Fire Strikes Kiev School

KIEV, Ukraine — The Simcha School in Kiev, Ukraine, caught fire Wednesday evening in what officials suspected was an act of arson committed by anti-Semites.

Firefighters had the last of the flames put out by 5 p.m., according to Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Mordechai Levenhartz, principal of the school, which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary.

Re: The Good and Bad of Chabad – Chabad On The Bar/Bat Mitzvah: It’s Your Jewish Birthright!

ITHACA, NY — In a recent editorial, Reform leader Rabbi Eric Yoffie criticizes the willingness o Chabad to allow any child a bar mitzvah. He describes the norm of othe congregations to require family synagogue membership and attendance i Hebrew school for a year or more before allowing children to be bar-mitzvahed He cites this practice as necessary for ensuring that the bar mitzvah will not be “withou meaning, an excuse for a party.” And he accuses Chabad of becoming a “purveyor o Jewish minimalism, lowering educational standards for our children and the community, teaching the lesson that “Judaism is not a serious endeavor and that even the mos significant milestones require only a modicum of commitment.

CJC Honors TTC Bus Driver for Heroism

TORONTO, Canada — Geovanny Hidalgo never expected an award. But at a ceremony last week at the Wilson Station bus depot, the 40-year-old Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) bus driver was presented with the Canadian Jewish Congress’ (CJC) Louis Lenkinski Memorial Award, which is named for the late labour and Jewish community official and given to individuals who demonstrate “excellence and dedication in the area of human rights, community service and social justice.”

Re: The Good and Bad of Chabad

In last Winter’s column, (here) I reflected on Chabad’s admirable hospitality. Indeed, throughout the world, in virtually every city where a Jewish community of even modest size is to be found, Chabad shelichim (emissaries) conduct religious services, visit hospitals, teach children, organize Jewish holiday celebrations, and offer Shabbat meals to lonely Jewish students and travelers. No other Jewish movement—Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform—has been able to produce a corps of similarly devoted young men and women who are prepared to serve the Jewish people with such personal sacrifice.

Unfortunately, other Chabad practices are less admirable. Here are two examples.

Theft allows Yeshiva Students to get a hands-on Lesson

TWIN CITIES, MN — One month after a handwritten Torah was stolen from Yeshiva High School of the Twin Cities in Cottage Grove, a scribe is working on writing a new one.

Under a trained and experienced scribe’s watchful eye, on Sunday, the school’s students, rabbis and other members of the Jewish community had a chance to write the first few words of the Jewish holy book, which will contain more than 350,000 handwritten letters when it’s complete.

More pictures in the Extended Article!