Water Carrier: Rabbi Fights Southern California Fire with Love

By Dvora Lakein for Lubavitch.com

Rabbi Chaim Hanoka bringing water to the firefighter’s staging area, roughly 20 miles from his home.

PASADENA, CA — It has been a long and smoky week in Southern California as firefighters valiantly battle the area’s largest-ever fire and residents race to safety. With 58,000 hectares of land charred, fire officials are now declaring 38 percent containment.

“But that’s still almost 70 percent that remains unchecked,” worries Rabbi Chaim Hanoka.

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Contentment – The Clean Little Secret

By Rabbi Yoseph Kahanov Jax, Florida.

Strolling in the park one day, a woman stumbled upon a precious stone. Before she could place the gleaming object into in her bag, she was approached by a vagabond seeking alms. Nothing the woman was willing to give him seemed to satisfy the needy stranger.

The kind woman finally turned to the poor man in dismay: “What do you want?” What will make you happy? The beggar pointed to the diamond in her hand: “That’s what I want.”

With little hesitation or ado the woman placed the diamond into his hand: “Here,” she said “It’s all yours.” After a generous exchange of farewells, they were both on their way.

Sometime later, the beggar shows up at the woman’s door. “What can I do for you,” asked the woman, as she answered the door?

I have come to return the diamond said the man: “It’s not what I want.”

“What then do you want’” asked the perplexed woman.

Dancing in the Streets as Jewish Community Center Celebrates Its Torah

By Eric Richardson for Blog Down Town

Dancers go in front of the newly completed Torah as it is carried across the intersection of 7th and Broadway on Thursday afternoon.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Music and dancing filled the streets around 7th and Broadway this afternoon as members and friends of the Jewish Community Center – Chabad of Downtown Los Angeles celebrated the completion of the synagogue’s first Sefer Torah.

Three Banks Robbed this Afternoon

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn [CHI] — This afternoon three banks were robbed, two of which were in Crown Heights. The first robbery took place at 2:50pm on Fulton Street and Bedford Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant, and the robber fled in a livery cab to another bank which he robbed as well, followed by another robbery.

Chabad Marks Birthdate of Movement’s Founder

Lubavitch.com

In the Jewish calendar, the month of Elul takes up its own, unique place. It is the end and completion of the Jewish calendar year and at the same time also the introduction and gateway to the approaching New Year beginning with Rosh Hashanah. In its capacity as the former, Elul serves as a time of “Tikkun” and “Teshuvah”, a time of correcting and completing the faulty and deficient. As the latter it serves as a time of preparing and readying man to enter the New Year in proper manner and fashion.

The Weekly Sicha of the Rebbe – Parshas Ki Savo

The Rebbe says:

1. Before the festival of Rosh Hashanah (the New Year) and the festival of Shavuos (the giving of the Torah) we read the “Tochachah” (the consequences or curses enumerated in the Torah for rejecting G-d’s word). The “Tochachah” before the festival of Shavuos is found in Parshas Bechukosai, and the “Tochachah” before the festival of Rosh Hashanah is found in Parshas Ki Savo (this week’s Torah portion).

2. The Rebbe explains the reason for reading the “Tochahah”:

Our Sages tell us that the “Tochachah” is actually not a punishment; it is a purification and cleansing process. In other words, hearing the Torah enumerating the harsh consequences for disobeying G-d’s word is a sobering experience where we shake off all our “dirt”.

Mazal Tov! – 8 Sholom Zochors this Week!

Noach and Dina (nee Elberg) Hurwitz.
IYH at 1523 President St [between Albany and Troy Ave].

Chaim Ber and Rochie Kaminker.
IYH at 421 Sterling St [between Brooklyn and New York Ave].

Shmueli and Esti (nee Eisenberg) Yarmush.
IYH at 735 Empire Blvd [between Albany and Troy Ave].

Mendi and Chani Labkowski.
IYH at 105 McNamara Rd, Spring Valley, NY 10977.

Gil and Shoshana Hami.
IYH at 17 Blueberry Hill Rd, Monsey, NY 10952.

Yossi and Goldie (nee Tenenbaum) Grossbaum.
IYH at 302 S Lexington Dr, Folsom, CA 95630.

Meir Simcha and Fraida (nee Shmukler) Rubashkin (Postville, IA) .

Levi and Itta (nee Gurary) Raskin.

Please stay tuned as we update this list when information becomes available. However, in an unfortunate event that we do not get all the Sholom Zochors this week, we are sorry. But you can help! If you know of any Sholom Zochors or Mazal Tovs you can email it to us at MazalTov@CrownHeights.info. Thank You!!

Jewish Community Copes With Massive Southern California Fire

By Joshua Runyan for Chabad.org

Part of the infamous Station Fire could be seen one night tearing through the mountainside north of Foothill Boulevard in Glendale, Calif. (Photo: Steve Lyon)

Even as firefighters and state officials expressed guarded optimism Tuesday about their chances to contain a week-old wildfire that has consumed more than 120,000 acres north of Los Angeles, local residents remained scared. Evacuees pondered the fate of their homes, while others wondered if their turn to flee would be next.

A Hero in our Jewish Community – Mrs. Devorah Benjamin

Keren Simchas Chosson V’Kallah is an organization that every single Chosson and/or Kallah in Crown Heights has heard of in the course of their engagement and wedding. The woman who stands behind it, Mrs. Devorah Benjamin is the driving force and the one that without her it could not survive.

For that CrownHeights.info would like to recognize and nominate Mrs. Benjamin as “Our Hero in our Community.” This nomination is for the UJC’s “Jewish Community Heros” where people can vote for their hero and the winner will be awarded $25,000, and in Devorah’s case, is money which we know will be used to help our Chassanim and Kallahs.

Click Here to vote for Devroah!

Brooklyn gun horror: Young wife shot and jealous husband nabbed as horrified passersby watch

NY Daily News

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn — A jealous husband who thought his wife was cheating shot her twice in front of horrified onlookers on a busy Crown Heights street Tuesday, police and witnesses said.

Kaidan Ramsey, 22, desperately tried to escape her enraged husband, Lenox Ramsey, 25, after he followed her onto the campus at Medgar Evers College. He then chased her down Carroll St., grabbing her arm and screaming, “I got a gun, don’t f— with me!” witnesses said.

At Statue of Liberty, Jews Embrace Their Heritage

by Yonit Tanenbaum – Chabad.org

Stories of Jewish immigrants throwing their tefillin overboard upon encountering the freedom and promise of life in the United States may be the stuff of legend, but for Mendel Aisenbach, a Chabad-Lubavitch Chasid from the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y., such tales emphasize an important point: When they approached the Statue of Liberty, many of the tired and poor masses from across Europe – a good portion of them Jewish – pushed their identities to recesses deep inside in the quest to become Americans.

Op-Ed: Subject: Help please

The following is a letter that was sent out through facebook a few weeks ago by a parent that is having difficulties enrolling her child into a Lubavitcher Cheder in Crown Heights. In this letter the parent pleads for help in having her child enrolled in a school.

Shalom Friends,

I guess at the end, almost everything boils down to being someone’s financial dilemma. However, this letter is not addressing one of those dilemmas.

To spill it out, my wife and I are sending this message to whomever we believe might be able to assist me in any way. Boruch Hashem, Shalom, our oldest son, has outgrown the moisad/school in Flatbush which he attended, and he came to the point where he is ready to go a proper Cheder. Unfortunately, Lubavitcher Yeshiva on Crown Street as well as Oholei Torah is completely full, or so they tell us.