Video – Rabbis Speak out for Sholom Rubashkin

DUBUQUE, IA [KCRG]– About a dozen rabbis from New York and across the country are asking for the release of former Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin.

Rubashkin is being held without bail in the Dubuque County Jail, on charges stemming from an immigration raid at the meat packing plant back in May.

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Ultra-Orthodox Negotiate Mehadrin El Al Flights

By Matthew Wagner for the Jerusalem Post

A haredi man gets his luggage checked by security personnel at Ben Gurion Airport, inset. Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski. Background: El Al Plane in the skies.

TEL AVIV, Israel — In another example of how market forces serve religious faith, El Al is in advanced negotiations with representatives of the haredi community to provide super kosher or “Mehadrin” flights.

If the deal between the sides is sealed, the flights, which would begin this Pessah season, would adhere to strict gender separation, Glatt kosher food and no secular on-flight movies.

University of Toledo Basketball Player Faces the Challenge of Honoring her Religious Beliefs while Competing

By Maureen Fulton for the Toledo Blade Sports

University of Toledo freshman Naama Shafir is believed to be the first female Orthodox Jew to earn an NCAA Division I scholarship. She can’t practice from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday but can play in games.

TOLEDO, OH — Every Saturday, as the afternoon begins to draw to an end, some of the University of Toledo women’s basketball players prepare to make a phone call.

When the sun finally sets, they dial their teammate, Naama Shafir. “Naama, it’s time to come out and play!” they sing to her.

Sales Collapsing, Boymelgreen Increases Mizrahi Guarantees

By Avi Shauly for Globes Publisher Itonut

TEL AVIV, Israel — With sales deals collapsing, personal guarantees are raised. Shaya Boymelgreen, the controlling shareholder in Boymelgreen Capital Ltd. (TASE:BMGN), is being forced to increase his personal guarantees to Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) to $50 million from $25 million. Other terms of the guarantees remain unchanged.

Boymelgreen Capital reported the item to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) after its board of directors and its audit committee authorized the increase in the guarantees as a deal between the company and its controlling shareholder. Shaya Boymelgreen owns 89.8% of the shares in the company

Jewish Women Find Self Through Study and Snorkel

By Dvora Lakein for Lubavitch.com

KEY LARGO, FL — People use the expression ‘out of this world,’ and I never understood it before,” says Lauren Kraft, a senior at Arizona State University. “But this was definitely an out of this world experience: it was like an eight-day Shabbat.”

Snorkel and Study, a project of Bais Chana International, completed its fourth annual college women’s retreat in Key Largo, Florida, Thursday. Coordinator Estee Behrman says that the event, the largest ever, included 90 students from campuses around the globe. Behrman recruited participants at the annual campus Shabbaton in Crown Heights, via Facebook, and by visiting several universities. In fact, explains Behrman, “the program is successful only because organizers and campus shluchim work hand in hand, encouraging and supporting girls to attend.”

Pupils Take Up Good Deeds After Mumbai

By Pamela McLoughlin for the New Haven Register

Auraham Deitsch, 10, donates some change as Sarah Stock, 10, collects in her fifth-grade classroom at the Southern Connecticut Hebrew Academy for the Mumbai Children’s Relief Fund. (Peter Casolino/Register)

ORANGE, CT — The terrorist killings in Mumbai, India, over the Thanksgiving weekend brought out the best in students at the Southern Connecticut Hebrew Academy.

The loss of more than 100 people, including six Jews, two of them a rabbi and his pregnant wife there to spread the message of the Chabad movement, struck the children hard.

Music Video – Lipa Schmeltzer – “A Letter to Moshe Holtzberg”

This song composed by Lipa Schmeltzer for Moshe Holtzberg, surviving son of Chabad’s slain Shluchim in Mumbai. “Moishe’le Neshama’le”, written as a letter to the two year old, was sung at the Soul II Soul 5769 concert in Crown Heights on Motzei Shabbos.

Lyrics in the Extended Article!

A Plea for Peace at Ann Arbor’s Jewish Community Center

Rabbi Aharon Goldstein, Chabad of Ann Arbor, addresses the crowd during Sunday’s Community Gathering for Peace in Israel held at the Jewish Community Center of Washtenaw County. The gathering was held as a way of showing support for Israel and to state its right to defend her citizens from terrorist rocket attacks and to call for peace for all residents in the Gaza strip. The program included remarks from the federation’s director, David Shtulman, as well as prayers from local Rabbis and a video message directly from Israel. LON HORWEDEL,THE ANN ARBOR NEWS

Tight Security at Cyprus Chabad House

Shliach Rabbi Arie Zeev Raskin with the Chabad house in the background.

LARNACA, Cyprus [CHI] — Information obtained by the Cypriot Police resulted in dozens of policemen surrounding the Chabad Center of Cyprus for more than 4 hours.

40 cars with Palestinians were planning to protest against the latest Israeli operations in Gaza but the protesters couldn’t approach the area, as it was totally isolated by the police. This case is added to a list of recent incidents of this type in Cyprus. On Chanukah, 2 Chabad Menorah-cars were damaged by stones thrown against it. As well, two 4-meter-tall Menorahs placed by Chabad were found totally destroyed at one of Cyprus’ biggest cities Limassol.

Rescue Crews Slog Through Costa Rican Tourist Center After Earthquake

By Yosef Lewis

Damage from a 6.1-magnitude earthquake in Costa Rica has been centered northwest of its capital city, S. Jose.

S JOSE, Republic of Costa Rica — Following a major earthquake that has reportedly killed at least 34 people, Chabad-Lubavitch of Costa Rica is filtering through accounts of casualties centered in a popular tourist area northwest of the capital of S. Jose. Rabbi Hershel Spalter, who has offered the center’s assistance to emergency crews, reports that impact to the country’s Jewish community has been minimal.