Organization Helps the Visually-impaired Feel Their Way Into the New Year

There is not a spot of ink on the pages of one of the High Holy Day prayer books produced by David Toiv’s nonprofit organization, the Jewish Heritage for the Blind — just line after line of raised bumps.

The prayer book, which is in Braille, has been distributed free of charge for more than 20 years. “[The visually impaired] should have the same opportunity to learn what’s going on, just like sighted people,” Toiv said.

To that end, the Brooklyn-based organization produces a variety of Orthodox religious materials for the blind and for the visually impaired, including religious storybooks for children, prayer books for the major Jewish holidays and, most recently, prayers for Sabbath candle lighting and for visiting the cemetery. The group has distributed to all kosher restaurants in the United States large-print booklets containing the grace said after meals.

Go Ahead — Read That Book in Shul

The sounds of the Days of Awe in synagogue: the cry of the shofar, the cantor chanting age-old melodies that go right to the heart and congregants alternatively whispering and shushing each other. Then there’s the gentle click of pages turning to their own rhythm, not in unison with the congregation.

The latter refers to a not-so-secret habit that’s growing in popularity, as an increasing number of people bring outside reading material with them to services. Some do this openly, even encouraged by rabbis, and some tuck a volume into a tallit bag for transport and then slide it into an open machzor, much like the high school tradition of folding comic books into math texts.

These independent readers — who might pull out a book during a particular part of the service in which they lose interest — are likely to be reading serious books, trying to deepen their experience of the holidays. From my experience, it’s not as though congregants are thumbing through airport novels or diet books; these special days require special books.

What Will Ratner Reap?

Downtown Brooklyn development will likely draw thousands of Jews seeking affordable housing, but where they will come from remains to be seen.

Bruce Ratner’s plan to redevelop 22 acres of downtown Brooklyn, which includes thousands of new units of low-income housing, will likely bolster Jewish life in an area where it has long been sparse.But some observers are predicting that a lack of infrastructure and other factors will prevent, at least in the short term, the new neighborhood from luring many residents of other solidly Jewish communities.

“I don’t see other neighborhoods emptying out,” said demographer Jack Ukeles, who worked on the 2002 Jewish Community Study of New York.

The controversial $3.5 billion Atlantic Rail Yards project, approved earlier this month by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, would create what critics call a city within a borough that will require nearly $1 billion in public subsidies.

Annual High Holy Days Meeting

For the past 6 years Police have met with Jewish community leaders from each of the five boroughs in order to discuss security detail for the High Holy Days. There was one presence that was missed and that was that of our own community, Va’ad Hakohol. It was disappointing but not surprising because we have not attended for the past two years.

A crowd of roughly 300 hundred influential people were present and our communities only presence was that of Rabbi Binyomin Klein. The mayor attended the meeting and gave a short speech detailing his plans for the Holidays. He began by greeting everyone present with a “Shana Tova” and went on to say that he will be attending Temple Services during the upcoming Holidays and will be keeping all the police officers in his prayers. He spoke about Anti-Semitic and hate crimes and how they are not only race specific. The Mayor maintains that when one commits such a crime it is a crime against every “race color and creed”.

Police commissioner Ray Kelly then spoke about some of the NYPD’s activity over the past few years. This included foiling attempted attacks on our city; specifically he mentioned that the police had uncovered a plot to bomb the Brooklyn Bridge. Then went into detail about how we as citizens can contribute to our own protection. The “NYPD Shield” is an outreach program from the NYPD to the citizens of New York, asking us to be the NYPD’s eyes and ears to better help them in their ability to “Serve and Protect”.

Other speakers included; NYPD Chaplin Dr. R. Alvin Kass, Michael Sheehan the Deputy Commissioner and Counter Terrorism unit and Joyce Stephen Deputy Commissioner and Community Affairs.

CAR IN-$OAR-ANCE

As if sky-high gas prices aren’t bad enough, New Yorkers’ auto-insurance rates have soared nearly 7 percent in a year, The Post has learned, and they continue to pay the second highest fees in the country.
In 2003 — the latest year for which figures are available — vehicle owners in New York state shelled out an average $1,161 on insurance, up a hefty 6.8 percent over 2002, according to the annual report from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

New York’s average rate is far above the $821 national average, which itself jumped by 5.7 percent between 2002 and 2003, the NAIC report shows.

‘TOO BUSY’ Pol: I Forgot About $7,000

Indicted Brooklyn Dem boss Clarence Norman remembered his $13.75 bill for chicken wings, but somehow forgot to tell his campaign treasurer about more than $7,000 in allegedly illegal campaign contributions.
That’s according to Norman’s testimony yesterday in his corruption trial.

Prosecutors showed that in 2000, Norman billed his campaign account for $2.17 worth of toilet paper, $13.75 for the chicken and $42 for envelopes at Staples.

In Honor Of The Holiday Season, AirLine Fairs UP

The already high prices of airline tickets this year have been soaring due to the rise in fuel costs. Anash and the temimim who have purchased tickets for $770 were notified by their agents that they must add another $130 and Tickets priced $970 climbed to $1000. COL’s reporter adds that despite the high ticket prices thousands of Chabadniks intend to fly in to N.Y. for Tishrei.

Today: Hachnosas Sefer Torah in Crown Heights

On Thursday, Chai-Elul there will be a Hachnosas Sefer Torah dedicated by Rabbi & Mrs. Reuven Berns for the Shul located at the Cheder @ the Ohel Dormitory located at 450 Albany Avenue.

The Tahalucha and Hachnosa will start IY”H at 6:00 pm at the Berns’ home, located at 704 Montgomery Street between Kingston and Albany Avenues, and from there the procession will proceed down Montgomery Street to Albany Avenue towards the Cheder Dormitory which is on Albany between Montgomery Street and Empire Blvd.

All of Anash, men, women and children are invited to attend the celebration, and light refreshments will be served.

As the ticket Blitz continues

Please be aware that on the corner of 770 [Eastern Parkway and Kingston Ave.] there are two cops sitting and pulling people over for not wearing seatbelts, talking on cellphones or whatever else they can pull you over for.

Some a attributing this blitz to our new Commanding Officer in the 71st precinct that he has still to get ”used” to his new “position” and I thing its just rishues.

Just please take care and don’t give them any reason to pull you over.

If you feel that the cops didn’t behave properly towards you and have abuse their power I urge you, please call 311 and file a complaint remember the officers name and badge number and complain, this is the only way this can be stopped.

How to Describe the Self-hating Jew? – Op-Ed

You could conceivably quote the dubious opinions of Thomas Friedman and the New York Times relative to the State of Israel and the so-called “peace process” that began on the White House lawn, September,1993.

You could refer to the zoa.org OpEd, After Gaza, reviewing an article written by Ms. Oz-Salzberger that recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

You could direct them to an article by Leon Wieseltier that just appeared in The New Republic (TNR) of September 2, 2005. Excerpts from that article appear below. Weiseltier is commenting upon the withdrawal from Gaza. His opening paragraph reads:

President Bush Salutes Chabad’s Rescue Efforts

Speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s 20th Anniversary Celebration on Wednesday, President George Bush applauded the Jewish community’s participation in Hurricane Katrina’s relief efforts. The President’s speech, which addressed in particular, the work of Chabad-Lubavitch, followed the invocation by Rabbi Levi Shemtov, director of American Friends of Lubavitch in Washington.

In his remarks, President Bush said:

“Our nation’s armies of compassion have rallied and have come to the aid of people who are in desperate need of help. Our charities and houses of worship and idealistic people have opened up their homes, wallets and their hearts. It’s been an amazing, amazing outpouring of help. And the Jewish community of this country has been on the forefront of the efforts.

Jewish slave labourers’ grave found near US base

Workers at a US army base in Germany have found a wartime grave thought to contain Jewish slave labourers, police said yesterday.

An unknown number of remains were dug up during work next to Stuttgart airport, southern Germany. Tests indicate the bodies are the right age to be Jews used as forced labourers in the area.

Jewish inmates from a sub-camp of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp were used at the airbase between November 1944 and February 1945, a state police spokesman said, adding that more than 100 are known to have died of hunger and typhus.

Education 101

Education in the eyes of the Educator

Handwritten Torah finished in Poughkeepsie

About 200 people from different Jewish congregations and affiliations turned out Sunday in Poughkeepsie to witness the completion of a handwritten Torah scroll.

They saw a rabbi from Montreal, Canada write the last of the 600,000 characters in Hebrew letters for the Mid-Hudson Valley Community Torah.

A police escort then led the Torah on a parade through Poughkeepsie’s business district to the Chabad House where a celebration was held.

Hindy Borenstein of the Chabad House said the Torah, written on parchment, is the same unaltered text for thousands of years, regardless of Jewish affiliation.