Daily Archives: February 16, 2006

Rare Video of the Rebbe

The blizzard that hit NYC in the beginning of this week had awakened some memories in the staff over at shturem.net. Presented here is a very rare video clip of the Rebbe arriving at 770 during a snow storm around 30 years ago.

Click Here To View The Video

Lawsuit exposes Chabad power struggle in Israel

Our dirty laundry hits world financial news

Chassidei Chabad Lubavitch Yeshiva Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Wilshansky, Beit Chana Schools head Rabbi Shlomo Raskin, and members of Chabad Israel, which manages the movement’s activities in the country, have petitioned the courts to prevent Tzeirei Agudat Chabad (Chabad Youth Organization in Israel) chairman Rabbi Yosef Y. Aharonov and five members of Tzeirei Chabad from taking it over.

Wilshansky and Raskin asked the court to forbid the respondents from making material changes Tzeirei Chabad’s foundation documents, signatory rights, directors, and membership, or making any other fundamental changes. The petitioners claim that this is an attempt to illegally take over Tzeirei Chabad, and through it, Chabad Israel in general.

Food fight waged in Texas prisons: Lawsuit seeks kosher diet for Jewish inmates

Efforts being made to help rehabilitate Jewish prisoners through Yiddishkeit

In early October 2005, a lawsuit was filed in federal court against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for denying kosher meals to an observant Jew incarcerated in Texas. The suit charges that by not providing the plaintiff, Max Moussazadeh, a nutritionally sufficient kosher diet, the TDCJ is in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which otherwise secures “the free exercise of religion by protecting inmates from any unlawful imposition of a substantial burden on an individual’s religious exercise.”

Counsel for the plaintiff is The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, an interfaith, nonprofit agency based in Washington; co-council is Latham & Watkins LLP. Defendants in the suit are the TDCJ and the Eastham Unit in Lovelady, Texas, where the plaintiff is incarcerated, and which receives federal funding for the meals it serves. These include a pork-free, meat-free or regular diet tray only – none of which qualifies as kosher under the laws of kashruth.

The New York Post on R. Chitrik’s Passing

Reflections of a Former Matchmaker

I am a former matchmaker, and I have recently quit the field, and am moving on to a new profession. The reason for which I have quit my job, is because of troubles that I have been experiencing with the parents of my clients.

I wanted to bring to people’s attention, a issue which troubles many, the issue of “Shadchonus” – matchmaking. Many parents are struggling in finding a suitable match for their sons and mainly, their daughters. This is not the place to detail all the causes which have brought upon these difficulties, but the following words may cast more light on the issue

I am a former matchmaker. The reason why I have quit this ever-important field is connected with many of you, the parents. Many of these incidents [which have caused me to stop working] should not strike you by surprise, as they have happened with you. So please take this to your attention

We will first begin [discussing] the perspective of I, the matchmaker. I am here in order to help you with one of the uttermost crucial and essential tasks of your lives. Since this is such an important task, then why do people wait and expect me to chase them? Why do I have to wait an entire week in order to receive an answer or update? Why don’t people call and tell me how the date went; was it successful or not? Is it proper that I should be left in the dark?

New Shluchim To Washington DC

Rabbi Bentzi & Rochie Sudak from Crown Heights will be moving to Washington, DC where they will be joining Rabbi & Mrs Levi Shemtov of American Friends of Lubavitch.

Hatzlocha Rabba!

The Sudak’s can be reached via e-mail: bsudak@chabad.org

Hitler Goes on Trial in Boca

“The False Witness,” a Chabad-sponsored play that puts Adolf Hitler on trial for crimes against humanity, enjoyed a two-day run in Boca Raton, Fla., this past weekend.

Part courtroom drama and part history lesson, the interactive performance — in which the audience is sworn in as the jury — brings a virtual who’s who of antisemitic history to the stand in an effort to ascertain just who bears final responsibility for the Holocaust.

According to the play’s co-authors, Robert Krakow and Ilan Lewinger, the piece breaks fresh ground in its approach to the question of where ultimate responsibility for the Holocaust lies. Playwright Krakow, a onetime trial lawyer who has been at work on the piece for 17 years, also has a bit part in the production. At the play’s end, he appears in the guise of jury foreman and polls the audience for a verdict.

Over 600 pack Hall in historic celebration of Shabbos

Munching on gefilte fish and challah, over 600 Harvard affiliates—Jews and gentiles alike—packed Annenberg Hall last Friday night to observe the beginning of the Jewish sabbath.

Embattled University President Lawrence H. Summers delivered the opening remarks of the event, dubbed Shabbat 1000.

When his name was announced, the audience responded with vigorous applause, which surged again when Summers stepped up to speak.

“It’s a thrill to attend a warm and friendly Harvard meeting,” quipped the president, who arrived at 6:45 p.m. accompanied by his wife of two months, Professor of English and American Language and Literature Elisa New.