Cooking for 50 every week? Chabad wives are up to the task

Miriam Ferris’ groceries cost about $300 a week — not including the fish and chicken she buys from the kosher butcher. The list includes such items as “20 lbs. of potatoes,” “2 bags of string beans” and “3 cases of eggs.”

And believe it or not, this isn’t her Passover shopping. Though if you attend a normal Shabbat dinner at her house, you might think you are there for a Passover seder.

Three tables are set together end-to-end. Close to 30 people are crammed into a room. Plates and plates of hot food are served to grateful guests, some of whom who dropped in without even a moment’s notice.

Chabad Center opens in Sudbury

Judaism and joy are synonymous for Rabbi Yisroel and Shayna Freeman, a young couple whose own lives are dedicated to serving the Jewish community by providing spiritual and educational enrichment.

In January the Freemans established the Chabad Jewish Center of Sudbury to serve the Jewish communities of Sudbury, Marlborough and Hudson. Their goal is to provide opportunities for local Jews to study and deepen their knowledge of Jewish law and philosophy through a variety of programs from one-on-one Torah study to lively holiday parties for children.

“It’s a very joyful way, the Hasidic style,” said Yisroel Freeman. “When we do Jewish events everyone should go away with happy feelings.”

Oholei Torah Breaks Ground For New Mikvah

As Oholei Torah celebrates its achievements of the past fifty years, they are looking forward and planning to the future.

Backed by the generosity of Oholei Torahs dear friends, R’ Shaya and Sarah Boymelgreen, Oholei Torah will break ground for a brand new community mikvah for men on Isru Chag Shavuos as they celebrate their annual dinner.

The mikvah, to be annexed to the eastern side of the Eastern Parkway campus, will feature more than 7,500 sq. feet of stunning amenities, and the utmost in comfort and dignity as such a project deserves. Building details include 26 showers, four boros each with separate entrances and exits, and a grand marble entrance.

The Boymelgreen’s are dedicating this project to the memory of Shaya’s grandfathers R’ Yeshaya Shlomo HaKohen Altman HY“D and R’ Levi Yitzchok Boymelgreen HY”D

THE DISPUTATION: One Love, One Chabad Heart

Any group or movement with a strongly held viewpoint inevitably has to decide how to relate to outsiders who disagree or simply don’t care. It can judge and dismiss them, or it can condescend and seek to instruct them about the dangerous error of their ways. The really radical approach, however, is to serve and to love them.

This last approach has come to be associated with Chabad, the Hasidic sect that is currently scoring a public relations triumph in the person of Matisyahu, the born-again reggae star with legions of fans among non-Jewish Americans. The majority of mainstream America never heard of Chabad until the former Matthew Miller began crooning to them about faith in Hashem and paraphrasing the Zohar about how to fight the evil one’s impulse. He’s currently No. 7 on the Billboard 200 music chart, a flabbergasting achievement.

A Project of NCFJE: Open Doors

A few months ago, Rabbi Shea Hecht, of NCFJE, started a weekly Torah Study and Relationships Class for post-high school single girls at NCFJE headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The classes were an opportunity for the girls to continue their Torah study though their formal study years were over. Over time Rabbi Hecht began to notice that a different need was not being met for these girls. Being that these girls live in the city, where people easily blend in, there was no way for them to meet other girls with similar needs within the community.

From its inception NCFJE has been filling a void when they see one and this time was no different. Rabbi Hecht launched a new project – Project Open Doors.

Now the staff of NCFJE/Open Doors not only offers Torah classes, but has also dedicated themselves to helping young ladies further their career, network for job opportunities and find suitable marriage partners.

A Letter From The Mother Of The Victim of Last Nights Attack

It’s my son who was beaten…. I spoke to the attacker on my son’s phone tonight…. and then to his aunt. She says he is 16 years old “and she is not turning him in” When I told him there are detectives working on the case…. and the mayor’s office involved, she just laughed. I asked the boy why he had to beat my son so severely for a stupid cell phone … he said “he wouldn’t give it up” Mendy never got a chance to “Give it up” he was jumped and then blacked out…. he remembers nothing about the attack.

He received about 6 stitches in his mouth and all tests came out ok so far B”H. He is in the hospital overnight for observation. I was told his injuries look scarier then they are.

Thanks to the person that went over and stopped the Shvartzeh from continuing to beat Mendy to a pulp. I’m not sure he wants his named mentioned. Representatives of the mayor’s office came to the hospital tonight and two detectives are on the case. Let’s pray that they catch the attacker. If these animals are never caught they have no fear and just keep attacking.

UPDATE ON MENDY’S CONDITION IN THE EXTENDED ARTICLE!

14 year old Severely Beaten and Robbed – Chaptzem?!

At 8:40pm Tuesday evening, an 18 to 21 year old black male attacked a 14-year-old bochur. Eyewitness stated that the assailant grabbed the Bochur by the head and slammed him into the back of a parked mini-van with vicious force, knocking him out instantly.

The sheer force of the impact on the van, left a large splatter of blood on the back of the vehicle (see Pictures). The attacker then proceeded to take his Wallet, Cell Phone and iPod, after which he continued beating the unconscious bocher with blows to the head.

At which point a Jewish member of the community walked up to try to stop the beating and began calling the police. After noticing the approaching individual, the mugger stopped and said to him “You better put the phone down, or else you will be next”.

The Shomrim who arrived on scene immediately, began canvassing the area in attempt to apprehend this brutal criminal. Hatzalah was kept waiting at the scene before transporting the bochur to the hospital, because the police took more then 15 minutes to respond.

The bochur was taken to King County Hospital, where it was determined that he suffered a concussion, multiple cuts and abrasions to his face and severe trauma to his head.

This incident comes just a month after the murder of Efraim Klein, who was shot on the very same corner where this mugging took place (the police still seem to be completely clueless as to who murdered Efraim Klein). Blood was visible all over the sidewalk (see pictures) and the Bochur had no recollection of the actual assault.

More pictures and an extension to this report in the Extended Article.

From Quang Tri to Monsey: One Man’s Journey from Vietnam to Orthodox Judaism.

Today he considers himself a soldier in Hashem’s army. Time was when Zvi Webb was “Hank” and his “army” was the US Armed Forces.

A just-released memoir tells the fascinating story of R’ Zvi’s journey from the social unrest of the 1960’s to a military tour in Vietnam and eventual encounter with Judaism. The book, “Loyal Soldier,” (Israel Book Shop 2006) follows his soul-searching adventures in the Amazon jungle, near-murder by a drunken anti-Semite in the army and forced Shabbos observance in Israel.

Volumes have been written in an effort to explain the painful phenomenon that was the Vietnam War. Never has the era been seen through the eyes of a religious Jew. This compelling read tells of the struggles of a young American serving his country on the one hand, facing the disgusted reaction of his countrymen on the other and balancing his newfound religious faith on top.

J.P. Morgan Dined here

State tax agents have shuttered the 14 Wall Street restaurant in the 31st-floor penthouse of 14 Wall St., the land-marked, 1 million-square-foot office tower that Shaya Boymelgreen and his partners bought last year for $215 million. And nobody’s happier than Boymelgreen.

A spokesman for the state Department of Taxation and Finance said it “seized and padlocked” the restaurant on March 13 over $511,546.33 in unpaid sales and withholding taxes. “They put chains on it,” said a beaming Boymelgreen, who added that the restaurant hadn’t been paying rent, either.

The abrupt closing of the eatery in what was once J.P. Morgan’s private dining room gives Boymelgreen and his partners, Africa-Israel Investments, the chance to “create a very special restaurant” in an 8,000-square-foot aerie boasting what the Zagat Survey calls “astounding” harbor views.

Tefilin Bank Opens New Website

Since its establishment, The Kushner International Tefillin Bank has been met by exponential growth. Numbers speak for themselves, and in just a few short months The Tefillin Bank has distributed almost 3,600 pairs of tefillin, to newfound daily users around the world! Remarkably, the far reaching affects of this campaign, have extended even to volatile places like Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to peaceful towns in the Midwestern United States.

“The Tefillin Bank has directly impacted the lives of almost 3,600 people” said Motti Seligson, Coordinator of The Tefillin Bank, “The large influx of correspondence, expressing gratitude for not only the tefillin themselves, but the ripple effect it generates, has been incredible.”

President Bush Announces Joshua Bolten As White House Chief Of Staff

Earlier today, President Bush announced the resignation of Andy Card as White House Chief of Staff and nominated current Office of Management and Budget Director Joshua Bolten as Card’s successor. Bolten will be the second Jewish Chief of Staff following Ken Duberstein, who served as President Reagan’s Chief of Staff from 1988 to 1989.

Bolten is widely experienced in Washington, both on Capitol Hill as well as at the White House, where he was deputy chief of staff before becoming director of the Office of Management and Budget and President Bush was glad he agreed to replace Andy Card who just resigned from this position.

Bolton, whose father was employed in the CIA is a friend of Chabad, who participates regularly in Chabad events and took parts in Chanukah lighting events and more recently in megillah reading arranged by Chabad in the White House. The shliach to Washington, Rabbi Levi Shemtov, believes he is a perfect choice, being a wonderful person, modest and always willing to learn and understand.

For a complete transcript of today’s announcement, click the Extended Article.

Matzo lesson anything but flat at Jewish center

The children of Hillel School could hardly wait for the rabbi to call on them for answers to his questions about Passover.

The 19 or so first- and third-grade students sat on the floor at the Jewish Community Center on Monday and looked straight up at Rabbi Nechemia Vogel.

With a white apron about his waist and a chef’s cap on his head, the rabbi looked down at their little faces, flashed a pleasant smile and talked about the history behind making matzo.