Burial in Jewish cemetery is available for unaffiliated Jews

Jews who are not affiliated with a congregation that has a Jewish cemetery can still be buried in a Jewish cemetery in Portland, according to Rabbi Moshe Wilhelm, head of Chabad of Oregon.

Wilhelm said he occasionally gets calls from people wanting information about some aspect of Jewish burial or mourning process and he said it dismays him that some people do not realize there is a local option for Jewish burial even if they are unaffiliated.

Last fall, Chabad of Oregon dedicated a section of Riverview Cemetery as a Jewish burial ground. The Chabad section, which is open to any Jew, is adjacent to a section designated Jewish by Congregation Shir Tikvah and P’nai Or last spring.

A Wider Inquiry, as More People Get Antibiotics and 2nd Apartment Is to Be Checked

The authorities widened their investigation into possible anthrax contamination yesterday to include an apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and medical officials were giving antibiotics to seven people who could have been exposed to the spores.

An eight-member team from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including two epidemiologists, along with F.B.I. agents, took samples yesterday from the Manhattan apartment of the man who had contracted anthrax, the Brooklyn warehouse where he used animal skins to make drums for his African dance troupe and a Dodge van that he is believed to have used to transport the skins, which are a suspected source of the bacteria. The results of the laboratory tests might not be available for several days, officials said.

The anthrax patient, Vado Diomande, 44, has been hospitalized in Pennsylvania since he collapsed after an African dance performance at Mansfield University on Feb. 16. He was in stable condition yesterday at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pa. Officials believe he inhaled the anthrax while working with untreated animal hides brought over from Africa.

Caring for Desolate Souls

Books filled to the brim with names of people fill the home of a Lubavitch Chossid, Rabbi Yosef Shugerman, OBM. The names in the books are those of the thousands desolate people who passed away with no family members to recite Kaddish after their passing. For these, Rabbi Shugerman created the ‘Mes Mitzvah’ Gemach, and Rabbi Shugerman used to see to it that these lonely souls would have people to say Kaddish after them.

Rabbi Yosef Shugerman of Petach Tikvah returned to his Jewish roots 20 years ago, and at the time he married his wife Yocheved. About sixteen years ago, he was introduced to Chabad and wholeheartedly embraced its way of life.

Chabad slates luau March 14

As the Book of Esther outlines, Purim has been celebrated thousands of times with charity, a festive meal and intoxicating beverages. But who’s to say the Jews wouldn’t have gone to Hawaii to celebrate their victory over the Persians had they the opportunity?

“Everybody has a good time in Hawaii, from youngsters to elders, that’s why we chose it,” said Simi Mishulovin, co-youth director at Chabad Lubavitch of Oregon and organizer of their Hawaiian Purim Luau.

This March 14 at 6 p.m., the MJCC auditorium will turn into America’s official tourist spot, our 50th state, complete with a sandy beach volleyball court, in celebrating a Hawaiian Purim.

FINAL UPDATE: Did You Get A Seatbelt Or Cell Phone Ticket?

After the whole debacle of where and when this meeting was going to take place, we finally got it down.

If you or someone you know received a ticket of not wearing a seatbelt or using a cell phone while driving from P.O. Kennedy (Car#1474) and feels that you are not guilty let your voice be heard.

Please attend the meeting which will be in the 71st Precinct on the second floor in the Community Affairs Room (Located on Empire Blvd. & New York Ave.) this evening [Thursday] February 23rd at 7:00pm. local officials as well as NYPD 71st precinct officials will be present at the meeting

Please be there and bring a friend. It is important that our voices be heard.UPDATE: Did You Get A Seatbelt Or Cell Phone Ticket?

A Dangerous Caricature

As the Arab world fumes at the recent publication of the cartoon ‘depicting’ Muhammad as a terrorist. There were massive demonstrations, and the torching of European embassies around the world, one this stays extremely clear, the Arabs know how to keep their ‘respect and honor’ of their religion well. It’s a great shame that the world does not react at all when the Arab caricaturists are drawing up such terrible things about us Jews, a thing the happens daily in all the Arab newspapers.

COL.org.il’s Weekly Caricature in the eyes of the artist Yechiel Offner.

Bringing light to the world

Rabbi Yosef Levin admits being Jewish carries with it a heavy stigma.

Jews have been exiled since Babylonian times, consigned to ghettos, subjected to pogroms in Russia, tortured and murdered en masse during the Holocaust, and reviled by some to this day, Levin said.

But Levin isn’t mired in anger, fear or shame. “God created this world as a place of challenges. … There is a reason for darkness. The challenges give us strength and make us shine,” he said.

On Feb. 26, it will be Levin’s turn to shine. On his 50th birthday, a grateful Jewish community will fete him and wife Dena for 25 years of providing a positive example. The couple has been pivotal in building a vibrant Jewish community in Palo Alto, through Chabad of Greater South Bay, many in the community said.

Vaad HaKohol Fires back; There Was A Vote, Sperlin is Misleading

In a response from R. Moshe Rubashkin [to what Chanina Sperlin spread] he said that there was a vote and there was a majority of the vote for these elections. He goes on and says that Chanina Sperlin is misleading the community, he is creating an impression that the Rebbe was opposed the Vaad “Arranging” the elections, by presenting only a piece of a letter, Rubashkin said that the Vaad gave Chanina a week to present the letter in its entirety, but he failed to do so, and the move to vote was made.

Rubashkin promises that these elections will be held under the watch “of a third party with no affiliation” and he also added that the process of electing R. Shwei was a complete disobedience of the Rebbe’s will.

The full letter that Moshe Rubashkin released can be seen in the Extended Article.

Leftist group stirs IDF row

The army won’t let Chabad in but they would let one of the most left oriented groups in to go on and give lectures!

Group that monitors troops at roadblocks invited to talk to soldiers amid objections

Women from Machsom Watch, a human rights organization that monitors soldiers and police behavior at West Bank checkpoints, were invited to talk to soldiers to prepare them for road block duty, but not everyone agrees with the initiative.

A soldier’s mother turned to IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and asked to cancel the lecture.

“You can’t mix military and politics,” the mother said in her letter. Right-wing activist and leader of the Women in Green movement Nadia
Matar also joined the protest.

Doing it All, Doing it Well: Women in Leadership

“You are the most potent force in the Jewish world today,” said Diane Abrams, guest speaker at the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchos, Sunday evening.

Speaking to an overflow crowd of 1750, Mrs. Abrams, an accomplished lawyer and wife of the former New York State Attorney General Bob Abrams, shared her memories of the many exchanges she had over the years with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and the way he impacted her in her own life. “The Rebbe played a big role in my life,” she said, referring to a personal blessing he had given her, which was fulfilled in the birth of her second daughter, Becky.

Some New York City Jobs Pay $178,000, and a Pension Now

One of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s first acts on starting his second term was to write a letter to personnel officials asking that his correction commissioner, Martin F. Horn, be allowed to collect a pension along with his $178,200 salary.

But to accomplish that under a state retirement law that seeks to prevent such “double-dipping,” Mr. Bloomberg had to make the case that Mr. Horn was singularly qualified for the job, and that no one else of his talents and skills could be found for it.

So Mr. Bloomberg essentially declared that Mr. Horn, who also oversees the Probation Department, was the greatest commissioner in the world, and would, he wrote, “bring qualifications to these positions which cannot be matched by any other individual.”

‘The Community Council is not to Deal with Appointing Rabonim’

In response to a letter publicized by Moshe Rubashkin chairman of the Vaad HaKohol that the council would shortly hold elections for Rabonim, a different member of the council, Chanina Sperlin publicized a copy of the Rebbe’s handwritten reply opposing any involvement of the community council in appointing Rabonim.

In a special interview, Chanina Sperlin said he was surprised about the letter (presented here) in which the council attempts to appoint Rabbis despite the fact that this was clearly rejected by the Rebbe.

Chanina Sperlin intends to send out a letter of his own to members of the community and it can be seen in the Extended Article.

Elections for a new Rov to the Bais Din

Moshe Rubashkin, chairman of the Vaad Hakohol announced in the name of the Vaad Hakohol that in the very near future democratic elections will be held for additional Rabonim to the Beis Din, explaining that the increasing number of Shailos and Din Torahs brought to the Bais Din require the addition of new Rov to cope with the work load.

The letter states that the “Rebbe made it clear that community must democratically elect its own Rabonim…” and expresses that in the very near future a list of highly qualified Rabonim will released and elections will be held.

A copy of letter can be seen in the Extended Article