UPDATED: Tzivos Hashem’s 25th anniversary and Hachnosas Safer Torah

Yesterday [Sunday] a dinner was held in honor of the Tzivos Hashem Organizations 25th anniversary, and the ceremony of the completion of a Sefer Torah written for the Shul in the museum and was donated by Dr. Esther Benenson “The mother of Tzivos Hashem”. The event was attended by board members and employees of the museum and family, as well as local politicians and our brass of the NYPD’s 71st Precinct.

The event opened up with the completion of the writing of the Sefer Torah, and the dancing with the torah out in the freezing cold around a few blocks. Then the crowd moved back into the museum for a beautiful and delicious buffet dinner with a variety of different food to choose from.

And for the last part of the event, there was a round of special presentations of their work here in the United States and abroad, specifically the USSR, from schools to shelters and orphanages. One of the entertainers was Bruce Adler a world famous singer and entertainer who brought back memories of his childhood and the radio station WEVD the only radio station in Yiddish! Another of the presentations was from the Friendship Circle where 2 special children made a brief speech thanking the organizers and counselors for their work and effort they put into the program and how much it means to them.

An extensive gallery is now online with 160 beautiful pictures of the event! Enjoy!

Chabad, a success story

Chabad, the Lubavitch Hasidic movement headquartered in New York, is the most effective movement in the Jewish world today, according to Michael Steinhardt, a major figure on the American philanthropy scene, who is a self-defined secular and non-believing Jew. Steinhardt made the statement at the annual Chabad convention last week in the grand ballroom of New York’s Hilton Hotel before an audience of 3,000, of which more than 2,000 were Chabad emissaries worldwide.

Steinhardt, who contributes millions of dollars to Jewish education in the United States, helps fund the Chabad youth movement, which has branches in over 100 cities in the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.).

Professor Alan Dershowitz, another well-known American Jewish figure, who is not a Chabad member and who is active in the struggle against anti-Semitism and pro-Israel causes, was the guest of honor at the convention.

Orthodox Jews rebuild spiritual borders that fell victim to Wilma

Throughout South Florida, symbolic walls brought down during Hurricane Wilma are being repaired.

In strict Jewish observance, on the Sabbath, people are prohibited from carrying anything from a private domain, such as their home, to a public domain, such as the synagogue.

1000 Tefillin Distributed at Kinus Hashluchim

The Tefillin and Mezuzahs bank distributed some 1000 pairs of tefillin to be handed out in 16 different countries and 1800 mezuzahs in communities of shluchim all over the globe. To date 2600 pairs of tefillin and 3500 mezuzahs have been handed out by the Tefillin Bank since its inception. As one shliach put it, “the tefillin so many Jews began wearing daily and the mezuzahs on so many Jewish doors has caused a ‘revolution’ in our quite little town!”

The Kushner International Tefillin and Mezuzah Banks are a project of The Shul of Bal Harbor in conjunction with The Shluchim Office and made possible through the philanthropic leadership of the C. Kushner Companies Foundation. The Tefillin Bank receives an ever growing number of requests for tefillin and mezuzos daily “on average we receive 25 to 30 requests for tefillin a day from shluchim” says Rabbi Sholom Ber Galperin of The Tefillin Bank. “and that number is steadily increasing”.

Hundreds Attend the Levaya of R. Levi Yitzchok Schapiro OBM

Hundreds of residents led by the Bais Din of Crown Heights and members of the Vaad Hakohol attended the Levaya of R. Levi Yitzchok Schapiro OBM who had passed away last night [Monday] at the age of 90, after many years of devout community service. R. Schapiro was the Mazkir of the Bais Din and one of the first members of the Vaad Hakohol.

A Concert For Gush Katif

Over 2,000 women from Crown Heights, Boro Park, Flatbush, Monsey and New Jersey turned out for a benefit concert for Gush Katif, held Sunday night in Oholei Torah. The event was chaired by Mrs. Miriam Swerdlov, and Assemblyman Dov Hikind was the guest speaker. Musical entertainment was provided by the Light Peddlars Band, Kineret, and Shimona. The highlight of the evening was a video presentation produced by Rochi Lebovic, depicting the reality of the lives of the Gush Katif refugees.

The inspiration for this evening came from Rochi Lebovic, who spent last summer in Gush Katif, and did all she could to support the expelled families and ameliorate their difficult plight. She is now committed to raising awareness of the deplorable situation of the Gush Katif refugees, many of whom have not received a penny of compensation from the government and now have no homes, jobs or security.

Science and Torah: Conflict or Complement?

Some of today’s most hotly debated issues, including the instruction of evolution vs. the theory of intelligent design, the role of DNA testing in determining identity, halachic views on the Terry Schiavo case, and the unity of the universe, will be among many placed under the multiple microscopes of Halachah, Science, Kabbalah, and Chasidism at the Sixth International Miami Conference on Torah and Science in mid-December. Addressing the two-and-a-half day conference is a lineup of some of the Jewish world’s best known expositors on Science and Torah that includes medical professionals, physicists, rabbis, thinkers and mathematicians. Joining them to present his view on the theory of intelligent design vs. evolution will be Dr. William A. Dembksi, a Southern Baptist Seminary Professor of Theology and leading authority on the subject.

The conference, which convenes bi-annually in Miami, is a unique cooperative effort of The B’Or HaTorah Journal and its founder, noted Professor Herman Branover; The Shul of Bal Harbour, Florida, under the leadership of Rabbi Shalom D. Lipskar; and Professor Nathan Katz, head of the Department of Religious Studies at Florida International University.