Elevator Traps Family, 3rd Time Getting Stuck

A half hour before Yom Tov a couple got into the elevator at 675 Empire Blvd with their two toddlers and hands full with things for Yom Tovand got trapped when the elevator got stuck. This brings the total times this elevator got stuck to 3 times in 2 days. FDNY responded to all three, to read about the first incident click here.

According to the building management the elevator had been repaired Erev Yom Tov, but it still trapped the family for 15 minutes, FDNY responded within a few minutes of being called and freed the family which had been trapped between the 3rd and 4th floors.

More pictures in the Extended Article.

Teens Honored for Dedication to Special-Needs Peers

On June 5, nearly 200 teens from the Fairfield County area will be honored by The Friendship Circle for the dedication they have shown to their peers with special needs throughout this past year.

The Friendship Circle, according to its Web site, www.friendshipct.org, gives “helping hands to families who have children with special needs and involves them in a full range of social and Jewish experiences.”

The program also works in collaboration with its parent organization, Chabad Lubavitch of Fairfield County, which is a Jewish outreach program based out of Stamford and Westport.

A Children’s Museum Grows in Brooklyn

Residents in the heart of Crown Heights are watching Rafael Vinoly’s Brooklyn Children’s Museum renovation take shape one stud at a time. When we visited the construction site at the northwest corner of Brower Park yesterday, the L-shaped steel frame was up and the concrete floor was firmly set.

The $62 million project – to be completed in late 2007 – is also the city’s first green museum. (It was the “first museum designed especially for children”). Think 300-foot-deep geothermal wells (for heating and cooling), photovoltaic panels (for electricity), carbon dioxide and body heat sensors (for monitoring exhibition spaces) and renewable materials like cork, rubber, recycled carpet and, yes, bamboo.

Pictures in the Extended Article

Evening with A T.I.M.E. community awareness

This past Sunday evening, the hall at Machon Chana was transformed. Over 150 women participated in an unforgettable A T.I.M.E. community awareness event organized by Etel Rivkoh Hurwitz and Yehudice Bialestock. Each attendee could feel the theme of the evening spring to life as she walked through the entryway greenery and into the Enchanted Garden. The tables were set beautifully with coordinating centerpieces and an array of chocolate-filled miniature flower pots and watering cans for each guest to take home as reminder of the evening. A tasty milchig dinner was served, complete with soup, a selection of hot dishes, plenty of garden salads, and a pre-Shavuos Viennese table with mouthwatering cheesecakes and fruit platters.

To begin the evening, emcee Mrs. Raizel Feder introduced Mrs. Brany Rosen, founder of the A T.I.M.E. organization. Mrs. Rosen welcomed the large crowd and thanked the attendees for their show of support by coming to this event. She spoke briefly about how her own lonely struggle with infertility compelled her to offer others the resources and support which she never found, and ultimately establish the A T.I.M.E. organization.

Pictures in the Extended Article.

MB speller happy with round two

As soon as the announcer said the word “Gotterdammerung,” Hindy Naparstek knew she wouldn’t be able to spell it.

Even though she had conquered hundreds of words to get where she was, that one formidable word cost her the competition.

Hindy represented Myrtle Beach in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee on Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C. She was eliminated after the second round.

But 13-year-old Hindy wasn’t disappointed, said her mother, Chanie Naparstek. It was Hindy’s first year to compete in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, and she was just glad to be there.

“You come here and you see how many times the other kids have come,” Chanie said. “It’s sort of like an exclusive club.”

It was some contestants’ fifth year at the bee.

Hindy completed a written spelling test during the first round but was eliminated in the second round after misspelling Gotterdammerung, which is a collapse marked by catastrophic violence and disorder.

It began in ‘the town of love’

Chabad Lubavitch is one of the largest branches of Hasidic Judaism and one of the largest Jewish Orthodox movements in the world, according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

Founded in the late 1700s, the Chabad Lubavitch movement originated in Belarus, which was then part of imperial Russia. Lubavitch takes its name from a small town in Belarus, which means “town of love” in Russian. The Chabad Lubavitch movement had a large following in the 19th and 20th centuries until it was nearly destroyed by Bolshevik governments and the Nazis.

After World War II ended, Chabad founded an outreach movement that brought many assimilated Jews back to Judaism worldwide. This Chabad ideology has influenced non-Hasidic Jews’ practices, especially where outreach programs are concerned.

Judge to rule in favor of Hollywood synagogue

Hollywood, FL – The city may have to erase an entire section of its zoning laws after a federal judge in Miami said Wednesday she plans to rule on behalf of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue that claims the laws are unconstitutional and too vague.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard called attorneys representing the city and the Hollywood Community Synagogue Chabad Lubavitch to tell them she plans to rule in the synagogue’s favor and will put it in writing within the next couple of weeks, lawyers on both sides said.

The zoning codes are at the heart of a pending discrimination lawsuit filed by the Chabad and the U.S. Department of Justice claiming city officials violated the religious group’s constitutional rights by denying it an exception in 2003 to operate within a residential neighborhood.

Three Mesechta’s, Three Bochurim, Completed in the Third Month (Sivan)!

It sounds like these guys are from a Kolel but their not, they are Two Bochurim from Yeshiva Ateres Menachem of Ottawa,HaTemimim Yakov Lefton and Michoel Weisz together with their Teacher Berel Zaklikofsky that came after a long year of Learning and tests. The Bochurim will be finishing the entire Mesechta Megilah before the year is over, this is a continuation of learning two Mesechtas of Baba Kamma and Pesachim. They started in the beginning of this year in early Kislev and they have been trucking ever since, As soon as the Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Berger heard of the good news he offered the Bochurim that they will get Tested by Prominent Rabbonim and thereby receive rewards if they finish before the School year, which ends on the 25th of Sivan.

Two New Arks Adorn Suburban Shuls

Philadelphia, PA – Two area synagogues have welcomed new additions to their bimahs, which amount to new homes for their Torahs.

Chabad Lubavitch of Chester County: Jewish Center last week dedicated a brand-new, custom-built aron kodesh, or holy ark, to house its three Torahs.

Similarly, a new ark has just been installed at Lubavitch of the Main Line’s new building at the General Wayne Inn in Merion.

According to Chester County’s Rabbi Yossi Kaplan, the ark was custom-built for the synagogue and donated by Kaplan’s father in honor of his father, the rabbi’s grandfather.