Daily Archives: April 16, 2006

Education proclamation presented

In honor of April 9, 2006, corresponding to 11 Nissan 5766, which marks 104 years since the birth of The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, Mayor William D. Euille issued a proclamation of “104 days of education in the city of Alexandria.” The 104 days began on Sunday, April 9.

The Proclamation pays tribute to the Rebbe who has over his years of dedicated leadership, established more than 3,000 Chabad Lubavitch Centers, helping people of all walks of life throughout the world, from Australia to Africa, Holland to Argentina; from Moscow to Jerusalem.

Jewish Learning Institute grows with each new class

Although Portland has long been home to a vital and always growing Chabad Lubavitch organization, this has been the first year that Chabad’s seven-year-old Rohr Jewish Learning Institute has offered classes in Portland.

Every 12 months, JLI offers a new series of three courses in more than 150 cities around the world. The study year begins with a course focusing on basic aspects of Judaism. That is followed by a course on kabbalah, and then a course addressing a contemporary issue

According to Portland Chabad Rabbi Moshe Wilhelm, the adult study program attracted immediate interest among Portland area Jews and only has grown with each new class.

PBS FEATURE: Passover Matzah

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Every year as Passover approaches, Jewish children learn the significance of unleavened bread — matzah — eaten at each Passover seder. We found Jewish kids learning to make matzah at the Temple Sha’arey Shalom School in Springfield, New Jersey. The chief baker is Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum.

Rabbi ZALMAN GROSSBAUM (Chabad-Lubavitch, New Jersey): The matzah, because of its symbolism, is definitely the icon of Passover, and eating it is a biblical obligation. When we start the matzah bakery, we first introduce the kids to the story of Passover.

(Telling Joke to Students at Sha’arey Shalom Jewish School, Springfield, NJ): “Knock, knock.” Pharaoh says, “Who’s there?” He says, “Moses.” He says, “Moses who?” He says, “I don’t have time for knock, knock jokes.” “I have something very important to tell you.” He says, “What? What did you want to tell me?” He says, “I came to tell you to let my people …”

Move against Russian rabbi blasted

Russian Jewish leaders criticized a lawmaker’s motion to check how one of Russia’s chief rabbis received Russian citizenship.

The development concerns Berel Lazar, chief Lubavitch emissary in the former Soviet Union and head of the Chabad-led Federation of Jewish Communities, the region’s largest Jewish group. Last Friday, the Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, authorized a committee to file an inquiry with the authorities to clarify why Lazar, an Italian-born U.S. citizen, was made a Russian citizen without undergoing required naturalization procedures.

The motion was proposed by Boris Vinogradov, a member of the nationalist Motherland Party.

Synagogue ripped on its parking

Chabad at the Beaches, a Jewish worship group in Ponte Vedra Beach, has grown considerably since its creation two and a half years ago.

And since the group is based out of a home across from the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library on State Road A1A, complaints from neighbors about noise and parking have grown as well.

“As that congregation has grown, so has the parking problem,” Curtis Long, a next-door neighbor at 523 A1A, told trustees of the Ponte Vedra Municipal Service District (MSD) Monday night.

Long was seeking “some relief” from the dozens of cars that are sometimes parked at an angle on the eastern shoulder of A1A.