As we prepare for the upcoming new year, we present a letter from the Rebbe in which he addresses the interesting question of how to reconcile “being inscribed for the New Year” and the idea of free choice. The letter, written originally in English, is from the archives of the Rebbe’s personal trusted secretary, Rabbi Nissan Mindel.
Those who attend High Holiday services this year at the Brooklyn Hebrew Society of the Deaf will have no excuse if they fall asleep during the rabbi’s sermon, jokes Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff. They probably wouldn’t anyway, as services are conducted in American Sign Language.
Israeli defense officials on Thursday said the government has begun work on a massive underground barrier along the border with Gaza meant to block Hamas terrorists from tunneling into Israel.
On Monday, over 7,000 Jewish students across the Former Soviet Union (FSU) started the new learning year in FJC’s Or Avner schools and kindergartens. Even though some have already had the “First Bell” openings on Thursday, for most the festive ceremony, customary in the post-Soviet education system, took place on Monday. And in a unique Or Avner tradition, the ringing of the first bell came alongside the blowing of the Shofar, highlighting the Jewish character of the schools and underlining the idea of an education aimed at excellence in both general subjects and Jewish heritage.
Israeli miniaturist Nava Steinmetz has crafted a miniature model of the Rebbe’s office in 770. The model was built at a scale of 1:15, measuring 55 cm x 38.5 cm x 30.5 cm.
The oldest ambulance in Crown Heights Hatzalah’s fleet is about to be replaced. Delivery of the new ambulance was made yesterday and it was parked briefly in front of 770.
One yeshiva student who was standing on the edge of a busy Suffern road in Monsey is dead and another is in the hospital after being struck in a chain reaction crash involving a car and a minivan.
Vandals attacked the home of the Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Gat, Rabbi Moshe Havlin, Wednesday night, resulting in the hospitalization of Rabbi Havlin’s wife.
Lisette (Leah) Sayeg is a shadchan and community social worker who lives in Sao Paolo, Brazil. She was interviewed by JEM’s My Encounter with the Rebbe project in her home in June of 2010.
Some students brought mini-fridges or overstuffed armchairs to campus this fall. Zach Freeling drove his 1971 Airstream to Vanderbilt. And parked it right at the center of the Tennessee campus.
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