The Talmidim of Lubavitch Yeshiva in Montreal took part in a unique and very special Sukkah competition this year. A selection of mishnayos Sukkah presenting various types of kosher and non-kosher sukkos were given to the talmidim and they were required to present models of these sukkos, with explanations of why they are kosher or posul.
Once again, every boardroom, conference room, and ballroom was used to facilitate the overwhelming turnout for Chabad of the Conejo’s Yom Kippur Service at the luxuries Hyatt Westlake Plaza Hotel in Southern California. The huge Grand Ballroom was filled to capacity for Kol Nidre, Yizkor and Neilah with over 1600 adults in attendance over Yom Kippur.
In tribute to the late CEO of Apple Steve Jobs, Bloomberg Businessweek published various quotes Jobs made during his lifetime, with related or inspirational photos as a backdrop. One such quote was superimposed over a photo of the Rebbe’s Shluchim.
The nine Jews remaining in Iraq, a country with a Jewish history that dates back 2,600 years, were told by an Anglican priest that they must leave because their names appeared in a WikiLeaks cable.
What makes the Jewish holiday of Sukkot memorable for me is something I have loved to do ever since I first got my own set of the Four Kinds, the lulav and etrog set. We are commanded to shake the Four Kinds every morning of the eight-day holiday (excluding the Sabbath), and the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, taught us to take our lulav and etrog and pass it around to whomever else would be willing to recite the blessing and do a “shake.”
A story which recently appeared in the news section of Chabad.org about a Jewish Golf pro who refuses to play on Yom Kippur has the staff at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency all in a dither. Chabad.org portrayed Letitia Beck as the ‘Sandy Koufax of women’s professional golf,’ but the JTA says that title actually belongs to a Jewish woman who refused to play golf on Yom Kippur long before Sandy Koufax was born.
Crownheights.info has obtained this video which depicts the extremist elements in 770 ‘reenacting’ the weekly Sunday dollar distribution the Rebbe performed between the years of 1986-1992. The man at the podium is filling the role of the Rebbe’s secretary, who would slide a dollar bill toward the Rebbe for him to distribute to each person seeking a blessing.
Following a violence filled week, various Chabad Rabbis have issued a new set of letters with instructions on how to handle the threats and violence. The letters contrast sharply: Rabbi Osdoba along with Rabbi Yeruslavsky came out strong and decisively, saying “It is a shocking and terrible thing,” and even drew parallels to the Chabda-Satmar violence of the 1980s. On the other hand, Rabbis Schwei and Braun all but accused the victims of provoking the attacks, and warned against Messirah.
A Bochur walking home late at night was attacked from behind, a towel wrapped around his head so that he could not see his attackers, kicked and punched to the moment he felt that he was surely going to die. A group of four walks into a dorm where guests are staying and steal mattresses, quilts and pillows. A Maggid Shiur gets interrupted in 770 then shoved around and bullied. This was but a handful of incidents perpetrated by a band of Tzfatis last week.
He began as a yeshiva student shlepping boxes for an esrog distributor in Borough Park. Now he’s one of the most prominent esrog salesmen internationally, with his website garnering some of of the highest rankings on Google and other popular search engines.
Saturday was the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It’s the holiest day of the Jewish year and the culmination of the High Holy Days. Rabbi Mendel Lifshitz of Boise’s Chabad Jewish center says community is an important part of the day.
A Jewish community has reluctantly put its city centre synagogue up for sale.
Levi Ross (Seattle, WA) and Sefirah Lightstone (Los Angeles, CA)
For three Jewish soldiers stationed in the US Army’s Forward Operating Base ‘Sharana’ in Afghanistan, a Mezuman was all they had for this Yom Kippur and they spent it together complete with kosher food for the Seudah Hamfsekes and the Tefilos together.
A reader emailed us a video he took on his cellphone of him walking around in front of 770 on this Erev Yom Kippur.
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