Daily Archives: March 6, 2006

First Torah Comes to Hollywood

For thousands of years, the Torah has been an important part of the spirituality of the Jewish culture. According to the online website Wikipedia, Torah is a Hebrew word meaning “teaching,” “instruction,” or “law.” It is the central and most important document of Judaism revered by Jews through the ages. It is also called the Law of Moses (Torat Moshe). Torah primarily refers to the first section of the Tanakh–the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, but the term is sometimes also used in the general sense to also include both of Judaism’s written law and oral law, encompassing the entire spectrum of authoritative Jewish religious teachings throughout history. Those five books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Trio Of Temples Targeted In Bomb Threat

Click here to watch a Newscast of this event

Weston, Florida – The all clear has been given at three Weston synagogues following bomb threats at each temple.

The BSO is investigating the threats, called in by an unidentified woman, just after 9:00 a.m. this morning.

The caller stated there were bombs at Temple Chabad Lubavitch, 18501 Tequest Trace Park Lane, Temple B’Nai Aviv, 1410 Indian Trace, and Temple Dor Dorim, 2360 Glades Circle.

A Silver Anniversary for Chabad of Palo Alto

Back in September, Phil Deutsch began thinking about Rabbi Yosef and Dena Levin’s 25th anniversary as Chabad representatives in Palo Alto, CA, which would coincide with the rabbi’s fiftieth birthday. The approaching milestone anniversary came up in conversation, and Deutsch told the rabbi, “I think it is time someone did something for you – special.”

At first, Rabbi Levin said no. “I pushed him,” Deutsch recalled. Finally, the Levins gave in. On one condition: the event was not to be in their honor, but a celebration of the entire Jewish community. Turns out there was much to celebrate.

No anti-Semitism in Jew’s death, Uzbekistan says

The death of a prominent member of Tashkent’s Jewish community last week was strictly accidental and it was “dangerous” to suggest that it was motivated by anti-Semitism, religious authorities said.

“Any attempt to give this tragic accident a political slant is dangerous,” Shoazim Minovarov, chairman of the Uzbek government’s religious affairs committee, told reporters.

His comments came after Avraham Hakohen Yagudayev, 33, died Saturday in hospital of injuries sustained after apparently being hit by a car whose driver fled the scene.

Synagogue Attack Accused Pleads Innocence, Rails at Court

MOSCOW, Russia – A man accused of a knife-wielding attack on a central Moscow synagogue pleaded not guilty Tuesday in an outspoken attack on the Russian judicial system.

“The Criminal Code has been written by Jews and the Jewish mafia, therefore, I plead not guilty,” Alexander Koptsev told the Moscow City Court.

On January 11, 2006, Koptsev, 20, allegedly stabbed nine people in the synagogue with a hunting knife that he had taken from his father.

Their religious identities flexible, Slovakian Jews show up for Games

BANKSA BYSTRICA, Slovakia, — A young Chabad volunteer from New York has spent five months in Slovakia teaching the basics of Judaism in Bratislava.

Informed that there’s also a Jewish community of some 60 people in Banksa Bystrica, a picturesque hamlet three hours west of the capital, she’s puzzled.

“I didn’t know anything about other Jewish communities. Are they real Jews?” she asks.

Her question epitomizes the divide between some religious Jews in the West and their neighbors in eastern Europe, who often are less observant.