Farbrengen With The Rebbe

i found this on crownheights.info i think its very interesting
or you can see it in the web site  by clicking on this link

The happiest time of the month of Tishrai is Shmini Atzeres/Simchas Torah which's end is marked with a special Farbrengen on Motzoai Yom Tov, a "Farbrengen With The Rebbe". Thousands gathered in 770 and sang the Nigunim of the Rabbaim in order.

05:14:59 on 10/27/05 by Webby

Comments

a fello wrote:

woa boy was it packed!

10/27/05 15:16:32

lamen kavod ha-rebbe wrote:

why is every body standing there like the Rebbe is Farbraingen aside the face that most if not ALL the people there are "crack pots" never saw the Rebbe and if they did they don't listen to him all they do is they are embarrassing him day after day more and more "Rachmana Litzlan" and Hashem Yishmor!!!!

10/27/05 19:54:04

bachur wrote:

i totaly agree with "leman kavod ha-rebbe"

10/27/05 21:20:48

all for achdus put aside the diffrences wrote:

i was there and im no crazy wako meshechist infact you could hardly see the flags so many of my freinds were ther even antis but they come b.c. ther is no better feeling wright now thaen standing with thousands of chasiddim singing all the rabeims nigunim and you dont need to sing the ones you dont want so stop being critical and look at the positive at least there was some achdus

10/27/05 22:13:38

shmerl wrote:

all for achdus way to go

10/28/05 00:23:12

lamen kavod ha-rebbe wrote:

Well the kind of "Achdus" that there was by the dancing I do not call Achdus!!! First of all they had an "Igros" both that is Mechalel the name of the Rebbe and the name of Lubavitch! I saw every guy that went over just went to make fun. There is no reason for the guy's that never saw the Rebbe and never listened to his Sichs to embarrass him like that, "Bimeyle" they saw and herd the Rebbe so they can say they don't like something the Rebbe said or did! (C"V) so therefore they are making fun of him Be-rabim!! Second all of the signs that went up on Kingston as posted on Chabad.fm that is was there special for "Simcas Hais Hashoevah" when people come to C"H!!
And once we said Chabad.fm they daily they make fun of the Rebbe!!
SO every single person that wears a flag "Degel" associates him or her self with that group of people that are making fun of the Rebbe, you are not to be with them they are going against the "Nossi Hador" and they are worse then "Shach" & Barry put together cuz they are fighting the Rebbe and all the Rebbe's till the ball shem tov (and maybe till Moshe Rabinu)!!! Achdus is not the way!!!!!!
Sorry for being so blunt – but the truth hurts

10/28/05 01:05:00

chaim getzel wrote:

i think lamen kavod ha-rebbe is right both times
its hard to belive it

10/28/05 03:33:05

ahavas yisroel wrote:

Guys why dont u have some ahvas yisroel and stop argueing,it wont get u anywhere because evryone has their opinion.

10/28/05 16:33:18

yehudis wrote:

moshiach now and yechi hamelech
everyone must have their own opinion!!!

10/29/05 20:31:32

Leman Kavod ha-Rebbe wrote:

To yehudis and to ahahvas yisroel!! If everyone is going to have their own opinion then you are going to have the "conservative" Lubavitch and "reform" Lubavitch and the re-constructive Lubavitch and the atheist Lubavitch!!! How do you think the movement started all together they had people like you that said it's a free country you have or can have your own opinion!! So we end up with movements that don't believe in Hashem and or his torah!! The Rebbe did not hold of this statement as we saw by many many things the Rebbe held of foe example "mi yehudi" that the Rebbe didn't say that the Israeli government has thair own opinon rather said that they are wrong and they are mislieading people by making them thing they are jewish!!! And many many more times!!
Fact's are fact's and truth is truth we must stick to the truth and make sure not to turn from it, we should not forget what the Rebbe SAID and who is embarrassing him in public day after day!! These people must be sent out of Lubavitch and they must be dealt with the same as "shach" and "barry"…. Why not just because they have black hats and wear rabainu tam's and learns Sichos and Mamorim?!?!?
Like I said before sorry for being so blunt – but the truth hurts, lets all stop fooling ourselves!!

10/29/05 23:27:38

ahavas yisroel wrote:

To "leman kavod harebbe": first of all i never said that the crazy mishechistim are right, as a matter of fact they are 100 % wrong, but that dosent mean that they dont believe in the "rebbe" or "hashem",("CHAS VESHALOM"), as you yourself said they learn sichos and maamorim, it just means that they are resent "baalei teshuva", on the most part, and are very missled. second of all, so far i havent seen any "conservetive" lubavitch etc. happening.third of all it sais in "pirkei avos" that a big leader should always be carefull with the way he acts because his followers can make mistakes,do you think (C"V to even say this) that the rebbe didnt know that pirkei avos? no. if the rebbe wanted he could have made sure thet something like this would never happen. fourth of all by saying that they have to be sent out of lubavitch you are going againts the whole "inyan" that the rebbe acomplished which is "mivtzaim" and "shlichus" which is all about being "mekarev" "yidin" and not "merachek".

10/30/05 02:42:48

not an action figure wrote:

to: "ahavs yisroel"
while i agree with most of what you said, i have to tell you something: i am a lubavitcher myself and i belibe fully in the rebbe etc. but the rebbe is not superman so please dont make him that way. he is a tzaddik and the nussy doy-raynu but he was also human. (and dont say i dont know cuz i prob never met the rebbe etc. because i have been to every dollars and farbrengen since 1986) u dont know what the rebbe had in mind or wanted you are not a mind reader and i dont think the rebbe would want u arguing about what he was thinking. thank you.

10/30/05 22:06:37

leman kavod ha-rebbe wrote:

Thank you "not an action figure" for your words!
And to you "Ahavas Yisroel" so you are saying that Mr' baranes wasn't so bad by saying "elokey-nu" cuz the Rebbe knew about what is going to happen and should have done something to stop it!!! What do you mean that's "kfirah be-achdusoy" the rebbe does not have to be "Sholel" every crazy Person that's going to come up with so crazy idea! And if they start making sculptures of the rebbe and put it by his farbraingen place and say lechayim to it (C"V) that the Rebbe should have said something!! Come on what are you saying!!!!!
And to what you are saying that you can not send him out of Lubavitch cuz that's against the whole Shlichus and being Mekarev Yiden do you think if "Shach" would walk in to 770 we can not send him out if Barry would walk in we would not send him out I remember when he came to his fathers funeral the Rebbe waited till he left and we where saying then cuz the Rebbe knew that Buchrim are going to beat him up! People that are going against the Nosi Hador are going against the torah look in all the Sichos from 5745-5746 about berry who is fighting the Nosi Hador there is no such thing we are Mekarev every single Jew but "Reshoyim" that make fun of the Rebbe and go against him publicly we should be Mekarev them!! And for what you are saying let me see u go be Mekarev Barry lets see how big of a Chossid you are that loves Mivtsoyim!
And what you are saying that they learn Mamorim and Sichos so that makes them "Baalei Teshuva" so what!!!! We don't care if such people can say that we have nothing to go to the Ohel for they are still fry or not Jewish I mayself saw them bringing the rebbes holy "Aron" to the Bais Hachayim! The Rebbe went to the resting place of the Rebbe "Rayats" so many times the Rebbe was a very big Chossid of his Rebbe and the Rebbe know o his own Sichos that he was going to say and still went there! A Chossid means that you are Mekushar to the Rebbe not JUST learning his teachings Mekushar does not mean you are to be Mekasher messiah sign's on the wall's and to go and make mass messiah rally's in Manhattan!
And last I just want to tell you I do learn "pirkey avos" and I do know that it says you are supposed to answer on the first question first and so on and I know I did not answer you like that. –sorry

10/31/05 00:10:06

Bloomberg 4 Mayor wrote:

Ahvas Yisroel:

You write that the rebbe knows pirkei avos and therfore if he didn't want things to happen as they are now he would of done something

This what you wrote is the most ridcilus thing posted on the internet!

Lets say that the rebbe wanted we should have bechirah cofshis and his chassidim should follow the proper path instead of choosing the meshchist path.

But even that is not so because the rebbe CLEARLY said all that can be said to stop this from happening! He shouted at those singging yechi at farbreingen (i remmember it like this day), no one dared to sing it again intill the rebbe was sick and could not talk!!

The rebbe tried to avoid it, but there are those who think the yare smarter then the rebbe.

take siddur kidushin for example; the rebbe clearly wrote that the badatz of ch have no rigths to the siddur kedushin, and thats how it stayed untill those smarter then the rebbe decided in 1998 that badatz must be mesader kiddushin.

The gaboyim the rebbe clearly said that the elections for gabayoim are nothing and are void and null. but after gimmul tammuz they came smarter and decide to become gaboyim (the same applies to this "netzigim" thing, the rebbe sasid that it shud be discontinued after the elcetions for badatz. vkach havo till after gimmul tammuz
What did you want the rebbe to say? "i know that after my petirah lots of people wont listen to me and therfore don't wear flags..."?! the rebbe dosn't know of them cuz THEY ARE NOT HIS CHASIDDIM they are chassidim of flags but not chassidim of the rebbe.


But

10/31/05 00:28:20

Zachariah - Email me please wrote:

There is no order in chabad

We must obliterate the messianic movment (AKA the anit-rebbe movment).

They are foes to all those who adhere to the teachings of the Rebbe

May we merit the coming of the days when messianics (AKA anti-rebbe's) will go back to where they came from

10/31/05 00:39:40

Jewish Fundamentalism?

Question:

I was wondering if there is such a person as a Jewish fundamentalist, the way that there are those folks in Christianity and Islam? If so, what percent of Jews would or could be classified as Fundamentalist? And, what would their core beliefs be?

Answer:

I'm not sure what your definition of fundamentalist is, but here's mine: A fundamentalist is someone who believes that theirs is the only true path, and anyone who does not follow their ways is evil. The fundamentalist sees only two options for the rest of humanity - join us or suffer the consequences. Other nations are there to either missionize or destroy, and any belief system that does not conform with theirs is to be eradicated.

A fundamentalist is not the same as an extremist. There are those who are passionate or even extreme about their own beliefs, whether a born-again Christian, devout Muslim, radical liberal or die-hard atheist. We can debate the pros and cons of each of these belief systems, but a strong conviction alone doesn't make you a fundamentalist. It is when you cannot accept that there may be another road to truth, that not everyone has to fit in to your own world view - that is when you have strayed into the realm of fundamentalism.

For this reason, Judaism can never tolerate fundamentalism. Quite simply, we don't believe that Judaism is for everyone. Jewish thought is comfortable with the belief that there are many paths to G-d; Judaism is the path for Jews, and non-Jews can find Him in different ways. They can live a moral and good life without keeping the laws or sharing the beliefs of Judaism. Anyone can join Judaism by converting, but this is not necessary - a non-Jew can be fulfilled, close to G-d, and earn a place in heaven without becoming Jewish. I think it is this universalistic approach that has saved Judaism from the plague of fundamentalism.

Don't get me wrong - there are certainly Jewish extremists, ratbags, troublemakers and whackos. But I don't know of any significant group of Jewish fundamentalists. Judaism poses a challenge to the fundamentalist: If you really love G-d so much, shouldn't you also love all His children, who are created in His image?

Is cremation OK?: Practice is not universally accepted

Cremation may be on the rise nationwide, but it's not a practice that is accepted in all circles.
     Among those with certain religious beliefs, cremation is prohibited.
     Probably one of the strongest prohibitions against cremation comes from Islam, which says that burning people, whether alive or dead, is reserved for Allah when he makes his final judgment on a person's soul.
     "Hell is a place where people are in an inferno," Imam Johari Abdul-Malik explained this week. "It is not permissible for people to burn themselves or someone else.
     "Allah is the only one who is authorized in Islam to burn a person."
     Muslim funeral rites are highly specific, Abdul-Malik said.
     After a person dies, the body is ritually washed, then wrapped in white cloth. The body is taken to a cemetery and placed in a grave, without a coffin or casket.
     Whenever possible, bodies are laid on their right side, facing Mecca.
     Though some reformed Jews do allow for cremation, strict interpretation of the Talmud, like Islam, forbids the practice, though for different reasons.
     "Cremation is something that is not permitted," Rabbi Levi Fogelman, of the Chabad Center in Natick, said. "(The body) belongs to God. Therefore, we don't have the right to ruin something that doesn't belong to us."
     As in Islam, Jewish tradition calls for a ritual washing of the body after death, followed by a funeral service, Fogelman said.
     Many Jewish families try to do something tangible in memory of the dead, Fogelman said.
     "Many people will dedicate something...in remembrance of that person," he said.
     Though for thousands of years prohibited by the Catholic Church, cremation in 1963 became an option, when church officials relaxed their rules.
     Though Canon Law still encourages the burial of bodies, "it does not, however, forbid cremation," a Catholic cemetery Web site says.
     One of the few religions that encourages cremation, Hinduism teaches that the body is made up of five elements -- earth, water, air, fire and space.
     Cremating the body returns these elements to the Earth, said Kumar Nochur, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sri Lakshimi Temple in Ashland.
     "A Hindu would very traditionally be cremated," he said. "For Hindus, cremation is the preferred and primary mode of taking care of the dead."

The untold story of the Civil Rights Movement – Part I

To make the point that Blacks must keep the pressure on the federal government, Min. Louis Farrakhan recited the story of a colloquy between A. Phillip Randolph and Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who told Randolph that he only responded to pressure. FDR was not only telling the truth but he was also conning Randolph, who readily ate the cheese.
Randolph formed the March on Washington Committee. Its slogan: "We loyal Negro Americans demand the right to work and fight for our country." Blacks made up less than two percent of the U.S. Army in 1940 and defense jobs were going to whites. The March on Washington was scheduled for July 1, 1941. Roosevelt knew that Japan would be attacking the United States afterwards. To give the appearance of staving off the march, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802.
The involvement of the federal government in civil rights dates back to at least 1909, when whites established the NAACP. The token Black was Dr. W.E.B. DuBois. Joel E. Spingarn, NAACP board chairman, was a major in military intelligence. While with the NAACP, DuBois had unsuccessfully sought a military commission as captain. Spingarn was the federal government's eyes and ears in the Black world.
Governance is the operative word. The demise of colonialism was inevitable. Change is the only thing that is permanent. A one-world government is still the ultimate objective. The League of Nations was on the horizon and the United Nations was in the world's headlights. Neo-colonialism would emerge as an intermediate step in the New World Order.
The Allies were aware of the world view. This group of European nations had been applying its resources to futuristic thinking. During this period, Blacks, too, were busy, searching for their grits and dodging nooses. This is a recipe for being a pawn and not a player. To achieve liberation, Blacks must fashion an approach to Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
More than a century ago, the Europeans knew that the United States had to get its act together. This is why the French gave the United States the Statue of Liberty, as an inducement, after the Civil War. Black soldiers had to fight under the French flag during World War I. The United States needed a civil rights movement. The NAACP had to pre-empt the Niagara Movement.
Just as everything was looking rosy, Marcus Garvey stepped in. He had to be penalized for interference with domestic tranquility. The white man created Negroes during slavery to be sheep and to be led by Negro preachers and Judas goats. Nat Turner and his progeny escaped the orientation. Garvey sought to deprogram Blacks.
Without even considering the Willie Lynch letter, an extensive body of literature exists showing the creation of the Negro and the Negro preacher who was taught in the cemetery to communicate with the walking dead. The Negro has no passion for freedom. This slave literature is comparable to computer periodicals today.
The Civil Rights Movement would become a quasi-governmental and military operation. Lawyers are in the vanguard of any military operation. The Ku Klux Klan, for example, was formed in a law office in Pulaski, Tennessee, to institutionalize the terrorization of Blacks. Before the invasion of Iraq, Pentagon lawyers laid the groundwork. Generals followed with strategy and tactics. At a war's end, lawyers step back in to prosecute the enemy.
Howard University Law School would become the boot camp for the legal phase of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, in addition to the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, conducted studies on the need for Black lawyers. Charles Hamilton Houston would become the base commander. He steered the effort for the law school to receive accreditation and he established the first "Civil Rights" course in the nation.
After the law school was on its feet and supplying legal troops for the "War on Jim Crow," Houston would become the first, Black legal director of the NAACP. He would make his former law student, Thurgood Marshall, his chief lieutenant. The war was on. The Civil Rights Movement was designed to save the face of the United States internationally. As Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., stated, "Segregation is the Negro's burden and America's shame."
If the United Nations were to host the world, as a superpower, Blacks would have to become nominal citizens. All of the signs and symbols of Jim Crow would have to reside in attics and museums. Foreign diplomats from Africa, Asia and the Americas would be coming to the United States. They were not to be served Jim Crow.
A host of Black lawyers, with combat pay from white philanthropy, were dispatched throughout the South to clean up Uncle Sam's image. In return, Uncle Sam rewarded many of them with federal judgeships and appointments. The Congressional Black Caucus should introduce legislation for all civil rights workers or their families to receive retroactive compensation and federal pensions.
I was surprised that Min. Farrakhan, at the Millions More March, called on lawyers to initiate a federal class action lawsuit in New Orleans. In suing Uncle Sam, his pawns or state entities, lawyers are kept on a short leash. The limited jurisdiction of federal courts and the threat of disciplinary actions keep lawyers in check.
Unlike Black preachers, who are talking loud and saying nothing, Pat Robertson is at war. He has called for the head of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who offered substantial aid for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Bush 43 instructed all Black leaders to keep quiet while he gave Black victims chump change to stay alive.
To prove that he is at war, Robertson is founder and president of the American Center for Law and Social Justice, a public interest law firm which provides legal troops for the religious right. Since Black leaders are not filing any petitions for writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court, the make-up of the Supreme Court should be of no interest to them. It's like being interested in Powerball without a wager.
Min. Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton are without a paid lawyer between them to secure justice for the victims in New Orleans. Anything beyond civil rights litigation is taboo on American soil and civil rights is shrinking. In short, Blacks enjoy limited legal and political representation.
This means that cases involving the man-made disaster in New Orleans, the death of Gavin Cato in Crown Heights, the Central Park jogger case, reparations, the Lemrick Nelson case, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin and Mumia Abu-Jamal are outside the loop. In fact, the Millions More Movement refused to air Mumia's message.
Disregarding the plight of militant lawyers, the Millions More Movement only gave suspended attorney Chokwe Lumumba 60 seconds in the morning to speak at the rally. Neither Farrakhan, Jackson nor Sharpton mentioned his plight. Thou shall not offend whites. Predictably, Jackson has called for a march in Baton Rouge on Oct. 29 to boost ratings for the white media. Otherwise, he and Sharpton are pushing voter registration and voter turnout.
Brown v. Board of Education spawned the ground troops for the movement. Rosa Parks, who made her transition on Oct. 24, 2005, is heralded as "the Harriet Tubman of the Twentieth Century." The assault on Jim Crow, albeit non-violent, incorporated military planning. The first phase of a military operation involves lawyers followed by an army. See, for example, Howard Beach.
Unless Blacks understand the import of lawyers on the liberation struggle, we may as well head back to the plantation. No intelligent group, for example, would have permitted the current outcome in Tawana Brawley. Min. Farrakhan, Rev. Sharpton and our ancestor, Sonny Carson, among others, promised to defend Tawana with their lives until justice was secured and solicited me to represent her. The chorus of militant rhetoric ended with a soliloquy.
I hope that all freedom-loving people and the children of Harriet Tubman will join me at the Brooklyn Housing Court, 141 Livingston St., Part 52, Room 506, in Brooklyn on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 11 a.m. to protect community operations at 16 Court St. in Brooklyn and to allow me to continue, without compromise, to contribute to Africans' One Aim! One God! One Destiny! Next week's column: "The Untold Story Behind the Civil Rights Movement – Part II."
See: Spitzer's Motion to Dismiss @ www.reinstatealtonmaddox.com

Police say temple van set on fire

SWAMPSCOTT - Arson was the cause of a fire in a van belonging to a local temple, according to investigators.
     Fire Lt. Bruce Gordon, who is heading the investigation, said the fire was started in a van belonging to Chabad Lubavitch, 44 Burrill St., sometime between Friday afternoon and early Saturday afternoon.
     "The fire extinguished itself," Gordon said.
     According to police, the fire was reported Saturday at 2:30 p.m. After the initial investigation the van was towed to the Swampscott Police Department where the investigation continues.
     According to police, the van was last seen unburned late Friday afternoon in the synagogue parking lot.
     Chief Ronald Madigan said, "Since this fire occurred at a house of worship we take this investigation extremely seriously.
     "I recognize this incident causes concern and anxiety in the community and I hope that anyone in the community with information will help us and come forward so we can solve this case as quickly as possible," he continued.
     The fire is being investigated by the Swampscott Fire Department, Swampscott Police Department, State Police investigators assigned to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Essex District Attorney's Office, The Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF). The BATF assists with all major houses of worship fire investigations.
     The Arson Watch Reward Program is offering up to $5,000 for any information that helps solve the case.
     State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said, "Anyone with information is asked to call the Arson Hotline at 1-800-682-9229, toll-free, 24-hours a day. All calls will be kept confidential."
     Calls to Rabbi Yosef Lipsker of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore were not returned this week, but earlier this month High Holy Days were marred by vandals who placed anti-Semitic graffiti inside the synagogue just days before the start of Rosh Hashana. According to police detectives, someone entered the synagogue through an unsecured door.

London Friends' Hurricane Hell

The holiday of a lifetime turned into a nightmare for three Jewish friends from London this week after Hurricane Wilma left them stranded in Mexico without food or water.

Bianca Weber and sisters Natalie and Nicolette Berg were confined to their resort room in Talum for four days as the devastating storm battered the country with 150mph winds, claiming at least six lives.

The hurricane, which had been one of the most powerful on record as it approached the region, destroyed hundreds of houses in its path and left many holidaymakers living on the streets.

Speaking last night from Cancun, where the trio were still among thousands of stranded Britons waiting to fly home, Weber told the Jewish News of the group's ordeal as Wilma swept through.

Insisting the roaring hurricane sounded like a train outside the hotel, where they were holed up ankle deep in water, the sales executive said: "From when we were confined to the room on Thursday, we had no food or electricity, and we only had two litres of water. That was all we had to eat or drink. I was doing nothing other than sleeping and feeling very weak. For the rest of the time, all I was thinking was please let me get out of here alive."

The 28-year-old, who lives in Golders Green, had no contact with her parents in South Africa until she was finally told she could leave the dark room on Sunday. Then, she had a 40-minute journey to use a telephone, only to find a three-hour queue ahead of her . She said: "It was amazing when I got through. At least they knew I was alive. My family feared we could be dead because we had no contact with the outside world. When you haven't heard from your children for that period of time you assume the worse." Weber later got a lift back to the hotel on the back of a truck.

The three friends, who were due to fly home last weekend, still don't know when they will finally be able to return to the UK. But they have been informed they will first have to travel to the Dominican Republic and won't not be able to take any luggage.

Despite her ordeal 5,000 miles from her north London home, Weber acknowledged there were many others left in a far worse state by Hurricane Wilma. "Thank God I was in a five-star resort. It definitely increased my chances of survival. There were some people who moved here from the convention centre where they were sheltering who now have dysentery and other health problems," she said. "I can't wait to get home."

Bianca's dad, Maurice, said: "It was a living nightmare. There were moments when I had my doubts as to whether they were alive or not. I spent my time on the internet trying to locate where they were and looking for organisations that might be able to help."

After contacting Chabad, he was told that they would have somewhere to stay and be looked after if they were able to get to Guadalajara or Mexico City.

Further east in Florida, there were reports of succahs being ripped out of the ground when the hurricane struck.

According to Chabad of Hallandale's representative Rabbi Rephael Tennenhaus, telephone pole wires shook "like lulavs". But the rabbi said he expected the hurricane to cause more people than usual to attend simchat torah festivities as many had been prevented from cooking.

Van ablaze at Chabad possibly linked to shul break-in

SWAMPSCOTT – A Jewish-owned van was torched in the parking lot of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore last week, only two weeks after the synagogue had been the target of anti-Semitic vandalism.

Days before Rosh Hashanah, the same Chabad congregation found that vandals had entered the building through an unlocked door on Sept. 30, destroying the interior of the property with obscene, anti-Jewish messages.
Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, spiritual leader of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore, told the Advocate two weeks ago: "I was horrified beyond imagination. To bring that dimension into this sacred space was utterly horrifying."
The van fire is under investigation by Swampscott Police. Because the incident took place at a house of worship, it was reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to the Swampscott Police Department.
The police are not saying whether the incident is being investigated as a hate crime. Rabbi Yossi Lipsker was unavailable for comment.
Merritt A. Mullman, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, called the incident "wholly unacceptable." He said that this was the fourth anti-Semitic incident that has taken place against this congregation during the past six months. He also pointed out that Temple Ahavat Shalom in Lynn was recently attacked by vandals. "We will not be harassed," wrote Mullman in a letter to members of his community. "Our best response is to stand tall and strong in the face of these and all vile acts."
Mullman said: "I want to see my community be clear and make a statement by our actions. We're in the middle of the season of holidays. Synagogues and temples should be overflowing this week. We will not be deterred from pursuing Jewish life, and there is no greater response that we can give than that."
Rabbi Moishe Bleich, spiritual leader of the Wellesley-Weston Chabad Center, said: "If there is a connection, it turns into something that is horrific. "Rabbi Lipsker and his community are upstanding members of the community. They have only been giving toward the community, and I can't understand or give any excuse for anyone to do something like this."

In the Aftermath of Terror: Chabad Reaches Out

When terror strikes in an Israeli city, throwing untold numbers of lives into painful chaos, it's often hard to know precisely in which ways to help. Unfortunately, relief organizations such as Chabad's Terror Victims Relief Project have a lot of experience.

"We had a long period of calm here in Hadera, and although there have been several attacks in the past, people were already feeling more secure," says Rabbi Shlomo Schwartz, program director at Chabad of Hadera, a working-class town near the Northern Shomron. Schwartz, along with Hadera's Chabad Rabbis Yochanan Butman and Klomnius Kupzik, is working with Chabad's central Terror Relief Project director Rabbi Menachem Kutner to offer support and aid to victims of Wednesday's devastating attack at a market in Hadera, which killed five and wounded dozens.

From all too many previous experiences, Chabad workers know that the real assistance is needed several days after the attack, when many of the wounded return home from the hospital to lives turned upside down. Chabad representatives visit with victims while they are still in the hospital to determine the level of assistance each will need in the weeks and months to come. "Some families will simply need moral support, others will need hot meals delivered and several basic needs looked after for them, and still others will need financial assistance on a large scale to get their lives back together," says Rabbi Menachem Kutner. Kutner arrived in Hadera Thursday and is working with Chabad's local team to coordinate the relief effort in the city.

Weathering Wilma: Chabad Is On Call Again

Stuart Katz, general manager of IsraAir, never thought he'd spend an all night session on the phone with rabbis from Chabad. But that's what happened on Thursday night as members from Lubavitch headquarters' relief team scrambled to bring thousands of self-heating meals to Florida communities recovering from the wrath of Hurricane Wilma.

By 2 p.m. on Friday, Rabbi Shalom Wilhelm was still burning up the phone lines with Katz as IsraAir used its contacts to find precious cargo space on a flight into Fort Lauderdale. Cargo flights into the stricken area were nearly non-existent, and those flying were already packed tight with Federal relief supplies.

"We've been mobilized at the request of Chabad representatives in Florida to put together the provisions," said Rabbi Mendy Sharfstein who also coordinated the Katrina relief efforts for Lubavitch Headquarters. "We don't have an official name for the effort, but there is a need so Chabad is responding."

As Shabbat neared, Chabad's humanitarian branch, pulled off a miracle. American Airlines planes was loaded with the supplies and off to Florida. On Saturday night, after the Jewish Sabbath, Chabad representatives from Florida's worst hit area would be waiting with transport vehicles. Volunteers, who had arrived at local Chabad centers, would run the meals over to those in need as soon as they could be unpacked. Another shipment of meals would arrive on Sunday morning. Chabad representatives in Cocounut Creek, West Pompano Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Cooper City, Hallandale and Highland Park were set to distribute the packaged meals, which are self-heating and do not require refrigeration.

A glance at the Florida skyline reveals the predicament faced by Florida's elderly population. An upper floor apartment was a choice location in balmy southern Florida until Hurricane Wilma knocked out power and the elevators stopped running. As days without electricity wore on, seniors held hostage by their inability to descend flights to get scarce food supplies got desperate. The order to boil all drinking water meant fragile seniors, too shaky to handle scalding water, began to suffer from thirst and risk dehydration.

"Even though we are surviving," said Chabad representative Baila Gansburg, a coordinator of the Florida end of the relief effort, "we must not forget about the elderly." Gansburg's Chabad center in Coconut Creek and West Pompano Beach lost its roof to Wilma. But with people in need, rebuilding would have to wait.

The Gansburg home, de facto relief headquarters in Coconut Creek, has been running its electric generator to compensate for the downed power lines. "Some people are happy to come here for a kind word and a cup of hot coffee," she said. Others need more. Gansburg cooked up a pot of macaroni and cheese on her propane-powered grill, comfort food for two families from New Orleans, who fled to Florida after losing their homes to Katrina. "They can't take much more of this."

Since Wilma struck, Chabad-Lubavitch volunteers have been distributing gallons of bottled water and sandwiches to seniors and others in need. A Miami Chabad center sent in a truckload of bottled water yesterday, and today Chabad was able to acquire a pallet of bottled water, all of which was distributed by Friday afternoon.

The Chabad-Lubavitch international network of centers has long been a world wide web of help. Importing food for Tsunami survivors in Thailand and bringing clean up help in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina and Rita are two recent instances where Chabad's intimate knowledge of local need allowed it to act quickly and effectively for those in need. Chabad's history of humanitarian aid dates back to the movement's infancy. Chabad's founder, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi(1745-1812), sent aid to starving Jews in Israel and founded Colel Chabad, a relief organization still active in Israel and the former Soviet Union. Bringing emergency meals to elderly people in Florida is simply the latest chapter in Chabad's mission of caring.

Simchat Torah holiday honors completion of a yearlong cycle of reading scrolls

 Isaac Leider, of New York, wades through fetid water past his waist while trying to retreive 6 holy Torah scrolls from the Beth Israel Congregation temple in New Orleans which was still flooded with water. (Rick Loomis/The Associated Press)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
          PARK CITY - They may be too young to read a Torah scroll. Years away from being able to carry one. Some of the younger kids, they can't even remember what to call the thing.
    But Monday evening, as Temple Har Shalom's religious school students - preschoolers to sixth-graders - paraded around their synagogue to the sounds of Israeli folk music, what they knew or didn't know hardly mattered.
    "The goal is to give everyone a positive Jewish experience," Rabbi Joshua Aaronson said.  
    With the help of parents and teachers, Aaronson engaged dozens of kids in a Simchat Torah celebration, the Jewish holiday to honor the completion of a yearlong cycle of Torah reading. The Torah, or first five books of the Hebrew Bible, is Judaism's holiest object. And the holiday, which officially began Tuesday evening and ran through Wednesday, is considered one of the most joyous in the Jewish calendar. It is the last in a series of holidays that fill the month.
    Carefully and slowly, Aaronson unrolled one of the scrolls, holding one of the two wooden staves - another adult stood fast with the other - and winding his way around the room. The children, who clamored to come close, were assigned to hold up the long stretch of parchment. "You've got a very special responsibility right now," Aaronson reminded them.
    With column upon column of ancient text unfurled before them, the children looked around in wonder.
    "Whoa, look at all this Hebrew stuff," muttered one boy.
    "I know, this would take years to write," said another.
    Not years, necessarily, but plenty of time. A Torah scroll is handwritten by a certified scribe, called a  "sofer," who must adhere to strict guidelines. The words, according to traditon, were dictated to Moses by God about 3,300 years ago, soon after the Exodus from Egypt. The content contains the stories and laws central to Jewish life.
    "Who knows the last word of the Torah?" called out Aaronson.
    "Amen?" ventured one girl.
    "No," Drora Oren, the temple administrator, smiled.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     "It's 'Israel.' "  
    Aaronson read the last verse of Deuteronomy before the adults rolled the scroll back to the beginning and invited Oren, who's from Israel, to read the top of Genesis. Afterward, the children were invited to help dress the synagogue's two scrolls, with a protective velvet covering and other ornaments, before they were replaced in the ark.
    Besides the religious value, many Torah scrolls carry a deep history. One of Temple Har Shalom's scrolls was commissioned for the synagogue, but the other is a remnant from the Holocaust.
    That Torah scroll came from the town of Holesov in Moravia, the historical, eastern region of the Czech Republic. It, like many other scrolls, had been collected by Nazis for use in a planned museum about the extinct Jewish people. Nineteen years after German troops surrendered in Prague, 1,564 Torah scrolls - which had been stored in a Prague synagogue-turned-warehouse - were transported by railroad to London's Westminister Synagogue.
    Since that historical 1964 transport, the largest Torah scroll shipment known, most of the scrolls have been sent to communities throughout the world where they remain on permanent loan.
    At Utah's largest synagogue, Congregation Kol Ami in Salt Lake City, children had their own Simchat Torah celebration Tuesday night before the adults took over. Cantor Laurence Loeb led the evening service, singing prayers in a "name that tune" fashion. Congregants laughed and raised their hands as they recognized songs which ran the gamut from "London Bridge Is Falling Down," to "Arrivederci Roma" and "A Bicycle Built for Two."
   Musicians from The KlezBros, a Salt Lake City klezmer band, took stage and played as congregants stood for Israeli folkdancing, singing, clapping and the shared honor of carrying a Torah scroll.
    Meanwhile, over at the Chabad Lubavitch celebration at Bais Menachem in Salt Lake's Sugar House neighborhood, men tossed back shots of vodka and whiskey and sipped on bottles of Michelob Ultra. Drinking on Simchat Torah, while nowhere commanded and not a part of most Jewish celebrations, has become tradition in some circles - a part of the festivities.
    "Oh, yeah. The rabbi is lit," laughed Alysse Eisen Silk, as Rabbi Benny Zippel's voice boomed from the men's side of the room. In Orthodox Judaism, men and women are separated in synagogue sanctuaries and while dancing.
    Some of the women cradled babies, socializing in corners. Israelis chatted away in Hebrew, exchanging laughs. Two older Russian women sat together, sharing observations in their native tongue.
    As the singing and dancing heated up, and the night went on, most everyone stood from their seats to join in.  
    Among them was Silk's 5-year-old daughter, Shayna (Yiddish for "beautiful"), who - despite being up well past her bedtime - could not sit still. She jumped around to the music, clutching in her arms a stuffed-toy Torah in bright colors of red, yellow and blue.
    She danced and danced some more, following the crowd as it moved out into the main foyer and later outdoors. And even if little Shayna didn't fully understand why she was doing what she was doing, the girl was enjoying her Judaism - celebrating what the Torah has given to her people, and what it will someday mean to her.

Selectmen looking at decoration policy

Nearly a year ago, the town of Wellesley was faced with the threat of a lawsuit over its initial refusal to allow a menorah on town property. Now, to avoid finding themselves in that position once again, town officials are drafting a town policy on seasonal decorations to guide them through the holidays.
     Last November, Rabbi Moshe Bleich of the Wellesley-Weston Chabad Center was initially refused the opportunity to hold a menorah-lighting ceremony outside Town Hall. Bleich threatened to sue, informing the town that the Supreme Court has found that a menorah can be considered a secular holiday symbol when placed among other holiday symbols, such as the wreaths that hang at Town Hall. Town officials eventually agreed, and the ceremony was held Dec. 14, the first night of Hanukkah.
     A year later, Selectman Chairman Harriet Warshaw said that the town's draft policy would allow for multiple symbols to be placed on town property, including white lights, garlands, wreaths and menorahs. The key, according to Supreme Court cases on this issue, is that the focus on each symbol should be equal so as not to favor one over the other, Robinson said. When placed in an equalizing context, they are all considered secular symbols of the winter holiday season.
     Selectmen David Himmelberger said that he has concerns about his board taking on the responsibility of determining equal placement of the symbols and when they cross the line from religious secular symbols to more religious symbols.
     Also, said Himmelberger, "Not everyone subscribes to a religion. I worry that that piece gets lost when we try to balance one religious figure against another." He said he would lean toward eliminating all of the holiday symbols on town property (except the white lights) in deference to those individuals.
     The selectmen will continue the discussion next week.

A First Dance for the New Year: Jewish Students Bond With the Torah

Minutes to midnight on University of Pennsylvania's fraternity row, as the 'Sox were on their way to trouncing the Astros in overtime, the guys at Sigma Nu got a knock at the door. It wasn't the pizza guy. Chabad of UPenn's Rabbi Levi Haskelevich and Rabbi Ephraim Levin offered the frat a chance to dance with the Torah in honor of the Simchat Torah holiday.

"In Chasidic philosophy, Simchat Torah propels you into the rest of the year," said Chabad on Campus executive committee member Rabbi Menachem Schmidt. "You can give a class forever, but when someone takes a Torah and dances with it, that makes a connection that is extremely powerful."

At college and university campuses across the country, Chabad representatives were creating bonds with students, new and reluctant, by sharing holiday experiences from traditional starlit dances with the Torah to unusual – rabbi-made sushi dinners and floating sukkahs. Plowing creativity into holiday observances may make a splash on campus, but it's the ripple affect Chabad representatives are after, one that leads to greater Jewish awareness and pride.

Reaching a maximum number of students kept Rabbis Haskelevich and Levin up all night. They started at 7:30 with a Simchat Torah celebration for Sephardic Jewish students on the UPenn campus. Feasting on kibbeh, deep fried mini-pies with meat filling, the crowd sang Jewish songs from their homes in Panama, Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina and New York. The party continued at Hillel. At ten, UPenn students arrived at Chabad's campus center to dance with the Torah. Venturing into a relentless drizzle, Haskelevich and Levin swaddled the Torah and took the party to Sigma Nu, TEP, and Sigma Alpha Mu (the Jewish fraternity better known as Sammy) and other Greek houses. "Handing a Torah off to a student who dances with it establishes a bond," said Rabbi Levin. "You see each other, you remember that night. It can begin a relationship that lasts the rest of the student's four years in college."

Throwing marathon events is part of meeting students and knowing the campus culture, and that's how Rabbi Reuven Leigh has been building Chabad's reputation at Cambridge University in England. Semesters in eight-week chunks crowd Cambridge student schedules with breakneck classes, backbreaking assignments and not much time for run of the mill activities. Rabbi Leigh, acting as itamae, or sushi chef, followed downloaded directions from the 'net to slice through event clutter. He cut and rolled handmade sushi in the Sukkah on Friday night to a crowd of 40. That was preceded by the Leigh's
hot Hookah in the Sukkah night and followed by Vodka in the Sukkah on Monday night (England's drinking culture bestows legality on eighteen-year-olds and carries none of the notoriety it would across the pond.) Earlier that week, bent on creating a stir that was ever-so-Cambridge, Rabbi Leigh and some students launched a sukkah on a punt down the River Cam.

Post-activity binge, Chabad of Cambridge has planned a few quiet Friday night dinners. Not because Reuven and Rochel Leigh are exhausted, though as the parents of two-month-old twin boys they have every right, but because of their campus smarts. "You've got to spread things out a bit. If you have an event a week and only twenty people show, your reputation as a cool place to go suffers," said Rabbi Leigh. "People who want to come are always welcome, but they understand that it is a quieter dinner with my family and don't expect a big crowd."

At Columbia University, Chabad Student Center got a boost this year when it was granted formal recognition under United Campus Ministries. This official stamp of approval arrived during Chabad representatives Rabbi Yonah and Keren Blum's eighth year on campus and helped them secure all-important co-sponsorships from Jewish graduate school clubs for their Sukkot event. Official recognition "opens doors," said Keren Blum. "People are much more receptive. We were able to do a bigger event everyone wanted to co sponsor."

A disco ball spun from the center of Chabad of Columbia University's plywood sukkah, prisms refracted off the lush green pine bough roof. Graduate students grooved to the wail of a jazz group, Kol Hageulah, headed by observant Tulane University alums. Cool jazz with Jewish riffs, establishes "Chabad's reputation early on," said Blum. "When students take time from their pressing schedules to come to an event, they don't want boring. Because it was a hot event, people are more likely to read our emails in the future. It's a good stepping stone for the rest of the year."

Dueling Ukranian Rabbis

It's nice to see Judaism make a comeback in the former Soviet Union, but this is ridiculous. Ukraine now has three dueling chief rabbis amid a hopelessly divided Jewish community — creating a spiritual bottleneck that also is filled with political intrigue.

Who do they think they are? American Jews?

The newest chief rabbi is Moshe Reuven Azman, 39, who critics say was installed in a contested election by media magnate Vadim Rabinovich, who wants to enhance his influence with President Viktor Yuschenko. Azman had been a helpful supporter of the "Orange Revolution" that elevated Yuschenko to power. (Many other rabbis had landed on the wrong side, having supported Yuschenko's Russian-backed opponent.)

Then there's Yakov Dov Bleich, a U.S.-born rabbi who has been widely recognized as chief rabbi of both Kiev and Ukraine since 1992. Bleich, 41, a pioneer of Jewish renaissance in post-Communist Ukraine, was never properly elected, yet he has shown no intention of giving up the post.

Ukrainian Jews got another chief rabbi in 2003 when Soviet-born, Brussels-based Azriel Haikin, 75, was proclaimed chief rabbi by dozens of Chabad rabbis working for the Federation of Jewish Communities, the region's largest Jewish group.

"It's impossible to consolidate the Jewish community in this situation when every two to three years we have a new chief rabbi of Ukraine," said Ilya Levitas of the Jewish Council of Ukraine.

Not to mention that the existing chief rabbis have declined to retire.

Could it be the America's next hit reality series — "Dueling Ukranian Rabbis?" Who will be voted off — or thrown off — the bimah? Or would it just seem too familiar to folks watching at home.

Ukrainian newspaper sued

- A Ukrainian Jewish lawmaker brought a libel lawsuit against a newspaper that has a history of publishing anti-Semitic articles.

Alexander Feldman, who serves as president of the Jewish Foundation of Ukraine, told reporters late last week that he filed a lawsuit in a Kiev court against Silski Visti for publishing articles that "insult the national dignity and religious feeling of Ukrainian Jewry."

An Oct. 7 article headlined "Who Needs 'Mein Kampf'" said the "Judeo-Nazi sect Chabad" was going to "rob the country completely."

SHEMINI ATZERES & SIMCHAS TORAH 5766 IN CROWN HEIGHTS

Hundreds of additional guests came to spend Shemini Atzeres & Simchas Torah in Crown Heights.

Shortly after Licht Bentchen it started to pour. Despite the rain the annual pre-Hakofos Kiddushim took place around town.

Shemini Atzeres
In the Rebbe's room Hakofos started right after Maariv. The Rebbe's & Moshiach's Sefer Torah were present @ Hakofos in the Rebbe's room. Israel Zev "Shmidy" Goldshmid continued his Chazaka of bringing the Sifrei Torahs from downstairs to upstairs & then returned them later so that they could be used @ the main Hakofos downstairs. Hakofos in the Rebbes room ended @ lerech 8:35pm.

Downstairs Hakofos started @ 9:00 pm. There was a new path built on the far side of Shul (near the Kingston Ave Vaiber Shul) that was for a new line to kiss the Rebbe's Sefer torah, and it started in the back by the steps where the Rebbe would walk up to Farbrengen.

Tahalucha
Thousands of men, bochurim and children went to a record 300+ Shuls on Tahalucha. Starting from the early afternoon groups some accompanied by police escorts left 770. The groups went to all parts of the city including Queens, Flatbush, Brighton Beach, Howard Beach, Sea Gate, Manhattan, Canarsie, Boro Park, Park Slope and more.

Simchas Torah
Downstairs in 770, Hakofos started @ lerech 10:00pm but as usual it took a while for the Shul to fill up as everyone was making their way back from Tahalucha. The "official" hakofos, ended around 1:30am but the singing, dancing and Amiras Lechaim went on till the wee hours of the morning.

Hakofos in the Rebbe room were held immediately after Maariv and ended @ lerech 8:50pm.

Chazzonim over Yom Tov S =Shachris, M = Mussaf, CT = Choson Torah CB = Choson Breishis

770 Downstairs
Shemini Atzeres
S – Luzer Kenig
M – Mendel Reizes

Simchas Torah
S – Yitzi Hecht
M – Kalman Weinfeld
CT – S. Butman, M. Shagalow, N. Shapiro and some others
CB - The Rebbe & the Friediker Rebbe & Baal Koreh made the Brochos

Rebbe's Room
Shemini Atzeres
S – R' Yuzevitz
M – Yisroel Gordon

Simchas Torah
S - Sholom Duchman
M - Moshe Kotlarsky
CT - Rabbis' / Mazkirim - B. Klein, C.Y. Krinsky, L. Groner
CB - The Rebbe & the Friediker Rebbe & Baal Koreh made the Brochos

Food & Drink
As usual special thanks goes to Nochum Markowitz who made all the arrangements for the "Kiddushim" on Shemini Atzeres & Simchas Torah both night and day.

Farbrengen
Towards the end of Shabbos thousands packed the downstairs of 770 for a Farbrengen. Everyone sang the Niggunim of all the Rebbeim. There was also a Maamer Chazzered by Rabbi Levi Garelik. A very small Farbrengen also took place in the upstairs Zal as well.

@ The Ohel
A crowd of close to 200 spent Shemini Atzeres, Simchas Torah & Shabbos Bereishis @ the Ohel. The guests visited 35 Shuls in Long Island & Queens on Tahalucha.

First time ever, Children’s Hakofos in 770

25 years ago on Simchas Torah 5741 when Tzivos Hashem was inaugurated, the Rebbe called all the children to come and dance with him. This year, on the night of Simchas Torah, when the men and older boys went on Tahalucha, all women and children were able to experience Hakofos in the Rebbe's Shul at a special program.

Immediately after Maariv, the women and girls entered from the ramp by the driveway on the side of the Rebbe's room. Upon entering the shul, the women had the Zechus of kissing both the Rebbe's Sefer Torah and Moshiach Sefer Torah.

After that, Kiddush was made by Rabbi Sholom Ber Baumgarten and pre-packed nosh bags were given out. The children also received flags.

Principals and teachers from all over the world said the pesukim of Ato Horeiso together with the children and their Madrichim. They danced with the children for the 7 Hakofos. It was a powerful and moving experience.

After Hakofos the boys had the opportunity to kiss the Rebbe's Sefer Torah.

The organizers were expecting a crowd of 1,000. The final numbers exceeded double that amount and the organizers apologize to those who found it difficult or were unable to gain entrance due to lack of space. Plans are already in hand to enlarge this fantastic event for next year.

Special thanks go to the organizers: Rabbi Sholom Ber Baumgarten, Rabbi Yitzi Hecht, Rabbi Velvel Karp, Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin, and Rabbi Shimmy Weinbaum. Also to the gaboim of 770 without whose his help this would have been impossible to arrange.

Finally a special thanks to the Hecht boys for setting up the area and to the 50 Madrichim and Madrichos who worked tirelessly with the children to make this event so meaningful for them.

This amazing project was yet another example of Tzivos Hashem working together with the schools of the shechuna.

Teenager Shot by Police After iPod Robbery

I would like to take this opportunity to warn our readers about the danger in listening to your iPod in the street and in the subway. The New York City police reported that an increase in subway crime this year was driven almost entirely by a sharp rise in robberies and thefts of cellphones and especially of iPods, which have become a totem of prosperous urban life. Many of the victims are young people who are robbed after school.

So please if you are you listen to your iPod in public try to use another pair of headphones

The New York Times

A Brooklyn teenager matching the description of someone who had just committed an armed robbery was in stable condition last night after being shot twice by two police lieutenants, the police said.

The shooting occurred about 7 p.m. on Dean Street near Carlton Avenue, after four men, one of whom brandished what looked like a silver handgun with a black grip, approached a man outside a liquor store at Flatbush and St. Marks Avenues and demanded his iPod, according to a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was in its earliest stages.

The teenager, who the police identified as Javaughn Higgins, 16, was taken to Kings County Hospital Center with bullet wounds in his left leg and his cheek, the police said. He was shot after displaying what looked like a handgun, the official said. An imitation gun was later found in a flower box at 557 Carlton Avenue, near the shooting scene.

The official said that Mr. Higgins had the iPod and that the victim, who officers took to the scene shortly after the shooting, identified him as one of the robbers.

Charges against Mr. Higgins were pending last night, the police said. A spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney's office said that Mr. Higgins was indicted in July on a manslaughter charge in the death of a Bangladeshi immigrant, Mofizur Rahman, who died in May of injuries he suffered in a robbery and beating. Bail had been set at $150,000, said the spokesman, Jerry Schmetterer.

The victim of last night's robbery reported the theft at the 78th Precinct station house, the police said, and a description of the man with the gun was broadcast over the police radio.

Nearby on Dean Street at Carlton Avenue, the lieutenants, both plainclothes officers assigned to the 77th Precinct, were on patrol in an unmarked vehicle when they heard the description and realized that it matched that of Mr. Higgins, whom they saw walking on Dean Street, the official said.

The lieutenants chased after him. One ran after Mr. Higgins, who was heading eastbound on Dean Street, while the other drove after him and then pulled the car up onto the curb in front of a building at 618 Dean Street to prevent Mr. Higgins from going inside, the police said.

At some point outside the building, Mr. Higgins displayed what looked like a gun, the official said.

The lieutenant running after Mr. Higgins fired 15 shots. It was not clear last night if Mr. Higgins was struck by any of them.

The lieutenant in the car then ran after Mr. Higgins, who was backtracking and running west on Dean Street. That officer shot at Mr. Higgins seven times before tackling him at Carlton Avenue and Dean Street, the official said.

A Different Kind Of Spirituality

I stand in shul, praying. It is Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest days of the year. But it could be any other day I`m in shul, or for that matter, any time and place when I find myself in the middle of prayers or some other spiritual obligation.

I am surrounded by my children. My girls are at my side and my infant is in her carriage in front of me. I begin reciting the prayers, beseeching G-d for a good new year, asking for health, livelihood, success in raising my children and asking for a stronger connection with the Almighty — for Him to be a greater and more deeply felt presence in my life. I am seeking all the things, great and small, that we ask for in our daily audience with our Father in Heaven.

As I mouth the words that flow so readily to my lips, my leg is in perpetual motion, rocking my newborn`s carriage back and forth in the aisle before me. Meanwhile, one forefinger is pointing in my young daughter`s siddur (prayerbook) indicating to her the lines the cantor is reciting. The other arm is worming its way through the snack bag we prepared for my youngest son, in order to give him something to nibble on so he is occupied through the long service. And my eyes are alternating between scanning my siddur and keeping a watchful gaze at my infant, ensuring that the pacifier remains embedded in her mouth, lest she decide to practice her newly discovered baby vocabulary and compete with the cantor.

All this, while trying to meditate on my prayers — trying to establish a deeper awareness of and connection with G-d, trying to escape the material clutches of this world, trying to transcend the bounds of physicality.

At some point, the realization hits me that, under the circumstances, my prayers don`t seem all that spiritual, or all that connected. Nor very real, and certainly not transcendent.

My mind wanders back to those days — years and decades ago — when praying meant starting at the beginning and remaining focused until the conclusion, without any interruptions. I remember back to a time when my mouth read the words and my mind concentrated.

No leg rocking. No finger pointing. No snack bag rummaging. No constant eye scanning.
Just prayer. Just communicating with my Father in Heaven. Standing erect and in humble concentration, just me and my Maker.

I`m uttering the same words now. I`m asking for the same requests now, too — for health, happiness, success, livelihood, wisdom and understanding, direction and meaning, protection from pain or suffering, and goodness in our world. But back then, before the obligations of family and children became such an integral part of my life, they were said less hurriedly, and with much greater concentration.

My daily schedule was also filled with more acts of spirituality. Preparing for Shabbat or a holiday meant studying more, reciting extra Psalms, delving deeper into the commentaries of the weekly Torah reading. While I still try to make these activities a part of my life, preparations nowadays are more about how many chickens to defrost, which kugels to bake, and about ensuring that all the buttons are sewn on my children`s holiday clothing. Have I lost my spiritual focus and connection? How much more meaningful were those long-ago prayers and preparations? I thought about this as I stood in shul, mouth and limbs in auto mode. But then, as I continued saying the prayers, still asking for those very same things but now holding my gurgling, smiling infant daughter to my shoulder, suddenly the meaning of the prayers grew so much more significant, to the point that their prior worth seemed almost shallow.

Cradling my daughter`s tiny body in my arms, I prayed: ``Dear G-d, I need life, health and strength! Sure, I have always asked for these things. But now I need them. A day less, a day more, a year less or more, does it really matter? Yes! For this little one, I need health and strength. I need wisdom, guidance, happiness, sustenance and prosperity, peace in our world — for her, for all of them... for the six precious souls that you entrusted to me.``

As for myself, I can make do with a little more or a little less, with a larger house or a smaller one, with one outfit more or less, with a little more or a little less understanding, happiness or spirituality in my life. But dear G-d, for the sake of these little ones (and big ones) I now need it all.

How much more urgent and pressing each of the words uttered became. It was no longer a matter of me speaking to my Creator. On my shoulders, together with my infant daughter, I felt the weight of all my children, all their needs, all their wants. ``Dear G-d,`` I prayed, ``for their sake, make it a good day, a good week and a good year. Open up Your infinite treasury of goodness for them and for all of us.``

It`s true that as each new child is born, my life becomes more hectic and my prayers become more rushed or more condensed. But these same prayers now carry an entirely different definition of "want" and "need." It`s true that my day now contains many more mundane acts and perhaps fewer minutes of spiritual pursuits. But these acts aren`t really mundane at all.

They never were. Because every mundane act for them is a spiritual pursuit for me.

You see, my focus is not about my needs anymore — neither material nor spiritual. It is all about them. And another`s needs, whether big or small, spiritual or material, is anything but mundane. In fact, what can be more spiritual?

Celebrating Simchat Torah, Hurricane and All

As Hurricane Wilma walloped Hallandale, Florida, the local Chabad weathered the storm without wavering from their Simchat Torah holiday plans.

Morning prayer services were postponed until noon, when Wilma was projected to be on her way out, but not canceled. The evening's grand community dinner and plans to dance with the Torah that night were still on as well. All food had been prepared in advance of the storm, last minute purchases were made yesterday – ahead of Wilma's winds. Chabad of Hallandale's representative Rabbi Rephael Tennenhaus expects the dinner and dancing to draw a larger crowd than ever, especially since loss of electricity prevented most from cooking for the holiday. "The mitzvah of the holiday is to be joyous," Rabbi Tennenhaus told Lubavitch.com via cell phone as the winds roared. "Everyone will be grateful they made it through the storm and are able to celebrate the holiday."

Wilma's winds uprooted trees, knocked over gates, and whipped Sukkot holiday huts out of backyards. Branches from trees hurtled and "wires from telephone poles are shaking like lulavs," said Rabbi Tennenhaus referring to the palm branch that is waved in all directions on Sukkot.


According to weather reports, Hurricane Wilma is the strongest storm to hit Hallandale in forty years. The area escaped major damage from Hurricane Andrew, which devastated neighboring counties back in 1992.

While Wilma brewed on Sunday night, Chabad of Hallandale held a late night Psalm vigil. As prayers ended, Rabbi Tennenhaus and his congregants snacked on apples in the sukkah, known as Hallandale's Happy Hut. A congregant who had been evacuated from his mobile home camped out in the synagogue. Others joined him in order to be on time for morning services.

The fate of the Happy Hut was not known at press time, but Wilma was expected to finish her devastating whirl through the area by early afternoon. At that time, Rabbi Tennenhaus, his son Levi and others will be on hand to start cleaning up. Though electricity remained offline, Rabbi Tennenhaus was optimistic that a cool front in the storm's wake would make the outage manageable during the holiday celebration. "Simhat Torah is a definite. You can't cancel a holiday," said Rabbi Tennenhaus. "We will all be especially joyful this year."

In a similar spirit, Chabad of the Space Coast in Satellite Beach, Florida, held its annual Sukkah party on Sunday. Barbecue was served in the Sukkah, face painting and other holiday activities took place right on schedule. No matter what meteorologists forecast, Chabad carries on.

Celebrating the Torah on Sukkot

MONROE — A piece of New Orleans and Jewish history now rests permanently at a two-story corner home along Gravel Hill Road.

The home belongs to Rabbi Eliezer and Chanie Zaklikovsky, directors of the Chabad Jewish Center in Monroe. And the piece of history, a white Torah with golden script, traveled a long way from New Orleans to their doorstep.

Chabad members Freida and Leonard Posnock brought the Torah from Congregation Beth Israel in New Orleans, days before Hurricane Katrina destroyed the historic synagogue. The synagogue's remaining Torahs were buried in hardened mud and ruined.

"We saved a Torah," Freida Posnock, who attended the Congregation Beth Israel as a girl, said while tears welled in her eyes.

A crowd of more than 100 gathered yesterday afternoon to dedicate the new Torah and the Chabad, located at the Zaklikovsky's home. The outside ceremony also celebrated the Jewish holiday Sukkot with a barbecue, pony rides and arts and crafts.

"The Torah is our inheritance, and through that Jews are able to feel connected," Rabbi Zaklikovsky said. "It's good to see the traditions come alive and see the outpouring of support today from the community."

Smoke from the grill wafted as children made edible sukkahs from sugar wafers and marshmallow. Standing at the podium, Rabbi Zaklikovsky shared the meaning of the Sukkot celebration and the Torah and Chabad dedication.

"Jewish unity," he said, pausing. "Coming together to celebrate who we are as a people. Chabad is here to bring people together beyond our differences. Sukkot celebrates unity."

After placing a handmade silver crown on top of the Torah, Rabbi Zaklikovsky hoisted it and carried it through the crowd. People kissed the Torah and gently ran their fingers across it before Zaklikovsky placed it in the home.

"This is Jewish unity and Jewish pride at its best," said Zaklikovsky, adding he previously borrowed a Torah from a Brooklyn rabbi. "The spirit of brotherly love — it means so much."

Freida Posnock agreed.

"It's a beautiful day, and (the Zaklikovskys) are rejuvenating a lot of people in this community," she said. "Judaism is a tradition that needs to be carried on."

The Chabad was previously located at a nearby Gravel Hill Road home, which the Zaklikovskys rented before moving to their new house in November.

The Zaklikovskys are now raising money for a $200,000 construction project that will add another 1,800 square feet onto the home.

"We have been blessed since the moment we moved to Monroe," Rabbi Zaklikovsky said. "This is a very exciting place, and as we grow and make friends, it will only get better."

Chabad Recognized By UCM

After Eight Years, Group Wins Official Place in Campus Jewish Community

Eight years after arriving at Columbia, Chabad has finally been recognized as an official campus group.

Chabad, an organization led by Hasidic Jews, has unofficially been a part of campus for years but was just granted recognition under United Campus Ministries as Columbia's newest Jewish organization, after first applying in 2003.

"Everything is a process and this wasn't going to happen overnight," said Rabbi Yonah Blum, who runs Chabad out of his 110th street apartment. "It took a while but sometimes that is how life works. Not everything is simple and immediate."

The membership procedure of the United Campus Ministries includes submission of a resume by the potential group representative, a petition of at least 30 current Columbia University students interested in joining the religious group, and an interview with University Chaplain Jewelnel Davis.

Davis said she made the final decision to recognize Chabad largely because "Rabbi Blum will be a great support to students seeking involvement with Chabad's activities, and will support interfaith and intercultural programming initiated by the Office of the University Chaplain and by students."

Chabad differs from Hillel, Columbia's largest Jewish organizational umbrella group, in several ways. While Hillel has 56 subgroups under its name, Chabad is a smaller, more intimate organization that has cultivated a following of students who did not feel Hillel, which includes programming for Jewish students of all denominations, met their religious needs.

Other differences between the two groups involve the organization's respective leadership structures.

"Hillel is an organization modeled on student leadership. Chabad is not student-led," said Andy Lebwohl, a current CU law student and Hillel's 2003 president.

This difference in leadership is one reason tension arose when Chabad decided to apply for recognition.

"Chabad arrived on campus and did things the Chabad way," Lebwohl said. He said that Hillel believed its student-run leadership was more appropriate in the Columbia community. "But even when I was Hillel president and actively opposed Chabad recognition, Rabbi Blum invited me to his house. Now, Hillel and Chabad have an excellent working relationship," he said.

Dov Sebrow, president of Yavneh, Hillel's Orthodox and largest subgroup, acknowledged that Hillel initially fought against recognition for Chabad. "I don't think Hillel was being arrogant, they were just used to being the only Jewish group on campus," Sebrow said. "It was just hard to make the transition from one Jewish campus organization to two."

Feds Investigate Van Fire At Swampscott Synagogue

(CBS4) SWAMPSCOTT Federal investigators have been called in to find out who torched a van outside a North shore synagogue over the weekend.

The van was parked in the driveway of the Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore in Swampscott. Police say it was set on fire Saturday.

It's the second time this month that the synagogue has been the target of vandalism. Vandals entered the synagogue through an unlocked door right before Rosh Hashanah, scrawling hate messages inside. Two paintings of former rabbis were destroyed, and knife was stuck in the wall.

State and local police and the State Fire marshal's office are investigating the latest crime. They say it's too early to determine if it was a hate crime, or if it is connected to the earlier vandalisn. Because the incident took place at a house of worship, the ATF is also involved.

Jews close the book on another year, celebrate the new

PORTSMOUTH — Some say it was received by Moses directly from God, while others call it divinely inspired human handiwork. But there's no dispute about the Torah's importance to Jews, or the joyfulness at Temple Sinai, where members this week celebrated Simchat Torah , the annual Jewish holiday honoring the sacred text.

"Nothing conveys Jewish attachment to Torah more literally than Simchat Torah, which means 'rejoicing in the Torah,' " said Dr. Norbert Newfield , a past president of the synagogue. "It's one of the most joyous of holidays."

Simchat Torah, which comes after the more widely known holy days of Rosh Hashana , Yom Kippur and Sukkot , marks the conclusion of the year long cycle of Torah readings at synagogue services. The Torah consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy , which also are known as the Five Books of Moses .

While the holiday is not among those specified in the Torah, "there is a biblical mandate for this being a happy time," said Jonathan Dauber , a Judaic studies scholar at Virginia Wesleyan College in Virginia Beach. He said that "from a Jewish perspective, it's inconceivable that finishing the Torah would not be a happy time."

Depending on the synagogue or particular tradition within Judaism, the decorum of regular worship services makes way at Simchat Torah for revelry that may include singing, eating, drinking and, at Chabad Lubavitch of Tidewater, Zorba-the-Greek-style dancing by adults and children alike.

"Our feet may both be off the floor at the same time. We're actually jumping with joy," said Chabad's Rabbi Levi Brashevitzky , whose Orthodox synagogue, in Norfolk, observed Simchat Torah on Tuesday night. "You celebrate by actually being the feet of the Torah, by lifting up the Torah and carrying it, dancing with it."

The festivities were less frisky on Monday for the Simchat Torah Eve service at Temple Sinai, a Reform synagogue on Portsmouth's Hatton Point Road .

"Now our cycle ends and begins again, with song and dance," Rabbi Arthur Z. Steinberg said as he began his 26th Simchat Torah service in the modern-style sanctuary of wood, glass and brick.

"Eternal Torah! The more we hold you close, the more you lift us up. We will be glad, we will rejoice," responded about 30 congregants who defied rainy, chilly weather to attend.

After more readings from a prayer book, Steinberg spun the ark – a big, hollow sphere that rotated on its axis – and lifted out the synagogue's two Torahs, each more than 300 years old. Each scroll, consisting of scores of skin parchment pages glued together, was rolled around twin dowels with double-ended handles.

Followed by two men who carried the scrolls, Steinberg led congregants in a march that snaked up and down the sanctuary aisles. Wa ving little blue flags with the Star of David, they sang songs from other Jewish holidays as well as a tune usually heard at Sabbath services on Friday nights. "Bim, bom, bim, bom, bim, Shabbat shalom," they sang: "Sabbath peace!"

The procession completed, Steinberg recited in Hebrew the last words of the year's Torah readings – and began the cycle afresh in the same breath with the first words of Genesis. "In the beginning, God created the earth …," he translated.

Yet the crowning moment of the evening was to come.

"The Torah does not belong to me," Steinberg said. "The Torah belongs to every member of the congregation, and generically the Torah belongs to the Jewish people. I want you to feel it."

Knowing what was coming, congregants formed a double line down the center aisle. As Steinberg held one end of a Torah, Newfield held the other and shuffled backward between the lines, unrolling the scroll that was hand-copied in the era of the Quakers' arrival in Colonial Pennsylvania.

With palms up, men, women and children held the Torah in their extended arms. Breathed over it. Felt its slightly oily texture, examined the neat, black Hebrew lettering, listened as Steinberg translated the exposed text.

"Here, Adam and Eve are talking about the tree of knowledge of good and evil … here is the story of Noah," he said, working his way down the parchment. "Here, messengers are telling Sarah and Abraham that they're going to be having a baby."

It was a moment that congregant Harriet McCullough said she looks forward to every year.

"Not a lot of synagogues do this, give everybody an opportunity to hold the scroll," McCullough said after the service. "It's pretty powerful, even the parchment itself. It feels living."

Jewish students carry out Sukkot traditions with campus community

When Josh Goldman saw students poking the canvas of his man-made hut behind Commons Building 2, he invited them inside, realizing how strange this 8-by-10 foot bamboo-roofed, tentlike structure appeared to most onlookers.

After checking out the plush grass floor, high-strung blue bulb lighting and walls adorned with homemade drawings, the curious students had only one word — "Pimpin'."

Goldman, a junior accounting major, built a "sukkah" for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which commemorates the huts the Jews built in the desert when they left Egypt in the 14th century B.C.

The seven-day autumn holiday calls on Jews to build a temporary dwelling that basically becomes their home for the week.

There are nine sukkahs located on and around the campus, including at the Hillel Center, outside of Commons, at Chabad Student Center on Hopkins Avenue, at the Alpha Epsilon Pi satellite house and at other private residences.

While they are technically required to eat and sleep in the sukkah, few students choose the primitive huts over their "luxurious" campus facilities.

"It's just too cold outside," Ilana Libby, a freshman psychology major, said as she ate her breakfast inside the Hillel dining hall.

Some take the custom to more extreme degrees. Noah Goldman, a senior physics and astronomy major, sleeps in the sukkah for most of the holiday. "My roommates barely see me during Sukkot," Goldman said. "You're supposed to make the sukkah your home, which means that everything you do in your home you should do in the sukkah."

For him, that includes eating, sleeping and studying. Goldman said if he's not in the Physics Building, he's probably in the sukkah at Hillel.

In a less traditional display of Sukkot, Yossi Bryski came from New York to help Chabad, a Jewish outreach organization, spread the Sukkot traditions on the go with a sukkah-on-wheels.

"If they can't make it to the sukkah, you bring the sukkah to them," he said. The mobile sukkah has been spotted everywhere from Wawa to the campus dining halls and has drawn hundreds of Jewish students in for quick blessings and free meals.

As for the curious non-Jews, Bryski says most have been respectful of the hut and traditions once he explains them. He'll even let you shake the Lulav and Etrog, a myrtle branch and lemonlike fruit which symbolize the joining of the Jewish heart, mind and body, so you don't feel left out.

To round out the recent string of Jewish holidays, Jews celebrate Simchat Torah Wednesday, marking the end of the yearly cycle of reading the Torah. It's a time for the Jewish community to unite and reach new spiritual awakenings, but some students see the holiday as a reason to get drunk.

Some students believe drinking makes it easier to achieve a spiritual high while they're celebrating and rejoicing with the sacred Torah scrolls.

Other members of the community disagree.

About 85 to 90 percent of Orthodox Jews will drink on the holiday, Judah Fuld, junior economics major estimated.

"I think in most communities it's condoned," Fuld said, "but it's condoned because it's thought to be drinking for a higher purpose, but in actuality it's not."

Rabbi Ari Israel, Hillel's executive director, sees Simchat Torah as a "way to celebrate our devotion to the Torah and to come together as a community," and added, "I would rather people celebrate the holiday out of a spiritual quest than to use a vice that masks the reality of the holiday."

Hillel has a strict alcohol policy and doesn't condone drinking in general. Letters sent out to community leaders explained Torah scrolls will not be handled by anyone who seems intoxicated, drinking is prohibited in and around Hillel, and alcohol will be confiscated if it's discovered.

Sober or not, the night promises a good time with friends, ample singing and seven rounds of dancing.

After a week of hut-living, four days of missed classes and one night of frivolity and dancing, it's back to the old routine, but you can't help but wonder, where are all the "Jews Have More Fun" T-shirts?

A city-wide celebration of renewal

Students at Brandeis may have built the largest sukkah in the Boston area, at 1,350 square feet.

Local youth groups mark holiday with community events

As the community enjoys the holiday of Sukkot, synagogues, colleges and Jewish groups around the Greater Boston area are involved in an array of innovative festive programs catering specifically to young people.

You won't sit in a more eye-catching sukkah than the one currently attracting big crowds at Harvard Hillel. Jewish students there claim it's the largest octagonal-shaped sukkah in the world. Michael Simon, Harvard Hillel's director of programming, said: "We don't know if there are any other octagonal sukkot, and we have no independent verification although I can verify that it is eight sided. We stand by that claim until proven otherwise."
Elsewhere, the Chabad at Brandeis believes it may have errected the largest sukkah in the Greater Boston area. Rabbi Peretz Chein of the Chabad House at Brandeis says its temporary dwelling, which was 105 square feet in 2002, will be 1,350 square feet this year. He said: "We believe it may be the largest free-standing sukkah in Boston to host Sukkot dinner."
Both organizations have the same goal with their large sukkot. Chein explains: "At the Chabad House we give students a 'Jewish home experience,' which is the most effective and relevant form of Judaism. The large sukkah is a place where all students from extremely diverse backgrounds come together and are at home."
Brandeis students built the sukkah themselves. Emily Silbergeld, a Brandeis student who helped build the Chabad House's sukkah, said: "It really shows the importance of student involvement in making things happen. There's such a sense of family. Students get involved and stay involved because they see Chabad as a home from home."
Besides its sizable sukkah, the Harvard Hillel is planning other events, including Sukkat Salaam, a joint dinner between Hillel and the Harvard Islamic Society to celebrate Ramadan and Sukkot. "A very important aspect of Sukkot is that you welcome friends, guests, and strangers into your sukkah," said Simon. "We wanted to fulfill the meaning of Sukkot, which is really to open the flaps of your tent wide and expand our community."
In addition to student events, programs for the entire community are being planned. A Sukkah-Fest in Downtown Boston at Faneuil Hall, organized by the Chabads of Swampscott, Andover and Lexington, will feature a large sukkah, live music by Pey Dalid and glatt kosher food. "It's an opportunity to feel good about the holiday and also give people a sense of community," said Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, spiritual leader of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore. "People can come together and give their children a sense that they can walk out into the world and still enjoy Sukkot." Sukkah-Fest, which was organized with the assistance of Congressmen Marty Meehan, hopes to become an annual event.
Another concert open to all members of the community will feature Shotei Hanevuah, or The Fools of Prophecy, an Israeli Middle Eastern rock band and is being sponsored by the Harvard Hillel. Avi Poupko, the Hillel's campus rabbi, has seen Shotei Hanevuah perform in Israel 15 times. "They are a new generation of Israeli musicians who are deeply connected to their Jewish identity, which is a new trend for Israeli musicians," said Poupko.
Sukkot, the Feast of the Tabernacles, is a seven-day holiday commemorating the 40-year wanderings of the Jews in the desert, during which they lived in huts, or sukkot.