A Torah all their own

Tom Vogt – The Columbian

Levi Kagan, a scribe from Detroit, attends a Torah inauguration ceremony at the Chabad Jewish Center in Vancouver. Kagan did the first few characters on the Jewish sacred text Friday.

VANCOUVER, WA — This is how important the Torah has been to the family of Rabbi Shmulik Greenberg: It’s measured by the opportunity the Greenbergs had 42 years ago when they were allowed to leave the Soviet Union and settle in the promised land.

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One-Man-Show for Schoolchildren Brings King David to Life

By Tamar Runyan

Rabbi Levi Welton, as the biblical monarch, enraptures children with his “King David Show.”

Aside from the fact that the holiday of Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people more than 3,320 years ago, the summer festival has an added significance for Rabbi Levi Welton.

Info to be Menachem Avel Mrs Lasky, Mrs Junik

Mrs. Henya Lasky and Mrs. Cipi Junik are sitting Shiva, until Erev Shevuos, after the passing of their husband / father R. Aharon B”R Yakov OBM.

501 Crown St, [between Kingston and Albany Ave]

Email condolences to ajunik@bny.com

Hamokom Yenachem eschem Besoch Shaar Avaylay Tzion VeYerushalayim.

Shavuos – The Deeper Self

Rabbi Yoseph Kahanov Shliach to Jacksonville, FL

A professor once lamented to the Lubavitcher Rebbe about the depravity of human nature. “While most people,” argued the academic, “seem very nice and charming (politically correct) on the outside, beneath the surface we all tend to share the same ugly essence. We are all selfish, arrogant, and egotistical. Why should the intrinsic character of man be so abhorrent?”

The Rebbe responded with a parable: “When one takes a stroll down the street, one sees lovely houses, green lawns, flowery trees, paved roads and shiny cars. But when one takes a hoe and digs beneath the surface he exposes nothing but dirt and more dirt. The surface beauty is all gone.”

Not realizing where the Rebbe was heading with this, the professor found himself nodding in agreement. The Rebbe was actually affirming his point.

“But,” the Rebbe continued. “If one were not to give-up so quickly and continue digging even deeper, you know what he is likely to find? Water, minerals, perhaps even diamonds.” To encounter the inherent goodness in man one must be willing to dig a little deeper.

New York City Braces for Heat Wave

Lizzy Nielsen – AM NY

NEW YORK, NY — If you haven’t installed your air conditioner yet, Friday might be the day to do it.

That’s because New York this weekend will be sweltering through a brutal heat wave, the first of 2008.

Daytime highs will soar above 90 degrees from Saturday to Monday, according to Accuweather.com. And the high humidity will make those afternoons feel as though it’s hotter than 100.

Mazal Tov! – 11 Sholom Zochors this Week!

Moshe and Nechama Dina (nee Backman) Leeds.
IYH at 386 Crown St, [bet Brooklyn and New York Ave].

Yisroel and Rivky (nee Gurary) Geisinsky.
IYH at 555 Crown St, Apt 3C, [bet Kingston and Albany Ave].

Avremi and Deena (nee Abend) Andrusier.
IYH at Bais Eliezer Yitzchok, 394 Kingston Ave, [bet Crown and Montgomery St].

Yoske and Devorie Wilmowsky.
IYH at 1522 President St, [bet Albany and Troy Ave]

Mendel and Estie Mockin.
IYH at the Agudah Shul, 456 Crown St, [bet Kingston and Brooklyn].

Mendel and Chana (nee Rubin) Silberstein (Larchmont, NY) .
IYH at the Agudah Shul, 456 Crown St, [bet Kingston and Brooklyn].

Shalom and Cherry New.
IYH at the Agudah Shul, 456 Crown St, [bet Kingston and Brooklyn].

Mendel and Dina Polter.
IYH at 176 Adar Ct, Monsey, NY 10952.

Dovid and Goldie (nee Moscowitz) Tiechtel (Shluchim to Champaign) .
IYH at Chabad, 509 S 4th St, Champaign, IL 61820.

Zushe and Zisi Cunin.
IYH at 16654 Calle Arbolada, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272.

Osher and Sarah Feldman.
IYH at 5 Hof St, Cape Town, South Africa.

Stay tuned as we update this list as 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.

Chabad, Getty, and Neighbors Square Off Over Palisades School Plan

Jane Ulman – Jewish Journal

Rabbi Zushe Cunin, who heads Chabad of Pacific Palisades, with son Zalmen Cunin, 4. – Photo: Al Seib

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA — Rabbi Zushe Cunin, head of Chabad of Pacific Palisades for 16 years, is accustomed to “overcoming and embracing all challenges,” he said. But the uproar surrounding his plans to relocate Chabad’s Palisades Jewish Early Childhood Center to a vacant building off Los Liones Drive — in a canyon below an affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood and off a service road leading to the Getty Villa — has surprised him.

Ceremony Marks Beginning of Jewish Adulthood for S. Petersburg Adolescents

Chabad.org

Two proud bat mitzvah girls take a break during a grand banquet at S. Petersburg, Russia’s famed Great Choral Synagogue.

Some 50 boys and girls celebrated their entrance into Jewish adulthood in a joint ceremony at S. Petersburg, Russia’s famed Great Choral Synagogue.

Teens Indicted in Crown Heights Bike Attack

(Archive news footage from when the suspects were arrested.)

BROOKLYN, NY [WABC] — Two teens have been indicted in the robbery and assault of a 16-year-old Jewish teen for his bicycle in Brooklyn.

Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes announced the indictments of 17-year-old Namor Clarke and 15-year-old Basean Parker in connection with the robbery and assault in Crown Heights last month.

Mazal Tov! – Its A Girl!

We would like to wish Mazal Tov to Eli and Dabrushy Pink (Leeds, England) on the birth of their daughter.

May the newborn be a source of Nachas to her parents, grandparents, relatives and Klal Yisroel.