discovery Center posts weekly Torah readings online on YouTube

Since you can buy a car or meet up with old friends across the world online, it was only a matter of time before you could be able to experience your weekly ‘Soul Snack’ on the Internet as well.

Chabad of Westmount meets Mayor

WESTMOUNT, Quebec, Canada [CHI] — “Maybe you just want to get involved in volunteer work for the mitzvah of it?” Reads the brochure from Chabad of Westmount Educational Center regarding their new jTeens volunteer program.

More pictures in the Extended Article!