From Helmet and Pads to Black Hat and Beard

As a football player, Alan Veingrad followed a strict training regiment to get himself from 215 pounds at the end of high school – undersized for an offensive lineman – to a solid 290 pounds during the prime of his career in the National Football League.

“Everything was laid out. How many repetitions [to do], how much weight goes on the bar,” said the 6-foot, 5-inch Veingrad of the daily workout regimen that ensured football success for him. “I [now] take that same approach to Yiddishkeit.”

Veingrad, 42, who played for five years for the Green Bay Packers and won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys, now keeps kosher, is Shomer Shabbat, wears a yarmulke and tzitzit, and sports a long, bushy beard.

Fire response times up in annual city report

A report card measuring city services showed that fire response times increased, the child welfare agency was slower to investigate reports of abuse and the high school graduation rate went down.

The preliminary Mayor’s Management Report, released Thursday, covers the first four months of fiscal year 2006 _ July through October. The good news included continuing lower crime, cleaner streets and a plateau in the number of rodent complaints.

The Fire Department’s response time jumped by a citywide average of 14 seconds, from 4 minutes 23 seconds to 4 minutes 37 seconds, the report said. In Brooklyn, the increase was 20 seconds.

Chabad group nabs ‘Jewish slot’ on Ukranian state television channel

Ukraine’s state television will start a new weekly Jewish-themed show to replace a previous one that was canceled under controversial circumstances earlier this year.

The new show will be produced by journalists affiliated with the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, a Chabad-led group.

A few weeks ago, Ukraine’s state television company, NKTU, decided to cancel the “Mazel Tov” show after five seasons. That show was produced by a company affiliated with Vadim Rabinovich, a Ukrainian business tycoon and Jewish leader who is the head of the of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress and the United Jewish Community of Ukraine.

The show is the latest evidence of competition between Rabinovich’s groups and the Chabad-linked federation regarding which is the leading group representing the Jewish community.

The Weekly Sedra – Beshalach

This week’s section tells of the glorious crossing of the entire Jewish nation through the ‘Red’ Sea. But it opens on a strangely sour note: When G-d led the Jews out of Egypt He took them a roundabout way because He feared they would return to Egypt!

In other words, after G-d surrounded them with wondrous protecting ‘clouds of glory’ and decimated their enemies with ten miraculous plagues the Jews still had doubts!

And these were the believers! Rashi tells us that four fifths of the Israelites died in the plague of darkness because they didn’t want to leave.

What went wrong? What can we learn from this today?

All in the family: Chabad house extends traditional branch of Judaism to community

Amid the shifting colors of scarves and ski jackets in the hustle of Schine Student Center, Rabbi Yitzchak Creeger stands out.

He and his eldest son, Schneur, 4, have become local figures of sorts throughout the past semester. The father dressed in the traditional black jacket, hat and beard of Chasidic rabbis, and his son, his stop-you-in-your tracks red hair topped with a pint-size yarmulke, are hard to miss, handing out fliers around the High Holidays or tabling in Schine.

Creeger and his wife, Dina Creeger, took over the student outreach program of Chabad Lubavitch House in the fall, and since then, their family has grown from their two children, Schneur and Yossi, 1, to include both regular Chabad attendees and any student who comes to the front door.

Yud Shvat Mivtzoim Day in Beth Rivkah Montreal

On Wednesday, Yud Shvat, 400 students of Beth Rivkah of Montreal – from grades one through eleven – visited schools, hospitals and old age homes throughout the city of Montreal.

Buses shuttled the Taldimos to 18 locations, where they were enthusiastically received. Special individual programs were prepared for each location. The theme of this “Mivtzoim Day”, can be summarized by the words on the sticker proudly worn by each student: “My Mitzvah makes a difference “.

The entire program was a tremendous success and a great Kiddush Hashem and Kiddush Shem Lubavitch.

Tonight: Camp Gan Yisroel NY’s Reunion

Camp Gan Israel Parksville, New York realize that its 50th summer program must be exceptional and working on creating an appropriate program. In addition to this, renovations are being made on the camp grounds.

“The fun”, they claim, “starts this Tonight [Thursday at 6:30pm] at our annual CGI at Bais Rivkah 310 Crown Street. The reunion will include: – Pizza dinner and more – Special Performance – Live Music & Dancing – Flashbacks – Special Souvenir – Grand Raffle – Favorite Camp Songs and a Shnozzies Game Show”.

Rabbi Wagner Brothers Farbreng by the Ohel

Rabbi Akiva Wagner (left) Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch in Toronto sits alongside his brother Rabbi Yakov Wagner (right) as he leads a Farbrengen this afternoon for Tiferes Bachurim Morristown in the Beis Hamedresh by the Ohel.

Picture of the Day!

A Bochur finds time to watch a video of the Rebbe during last nights Kinnus Hatmimim Haolami. Yes that’s an IPod Video.

A Partisan Comic Strip

A U.S. Army reconnaissance unit parachutes into Vilna in 1943.

Surrounded by the Nazi and Russian armies, under heavy shelling, the American soldiers rendezvous with a Lithuanian partisan, a bearded hulk of a man named Bear. Stepping out of the rubble, Bear declares “We got package for you, very valuable, very … breakable.”

Then the soldiers overpower a pair of German tanks. Bear and the resistance fighters find refuge from the barrage in the shell of a building. Bear departs, and returns with his “very valuable package,” someone covered with a cloak. Then…

Remembering January 20, 1950 (Yud Shevat)

Today is a special date on the Hebrew calendar that brings thousands of visitors to the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, and his father-in-law, Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn, of righteous memory, in Queens, NY.

Jews from far and wide–among them emissaries of the Rebbe and their community members, have traveled from distant locations to spend the day in introspection, prayer, Chasidic study and rededication to the Rebbe’s legacy. In communities around the world, the day is being marked by meaningful celebrations–“farbrengens”—Chasidic “get-togethers,” and resolutions that reflect the vision and passion unique to Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchim (emissaries) and Chasidim.

The 10th of the Hebrew month of Shevat, corresponding to today’s date, marks a transitional period in the history of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

The First Maamor, Farbrengen and a New Niggun

Presented here are a few stirring audio clips in honor of the holy day of Yud Shvat. The Farbrengen is from Yud Shvat of 5711, at which the Rebbe recited his first Ma’amor on Bosi Legani, a Yud Shvat Diary, an audio clip of the ‘Siyum’ [Completion of the writing] of Moshiach’s Sefer Torah, portions of the Yud Shvat Farbrengen of 5730 and a Niggun composed by Rabbi Benzion Shemtov on the ‘Mesirus Nefesh’ (life endangering dedication) of the Rebbe Rayatz and the Chassidim in Russia.

Click Here to listen to the clips.