Daily Archives: October 30, 2005

Van ablaze at Chabad possibly linked to shul break-in

Federation director calls act “wholly unacceptable”

A Jewish-owned van was torched in the parking lot of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore last week, only two weeks after the synagogue had been the target of anti-Semitic vandalism.

Days before Rosh Hashanah, the same Chabad congregation found that vandals had entered the building through an unlocked door on Sept. 30, destroying the interior of the property with obscene, anti-Jewish messages.

Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, spiritual leader of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore, told the Advocate two weeks ago: “I was horrified beyond imagination. To bring that dimension into this sacred space was utterly horrifying.”

London Friends’ Hurricane Hell

The holiday of a lifetime turned into a nightmare for three Jewish friends from London this week after Hurricane Wilma left them stranded in Mexico without food or water.

An excerpt of the article: [click the extended article like to read the whole story.]

Further east in Florida, there were reports of succahs being ripped out of the ground when the hurricane struck.

According to Chabad of Hallandale’s representative Rabbi Rephael Tennenhaus, telephone pole wires shook “like lulavs”. But the rabbi said he expected the hurricane to cause more people than usual to attend simchat torah festivities as many had been prevented from cooking.

Today in 1992…

… A New York City jury acquits 17-year-old Lemrick Nelson of murdering Yankel Rosenbaum, an Australian Hasidic scholar killed in rioting in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn in August 1991 following the traffic death of a black child hit by a Hasidic driver.

This from the Australian newspaper “Herald Sun”.

Simchat Torah holiday honors completion of a yearlong cycle of reading scrolls

Excerpt from a local FL news paper:

…Meanwhile, over at the Chabad Lubavitch celebration at Bais Menachem in Salt Lake’s Sugar House neighborhood, men tossed back shots of vodka and whiskey and sipped on bottles of Michelob Ultra. Drinking on Simchat Torah, while nowhere commanded and not a part of most Jewish celebrations, has become tradition in some circles – a part of the festivities.

“Oh, yeah. The rabbi is lit,” laughed Alysse Eisen Silk, as Rabbi Benny Zippel’s voice boomed from the men’s side of the room. In Orthodox Judaism, men and women are separated in synagogue sanctuaries and while dancing.

A First Dance for the New Year: Jewish Students Bond With the Torah

Minutes to midnight on University of Pennsylvania’s fraternity row, as the ‘Sox were on their way to trouncing the Astros in overtime, the guys at Sigma Nu got a knock at the door. It wasn’t the pizza guy. Chabad of UPenn’s Rabbi Levi Haskelevich and Rabbi Ephraim Levin offered the frat a chance to dance with the Torah in honor of the Simchat Torah holiday.

“In Chasidic philosophy, Simchat Torah propels you into the rest of the year,” said Chabad on Campus executive committee member Rabbi Menachem Schmidt. “You can give a class forever, but when someone takes a Torah and dances with it, that makes a connection that is extremely powerful.”

When Rudy Tossed Arafat

Ten years ago this week, the UN was marking its fiftieth anniversary with a series of events around New York City, including an Oct. 23 invitation-only Lincoln Center concert performed by the New York Philharmonic for a glittering list of dignitaries and diplomats. When Rudy Giuliani spotted Yasir Arafat and his entourage making their way to a private box seat near the stage that evening, the mayor immediately ordered the Palestinian leader off the premises.

The man in the street cheered the mayor’s gutsy move, but the city’s liberal elite was appalled. “The proper role of New York, as the UN’s home city,” sniffed The New York Times, “is to play gracious host to all of the 140 or so world leaders present for the organization’s gala 50th birthday celebrations.”

CIA gets new powers; Jew-haters make hay

On Oct. 26, John D. Negroponte, the first director of national intelligence, released a detailed National Intelligence Strategy for coordinating the nation’s 15 spy agencies. It calls for building up the ranks of intelligence operatives and analysts and delineates new global missions. One of the top three key missions cited is to “bolster the growth of democracy and sustain democratic states.” Reads the 20-page document: “We have learned to our peril that the lack of freedom in one state endangers the peace and freedom of others and that failed states are a refuge and breeding ground of extremism. Self-sustaining democratic states are essential to world peace and development.” The other missions outlined in the document are “defeating terrorists at home and abroad” and “preventing and countering the spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction.”