One New Year evokes another. We Jews like to pride ourselves on the differences between the secular New Year celebrations that have just ended and our religious New Year in the fall. The meaningless blare of tinseled horns versus the shofar blasts calling us to prayer; the excessive drinking versus the sanctification of holiday wine; the crowds in Times Square versus the crowds on their way to the synagogue.
The Girls in Beis Rivka in Yerres, France graduated only a few months after losing their beloved principle Rabbi Uri Shonthal, OBM. The name of the departed principle appeared on the diplomas, and many heartwarming speeches were made about how much great influence he had on the students and how much he is missed.
Police have told community leaders that car firebombings that rattled a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn were probably an insurance scam, and not a hate crime, the Daily News has learned.
Building on the success of last year, Mr. Eli Wallen returned to Mesivta Menachem to teach the bochurim about personal finances in a eight week series.
Yudi and Bluma (nee Raskin) Blotner (Monsey, NY)
A new full color Chumash laced with commentary geared to offering Torah insights that are relevant to day to day life has been purchased by the military and will be distributed to thousands of Jewish soldiers stationed in over twenty different countries.
First, Mayor Bloomberg went after smoking in public places. Then trans-fats, salt and sugary drinks. Now Bloomberg — known for sipping fine wine and downing a cold beer from time to time — wants to crack down on alcohol sales to curb excessive drinking, according to a provocative planning document obtained by The Post.
Like clockwork, every year around winter time, the skin over my knuckles cracks and bleeds.
Shlomo Yager (Coral Springs, FL) and Miriam Glick (Crown Heights)
Mendel and Rochel Druk (Cancun, Mexico)
A federal appeals court struck down as unconstitutional an Oklahoma anti-Sharia law, which was authored by David Yerushalmi, a Lubavitcher from Phoenix, Arizona. [Update: correction issued in extended article].
Rabbi Yitzchok Wolf responds to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach‘s response to Rabbi Wolf’s condemnation of Rabbi Boteach’s book:
Shalom Goldberg (Toronto, Canada) and Penina Forta (Oak Park, MI)
You can still spot them, now and then: Friday morning, clambering aboard a Mitzvah Tank, blaring Nichoach on loop; ducking out of the Kollel late at night, sefer securely tucked under the arm; or massing outside the NCFJE international headquarters Wednesday afternoons. But in many ways, the American 770 bochur is a breed endangered, disappearing fast.
Every year, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia holds an awards ceremony to honor top contributors to Jewish life. Typically, the awards are given to Jewish writers, philanthropists and social activists, but things took a different turn this time around.
A 1,500-year-old seal with the image of the seven-branched Temple Menorah has been discovered near the city of Acre.
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