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Immigrant, Underprivileged Boys Celebrate Bar Mitzvah

Shturem

Rabbi Avraham Chazan, Shliach in Lod, Israel, arranged for about 20 boys from immigrant and underprivileged homes to celebrate their Bar Mitzvah with much fanfare. The celebration took place on Monday, Erev Rosh Codesh Sivan; it began with a visit to the Knesset, continued with the main event at the Western Wall, and ended with a festive banquet at the Kaliv halls in Jerusalem.

Psak Din Released: R. Braun “Should Be in Siruv”

In a Psak Din issued by the Beis Din Ohel Chaim, the Dayanim ruled today against R. Yosef Braun for steadfastly refusing to appear and be judged by the Beis Din. The Dayanim wrote that “according to din we should be issuing a Ksav Siruv [against R. Braun], and anyone who wishes to ask Halacha questions by him should get permission from accepted rabbinic sources first.”

Op-Ed: Growing Up Is Optional

by Anonymous

There is an old American saying: “Getting Old is Mandatory, Growing Up is Optional.” This morning I discovered that the option of growing up was not approved by the local Beis Din: as I walked past the Badatz offices, I saw what looked like a Meah Shearim wall after a torrential rain. But it wasn’t an act of G-d, it was an act of babies masquerading as Rabbis.

Renewal Celebrates 150 Transplants

You usually don’t think of organ donation as something to celebrate. Don’t tell that to the people of Renewal. Last Thursday over 300 people got together for a lavish reception at the Renaissance Ballroom in Brooklyn to honor their kidney donors, an elite group of selfless individuals who have given the gift of life to others, often to complete strangers.

Chabad Chernobyl Organization Backs Filmmakers

Chernobyl remains a deserted ‘ghost town.’

After the producers of a new movie dramatizing the 1986 Chernobyl disaster received criticism that they are exploiting the 400,000 victims of the nuclear meltdown, Chabad’s Children of Chernobyl expressed support for the film, because it portrays the true extent of the disaster – something which the world has remained mostly ignorant of due to Soviet censorship.

My Teacher Who cared

by Dov Greenberg

In the Second Book of Samuel, after the deaths of Saul andJonathan, King David cries out, “They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions”—“מִנְּשָׁרִים קַלּוּ,מֵאֲרָיוֹת גָּבֵרוּ”. Rabbi Yeshaya Schtroks, beloved father, husband, community builder, remarkable teacher, was swift like the eagle, strong like the lion, and now he has passed away at the young age of 55.