Daily Archives: December 29, 2005

Rome: Jews light menorah opposite Iran Embassy

Members of Rome’s Jewish community lit Chanukah candles in front of the Iranian Embassy on Wednesday in what they said was a peaceful response to comments by the Iranian president that the Holocaust was a “myth.”

Two of the people who lit the candles were World War II concentration camp survivors, and a third was an Iranian Jew.

“We want to bring the light and not fire to the world,” said Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni. “The story of Chanukah reminds us of a military victory but the symbol is a spiritual one, it’s a peaceful witness to the fact that we exist.”

The heat is low, but Chabad menora effort can still ignite a controversy

Like the ancient light at the heart of the Hanukka story, the discord over the public display of menoras in the region burns on and on.

Throughout the state, representatives of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement have been erecting the Hanukka menoras in public spaces, part of the hasidic outreach movement’s plans to light more than 11,000 large public candelabrum in places ranging from Bangkok to Miami Beach.

But while the courts have made it easier to erect the menora and other religious holiday symbols on public property, Chabad still faces opposition from many, including area rabbis who say the displays violate the Constitution and tarnish the religious significance of the menora.

Chabad of Midtown’s 8 Foot Beacon of Fire and Ice

As the millions walking up and down 5th Ave. in Midtown Manhattan during this holiday season, tourists and locals alike just had to stop and stare for a moment, it is a Menorah sculpted from ice and stands at an impressive 8 feet tall was lit for all to see at 6:00pm. The Menorah was erected by Chabad Lubavitch of Midtown Manhattan’s Rabbi Yuhoshua Metzger. People from all walks of life stood and looked on in awe while others posed for pictures with it. In a brief conversation with a tourist he said that “this is amazing and can only be an Manhattan, here is this magnificent Menorah and just 6 blocks away is the Rockefeller Center”

More pictures of the construction and more in the Extended Article!

Oholei Torah Bus Crashes into an SUV

R. Dovid Raskin in the Daily News

Chanukah Chabad Style at Camp Victory

The U.S. Army took control of Al-Faw several years ago, but there’s still something surreal about the idea of a grand Chanukah celebration at Saddam Hussein’s palace. Yet that’s precisely what happened on the first night of Chanukah, when 70 troops celebrated around a 12-foot menorah in the palace. “We are celebrating the Festival of Lights in a place once occupied by a man who chose to extinguish light,” Lt. JG Laurie Zimmet told her comrades as she spoke to them about the meaning of the Jewish holiday.

The U.S. Navy reservist serving at Camp Victory was doing the work of Chabad, Chabad style. “I was taught by my Chabad rabbi to think big and pray big,” says Laurie, and when she had the idea to have a menorah lighting at Al-Faw, she determined to do something big. But how to get one of those supersized menorahs to Camp Victory?

A tale of 2 precincts – And Their Crime Rates

As I said it was only a matter of time till major media outlets will pick up on all this that’s been going on in our neighborhood and the polices incapability of doing anything about it. The article only interviewed a few people, and they generally praised the police, I know that the police are not doing their jobs and know of more that agree with me. Please use the comment system and post your thoughts and rants.

Brooklyn’s 71st and 73rd Precinct stationhouses are less than 2 miles apart, but the areas are headed in opposite directions, according to the latest city murder statistics.

The 71st Precinct, which covers the southern part of Crown Heights, has seen the largest increase in homicides in the city. The number of killings has risen to 21 from nine compared with the same period last year.

Although overall crime is down slightly, robberies and shootings have increased in the precinct.

“I regret moving here,” said Luis Rivera, 32, a carpenter, who settled in the area about four years ago. “The police aren’t doing a good job.”

But Marilyn Rosenfeld, an administrative assistant who has lived in Crown Heights for more than 30 years, said she feels safe despite the uptick in killings. “I remember the neighborhood in decline, but now it has come back,” she said.