Photo Gallery: A Trip to the Gaza Border, or Pretty Close to it

A personal account from Webby as he took these photos.

SDEROT, Israel [CHI] — Amid bursts of artillery fire followed by the thunder of heavy bombing, throngs of reporters flanked by course onlookers came to observe the Israel Defense Forces offensive in Gaza. This was the scene at the ‘Reporters Hill’ less than one kilometer away from the border.

More pictures in the Extended Article! (By Webby)

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Hundreds Attend Mumbai Lecture

WESTLAKE, CA — Dennis Prager addressed a crowd of over 800 people at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza Hotel in Westlake Village, CA. The lecture focused on the terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, that took the lives of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg obm. Prager also strongly defended the use of force in Gaza and underlined the principle of peace only coming through strength.

Yagdil Torah Beis Midrash Starts Strong

CROWN HEIGHTS [CHI] — Heeding the call of the Rebbeim that “Torah study ought to take place in the Beis Midrash specifically”, Yagdil Torah’s Thursday night Beis Midrash program launched in Kollel Menachem with over 40 participants.

Soldiers Turn to Secret Weapon: Jewish Spirituality

By Matthew Wagner for the Jerusalem Post

GAZA — Two soldiers made their way through the winding streets of Gaza City, carefully watching for booby traps. Their objective was to hunt down Hamas terrorists and locate caches of Kassam and Grad rockets and other arms.

As they deliberated whether to turn left or right at an intersection, a woman dressed from head to foot in black appeared from out of nowhere.

The Rebbe’s Room – No One There, but This Place Is Far From Empty

By Alan Feuer for the New York Times

CROWN HEIGHTS — According to the sages, sanctity lingers. “Holiness,” the Talmud says, “does not depart its place.”

There are many places holy to Jews — the Western Wall and Joseph’s Tomb among them — but one of the plainest and least-known is the empty ground-floor study on your left just inside Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn.

Darchai Menachem Rallies in Support of Israel

CROWN HEIGHTS [CHI] — Thursday, January 8th a rally was held at schools and Yeshivas across the United States, showing support for Israel and its right to defend itself. Darchai Menachem pupils went to Tzivos Hashem to participate in the rally, while others participated in the rally live, via cellular phone. Following the rally, during a English composition lesson, students wrote letters of support to soldiers, which were letter sent to Gaza through the “Write to an IDF Soldier” on Chabad.org.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

Op-Ed: Protestors Awake the Jew Inside

By Rabbi Benjy Brackman Shliach to Westminster, Colorado

This past Monday night I joined 1100 other Denverites at a solidarity rally for Israel at the Hebrew Education Alliance synagogue. The feeling of common purpose in the room was tangible as rabbis, cantors, community members from every affiliation joined hands in support for Israel. The purpose of the rally was two fold. Firstly it showed Israel that they have friends thousands of miles away here in Colorado who support the war in Gaza, and secondly it helped participants to understand how critical it is for Israel to take military action to defend herself against an ongoing terrorist threat.

Brest Jewish Community Making Museum, Needs Help

BREST, Belarus [FJC] — In the Belarus city of Brest, the Jewish community association “Brisk” has begun undertaking a campaign for establishing a Jewish section in the municipal museum. The first initiatives to be taken are the collection of materials and items to display once this section has been created.

Moving Music Video! – It Happened Yom Kippur!

BROOKLYN, NY [CHI] — Infinity Productions has released the long anticipated Music Video “It happened Yom Kippur”, from its soon to be released 13 English song CD recording “Wake Up Yidden”. The song was written and composed at Camp Gan Israel in Montreal, close to 30 years ago. It describes the story of a young Israeli soldier, preparing to go into battle with the enemies of Eretz Yisroel, at the start of the Yom Kippur War.

Reporter’s Notebook: Miracles and wonders

By Abe Selig for the Jerusalem Post

Israelis sit in a bomb shelter in the southern city of Ashkelon

BEERSHEBA, Israel — Walking through the rubble on the floor of Gabi Ben-Hamu’s Beersheba home on Sunday, everyone was talking about miracles.

It was hard to imagine joy, or at least awe at a time like this. Ben-Hamu’s recently remodelled ground-floor apartment had absorbed the majority of a Grad rocket strike, which had landed nearby just hours before.

“Hier speaks about the Rav & the Rebbe” at Young Chevra of SoCal Mumbai Shloshim event.

LOS ANGELES, CA [CHI] — Tuesday, December 30th, 8:00pm, over one hundred young Lubavitchers throughout Southern California came together at the Loews S. Monica Hotel to commemorate the 30th day following the untimely deaths of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg; the Chabad emissaries who were killed during the Mumbai terror attacks.

VIdeos of Inspiring Speeches by Rabbi Hier and Rabbi Gordon from the Shloshim in the Extended Article!