In this week’s edition of Letter & Spirit, we present a letter of the Rebbe in which he expounds on the very special and supernatural aspects of the mitzvah of shmitah. The letter was written through the Rebbe’s trusted secretary Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and was made available by his son-in-law Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro.
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Eli and Rachel (nee Schechter) Tsvik (Crown Heights)
In an op-ed published in the New York Daily News, Crown Heights resident Eli Federman responds to the criticisms of ‘animal rights activists’ regarding the ancient Jewish tradition of Kaporos, laying out in clear and concise terms why they should leave the pre-Yom Kippur practice alone.
Ukrainian businessman Alexander Granovsky keeps a low profile and makes his contributions to Jewish life in the country discretely. But during an inspirational visit last month, at the gravesite of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, over the Sabbath prior to the High Holidays, he made a donation of 1 million dollars to the Chabad activities in hometown of Odessa, Ukraine.
In a sharply-worded letter released this morning, Rabbi Avrohom Osdoba, senior member of the Crown Heights Beis Din, responds to flyers advertising a Kaporos that purports to be under the Hechsher of the Beis Din. “It is my duty to inform you all, that this is an absolutely fraudulent and misleading advertisement,” he writes.
Chie Nishio, an 84-year-old photographer originally from Japan, spent large parts of the early 90s taking photographs of Chasidic life in Crown Heights. Two decades later, beginning today at 6:00pm and lasting through Feb. 1, 2015, she will be displaying 40 of these photographs in an open-to-the-public gallery at the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
Last night, as hundreds of Jewish families gathered to perform the pre-Yom Kippur atonement ritual of Kaporos in Crown Heights, animal rights activists screamed “Murderers!” and waved signs of protest from behind a barricaded portion of Eastern Parkway.
The following op-ed was sent by an anonymous member of the Lubavitch community in Miami to CrownHeights.info, describing the hardship borne by a large family with copious Yomtov expenses when shelling out $23 for each Kapparos chicken, a phenomenon he describes as “price gouging.”
Shmuly and Dini Gutnick (Boca Raton, FL)
Fitzy and Rucha (nee Abergel) Perlow (Crown Heights)
On Vov Tishrei, in commemorating fifty years since the Rebbe’s mother’s passing in 5725 (1964), Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim in Morristown, NJ, held a Farbrengen with Rabbi Michoel Seligson.
Zev Akiva Aron (Melbourne, Australia) and Esti Glogauer (Sydney, Australia)
It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Rabbi Nachman Meir Bernhard OBM on Wednesday night, a pillar and legacy of the South African Jewish community. He was 80 years old.
Mordy Finck (Crown Heights) and Chaya Lezell (Crown Heights)
Rabbi Shmuel Lesches, Magid Shiur in the Yeshiva Gedola of Melbourne, Australia, has compiled a guide to the laws and customs of Kapparos, Erev Yom Kippur and Yom Kippur for the benefit of the wider Lubavitch community.
In honor of Rebbetzin Chana’s 50th Yahrtzeit yesterday, Vov Tishrei, a full-day schedule was arranged for the hundreds of guests who arrived in Crown Heights for the month of Tishrei.
David Sussman found himself in a quandary. The year was 1990, the place: Durban, South Africa. His friends were leaving the country in droves due to the political unrest and upheaval, and he felt compelled to join the exodus. Additionally, he was being offered a new job position with the promise of a salary that was ten times what he was currently making. David couldn’t decide on a plan of action; what was he to do? For days and weeks he mulled over these questions, yet he could not come to a conclusive decision.
