Russian Supreme Court overturns sentence of synagogue attacker

Moscow, Russia – Russia’s Supreme Court Tuesday overturned a 13-year sentence against a man convicted of attempted murder in a knife attack on a Moscow synagogue.

On March 27, Moscow City Court found Alexander Koptsev, who was 20 at the time of the attack, guilty of the ethnically and religiously motivated attempted murder of nine people at a synagogue in central Moscow on January 11, but cleared him of instigating racial hatred.

“The sentence of the Moscow City Court is quashed, and the criminal case of Koptsev will be sent for retrial at the same court but with a different composition,” the court ruling said.

Pirsum Rishon: Ksav Yad From The Rebbe

In connection with the passing of Rebbetzin Etel Tzerna Hodakov, SHMAIS.com is publishing an interesting Ksav Yad of the Rebbe – Pirsum Rishon.

The Rebbe’s Ksav Yad response was to a request for a Brocha for good health that was “written in” by the husband of the Nifteres, the Rebbe’s Chief Mazkir, Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Isaac Hodakov OBM.

Into the Heart of Kabbalah: My Year with the Rabbi

Kabbalah is about wrestling with the complex and paradoxical nature of life, which is why this Jewish mystical tradition, with its thousands of sacred texts, leaves most people confused. But in its essence, Kabbalah is really about making the mundane holy.

Rabbi DovBer Pinson grew up in the tightly knit Chassidic community of Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York, speaking Yiddish as his first language. Although he often skipped school when he was a kid, it soon became clear that he would follow in the footsteps of his grandfather and great-grandfather, both highly respected spiritual teachers and scholars in Russia. He was self-taught and ordained as a rabbi in Israel at 18 and spent the next few years locked up in his room, meditating and studying a wide range of spiritual traditions, contemplating the possibility of life as a monk (until the day he came out and met the woman he married). At 34, he is a world-renowned Jewish scholar, lecturer, and spiritual teacher, with seven books on Kabbalah under his belt.

His job: Make sure it’s kosher

The word kosher, Hebrew for fit or proper, has become such a part of the world’s word-stock that even non-Jews use it as vernacular language. “That isn’t kosher” is practically interchangeable with “That isn’t according to Hoyle.”

Multi Car Pileup On Eastern Pkwy

At approximately 3 O’clock this afternoon at the intersection of Eastern Pkwy and Brooklyn Ave. a light colored Buick driven by an elderly Black male lost control and careened into two SUV’s.

The red SUV was driven by a Jewish man who was on his way to queens to take part in the levaya of Benny Keller, the other one was driven by a Black couple.

The Buick then proceeded to plow into a taxi cab, which was driven by an Indian male; the elderly driver of the Buick said that he lost his brakes, and lost control of the car.

More pictures in the Extended Article.

Rebbezin Hodakov OB”M Mourned

Rebbetzin Etel Tzerna bas R’ Meir Shmaryahu Hodakov, who passed away at age 96 on Erev Shabbos was mourned today in Crown Heights.

The funeral procession left Shomrei Hadas and arrived at Bais Rivka Campus Chomesh shortly after 11:00am. There, hundreds of parents and students walked behind the Aron down Brooklyn Avenue till East New York. From there, the procession went to 770 where hundreds of people were on hand and went over to the Aron to ask Mechila and recite Tehillim. About 100 family members and friends attended the Kevura in the Bais HaChaim. Rebbetzin Hodakov was laid to rest on the first row opposite the Ohel, and in close proximity to Rebbetzin Nechama Dina and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka.

Rabbi Sholom Yisroel Hodakov and Mrs. Chaya Kramer are sitting Shiva – until Erev Shabbos, click Extended Article for Nichum Aveilim information.