Ex-NFL Player Goes from Shoulder Pads to Prayer Shawl

Shlomo Veingrad’s broad shoulders are wrapped in a prayer shawl, and at six-foot-five, he towers over the other Orthodox Jewish congregants at the Coral Springs Chabad. He hoists the heavy Torah scroll over his head with ease: Those same long, mighty arms spent seven years shoving aside NFL defensive linemen to clear space for Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith.

As an offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys from 1986 to 1993, Alan Veingrad, 44, a Miami Sunset High grad, wore giant shoulder pads under his jersey. Now, his undergarments are ”tzitzit” — knotted fringes that serve as a reminder of his commitment to Judaism.

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Terror Victim’s Son Celebrates Bar Mitzvah at Western Wall

Tamar Runyan – Chabad.org

Dean Teremforush, who lost his mother in a terrorist attack five years ago, holds a Torah scroll at the Western Wall after his bar mitzvah, which was organized by the Chabad Terror Victims Project.

JERUSALEM, Israel — Flanked by his father and siblings, Dean Teremforush, 13, proudly read from the Torah in front of Jerusalem’s Western Wall. Conspicuously absent, however, from the bar mitzvah service ñ one of several arranged in the last few weeks by the Chabad Terror Victims Project ñ was the boy’s mother, who perished five years ago in a terrorist attack southeast of Tel Aviv.

Board Approves Subway and Bus Fare Increase

The New York Times Blog

NEW YORK, NY — After an unusually vigorous and spirited debate, the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted at 10:50 a.m. today to raise fares on subways, buses and commuter railroads and tolls on bridges and tunnels.

The M.T.A. chairman, H. Dale Hemmerdinger, called the vote “an important step in putting the transit system on a sound financial system.”

In Shift, Fare for the Subway Will Stay at $2

The New York Times

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, center, with the M.T.A.’s executive director, Elliot G. Sander, left, and chairman, H. Dale Hemmerdinger.

NEW YORK, NY — Gov. Eliot Spitzer abruptly announced yesterday that he was shelving a plan to raise the base subway fare, saying that an unexpected increase in ridership and other revenues have made it unnecessary.

Steep toll Hike Possible for NJ-NY Crossings

NJ.com

The Port Authority plans to seek a toll hike of at least $2 on its Hudson River crossings and an increase in PATH rail fares after next week’s state legislative elections, The Star-Ledger has learned.

My Favorite Museum

by Sara Miriam Gross – Jounior Mishpacha Magazine

Hello, my name is Batya and I live in Brooklyn. One day last year, on Chol HaMoed Succos, my bubby took me on the subway to a tall, shiny museum building. It looked very new. It wasn’t a quiet, serious museum about science, or one that has lots of paintings. It was a museum all about me — and you — and it was fun!

Picture on the Day! – Yeshivas Kayitz Tzfas!

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Diary:

Early Friday morning yk tzfas woke up got into the busses for a 4 hour drive to masada and yam hamelach afterwards we spent shabbos in yerushalayim where we slept in yeshivat hakotel.

Continued in the Extended Article.

It’s Mayanot’s Most Popular birthright Season!

Joshua Runyan – Chabad.edu

Philadelphia, PA — Swimming under waterfalls in the Galilee, walking the beach in Tel Aviv, squeezing through a water tunnel dug by King Hezekiah’s army more than 2,700 years ago, spending Shabbat in Jerusalem: These activities are just a sample of the offerings awaiting the some 2,500 participants of Mayanot’s Taglit-birthright israel free trips this summer.

Some are even enjoying them right now.

Bloomberg Proposes $8 Tolls for NYC Drivers

The Associated Press

Click Here to watch a newscast of this event

New York, NY — For years, the concept of charging motorists to drive into Manhattan’s busiest areas has been batted around as a way to reduce congestion and pollution, but many said it would never happen because of significant opposition.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has argued both sides of the issue, saying just months ago: “I don’t know that I’m a fan.” But after studying the idea and weighing the perceived benefits _ less traffic and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue _ the mayor has proposed that the city give it a try.

Naval Officer: Pesach in the Military

Canadian Jewish News
U.S. Lt. Laurie Zimmet, left, spoke at the Westmount Chabad about her experiences in Iraq. She is seen with Deborah and Rabbi Yossi Shanowitz and Israeli Consul General Marc Attali.

Westmount, Canada — She’s a Jewish U.S. naval reserve officer, she keeps kosher and Shabbat, and she has completed two tours of duty in Iraq.

13 Years to the Murder of Ari Halberstam HY”D

On March 1, 1994, Rashid Baz a Lebanese national opened fire on a van carrying more than a dozen Hasidic students as it began to cross the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, one of those passengers was Ari. He sustained a mortal injury to his head which resulted in his very untimely death five days later, on Chof Gimmel Adar, at the age of 16.

A chronicle of the events that had taken place can be read in the Extended Article. (Taken from the ‘Ari Halberstam Memorial Website’).

A Yom Kippur Thought

A twisted ritual

According to custom, on the morning before Yom Kippur when a thread of divine grace prevails in the world, Jewish people across the world will ritually slaughter a rooster, after having rotated it around their heads while saying: “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my expiation; This rooster shall go to its death and I shall proceed to a good, long life and peace.” The rooster is then slaughtered and its blood is spilled to “sweeten” and subdue the supernal severities. This ritual is known as ‘Kapparot,’ meaning forgiveness, in Hebrew.

One year, Moshe, a local shoemaker, was seen coming to the farm to do ‘Kapparot,’ but instead of buying a rooster, he pulled out two books from his bag, one much larger than the other. He then proceeded to mutter a few words, ceremoniously rotate the books around his head nine times and then toss the books into a fire.

Smoky Track Fire Strands Riders on 2 Trains on Manhattan Bridge

The New York Times

A track fire sent smoke billowing through a subway tunnel in Downtown Brooklyn during the evening rush yesterday, halting two subway trains carrying nearly 4,000 passengers, who had to be led to safety on the Manhattan Bridge.

At least 25 people received minor injuries, including 10 passengers and three firefighters who were treated at hospitals for smoke inhalation, the authorities said.

Subway and car traffic between Brooklyn and Manhattan was snarled for hours.

An ‘exodus’ at B’klyn museum

Newsday

Even as frogs began falling from the ceiling, a group of fifth-graders visiting the new Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn didn’t miss a beat.

They knew what to expect as dozens of the toy amphibians, suspended on strings, stopped short of their heads.

They were experiencing – vicariously – one of the biblical 10 plagues depicted in “The Exodus,” an unusual interactive show at the $35 million, one-of-a-kind museum in the borough’s Crown Heights section.

Timed to coincide with Passover, which begins April 13, the story of the Jews’ enslavement in ancient Egypt and their miraculous escape is brought to life in an educational and entertaining voyage through history that is being presented through April 17.