In this week’s edition of Letter & Spirit, in honor of the Month of Iyar – which stands for ‘Ani Hashem Rof’echa’ – we present a letter from the Rebbe in which he answers a woman who is despondent over her grim medical prognosis and health. The letter was written through the Rebbe’s trusted secretary Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and was made available by the latter’s son-in-law, Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro.
Rabbi Binyomin Bitton shared a unique bond with the late Rabbi Eliezer Lipman (Lipa) Dubrawsky, formerly educational director of Chabad-Lubavitch of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. In addition to being personal friends, they spent many long hours discussing scholarly Torah subjects across the board.
Today, Morah Ruth Landsman of Bais Rivkah Headstart took her class to Raskin’s Fish factory in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where their delicious Gefilte Fish and other fish products are prepared and packaged.
When the Brooklyn Heights Jewish Academy on Atlantic Avenue opens this fall with its first kindergarten class, the vision nursed by Rabbi Aaron and Shternie Raskin over 23 years, will finally take shape.
A brutal assault on Kingston Avenue was captured on surveillance cameras from nearby Kingston Bake Shop. Reb Yisroel Shemtov suffered serious injuries after being punched in the face by a drunk black man, and surveillance videos reveals his rowdy behavior leading up to the assault.
Shimon Gorkin (Crown Heights) and Devorah Weiss (Charlotte, NC)
After the story of a Lubavitcher woman whose vigilance saved an entire airplane – which was first reported here on CrownHeights.info – went viral, representatives of the airline – the Russian carrier Transaero – contacted us with a request that they be given the chance to give their side of the story.
With sadness we inform you of the passing of Rabbi Sholom Feldman, OBM, a veteran Chossid, Mashpia and member of the Kfar Chabad community. He was 81 year old.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said it is taking part in an investigation into Wednesday night’s deadly incident in which a car driven by a Palestinian east Jerusalem resident struck two Israelis waiting for a bus in the capital’s French Hill area.
Renowned Chabad author Rabbi Chaim Miller is to be the Scholar-in-residence at Young Israel-Beth El in Borough Park this Shabbos, alongside Cantor Benzion Miller, who performs regularly at the Synagogue on special occasions.
Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz, an author of books on the Sforno’s commentaries, served Far Rockaway’s Congregation Kneseth Israel for 60 years. He was interviewed in his home JEM,’s My Encounter with the Rebbe project in October of 2010.
A 12-year-old Jewish boy was attacked and robbed by a group of five young black teens on Kingston Avenue. Working closely with the police Shomrim was able to affect the arrest of three of them and lead to the discovery of a firearm.
Yitzi Shimshoni (Crown Heights) and Chana Blachman (Crown Heights)
An intoxicated man who was acting rowdy and belligerent on Kingston Avenue assaulted two shop owners when they attempted to calm him down. One man, well known community activist Reb Yisroel Shemtov, was punched in the face and suffered serious injuries.
They sat together in the car, driving from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, to Vienna, Austria, just an hour away. Rabbi Baruch Myers was accompanying Ivan Pasternak, a 70-year-old member of his community who was going to have his circumcision, finally entering into the covenant of Abraham.
Rabbi Hersh Loschak, a Californian, first heard about Rowan University in the same way that many students start their college searches; he Googled it. In his national quest to find a college town where a new Chabad House would likely thrive, Loschak, 28, honed in on Rowan. From online research, he quickly gathered that the Glassboro, NJ, based school—founded some 90 years ago as a teacher-training program—was in the throes of a massive transformation.
A special mitzvah, which can be fulfilled only once a year, is to recite a brachah upon seeing a fruit tree in bloom. A group of Beis Rivkah Pre-1a students went out to make the blessing on an apple and cherry tree! Plus: Locations of fruit trees in Crown Heights.
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