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Announcing New Shluchim to New Mexico

Rabbi Bery and Chenchie (nee Tiefenbrun) Schmukler of Crown Heights will be moving with their newborn son on Shlichus to Southern New Mexico. They will establish a new Chabad House to serve the needs of the local Jewish community in Las Cruces.

CrownHeights.info would like to wish the new Shluchim Hatzlocha Rabba on their Shlichus!

Released Time Mid-Winter Camp

BROOKLYN, NY [CHI] — During President’s Week the Jewish Released Time program under the auspices of the NCFJE arranged a winter camp for public school children. Over 100 children attended the two locations—the Brooklyn camp hosted by United Lubavitch Yeshiva Ocean Parkway and the Queens camp hosted by Anshei Shalom Chabad of Queens.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

Video: Art and Spirit

Raphael Nouril painted the Shah of Iran, the Prince, Henry Kissinger and actress Susan Colins. But when he wanted to paint the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, whom he never met, he changed his life first.

Judge Considers Prejudice in Rubashkin Indictment

By Lynda Waddington for the Iowa Independent

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA — Defense attorneys painted an unappealing picture of anti-Semitism for U.S. District Court Judge Linda Reade Monday during a hearing to determine if charges against a former Agriprocessors executive should be dropped, or the case moved to a different court or heard separately from others indicted in the aftermath of a massive 2008 immigration raid.

Anti-Semitic Incitement, Poor Economy Have Kherson’s Jews Worried

By Zalman Nelson for Lubavitch.com

Rabbi Yossef Wolff, Chief Rabbi of Kherson, Ukraine

KHERSON, Ukraine — City council member Sergey Kirichenko’s bid to replace Kherson’s Jewish mayor has turned into a wild anti-Semitic incitement campaign, blaming Jews for the country’s economic downturn and accusing them of plotting genocide.

According to Kherson’s Chief Rabbi and Chabad director, Yosef Wolff, the incitement has been building over the last few months and represents the latest development in a five year political war against Mayor Vladimir Vasilevitch Saldah.

Chilling Mumbai Terror Attack Tapes Released

By Dean Nelson for the UK Telegraph

An Indian soldier takes cover as the Taj Mahal hotel burns during gun battle between the military and militants inside the hotel in Mumbai Photo

NEW DELHI, India — The tapes, which were broadcast on an Indian television news channel, relay a conversation between one of the controllers in Pakistan and a female Jewish hostage in which he reassured her despite having already decided to have her killed.

A caller from Pakistan called Wasi spoke to Nurma Shvarzblat Rabinovich, 50, and asked her to call the Israeli consulate in Mumbai to set up negotiations with a senior diplomat.

Shliach Banned from Main Vilna Shul

Stock Photo

The following is very biased, one sided article, attacking a Chabad Shliach. It has been translated from the Israeli daily Maariv newspaper by Ezra Reichman for VIN News.

VILNIUS, Lithuania — The Jewish community in Vilna refuses to allow the local Chabad rabbi to enter the main shul, even though the rabbi has to say Kaddish and has no other minyan where he can say it.

Torah Dedication Perpetuates Life of Childless Holocaust Survivor

By Tamar Runyan

Assisted by a ritual scribe, an Israeli police officer fills in one of the last letters of a Torah scroll dedicated in memory of a Holocaust survivor who passed away without children.

KATZRIN, Israel — Holocaust survivors from Holland and Israel, many with tears in their eyes, joined residents in the Golan Heights city of Katzrin to dedicate a Torah scroll in memory of a fellow survivor who, because of the horrors inflicted on her in a Nazi concentration camp, died childless.

MTA Planning to Cut Weekend Subway Service

By Pete Donohue for the NY Daily News

People wait for a train on a crowded platform in Times Square subway station.

NEW YORK, NY — The MTA will cut weekend subway service even if it gets a state bailout, officials said Monday.

And, for the first time in six years, the number of weekday riders dropped 2% in January, suggesting job losses have begun to thin the throngs of straphangers riding the rails.

Alternate Side Parking Rules Suspended Wednesday

Alternate side parking (street cleaning) regulations will be suspended on Wednesday, February 25 for holiday observances. All other regulations, including parking meters, remain in effect.

Click here for the 2009 Alternate Side Parking Regulations Suspension Calendar

Arrival of Lubavitchers a Noteworthy Event for Area

Rabbi Yosef Lipsker at the new Chabad Center, formerly Congregation Shomrei Habrith, 2310 Hampden Blvd.

The issue: Congregation Shomrei Habrith synagogue has become the Chabad Center of Berks County.

Our opinion: The change opens a new chapter in Jewish life in our area.

READING, PA — Something familiar has disappeared from the religious landscape – but not completely.

Once in a Rare Sun: Birkat Hachamah

By Miriam Davids for Lubavitch.com

BROOKYN, NY — The waxing and waning of the moon is regularly celebrated in Jewish life. The Jewish calendar is based on the lunar cycle, familiar to Jewish children even as preschoolers who learn to welcome the new moon with regular Rosh Chodesh celebrations. In a popular depiction by Jewish painters, a minyan of men stand outside the shtetl shul and bless the new moon under a dark sky.