Daily Archives: February 10, 2006

R. Jacobson Farbrengs in Chovevei Torah

In honor of Yud Shvat Bochurim form Chovevai Torah Lubavitcher Yeshiva sat down for a Farbrengen with R. Y.Y. Jacobson, a Mashpia in the Yeshiva. The Farbrengen focused around the topic of Bochurim in Yeshiva and Bochurim that left Yeshiva.

Included here is a recording of most of the Farbrengen. Right Click and hit “Save As…” to save the Farbrengen to your computer.

Click Here To Listen [137 minutes, STREAM/DOWNLOAD, 32mb, WMA]

From Helmet and Pads to Black Hat and Beard

As a football player, Alan Veingrad followed a strict training regiment to get himself from 215 pounds at the end of high school – undersized for an offensive lineman – to a solid 290 pounds during the prime of his career in the National Football League.

“Everything was laid out. How many repetitions [to do], how much weight goes on the bar,” said the 6-foot, 5-inch Veingrad of the daily workout regimen that ensured football success for him. “I [now] take that same approach to Yiddishkeit.”

Veingrad, 42, who played for five years for the Green Bay Packers and won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys, now keeps kosher, is Shomer Shabbat, wears a yarmulke and tzitzit, and sports a long, bushy beard.

Fire response times up in annual city report

A report card measuring city services showed that fire response times increased, the child welfare agency was slower to investigate reports of abuse and the high school graduation rate went down.

The preliminary Mayor’s Management Report, released Thursday, covers the first four months of fiscal year 2006 _ July through October. The good news included continuing lower crime, cleaner streets and a plateau in the number of rodent complaints.

The Fire Department’s response time jumped by a citywide average of 14 seconds, from 4 minutes 23 seconds to 4 minutes 37 seconds, the report said. In Brooklyn, the increase was 20 seconds.

Chabad group nabs ‘Jewish slot’ on Ukranian state television channel

Ukraine’s state television will start a new weekly Jewish-themed show to replace a previous one that was canceled under controversial circumstances earlier this year.

The new show will be produced by journalists affiliated with the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, a Chabad-led group.

A few weeks ago, Ukraine’s state television company, NKTU, decided to cancel the “Mazel Tov” show after five seasons. That show was produced by a company affiliated with Vadim Rabinovich, a Ukrainian business tycoon and Jewish leader who is the head of the of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress and the United Jewish Community of Ukraine.

The show is the latest evidence of competition between Rabinovich’s groups and the Chabad-linked federation regarding which is the leading group representing the Jewish community.

The Weekly Sedra – Beshalach

This week’s section tells of the glorious crossing of the entire Jewish nation through the ‘Red’ Sea. But it opens on a strangely sour note: When G-d led the Jews out of Egypt He took them a roundabout way because He feared they would return to Egypt!

In other words, after G-d surrounded them with wondrous protecting ‘clouds of glory’ and decimated their enemies with ten miraculous plagues the Jews still had doubts!

And these were the believers! Rashi tells us that four fifths of the Israelites died in the plague of darkness because they didn’t want to leave.

What went wrong? What can we learn from this today?

All in the family: Chabad house extends traditional branch of Judaism to community

Amid the shifting colors of scarves and ski jackets in the hustle of Schine Student Center, Rabbi Yitzchak Creeger stands out.

He and his eldest son, Schneur, 4, have become local figures of sorts throughout the past semester. The father dressed in the traditional black jacket, hat and beard of Chasidic rabbis, and his son, his stop-you-in-your tracks red hair topped with a pint-size yarmulke, are hard to miss, handing out fliers around the High Holidays or tabling in Schine.

Creeger and his wife, Dina Creeger, took over the student outreach program of Chabad Lubavitch House in the fall, and since then, their family has grown from their two children, Schneur and Yossi, 1, to include both regular Chabad attendees and any student who comes to the front door.