Jewish Center in Greenacres Starts Writing New Torah Scroll

GREENACRES, FL — Menachem Mendel Korf, 8, was an integral part of the creation of a holy, sacred document.

He wrote the Hebrew letter mem in the word “vayomer,” Hebrew for “and he said,” in the third line of a new Torah scroll, the Jewish holy book.

On State Dept. Missions, Nuclear Scientist Checks in With Chabad

His travels are related to preoccupying concerns of international political leaders, but this nuclear scientist says that it’s his encounters with Chabad around the world that inspire him in his travels.

SANTA FE, NM — Steven Gitomer’s State Department funded missions to prevent nuclear scientists from selling their knowledge to rogue states takes him to distant outposts of the former Soviet Union. Whether his plane lands in Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova, or Russia, Gitomer makes a point of spending Shabbat with Chabad.

Montreal Day School Singled Out for Academic Excellence

MONTREAL, Canada — Canada’s Fraser Institute named Beth Rivkah Academy of Montreal, a Jewish day school operated by Chabad-Lubavitch, as one of the top performing secondary schools in Quebec.

Donetsk Citizens Commemorate Holocaust Victims

DONETSK, Ukraine — In the lead-up to the Day of Catastrophe and Heroism, which is marked in Ukraine in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust, the east Ukrainian city of Donetsk hosted a solemn meeting.

Multiple Jewish organizations operating in this industrial region united forces with local authorities to organize this event. Among them were the Jewish community of Donetsk – a member of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine – the regional Chesed, the ‘Ukraine-Israel’ Society, the Donetsk City Administration, and the Regional Administration.

From North London to Brighton via New Zealand

Walking down Western Road in Central Brighton on a Friday night often attracts surprised looks, as revellers are taken aback by the sight of a bearded rabbi clad in black, usually flanked by a few Kippah-wearing guests. To me, the surprised looks are not unusual. In fact, I often get similar astonishment from residents of my home community in Stamford Hill, when they learn that I live and work in Brighton.

Although Brighton is only 50 odd miles south of ‘home’, Passover in Brighton is worlds apart from the experience I had when I was growing up at home. That’s not to say that the rituals or meaning have been altered, on the contrary, to me things are very much the same, yet altogether different at the same time. At my father’s Seder table, one could not help but notice my father’s passion for education, as he engaged us kids in lengthy conversation about the slavery and exodus. Time stood still at those Seders, and I often find myself wandering down memory lane, as I picture my late Bubba expertly pouring the contents of Elijah’s cup back into the wine decanter. The ritual, accompanied by a moving melody, was often held somewhere between three and four in the morning.