Chabad Academy Student Wins Regional Spelling Bee

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David Habibi, a fifth grader of Chabad Academy of Myrtle Beach, became the champion of the 22nd annual Regional Spelling Bee Tuesday night, earning him a spot in the national competition this summer.
Habibi beat out nearly 50 of his peers from Horry and Georgetown schools, knocking out  out his competitors during 12 rounds of competition. His winning word was “ephemeral” which he spelled with no problem.

Habibi won an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee May 31-June 5. He also received a trophy, dictionary, gift cards and other prizes.

The spelling bee was co-sponsored by The Sun News.

(source: Carolinalive.com, The SunNews.com)


Purim Journal Part II

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Friday Morning 

Got up early this morning. Drove out towards a hotel where we were going to make sure the Jewish guests knew about Chabad and Purim and all the Purim programs. We spent the afternoon, traveling from one resort to another on both the Dutch side and the French side of St. Maaretn, finding Jews and inviting people to the Purim programs. We got home in time to prepare for shabbos. The shliach received lots of calls  from a people on the island saying they heard about two rabbis who came by and they wanted to come for Purim.

Shabbos came in and guests started to arrive. Among them were a couple from Russia, a medical student from Buffalo, a few Israeli locals who work in diamonds, and a family from Pennsylvania, and so many more. We had a huge, beautiful shabbos meal (prepared by  Mrs. Chanowitz. We sat around the table talking with the people for hours.

After the other guests left, the Israeli guests lingered on and farbrenged till the early hours of the morning. We discussed many topics they were interested in. We sang nigunnim that were easy for them to pick up; we we sang Israeli songs that they were familiar with, and we really bonded. They wanted to spend more time with us, so we made up that we’d come to them at their office on Monday morning and show them how to put on the new tefillin we had brought from New York,  and teach them how to daven and the meaning of the prayers. They seemed really happy about this.

Shabbos Morning

Shabbos morning we had a minyan of men for an inspiring davening. Afterwards we sat down to a beautiful full kiddush. At  the kiddush the Holocaust survivor told us his story.

He grew up in Cracow next door to Schindler. Schindler bribed the guards to let his parents out. He was four years old at the start of the war and it was too dangerous for him to go to Lvov with his parents, who went there and hid with a non-Jewish family until the end of the war. So his housekeeper kept him, sticking to the story that she is her son. At some point, she started working in the house of one of the high ranking SS officers. One day when he was eight or so the Gestapo came to the camp and claimed there was a Jewish kid there, but the German guards told them that without papers they cannot do anything. Two weeks later they returned with paper and took him and his “mother” (the house keeper who stuck with him even though she was risking her life), and they were in prison for around 9 months by which time the war ended.

When he was done we sat and talked and talked with him and all the other guests. There was so much that they wanted to know, so many questions that they had.

At eight in the evening purim guests arrived for the reading of the purim megillah. We then began our major preparations for Purim’s programs.

After Shabbos, we packed shalach manos and cooked in the kitchen till two a.m. preparing for a party on the St Bart, Saba, and back to St Maarten later in the afternoon.

Happy Purim!

Wertheimer Places Chabad’s Rohr JLI at Top

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The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute began its new course: “Portraits in Leadership: Timeless Tales for Inspired Living” earlier this month. With affiliates in hundreds of cities, the course is gaining popularity and recognition.

Here’s what Jack Wertheimer, Professor of American History at the JTS, had to say in a recent interview for the JCPA’s Institute for Global Jewish Affairs.

“Recognizing the importance of parental influence, a number of national programs have been created specifically for adult education. The largest of these, and the least acknowledged, is the Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) run by Chabad. With some 150,000 unduplicated students over the past decade and over 250 sites offering the same courses developed centrally, the JLI is reaching a large population of adults in clearly structured, piloted, and thoughtfully conceived courses. Currently, thirty-seven distinct six-week courses have been developed, which are offered on a rotating cycle.”

 

Rabbi In Search of Dog

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(lubavitch.com) “I’m looking for a dog now.”  That’s what Rabbi Shneur Goodman was busy doing when lubavitch.com caught him by phone the other day. “Really, I’m looking all over town for this dog that I must find.”

Earlier that day, the unknown dog romped with children in Chabad of Ashdod’s schoolyard. Then it left as quietly as it came, but not before nipping one of the school children. 

“If I don’t find the dog, they’ll have to treat the child for rabies. I don’t want to have to put this kid through that if it’s not necessary,” says Rabbi Goodman.

The good rabbi combed Ahsdod following numerous intelligence leads. Alas, the dog eluded even the dog catchers engaged by Rabbi Goodman. Still, mom’s grateful for the rabbi’s efforts. “It’s exactly what I would do for my own child,” Goodman says.

 

Remember Aftonbladet?

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(lubavitch.com) Once a haven for Holocaust survivors, Sweden is now gaining notoriety for its anti-Semitism, prompting Jews who’ve lived there for as long as six decades to leave. Especially disturbing to Jews of Malmo, where acts of anti-Semitism are now a frequent occurrence, is the apparent indifference by the city’s Mayor, and poor policing to protect its Jewish citizens.

“We live with this day-to-day,” admits Chabad’s Rabbi Schneur Kesselman in Malmo. With 20 percent of the city’s population now Muslim, Malmo’s Muslim population is now even greater, proportionally, than is Paris’s

Kesselman has no plans to leave. But he would like to see things change from the top down. “It’s time the political leadership takes a clear and strong position against anti-Semitism, not only in words, but in action.”