Chabad Representative Offers Invocation To Albany Legislature

It’s just about that time of year in Albany, when legislators might be heard wishing for money to grow on trees. Tu-Bishvat, the New Year for Trees, is celebrated around the time lawmakers return from the holiday recess and settle in to shape the budget. On Monday, Chabad of the Capital District was found in the Capitol lobby looking to give legislators a taste of the holiday of Tu Bishevat.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was among the 200 legislators, legislative aids and staff who munched chewy dried fruits in honor of the day that celebrates trees. Serving fruits of Israel – dates, pomegranates, figs – is traditional, but Chabad representative Rabbi Yisroel Rubin mindfully added a New York State twist by including New York grown apples and pouring sparkling Kedem grape juice, made from concord grapes grown upstate. For the first time since Rabbi Rubin began offering the Tu Bishevat spread in 1979, the festivities were just outside the Assembly chamber instead of in a side room or legislator’s office.

Chabad Of The Rivertowns Announces Opening Of New Preschool

Dobbs Ferry, NY – Rabbi Benjy Silverman has announced the opening of a Preschool in the Rivertowns starting in September of this year.

Chabad Preschool is a place where young Jewish children will receive an exciting, creative and nurturing experience that will provide them with the foundation to grow educationally, socially and spiritually.

“We offer small classes with excellent teacher/student ratios”,said Rabbi Silverman, “a professional staff of early childhood specialists and a welcoming facility equipped with the most educationally sound early childhood equipment. Most importantly, your child will receive a well rounded, enriching education, filled with Jewish traditions and customs intertwined with a wide array of academic subjects, personal development, values, socialization and learning skills. If you are looking for a remarkable Jewish Preschool experience for your child, we invite you to enroll in the Chabad Preschool”.

Hundreds Escort R. Chitrik to Rest

The eldest Chosid R. Yehuda Chitrik passed in front of 770 the Lubavitch World Headquarters where hundreds of people gathered, Bochurim for the nearby Yeshivos and men that were Davening and on their way to work. From there the Levaya made its way to the Montefiore Cemetery in Queens and was buried close to the Ohel.

Major News Outlets Report The Passing Of R. Chitrik OBM

The New York Post Reports: “BROOKLYN RABBI DEAD AT 106

Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, a 106-year-old Lubavitcher scholar known for his storytelling, died yesterday.” Click Here for More

The Associated Press Reports: “Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, scholar and storyteller, dies at 106

Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, a 106-year-old Lubavitcher scholar known for his storytelling and longevity, died Tuesday.” Click Here for More.

Isreal Insidea Reports: “Lubavitcher scholar passes away at 106, survived by over 300

Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, a 106-year-old Lubavitcher scholar known for his storytelling and longevity, has passed away.” Click Here for More.

Antisemitic Leaflet Posted on Kiev Synagogue

An antisemitic leaflet was posted on the door of Kiev’s Brodsky synagogue, according to a February 14, 2006 report by the AEN news agency. “Chabad is the road to hell! No to Judeo-Fascism!” the leaflet read, along with demands that the synagogue building, which served as a puppet theater after the Soviet regime confiscated it from the Jewish community, be returned to the puppet theater.

Strangely, the puppet theater has already found new accommodations. The leaflet contained a threat of antisemitic violence. “Today our children don’t go to the theater—Tomorrow they will grab a gun and go on a pogrom,” the leaflet read, picturing skinheads at a neo-Nazi concert. The leaflet’s author claims to represent a marginal political party, whose spokesman denied that it had anything to do with the leaflet.

A New Chabad Centre for Oxford Students

Amit Pundik began lugging a satchel of books and paper around Oxford University four months ago when he arrived to study law. Excelling in an environment populated by a select group of scholastically driven students and some of the world’s finest minds as faculty, where final exam crunch time arrives every few weeks requires discipline. But when Pundik wants to set his heavy load down and unwind he heads for the brand new, half-million dollar Rohr Jewish Student Centre.

For Summers, Shabbat Is Rest from Week of Rancor

Munching on gefilte fish and challah, over 600 Harvard affiliates—Jews and gentiles alike—packed Annenberg Hall last Friday night to observe the beginning of the Jewish sabbath.

Embattled University President Lawrence H. Summers delivered the opening remarks of the event, dubbed Shabbat 1000.

When his name was announced, the audience responded with vigorous applause, which surged again when Summers stepped up to speak.

The oldest chasid, Rabbi Yehuda Chitrick OBM has passed away

With much sadness we report to our readers; the oldest Lubavitcher, Rabbi Yehuda Chitrick passed away at the age of 106.

The Levaya will take place Wednesday morning starting at the Shomrey Hadas Chapel at 10:00 AM and will pass 770 at approximately 10:45 AM.

Cops: Snow Plow Driver Was “Plowed”

For a little humor in the Blizzard.

An New York City Sanitation worker operating a snow plow after the weekend’s blizzard has been arrested on a drunken-driving charge.

A sanitation department spokeswoman says the worker was driving a collection truck fitted with a plow to clear snow from the streets yesterday, when he hit several parked cars.

Police say Anatoly Zaborsky was arrested in Queens and is being charged with driving while intoxicated.

Shiurai Torah over the Phone Underway In Australia

Yesterday, Tu B’shvat a new program started in Sydney Australia, ¨Shiur Torah on the Phone¨. The Hachloto was made on Yud shvat by the Talmidei Hashluchim of the Yeshiva to start this great program which has so far been a great success, on the first day alone there were 15 Shiurim, and may it only grow!

This program is arranged by the Talmidei Hashluchim of the Yeshiva who are under Rabbi Pinchos Hakohen Feldman and Rabbi Yossi Feldman.

Be street smart, sez Mike

Most New Yorkers took Mayor Bloomberg’s advice and kept out of their cars – although one allegedly drunk man driving a car full of kids slammed into a snowplow in Brooklyn, cops said.

Max Joseph, 37, of Brooklyn, was busted on drunken driving charges and other offenses after the head-on wreck just before 5 a.m. on Eastern Parkway at Troy Ave. in Crown Heights, cops said.

No one was seriously injured in the crash that happened when Joseph sped past the truck on its passenger’s side, tried to make a left and spun out of control, cops said.