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Agunah Crisis Addressed in Crown Heights

By Yonit Tanenbaum

CROWN HEIGHTS [CHI] — The Crown Heights Debate Club hosted their kickoff event Thursday at Mimulo Flower Shop, addressing the agunah crisis in a new and innovative fashion. With a shared message of calling the community to action, the panel consisted of Mrs. Bronya Shaffer, resident scholar on AskMoses.com and Ask-the-Rabbi respondent for Chabad.org, and Jeremy Stern, director of case management at the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA).

Police arrest Brooklyn man in serial gropings of women in Crown Heights

NY Daily News

Police arrested a 21-year-old Brooklyn man last night after three Crown Heights women identified him as the serial slapper terrorizing the tight-knit neighborhood, cops said.

Frankie Hatton of Saratoga Ave., who sources said has confessed to five incidents and has a history of mental illness, was charged with forcible touching and […] abuse.

A dozen women in the area have been slapped on the buttocks since June 19, police said. The slapper last attacked Tuesday.

THE REAL CROWN HEIGHTS ELECTION RESULTS

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn [CHI] — Sunday night we reported the election tally, but that was hardly a reflection of the real outcome of the elections. Monday afternoon and Today, Tuesday the new Vaad began their tenure by taking control of the Community Council and Vaad Hakohol Offices by force, in a massive display of Chilul Hashem, and the opposite of which these bodies are to represent.

Both parties clashed in a spar of verbal assaults and the removal of people from the offices by force. Property was damaged and windows were broken, as members of the opposing factions tried to change locks while others attempted to hold possession of the premises.

Largest Emergency Meeting In Montreal’s History

MONTREAL [CHI] — At least 2000 Montreal-Anash (Men and Women) are expected to attend an emergency meeting tonight, Sunday 8:45pm at the Yeshiva at 6405 Westbury Avenue. After Crown Heights, Montreal is the next largest Chabad shchuna in the world!

The 68-year-old Tomchei Temimim is the only Chabad elementary school in Montreal, Canada.

Video: A Mock History Chanel Documentary on Chabad

At this years dinner benefitting Chabad-Lubavitch of The Main Line, which is under the directorship of Rabbi Shraga Sherman, a unique and funny video was played depicting the “General Wayne Inn” which Chabad acquired back in 2005.

History and Buzz Aside, Voter Turnout in City Barely Topped 2004 Figure

Sam Roberts – The New York Times

Residents formed a long line at Public School 375 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to cast votes in the election on Tuesday.

NEW YORK, NY — More New York City residents voted for Barack Obama on Tuesday than for John Kerry in 2004 and for Al Gore in 2000. But an analysis suggests that overall turnout increased only slightly from four years ago.

Op-Ed: Open Letter to the residents of Crown Heights

Next weekend, Shabbos Parsha Lech Lecha, over 800 students and 100 Shluchim and Shluchos will be coming bez”h to Crown Heights for the largest Pegisha of its kind in history.

As Shluchim on campus, many of my colleagues deal with great mesiras nefesh with a constant uphill battle, inspiring and serving hundreds of Jewish students each and every week. Around this time each year, though, we are reminded that we’re not alone.

Seeing the unbelievable Hachnosas Orchim with which the residents of Crown Heights open their doors, take care of our students, and put up with all of the tumult that goes along with such an endeavor – especially knowing that this comes so closely on the heels of an already very taxing month of Tishrei – is the greatest reminder that Chassidim Ein Mishpocha, that we are part of a family of Chassidim who are true partners in our work.

Open Letter to Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes from the Jewish Leadership Council in Crown Heights

The political and media outrage following the alleged attack by Jewish boys in Crown Heights on Mr. Andrew Charles leaves the Jewish community shocked and anxious. We will not let a one-sided story be told. We will not curl-up in fear while our families are terrorized.

Friday, April 25, 2008
20 Nissan 5768, Sixth day of Passover – The Festival of Freedom

The Honorable Charles J. Hynes,
Kings County District Attorney
350 Jay St. Brooklyn, New York, 11201

Over the last months, members of the JLC have repeatedly met in your office, concerned that the armed muggings and bigoted harassment against the Orthodox Jewish community continue unchecked. This is in sharp contrast to the attention to justice you’ve shown to the recent allegations against an Orthodox Jew by an African American.

Continued in the Extended Article.

Grand jury to investigate attack on black man by Jews in Crown Heights

NY Daily News

The Brooklyn district attorney will seat an investigative grand jury to probe the beating of an unarmed black man by two Jewish men in Crown Heights, the Daily News has learned.

The victim – a 20-year-old college student and the son of a cop – has met with prosecutor Charles Hynes about the April14 attack in a neighborhood with a long history of racial tension.

“He’s an excellent young man, and I met with him personally to assure him that I would do everything in my power to bring to justice those who humiliated him,” Hynes said Wednesday.

History of violence follows Hasidic teen beaten in Brooklyn by thugs

NY Daily News

Samuel Balkany is surrounded by community and political leaders at the Jewish Children’s Museum as he recounts beatdown that left him needing a medical staple to close a gash in his head.

The 16-year-old yeshiva student who told cops he was beaten by five black teens during an anti-Semitic rampage in Brooklyn has been involved in three other violent incidents in the past year.

Samuel Balkany reported being robbed at knifepoint, randomly pushed as he exited a car and having his nose broken in separate attacks since moving in with an aunt in Crown Heights last year, police sources said.