Daily Archives: February 22, 2006

Bringing light to the world

Rabbi Yosef Levin admits being Jewish carries with it a heavy stigma.

Jews have been exiled since Babylonian times, consigned to ghettos, subjected to pogroms in Russia, tortured and murdered en masse during the Holocaust, and reviled by some to this day, Levin said.

But Levin isn’t mired in anger, fear or shame. “God created this world as a place of challenges. … There is a reason for darkness. The challenges give us strength and make us shine,” he said.

On Feb. 26, it will be Levin’s turn to shine. On his 50th birthday, a grateful Jewish community will fete him and wife Dena for 25 years of providing a positive example. The couple has been pivotal in building a vibrant Jewish community in Palo Alto, through Chabad of Greater South Bay, many in the community said.

Vaad HaKohol Fires back; There Was A Vote, Sperlin is Misleading

In a response from R. Moshe Rubashkin [to what Chanina Sperlin spread] he said that there was a vote and there was a majority of the vote for these elections. He goes on and says that Chanina Sperlin is misleading the community, he is creating an impression that the Rebbe was opposed the Vaad “Arranging” the elections, by presenting only a piece of a letter, Rubashkin said that the Vaad gave Chanina a week to present the letter in its entirety, but he failed to do so, and the move to vote was made.

Rubashkin promises that these elections will be held under the watch “of a third party with no affiliation” and he also added that the process of electing R. Shwei was a complete disobedience of the Rebbe’s will.

The full letter that Moshe Rubashkin released can be seen in the Extended Article.

Leftist group stirs IDF row

The army won’t let Chabad in but they would let one of the most left oriented groups in to go on and give lectures!

Group that monitors troops at roadblocks invited to talk to soldiers amid objections

Women from Machsom Watch, a human rights organization that monitors soldiers and police behavior at West Bank checkpoints, were invited to talk to soldiers to prepare them for road block duty, but not everyone agrees with the initiative.

A soldier’s mother turned to IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and asked to cancel the lecture.

“You can’t mix military and politics,” the mother said in her letter. Right-wing activist and leader of the Women in Green movement Nadia
Matar also joined the protest.