London, UK – Hollywood actor Jon Voight has spoken passionately about the “wisdom of Judaism” in a specially recorded message for Chabad House of Hendon’s annual fundraising dinner.
The Academy Award winner told an audience of more 200 at the Hendon Hall Hotel that he is “in awe of everything that Judaism stands for” and is committed to fighting anti-semitism.
More pictures in the Extended Article!
Near the end of this week’s first portion, Chukat, we read the strange story of the brass serpent.
When the Jews complained about the bland taste of Manna, G-d first sent serpents to kill them and then told Moses to make a statue of a serpent and raise it on a pole in order that anyone who looked at it would live.
Rashi quotes the Talmud andexplains that really it wasn’t really this statue that helped, but the fact that they raised their eyes to heaven.
This, of course, is very strange; if just looking at heaven was what saved them, then why didn’t G-d order Moses to tell the Jews to just look up? Why did he have Moshe make a serpent?
Munster, IN – John Doherty of Griffith has acquired another name, thanks to Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov of Chabad of Northwest Indiana.
“You can call me Yehonatan Ben Avraham if you like,” he says to friends who still address him by his English name.
According to Doherty, since Zalmanov’s arrival, an awakening had occurred in his soul. He said it felt like the time had come to receive a Hebrew name that reflected his inner change.
Doherty was born Jewish, but his childhood experiences and memories lacked identification with the people of Abraham. Leading an assimilated existence, John did not receive a Hebrew name at birth.
As Hollywood and Chabad attorneys await approval of their settlement deal, angry neighbors are hoping to have their day in court.
Neighbors of a Hollywood synagogue are demanding to have their say before a judge approves a deal allowing the congregation to remain in their neighborhood.
The four homeowners filed a request in federal court Thursday asking U.S. Judge Joan Lenard to give them the chance to argue against a legal settlement between the synagogue and City Hall.
THE HEROIC STRUGGLE — The dramatic story of the imprisonment and release of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Schneersohn, in 250 pages. Published by FREE Publishing House, a division of FREE (Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe), in Shvat of 5766 (2006). Text is in Russian with an English Foreword. The original Hebrew and English text was put out by Kehot Publication Society.
The recent collapse of Russian Communism was soon followed by a Jewish re-identification and a sweeping resurgence of open religious observance. These striking changes followed 70 years of Soviet religious suppression.
Before I begin this article the following disclaimer is in order. Coming from a Diaspora Jew, my comments here may offend many Israelis, who will claim that those who do not experience the difficulties of having children in the Israeli army and those who are not subjected to daily threats of terrorist attacks have no right to tell Israelis what to do.
While I can see their point, I beg to differ. Often an outsider is able to be much more objective about the situation precisely because they view the situation baggage free. So here is an “outsider’s” view from a uniquely Jewish perspective.
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