When Julio Acevedo was arraigned last month on a drunken driving bust, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Michael Gary refused to set bail and declined to suspend the ex-con’s license, even though he told it was mandatory. ‘I don’t believe that I must do it,’ he said, saying a judge presiding Accevedo’s next court date on April 10 could ‘correct’ him if he was wrong. He should have never been behind the wheel.
Shlomo and Nechama (nee Welton) Rothstein (Nashville, TN)
New York City’s Department of Education proposed the closure of public schools around the city that had been reported as ‘low-performers’. A panel voted yesterday to close 22 of them, among them one Crown Heights location.
Dozens of lawyers crowded the offices of the OU in Lower Manhattan on a chilly night last week. Suits cleanly pressed, ties in place and business cards in hand, the room soon filled with the buzz of networking and business talk. The event, was a joint project of the OU Job Board’s and CHYE.
Dovid Blecher (Melbourne, Australia) and Musie Lepkivker (Crown Heights)
As Passover draws near, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries the world over distribute millions of handmade shmurah matzahs. And with such a tall order comes the distribution of stories as well.
From the Safer Haminhagim: Every day from Rosh Chodesh Nissan until the twelfth of the month, one reads the passage that describes the offering brought on that day by a particular Nasi, or tribal prince, for the dedication of the altar of the Mishkan. Yehi Ratzon in the Extended Article.
The new Chabad Center in the Southeast Valley already is creating a buzz weeks before its scheduled opening. Formally known as the Pollack Chabad Center for Jewish Life, this synagogue of Mediterranean-influenced architecture is expected to be completed at the end of this month.
Yossi and Goldie Grossbaum (Folsom, CA)
Zalman and Nechami (nee Altein) Charytan (Kennesaw, GA)
Moshe and Devora Lea (nee Banon) Holtzberg (Lauderhill, FL)
Ecuador’s first ever Mikvah was completed this week and is now only waiting for rain. The Mikvah, which is located in the city of Guayaquil was designed by Harav Yirmiyahu Katz, the world-renowned Mikvah expert with the help of the globetrotting Mikvah consultant Rabbi Elozor Raichik.
In Midwood, Brooklyn, there’s a luxury kosher grocery store called Pomegranate serving the modern Orthodox and Hasidic communities. It looks like a really nice Whole Foods. There’s a wide selection of kosher cheeses from Italy and France, wasabi herring, gluten-free ritual foods and nicely toned wood flooring.
Simcha (ben Shmuel Asher) Begun (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Dvora Branover (Crown Heights)
New York City’s plan to ban large sugary drinks from restaurants, movie theaters and other establishments was invalidated by a judge on Monday, the day before the new law was to take effect.
In a marked shift of protocol, the New York Police Department has begun conducting robust investigations of traffic crashes that result in critical injuries but not certain or likely death.
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