With only a couple of weeks until Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary election, the entire nation has it’s eyes on the Hawkeye State, as the volatile polls show the coveted state is anyone’s grab. The state’s voters are courted day in, day out by Republican presidential hopefuls vying for their vote, but this week, Jewish Iowans took a break from all the hectic campaigning to celebrate the holiday of religious freedom.
Every year at this time, Rabbi Avraham Varnai and his 4th grade Cheder Lubavitch class at the Seymour J. Abrams Hebrew Day School face an interesting challenge: How are they going to top last year’s community-wide menorah project?
Am I the only one who knows a Lubavitch kid gone “their own way”?
This is not about why it happens, nor will I be offering a solution. I will tell you what made the Menorah in our home shine brighter than ever before.
With sadness we inform you of the tragic and very untimely passing of Shaina Borevitz of Crown Heights at the young age of 18.
Shaina was the daughter of Chaim and Tzameret Borevitz and live in Crown Heights. She was a student at Bnos Menachem and graduated last year.
As the holiday of Chanukah gets underway, public menorahs have begun popping up in major cities throughout the world. While some shluchim have no issue obtaining permission from their local government to erect these menorahs, it is not uncommon that acquiring this permit can involve a long and difficult legal battle. In this lecture, noted civil liberties lawyer Nathan Lewin discusses his involvement in fighting legal battles to allow menorahs to be lit in the public arena.
Highest Auction Prize in History is Response to Record Number of Cancer Patients
BROOKLYN, NY — In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, with tens of thousands listening and watching via a multi-channeled simulcast, the Rofeh Cholim Cancer Society awarded their record-breaking Split-the-Pot jackpot of $328,028 to the Stern Family of Brooklyn, NY. In addition, more than 50 other fabulous prizes were awarded, direct from the RCCS headquarters, as the culmination of this year’s RCCS Miracles ‘11 Chinese auction campaign.
The girls of Beis Chana’s Junior High, Miami, spent the month before Yud Tes Kislev memorizing Tanya during their recess, lunch breaks, and evenings. The score chart hanging in the hallway quickly filled up as the girls got tested each day. Weekend incentives, weekly call-a-thons, as well as the promise of amazing prizes, motivated the girls to put their all into this project.
Musings on the fall of Matisyahu’s Facial Locks
Matisyahu is a friend of mine so I was not going to comment on his choice to shave off his beard. It was his personal decision. Live and let live. But I changed my mind when my children told me that they were reading all over the internet that young, impressionable, orthodox Jewish youth were also choosing to shave off their beards following Matisyahu’s lead (I’m assuming these were young men, rather than women, who made the choice). It was then that I decided to weigh in.
CROWN HEIGHTS [CHI] — One woman was hurt in an accident involving three cars at the intersection of Montgomery Street and New York Avenue. Two cars, a commercial van and a passenger car collided mid-intersection after one of them did not stop for a red light.
Volunteers rebuilt a 15 foot menorah in less than six hours after vandals destroyed Scotland’s biggest public ‘chanukiah’ in an antisemitic attack.
As Jewish families around the world prepare for the second of eight nights of Hanukkah, the Brooklyn Jewish Children’s Museum is giving children a hands-on approach to learning about the holiday.
For the 29th consecutive year (since 1982), Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus and Chabad of South Broward conducted a Menorah lighting ceremony at City Hall in Hollywood, Florida. The Mayor, Mr. Peter Bober, was decked out in a hasidic black hat for the occasion.
Serbian President Boris Tadić joined the ceremonial lighting of the Chanukah candles at the Sukkat Shalom Belgrade Synagogue last night. President Tadić used the opportunity to spread a message that the Jewish festival reminds us of the importance to show respect and tolerance towards people of all backgrounds.
European and North American human rights activists may have thought that the Lithuanian newspaper Vakaro žinios (‘The Evening News’) could not outdo its past antisemitic sensations, but the 21 December, 2011 edition full front page with a huge banner headline ‘THE JEWS’ may herald a new low in the series of 1930s grade disseminations of hate against Lithuania’s tiny and shrinking Jewish minority (around 95% of the country’s Jewish population was killed during the Holocaust).
Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky of the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe lit the Monroe Township Community Chanukah Menorah, Wednesday, December 21, 2011. The menorah, built by Chabad Jewish Center, is a replica of the National Menorah in Washington, DC.
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