The Kansai (Kinki), historic Jewish community was in shambles when American bombers took out its synagogue and Jewish community center in Kobe, Japan in 1944. It was only four years earlier when the Japanese opened their borders, respecting Chiune Sugihara, their diplomat and Vice Consul to Lithuania. After the bombing, the Jews of the city mourned and fasted, with the war waging, and no one to turn to for assistance.
Long lines of shoppers, like this one in Hamafitz Judaica, stretch through many Crown Heights stores tonight as consumers seize the opportunity to participate in American Express’ ‘Small Business Saturday’ program, whereby $30 worth of purchases are given to each cardholder free of charge.
Esther Zibell’s colorful and imaginative holiday paintings have left synagogue-goers inspired by Judaism, art and a rather ambitious theme—Jewish unity.
Dr Harold Serebro, a leading medical practitioner, entrepreneur and author of several books, recalls how on a busy afternoon, a panicked Rabbi Bernhard walked into his Johannesburg practice holding a file of x-rays belonging to a congregant.
Hundreds of women gathered in front of the Machon Chana dormitory on President Street to attend the Levaya of Mrs. Gittel Gansburg OBM, who served as their beloved ‘dorm mother’ for over 30 years. The Levaya then made its way to 770 en route to the beis hachayim.
Menachem (ben Schmul Osher) Mendel Begun (S. Paulo, Brazil) and Mussie (bas Chaim Shaul) Brook (Crown Heights)
Before Shabbos, Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal – spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Berlin – met with Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and shared with him a message on behalf of the Jewish community of Berlin: “Be strong in these challenging times.”
This Shabbos at the Besht, Rabbi Michoel Seligson, Mashpia in Oholei Torah, will lead a discussion on the topic – The month of Kislev by the Rebbe.
Three videos filmed by a CrownHeights.info reader of the joyous singing and dancing that took place at the conclusion of the Kinus Tze’irei Hashluchim Gala Banquet in Bais Rivkah-Campus Chomesh.
Being that Thursday was a legal holiday when many parents were not at work, Rabbi Yehoshua Lustig, Principal of Grades 5-6 in Oholei Torah, thought it an excellent opportunity to host an ‘Open Classroom Day,’ where fathers were invited to actually become talmidim alongside their sons.
Mendy (ben Dovid) Kahanov (Crown Heights) and Sarale Diamont (Crown Heights)
Ephraim Bayzman (Crown Heights) and Mirriam Greenbaum (North Miami Beach, FL)
In this week’s edition of Letter & Spirit, we present a letter from the Rebbe in which he responds to an educator who questioned the Tzivos Hashem campaign for Jewish children – saying it seems to glorify the military, weapons and war. 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.
Chonye (ben Yossel) Reizes (Crown Heights) and Rivkah Valles (Nachalas Har Chabad, Israel)
Zalman Ives (London, England) and Sarah Hirsch (Crown Heights)
With sadness we inform you of the passing of Mrs. Gittel Gansburg OBM, wife of Reb Itchke Gansburg OBM and a resident of Crown Heights. She was 86 years old.
Rabbi Shalom Lubin, Chabad representative to Madison, New Jersey, along with other volunteers, brought hundreds of Thanksgiving dinners free of charge to homebound residents of Morris County.
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