No Cop-Out: Minnesota Police Stand in Solidarity with Israel

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(lubavitch.com) A rabbi, a priest, and 15 police officers step off an airplane at Ben Gurion Airport.

This sounds like the first line of a corny joke. But for Rabbi Mayer Rubinfeld, this yarn bears all the trappings of a great story. 

As an extension of his role as Chabad representative to St. Paul, Rubinfeld is a chaplain for the city’s police department. Aside from serving the police officers and ministering to grieving families, the gun-toting rabbi is also a face for Jews in a department that sees few of them. So when he was approached by several police officers to lead a law enforcement trip to Israel, he readily agreed.

This spring, Rubinfeld brought 15 of Minnesota’s finest, together their spouses, to the Holy Land. He was accompanied by Matthew Chikles, a fellow chaplain, who takes his own church to Israel regularly. “They loved all the places in Israel,” says Rubinfeld. “One cried at the Kotel (Western Wall). The officers were touched when we visited the settlements and saw how the Israelis really live. They realized that whatever they see on the news is not necessarily what’s going on.” 

Though Chikles has been to Israel 11 times in as many years, he says this trip was unique because a “Christian pastor and an Orthodox Rabbi are friends and were able to show things from a Biblical/Torah perspective. We can learn from each other and share that with others.”

While in Israel, the officers visited with their Israeli counterparts and learned about the unique threats their colleagues face daily. “We were met on the plane by Deputy Inspector, Adar Yahalom. He took us to the border with Gaza and showed us several intelligence operations, as one of our officers specializes in intelligence.” The group also visited Israel’s police headquarters and academy where they were introduced to several of the force’s exceptional programs.

Mark Wiegel, a narcotics officer for 25 years who took the trip with his wife “because we love to travel and wanted to get the Biblical and historical perspective on the country,” he says he learned a lot about his own job during their 10-day stay. Because Wiegel works with a yellow Labrador trained to smell narcotics, Yahalom arranged for the officers to meet with the Israeli canine department.

“Their program is very good and it was really interesting to see how they operate. They are the experts. We can learn a lot from them, particularly how they handle security concerns and respond to critical events.”   

The officers had a first-hand glimpse of life in a war-zone when they visited the besieged city of Sderot. There they toured the city’s police department and met with the head of the Israeli bomb squad and the chief negotiator. Their trip became emotional during a visit to Alon Moreh where they spoke with Chabad shliach, Rabbi Yehuda Rubin, whose son was injured in the recent war with Gaza. Rubin described his small settlement in the Shomron and encouraged the officers to open their minds about life in Israel. 

“I escort delegations from all over the world, especially from the States, so I know how visitors are impacted after visiting Gaza, Jerusalem, and the Tel Aviv terror sites,” says Yahalom. “I love that they become ambassadors of Israel.”

“From a spiritual perspective it is very important to understand why you believe what you believe,” explains Chikles. “The evidence is overwhelming that there is a God and that this is His land. Cops are cops and to see the evidence is so cool.”

Rubinfeld believes the experience was pivotal for his officers. “Their entire view of Judaism and Israel changed since the trip. It totally altered how they look at the Jewish community, globally and locally. Before this, they did not understand what Shabbos is. After spending the weekend at a religious kibbutz, they are familiar with how observant people conduct themselves. Now, if they are dealing with a Jewish person here in St. Paul, they will be more understanding and accommodating.”

An October 2010 trip is planned for Jewish and non-Jewish police officers from around the country.

Florida Governor Signs Bill Removing ‘Shylock’

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(lubavitch.com) On Monday, Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill removing the words "shylock" and "shylocking" from the Florida statute books, a term offensive to Jews.

The word, used to describe a ruthless moneylender or loan shark, took its meaning from the character in Shakespear's The Merchant of Venice. In the play, Shylock is a Jewish usurer who lends money to his Christian rival, Antonio, setting the bond at a pound of Antonio's flesh.

"Today I am proud to sign legislation that honors Florida's Jewish community by removing harmful language from Florida's criminal money-lending laws," Gov. Charlie Crist said in signing the bill Monday. "Harmful terms that communicate hate have no place in our society — and especially not in our laws — and the removal of this language is long overdue."

The governor was accompanied by Chabad-Lubavitch representative to Tallahassee, Rabbi Schneur Oirchman and four Democratic lawmakers who worked to pass the bill (SB 318): Sens. Nan Rich and Eleanor Sobel and Reps. Elaine Schwartz and Richard Steinberg.

Books: Meditations on Mitzvot

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(lubavitch.com) The face of Chabad in the twenty-first century has been the shliach and the shlucha. Incredibly dedicated and energetic couples have fanned out around the world, bringing Judaism to life in places everywhere from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to Vientiane, Laos. They get kids to join them baking matza or making a shofar, grown-ups to bake challa or dance at the lighting of a giant menora in a shopping mall.
It is only gradually that most people come to realize that everything Chabad does finds roots in a vast literature that is unique in the world—the literature of Chasidut. At the very time that George Washington was serving as President of the United States, the first Chabad Rebbe was writing books that revolutionized Jewish thought and life.
The literature of Chabad is never remote. No matter how abstract the concepts it may investigate, it is always engaged directly with the life of the reader, challenging, probing, leading deeper and deeper into the mystery and purpose of the life that we actually live.
Chasidic thought is a vast synthesis, pulling together elements from the earliest biblical sources, from rabbinic law throughout the ages, from the storehouse of stories and moral exhortation of the oral tradition, from the great medieval rationalists, and from Kabbalistic mystics. In Chasidic thought, all these elements show themselves to be linked in an organic whole of which we, the readers are equally a part. This literature grips the mind and the heart of its readers as nothing else.
Provided that we have access.
The language of this literature has posed a problem for the modern reader. How many of us are fluent in Hebrew, comfortable enough to use it to explore deep thoughts and mystical concepts? Even if we are conversant in Hebrew, more than likely, this would be in its modern incarnation. Israeli Hebrew mimics modern Western languages in many ways, with their preference for short and straightforward language growing as the years go along.
The Hebrew of Chasidic literature is another creature altogether—long supple sentences that follow an idea around corners and behind walls, or words rolling like a huge ocean swell towards the shore. It’s majestic, magnificent, moving—but only when it is comprehensible. And very few today are conversant in this kind of language.
That’s where the Chasidic Heritage Series has stepped in. The scholars who are the authors and editors of this series of annotated translations have done an amazing job of giving today’s English reader access to the spiritual treasures locked up in these books.
The latest two titles in this series, soon to be released, are entitled Channeling the Divine and Feminine Faith. Both are works written by the fourth Rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch, and both deliver a powerful message.
Channeling the Divine contains a discourse that focuses on the mitzva of tefilin and explores the mystery of how the most profound spiritual realities find expression in the very concrete act of binding boxes containing Torah parchments on one’s arm and head. Composed by the Rebbe for his son’s bar mitzva, the discourse has been repeated by Chabad bar mitzva boys for decades.
In this discourse, the child who is turning into an adult faces the reality that very few can devote their lives entirely to the study of Torah. Nonetheless, even in the midst of worldly reality, we are given a mitzva, the mitzva of tefilin, which affects us in the same way as if we had spent all our time in study.
Feminine Faith turns from a mitzva which is done by men to one celebrated primarily by women—Rosh Chodesh, the celebration of the New Moon in which women alone rejoice by refraining from normal work. The Rebbe’s profound text explores the unique gifts of the feminine—its connection to the undivided essence of G-d’s reality in a way that transcends the masculine drive for mastery and control of nature’s cause and effect. Just as boys learn the Bar Mitzva discourse, girls approaching bat-mitzvah may like the challenge of studying this and exploring the deep chasidic ideas that touch on their own unique identity as they reach the age of mitzvot. The Rebbe’s profound text explores the unique gifts of the feminine—its connection to the undivided essence of G-d’s reality in a way that transcends the masculine drive for mastery and control of nature’s cause and effect.

This discourse is a powerful meditation on the importance of the intuitive and the holistic and a sharp critique of the kind of mind that reduces the world and people to machines—the kind of mind that took power in the years after this was written and brought untold misery to millions, and to Jews especially.
Chasidic Heritage succeeds in these works and in its others simply by opening up a whole new world to the English speaking reader. To be sure, there is room for improvement—it is no small job to find an English supple enough to transmit the great and rapid flow of ideas without some static, some self-consciousness. Overuse of capitalization to express the Importance of Ideas, or of phrases such as “as such” muddy the stream when it is clarity that is needed—these and other infelicities occasionally annoy or distract.
But it is a small price to pay, and the reward is well worth it—the admission to this treasure house of the soul.

The books will be available shortly at the Kehot website www.kehot.com.

VIDEO University of Illinois Chancellor Grateful to Chabad

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(lubavitch.com) Chabad at University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, celebrated its fifth year on campus at a gala celebration Sunday evening. University Chancellor Richard Herman received the Founding Award.

In his remarks, the Chancellor acknowledged the vital difference that Chabad representatives Rabbi Dovid and Goldie Tiechtel have made to Jewish students on campus.

"Today, Chabad is the heart of Jewish student life at Illinois, but it is also the heart of a Jewish community at Illinois. And as Chancellor—and as a Jew–I am forever grateful for that community. In fact, I depend and lean on it," he said.

The University of Illinois is a public university. About ten percent of its undergraduate student population of 28,000 is Jewish. Video

At US Colleges, Students Explore Traditional Jewish Values

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(lubavitch.com) “In this essay, I examine how my understanding of G-d affects how I should live my life. I ask, ‘what is God, where is God and what does He have to do with me?”

That was University of Colorado senior Shifra Blumenthal’s opener as she addressed a group of peers and a panel of professors at the first Sinai Scholars Society Symposium this past Sunday. Shifra completed a rigorous semester with Sinai Scholars at her campus before being invited to present her paper at the symposium, hosted by Chabad of Princeton on the university campus. 

Sinai Scholars Society, a joint program of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute and Chabad-on-Campus seeks to promote greater engagement in Jewish education for college students. Students are admitted by application process to its intensive, semester-long Jewish study program that offers in-depth levels of Jewish education and follow-up study opportunities like this conference. 

“It is quite remarkable,” said Dr. Naftali Loewenthal, a professor at London College in the UK who is on the Sinai Scholars faculty, “to listen to college students challenge western ideas” in favor of exploring an intellectually compelling Jewish, Torah perspective. 

More remarkable yet if you consider that it wasn’t all that long ago when a Jewish kid going off to college was another Jew falling off the radar. For while college provides young students with a wealth of new intellectual experiences, the exhilarating mental exploration was never applied to Jewish learning. 

Lured by the sophistication of academic life, individual Jewish identity became increasingly irrelevant to their lives, and students’ home-bred attachments to Jewish tradition quickly and surely dissolved like salt in the soup of the proverbial melting pot. 

Things looked different at Princeton’s Wallace Hall this Sunday, where 10 Jewish students from participating Sinai Scholars Society universities across the country, brought their intellectual curiosity to the study of Judaism, and submitted their papers on issues of Jewish tradition and its relevance to the post-modern American experience. 

“The opportunity for students interested in Judaism and Torah to interact in an academic venue where scholars respond to their ideas about Torah and Judaism,” said academic advisor to the conference, Ariel Simon of NYU, “is refreshing and extremely meaningful for students and their intellectual growth.” 
Topics ranged from the theological to the practical, suggesting that a growing number of Jewish American college students are finding personal intellectual and moral relevance in Judaism. 

Daniel Slate from Stanford University presented on Sinai and the Principles of Highest Purpose. Katherine Epstein, a graduate student from Dartmouth College shared her research and views on Learning About Modern Sex From Women in the Bible; Rachel Channon from NYU discussed her ideas on The Power of Speech; Jennifer Chevinsky, a major in bioethics and President of Hillel at UConn as well as the college’s pre-med society, discussed End of Life Issues: Are Rabbinic and Biblical Standards Relevant?

Following each paper, presenters benefited from peer review and constructive comments by the participating professors, among them world renowned Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Lawrence Schiffman of NYU, Immanuel Schochet of Humber College and Lewis Glinert of Dartmouth, as well as Naftali Loewenthal, all of who challenged the students to probe deeper.

“The conference was developed to allow students to showcase their research in a setting where they would benefit from a rich interchange of ideas, and be encouraged to take their studies to the next level,” explained Dr. Chana Silberstein, who is on the board of Sinai Scholars and director with her husband of Chabad-Lubavitch at Cornell University. 

For college students accustomed to working on research papers only to have them returned graded but with no real discussion, “being invited this way into Jewish discourse is a very rare and exciting opportunity,” she said.

Alan Newman, a philosophy major at Tulane who presented on a rather dense philosophical topic—Stipulative Frameworks for Anlyticity, the Jewish Tradition and Skepticism—which sparked lively debate, concurs. The experience, he said, “made me more aware of a lot of the issues that concern ethics in contemporary life. It gave me the opportunity to think about ideas that I would not have otherwise encountered.” 

Princeton University students were especially pleased to see this event hosted at their campus, which historically has not been especially friendly to Jews. Ethan Ludmir, a sophomore at Princeton majoring in molecular biology, and President of the Chabad Student Board at Princeton, told lubavitch.com that he felt that “it is important that a conference where a diversity of ideas about Judaism would be hosted here at Princeton.” 

Leon Furchtgott, a physics senior at Princeton also sat in on some of the sessions. He saw the symposium as a bridge between the Jewish and academic worlds and was especially glad to see the rabbis on his campus. “To have a roomful of Chabad scholars here at Princeton speaking to students about intellectual issues relating to Judaism does not happen very often.”

Rabbi Eitan and Gitty Webb, Chabad representatives at Princeton, welcomed the students into their campus Chabad Student Center with a buffet Chinese supper. Lingering over the lively dinner table, the students, stimulated by the intellectual activity, were eager for more. Dr. Lowenthal, author of Communicating the Infinite (Chicago University Press), presented a slide show developed around the thesis of his forthcoming book, Hippy in the Mikveh, which explores the development of inclusiveness as a defining value within the rigorously observant Chabad movement.

Sarianna G. Murphy of the University of Colorado took the first award for her comparative study exploring Jewish and secular law on the Morality and Legality of Torture and the Defense of Necessity. Murphy told the intimate group of students, rabbis and rebbetzins that she comes “from a very, very secular home,” and entered the Sinai Scholars program on a whim. 

“I was never attracted to Judaism until I came to college and met Chabad. The Sinai Scholars program gave me an opportunity that has been truly enlightening,” and opened possibilities, she said, for her “to continue exploring her Judaism.”

To date, says Rabbi Yitzchok Dubov, director of the Society, Sinai Scholars includes 45 participating Chabad campus centers and 900 students. Chabad campus representatives must fulfill requirements established by the Sinai Scholars program before being accepted to the program. 

Visibly buoyed by the experience, students carried on well into the night with an impromptu farbrengen at the Chabad House. Rabbi Menachem Schmidt, Executive Director of Chabad-on-Campus who formally closed the event before the farbrengen called the Conference a “historic first>'

"In five years from now," he predicted, "the numbers at the annual Sinai Scholars conference will have grown tremendously.”

Amen.

Photos: Sinai Scholars At Princeton University

Amid Swine Flu Panic, Chabad in Mexico Remains Open

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(lubavitch.com) A deadly strain of the Swine Flu, originating in Mexico and erupting in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, has caused death, illness, and travel restrictions across the globe. Though public events and schools have closed throughout the country, two Mexican Chabad centers remain open, and alert.

“We had a nice crowd on Shabbos,” says Rabbi Mendel Druk, who regularly hosts 70 people for Shabbat meals at his Cancun home. “Nobody cancelled, but people were definitely talking about the news amongst themselves.”

As the number of fatalities rose in Mexico City over the weekend, the government cracked down throughout the country. “The government wants people to interact less with each other, so we are now taking a lot of precautions,” Druk explains. “But so far, we have not cancelled any of our classes and our home is still open to backpackers.”

During his two years here, Druk has had to deal with hurricanes and other disasters, so being cautious is nothing new. His worry now, though, has to do most with the Israeli backpackers who vacation on Cancun’s beaches.

“We had some backpackers over Shabbos who had just come from Mexico City. My primary concern is for them, because they don’t necessarily follow the news and they go anywhere and everywhere.” Swine Flu is transmitted from person to person: symptoms can surface up to four days following exposure.

“There is no medication for this virus available anywhere in Cancun,” says Druk. “So if G-d forbid the situation becomes more serious, we will import medication from Mexico City or the United States for community members and backpackers.”

Rabbi Benzion Hershcovich, meanwhile, says that aside from employees in large firms donning masks, nothing is amiss in Cabo on the Baja Peninsula. “There is no panic here and I think it is pretty safe.” Hershcovich moved here only six weeks ago. Programming in Cabo will continue, for now, as planned.

Though tourists are starting to cancel their vacation plans, tourist amenities remain available at the Chabad center in Cancun. A big trip is planned Wednesday to Merida, 180 miles away, where Druk will host classes and a children’s program. A Lag B’Omer jungle adventure and bonfire is in the works as well.

“For now,” says an optimistic Druk, “we will keep our ears open.” And their doors as well.

Chabad of France To Convene National Conference

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(lubavitch.com) Chabad-Lubavitch representatives in France will convene for the first national conference, Sunday-Monday, April 25-26.

To date, there are 113 Chabad centers and 452 representatives, (men and women) serving France’s Jewish population. The conference will address issues pertinent to the country’s Jewish population needs, and the challenges specific to French Jewry.

While many Jews have left France in recent years, the country still counts the largest Jewish population in Western Europe, numbering over 500,000.

Rabbi Shmuel Azimov, senior Chabad representative to France will lead the Paris-based Conference. Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Vice Chairman of the Chabad-Lubavitch educational division will address the conference.

Torah Scroll Completed, Installed in Cracow Synagogue

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(lubavitch.com) A Torah scroll was completed and dedicated Monday at the historic Rema Synagogue in Krakow, Poland. In recent years, the ancient synagogue dating back to 1553, did not have its own Torah. That changed at the behest of a descendant of Rabbi Moshe Isserles, for whom the famed shul is named. 

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Raichik, of blessed memory, noticed that the congregation did not have their own Torah scroll on a visit several years ago. He immediately commissioned one to be written. Raichik, who passed away last September, was the director of Chabad’s Children of Chernobyl and a tireless supporter of Jewish causes.

Monday’s event was held in his memory. A grateful crowd of hundreds of local Polish Jews and supporters from abroad gathered to celebrate his life and latest contribution. Participants wound their way through the streets of the ancient Jewish quarter, singing and dancing as they welcomed the Torah scroll to its new home.

The city, which in 1938 was home to 60,000 Jews, now claims several hundred Jewish residents.

Remembering Every Day

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(lubavitch.com) “They survived and gave us a future. We are here because of them,” explains Rabbi Tzvi Tauby. “Their sacrifices affect our lives every day.”

Communities in Israel and around the world are commemorating the deaths of six million Jews on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. But for the steadily dwindling generation who survived those horrific years, Holocaust Remembrance is a daily experience.

As co-director of Ivolunteer, a New York-based visitation program for Holocaust survivors, Tauby insists that Holocaust survivors’ needs, emotional and physical, must be met regularly. His organization matches volunteers with homebound survivors for companionship and support. 

Simon Gossel lives in a comfortable apartment in New York City. The 88-year old, originally from Emden, Germany, says that his weekly visits with Jeremy “bring fresh ideas into my little world.” The two study works of Jewish philosophy and discuss current events. They also talk about their college experiences. Jeremy is currently a student at Yeshiva University: Gossel graduated from the same institution in 1962.

Gossel’s experiences during the Nazi regime (he survived five concentration camps including Auschwitz) affect everything he does. “I was in the real stuff,” he says. “I am a survivor. Today’s commemoration does not make too much of an impression on me, as we combine our remembrance with Tisha Ba’av,” (the solemn fast day on which the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem and other devastation in Jewish history is commemorated).     

For this aging population, one thing is of utmost importance. “The younger generation must not forget what happened, so that it will never happen again.” This is not just a catch-phrase for Dora Marcus, a survivor from Vienna. “I think about the Holocaust a lot,” she admits. “I think there is a danger that it will happen again. You see that they want to destroy Israel.”

Marcus has had many volunteers throughout her five-year connection with Ivolunteer. “If it comes up,” she says, “I tell them about the war. I tell them about my experiences. It is their past; it is the history of all of the Jewish people.” After a hellish year under the Nazi regime, Marcus and her family were able to escape to Palestine. But only after her father was forced to flee and her grandmother and most of her relatives were murdered. She was ten years old.

Although she recently transferred to the University of Pennsylvania to complete her PhD, Elika was a regular visitor to Marcus’ Manhattan apartment. “She visited every week for four years while she was studying at NYU,” says Marcus. “She taught me Russian and I helped her with French and German.” The two also share a love for music and museums. “We had a wonderful, excellent relationship,” reminisces Marcus. “And she still sends me postcards, calls, and visits when she is in town.

“The most important thing that someone can give a Holocaust survivor is emotional support,” believes Marcus. “We want their understanding, their caring. Their friendship.”     

Though the program’s volunteers assist with shopping, accompany survivors to appointments, and help them in their homes, friendship, ultimately, is the real result. 

And that goes both ways, insist survivors and volunteers. 

At Pratt University, Students Design Chabad’s Jewish Center

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(lubavitch.com) If students build it, students will come.

Construction is set to begin on a 2,000 square foot storefront which will serve the 5,000 Jewish students enrolled at five downtown Brooklyn colleges. The largest of those schools, the prestigious Pratt Institute, with 1,000 Jewish students, has the third highest percentage of Jewish students in the nation.

Before Chabad arrived, it was also the largest Jewish student population without an official organization on campus. Chabad’s current home, housed in the one-bedroom apartment of Rabbi Simcha and Ariella Weinstein, is a 30-minute walk from the Pratt campus.

Clearly, says, Weinstein, “it was time to take things to the next level.” His students agree. The new space is being created almost entirely by members of the Pratt community. The architecture, interior design, murals, and furnishings have been fashioned by students who want to see their Jewish Student Union grow.

“I like for things to be grassroots: by the students and for the students,” the rabbi explains. “When they are involved, a sense of ownership develops. It is like the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem in which everyone had a part. Truthfully, without the students, nothing would happen.”    

Brian Schulman is a sophomore at Pratt. Together with another architecture student, Eric Moed, he designed the interior of the Myrtle Avenue storefront. The new building is eco-friendly. “We want to keep the space as simple, raw, and minimal as possible. It will be used for many different purposes,” he explains, “including a synagogue, gallery, event space, and kitchen.”

“The best way to tackle the design problem here was to leave the space open,” agrees Moed, also a second-year student. “The Jewish Student Union’s mission is much broader than simply having Shabbat dinners or services. Our whole message is to fuse our cultural outlook with our Jewish identity, so that they should become one entity. This is the first and only place in this neighborhood where Jewish people can network and build a community.”

Moed’s connection with the area dates back over half a century. His grandfather, Leon Moed, principal at Moed De Armas & Shannon and advisor to this project, graduated from Pratt in 1954. When he attended, explains his grandson, Pratt was a commuter school. “Jewish life on campus did not exist. It is only really recently that Jewish life became available, forget thriving. Now that it is, we want to take it a step beyond. We want to show kids coming out of high school that Pratt is a real, viable Jewish option. We are creating a physical building and they can make it a place to call their own.”  

The many students designing its interior are putting a piece of themselves into the structure. “My artistic talents are the way I serve G-d,” reveals senior Elke Sudin. “When I draw I sense that the creative flow is not me, it is coming from a vessel that is greater.” Through her involvement with Chabad on campus, the petite illustrator “reconnected to my spirituality” and has become more religious. She has also made lasting friendships. Sudin met her husband, Saul, also a student at Pratt, during a lunch and learn given by Weinstein. They dated at candlelight Shabbat dinners in the Weinstein home.

These days, Sudin is completing her degree and freelancing on the side. She creates the Jewish Student Union’s promotional materials and is designing a large mural to cover one of the walls in the new space. “Doing something for a greater cause, a good cause, makes my art not just about self-fulfillment,” she says. “It is my personal way of connecting.”     

“Brooklyn is the epicenter of a Jewish art renaissance,” declares Weinstein. “It is an incubator for the cultural revival of Jewish life and art. I want this new space to be a gallery to screen movies, host poetry and book readings, and display art. Our students should be able to express their Judaism through the arts.”

As much as the rabbi wants to give his students, it is clear that they want to repay him as well. “I met Simcha the first week of school when he came over to me and gave me a big hug,” recalls Schulman. “Simcha has done a lot for Pratt and the broader Jewish community and I want to contribute in any way I can.” In helping with the design, Schulman wishes that others will benefit as he did. “I hope that people will walk by and notice our place, come in, say hello, and get involved.” 
The large glass windows facing Pratt will house a vibrant Jewish student center come fall. But for Weinstein, the new semester has its downsides. “Our first graduating group is leaving this year. They were our first guests, with us when we purchased our apartment. They are really part of the family and saying goodbye will be hard.”

Luckily for him, many graduates are planning to stay in this gentrifying neighborhood near promising jobs in the arts. Plans are already underway for alumnae events at the new center.

“They will always be part of the family,” promises Weinstein.  

Expelled From Russia, Chabad Rabbis Lead By Remote

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(lubavitch.com) Following their recent expulsion from Russia, several rabbis have been working across phone lines and emails guiding their communities in Passover preparations.

Chabad representatives Rabbi Yisroel and Aliza Silberstein were living in Vladivostok, a port city on the Pacific Ocean, until they were forced to leave in February. Now, from their temporary residence in Brooklyn, the dedicated couple is still taking care of their community’s needs.

“We are in constant touch with the people of Vladivostok with daily telephone calls and emails,” Silberstein told lubavitch.com.

A week after the Silbersteins' deportation, their colleagues serving the Jewish community of Stavropol were also expelled. Rabbi Tzvi and Chaya Hershcovich moved to a new apartment a month ago. Because they did not register their new location within three days, the youthful rabbi was arrested and together with his family, quickly deported.    
While waiting anxiously for a decision by the Russian courts that will allow them to return, the rabbis say they are doing whatever they can to ensure that their communities are not rudderless during the eight-day Festival of Freedom which begins Wednesday night.

Rabbi Hershcovich sent 700 kilos of matzah to members of his community and two nearby cities. He also worked long distance to arrange for a local restaurant to be koshered for the holiday meals.

The rabbis are especially grateful, they say, for the help of Chabad’s rabbinical students who have traveled to their respective cities as part of the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch Passover Seders emanating from Lubavitch Headquarters. With help of the FJC in Moscow, they’ve made all the necessary arrangements for the seders, which they will lead.

Rabbi Silberstein has been providing tips and practical suggestions to the young students in order to make the seder “the most fulfilling and satisfying as possible.” Over 100 people are expected at the seders in both Vladivostok and Stavrapol, numbers that reflect the Jewish revival the rabbis and their wives have spawned in their cities.  
“We arrived almost three years ago to a city very little Jewish infrastructure,” says Rabbi Silberstein. “Since then, we have helped create a real community.” Though people of all ages attend services and events, Silberstein has cultivated a “strong core of individuals between the ages of 18 and 40 who are really dedicated to kosher, Shabbat, and holidays.

“Right now, our community is expressing strong distress and the need for leadership. Although we are filling those needs to the best of our ability, it is very hard to do so from so far away. I just hope that the Russian government will understand that they are not punishing me; they are punishing the Jewish community of Vladivostok. I hope we can work this out.”

Rabbi Silberstein told lubavitch.com that he has “received tons of emails and hundreds of messages on my Facebook page begging us to come back.”

In a letter to Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar and Chairman of the FJC (Federation of Jewish Communities), 189 members of the Stavropol community, pleaded with him to what he can to have their rabbi returned to them. Rabbi Lazar is working, he says, to facilitate their return.

Though a well-attended Hebrew school, youth programming, and classes for young adults have all been put on hold, Silberstein glimpses a silver lining on this dismal cloud.

“I definitely see that it has helped people become more actively involved in community affairs,” he says.

Both Silberstein and Hershcovich talk of their communities in the present tense, and both clearly want to return.

“There are a couple thousand Jews in Stavropol,” explained Hershcovich. “Someone needs to take care of them, and we are here to do that. We definitely plan to go back and are working hard to get there. Our apartment is still all set up and waiting for us.”

For now, on the eve of the holiday of the four questions, the Silberstein’s young son has been asking a question of his own.

“When are we going home? I want to go to Vladivostok,” implores three year old Mendel Silberstein.

“We tell him that we hope we will be there soon. And that all he can do is pray.”

As the holiday sets in and Jews everywhere sit down to retell the story of the Jewish people, Passover themes of exile and dispersion will resonate personally for these Chabad rabbis and their families, separated from their communities, yearning to return. 

Passover Seders With Chabad in Mumbai

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(lubavitch.com) There will be seders in Mumbai this Passover.
Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical students arriving from New York in the days before the holiday, hit the ground running. The city’s streets are hot and stuffy and crowded. People are friendly but trust is tricky. For security reasons, publicity for the seders is by word of mouth only.
With an exhaustive to-do list that keeps the students moving at a frenetic pace, Chezzi (Yechezkel)  Denebeim, 23, from Palm Springs, CA, admits “that I have no time to really reflect.”
That’s a good thing, because the absence of Gabi and Rivki Holtzberg is impossible to escape, especially now, when the couple, murdered by terrorists in their Chabad House last November, would have been busy preparing to host hundreds at their Passover Seders.
The void is more than gaping. “Gabi ran a massive outreach program here. He was a tremendous ‘chevre-man’,” says Chezzi, using the Yiddish compliment for a hustler with a soul. Speaking to lubavitch.com by phone, he says that the young couple created an exciting, meaningful Jewish life for countless people now smarting from this staggering loss. "They were the reason so many came here, and returned, again and again.”
Last year, two hundred people flocked to Chabad of Mumbai’s grand seder table; this year there will be less, though the rabbis won’t know how many until the seder begins. Last year, guests raised the four cups of wine at a beautiful table set by Rivki in the large Chabad House; this year, they’ll make do in the small, temporary, apartment that Chabad has rented since the attack.
The seders in Mumbai are part of the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch Passover campaign funded by the support of philanthropists, including Mr. George Rohr and Mr. Guma Aguiar. A special grant for the Indian seders was made by Australian philanthropist, Rabbi Joseph Gutnick.
Until Chabad representatives will be appointed by Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters to a full time, permanent position in Mumbai, rabbinical students serving month-long stints there keep Chabad’s programs and services going.
“Clearly, restoring Jewish life here, substantively and in terms of the scope that Gabi and Rivki have developed over the years, will be a process that will take time and a lot of hard work,” Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Vice Chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the Chabad-Lubavitch educational division, told Lubavitch.com. “The facts on the ground, as every shift of rabbinical students is discovering, reveal that theirs will not be easy shoes to fill.”
Before leaving for India, the rabbinical students met with Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor, director of Chabad of Thailand who is overseeing activities in Mumbai. Kantor reviewed protocol with the students, reminding them to honor “Gabi’s and Rivki’s outstanding characteristics of generosity, warmth, compassion and unconditional hospitality with which they greeted guests.”
Chezzi’s Monday checklist includes finding an additional refrigerator and an oven for the apartment, koshering the kitchen for Passover, arranging internet connection, drawing up the shopping list, confirming security arrangements, sending out a Torah and quantities of matzah to Jews in Bangalore, Goa and Manali.
“Gabi and Rivki looked out for many of the Chabad representatives in the region,” says Schneur Lifshitz, another of the rabbinical students who handled many of the logistics from New York, before arriving in Mumbai early this week. “The Holtzbergs were also an invaluable resource to them.”
The students will stop at the ravaged Chabad House to collect tables and chairs, Rivki’s Passover dishes, and other items for the seder. Asked if there will be a particular tribute to the Holtzbergs at the seder, Schneur says, “All of it, everything we are doing, is because of Gabi and Rivki.”
For those who’ve been with the Holtzbergs last Passover, the bitter herbs on this year’s Seder plate will be doubly pungent. Everywhere he goes, says Shuly Davidson, one of the rabbis, he meets people who speak of Gabi and Rivki with reverence and a sense of genuine personal loss.
Dr. Aron Abraham is a 40 something Indian native, a member of the Bnei Israel, who lost a mentor, father figure, teacher, and confidant, with Gabi’s death.
“This is what it’s like to be orphaned,” he says quietly. 
But Passover is a joyous festival, and Chabad’s rabbinical students who’ve given up the seders with their own families, are determined, they say, to displace the sadness and help the Jews in Mumbai take to heart the holiday’s lessons of transcendent joy. 

The Way Things Were: Reflections On The Rebbe’s Birth Date

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(lubavitch.com) Where were you the last time the Jewish people assembled to bless the sun?

Maybe you didn’t even know about it then. The year was 1981. PC’s were still a thing of the future, cell phones unheard of, and the internet age had yet to dawn. Instant mass communication seemed still a fantastic idea, and educating people across geographic, linguistic and cultural distances was slow and painstaking.

To be sure, it wasn’t half as bad as it was nearly a century earlier, when one rabbi fled in fear, and another was arrested as he and his congregants tried to observe the mitzvah and bless the sun in a New York City public park. According to a New York Times report dated April 8, 1897, the rabbi couldn’t speak English, let alone explain to a New York City Irish police officer the peculiar practice he was trying to follow. Cross cultural communications had yet a long way to go.

Things will be very different this time around, on the morning of April 8, when Jewish people worldwide will pay homage to G-d as Creator of the world, by blessing the morning sun. In the weeks leading up to this event, readers enjoyed a deluge of information about this unusual mitzvah, and millions across every divide benefited from opportunities to learn about Jewish traditions and Jewish life. 

April 8 2009 is also the eve of Passover, a festival that marks the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt, a precursor to the Redemption that we have since time immemorial, yearned for. Here too, the media has thoroughly covered the practices and customs of this holiday. Add to that the extensive publicity by every form of modern communication available,  informing Jews from Nigeria to New York that they are invited to join one of Chabad’s public seders, and few can claim ignorance of Passover, or of the opportunity to celebrate the holiday and embrace its themes of redemption.

It is a sign of progress, made all the more remarkable because of the way the pervasive interest in and coverage of Jewish life by the Jewish and non-Jewish public—even of obscure traditions like the sun blessing—is taken for granted.  Every once in a while, if only to appreciate the distance traveled and the miles to go before we rest, it is good to reflect on how things were before they got to be the way they are.

Many of us yet remember when Jews were uncomfortable about being Jewish in public, inhibited by a self-consciousness that stymied the opportunity for a dynamic, vibrant Jewish experience. Scorned, intimidated, Jews were ashamed of their identity, and Jewish life was decidedly on the wane.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory (1902-1994), whose birth date is marked today, 11 Nissan (Sunday, April 5), was largely responsible for changing this. He saw Jewish education and a living tradition as the empowerment of the Jewish people, and utilized every means possible to thus endow his people.

It is hard to imagine that the Rebbe, now widely acknowledged for his visionary and courageous leadership, now duly recognized for the Jewish revival he led, was once chastised for his boldness, criticized for his daring by those who, understandably perhaps, were afraid to stir the pot, advocating a low Jewish profile.

The Rebbe discerned the existential danger inherent in such squeamishness, and groomed a generation of confident Jewish leaders who would go as far and wide as the Jewish dispersion itself, and cultivate a new Jewish sensibility. The Jewish experience we enjoy today, the Jewish identity we so proudly wear today, is the change he delivered.

This year is also the year of Hakhel, the first year in the 7-year Sabbatical cycle. In Temple times, the Jewish people participated in a re-enactment of the Sinai Revelation, when they convened in Jerusalem to hear the king read inspirational segments of the Torah, and reaffirm the Covenant.

In his eloquent presentation to honor the Hakhel year, UK Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks recently explored the three time cycles marked on this Jewish calendar year: Sun-blessing, Hakhel, and Passover, referring respectively to recurring structural themes in Judaism: Creation, Revelation and Redemption. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, he noted, by his extraordinary leadership, spanned all three themes.

Teacher, mystic, leader, he illuminated our lives with the purposefulness of Creation, our existential meanderings with his works of Revelation. Always, he did this with an eye towards Redemption, teaching us, indeed, showing us, that it is within our grasp if only we aim higher, reach farther, and believe more passionately in the possibility of a world repaired, and ultimately redeemed.

SOBER SEDER: Chabad Seders For Recovering Addicts

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(lubavitch.com) Next Wednesday, 100 recovering addicts will celebrate the holiday of freedom in Boca Raton, Florida. Like Jews everywhere, they’ll raise their glasses four times in the course of the evening. 

Unlike most others, the glasses will not contain wine: at the “Sober Seder” only grape juice will be served. 

In the Recovery Capital of America, finding an AA meeting is not hard (there are 190 in Boca Raton and neighboring Delray Beach). Fortunately enough for Jewish addicts, finding one in conjunction with a Shabbat dinner or Pesach seder is also easy.

Rabbi Meir Kessler moved to this Florida city 40 miles north of Miami, in 2005. When he realized that many of his neighbors were struggling with drug and alcohol addictions, Kessler decided to devote his efforts to their recovery. As a chaplain for the Renaissance Institute of Palm Beach, Kessler is able to assist Jewish addicts from around the world, who have come to Boca Raton specifically for this purpose. 

His Jewish Recovery Center hosts three AA meetings a week, including a popular Friday night dinner for 80; operates two recovery homes for “highly motivated” male and female addicts who have completed rehab; and refers people to appropriate emergency treatment and counseling.

But it is on Passover, the holiday of freedom, when JRC’s premise is fully recognized.

“The seder has a whole different meaning for a recovering addict who is trying to leave his own personal Egypt,” explains Kessler. 

With compulsions towards drugs, alcohol, food, or gambling, these addicts focus on “freeing themselves from the bondage of self.” Guests go around the seder table sharing stories of their personal “exodus.” Though the stories can be inspiring, there is sadness present as well. 

“People who come to us are often very hurt and in a lot of pain,” Kessler says. “They are hurting because they cannot be with their family during the holiday. We tell them that being separated this year will enable them to be together with family in years to come. 

“At the end of the night,” he continues, “the addicts tell me how powerful it is that they are not alone. They are not having this ‘freedom’ discussion in a church basement, but at a Pesach seder with fellow Jews.”

Andrew S. who has been involved with the Center since 2007, told Lubavitch.com that to him, “Freedom means having the ability to make choices—in my case, to choose not to pick up a drink. I can choose to be of service to someone else instead of being enslaved to the need to serve my own addiction.”

The last of AA’s 12 steps instructs a recovering addict to give back to others, and today the Montreal native serves as the resident manager of the JRC’s recovery house for men. In that position, he “maintains the house and its integrity, making sure that it remains a safe, supportive, and sober community.” 

“Last year’s seder was wonderful,” reminisces Andrew. “The rabbi tied in a lot of the story of Passover with what we are going through in recovery. He drew many parallels between the bondage of an alcoholic and that of an enslaved man.”

“One aspect we discussed at length was the idea that matzah represents humility,” explains Kessler. “That is a big portion of recovery. We also explored how ‘Kadesh’ [the first part of the Seder when Kiddush is recited] means holy. We are all infinitely holy. One can’t use the excuse that he is a bad person and can therefore do bad things. We are holy—anything we do is secondary to that.” 

No wine is served at this unique seder (or ever on the Kessler’s Shabbat table), so as not to “tempt or trigger people.” Kessler encourages everyone to serve a bottle of grape juice at their seder, as an alternative for those who can’t or won’t drink. 

“At a family seder there is a lot of pressure to drink wine and when it is in front of me, I really wish I could,” Andrew reveals. “But when we are here, all together, we are all in the same boat. 

“Before we shared a common problem, we now share a common solution.”

Sharon Carter is a certified alcoholism counselor and volunteers for JRC, answering the Kessler’s clinical questions. She believes that the “enriched Jewish environment” allows recovering addicts to be part of a “safe and supportive community.” The Kesslers, she says, “have worked very hard to understand what is helpful and loving” for someone in early recovery. Tough love, agrees the now-veteran rabbi, was his hardest lesson.

“I am really looking forward to the Sober Seder,” states Carter. This is her first year attending, and she hopes to gain a “deeper understanding of Passover, especially as it relates to our struggles with addiction.”

“Pesach,” she says, “is a very significant holiday for the recovering addict. It is all about our personal exodus.”  

Here are more of Chabad's Sober Seders:

Los Angeles, CA: 3rd Annual Sober Seder

Join us for a night of recovery – the journey of our people!

Thursday April 9, 2009 – 8pm at the Westside JCC

5870 West Olympic Blvd

For more information or to RSVP call Chabad on Olympic 323-965-1111 or visit ChabadOnOlympic.com

Boca Raton, FL

Join us as we journey together on a spiritual exodus from personal limitations!

Wednesday April 8, 2009 – 8pm at Chabad of Boca Raton

17950 Military Trail

For more information or to RSVP call the Jewish Recovery Center 561-450-5503 or visit SoberJew.com

New York, NY Join us for a spectacular evening as we celebrate our festival of freedom!

Thursday April 9, 2009 – 8:30pm at the Chabad Loft,

182 5th Ave. between 22 & 23 streets

For more information or to RSVP call Chabad Loft 212-627-3270 or visit ChabadLoft.com

Reading, PA

6th Annual Sober Seder

Serving the Jewish patients at Caron Foundation and all recovering addicts!

Wednesday April 8, 2009 – 7:30pm

at Chabad House 2320 Hampden Blvd.

For more information or to RSVP call Chabad-Lubavitch of Berks County 610-334-3218 or visit l-chaim.org

Montreal, Canada

This Passover you will know a new freedom!

Wednesday April 8, 2009 – 8:30pm at Chabad Queen Mary

4941 Queen Mary Road

For more information or to RSVP call Chabad Project Pride 514-485-5121

Passover Kitchen Confessions: Behind the Scenes With Chabad on Campus

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(lubavitch.com) The refrigerator truck is winding its way north along the six-hour route from Los Angeles to Berkeley. Inside are 250 pounds of chicken, 100 pounds of meat, and 60 pounds of turkey. Flanking that are 18 cases of wine and another six of grape juice. A crunchy 70 pounds of matzah are making the trip as well.  

Pesach is coming to the University of California at Berkeley.       

Over 150 students and faculty are expected at the two seders hosted by Rabbi Gil and Bracha Leeds. Dozens more will chow down on kosher-for-Pesach meals during the eight-day festival. The young couple, proudly serving at their alma mater, wants to do everything to make Pesach “meaningful, fun, and creative.

“Most people crave a home environment on this holiday,” explains Leeds. “For many of our students, this is their first holiday away from home and it can be very bittersweet. We want them to experience everything they would expect at home.” Including pitching in.

As soon as their house is koshered for Pesach use, Rabbi Gil and Bracha Leeds will begin an around-the-clock cooking marathon. Students have already signed up for shifts at all hours. All the preparations will take place in the Leeds’ nine by nine, 1910 kitchen complete with one power outlet.  

Unlike the regular Friday night dinner or holiday party, Pesach preparations take on a whole new, gargantuan realm. Kosher kitchens are “flipped,” and all chametz (leavened) products and utensils are removed for the week. Chabad custom bars use of many prepared items, even if they are leaven-free, so cooking for the holiday is a whole lot of work. Multiplied, in the case of campus kitchens, often ten-fold.

At Columbia University in upper Manhattan, helping out is a big part of the experience as well. Alumnae return each year to peel potatoes and clean chickens. Despite their heavy workload, many students lend a hand as well. A party gathers before the last Passover meal on day 8 of Passover, to crumble and crush pounds of matzah for homemade matzah balls. 

Mrs. Keren Blum, who co-directs the Chabad Resource Center, needs all the help she can get. After cooking for 50 people this Shabbat, Blum and her husband will switch their kitchen to Pesach use and begin cooking for hundreds more. But Pesach is not the only thing on this graduate student’s mind. Blum has a 20-page paper due Monday, another 30-page term paper for Tuesday, and a class the morning of the seder.  

Immediately after graduating from Hampshire College, Blum married husband Yonah and became a rebbetzin at Columbia. “I never left campus, never stopped being a student,” she laughs. “I love the stimulation and the challenge of connecting with people intellectually.” 

The seder, she says, is an “immersive cultural experience, which students will hopefully enjoy and definitely remember.” The Blums do everything they can to ensure that their seder is an “authentic experience.” Each participant receives his own seder plate and prepares its contents alongside the rabbi. During the seder, everyone reads from the Haggadah and shares their own insights. While many rabbis must abridge or water down their seders, Blum says that “our audience is a captive one. They can sit for four hours discussing and reading.” 

Lest you think that Columbia students are only intellectual and staid, they have an entertaining Pesach tradition of their own. At the stroke of midnight, on one of the intermediate days of Pesach, dozens of Columbia students gather for a grand afikoman hunt. Rules are intricate, decoys abound, and the reward is a $100 gift certificate. Last year the box containing the much-sought after matzah was found in the library stacks, and two years ago the search took place in the snow.

For many of the Jewish Dawgs at the University of Georgia, this Pesach will be their first. Rabbi Michoel and Chana Refson anticipate about 150 students at their seders, though “students are notorious for not RSVPing,” so actual numbers may be much higher. Chana Refson readily admits that preparing for so many people, with limited kosher supplies handy, is a lot of work. 

After everything is cooked and boxed up, the Refsons will bring their food to their new building, which is waiting to be renovated. The two seders will take place in the building’s large room. Only then can Refson relax. “I love seeing a lot of people come in. I love when they are inspired, satisfied, and learning.”

Though work may seem like an anomaly on this holiday of freedom, Refson disagrees. “Freedom does not mean being free from responsibility. It means going beyond yourself. Freedom for us is being able to give students the ability to celebrate at a seder.”

Rabbis will welcome the “four sons” to their seder tables on over 320 campuses around the world. On Wednesday and Thursday, thousands of students will join together for the Four Questions and four cups of wine. 

In Berkeley, Leeds says that presenting Judaism can be challenging on a campus notorious for its radicalism and liberal leanings. Pesach, he believes, is a good time to show students that “Judaism shares a lot of their ideals. It’s not so bad, there is common ground.”

With hand-baked matzah in one hand and a glass of kosher wine in the other, who can disagree?