Wordsmith: Tamim

The tamim is unflappable. He does not sway with the winds of change, nor bend to meet the expectations of others. He is a simple and straightforward person. What you see is what you get.

Shmuel Loebenstein | Features | Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Remembering Rebbetzin Chana: Jewish Feminine Role Model

Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, a feminine role model of Jewish activism and proponent of Jewish scholarship, mother of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and wife of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok, is being remembered today, on her yahrzeit.

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Defying Religious Stereotypes on Israel’s College Campuses

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Interview with Russian Transportation Magnate David Aminov

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Desperately Seeking Jews in the Australian Outback

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Monday, August 3, 2015

Helping Jews Meet & Marry

Rena Greenberg | Features | Wednesday, July 29, 2015

In The Footsteps of Their Parents

Rena Greenberg | Features | Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Women Front, Center of Budapest’s Budding Jewish Community

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Wednesday, July 22, 2015

In Once-Judenrein Germany Jewish Life Blossoms

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Thursday, July 16, 2015

Learning Life Lessons From Wacky Science

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Thursday, July 9, 2015

Soul Strings Beckon, A Conductor Follows

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Thursday, July 2, 2015

The Rebbe's Advice for Life

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Thursday, June 18, 2015

Wordsmith: Chasid

Shmuel Lobenstein | Features | Friday, May 29, 2015

After 30 Years, Rabbi Fulfills Promise to Dying Mother

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Thursday, May 14, 2015

Preparing Them for Bar Mitzvah: Rabbi Works With Special Children

Michele Alperin | Features | Monday, May 11, 2015

Des Moines Diary: Pastrami for the Soul

Miriam Karp | Features | Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Judaism Grows in Pacific Northwest

Features | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Abandoned in Kharkiv? Community in Crisis Struggles for Survival

Baila Olidort | Features | Thursday, April 9, 2015

Education Lessons from President Reagan’s Speech

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Nonagenarian Thanks Russia for Liberating Her from Auschwitz

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Monday, March 9, 2015

Chabad Families, Communities, Grow in Small, Remote Communities

Rena Greenberg | Features | Thursday, February 12, 2015

Dust Particles: Levi Robin, Singer/Songwriter

Features | Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Unseen, Unheard, Poor Philadelphia Demographic Becomes Community Concern

Rena Greenberg | Features | Thursday, January 15, 2015

Promise Made by Little Hungarian Girl During WWII Fulfilled

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Town with “No Jews” Gets Its Own Jewish Center

Rena Greenberg | Features | Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Building Bridges Across the Ocean with Israel Connect

Rena Greenberg | Features | Tuesday, December 30, 2014

After Battles Fought and Won, Menorah Lights Shine

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Children Travel Through Jewish Time

Marla Cohen | Features | Thursday, December 18, 2014

As American as Apple Pie: Chanukah at the Stadium

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Wednesday, December 10, 2014

A Menorah With A Past Donated To Chabad of Ottawa

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Friday, December 5, 2014

Brooklyn Beat: "Excuse Me, Are You Jewish?"

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Thursday, December 4, 2014

Early Childhood Studies Spur Parents To Choose Jewish Preschools

Rena Greenberg | Features | Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Murdered by Soviets in 1938, Jewish Activist’s Gravesite Found

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Monday, November 3, 2014

Monday the Rabbi Brought Soup

Rena Greenberg | Features | Friday, October 31, 2014

Pre-War Chabad Yeshiva Building in Poland Long Thought Gone, Is Found

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Thursday, October 30, 2014

After Firebomb Ukraine Synagogue Sees Growth

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Shofar In The Park

Dovid Zaklikowski | Features | Wednesday, September 24, 2014

A Train Crash, A Missing Spouse, A Day in the Life of Two Chabad Rabbis

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Interview: On The Art of the Halakhic Process With Rabbi Chaim Rapoport

Life without discipline may be more pleasurable but with halakhic discipline it is more meaningful. Jewish law is about the human responding to the Divine call.

Baila OLidort | Features | Thursday, November 14, 2013

A Community of Jewish Teens Grows On Boston’s North Shore

15-year-old Sasha Matusevich grew up on Boston’s North Shore. In many ways, the public school sophomore is your typical American teenager whose love for dancing made her drop out of Hebrew school at age 11.

Rishe Groner | Features | Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Blog: A Sukkah Party In the Woods of Maine

A year ago, Yehudah Dukes of the Jewish Learning Network, paired me up with Robert. I lived in Australia and Robert, in the woods of Maine.

Yosef Hazdan | Features | Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Pollinating New Holiday Growth

In Israel, honey jars fly off store shelves during the High Holiday season, when Jews pray for and wish each other a New Year filled with sweetness.

R. C. Berman | Features | Sunday, September 19, 2010

Israel’s Two Wheel Yom Kippur Dilemma

The origin of biking on Yom Kippur in Israel is murky, but it is ironically tied to the widespread reverence that Israelis—even secular ones—have for this holiest of Jewish days

R. C. Berman | Features | Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Israel: Secular Kibbutz Members Welcome Torah Study, Prayer

In Kibbutz Beit Alfa’s Children’s House, director Anat Lev is busy planning High Holiday activities with the local Chabad rabbi

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, September 13, 2010

Rabbi Isaac Luria, Mystic for the Ages

Friday, July 16, marks the anniversary of the passing, of Rabbi Isaac Luria on the fifth of the Hebrew month of Av.

Mordechai Lightstone | Features | Friday, July 16, 2010

In Conversation: New Chabad Representatives To Mumbai

As a rabbinical student, I spent time in Mumbai helping the Holtzbergs. Gabi was a dear friend, and I knew Mumbai and the community. But after five months there, I knew I’d never want to live there. It’s not an easy place.

Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters | Features | Thursday, June 17, 2010

Beating Dyslexia: Michael Zarchin’s Story

In 1960, when Michael Zarchin was six years old, he had yet to learn to speak normally. He could not read, write, or understand basic math. Psychiatric and medical diagnoses ranged from challenged

Amihai Zippor | Features | Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Dutch Government Acknowledges Failure To Protect Jews

On Wednesday April 28, members of the Dutch government apologized to Holland's Jewish community at the site of the former Westerbork concentration

Mordechai Lightstone | Features | Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Reaching For Heaven: An Observant Jew Navigates the Skies

n the cockpit of an Air France Airbus 330, about an hour after takeoff, on a flight from Paris to Senegal, with the plane safely on auto-pilot...

Features | Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Lag B'Omer: Of Mystics and Merriment

More than a million people visit annually, but it is during the 24-hour period of Lag B’Omer that the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai really gets festive.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Friday, April 30, 2010

The Hidden Jews of Solano County

S. Fridman | Features | Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Greenbergs 17: A Leader in Every Time Zone

(lubavitch.com) Some call it “fate,” but the Greenbergs prefer “mission.” The children of Rabbi Moshe and Devorah Greenberg—there are seventeen in all—were raised in Bnei Brak, Israel. But today the family is dispersed around the globe in places as remote as Alaska, Ukraine, and Shanghai.

Features | Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Transition in Lubavitch: January 28, 1950

Today, the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Shvat, marks the sixtieth Yahrtzeit of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn of Lubavitch.

Mordechai Lightstone | Features | Monday, January 25, 2010

Holocaust Survivors Find Social Support With Ivolunteer

Under Manhattan’s dazzling lights, Holocaust survivors met Tuesday at the Cooper Square Hotel’s magnificent penthouse, where they were joined by donors and volunteers in celebration and support of Ivolunteer.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Thursday, January 14, 2010

Major Jewish Philanthropist Explores Chabad's Russian Roots

Guma Aguiar is making up for lost time. Last week, the young billionaire sprinted through blizzard conditions in Russia and Ukraine, tracing the early history of Chabad in Haditch, where its founder, Rabbi Schneur

B. Olidort | Features | Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Allegheny vs. ACLU: Good for Chanukah

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that placing Chabad-owned menorahs in public spaces did not violate the establishment clause, it set a slab of precedent for Chabad centers to rest their menorah requests upon.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, December 10, 2009

Scion of Chabad Musical Family Passes Away

Rabbi Shamshon Charitonow, an expert on Chasidic melodies and a survivor of Soviet oppression, passed away last Thursday, Nov 26, in Brooklyn. He was 91 years old.

Mordechai Lightstone | Features | Thursday, December 3, 2009

Remembering Mumbai: A Traveler’s Reflections On the First Yahrzeit

On November 26, 2008 at 9:45PM, two terrorists stormed the Chabad House in Mumbai, India. When I heard a CNN news report that members of Nariman House were being held hostage

Hillary Lewin | Features | Wednesday, November 18, 2009

U.S. Military Armory Is Transformed for Chabad Banquet

This Sunday evening, thousands will file into the Troop C Armory for the banquet session, concluding the International Conference of Shluchim.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Sunday, November 15, 2009

Have Bed, Will Host: Crown Heights Residents Host Travelers Year Round

The Crown Heights community’s hosting marathon begins in September, when thousands of visitors arrive for the High Holidays—often staying as long as six weeks

Sara Spielman | Features | Thursday, November 12, 2009

In Conversation: Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky was secretary to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, for a period of 40 years. As a young boy of 13, he came to New York from Boston, where he met the man who, four years later was to become the 7th Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch. The Rebbe reached out to the young yeshiva student living away from home, in ways, says Rabbi Krinsky, that moved him and sustain him to this day.

Features | Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Dear Rebbe, I Have A Story For you

The following letter was sent to the Lubavitcher Rebbe probably in the early 1980s, and brought to the attention of the Wellsprings journal by the Rebbe’s secretariat. To protect the identity of the individuals involved, the writer’s name, and that of her partner’s were changed.

Features | Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Drug Rabbi Gets High Award

(lubavitch.com) Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 83rd birthday last week with a parade in her honor (moved several months beyond her actual birthday due to weather concerns). As she does every year, the Queen announced a list of birthday honors commending the most prestigious achievements of her subjects. Rabbi Aryeh Sufrin , Chabad’s representative to Ilford, was nominated and chosen to become a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). 

R. C. Lundy | Features | Sunday, June 21, 2009

Kfar Chabad: It Takes A Village . . .

Five miles south of Tel Aviv and near Ben Gurion airport is Israel’s modern day version of Anatevka, complete with agricultural fields, milk cows, numerous educational institutions, more than 8,000 Chasidic Jews, and the headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch in the Holy Land.

Zalman Nelson | Features | Thursday, June 4, 2009

Chabad Remembers Israel's Efraim Katzir

Efraim Katzir , Israel’s fourth president who served from 1973 to 1978, internationally recognized biophysicist, and Zionist activist, died Saturday evening in his home at the Weizman Institute in Rehovot. He was 93.

Zalman Nelson | Features | Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A Jerusalem Landmark: Chabad's Tzemach Tzedek Shul

Figuring largely in the history of Jerusalem’s Old City and its reunification after the 1967 Six Day War, is Chabad-Lubavitch’s Tzemach-Tzedek Synagogue .

Joel Haber | Features | Friday, May 22, 2009

Business Unusual: A Chabad Rabbi Helps Businesses Grow

R. C. Lundy | Features | Wednesday, May 20, 2009

400,000 Head to Mt. Meron for Lag B'Omer

Every 20 seconds, another bus arrives at Mt. Meron in Israel’s Upper Galillee. Lag B’Omer, which begins  Monday night, is one of the liveliest days in Israel, and Miron, where the second century mystic, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, author of the Zohar , who died on this day was buried, becomes a magnet for some 400,000 visitors.

Zalman Nelson | Features | Monday, May 11, 2009

Jewish Organization Implores Pope To Help Identify Hidden Children of Holocaust

(lubavitch.com) Pope Benedict XVI’s scheduled visit to Israel May 11-15 is eliciting mixed reactions among Israelis. But Chabad Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz hopes the visit will help him in his efforts to save lost souls.

Zalman Nelson | Features | Thursday, May 7, 2009

Building Jewish Futures in Reno, Nevada

(lubavitch.com) Three mornings a week, Tracy Kutler straps five-year old Griffin into the family car for the 45-minute drive from Truckee, California to Reno, Nevada.

C. R. Lundy | Features | Sunday, May 3, 2009

Books: Meditations on Mitzvot

In this advance review, Shmuel Klatzkin looks at Channeling the Divine and Feminine Faith, Chasidic works written by the fourth Rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch .

Shmuel Klatzkin | Features | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Zelda: Remembering an Israeli Poet

(lubavitch.com) Among the poets in Israel’s literary circle, many quietly remembered Zelda Schneurson Mishkovsky on Tuesday (April 21) 27 Nissan. That Zelda, as she was simply called, died on the same day designated by the state of Israel as Holocaust Remembrance day, is in itself poetic; her poetry, for which she received the Bialik Prize in literature, speaks of death and darkness but also of renewal and transcendence.

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Jewish Participants Find A Welcome Antidote to Durban II

(lubavitch.com) Tensions fomented inside the UN conference in Geneva on Monday when delegates walked out as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used the platform to condemn Israel and the West. Outside, Jewish students and diplomats found a blessed antidote to the Iranian president’s hatefulness, as they were greeted at The Jewish Welcome Center.

Zalman Nelson | Features | Monday, April 20, 2009

At Pratt University, Students Design Chabad's Jewish Center

(lubavitch.com) 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.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Sunday, April 19, 2009

Expelled From Russia, Chabad Rabbis Lead By Remote

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

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Passover Seders With Chabad in Mumbai

(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.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, April 6, 2009

President Obama Proclaims Rebbe's Birthday as Education & Sharing Day USA

Features | Sunday, April 5, 2009

Survivor of the Gulag, Reb Mottel the Schochet, 97

Known affectionately as "Reb Mottel the Shochet”, he was the sole ritual slaughterer, or shochet, in Moscow during the last two decades of Communist rule.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, March 25, 2009

In Conversation: Rabbi Nochem Kaplan

Rabbi Nochem Kaplan , Director of the education office of Merkos L'inyonei Chinuch, was recently elected President of the National Council for Private School Accreditation (NCPSA), the umbrella organization for accrediting agencies of private schools in the U.S. from early childhood through grade 12.

Features | Monday, March 16, 2009

PM Harper To Chabad: Canada A Defender of Jews, Israel

(lubavitch.com) Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper greeted Chabad-Lubavitch Canadian representatives Thursday, denouncing anti-Semitism and promising to repudiate it wherever it surfaces.

Features | Friday, March 13, 2009

In Conversation: Russia's Chief Rabbi On Russia and the Jews Today

Even by western standards, Moscow’s Jewish infrastructure is impressive. In the Marina Roscha part of the city, a complex of buildings houses the community's comprehensive social and educational institutions catering to Moscow’s Jewish population.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, March 2, 2009

After 22 Years, Netherlands Names Chief Rabbi

( lubavitch.com ) In an official ceremony earlier this week at the Arnhem Synagogue in Holland, Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs was formally given the title of Inter-Provincial chief rabbi with the responsibilities for Jewish life in 11 out of 12 of Holland’s state provinces.

Zalman Nelson | Features | Friday, February 27, 2009

Matchmaker, Matchmaker . . .

When Fiddler on the Roof made its 1964 debut under the bright white lights of Broadway, theater-goers and reviewers hailed it as a period piece with rich nostalgic value, but little relevance to contemporary society.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Remembering the Life of a Jewish Feminine Role Model: Rebbetzin Chaya Moussia Schneerson

( lubavitch.com ) Greatness comes in many forms. Often we imagine the character of a giant as someone who influences an entire world, forgetting the silent majesty of those who make such greatness possible.

Features | Monday, February 16, 2009

Chabad Conference Initiatives: Rivkah's Tent

(lubavitch.com) The Midrash in Bereishit Rabbah 60 speaks of the candles that burned and the challah that remained fresh from week to week in Sarah’s tent. These, and the cloud of glory that rested above, disappeared upon her passing. They were only to return when her daughter-in-law, Rivkah, arrived and married her son.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Sunday, February 15, 2009

Hitting the Books: Shluchim Take Their Study to the Web

If he is not affixing a mezuzah to a doorpost, lighting a mega-menorah, or frantically picking up last-minute groceries for a large Shabbat dinner, a typical shliach can often be found teaching a class or comforting the bereaved.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Sunday, February 15, 2009

Welcome To A New President

The idea of “e pluribus unum” (out of many - one) that appears on U.S.currency, sums up the American democratic process. A government is installed when the "pluribus," the many, participate in free and true elections, thus ensuring a smooth transition of power from one administration to the next. The entire purpose of any election is the unity that will be its consequence; for once the majority has expressedits choice, even the dissenting minority must unite behind that decision.

Features | Tuesday, January 20, 2009

At Argentine Consulate, Hundreds Bid For Art and Orphans

(lubavitch.com) Thursday night’s frigid temperatures did not factor in at all at the Argentine Consulate of New York City, where hundreds of guests mingled happily with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres for an evening dedicated to art and a good cause.

S. Fridman | Features | Friday, January 16, 2009

Korean Prime Minister Thanks Chabad at Buy Korea 2009

Korean Prime Minister Han Seung Soo , attending the exhibition at the COEX exhibition center where some 1000 international businesses were represented, personally greeted Chabad-Lubavitch representative to Korea, Rabbi Osher Litzman , thanking him for accommodating the needs of observant Jews.

Features | Friday, January 16, 2009

As Gaza Ground War Intensifies, Chabad Steps Up Support Activities

(lubavitch.com)  As Israeli Defense Forces began the long anticipated ground operation to end rocket fire into the Southern communities, its soldiers are penetrating Gaza's dangerous interior and Chabad representatives are intensifying their own support efforts both for the soldiers and Israel's southern residents.

Zalman Nelson | Features | Sunday, January 4, 2009

Under Rockets and Sirens, A New Baby Is Welcomed in Ashkelon

How does one plan a brit milah under the rain of mortar shells? Who will manage to get a minyan together, a mohel , let alone a festive meal, under the cacophony of red alert sirens and rockets that explode at random?

Miriam Davids | Features | Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Father of Slain Terror Victim Kindles Menorah on Liberty Island

(lubavitch.com)-- Freezing temperatures and icy winds whipped Liberty Island off the New York harbor Tuesday night. Hardly a night for a boat ride with the kids, and several hundred adults and children, plus distinguished city and state officials came out into the cold to celebrate a unique Chanukah lighting.

Miriam Davids | Features | Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Remembering Chabad's Beginnings, 210 Years Ago

Today, the Jewish calendar date of 19 Kislev, marks the Chasidic New Year. It is the date on which, in 1798, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Chasidism, was released from Czarist imprisonment.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, December 15, 2008

US SENATE CONDEMNS TERROR ATTACKS IN MUMBAI Senate Passes Casey-Voinovich Resolution

T he U.S. Senate late last night passed a bipartisan resolution introduced by U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and George Voinovich (R-OH) condemning the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. 

Features | Thursday, December 11, 2008

Chabad Tries to Maintain Services in Riot Crippled Greece

(lubavitch.com) Despite nationwide rioting that has destroyed businesses, government property, and private assets, it is business as usual for Rabbi Mendel and Nechama Hendel of Athens, Greece. “Chabad’s programs and activities will continue,” he says resolutely.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Young Energy Magnate Promises 'Taking Care of Chabad A Priority'

(lubavitch.com) Shattered by the murders in Mumbai, one energy magnate is picking up the pieces by making a significant contribution to a Florida Chabad center.

EJ Tansky | Features | Tuesday, December 9, 2008

I'm Still Waiting For You, Rivki

C hani Lifshitz , Chabad representative in Katamandu, Nepal, wrote a letter to her close friend, Rivkah Holtzberg , following the tragedy in Mumbai. Lubavitch.com presents a translation from the Hebrew that appeared in the Israeli paper, Yediot Achronot.

Chani Lifshitz | Features | Sunday, December 7, 2008

THOUSANDS REMEMBER CHABAD'S GAVRIEL AND RIVKAH HOLTZBERG: Vow to Continue Holy Work

A huge crowd of about ten-thousand people gathered in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Tuesday afternoon to remember the lives of Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg

Sarah Bronson | Features | Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Jewish Victims Come Home

The IAF plane carrying the remains of the six Jews murdered in Mumbai landed at an army near Ben Gurion airport in Israel at 11:30 Monday night for a private State ceremony.

Features | Monday, December 1, 2008

For Gabi and Rivki, In Blessed Memory

Just minutes ago I heard the terrible news that five Israeli hostages were found dead inside the Chabad House in Mumbai. Although the media hasn’t officially confirmed their identities yet, it seems quite certain that they are Chabad Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his wife Rivka, an Israeli couple, and another Israeli.

Features | Monday, December 1, 2008

Shabbat Candle Lighting Revival in Wake of Chabad Mumbai Tagedy

In his press conference following receiving confirmation of the killings in Mumbai last Friday, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman, of the worldwide Educational and Social Services arms of the Chabad-Lubavitch Movement

Features | Monday, December 1, 2008

Mumbai Jewish Community, Survivors, Grieve For Victims

 Jewish community in Mumbai, Israeli delegation hold ceremony in memory of men, women murdered by terrorists at Chabad center. Victims' bodies to be flown to Israel on IAF plane. Chabad emissary's father says prayer for casualties, thanks Indian nanny for saving his grandson's life.

Ronen Medzini/YNETnews | Features | Monday, December 1, 2008

Condolences: We Mourn Together With Chabad

Letters of condolence continue to fill the lubavitch.com inbox.

Features | Sunday, November 30, 2008

A Last Shabbat With The Holtzbergs in Mumbai

(lubavitch.com) Responses and condolences from people worldwide continue to fill the inbox of lubavitch.com's email. Some, like Olga Daniela Bakayeva,  a nurse at Seattle's Children's Hospital, had the privilege to visit the Chabad House in Mumbai. Below, Olga shares the experience of the Holtzbergs' memorable hospitality.

Features | Sunday, November 30, 2008

Jews Stranded in Bangkok

(lubavitch.com) With the Bangkok’s airport shut down by anti-government protesters, Chabad of Thailand is prepared to host a greater number of visitors, mostly Israelis stranded in the country.

R.C. Berman | Features | Sunday, November 30, 2008

Chabad Representatives To Be Buried In Israel

(lubavitch.com) Three days of intense fighting and fear ended in grief late Friday when the deaths of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg were confirmed in Mumbai, India. Reports indicate that Mrs. Holtzberg was killed Thursday, while her husband was killed shortly before the ordeal was over.  

Dvora Lakein | Features | Saturday, November 29, 2008

Confirmed: Chabad Emissary Couple Killed in Mumbai

Just a short while ago, we received the definitve news confirming the brutal murder of two of our finest, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg.

Features | Friday, November 28, 2008

Chabad Does Thanksgiving

(lubavitch.com) Though a popular grade-school history lesson, and a much-anticipated festival with all the trimmings, the story behind Thanksgiving remains a bit sketchy. Regardless of its provenance, Americans appreciate a good celebration, and Thanksgiving has been a national holiday for almost 400 years.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, November 26, 2008

When Shluchim Come Marching In: Gala Banquet Concludes Chabad-Lubavitch Conference

(lubavitch.com) As temperatures in New York City dipped to unseasonably low digits Sunday night, the atmosphere inside Pier 94 heated up. Well over 4,000 Chabad-Lubavitch shluchim, lay leaders, and supporters filed into the 175,000 square ft. hall for the highlight of the International Conference of Shluchim: banquet night. Attendees have been participating in workshops, round-table discussions, and informal meetings all weekend, but it is the banquet that brings it all together for a dramatic finale.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Monday, November 24, 2008

International Conference of Chabad Representatives to Lead With Theme of Jewish Unity

(lubavitch.com) Rabbi Shlomo Silverman is the new campus rabbi at Carnegie Mellon University. He and his wife arrived in late July, a mere few weeks before the new academic year began. With several successful student programs up and running already, the young Chabad representative is bursting with energy to do more.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Thursday, November 20, 2008

Downturn an Upturn for Searching and Study at Chabad

(lubavitch.com) How much is silver lining going for these days? As 401 Ks plunge, attendance at Chabad center programs across the United States is surging.

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Slain Professor Librescu's Widow, Son, Students Honored At NCFJE Dinner

(lubavitch.com) In his opening remarks at Sunday night’s annual dinner of the NCFJE (National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education), Executive Director Rabbi Sholom B. Hecht told a story

Miriam Davids | Features | Monday, November 17, 2008

Economic Woes and All, Hundreds of College Students Flocked and Rocked At National Shabbaton

(lubavitch.com) Going into the Chabad-on-Campus International Shabbaton in Brooklyn, I didn’t think that Chabad could attract enough students to match the success at last year’s Shabbaton. After all, our country is suffering from economic troubles.

Features | Friday, November 14, 2008

In Sderot, Chabad Offered Voters Thick Walls and Neutrality

(lubavitch.com) Municipal elections were held in towns and cities all over Israel on Tuesday, and in the beleagured town of Sderot, near the Gaza border, the local Chabad center was considered safe enough, and politically neutral enough, to serve as a polling station.

Sarah Bronson | Features | Thursday, November 13, 2008

Chabad Women on Campus Defy Stereotype of "Rabbi's Wife"

(lubavitch.com) Now that the votes have been counted and barriers have been shattered on one front, will 2012 be the year of the woman?

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Jewish Life in Germany 70 Years After Kristallnacht

Survivors of Kristallnacht will tell you that they remember the flames. Fires shot out of the roofs of synagogues and the smell of burning Torahs mingled with the sound of splintering glass. It was the sinister brightness of the dark night that etched itself into the memories of German Jews.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Saturday, November 8, 2008

Jewish Life On Campus Grows With Chabad

(lubavitch.com) Jamie Zebrak , a senior at the University of Oregon, has seen Jewish involvement on campus grow five-fold since she started here as a freshman.

Miriam Davids | Features | Thursday, November 6, 2008

Lost in The Andes, Found by Chabad

(lubavitch.com) Roey Sadan , a 26-year-old old Israeli, was looking for adventure after he had finished his mandatory three years in the Israeli Army. Looking to explore the world and to expand his horizons, he took a job to pay for his travel expenses.

Mordechai Lightstone | Features | Wednesday, November 5, 2008

How Elena Met Rami or The Chabad-Lubavitch Network: A Model of Causality

(lubavitch.com) Elena Lourie and Rami Kafarov never would have met let alone married in Oslo this summer were Chabad-Lubavitch no more than a bunch of affiliated synagogues and rabbis doing what they do, without the Shluchim's trademark passion for a greater vision.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, November 3, 2008

After A Polarizing Election, Jewish Women To Share A Shabbat of Unity

(lubavitch.com) On December 5, Jewish women from zip codes across America and from diverse backgrounds will participate at a Shabbat retreat in Boulder, Colorado.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Thursday, October 30, 2008

TEACH ME, MASTER: Bankers and Businesspeople Become Today's Talmudic Students

(lubavitch.com) The study of Talmud is high on the list of skills, most adults say ruefully, that you either got as a young yeshiva student, or not at all. Not so, say developers of a successful Chabad Talmud study program for adults that is gaining popularity in Jewish communities worldwide.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Photos: "And You Shall Bless the Children of Israel

Features | Sunday, October 26, 2008

In Ravaged Gori Jewish New Year Began On A High Note

(lubavitch.com) Tensions continue to flare up between Georgia and Russia, with Gori still a city in shambles where many wait in refugee camps for Red Cross food drop-offs, and bombed houses color the landscape.

Features | Thursday, October 23, 2008

SHE COULD HAVE DANCED ALL NIGHT Joy & Fervor On the Happiest Day of the Year

(lubavitch.com) The festivities of Simchas Torah, one of the happiest days on the Jewish calendar, begin Monday night. In communities around the world, people will celebrate the completion and subsequent resumption of the Torah cycle, by literally giving the Torah feet and dancing it around the synagogue.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Monday, October 20, 2008

New English Translation of Genesis With Commentaries by Kehot

(lubavitch.com) Kehot Publication Society, the Chabad-Lubavitch publishing house and Chabad of California have released a new translation of the Book of Genesis. The translation reflects classic and contemporary scholarship and research in a single, reader-friendly text.

Features | Thursday, October 16, 2008

Chabad of Columbus Opens LifeTown for Developmentally Disabled Children

(lubavitch.com) Justin Swan has a busy day ahead of him. After getting his annual check-up at the doctor’s office, this developmentally disabled 17 year-old  must make a deposit at the bank, stock up on snacks for his golden retriever, and return books to the library. Only when those errands are complete, can he relax at the cinema with friends.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Sunday, October 12, 2008

Tuesday The Rabbi Was Late

(lubavitch.com) It was a beautiful Tuesday afternoon in Austin. The sun beamed overhead in a cloudless blue sky, and throngs of Austinites were outdoors enjoying the balmy temperatures.

Malka Phillips | Features | Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Pinellas County Jewish Community Celebrates Completion of Mikvah

(lubavitch.com) Chabad-Lubavitch of Pinellas County and Young Israel of Clearwater launched this Florida county’s first-ever mikvah, Sunday.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Sunday, October 5, 2008

New Bill To Allow Condo Owners to Post Mezuzahs

(lubavitch.com) A new bill in Congress will seek to ensure that condo dwellers enjoy the same religious freedoms that others do.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Sunday, October 5, 2008

Smart Publicity and Messages of Empowerment Draw Greater Numbers To Chabad's Rosh Hashana Services

(lubavitch.com) Wall Street bailouts, iPhones, and stratospheric gas prices are bringing more marginally affiliated Jews to Rosh Hashanah services say rabbis across the United States.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Sunday, September 28, 2008

Corp! Magazine Selects Chabad Program As Diversity Champion

(lubavitch.com) Corp! Magazine, the state’s largest business magazine, chose The Friendship Circle of Michigan Thursday, as a “Diversity Champion.”

Features | Thursday, September 25, 2008

After 80 Years Jewish Community of Stavropol Gets New Torah

(lubavitch.com) The Jewish community of Stavropol welcomed its first Torah in almost 80 years. High on Rabbi and Mrs. Tzvi Hershcovich’s to-do list, upon arriving here last November, was to establish a synagogue and acquire a Torah. They have achieved both goals.

Features | Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Maharal Institute Opens in Prague

(lubavitch.com) Chabad-Lubavitch of Prague launched the Maharal Institute last week, dedicated to the legacy of Rabbi Yehuda Loew , the Maharal of Prague.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Thursday, September 25, 2008

Chabad Opens Center For Jewish Life for Memphis Jewish Community

(lubavitch.com) As in years past, two Memphis day schools and the community high school will be slicing and polishing rams’ horns as they participate in Chabad’s pre-Rosh Hashana Shofar Factory.  Unlike year past, this time the students will be making their shofars at Chabad’s own building.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Within Chabad, A New Year Brings New Ideas In Jewish Education

(lubavitch.com) Fully 13% of the 230,000 students in American Hebrew schools are enrolled in Chabad-run programs, a recent study found.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, September 22, 2008

With New JCC, Dniprodzerzhinsk Now Full-Fledged Jewish Community

(lubavitch.com) A new Jewish Community Center and Synagogue with familiar facade dedicated in Dniprodzerzhinsk Wednesday, breathes a welcome burst of fresh air into this industrial port city noted for its poor air quality.

Mordechai Lightstone | Features | Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Lubavitch Headquarters To Launch Mentoring Program for Chabad Representatives

(lubavitch.com) Chabad representatives are givers: of time, of advice, and a home-cooked meal. More commonly known as shluchim, the representatives—also referred to as emissaries or envoys—teach Judaism on a global scale. Now, an innovative program is turning the tables and putting them on the receiving end.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Perm Jewish Community Loses Family In Plane Crash

(lubavitch.com) The Perm Jewish community is in grief after a Jewish family of four was killed among the 88 victims of Sunday's Aeroflot 737 plane crash.

Features | Monday, September 15, 2008

Chabad Jewish Student Center Dedicated at Binghamton University

(lubavitch.com) The Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life was inaugurated Sunday as 600 students, professors, and supporters looked on.

Features | Monday, September 15, 2008

Chabad of West Coast's "To Life" Telethon Generates $8 Million-Plus

(lubavitch.com)  With heartfelt appeals and joyful performances from a diverse group of celebrity guests, the 2008 Chabad "To Life" Telethon generated more than $8 million for the charity. 

Bradford Wiss | Features | Monday, September 15, 2008

Chabad of Wall Street Moves On, Does Not Forget 9/11

(lubavitch.com) “When Ground Zero is four blocks away from home, you don’t wait until 9/11 to remember 9/11. It's in a corner of your heart always.”

R. C. Berman | Features | Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Oklahoma City Celebrates First Jewish Center in 50 Years

(lubavitch.com) Hundreds of city locals looked on as the state’s Attorney General joined rabbis and cut the ribbon on the first Jewish building to be constructed in Oklahoma City in the last half century.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Anonymous Donor Doubles Chabad Presence at UK Universities

(lubavitch.com) At the start of the UK academic term, six new Chabad representative couples will be greeting students at freshers fairs at some of the country's top universities. The expansion more than doubles Chabad on Campus UK’s previous scope.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, September 8, 2008

Employees At Largest Jewish Non-Profit in Argentina: Proud to Belong

(lubavitch.com) Like millions of administrative employees everywhere, Gabriela Cohen , a secretary at the Wolfsohn Tabicinik School in Belgrano, Buenos Aires, pulls full days answering phones, taking messages and contributing to the smooth functioning of the school’s administrative division.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, September 4, 2008

At U.S. Campuses, Jewish Students Break The New Year In With Chabad

(lubavitch.com) As millions of college students packed up their IPODS and laptops and headed back to school, Chabad-Lubavitch campus representatives nationwide waited to welcome them.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, September 3, 2008

At South Florida Jewish Day School, Children With Special Needs Love to Learn

(lubavitch.com) Eight year-old Jason Popick is not like most kids. The back-to-school banners that garner groans from most kids, elicited his delightful enthusiasm.

Hadassah Backman | Features | Monday, September 1, 2008

Award Winning Novel for Teens Based on Chabad Representatives

(lubavitch.com) A young adult novel that explores the clash of cultures and budding understanding between a beach-going teen and her Chabad relatives won an important Jewish book award.

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Portland Jewish Community Sets Sweet Precedent

Baila Olidort | Features | Friday, August 22, 2008

Portland Chabad Rabbi Wins Right To Hold Prayer Services At Home

(lubavitch.com) Faced with an outpouring of support from a very diverse group, Maine’s zoning board voted unanimously Thursday night in favor of allowing a Chabad rabbi to hosting a prayer group in his home.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Friday, August 22, 2008

Oregon's Chabad Families At Home With The Governor

Features | Thursday, August 21, 2008

Rocking With Chabad At Sziget's Summer Festival

(lubavitch.com) For twelve years, fans have paused in their rock, punk, and reggae binge at one of Europe’s largest summer music festivals and lined up at the Zsido Sator, the Jewish tent, to ask a rabbi a question. This was the first year, however, that the crowds came to hear the rabbi rock the house.

EJ Tansky | Features | Thursday, August 21, 2008

In the Mortgage Business, People Break for Daily Prayers

(lubavitch.com) Being in the mortgage business today takes stamina. In Melville, NY, one national mortgage banking organization is finding prayer to be a source of strength.

R. C. Berman | Features | Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Tbilisi's Jews Anxious But Hopeful

(lubavitch.com) Within Georgia's Jewish community, many have fled to Tbilisi, others got aboard planes evacuating Jews to Israel, and still others, on vacation in other parts of Georgia when the fighting erupted, cannot get back to Tbilisi.

M. Phillips | Features | Monday, August 18, 2008

Young, Jewish and Unaffiliated: South American Jews Revisit Jewish Identity

(Lubavitch.com) In a country where the intermarriage hovers at 75 percent, every excuse to promote Jewish marriage becomes an opportunity that Chabad-Lubavitch representatives seize upon with enthusiasm.

Naomi Grossman | Features | Sunday, August 17, 2008

Lakers' Farmar: A Slam Dunk For Tefillin on Campus

Features | Friday, August 15, 2008

Jewish Academic Society Now At 44 Universities Nationwide

(lubavitch.com) In 2007, a Jewish academic society quadrupled its affiliated campuses and saw a record number of students complete its intensive course of study. Taking these accomplishments to the next level for Jewish college students is the focus of Sinai Scholars Society’s conference held at Princeton University August 12-13.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Chabad Registry Helps Account for Jews in Georgia

(lubavitch.com) Amid panic and worry, Georgian Jews were either scrambling for papers at the Israeli embassy in Georgia or for a confirmed place on one of four flights that the Israeli government scheduled Tuesday, for evacuating Jews from Georgia.

M. Phillips | Features | Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Photos: Israel's President Peres With Chabad in Beijing

Features | Monday, August 11, 2008

Oswego: On Small Town Campus, Chabad Draws Jewish Students In

(lubavitch.com) Chemistry major Lenny Breindel has a hard time believing that nearly one of out of every eight of the 8000 SUNY Oswego students in upstate New York is Jewish.

Dora Chernock | Features | Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Mezuzahs and More For Jewish Delegates and Athletes at Beijing Olympics

(lubavitch.com) Chabad-Lubavitch representative in Beijing, Rabbi Shimon Freundlich , blessed the Israeli Olympic team Monday, with success and safety as he hung mezuzot on all the apartments in the Olympic Village where the Israeli athletes and delegation will be staying.

Staff Writer | Features | Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Ukraine: Construction Begins On World's Largest Jewish Community Center

(lubavitch.com) Straddling two blocks, a $60 million, 400,000 square foot Jewish Community Center and Holocaust Museum now under construction in Dnepropetrovsk will be a city within a city, a showcase for a Ukrainian industrial backwater waking up to boom times in Jewish and civic contexts

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, August 4, 2008

At Mayo Clinic, Chabad A Steady Presence For Patients and Families

(lubavitch.com) Mayo Clinic, 10 p.m. At her mother’s urging, a pale eighteen-year-old girl lies perfectly still on an exam table. Her heart condition is so severe and complex that she and her mother flew in from Tel Aviv for surgery.

RC Berman | Features | Thursday, July 31, 2008

For Israeli Visitors, Moscow Itinerary Stirs the Soul

(lubavitch.com) “For the first time in my life, a sense of Jewish pride fills my heart . . .”

Y. Jacobs | Features | Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Wiki Platform Reinvents Torah Teaching in the Classroom

(lubavitch.com) An international group of Jewish teachers is setting out to change how Torah is taught, and if you can wiki, you can join them.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, July 28, 2008

Trenton Thunder Defeats Fisher Cats, But Jewish Community Takes Home the Prize

Staff Writer | Features | Thursday, July 24, 2008

National Geographic Explores Chabad In Portuguese Edition

(lubavitch.com) This month’s Portuguese edition of National Geographic treats its Brazilian readers to an eye-opening, enthusiastic essay on Chabad, through a close examination of the Chabad yeshiva in Brazil.

Staff Writer | Features | Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Hebrew Day School Educators Explore Alternative Teaching Techniques

(lubavitch.com) One hundred twenty teachers from Chabad Lubavitch yeshivas and day schools across North America tackled strategies that will allow them to better address the learning needs of the class that awaits them, pencils sharpened, this September.

R. C. Berman | Features | Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Jewish Life in Michigan Booming At the 50 Year Mark

Rabbi Berel and Batsheva Shemtov set off a driving force for Jewish life that, at the half century mark, has no signs of slowing down. From very humble beginnings, Chabad centers in the state can now be found in 18 cities under the direction of 30 representatives.

R.C. Berman | Features | Monday, July 21, 2008

Jewish Identity, Jewish Life, Grows Vibrant in Bulgaria

(lubavitch.com) Three milestones of Jewish revival in Bulgaria were feted in grand style by dignitaries, the Chief Rabbi of Israel and hundreds of well wishers at the Rohr Chabad Jewish Community Center in Sofia this week.

EJ Tansky | Features | Friday, July 18, 2008

Chabad Opens New Center in Bangalore

(lubavitch.com) India’s “Silicon Valley” with a population of more than five million and a thriving hi-tech industry, now has a Chabad center, making it the fourth one in India.

Staff Writer | Features | Thursday, July 17, 2008

Court Rules In Favor of Condo's Right to Remove Mezuzah

(lubavitch.com) A federal court ruling that denied a Chicago condo resident’s right to hang a mezuzah on her front door incensed a local legislator and surprised area rabbis.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Chabad Retreat in Salt Lake City Draws Jews from Boise, Plano, Missoula . . .

(lubavitch.com) Nadine Veibell is still looking for words to adequately capture her experience at the National Jewish Retreat over the Fourth of July weekend at a resort in Park City, Utah.

R.C. Berman | Features | Monday, July 14, 2008

With iCamp Robotics, Gan Israel Campers Get Hi-Tech, Hi-Jewish Camping

(lubavitch.com) Levi Stein is a Chabad rabbinical student from Michigan. Neil Voss is studying finance at a college in Fresno, CA. This summer they are sharing their two areas of expertise – Judaism and technology – with campers at Camp Gan Israel of Westminster.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, July 14, 2008

Marshall Islands, Cartagena, Colombia On Chabad Rabbis' Itinerary

From the lone backpacker in the Peruvian Andes to bustling tourists along Sardinia's Mediterranean shores, the rabbis will seek out even the solitary Jew, no matter the distance.

Mordechai Lightstone | Features | Thursday, July 10, 2008

On Summer Travels, Jewish Tourists Pack Chabad Directory

(lubavitch.com) Eco-tourism, adventure travel, leisure cruise—for every kind of tourist there’s a travel plan. With the ubiquity of Chabad centers, travelers can just about choose any location on the globe for their summer travels and find a link to Jewish life that adds interest to their visit.

Dora Chernock | Features | Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Australia's Jewish Community Mourns Passing of Leading Rabbi

(lubavitch.com) The Jewish community of Australia, and Chabad-Lubavitch at large, were saddened to learn of the passing yesterday, July 6, of Rabbi Yitzchok D. Groner , the most senior Chabad Rabbi in Melbourne, Australia.

Features | Monday, July 7, 2008

Children From Sderot Arrive in U.S. To Summer With Chabad

(lubavitch.com) 70 children from Sderot, israel, were given a heroes' welcome Wednesday, as they arrived at JFK International Airport for a summer in the U.S. 

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Differences Wash Aside In Chabad's Iowa Flood Relief

(lubavitch.com) News crew trucks have reeled in their satellite feeds and driven off to the next big story, but Iowans will be spent the weekend dragging the remains of their waterlogged homes to the curb, coping with the aftermath of the 2008 floods.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, June 30, 2008

A New Crop of Students To Receive Rabbinic Ordination

(lubavitch.com) As college graduates flung mortarboards skyward and clutched their diplomas in hand, young men from Chabad rabbinicall yeshivas sweated out the demanding oral and written exams that would transform them from yeshiva student to rabbi.

R. C. Berman | Features | Thursday, June 26, 2008

Extreme Adventure Camping With Chabad For Jewish Teens

(lubavitch.com) Michael Harari arrived in Seattle Tuesday morning. After stashing his camping gear in the bowels of a 46-passenger school bus, he settled in the driver’s seat for the 14-hour trip to San Francisco, 809 miles down the coast.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Chabad's SOS Raises Awareness, Activism for Elderly

(lubavitch.com) There’s something funny about Don Rickles , 82, headlining at the first annual Chabad-Lubavitch sponsored Smile on Seniors “Joy and Laughter” event on June 29 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, June 23, 2008

In Sao Paulo, Thousands Line Up for a Kosher Big Mac

(lubavitch.com) They flipped 10,000 burgers at the local McDonald’s last Sunday, and Ronald McDonald was doing his usual thing. But this time, he was greeting kids in yarmulkas, and the beef was glatt kosher. No cheese.

Staff Writer | Features | Friday, June 20, 2008

New Chabad Center Opens In Serbia's Airport City

At a formal inauguration Wednesday, Serbian Jewish leaders and residents celebrated the official opening of the country’s first Chabad-Lubavitch center in Belgrade.

Features | Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Bio-Piracy in the Amazon A Topic of Concern at Chabad-Affiliated Lauder Business School

(lubavitch.com) When genetic code from rainforest plants gets patented and sold, how much profit goes to local tribes who conserved and cultivated the plant for years?

R.C. Berman | Features | Monday, June 16, 2008

Dancing in the Rain At the Staten Island Russian Fest

Features | Monday, June 16, 2008

Chabad on Kauai Island Celebrates Giving of Ten Comandments

If you think that the secluded island of Kauai is the last place on Earth that a crowd would gather to hear the Ten Commandments read…

R.C. Berman | Features | Friday, June 13, 2008

As Food Prices Soar, Chabad Food Banks Work To Meet Growing Demands

(lubavitch.com) Soaring food and gas prices that are forcing working people to seek help to feed their families are also putting the squeeze on food banks. In these tough times, Chabad run food banks are employing creative strategies to feed those in need.

R. C. Berman | Features | Thursday, June 5, 2008

UNICEF Releases Book on Chabad's Ieladeinu Child Care Program

UNICEF leaders, human rights experts and community representatives joined Chabad-Lubavitch of Buenos Aires on Tuesday at the Centro Cultural Borges arts center to formally announce publication of a UNICEF funded book.

Dora Chernock | Features | Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Chabad Rabbi Takes Ben Franklin Award For Book on Going Kosher

lubavitch.com) Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Zalman Goldstein took the Ben Franklin IPBA 's book award in the religion category last week, for GOING KOSHER IN 30 DAYS!

Features | Monday, June 2, 2008

In Ukraine: Jewish Community Opens New Mikvah

Features | Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Chabad Rabbinical Students Remember Israeli Professor Killed In Adis Ababa

(lubavitch.com)   Jechezkel Shoshani life’s work, unraveling the biological mysteries behind the great African elephant, was cut short when a minibus exploded as he made his way home from Addis Ababa University.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, May 26, 2008

Aleph's New Home To Help Jewish Inmates Build New Lives

(lubavitch.com) Pennsylvania, home of the U.S.’s second highest number of federal prisons, right after Texas, sees more than seven out of ten inmates return to prison after release.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, May 26, 2008

Southside Jewish Community Breaks Ground for Area's First Jewish Facility

(lubavitch.com) Southside community members and leaders turned out Thursday to celebrate the groundbreaking of the area's first Jewish institution, a new Chabad-Lubavitch center. 

D. Lakein | Features | Friday, May 23, 2008

Jewish Federation of Greater Ohio Awards Chabad Representative For Creativity

(lubavitch.com) At a ceremony hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Ohio earlier this month, Devorah Leah Mangel, co-director of Chabad of Dayton was feted with the coveted Jack Moss Creativity Award.

R. C. Berman | Features | Thursday, May 22, 2008

Chabad Inaugurates New JCC in Daytona Beach

Daytona Beach evokes images of NASCAR’S most prestigious race, the country’s largest motorcycle rally, and college students’ first choice for spring break.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Tuesday, May 20, 2008

17 Year-Old Publisher of Girls' Magazine Selected As Finalist For Small Business Grant

(lubavitch.com) Seventeen-year-old Chabad student Leah Larson , founder, editor, and publisher of YALDAH magazine has been selected from over 700 applicants as a semi-finalist in the running to receive a $1,000.00 small business grant from IdeaCafe.com, a top-rated website for small business.

Features | Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Shareholders at Berkshire Hathaway Meeting Do Shabbos With Chabad

(lubavitch.com) It’s the largest business meeting in the world, counting no less than 31,000 shareholders who participated at the Berkshire Hathaway meeting in Omaha, earlier this month.

Features | Sunday, May 18, 2008

Chabad And The Orthodox Union to Host Shabbaton for the Deaf

(lubavitch.com) Motivated by an ideal that aims to make Jewish life accessible and meaningful to all, Chabad-Lubavitch is a natural fit for outreach to any segment of the Jewish population.

Features | Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Actor Jon Voight In Solidarity With Sderot

(lubavitch.com) It’s not every day that an American film actor hangs out with somebody else’s children, let alone children living in a danger zone. That’s what Jon Voight did Tuesday.

Features | Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Chabad To Open Kosher Restaurant in Christchurch, NZ

A kosher restaurant in Christchurch, New Zealand?  You bet, says Chabad’s Rabbi Mendy Goldstein of New Zealand.

EJ Tansky | Features | Monday, May 12, 2008

Who Was the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Father?

(lubavitch.com) Every now and then, the world is blessed with a leader of such rare character as to inspire a following that seems to outlive his physical lifespan. What makes these rarefied individuals stand apart also makes them a subject of endless curiosity.

Features | Wednesday, May 7, 2008

On State Dept. Missions, Nuclear Scientist Checks in With Chabad

Whether his plane lands in Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova, or Russia, Gitomer makes a point of spending Shabbat with Chabad.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, May 5, 2008

Australian PM Visits Chabad NSW Headquarters

Australia’s Prime Minister, the Hon Kevin Rudd MP, visited the Yeshiva Centre - Chabad NSW Headquarters in Bondi, on Friday afternoon.

Features | Sunday, May 4, 2008

Florida Synagogue and Social Services Center Target of Vandalism

Worshipers at Chabad of Parkland, a vibrant synagogue in North Broward were greeted Wednesday with swastikas and other anti-Semitic symbols sprayed onto the walls of their building.

Features | Thursday, May 1, 2008

Accra, Esquel, Pervoo . . . Jews Connect Despite Distance

(lubavitch.com) It was a rocky start for two of the hundreds of Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical students dispatched by Merkos, the Lubavitch educational division (with the support of regional Chabad centers) to create a Passover experience for Jewish people in some 150 locations exotic and obscure. Among them: Esquel, Argentina; Nipawin, Canada; Hong Kong; and Pervoo, Finland.

Features | Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Poland: Chabad Seders in 8 Cities, President Receives Matzah

(lubavitch.com) Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski recently took time to learn about the holiday of Passover and its rituals from his country’s director of Chabad activities, Rabbi Sholom B. Stambler .

Features | Friday, April 25, 2008

Chabad Synagogue Destroyed By Fire, Rabbi Pledges To Rebound

Police and fire fighters are investigating a fire that completely destroyed a Miami Beach Chabad synagogue late Monday night.

Features | Tuesday, April 22, 2008

A Proud Day For Warsaw's Jews 65 Years Later

Israel’s President Shimon Peres was joined Thursday morning by Warsaw’s Chabad Jewish community leaders at Poland’s Belvedere Presidential Palace as he inscribed the final letters in a new Torah scroll.

Features | Thursday, April 17, 2008

Celebrating A Vision: A Chabad Representative Reflects on the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Legacy

Lubavitch.com invited Rabbi Eli Silberstein , Chabad-Lubavitch representative to Cornell University, to share his own reflections on this day.

Features | Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Seoul's Jews Invited to First Civilian Passover Seder

South Korea’s Jews, which number about 250, are responding to colorful invites showing up in their inboxes, to the first civilian Passover Seder there by their new Chabad representatives.

Features | Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Israel's President To Carry Torah for Warsaw JCC From Poland's Belvedere Presidential Palace

(lubavitch.com/lns) Israel’s President Shimon Peres will meet with Poland’s Chabad-Lubavitch representatives Thursday at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, where he will inscribe a letter in a Torah scroll to be dedicated to the city’s Chabad Jewish Community Center.

Features | Wednesday, April 16, 2008

From Ethiopia to Estonia, From Pulpit to Potatoes, Chabad Students Toil for the Seder

Two hundred eighty three young rabbis updated their passports for their Passover assignments that will see them producing Seders in Goa, India; Varna, Bulgaria; Dresden, Germany, and 150 cities in between and beyond.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, April 14, 2008

Uruguay: Biggest BBQ Event Begins With Kosher Beef

(lubavitch.com/lns) As 20,000 Uruguayans participated Sunday in their country’s record breaking barbeque, Chabad-Lubavitch gave many of them a first exposure to kosher meat.

Features | Sunday, April 13, 2008

500 Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbinical Students Set Out On Passover Tour

(lubavitch.com/lns) As part of its traditional Passover outreach, Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational division of Lubavitch Headquarters, is sponsoring the itineraries of 500 rabbinical students who’ve been accepted to arrange and lead seders in designated locations worldwide.

Features | Sunday, April 13, 2008

Netanyahu Speaks to JLI's Mission To Israel

(lubavitch.com/lns)  A contingent of 300, from Brazil, Australia, Finland, the US and Canada, who spent months studying Israel’s enduring centrality to Judaism, has just returned from the ultimate field trip.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Friday, April 11, 2008

Kew Gardens Conservative Synagogue Revived As Chabad Orthodox Shul

It’s been a decade since Kew Gardens Anshe Sholom Jewish Center, a Conservative synagogue, could justify opening its doors for Friday night services.

Features | Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Polish PM Supports Chabad's Jewish Religious Activity in Poland

On a state visit to Israel, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, Wednesday where he was greeted by the site's Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich , and Chabad’s representative to Poland, Rabbi Sholom Ber Stambler .

Staff Writer | Features | Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Ukraine: Children, Adults Get Passover Crash Course with Touring Chabad Rabbis

Rabbi Shmuly Brown of Tzivos Hashem in Dnepropetrovsk, trains Chabad rabbinical students before they embark on a 3,700 kilometer tour in Ukraine, with the model matzah bakery.

Features | Wednesday, April 9, 2008

In The Serengeti: Chasidic Adventures With Chabad

David Abramson is a successful real estate broker in London’s white-hot restaurant scene. He’s well schooled in the plush perks of luxury travel, but in May he’ll be camping out in the Serengeti, in a hut, walking miles through wild grasslands with 14 other men on a Chasidic adventure trip.

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, April 8, 2008

New Hagaddah For Russian Jews Who've Outgrown Communal Passover Seders

As the director of Friends of Refugees from Eastern Europe, Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Yossie Mishulovin has seen Michigan’s estimated 5000 Russian Jews grow in sophistication and understanding of the holiday, and that’s bringing new challenges.

EJ Tansky | Features | Monday, April 7, 2008

UPenn Politicos Break for Bi-Partisan Shabbat With Chabad

Passions are running high as Pennsylvania’s presidential primary nears. Pundits are squabbling. Campaign lackeys are slinging mud. But at Chabad-Lubavitch House at Penn, Penn Democrats and Republicans set aside their differences to share Shabbat meal.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Friday, April 4, 2008

Yiddish Still Spoken (And Taught) Here

(lubavitch.com/lns) Lovers of Yiddish call it by the nickname Mameloshen. The English equivalent is “mother tongue,” but something’s lost in translation.

R. C. Berman | Features | Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Chabad Buys New Space in Denver's Booming South Metro

With Denver’s South Metro Jewish population up from 4,300 to 10,000 in the last decade, Chabad’s closing on a 1.2 million building last week came at an ideal time.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Tuesday, April 1, 2008

At USC, Jewish Fraternities And Chabad, "Natural Partners"

All twenty pledges at USC’s newest fraternity turned their first Friday night as brothers into Shabbat at Chabad last week.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, March 31, 2008

At UIC, Chabad Restores Jewish Pride to Chicago's Maxwell St.

When Chabad representatives Rabbi Bentzion and Chani Shemtov moved into the neighborhood five months ago they came to serve the 2000 Jewish students at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Thursday, March 27, 2008

Largest Food Bank in Israel Prepares To Feed 25,000 Families

Volunteers in a Kiryat Malachi warehouse are busy packing canned goods, fruits and vegetables, oil, matzah, and wine into hundreds of thousands of boxes. Within the next few weeks the Blavatnik Colel Chabad Food Bank

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, March 26, 2008

After 45 Years, A Jewish Community Breaks Ground For New Mikvah

Chabad of the Upstate, under the leadership of Rabbi Adam and Chani Goodfriend , has launched a campaign to bring a mikvah back to the Greenville area.

R.C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Chabad Rabbi First Rabbi Ever to Address U.S. Military Chaplaincy

In a speech hailed by one priest as the most inspiring talk since Martin Luther King Jr ., Chabad Rabbi Yossi Jacobson addressed the Chief of Chaplains Senior Leader’s Training Conference on March 6, 2008.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Friday, March 21, 2008

Novosibirsk: Purim Will Be Joyful Despite Anti-Semitic Posters

Authorities in Novosibirsk have yet to determine who was behind the anti-Semitic posters put up on the doorways of residential buildings earlier this week.

Miriam Davids | Features | Thursday, March 20, 2008

Taglit-BirthrightIsrael:Mayanot First Tour For Special Needs Visitors

By joining Taglit-Birthright Israel: MAYANOT’s first trip for individuals with special needs, he’s overcome another barrier and is spending ten days in Promised Land.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Thursday, March 20, 2008

When Purim Meets Shabbos . . .

Shabbat as a day of rest goes head to head with Purim parties this year. Chabad centers the world over are working creatively so Jewish people do not miss an opportunity to participate in the holiday.

R.C. Berman | Features | Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Croatian Govt To Change Law To Protect Jewish Graves

(lubavitch.com/LNS) Chabad’s Rabbi Pinchas Zaklos met Monday with Croatian President Stjepan Mesi, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader,   and Zagreb’s Mayor Milan Bandi .

Features | Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Women, Children of Arab/Jewish Intermarriages Seek Help From Chabad

While the topic of how to reach out to children of intermarried couples animates discussion in communities, synagogues and schools, it’s a whole different brew—with danger and hostility thrown into the mix—when the children are the product of a Jew and an Arab.

Miriam Davids | Features | Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Israeli Expats Strengthen Jewish Identity in Diaspora

As the Israeli government launches a dynamic campaign to lure expatriates back, many are conflicted as to which country they wish to call home.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Friday, March 14, 2008

Challenge Aspen Works With Chabad To Welcome Israeli Soldiers

In the end, it’s the soldiers and their families who pay the price of their sacrifice. After two years of intensive hospitalization and rehabilitation, Gary suffers from significant neurological impairments and blindness in his right eye. Worst of all are the nightmares that plague him.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Chabad Hebrew Day School Goes Green

Soaking up the brilliant California sunshine, 189 new solar panels atop the roofs of Chabad's Hebrew Academy in Huntington Beach are teaching students a living lesson in going green and cutting the school’s energy bills.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, March 10, 2008

Children With Special Needs and Their Parents Applaud Chabad's Friendship Circle

“A model for a Jewish People unified by shared goals and ideals,” is how Dr. Talya Fishman describes Friendship Circle of Chabad of the Delaware Valley.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Taking A Closer Look At Judaism's Universal Laws

In modern times, the Chabad-Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke often about the “climate of increased moral consciousness” that made now the right moment to spread word of “a Divine moral code, one that predates all human codes, and the only one that has timeless and universal application for a good, moral civilization.”

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, March 3, 2008

Bloom's Kosher Deli: Open On Shabbos . . . With Chabad

Beginning this Friday night, the landmark restaurant’s Edgware location will open for Shabbos with Chabad’s Rabbi Leivi and Feigi Sudak hosting.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Thursday, February 28, 2008

Business Guru Michael Gerber Offers to Streamline Chabad Centers' Operations

Small business guru Michael Gerber’s E-Myth Revisited sold over 1,000,000 copies, and is licensed in 16 languages. His consulting firm has coached 50,000 small businesses in 145 countries. But Gerber told Lubavitch.com that his success and experience was “only practice” for his work with Chabad.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Chabad Rabbi Driven to Stop Delinquency, Awarded

On Thursday, February 21, Chabad's Rabbi Leivi Sudak received a public award in recognition of his “outstanding citizenship.”

Dvora Lakein | Features | Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Chabad Reaches Jewish Students at Commuter Colleges

Chabad representatives at campus centers have discovered innovative ways to reach  Jewish students at commuter schools, and involve them in Jewish life.

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Of Heroines and Beauty: Women's Purim Pageant To Explore Jewish Themes

The upcoming holiday of Purim celebrates the heroics of Queen Esther, and Chabad of Eugene is determined to give Esther her royal due.

Dora Chernock | Features | Monday, February 25, 2008

While Qassams Keep Falling, Sderot Citizens Are Abandoned

Recently a concerned friend, Rafael Rabinovich , started a Facebook page titled, “Chabad Sderot Relief Fund.” Moneys donated go directly to American Friends of Chabad of Sderot

Dvora Lakein | Features | Friday, February 22, 2008

Paraguay's Jewish Community Tries To Cope With Yellow Fever Outbreak

“There’s a serious shortage of the vaccine,” Chabad’s Rabbi Leivi Feigelstock told Lubavitch.com in a phone interview, explaining that the threatening situation is provoking demonstrations and violence. The government has declared a national emergency last week.

M. Phillips | Features | Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Building Houses, Doing Mitzvahs: Ramaz Students, Chabad-Lubavitch and Habitat for Humanity

President’s Day Weekend is off time for most high school students, but in York, PA, a group of sixteen Ramaz students got down and dirty, hacking away as they volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, and then, spontaneously, for Chabad of Lancaster.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Tuesday, February 19, 2008

On College Campuses, Purim Partying Begins Early This Year

Counting down to spring break cheers sleep-deprived and paper swamped college students. But the timing of the vacation has some Chabad campus representatives pulling sleepless nights.

R.C. Berman | Features | Monday, February 18, 2008

In U.S.A. Chabad Habla Espanol!

It’s not bagels and lox at La Sinagoga de Jabad de Coral Springs brunch. Here the fare is arepas and cheese pies, a taste of the old country shared by regulars and newcomers at this Spanish Chabad center. 

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, February 18, 2008

On Tour in the U.S: Two Rabbis and A Barrel of Kosher Pickles

The recipe is a secret but Rabbi Mendy Margolin will reveal the trick to a good kosher pickle—no authentic kosher pickles contain vinegar. When pressed, Rabbi Shmuel Marcus , Chabad representative in Cypress, CA, is quick to assert that “there is no exact recipe—it is an art.”

Dvora Lakein | Features | Friday, February 15, 2008

Why Is Hollywood Calling?

For a long time now, Chabad, along with many others concerned about the subtle and not-so-subtle influences of pop culture, has been unequivocal about tv watching as a harmful, mind-numbing pastime.

Mordechai Shinefield | Features | Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Through Study and Stipend, Chabad Program in CIS Increases Jewish Marriages

Maria Karetina, 23, lives in Vladivostok, Russia. Since completing university last year, she has been working as a French-English translator for a large firm. Until last month, she was engaged to a non-Jew, and could have well been the poster girl for assimilation trends across the Former Soviet Union. But three months ago Karetina joined the STARS learning program. That’s when a new circle of friends opened up to her. Jewish ones.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Increasingly, American Adult Jewish Males Request Ritual Circumcision

To circumcise or not to circumcise? Usually it’s a parent’s prerogative. When the decision falls into the lap of grown American Jewish men, a good number of them choose to enter the covenant with help from Chabad.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, February 11, 2008

Jewish Revival Greets Young Jews Moving to the Lower East Side

Introducing Jews on the Lower East Side to a Jewish experience that packs a meaningful alternative to the faded memories of kitsch yiddishkeit portrayed in popular films, are Chabad-Lubavitch representatives.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Wednesday, February 6, 2008

In World of Chabad, Young Women Train for Leadership Through Internships

In reality, young women in their late teens and early twenties from Chabad Lubavitch backgrounds shoulder significant leadership roles assisting Chabad representatives all around the world.

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, February 5, 2008

At Brandeis University, Students To Host Gala In Support of Chabad

The dynamic at Chabad on campus is typically a simple one: Campus Shluchim give and give, and then give some more. A warm home where students can always find someone willing to listen, someone ready to teach, Shabbat dinners, holiday celebrations, and whatever else comes up for students living on campus pining for a place to call home.

R.C. Berman | Features | Wednesday, January 30, 2008

A Once Derided Jewish Ritual Now In High Vogue

Bronya Shaffer, a Chabad woman who lectures on women’s issues, spirituality and relationships, remembers when she was invited to a Jewish women’s group in the early 1970s.

B. Olidort with Dvora Lakein | Features | Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Port Washington: Jewish Life is Booming Here

You don’t find many storefront houses of prayer in Port Washington, NY. A modest home carries a $1 million price tag, double that for a place on the water. Residents are not likely to be calling out to a Higher Power to fill the void left by economic insecurity.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, January 28, 2008

Review Essay: The Grammar of Women's Spirituality

The following is a review essay by Chana Silberstein , Chabad-Lubavitch representative at Cornell University, of Bread and Fire, Jewish Women Find God in the Everyday , a new book edited by Rivkah Slonim , Chabad-Lubavitch representative at Binghamton University. (Urim Publications, 454 pp)

Chana Silberstein | Features | Tuesday, January 22, 2008

In Remote Halifax, A Jewish Community Comes Into Its Own

Thirteen years ago, Chabad representatives Rabbi Mendel and Bassie Feldman and one month old Zevi moved to Halifax to stay.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, January 21, 2008

Mayor of Buenos Aires Visits the Children at Chabad's Perla Rohr Home

Features | Thursday, January 17, 2008

A Million Mitzvahs . . . And Still Counting

The Million Mitzvahs Campaign, was launched in June 2006 by The Shul, a Chabad center in Surfside, FL, with the idea of making the world a better place and bringing Jewish people together as they worked toward a common goal of 1,000,000 mitzvahs.

EJ Tansky | Features | Thursday, January 17, 2008

As Kosher Awareness Grows, More Make the Switch Even When Eating Out

The Paskoffs were first attracted to the idea after joining their local Chabad Shul run by Rabbi and Mrs. Mordechai Grossbaum .

Dvora Lakein | Features | Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Matchmaking Online: Chabad Reps Give the Brides Away

Around the world Chabad centers have created websites crafted to avoid the pitfalls endemic to Internet dating.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, January 14, 2008

While Jewish Birth Rates Lag Chabad Encourages Growing Families

Unwilling to wait for acts of Congress to up the Jewish birthrate, Chabad representatives have been celebrating the joys of bringing Jewish children into the world, and their community members have followed.

R. C. Berman | Features | Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Chabad of Greater Boynton To Expand and Open New Satellite Chabad Centers

Many credit Chabad’s Rabbi Sholom Ciment with contributing to the changed demographics of this area once considered a retirement community in the suburbs of southern Florida.

Jill Shayna Brody | Features | Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Brazil: Chabad Activities Focus on Intermarriage Prevention

The 15 year-old Brazilian considered what he would be doing if he weren’t enjoying a Chabad sponsored trip that mixes Judaism, touring New York and skiing in Canada.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Friday, January 4, 2008

Good for the Palate, Good for the Soul: Kosher Cuisine Grows Up

Lubinsky credits the Lubavitch movement with opening up supermarkets to kosher because of their influential presence in far-flung locales. In some cases the impact can stem from a single Chabad family.

Dvora Lakein | Features | Thursday, January 3, 2008

Mayanot Yeshiva Opens Women's Division in Jerusalem

The graduating senior has had her last Chabad on campus Shabbat dinner; the birthrightisrael experience is over. But the idea is to keep that enthusiasim for Jewish education alive, and to sustain active interest and further Jewish growth. So what now?

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, December 31, 2007

In Nuremberg: Jewish Community Works With Chabad To Restore Traditional Jewish Life

Arno Hamburg , chairman of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Nürnberg, has been helping Chabad of Nuremberg’s leader, Rabbi Eliezer Chitrik gain the support of a publicly funded Jewish community council.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Thursday, December 27, 2007

Feeling Jewish, Feeling Comfortable, On the Night of the 24th

For Jewish people, standing out on December 24th doesn’t mean standing alone. Chabad centers across the country fling open their doors, bringing Jewish people together for a night of unity, games – and Chinese food.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, December 24, 2007

Dnepropetrovsk Synagogue Automates Daily Charity-Giving

Those old tin can pushkas—collection boxes, sitting at the entrance to every shul, may soon be on their way out. The plastic’s good enough for everything else and it sure beats fishing for loose change every morning, so why not for tzedaka? 

Features | Monday, December 24, 2007

Kosher Cooking Bible Turns Thirty, Inspires Lifestyle Changes

(Lubavitch.com) Thirty years since it was first served up, Lubavitch women’s kosher cookbook has sold 160,000 copies worldwide. That’s no small potatoes. But it's for affecting lifestyles beyond the kitchen that sets The Spice and Spirit Cookbook apart on the culinary bookshelves.

EJ Tansky | Features | Friday, December 21, 2007

A Jewish Burial, Even for Those Who Can't Afford

It’s expensive to die in the United States, and especially in California where real estate and population booms have jacked up funeral price tags to the $10,000 mark.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, December 19, 2007

While Tunisian Jewry Dwindles, Many Recall A Leader With Love and Awe

In the eyes of census takers, the Jews of Tunisia are circling the drain. Since 1948, they’ve experienced a 99% population drop, with fewer than 2000 Jews left today, mainly in Tunis and on the island of Djerba.

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Chabad Rabbi Represents Judaism at Singapore's IRO

(Lubavitch.com) When 10,000 individuals from different religious groups, including Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong , convened at the Singapore Expo last Sunday for a celebration sponsored jointly by the Lorong Koo chye Sheng Hong Temple and the Inter  Religious Organization’s (IRO) dinner, they enjoyed unusual exposure to Judaism.

M. Phillips | Features | Monday, December 17, 2007

Update: Chabad Raises Jewish Profile in Poland

In an event rich with implications for Jewish life in Poland, Chabad-Lubavitch introduced the tradition of Chanukah's menorah lighting to the Polish Parliament this Chanukah.

Features | Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Chabad to Light Menorah In Arvada

Two of the menorah’s eight lights will be kindled Tuesday evening, the last night of Chanukah, during Chabad’s public menorah lighting in Arvada, as a memorial to the victims killed in local churches early Sunday morning.

Features | Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Chabad Celebrates Chanukah With Special Needs Children

Fifty children with various developmental delays and physical challenges and seventy-five teenage volunteer buddies will craft menorahs, played dreidel games and sing together at at a Chanukah party at Chabad of Greater South Bay’s Friendship Circle on Sunday.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Thursday, December 6, 2007

Chabad Now In Goa

The scenic beauty of this Pearl of the Orient is a magnet for 50,000 Jewish travelers a year, giving Chabad-Lubavitch as many reasons to open a center in Goa, and create a Jewish infrastructure.

M. Phillips | Features | Monday, December 3, 2007

Menorah-Topped Cars A Growing Trend

Like chocolate coins in plastic mesh bags, Chabad rabbis driving around with menorahs strapped atop their cars are familiar sights during Chanukah. A surprising trend is the many “civilians” who follow suit.

R. C. Berman | Features | Sunday, December 2, 2007

In Nepal, Israelis Examine Jewish Identity

Dhulikhel, a resort village with panoramic views of the famous Himalayan mountain ranges, is an idyllic setting for soul searchers. Here, Chezi Lifshitz , the Chabad shliach to Nepal, devotes three days per month during peak season, to an intensive exploration of the mystical layers of Judaism together with Israeli travelers.

Staff Writer | Features | Friday, November 30, 2007

500 Join Chabad in Auction for Alaska's Jewish Museum

What's the Alaska-Jewish connection? Author Michael Chabon found one, and Chabad of Alaska found enough to make it worthy of a Jewish museum.

Staff Writer | Features | Thursday, November 29, 2007

Newark Mayor Cory Booker Says Chabad Asserts Mission of Jewish People

In this season of political endorsements, none was more surprised than the 700 people attending Rabbinical College of America 50th anniversary dinner last month when Newark Mayor Cory Booker endorsed not only the mission 51-year-old school, but also the mission of Chabad-Lubavitch and Judaism itself.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Chabad of California Takes Chanukah On the Road

Commuters gnashing their teeth in traffic on the 405, the 5, the 101, the 134 or anywhere from Sacramento to San Diego will have reason to lighten up this Chanukah, because Chabad of California’s going on a road trip.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Chabad at University at Madison, Wisconsin, To Open New Building on Campus

Recently, a young UW student approached Chabad's Rabbi Mendel Matusof with a request for private study sessions. The student’s father had studied a book in college that “gave him enthusiasm for Judaism ever since,” and the student wanted to try it out.

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, November 27, 2007

With Chabad of Rome: A Shabbat of Healing for Israel's Survivors of Terror

In a country that cannot afford to grieve, Chabad-Lubavitch reaches out to victims and survivors of terror negotiating lifelong healing.

Staff Writer | Features | Monday, November 26, 2007

The UJC and Chabad-Lubavitch Partner for Jewish Continuity

At the UJC’s General Assembly, Chabad's Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS and Baltic States . . .

Dora Chernock | Features | Friday, November 23, 2007

Partnering for Jewish Continuity: The UJC and Chabad-Lubavitch

At the UJC’s General Assembly, Chabad's Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS and Baltic States . . .

Dora Chernock | Features | Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The Chabad Chanukah Coca Cola Challenge

Features | Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Thanksgiving Dinner Panic? Chabad Women Cook for 300 Every Week

This week, Nechamie Silberberg , Chabad-Lubavitch representative to University of Western Ontario will be serving somewhere between 175 to 250 ravenous college students.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Tuesday, November 20, 2007

In Denmark, Chabad-Lubavitch Draws Assimilated Jews Back In

Of the 30 children who will be attending Copenhagen’s Chabad-Lubavitch Vinter Lejr, winter overnight camp, a good many will arrive a day late, after December 24, because their parents want them home for the holiday.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, November 19, 2007

Soldiers and Civilians With Chabad in Hebron

Danny Cohen , Chabad-Lubavitch representative to Hebron with his wife Bat-Sheva , insists that if you want to experience Hebron, you must come for Shabbat.

B. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Interview: Lev Leviev, Guest Speaker at International Conference of Chabad Shluchim

Guest speaker at Sunday night’s banquet session of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch shluchim was Mr. Lev Leviev. What follows is an interview by the editor of Lubavitch.com, with Mr. Leviev.

Features | Monday, November 12, 2007

Chabad Shluchim Visit the Ohel

A preeminent moment of the International Conference of Chabd-Lubavitch shluchim is the visit at the Rebbe's resting place at the Old Motifiore cemetery in Queens, New York.

I Bardugo | Features | Friday, November 9, 2007

Chabad Conference Initiatives: Jewish Adult Education Goes Online

Jewish Learning Institute, Chabad’s highly regarded adult education program with 250+ satellite locations, announced the development of an e-learning JLI program, and launched a pilot version of JLI Online courses.

EJ Tansky | Features | Friday, November 9, 2007

Cracking the Talmud, New Curriculum Solves 500-Year Conundrum

Chabad's new curriculum to be launched at the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchim, is on its way to cracking the Talmudic code for yeshiva students and adult learners.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Thursday, November 8, 2007

Initiatives at the Chabad Conference: Smile On Seniors (SOS)

Chabad’s new “Smile On Seniors” approach to bonding with the elderly is a spry young program, getting ready for it’s breakout moment at the International Chabad-Lubavitch Convention.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, November 7, 2007

8th Day Sings With Chabad for The Children at CBS

Some 350 people from Studio City and its neighboring areas showed up Sunday evening at the CBS Studio Center for a Chabad sponsored Community Concert featuring the dynamic music of the 8th Day.

N. Margolis | Features | Tuesday, November 6, 2007

A School, A Community, Grows with Chabad in Houston

Torah Day School of Houston (TDS), the school of the Chabad Lubavitch Center—Texas Regional Headquarters, was one of the trail-blazers.  Having opened its doors in 1977, TDS is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Rivkah Lewin | Features | Friday, November 2, 2007

Hundreds of Weary Firefighters Sleep, Shower, Regroup at Chabad

Streams of firefighters caked in soot and sweat made their way up to Camp Gan Israel (Kiryas Schneerson) at Chabad of Running Springs, where they found food, hot showers and a place to sleep

EJ Tansky | Features | Sunday, October 28, 2007

Shabbaton Happy, College Students Deepen Jewish Identity With Chabad

Wth the prevalence of Chabad student centers on campuses nationwide, a development of recent years made possible by the Rohr Family Campus Initiative the Chabad-hosted Shabbaton has become a fixture of the Jewish student experience. 

RC Berman | Features | Friday, October 26, 2007

Chabad Relief Now To Focus On Returning Evacuees

As evacuees make their way back home, Chabad’s thirty representatives in the San Diego area are shifting gears from their initial scramble to offer shelter and distribute kosher meals at Qualcomm stadium.

R. Rosenthal | Features | Thursday, October 25, 2007

Firefighters Find Help At Chabad of Running Springs

With the overhead roar of DC-10s and Super Scooper planes, and with water helicopters hovering over the swimming pool at Chabad-Lubavitch of Running Springs, Rabbi Yosef Brod can barely hear himself speak.

E. Davidson | Features | Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Chabad-Lubavitch Mourns Senior Representative to Nashville

The international Chabad-Lubavitch community mourns the passing earlier today of Mrs. Risya (Didi) Posner of Nashville, TN.

E. Davidson | Features | Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Chabad-Lubavitch Provides Shelter to Evacuees of California Wildfires

As the wildfires burning out of control in Southern California forced all of San Diego County’s 250,000 residents to evacuate, Chabad-Lubavitch representatives there mobilized immediately.

E. Davidson | Features | Monday, October 22, 2007

PROFILE: Rabbi Dovid Okunov, Noted Chabad Personality Remembered

Risking his life to become a Torah scholar, a rabbi, and a Chabad-Lubavitch chasid, Okunov went on to teach others in underground classes. 

Rivkah Lewin | Features | Monday, October 22, 2007

On Campus with Chabad at UW: No Matzah Ball Soup Here

Chabad on Campus at University of Washington has a new home, room for seventy guests on Shabbat dinner, a library and a joint project with a Jewish frat on campus coming up, but no matzah ball soup.

EJ Tansky | Features | Sunday, October 21, 2007

A Chabad Tradition Takes Off in Daytona

How a city known for NASCAR, Harley Davidson rallies, and spring break shenanigans came to need a 25,000 square foot Chabad-Lubavitch center is quite a story.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Chabad Boosts Jewish Activity in Small Suburbs

Anne Arundel County in Annapolis is one in a new generation of Chabad centers opening in smaller cities and suburban outposts nationwide. Only a reasonable drive from Baltimore’s big time Jewish population, it’s way too far for most families busy with careers and carpools to establish ties.

R.C Berman | Features | Monday, October 15, 2007

Chabad Representatives Evaluate Creative Efforts in Sukkot Outreach

With the booths used on the holiday on their way back into garages and sheds, Chabad representatives from Dayton, OH, to Toronto and Winnipeg are among the thousands of centers now evaluating the impact of their innovations.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Friday, October 12, 2007

Jewish Athletes Recieve Warm Welcome at Shanghai Special Olympics

When the Special Olympics foundation needed a way to make Jewish athletes feel welcome at the 2007 games in Shanghai, they contacted the Israeli Consulate who passed the torch to Chabad. 

R. Rosenthal | Features | Sunday, October 7, 2007

Arson at Chabad in Transcarpathian Oblast

The home of a Chabad rabbi in Uzhgorod was torched and ransacked over the Simchat Torah holiday.

Features | Sunday, October 7, 2007

On Campus: After Katrina, Chabad Builds New Student Center At Tulane

A new 6,000 square foot Rohr Chabad Student Center, with all the comforts of home, opened on the New Orleans campus in time for Rosh Hashana.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, October 1, 2007

Local Government Funds Chabad School In Siberia

The government of Omsk, Siberia funds the building of a Chabad Or Avner Jewish day school as an example of multi-cultural cooperation.

EJ Tansky | Features | Monday, September 24, 2007

At Johns Hopkins Chabad: Students and Non-Students Come For Yom Kippur

On Yom Kippur, it's not only students who come to Chabad at Johns Hopkins University. Non-students who want to experience meaningful Yom Kippur services will make their way to Chabad's of Johns Hopkins services at the Inn at the Colonnade. . .

R. C. Berman | Features | Friday, September 21, 2007

A First for Jewish Inmates in a Texas Prison: High Holy Days Plus Sukkot

Rosh Hashanah kicked off what should be a year of great progress for religious expression in Stringfellow. Chabad rabbis conducted prayer services and traditional kosher, Rosh Hashana meals for the Jewish inmates. Friday, they return for Yom Kippur services, and next week, a sukkah hut will be built on the prison grounds for the weeklong holiday of Sukkot.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Chabad Offers Women of Bucks County Reprieve From The Mommy Wars

Lubavitch of Bucks County, 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia, has an egalitarian approach to moms and the needs of Jewish women.

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Inside Chabad: A Big Brother Program To Nurture Children of Shluchim

Chabad-Lubavitch representatives growing up far from large Chabad communities miss out on the total immersion experience of yeshiva life. Now, a program developed by educational division of Lubavitch Headquarters addresses this challenge.

N. Margolis | Features | Monday, September 17, 2007

In Odessa, Chabad-Lubavitch Prepares for 2,000 At Rosh Hashana Services

Chabad-Lubavitch of Odessa attracts Jews en masse to its activities. Municipal authorities will be closing streets off to accommodate thousands who will be coming to the Chabad center to hear the shofar, among them local Jews, students from the country's first Jewish University recently opened by Chabad, and children from the Chabad orphanage.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Chabad Telethon Viewed By Millions, Garners Millions

Millions watched the popular, annual Chabad Telethon by Chabad of California. Actor Jon Voigt and numerous personalities graced the stage in support of the work of Rabbi Shlomo Cunin, head representative to the State of California.

Features | Monday, September 10, 2007

Chabad Expands Jewish Communities in Tennessee's Top Three Cities

The Jewish communities of Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville are each experiencing dramatic growth, reflected in the recent expansion of each city's respective Chabad-Lubavitch center.

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, September 10, 2007

In Prague: Chabad-Lubavitch Takes Judaism Out of the Cemetery

In this most secular European of cities, avibrant hub bursts with authentic Jewish living, where Torah, Shabbat and mitzvot are part and parcel of a warm, inviting family: Chabad[Lubavitch of Prague—Rabbi Manis and Dini Barash , and their children.

Baila Olidort | Features | Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Chabad-Lubavitch of Greater Boynton Attracts A Young, Booming Community

Boynton’s Jewish community is trending younger as it grows. Being close to Chabad, its new $1 million mikvah, Hebrew school, and adult education programs is part of the attraction.

R.C. Berman | Features | Monday, September 3, 2007

Berlin Jews Emerge From the Shadows

Berlin's new Jewish community center is celebrated for inspiring the city's Jews to proudly identify.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, September 3, 2007

Kids on Campus: The Surprising Power of Chabad Babies

More than cute camera magnets, the children of Chabad Shluchim on campus are right in the mix of Chabad House action. Even before their first “ga-ga,” these charmers are essential partners in their parents’ activities.   

R.C. Berman | Features | Friday, August 31, 2007

Chabad Offers CIA's Chefs A Sampling of Rosh Hashana

In the run up to Rosh Hashana, Rabbi Hanoch Hecht is preparing to offer the (Culinary Institute of America) CIA’s Jewish Culture Club a sampling of the holiday’s symbolic foods.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Tuesday, August 28, 2007

While Some Lament The Decline of French Jewry, A Jewish Community in France Blossoms

Few communities with 3500 Jewish families today have no Jewish community center or synagogue. But this relatively new one in France’s 77th District, home to Euro-Disney, had not, until recently, a single denominational synagogue.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, August 27, 2007

Sziget Festival Counts Losses, Chabad Counts Gains

Organizers of one of Europe’s largest summer events report the weeklong pop music and cultural Sziget Festival which ended last week a major flop. Not so, says Chabad of Hungary.

Erika Snyder | Features | Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Chabad Rally Rabbi Scores at Giants Game at AT&T Park

Quick: What did the S. Francisco Giants give away during last Wednesday’s Jewish Heritage Night at AT&T Park?

Fay Kranz-Greene | Features | Friday, August 10, 2007

Jewish Pride Night With the Fisher Cats

A first-ever kosher food concession in the stadium, supervised by Chabad,  served kosher hot dogs, hamburgers, falafel and other goodies to a cheering crowd of 500 Jewish children and adults.

Fay Kranz-Greene | Features | Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Spiritual Children of Chabad Now Reach Out To Others

By now, Bracha Sara Leeds’s degree from UC Berkeley would have paved her way to medical school. But she’s chosen a different road: life as a Chabad representative on her alma mater’s campus.

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, July 31, 2007

New Chabad Representatives Broach Intermarriage Directly

The toughest challenge for the new Chabad representatives to Santa Fe, in Rosario, Argentina, is to dispel mistaken notions about Jewish identity pervasive to this community of 1500 Jews.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, July 30, 2007

Chabad Shluchim In Profile: Offbeat and Unconventional in Oregon

Corkscrew willow branches twist in serpentine curves, quite an unusual wood to use for fence-building, but Aviva Spiegel selected it to create a gate around the Chabad House of Eugene, OR.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Financing the Fun

Shimmering above the weatherman’s smile is a headline forecasting “Deadly Heat.” Next week’s weather predictions for Glendale, AZ, sizzle between 108 and 111 degrees.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, July 9, 2007

Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn: America Is No Different

The 12th day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, this year corresponding to July 4th, marks the date 82 years ago, that Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of blessed memory (1880-1950), sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, was liberated from Soviet prison.

Features | Tuesday, June 26, 2007

At the Ohel

At 226-20 Francis Lewis Boulevard, in Cambria Heights, Queens, a small, single story cape house on a tree-lined residential street, preparations are in high gear. Over a 24-hour period beginning Monday evening, an estimated 25,000 visitors will arrive here from every part of the world.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, June 18, 2007

A Six-Day War Inspiration: Forty Years Later, And Still Binding

In the months before the Six Day War earned its name and blazed into the history books as an open miracle, pundits were predicting a decimation of Israel, a second Holocaust.

R. C. Berman | Features | Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Chabad Rabbi Informs Court Decision on Kosher Privileges for Inmates

The judge asked Rabbi Krinsky about the orthodox Jewish reaction to kosher backsliders.

EJ Tansky | Features | Thursday, May 10, 2007

Facilitators of Tahara

The glamour of Jewish professions are predictably with the pulpit rabbi and the cantor, whose skills may reward them with generous salaries, prestige and recognition.

Baila Olidort | Features | Friday, April 20, 2007

Tefillin At Auschwitz

Features | Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Combating Anti-Semitism Through Education

Three months after a local university student drove a swastika emblazoned knife into a tree outside the Ulyanovsk Chabad house, another student fell under suspicion for spray-painting anti-Jewish slurs on a bus shelter.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Agents of Change: Community Leaders and their Special Needs Children

All through her pregnancy with twin girls, Chaya Perman successfully juggled her roles as director of Chabad of Caracas,

R. C. Berman | Features | Monday, February 26, 2007

Extreme House Makeovers by Local Teens

Lara Foxman’s dreamed of converting her garage into a safe play area for two daughters, ages three and five.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Thursday, February 22, 2007

For Jewish Recovering Addicts, 12 Steps Plus Shabbat

Karen Z. just doesn’t fit the stereotype of an addict, but when the crisply articulate New York City professional needed help breaking her use-abuse cycle, she checked into the Caron Treatment Center in out-of-the-way Wernersville, PA.

R. C. Berman | Features | Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Chabad Alerts Students and Community to Proselytizers' Techniques

On Saturday afternoons, Messianic missionariescan be seen strolling around in their Shabbat best: yarmulkes on their heads . . .

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Sunday, January 21, 2007

Defying Her Tormentors: A Survivor's Legacy

The passing yesterday, of 106-year old Maryasha Garelik was reported in news outlets internationally.

B. Olidort | Features | Friday, January 12, 2007

106 Year-Old Chasidic Matriarch Passes Away

Maryasha Garelik, known to many in the international Chabad-Lubavitch community as Bubbe Maryasha, passed away late Wednesday night in Brooklyn.

Features | Friday, January 12, 2007

Jews Who Marry Out Slip Away, Studies Say. Now What?

In an age of inclusiveness, can Jewish leaders afford to be coy in countering intermarriage? Studies on the pernicious consequences of intermarriage are conclusive. The response of Chabad, underscored in a new book, is unequivocal.

Shoshana London Sappir | Features | Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Chanukah Photo Feature

Chabad reaches millions with the light and warmth of Chanukah as thousands of menorahs illuminate public spaces in cities and towns nationwide and around the world.

Features | Monday, December 18, 2006

A Sixty Year Anniversary for Jewish Education

American cultural icons like Dr. Seuss and basketballs were born in Springfield, MA

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Friday, November 10, 2006

Abandoned in Life, Dorothy's Memory Now Inspires

It took a tragedy as heart-wrenching as Dorothy Schwadron’s, but someone’s finally listening.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, November 6, 2006

In the Andes or the Himalayas: Backpackers Get Closer to Jewish Roots

Seeking sun, sand and samba lessons, 20,000 Israeli backpackers a year wind their way through the ancient ruins and beachside paradises of South America.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Sunday, November 5, 2006

After Disquiet and Doubt, A Jewish Community Grows Again

Today six children engage in the hard work of learning through play and exploration at Chabad of Table View’s new Jewish Montessori preschool. Their next lesson: learning to share. At the beginning of next term, in January, seventeen new children will join the school.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, October 26, 2006

Jewish and Muslim Communities Cooperate to Pass US's First Kosher-Halal Law

Over eleven million Americans will buy kosher food this year, according to LUBICOM, a marketing and consulting group for kosher interests. Up from six million in 1990, the trend represents an explosion of kashrut consciousness across the United States. Of this figure, one million Jews and three million Muslims consume kosher for religious reasons, while the rest do so believing that they are getting higher quality products. But despite the widespread prevalence of kosher food, confusion abounds as to what exactly makes something kosher.

Mordechai Shinefield | Features | Monday, October 16, 2006

Canoe Team Member Chooses Rosh Hashana Over Race

To build the abs, the muscle and cardio endurance it takes to cross 41 miles of Pacific blue in an outrigger canoe race, Karen Dunai maintained a punishing fourteen hours a week training regimen, but a spiritual crisis that pitted her sport against Rosh Hashanah nearly pushed her to the limit.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, September 25, 2006

Going Kosher Grows in Boulder

Smoky sweet pastrami, lamb and pine nuts, couscous spiked with kosher harissa flown in from a Parisian suburb and more filled the air with piquancy atypical of kosher events. But then the Kosher Taste of Colorado hosted by Chabad of Boulder was indeed, an atypical event.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Tuesday, September 19, 2006

1300 Turn Out for Walk4Friendship

At the Walk4Friendship, where 1,300 participants walked, wheeled, rolled and strolled to raise close to $200,000 for the Friendship Circle of West Bloomfield, MI, there were two finish lines.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Friday, September 15, 2006

In the Trenches, From Illinois to Kiryat Shmona

With putty in his ears to protect them from the roaring report of mortar fire, Morton Friedman of Wilmette, IL, supported Israel during the war from the frontlines.

EJ Tansky | Features | Monday, September 11, 2006

A Year After Katrina: A Jewish Community Grows

Chabad of Louisiana’s new normal is a balance between realism and positive action: building for tomorrow, bringing a community together, sharing strength.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Fact or Fantasy? Jewish Life in the Former Soviet Union

Bukharan drummers, fireworks and giant sized video screens flashing a specially designed logo with the words, ha-Lev im haShluchim—meaning, “the heart is with the Shluchim,” set the stage for an evening of celebration in Jerusalem’s largest party hall last Thursday evening.

Baila Olidort | Features | Sunday, August 20, 2006

Jewish Festival A First for Shoreline Community

On the Guilford Green, where colonial settlers’ cattle once grazed and where thespians from Shakespeare on the Shoreline would take the stage later that evening, Chabad of the Shoreline, CT, attracted a crowd of 1000 to the first annual Jewish Shoreline Festival on August 14.

EJ Tansky | Features | Friday, August 18, 2006

Jewish Identity Grows Among Lithuania's Gan Israel Campers

Statistics compiled by the National Conference on Soviet Jewry project that of the 60 singing, cheering Jewish girls, who piled onto the bus to attend Camp Gan Israel of Vilnius, only six will marry Jewish men.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, August 17, 2006

Israel File: The Day After

Few people in Israel have faith in the cease fire, many are even angry about it. They question the steep price they paid for a nebulous outcome instead of what they hoped would be a definitive triumph over terror. Some are emerging from the shelters gingerly, still shaken by their month-long ordeal.

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Israel File: Punctuated Grief

Few Israelis, even those whose family and friends have been spared the ravages of this war, remain unaffected. Sooner or later, everyone begins to feel the stress: the constant death announcements, the funeral notices, the shiva calls... In all cases, lives are turned upside down. Without a groom, there can be no wedding. Without a father, what kind of bar mitzvah can a boy have? Once in a while, however, the grief is punctuated by moments of bittersweet joy.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, August 14, 2006

Las Vegas Jewish Community Booms

Jumping from 55,000 in 1997 to 75,000 in 2000, the boom in Las Vegas’s Jewish community is well on its way to reaching, perhaps surpassing, the American Jewish Committee’s projected 2010 census of 100,000 Jews.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, August 10, 2006

Israel File: Living in the Moment...

On Sunday afternoon, the entire country felt the tragedy. Twelve of Israel’s reserve soldiers were killed in a direct hit by Hizbullah mortar in Kfar Giladi.

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Israel File: Children, Soldiers, Heroes

The war in Israel is turning young kids into adults all too soon. The physical wounds may heal, but the terror, blood and death will haunt their dreams for years. . .

Baila Olidort | Features | Friday, August 4, 2006

Experimental Camp A Success

“You are the pioneers of this camp; you are the cornerstone for an innovative future in the Jewish camping world”. These were the opening words to the children seated in the plush grounds of Camp Gan Israel on South Padre Island, Texas for the 2006 summer session.

Features | Thursday, August 3, 2006

In the Throes of Grief, IDF Unit Finds Solace

The elite combat unit that lost nine members in last week’s battle at Bint Jbail had only a few days to mourn their dead.

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Knitting A Community of Concern for Israel

Deborah Brody could not sit back and watch terrifying news from Israel in her quiet Summit, NJ, home and do nothing. For the past year, the she and a dozen others have been clicking needles, purling and cabling . . .

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Saturday, July 29, 2006

Israel File: A Spiritual Sendoff to the Battlefield

Here in Israel, a country that depends on the courage of its young men, many still in their teens, for its day to day survival, every soldier is a hero. He is also everyone’s son. When one of them is lost, the grief is widespread, the heartache, pervasive.

Baila Olidort in Jerusalem | Features | Thursday, July 27, 2006

Chabad Rallies Worldwide Support for IDF

Moments after the first of Israel’s soldiers began fighting in Lebanon,  Chabad-Lubavitch centers around the world rallied their respective communities to devote more time daily to prayer, Torah study, charity giving, and too, to the mitzvah of tefillin for men.

Mark Rubin | Features | Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Jewish Life Booms In Conejo Valley

From a one-desk office in Westlake in 1979, Chabad of Conejo Valley has grown up, centers multiplying almost as quickly as the pristine Spanish tile and stucco, mini-chateaux tract homes that have attracted 40,000 Jews to the area.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Sunday, July 23, 2006

Israel File: With the IDF On the Battlefield

IDF choppers roared overhead as tanks rolled out of the Kerem Shalom border crossing where Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. Against this backdrop, some 400 soldiers of the IDF’s elite Golani Brigade, breaking from a 48 hour shift in claustrophobic tanks on anti-terrorist missions in Gaza, were laying tefillin .

Features | Friday, July 21, 2006

Israel File: Children to Children

Thousands of children in northern Israel are spending their days and nights in bomb shelters. They are restless, they are bored and they are anxious.

Features | Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Israel File: Keeping The Morale High

Nine thirty p.m., Tuesday, in Akko, where homes have been barraged by katyusha attacks, Chabad representatives, Rabbis Natan Oirechman, Yosef Makmel and Avi Harosh gather round a desk for their nightly meeting at the Baal Shem Tov synagogue.

EJ Tansky | Features | Wednesday, July 19, 2006

A New Torah Comes To Umhlanga Rocks

A strapping Zulu tribesman, garbed in sheepskins and colorful, woven cloaks, resplendent in his five-foot tall headdress of cattle horns, feathers dyed blood red and black, furs and mirror-studded mosaics led the parade in honor of a new Torah to be housed

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Thursday, July 6, 2006

A Harvard Phenomenon

For Jewish parents of Harvard-bound students, the feeling is all too familiar. Proud that they've been accepted to one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the world,

Features | Sunday, June 25, 2006

New Chabad House Opens in Vietnam

Market watchers on the look out for the next Asian tiger economy are not the only ones with Vietnam in their sites. This summer, Vietnam's first Chabad house will open in Ho Chi Minh City.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, June 22, 2006

New Initiative Advances Adult Jewish Education

In a statement to Lubavitch.com early this morning, Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky , Vice Chairman of the Lubavitch educational arm,

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Monday, June 19, 2006

Hertzberg Family Gifts Judaic Collection To Lubavitch

Family and close friends of the late Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg convened for a private reception at Lubavitch Headquarters this past Sunday.

Features | Monday, June 19, 2006

Turning Up The Heat at the NBA Finals

It was a night of miracles. The American Airlines Arena in Miami was jam-packed this past Tuesday as the NBA '06 finals went into game three at Dallas 2, Miami 0.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Friday, June 16, 2006

Chabad in London, UK, Leads In the Fight Against Drug Abuse

Two thousand students a month, at 52 London area schools, ask their darkest questions about drug use to educators from Chabad Lubavitch Ilford Center's Drugsline.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Wednesday, June 14, 2006

1,000,000 People To Make A Difference

Launched in May 2006, the Million Mitzvahs Campaign initiated by The Shul, a Chabad Lubavitch institution serving Bal Harbour, Surfside, Bay Harbor

E.J. Tansky | Features | Monday, June 12, 2006

Torah Study Gains Popularity With New Program

With a long days practicing law as a government attorney, Jill Gerstenfield of Rockville, MD, could not envision waking up at six a.m. for the rabbi's daily Talmud class. But the tractate of Sotah fascinated Gerstenfield

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, June 8, 2006

Synagogue Memorializes Slain Weston Teen With Torah Scroll

A single letter of a single word lovingly inscribed on parchment Sunday gave birth to a holy scroll that will memorialize a Weston teenager who died after a Tel Aviv suicide bombing.

Jon Burstein/ South Florida Sun Sentinel | Features | Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Chabad and The UJC: Partners in Rebuilding

If it takes a village to raise a child, what does it take to raise a community? Ask the Jewish community of New Orleans, and they'll probably say that it takes tremendous patience, goodwill and achdut Yisrael or unity. They know. They've been at it for nearly a year now, trying to rebuild what Katrina destroyed.

Features | Sunday, June 4, 2006

As Popularity of Mikvah Use Grows, So Do Standards

Of the 200 mikvahs in the United States, 90 exist under the auspices of Chabad Lubavitch centers. With another ten Chabad mikvahs to break ground within the next twelve months, Chabad's stake in maintaining the ritual central to Jewish family life, already monumental, is growing.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Monday, May 29, 2006

Chabad Center Wins Architecture Award

When Chabad-Lubavitch of Bucks County bought a building right in the heart of the historic district and refurbished it into the Glazier Jewish Center , it won an Adaptive Reuse Award from the Historic Architecture Review Board (HARB).

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Wednesday, May 24, 2006

JLI Presents A Summer Smorgasboard

Come August 16-21, the soundtrack of the off-season in Colorado's picturesque vacation village will be the engaging hum of Torah study, conversation and laughter, as Jews from around the U.S. challenge each other to new intellectual heights.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Friday, May 19, 2006

Parades and Picnics Mark Lag B'omer Round the World

Police escorted Chabad of Sweden's parade of 200 marchers, carrying signs urging onlookers to give charity and light Shabbat candles. Banging drums with as much abandon as Swedes can muster, the parade turned heads, and proclaimed a "revolution" in Jewish attitudes . . .

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Wednesday, May 17, 2006

The Power of Three

Coming from the Rabbi's pulpit or the weekly editorial, the oft touted virtues of Jewish unity and ahavat yisrael elicit the predictable yawn. But experienced in real life, they are fresh and affirmative tangibles that take the edge off even unyielding skeptics.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, May 15, 2006

Boulder Children Get a Hi-Tech Headstart

Matan Bilavsky , who turns ten later this month, has already built robots that can climb ramps and sumo wrestle with other 'bots. So has Nathan Hill, and he's only six.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Sunday, May 14, 2006

Got Question? AskMoses!

Questions about spiritual matters, from featherweight to wrenching, are answered through live chats on the AskMoses site 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. With "millions of chats logged," according to site Director Rabbi Simcha Backman , AskMoses scores among the most popular Jewish sites.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Volunteering Teenagers Do Better All Around

Moe Levin of Thornhill, Ontario, doesn't think it's right that teenagers are stereotyped as "sitting around playing videogames." Not that Moe and his friends don't hang out.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Sunday, May 7, 2006

Chabad Rabbi Represents Jewish Faith in the White House

"America is a nation of prayer. It's impossible to tell the story of our nation without telling the story of people who pray," said President George Bush today.

Features | Thursday, May 4, 2006

Summer Break: Students Leave, But Ties Remain Strong

Chabad on Campus representatives have devised their own ways of not saying ?goodbye' to graduates as summer rolls around, keeping cherished connections strong.

E.J. Tansky | Features | Thursday, May 4, 2006

A New Center for Beijing's Jewish Community

Opening the mikveh within the next few weeks caps off the 10,000 square foot Rohr Family Community Centre . Filled with classrooms painted in warm tones, the Centre is the new heart of Jewish life in Beijing.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Monday, May 1, 2006

Maccabi Team Celebrates Shabbat in Prague

It was an opportunity that Chabad would not pass up, and Rabbi Manis Barash of Prague arranged for a traditional Shabbat celebration for the team members and hundreds of fans.

Features | Saturday, April 29, 2006

Merkos Book Finalist at National Jewish Book Awards

Judges selected The Last Pair of Shoes as a finalist in the category of illustrated children's books, for skillfully drawing the readers in and managing to "convey the moral value" without "being preachy."

E.J. Tansky | Features | Thursday, April 27, 2006

Israelis in the Diaspora: Seeking a Jewish Identity

The arterial gush of Israelis backpacking or moving far from home has driven the creation of Chabad-Lubavitch activities where Hebrew is the lingua franca in Argentina, Republic of Congo, New Zealand and beyond.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Passover is Over: Now What?

What is it about this particular holiday that makes otherwise unaffiliated and non-observant Jews care-enough to go out of their way to honor the holiday?

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, April 24, 2006

Passover In Cuba: A Tale of Two Synagogues

Editor's Note: The Passover holiday is now over, but if the news reports on this widely celebrated holiday are any indication, Chabad's worlwide Passover Seders have brought numerous far-out and "forgotten" Jewish communities into the limelight. In places like China and Ghana, in Bolivia and Tasmania, Chabad's rabbinical students and representatives conducted Seders that generated spirited joy and numerous stories. The following, on the Seder in Cuba, appeared in the Jerusalem Post.

Jaron Gilinsky, The Jerusalem Post | Features | Thursday, April 20, 2006

Seders in Moscow

On each of the seven floors of Marina Roscha, Moscow's hulking, modern Jewish Community Center, Chabad-Lubavitch hosted a communal Seder, each catering to a specific segment of Russia's Jewish community.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Around the World, Countdown to the Seder . . .

With passports in hand and suitcases filled with matzah and kosher meat, 700 Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical students are making a mass exodus from their yeshivas and teaching positions to bring Passover to the far corners of the world.

E.J. Tansky | Features | Monday, April 10, 2006

104 Years Ago Today

Today, 11 Nissan, Chabad-Lubavitch marks the 104th birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson , of righteous memory. In a tradition started by the Rebbe, the birthday became a day for celebration, stock-taking and new resolutions.

Features | Sunday, April 9, 2006

A Seder in the Land of Midnight Sun

Most of the Seder with Chabad will be conducted in English, but the sixty or so guests of Finland's polyglot Jewish community will all feel at home as they hear Finnish, Russian, Hebrew and English around the Seder table.

Rebbeca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, April 5, 2006

A New Place for Jewish Students at Columbia University

"Chabad has given me confidence," Ari Goldman told his colleagues last Thursday at an intimate reception for the launching of the new Chabad House at Columbia University.

Shoshana Olidort | Features | Monday, April 3, 2006

Children . . . Rolling in Dough

In the weeks before Passover, there's a Chabad representative firing up a 700-degree oven in nearly every time zone. One of the many innovative staple-programs of Chabad Houses, the Model Matzah Bakery has become a traditional pre-Passover event for thousands of children worldwide.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Sunday, April 2, 2006

Passover Joy Begins Early in Nepal

This tiny mountaintop kingdom has one of the largest Passover Seders in the world, with more than 2,000 guests. But getting the Passover goods onto the table is usually an ordeal with all the elements of a hi-suspense drama and breathless, 11th hour resolution.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, March 30, 2006

Monroe's Jewish Community Mourns

As 70 friends of the Chilean tour-bus crash victims converged for a memorial service at the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe Township, NJ, the only sounds breaking the formal moment of silence were the muffled sobs of a community in shock.

Features | Monday, March 27, 2006

Women Lead--But Not As Men

Aurah Landau of Juneau, Alaska, tinkered with the itinerary of her business trip to the lower-48 to sleep in Seattle for a women-only Shabbat retreat hosted by Washington Chabad's Women's Learning Circle.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Friday, March 24, 2006

Kosher BBQ in Rancho Mirage: A Torah Oasis

If you're in California's desert off Highway 10 on a Tuesday, and find yourself getting hungry for some kosher food- you're in luck.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Milan's Mayor Visits With Israel's Survivors of Terror

As the world turns to the chaos of insurgencies and menace in other corners of the world, Mayor Albertini, a member of the European Parliament, pledged not to forget. "I feel honored that you came to share your grief with me," said Mayor Albertini.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Monday, March 20, 2006

Rohr Chabad House: A Cozy Place at Cambridge University

Last week, the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University and a Minister of State came to dine at a banquet celebrating the opening of the Rohr Chabad House at Cambridge University.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Friday, March 17, 2006

Purim at University of Pennsylvania

Purim is a natural one for campuses, and at the University of Pennsylvania Purim was everywhere, thanks in part to students who gathered in the front of the freshmen Quadrangle and handed out 400 packets of Mishloach manot to freshmen.

Features | Thursday, March 16, 2006

Purim In Lithuania

This year's Purim in Vilnius, Lithuania, will long be remembered by the city's Jewish community.

Features | Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Happy Purim!

It's that time of year when seriousness gives way to partying, and partying is taken seriously.

Features | Monday, March 13, 2006

Purim for Children With Special Needs

Autism, cerebral palsy, Asperger's syndrome, Down syndrome, and ADHD are no longer obstacles to Purim fun as Friendship Circle programs sponsor events for children with special needs.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Wednesday, March 8, 2006

A Silver Anniversary for Chabad of Palo Alto

From a rented, 600 square foot room in the Jewish Community, Chabad has grown to include centers in Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and at Stanford University. The summer camp began with 35 children and has grown to 250 children . . .

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Sunday, March 5, 2006

300 Women In Lithuania Find Reason to Sing

Last weekend, Chabad representatives Rabbi Sholom Ber and Nechama Dina Krinsky hosted a Shabbat retreat for 60 families from Klaipeda, which was followed by a Jewish women's concert on Saturday night that attracted an audience of 300.

EJ Tansky | Features | Thursday, March 2, 2006

Postponed 63 Years: A Survivor's Bar Mitzvah

A survivor of the Holocaust, Herman Rosenblat turned thirteen in a Nazi concentration camp. He never had a bar mitzvah, never put on tefilin , until this month when Chabad of Mineola, NY, hosted a ceremony in his honor.

Rebbeca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, February 27, 2006

A Special Moment for Harvard's Jewish Community

Under the hammerbeam trusses and stenciled ceiling of Harvard's Annenberg Hall , in the soaring space where all Harvard freshmen dine, the tables were set with white roses and crisp tablecloths in honor of the Shabbat dubbed "Shabbat 1000."

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, February 23, 2006

Doing it All, Doing it Well: Women in Leadership

"You are the most potent force in the Jewish world today," said Diane Abrams , guest speaker at the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchos, Sunday evening.

Features | Tuesday, February 21, 2006

International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women in Session

The 18th annual conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchos, known more simply as "the Kinus," is in session at Lubavitch Headquarters. With more than 1700 women registered for tonight's main event, the banquet dinner at the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel . . .

B. Olidort | Features | Sunday, February 19, 2006

Chabad Representative Offers Invocation To Albany Legislature

It's just about that time of year in Albany, when legislators might be heard wishing for money to grow on trees. Tu-B'sehvat, the New Year for Trees, is celebrated around the time lawmakers return from the holiday recess and settle in to shape the budget.

E.J. Tansky | Features | Wednesday, February 15, 2006

A New Chabad Centre for Oxford Students

Amit Pundik began lugging a satchel of books and paper around Oxford University four months ago when he arrived to study law. Excelling in an environment populated the world's finest minds, requires discipline. . .

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Lawrence H. Summers At Shabbos for 1000

Munching on gefilte fish and challah, more than 600 Harvard affiliates packed Annenberg Hall last Friday night to observe the beginning of the Jewish sabbath.

Sam Teller for The Harvard Crimson | Features | Monday, February 13, 2006

Tu B'Shvat: Fruits and Trees, and the Human Being

Pomegranates were on Leah Brackman 's mind. The fruits, a splash of ruby against the muted tones of the winter-scape, were not the only exotics on Chabad of Westminster, Colorado, representative Brackman's shopping list.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Monday, February 13, 2006

Seniors Get A Second Wind With Chabad Programs

As more and more boomers get their welcome kit from AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), Chabad programming for seniors is experiencing a boom of its own.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Sunday, February 12, 2006

Even in New Orleans: A Time for Joy

When Mendy Traxler slipped the gold ring on Rachel Kaufmann 's finger under the wedding canopy last night, and when he crushed the glass underfoot to cries of "Mazel Tov!" sentiments ran the gamut of relief and joy and gratitude. And for those who've lost so much in Hurricane Katrina . . .

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, February 7, 2006

shneur

Features | Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Jewish Children of Rome Get A New Preschool Facility

With a continuous presence of Jews from classical times to today, Rome's Jewish community may well be the oldest one in the world. At approximately 15,000, its numbers constitute less than 0.4 percent of Rome's total population of three million.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, January 30, 2006

Abandoned Children Adopted by Chabad Representatives

When the judge gave the Jewish community of Cordoba, Argentina, ten days to find a home for three abandoned children or they would be given into the care of a local church-run children's shelter, Chabad representatives Rabbi Yossi and Chana Turk made a decision that altered the course of their lives.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Wednesday, January 25, 2006

bat mitzvah club

Features | Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Stranded in the Brutal Cold: Chabad to the Rescue

It was at about three a.m. during one of these frigid nights last week that 10 Israelis traveling along an isolated road got stuck when their car broke down. The group of two families were on a pilgrimage to the tombs of Chasidic Rebbes buried in remote, Russian backwaters.

Miriam Davids | Features | Monday, January 23, 2006

New Orleans Day School Reopens

When 26 students trickled back into Chabad-Lubavitch of New Orleans's Torah Academy on January 5, the only thing that looked familiar was the school building and the smiling faces of their teachers. Everything else had been washed away by Hurricane Katrina.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Jewish Community of Mission Viejo Celebrates 10 Years With Chabad

Angela Khalil drives a half hour to bring her sons, Nathan and Ethan , to Chabad Jewish Center's Hebrew school. "I love it. They are the best. I come all the way from Tustin because I fell in love with the program. " said Khalil.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Chabad and birthright: Israel: Partners In Jewish Awareness

For Adam Rothblatt , a senior at UPenn pursuing a degree in International Relations, the small-scale moments of the Israel trip--his first--made indelible impressions, and left Rothblatt hungry to meet more "people in Israel at the grassroots level."

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Friday, January 13, 2006

Russia's Chief Rabbi: Synagogue Attack A Wake-Up Call

MosNews --Russia's chief rabbi, Berl Lazar, told the Itar-Tass news agency that the main conclusion to be drawn from the incident was that it's too late to talk about fascism. "It's here. It is fascism", Berl Lazar said in an official statement.

Features | Thursday, January 12, 2006

Moscow Stabbing Likened to 'Pogroms of Old'

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky , Chairman of the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch educational and social services divisions, decried the attack, saying it is "reminiscent of the pogroms of old." But he said he is encouraged by the vigilance of law enforcement agencies in Moscow and by President Putin "against acts of antisemtism."

Features | Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Eight Wounded in Attack on Moscow Synagogue (UPDATED)

INTERFAX Eight people have been wounded in an attack at a synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya street in downtown Moscow Wednesday evening, Moscow Prosecutor Anatoly Zuyev has said.

Features | Wednesday, January 11, 2006

College Students Devote Winter Break to New Orleans Clean-Up

They were the second of two groups who spent winter break at Chabad Lubavitch of Louisiana scooping muck, carting out moldy furniture, gutting waterlogged homes as part of Chabad on Campus 's ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Sunday, January 8, 2006

Chabad Rabbi Awarded by the Jewish Community Professional Association

For his quarter-century long commitment to high quality Jewish adult education, Rabbi Yosef Landa was selected from among 600 Jewish communal professionals to receive the award from the Jewish Community Professional Association (JProStL).

Rivka Chaya Rosenthal | Features | Thursday, January 5, 2006

Chasidic Mapquest

Chemists looking for solutions to chemical mysteries keep an eye on the periodic table of elements. Now Kehot Publication Society has released a Tanya Map poster to serve the same purpose for students of Chabad Chasidic philosophy who wish to solve spiritual quandaries.

EJ Tansky | Features | Tuesday, January 3, 2006

Chabad of South Broward Tops Ekaterinburg's 6,000!

With its December 28 posting of a 6,000 person turnout at a Chanukah celebration in Ekaterinburg, Russia, Lubavitch.com challenged Chabad Shluchim worldwide to top that number next year. It didn't take a year, but merely a day, for Chabad of South Broward to up the stakes with 8,000 people . . .

Reuven Arazi | Features | Monday, January 2, 2006

Chanukah Chabad Style at Camp Victory

The U.S. Army took control of Al-Faw several years ago, but there's still something surreal about the idea of a grand Chanukah celebration at Saddam Hussein's palace. Yet that's precisely what happened on the first night of Chanukah, when 70 troops celebrated around a 12 foot menorah in the palace.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, December 29, 2005

Top This: Six Thousand Attend Chabad Chanukah Celebration

Will Chabad Shluchim top this one?Chabad representative to Ekaterinburg, Russia, Rabbi Zelig Ashkenazi , reported to Lubavitch.com that 6,000 people attended Chabad's Chanukah event yesterday.

Features | Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Chabad Gives Chanukah 2005 Greatest Exposure Ever

Grabbing spotlights for Chanukah menorahs may not sound like a very Jewish thing to do, but it is actually the point. Striking a match and lighting the menorah is expressly for the purpose of publicizing the miracle of Chanukah

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, December 27, 2005

From the Brooklyn Bridge to the Great Wall of China: Chabad Lights Up the Skies

It's hard to litigate against light, which explains why despite scattered attempts around the country by church and state purists to take down the eight-armed menorahs from public spaces, America's skies are illuminated with the Chanukah lights beginning tonight, the first night of Chanukah.

B. Olidort | Features | Sunday, December 25, 2005

Governor Schwarzenegger Joins Chabad's Chanukah Celebration

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger performed a symbolic menorah lighting at the State Capitol today as part of the 12th annual Chabad Chanukah celebration. The Governor joined with Rabbi Boruch S. Cunin , Director of West Coast Chabad-Lubavitch.

Bradford Wiss | Features | Thursday, December 22, 2005

Chabad Opens Yeshiva in Poland

The arrival of ten Yeshiva students last month from the Chabad Yeshiva in Montreal to the newly formed branch of Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim in Warsaw is a milestone by any measure, particularly for a city so badly scarred by recent history.

Raizel Metzger | Features | Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Menorah Lights Triumph Yet Again

In Shrewsbury, MA, a Chanukah miracle took place when the town Board of Selectmen voted to reverse their original vote to deny the Chabad Jewish Center permission to light the menorah on the town common.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Chanukah To Light Up Universal Studios

Will the ten thousand people who flood Universal City Walk's cinema square to witness Chabad of the Valley's menorah lighting and watch the giant Astrovision screen beam scenes from Chanukah around the world on Tuesday, December 27, from 5-9 p.m., know where to look first?

E.j. Tansky | Features | Monday, December 12, 2005

Tzivos Hashem Celebrates 25th Anniversary

A biting wind whipped down Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue, across the courtyard of the Jewish Children's Museum, but that's not why the 450 people who came Sunday to celebrate Tzivos Hashem-Jewish Children International's 25th anniversary got goose bumps.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, December 8, 2005

New Chabad House Opens In Warsaw

The opening of the first full-time center in Poland under the direction of Rabbi Shalom Ber and Dina Stambler was made official at the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchim last Sunday.

Raizel Metzger | Features | Thursday, December 1, 2005

Celebrating 30 Years in Vancouver

Thirty years ago this month, when Rabbi Yitzchak and Henia Wineberg arrived in Vancouver, B.C. to establish a Chabad presence, there was little to be said for Jewish growth in Vancouver.

Raizy Metzger | Features | Sunday, November 20, 2005

From New Orleans to New Jersey: A Torah Is Welcomed

As Eric Sion prepared to read from the Torah at his bar mitzvah, he could not have imagined that he would be reading from the last surviving scroll of a historic synagogue devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Tefillin Bank: Every Jew A Pair to Call His Own

Most banks give out complimentary pens. Generous banks give out toasters. But the Kushner International Tefillin Bank has given out 2,500 pairs of tefillin--for free--in the past six months.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Saturday, November 12, 2005

The Lubavitcher Rebbe: A View From the Ivory Tower

Disagreement among the academics who convened earlier this week at a conference on the Lubavitcher Rebbe was evident in healthy abundance, but a thread of consensus emerged in almost all of the presentations.

Features | Wednesday, November 9, 2005

Reaching for the Infinite: Scholars At NYU On the Rebbe

" Menachem Mendel Schneerson is larger than life," said Elliot Wolfson , a professor at NYU and scholar of Chasidism. "To speak of him is fraught with danger."

Features | Sunday, November 6, 2005

Coast to Coast, Canada and Oxford: Hundreds of Campus Students Converge for Shabbat With Chabad

Hundreds of students, from tony ivy league universities to schools devoted to the art of the party, are making their way to Brooklyn, NY,

E. J. Tansky | Features | Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Wilma Victims Get Short Shrift

After Hurricane Katrina and Rita, it seems few tears are left to be shed for the plight of these victims, thousands trapped in their homes, suffering without food, clean water and medical care.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Tuesday, November 1, 2005

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.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Friday, October 28, 2005

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.

Raizy Metzger | Features | Friday, October 28, 2005

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.

Rebbeca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, October 24, 2005

Lulav, Etrog, Sukkah--Familiarity With The Festival Grows

Again, this Sukkot, branches of Chabad- Lubavitch spread out far beyond the comfort of their centers to offer Jewish people, wherever they may be, an opportunity to get in touch with their Jewish roots.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Monday, October 24, 2005

Sukkot at the IDF Bases in Israel

With its mobile Sukkahs, Chabad in Israel visits IDF bases countrywide, to offer soldiers the opportunity to participate in the holiday, and celebrate together.

Features | Thursday, October 20, 2005

United Jewish Communities Partners With Chabad

United Jewish Communities allocated over $38,000 to Chabad-Lubavitch for its hurricane relief efforts.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Sunday, October 16, 2005

Peru's First Lady Marks Yom Kippur

Over traditional fare including chicken soup with kreplach-a version of meat-filled tortellini, and with Peru's First Lady, Eliane Karp de Toledo in attendance, Rabbi Moshe Garelik , spoke about Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, also the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

Features | Thursday, October 13, 2005

New Educational Complex Opens In Moscow

Some 500 community members, sponsors and local dignitaries crowded a former bus depot in Moscow yesterday, celebrating the opening of the city's newest site for Jewish education.

Raizy Metzger (fjc.ru contributed to this report) | Features | Monday, October 10, 2005

Rosh Hashana in Monroe, Louisiana

As humanitarian organizations and individuals scramble to adequately provide for the many needs of a displaced population, Louisiana's Chabad Rabbis came through this Rosh Hashanah with something only they could offer: a sense of community.

Raizy Metzger | Features | Sunday, October 9, 2005

Home for the Holidays

In cities ravaged by the natural disasters of recent weeks, synagogues will be empty this Rosh Hashanah, their congregants scattered across various states--bereft of home, possessions and all the familiar signs of the approaching holiday.

Raizy Metzger | Features | Monday, October 3, 2005

It Takes A City . . .

It takes a village, they say, to raise a child. What then would it take to build a school in which to raise several hundred, nurturing their physical needs, their Jewish souls and their innate curiosity in the world around them?

Raizy Metzger | Features | Thursday, September 29, 2005

Antidote to Rita: Umbrella of Kindness

After Hurricane Rita's winds killed the electricity at Rabbi Lazer and Rochel Lazaroff 's Houston home on Friday night, the only other drama came when a few paper napkins drifted into the Shabbat candle flames. It could have been worse, much, much worse.

Rebbeca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Bakersfield Welcomes New Chabad Facility

California may not be known for its Bible Belt, but it has one, and the city of Bakersfield is right at its buckle. Chabad of Bakersfield added a new--rather different--notch to the Bakersfield's belt when it opened its new center.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Striving for Excellence at Chabad Preschool

Josh is on the waiting list to get into Chabad of S. Mateo's brand new Chai Jewish Preschool of Excellence, but he doesn't know it. Josh is six months old. Although the school only had its first open house on August 7, all twelve places have filled . . .

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Friday, September 23, 2005

President Bush Salutes Chabad's Rescue Efforts

Speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition 's 20th Anniversary Celebration on Wednesday, President George Bush applauded the Jewish community's participation in Hurricane

Features | Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Chabad Relief Efforts: Mississippi Focus

The Army Corps of Engineers stretched a blue plastic tarp over the gashes left in Steve Richer 's roof by the three trees that could not withstand Katrina's 150 mph winds.

Rebbeca Rosenthal | Features | Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Israeli President Participates in Historic Groundbreaking In Tallinn

Israeli President Moshe Katzav 's began his visit to Estonia yesterday with a meeting with Arnold Rüütel , and children from the Talinn Jewish day school.

Features | Tuesday, September 20, 2005

American Children Give To Orphans In Ukraine

Chana Luzhetskaya 's mother was not there to celebrate her daughter's birthday party, but Chana was not forgotten.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Monday, September 19, 2005

Mining Treasures

Perm--the region's capital city and namesake--is home to about one million people, approximately 8000 of whom are Jewish.

Raizy Metzger | Features | Friday, September 16, 2005

Protocol Established To Respect Jewish Dead

After intense discussions with the recovery and burial teams, the Chaplain of the New York City Medical Examiner's Office told Lubavitch.com that Jewish bodies would be treated with absolute regard for Jewish law.

Features | Wednesday, September 14, 2005

A Jewish Community Plants Roots in Cyprus

In a Jewish landscape as new and untouched as the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, practically every day marks another historic milestone for the Jewish community.

Raizy Metzger | Features | Tuesday, September 13, 2005

ORT Joins With Chabad in Argentina

The Governor of Tucuman province and top level ORT International leaders gathered last week to inaugurate a new school of technology and Jewish studies center, a joint project of Chabad and ORT, an educational charity with vocational schools around the world.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Monday, September 12, 2005

Search and Rescue Efforts Shift Gears

It's the stuff of a real-life drama unfolding on the streets of New Orleans along perilously thin lines of life and death . . . Yesterday, Chabad's rescue teams pulled another five people from their homes to safety.

Baila Olidort | Features | Friday, September 9, 2005

In the Face of Katrina: A Community Persists

The indiscriminate invasion by Hurricane Katrina into the lives of its victims leaves in its wake dislocation and trauma across the board. And yet the damage

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, September 5, 2005

A Chupah In Rosario, This Week, Next Week, The Week After . . .

In this city, Argentina's second largest, traditional Jewish chupahs have been dominating the landscape recently, bringing Jewish residents together in song and celebration of age-old traditions. "This week, it was a Torah; in the next three weeks,

Raizy Metzger | Features | Thursday, September 1, 2005

Chabad Honors Champion in Quest for Sacred Texts

These are more than just words on documents," said U.S. Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota. "There is a very powerful and special meaning that they have. That's why I'm so devoted to the cause of returning the Schneerson documents from Russia."

Features | Thursday, August 25, 2005

Former Refuseniks Return To Ukraine As Chabad Emissaries

In the attempt to beef up its number of native Russian-speaking rabbis in the former Soviet Union, Chabad has opened a rabbinic seminary in Moscow sponsored by the Or Avner Foundation.

Features | Wednesday, August 24, 2005

A Yeshiva In Jerusalem Turns Out Literate Jews

In 2001, Kevin Shurack , had a job contract to teach English in South Korea. But while on a Birthright trip to Israel, he had a change of heart and decided to spend time in Jerusalem studying Torah.

B. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Morality and Ethics at Boy Scouts Jamboree

Over 1,000 Jewish Boy Scouts attended the National Boy Scout Jamboree held July 25 to August 3, 2005 at Fort A.P. Hill near Bowling Green, Virginia. Every four years, the Jamboree brings together more than 42,000 Scouts from across the United States for a week of adventure and fellowship.

Allie Vered for the Richmond Jewish News | Features | Thursday, August 11, 2005

Chief Rabbi of Irkutsk Visits Jews of Mongolia

Last Sunday, Chief Rabbi of Irkutsk and Chabad Lubavich emissary Aaron Wagner paid a visit to Jews residing in Mongolia, which is situated just south of the border with Russia's Siberian region.

Features | Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Chabad of Lithuania Closes A Circle

"Cast your bread upon the waters . . ." It's in this spirit of largesse that Chabad Shluchim do their work. They teach, they care they give without any promises of payback. No one offers guaranteed results, and the Shluchim never ask.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, August 4, 2005

Chabad: Sent As Angels To Watch Over Us

This summer, hundreds of young terror victims-either survivors of terror or children who've lost a parent or sibling in terror attacks-are benefiting from a diversion from the terror they have experienced, as they participate in at any of Chabad of Israel's 230 Gan Israel camps.

Miriam Davids | Features | Tuesday, August 2, 2005

A Healing Gift of Love and Generosity

When the limo pulled up at JFK's airport terminal, it was the first time Alina Lubhetzkaya , 13, smiled in a long while. Her mother died this spring while Alina attended Tzivos Hashem of Ukraine's sleepaway Passover Camp, leaving her and her brothers behind.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Friday, July 29, 2005

Chabad Preschool In N.C. Gets Highest Possible Ratings

The North Carolina Division of Child Development recently awarded The Jewish Preschool on Sardis a rating of five stars - the highest score a preschool or child care center can receive. The rating is based on three different areas:

Features | Wednesday, July 27, 2005

JLI To Launch Holocaust Studies Series

The Jewish Learning Institute ( JLI ) will reach its widest audience yet when it launches its new course, "Beyond Never Again: The Holocaust Speaks to Our Generation," this fall. Program coordinators anticipate that some 10,000 students will take the six-lesson course in their 160 affiliate sites around the world.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Chabad Students Plant Seeds: Opatija, Obuda or Oregon . . .

The forgotten. The isolated. The uninvolved. These are the Jews reached by Chabad-Lubavitch's annual Merkos Shlichus -- or Jewish Community Enrichment Summer Program . This year, some 300 students fanned out across six continents to reach hundreds-possibly more-of communities.

EJ Tansky | Features | Thursday, July 21, 2005

Remembering The Struggle for Russian Jewry

Seventy-eight years ago today, Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn (1880-1950), sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, and the leader of Russian Jewry at the time, was freed from Soviet-imposed exile.

B. Olidort | Features | Tuesday, July 19, 2005

DISCLOSURE: New Facts Found In Chabad's Quest For Sacred Texts

Important new evidence regarding the Soviet persecution of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn , has come to light as a result of the lawsuit filed by Chabad in U.S. federal court to reclaim the Schneerson Collection from Russia.

Bradford Wiss | Features | Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Anti Semitism To Remain Marginal In Russia

How has Russia changed in the eyes of Jews living both inside and outside Russia? These and other questions are treated in an interview with Interfax-Religion by one of the direct participants in and witnesses to the revival of Jewish life, Russia's Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar .

Features | Monday, July 18, 2005

Amid the Pain, A Reason to Celebrate

Shabtai Machpod should have been there last week when Matan was called to the Torah. But ten years ago, when he drove to work on a routine morning, Shabtai passed the Beit-Lid IDF intersection-a soldier's depot-as a suicide bomber exploded himself . . .

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, July 14, 2005

The Rewards of Jewish Reading

When Sholom Ber Rice of San Rafael, CA, saw the sleek lines of the computer offered as a prize for Kehot Publication Society's Book-A-Thon, he got straight to work. He found sponsors and fulfilled his pledge to crack open and read Jewish books for the two-week program.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Postcards From Camp Gan Israel

The Gan Israel Day Camp network began its 40th summer with hundreds of camps around the globe. One of the largest and most dynamic networks of summer camps, a Google search on the words "Camp Gan Israel" yields 21 pages of Gan Israel camp websites from Contra Costa, CA, to Berlin and beyond.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, July 7, 2005

Live-and Learn At Bat Mitzvah Camp

Last week when 25 girls, ages eleven to fifteen, stepped into inflated rafts and navigated them on a frothing whitewater river, they were learning more than survival skills; they were discovering what it means to become a Jewish woman . . .

E.J. Tansky | Features | Tuesday, July 5, 2005

A Bar Mitzvah Year for Jewish Life North of Boston

Chabad of the North Shore, which began in 1992 with a small office in the oceanside town of Swampscott , has become a powerful force for Jewish life north of Boston.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Sunday, July 3, 2005

Chabad Opens Traditional Jewish Elementary School in Berlin--A First Since Holocaust

In a villa where Nazi officers once unwound from their barbaric slaughter of Europe's Jewish population, the eager voices of thirty-five Jewish children will soon be heard.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Friday, July 1, 2005

Father's Day With Chabad At USC

Under the smiling Southern California sun, the Wagners welcomed 70 USC Trojans and their families to an end of year barbecue. The Wagners dished out barbecue fare and renewed ties with Jewish students past and present.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Jewish Children's Museum Expects Steady Summer Tours

Since opening to the public during the Passover holiday, when some 5,500 visitors crawled through, twanged, and punched buttons on the interactive exhibits, the Jewish Children's Museum staff has gotten smart to the art of crowd control.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Friday, June 24, 2005

Little Girls Make Lots of Light

At Mindel and Sara Yaffe 's third birthday party, they didn't blow out any candles. Instead, they lit Shabbat candles of their own and had fifty-five grown women follow suit.

Rebecca Rosenthal | Features | Wednesday, June 22, 2005

A Mecca for Special Children

The six boys, ages five to eight, who follow their soft spoken teachers' instructions and are happily swabbing tempera paint on their latest holiday-themed art project were not welcomed in any other Hebrew school.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Sunday, June 19, 2005

Vienna To Revive Jewish Intellectual Life

As the only Jewish university in Continental Europe to offer combined graduate and undergraduate degrees in International Marketing and Management , the Lauder Business School draws students from South America, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Germany and other parts of Europe.

B. Olidort | Features | Sunday, June 12, 2005

A Welcoming Space Opens in Colorado

More than 120 people, community members, local dignitaries, and Jews from neighboring areas came to show their support and tour Chabad's new prayer space, which is situated in the basement of the ranch house that sits on 2.1 acres of emerald green grassland.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, June 9, 2005

Federal Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Home Services

On June 3, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision in favor of an Orlando Chabad rabbi's right to host prayer services in his home.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, June 7, 2005

A Degree, An Identity . . . and A Jewish Wedding

Since its opening, Machon Chomesh-a board-of-education accredited institution providing degrees in a wide range of disciplines, as well as training in Judaic studies-has become home and hearth to hundreds of Jewish women.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, June 6, 2005

Banner Year for Chabad on Campus

Chabad's impact on today's college students can be felt in the personal ways each Chabad center on campus reaches out to its students.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, June 2, 2005

Community Defends and Celebrates Preschool

After city officials forced children out of their preschool at Chabad of Staten Island, NY, the long-planned inauguration of its new building turned into a massive show of support for Chabad's activities.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Monday, May 30, 2005

Forward, March, Together!

To Jewish boys impatient for the chance to beat a drum in a marching band, and little girls who fancy twirling a tasseled baton, Lag B'omer could not come soon enough.

Miriam Davids | Features | Friday, May 27, 2005

Jewish Children Come of Age in the FSU

In the grand finale of a comprehensive Bar Mitzva project, more than 100 boys and girls celebrated their coming-of-age at a joyous celebration at the Great Choral Synagogue.

Features | Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Prayer Services at Home? A Supreme Court Test Case

Chabad of South Orlando's neighborhood zoning woes may become a Supreme Court test case of a landmark religious freedom act signed by President Clinton.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Hoping To Heal Deep Wounds: Cossacks Meet Jews

Anatoly Shevchenko said that maintaining warm relations between Jews and Cossacks and collective initiatives for the sake of Ukraine would smooth the deep wounds caused by Cossacks against local Jews so many years ago in the history of this Eastern European region.

Features | Monday, May 23, 2005

Finding Judaism On Waikiki Beach

Alongside the strip of sand where flaming tiki lamps and tourist kitsch shops predominate, Honolulu Chabad has carved out a niche of spiritual serenity with all the accoutrements of a mainland synagogue . . .

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, May 19, 2005

Contemporary Conundrums Addressed at Conference on Judaism and Medicine

In the hotly debated area of stem cell research, a noted scholar stated unequivocally that from a Jewish perspective, stem cell research is permitted by Jewish law.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Reaching for the Heavens in Nepal (Photo Essay)

Mountain trekkers who experienced the Passover seders with Chabad in Nepal, come back for more. Here against the backdrop of Nepal's breathtaking scenery, they explore the mysteries of the Jewish soul with Chabad's Rabbi Chezi Lifshitz.

Features | Friday, May 13, 2005

Remembering the Annihilation of Bogdanovka

Among the hundreds of monuments that form the stark and moving Sheepshead Bay Holocaust Memorial - monuments bearing familiar names like Auschwitz, Birkenau, Bergen-Belsen and Babi Yar - one stone, the most recently engraved, stands out. It stands out because you have never heard of the village that it memorializes.

Features | Thursday, May 12, 2005

Remembering Our Heroes

Sixty years after WWII came to an end, communities Europe-wide conducted ceremonies of solemn remembrance this week.

Features | Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Synagogue Burns Down In Moscow

A fire roared through a synagogue in a Moscow suburb early Tuesday, burning down much of the wooden structure in an incident that Jewish leaders blamed on anti-Semitism.

MARIA DANILOVA, AP Writer | Features | Tuesday, May 10, 2005

120 Communities Participate in Chabad of Thailand's Toy Drive

Ayelet Hematian and Chantal Keypour of Port Washington, New York, did not understand a word of the Thai pop tunes that pulsated through the air at Chabad of Thailand's "World of Good" fun fair in Phuket today, May 8.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Sunday, May 8, 2005

300 Members of Congress Press Putin for Return of Schneerson Collection

Today, over 300 Members of Congress led by Representatives Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ), and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin calling for the return of the Schneerson Collection .

Features | Thursday, May 5, 2005

New Jewish Center To Open in Florida's State Capitol

Chabad of Tallahasse's brand new 3,000 square foot building on two acres of prime Florida real estate will soon resound with the melody of Jewish study, and bubble over with the scent of laundry detergent.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Wednesday, May 4, 2005

A Passover Camping Experience

In an unusual camping experience, some 150 campers were exposed to a new dimension to Jewish living.

Features | Monday, May 2, 2005

Chabad Prepares for the Final Four in Moscow

The Israelis are coming to cheer for the Maccabis , a frequent Final Four team at these games. For Rabbi Yakov Fridman , director of Chabad activities for Israelis in Moscow, it's a windfall.

Features | Sunday, May 1, 2005

Countdown to The Seder: Passover With Chabad

Lubavitch is on a search for that fifth child. Indeed, one of the more intriguing aspects of Chabad's Passover outreach program is the exotic locations where Chabad rabbinical students travel to find Jewish people who would otherwise not be at a Passover seder.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, April 21, 2005

A Birthdate to Remember

During his lifetime, thousands celebrated the Rebbe's birthday at an all night farbrengen , a Chasidic gathering. Seated at a table decked in a white cloth, the Rebbe's mellifluous voice commanded the cavernous, crammed hall at 770 Eastern Parkway.

Features | Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Post Tsunami Pesach in Thailand

It is 5:00 a.m. and dawn has not yet broken in Bangkok. The typically teeming streets are bathed in the stillness of morning and there is nary a soul astir... except for Rabbi Yosef C. Kantor , the Chabad representative to Thailand.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Monday, April 18, 2005

Children Come of Age in Vilnius

Seventeen boys and girls-most of whom were students at one of Chabad of Vilnius's educational programs, were the center of attention at Hotel Sarunas in Vilnius .

Features | Sunday, April 17, 2005

Mansichewitz and Chabad Reach Thousands in Lithuania, Ukraine and Beyond

A gaggle of teenage girls are packing up their sleek holiday skirts into small valises in anticipation of the Passover holiday. But they won't be spending the Passover Seder meal slurping down their grandmother's chicken soup or sunning at a popular European resort. They will be at school.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Passover Programs to Reach 437 Communities in the FSU

As in years past, the the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS is implementing a comprehensive Passover campaign designed to facilitate observance of this festival among Jews in the Former Soviet Union.

Features | Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Purim In The Emerald Isle

Chabad's representatives in Dublin, Rabbi and Mrs. Zalman Lent learned that planes chartered to fly jet set Irish soccer fans to Tel Aviv would be returning near-empty to the Emerald Isle. They found travel agents willing to sell them the open seats for a few Euros and the promise of a great good deed . . .

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Thursday, April 7, 2005

Helsinki Commission Urges State Department to Seek Return of Schneerson Collection

According to Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota), this is the "first issue I know of to have won bi-partisan and bicameral support." Coleman, who raised the matter with Condoleezza Rice . . .

Baila Olidort | Features | Thursday, April 7, 2005

Purim at Cambridge Takes An Orwellian Turn

Six-foot tall roosters, a charming butterfly and dancing cows lumbered through Chabad of Cambridge's backyard barnyard for their Animal Farm Purim celebration.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, March 29, 2005

1300 Students Celebrate Purim With Chabad at Columbia U

"Judaism's all about breaking barriers, transcending limits, and that's really the idea here behind my music," said Matisyahu , renowned Hassidic-reggae singer, to a crowd of some 1,300 students on Thursday night, at Columbia University's knockout Purim celebration.

Shoshana Olidort | Features | Sunday, March 27, 2005

A Queen, A King, A Hero and a Villain: Purim Celebrations Abound

As Purim revelers in Branford, CT, munch on sour pickles with enough punch to provoke puckers, they will be stepping back in time at Chabad of the Shoreline's Purim-in-the-Shtetl celebration. Down the coast in South Broward, FL, Chabad's Purim . . .

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Chabad Representative Awarded Prestigious Edmond Tenoudji Prize

Though Toulouse is a seven-hour-plus drive to Paris, community members came by the carload to witness Chabad's representative to Toulouse receive the prestigious Edmond Tenoudji prize for excellence in Jewish education.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Sunday, March 20, 2005

West Coast Representatives Open Senate Session

When Rabbi Shlomo Cunin opened the senate session Monday morning (March 14), he told the senators that 40 years ago, he met with a young Governor Ronald Reagan .

Features | Monday, March 14, 2005

Sharansky Visits Lauder Chabad Campus in Vienna

The day following Natan Sharansky's visit, the city's largest circulation newspaper ran a headline with a quote: "The best place to begin my European tour is speaking to youth in Jewish schools."

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Monday, March 14, 2005

Jewish Education on the Rebound in Argentina

South America's largest Jewish community is keeping its eyes peeled on the Wolfsohn School, which opened this week under the auspices of Chabad-Lubavitch as the Centre de Education Judaica Menajem M. Tabacinic .

Features | Friday, March 11, 2005

New Jewish Pre-School Opens In Potsdam

Jewish roots run deep here in this city, where Stalin, Truman, and Churchill signed the Famous 1945 Potsdam agreement. But so does assimilation.

Mimi Weiszner | Features | Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Concert Fundraiser for First West Coast School for Special Needs Children

When a concerned mother of three approached Rabbi Yossi and Esty Marcus of Chabad of S. Mateo , California, with a dilemma, they had no idea what big things were about to transpire.

Mimi Weiszner | Features | Thursday, March 3, 2005

New Chabad Center On Phuket Island

The beaches of Phuket Island, Thailand, sparkling with fresh sand flung ashore by the tsunami, stretch out against blue skies so gorgeous it's easy to forget about the tsunami.

Rivka Chaya Berman | Features | Monday, February 28, 2005

Chabad's Tidal Wave of Goodness

A CNN reporter once stood in the famous "dollar lines" that formed every Sunday outside of 770 Eastern Parkway. When his turn came and he stood before the Lubavitcher Rebbe he asked, "What is your message to the world?"

Mimi Weiszner | Features | Saturday, February 12, 2005

Lubavitch Headquarters Gears Up for Women's Conference

A good percentage of Chabad Lubavitch Shluchim makes up the 40-something demographic. They've been at their work for 25 years now, and can't help recall, perhaps a bit wistfully, a level of energy that once seemed endless.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, January 24, 2005

In Retrospect: 55 Years Ago Today

The 10th of the Hebrew month of Shevat, corresponding to today's date, marks a transitional period in the history of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, January 20, 2005

Restored Torahs Give New Life

In a wonderful partnership between college campuses and the Sandra Brand Torah Project, precious scrolls are being lovingly repaired, restored and revitalized. Then the old scrolls are paired with their "brides," . . .

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Friday, January 14, 2005

New Volume in Chasidic Heritage Series Published

Kehot Publication Society, the Lubavitch Publishing House, has just released Transforming the Inner Self , the fifteenth volume in its ever-expanding Chasidic Heritage Series.

Tova Berenbaum | Features | Thursday, January 6, 2005

Ancient Jewish Community Embraces Full Time Rabbi

The city of Derbent in Dagestan, Russia, home to one of the most ancient Jewish communities with an estimated population 5-8,000 Jews, welcomed its first resident rabbi in seventy years.

Features | Monday, January 3, 2005

Chabad Dedicates Resources to Tsunami Relief Effort

Chaos and confusion are rampant on the island of Phuket, as the magnitude of Sunday's tidal wave registers with survivors and relief workers. Rabbi Nechemia Wilhelm, who has spent the last four days searching and helping to identify bodies-many that have deteriorated in the water-is in the vortex of this turmoil.

Baila Olidort | Features | Thursday, December 30, 2004

TSUNAMI: Chabad Centers in Southeast Asia Main Address for Jewish Relief Effort

Representatives of Chabad-Lubavitch, the only Jewish service agency in Thailand, with centers in Bangkok, Chang Mai and Ko Samui , and Chabad of Bombay, India, have been working round the clock in the wake of the tsunami disaster that has reportedly left more than 50,000 dead.

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Chabad Houses in Thailand Become Crisis Centers For Israelis

Following the earthquake and tsunami that have destroyed hundreds of seaside towns in Asia and Africa leaving thousands dead, relatives of Israelis touring Thailand are anxious to hear about their loved ones.

Features | Monday, December 27, 2004

All For Roza From Cracow

A full-page ad by Lubavitch World Headquarters appeared in the A-section of today's New York Times . The ad describes the massive scope and reach of Chabad-Lubavitch's Chanukah campaign, pointing out the vast numbers and geographic distances penetrated by Chabad this past Chanukah.

Features | Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Sweden's Court Rules In Beit Menachem Case

A stunning ruling by Sweden's Supreme Court yesterday brought to a close the two year struggle of a Jewish couple fighting to keep a small school open against impending closure by the government.

Baila Olidort | Features | Thursday, December 16, 2004

Illuminating Poland With the Lights of the Menorah

Cracow, Lodz, Warsaw -cities synonymous with vibrant Jewish populations that would find their bitter end in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek , draw thousands of Jewish visitors today.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, December 6, 2004

Chanukah Festivities from the Sublime to the Spiritual

The Chanukah programs being offered this year are a multi-hued and colorful kaleidoscope of the old, the new and the new-fangled. From New Hampshire to Texas and from Connecticut to California . . .

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Thursday, December 2, 2004

Kindness Plan Wins Top Gong

The Sydney Morning Herald --A creative campaign to persuade primary and high school children to perform acts of kindness won the nation's premier multicultural marketing award in Sydney last night.

Linda Morris | Features | Wednesday, December 1, 2004

Professor Lectures on Laughs at Skokie Chabad House

A diverse crowd of about one-hundred thirty people crowded into Chabad of Skokie, Illinois, on Friday night to hear humorist Dr. Stephen Z. Cohen expound on the history and significance of Jewish comedy.

Tova Bernbaum | Features | Thursday, November 25, 2004

New Center in Bucks County

When William Penn purchased a vast tract of land in Pennsylvania from the Indians, about 350 years ago, it is a safe bet that his vision for the area did not include a Chabad center that would practice what Penn preached in theory.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Friday, November 19, 2004

Chabad To Open Jewish Center in Colorado's Horse Country

When Rabbi Benjy and Leah Brackman moved to Westminster in September of last year to head Chabad programs in the NW Metro area they dreamed of purchasing a horse property that would to serve as a Chabad Community Center .

Features | Monday, November 15, 2004

Alaskans Warm to Chabad Rabbi On Religious Beliefs

The campus bookstore at the University of Alaska Anchorage was a haven for tolerance and peaceful discussion when a trio of local religious leaders, including Rabbi Yosef Greenberg , spoke about "Religious Beliefs Surrounding Life, Birth and Death."

Tova Bernbaum | Features | Tuesday, November 9, 2004

First Regional Congress for Jewish Women A Success

It was an eye-opener for one thousand women who flocked yesterday to Dnepropetrovsk, host city for the First Regional Congress for Jewish Women.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, November 8, 2004

School Case Is Heard in Sweden's Supreme Court

Emerging from Stockholm's National Court a few hours ago, Rabbi and Mrs. Alexander Namdar reported to Lubavitch.com that the court will issue a decision on December 2 regarding Jewish Day School Beit Menachem vs. Skolverkert .

Baila Olidort | Features | Thursday, November 4, 2004

Jewish Learning Institute Opens Internationally In 120 Cities

Call it a university without walls or call it the next wave in Jewish adult education - the fact is that the Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) is like a wish come true for anyone who wants a sophisticated and authentic entree into the world of Jewish learning.

Tzivia Emmer | Features | Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Richmond Celebrates New Mikveh

Three years in the making, the Mei Menachem/Sterling Mikveh , incorporates the latest in spa-like design and attention to detail, including the lavish use of Jerusalem stone.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Freedom of Religious Education: On Trial in Sweden

Early next month a young Jewish couple will travel from their home in Gothenburg to Sweden's Supreme Court in Stockholm, where they will stand before a judge as defendants in Jewish Day School Beit Menachem vs. Skolverkert , and plead their case for freedom of religious education.

Features | Tuesday, October 19, 2004

From Izbiza to Mequon: Jewish Life Triumphs

A rock from the rubble of a synagogue destroyed by the Nazis in Izbiza , Poland, more than a half century ago, has become the cornerstone for a new Chabad synagogue campus that promises to ensure Jewish life and continuity in America's heartland.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Sunday, October 17, 2004

Going Kosher in the Hofburg Palace

The royal tableware at the Hofburg Palace is taken out of storage only several times a year. On official state visits or other such occasions, the antique silver soup tureens and sterling cutlery of Emperor Franz Josef (1830-1916), are carefully polished and set on tables fit for a king.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, October 14, 2004

Jewish Students at Duke University to Pre-empt Negative Publicity

The remains of a civilian passenger bus bombed by terrorists in Israel this year will be publicly displayed on Duke University campus this week by Chabad, a Jewish campus organization.

Features | Monday, October 11, 2004

Bikers Take To The Lulav

Jewish bikers identifying as The Tribe Motorcycle Club (DC), Chai Riders (NY), Hillel's Angels (NJ), The Stars of Davidson , King David Bikers (FL) and the S.O.B's - Semites on Bikes (MD) all met at the largest Harley dealership on the east coast - Mikes' Famous Harley in New Castle, Delaware, yesterday.

Features | Tuesday, October 5, 2004

Sukkot: On the Sea, At the Army Bases, and In the Preschools . . .

When it's time to celebrate, few match the get-up-and-go spirit of Chabad. Around the world, Chabad Shluchim have devised some of the most creative ways to put some zing into the Sukkot festivities.

Features | Tuesday, October 5, 2004

Sukkot and The New Europe: Parallel Themes

Father and son, Chabad representatives Rabbis Shimon and Mendel Samama , put up the first sukkah in Strasbourg, home to the European Parliament.

Features | Tuesday, October 5, 2004

After the Hurricane: A Sukkah BBQ

The sight of the sukkah--the humble hovel assembled in the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes--that stands surrounded by debris of solidly constructed structures, seems layered with irony.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, October 4, 2004

Sharing the Festival: With the IDF in Hebron

When the Chabad mobile Sukkah arrived at the IDF army base in Hebron earlier today to share the mitzvah of lulav and etrog with the soldiers stationed there, they could not get in.

Features | Sunday, October 3, 2004

Jewish Leaders Meet At Ukrainian Forum

On a listing of Jewish population centers, Ukraine comes in fifth at 400,000. So the quality of life for the country's sizable Jewish population is a matter of interest and concern to its Jewish leadership.

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Sukkah Hopping Round the World

It's that time of year when those odd looking, ramshackle huts appear on every other porch and yard in Jewish neighborhoods around the world. The Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot, is the eight day festival . . .

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Chabad of Ukraine At Babi Yar Memorial

In his famous poem on Babi Yar, Yevgeny Yetushenko wrote, Here all things scream silently . . . Government representatives and other officials who came yesterday to a memorial service at Babi Yar would probably agree with the poet.

B. Olidort | Features | Sunday, September 26, 2004

Thank You For The Chance

A woman who attended Rosh Hashana services sent an email to Rabbi Eliezer Lazeroff of Chabad House at Texas Medical Center: "I wanted to say thank you for opening your doors for the High Holidays. It has been many years . . .

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, September 23, 2004

Hundreds Braved Ivan To Get To Rosh Hashana Services

To the hurricane-weary Jewish communities of Florida and the Gulf Coast, these words from the High Holiday prayers resonated more deeply than ever as they ushered in the New Year 5765. The tree branches and debris which littered the streets around the synagogues . . .

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Mutual Respect Better Than Mutual Tolerance

At the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Conference on Tolerance and the Fight against Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, in Brussels, Jordan's Prince Hassan strongly condemning anti-Semitism. "We need . . . an ethical code of conduct to protect us from anit-Semitism . . ." said the Prince last week.

Features | Tuesday, September 21, 2004

A Torah is Dedicated by Jews of the European Union

It was a first for the Jewish community of the European Union last week when a Torah scroll was completed and dedicated to the synagogue at the European Jewish Community Center. Scheduled to coincide with the onset of the New Year . . .

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, September 20, 2004

400 Jews Forced To Conduct Rosh Hashana Services In The Cold

In contrast to events that barred 400 Jews from entering the only synagogue in Lithuania's capital, forcing them to conduct Rosh Hashana services out in the cold, even communism's stranglehold on Jewish expression, it seems, respected certain limits.

B. Olidort | Features | Sunday, September 19, 2004

Of Hurricanes And Heroes

The images are familiar by now: windswept beaches, swaying palms, and miles of cars moving at a snail's pace as their frightened passengers flee the storm's wrath. The aftermath is also tragically familiar.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Thousands Explore Jewish Life At International Moscow Book Fair

The 17th International Book Fair in Moscow came to a close today after giving some 10,000 Jews the opportunity to peruse books of Jewish interest.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, September 6, 2004

On The French Riviera With Chabad

If you wanted to spend some time this summer on the French Riviera, in Golfe-Juan, La Bocca, Cannes Californie, or the famous St. Tropez, but thought you'd have to miss a Shabbos minyan, then you didn't know that Chabad-Lubavitch set up a Summer Shul in each of these locations.

Features | Thursday, September 2, 2004

Olympics May Be Over, But Kol Tuv Stays Open

The Olympics XXVIII closed last night in a dramatic farewell extravaganza to the participating athletes and countries. The three weeks of competitive sports which were followed internationally, brought new visibility to a city long resting on the memory of an ancient past.

Shoshana Olidort | Features | Monday, August 30, 2004

Jewish Communities in Russia Mourn Loss of Plane Crash Victims

As Russia observes an official day of mourning for the 89 people who died in the dual airplane crash earlier this week, leaders of the Moscow and S. Petersburg Jewish communities are mourning several passengers who had close ties to their respective communities.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, August 26, 2004

A Tale of Two Camps

When the sun is at its zenith in every major city and on every continent, the summer camps of Chabad shine their light on yet another generation of Jewish children.

Fay Greene Kranz | Features | Sunday, August 22, 2004

Chabad Helps Provide Jewish Content At Macabbi Games

The Macabbi Games have begun, bringing thousands of Jewish teenagers, coaches and family members to the Greater Washington area for a week of competitive sports and events.

Features | Monday, August 16, 2004

Tefillin On First!

Can a proud Jew and a pair of tefillin affect the outcome of a World Series game? Rabbi Moshe Feller , director of Chabad Lubavitch of the Upper Midwest and a self-confessed avid baseball fan, believes that it once did.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Thursday, August 5, 2004

First Group of 1,000 Youth Land In Israel

Only three days after the Israeli embassy was bombed in Tashkent, several hundred Jewish teenagers from that city arrived in Israel for a 10-day tour.

Features | Wednesday, August 4, 2004

Ukrainian Foreign Minister: "Thanks to Chabad Shluchim . . ."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko was in Israel yesterday, on an official visit. Accompanying him was Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzki , Chabad-Lubavitch representative to Dnepropetrovsk.

Features | Monday, July 12, 2004

Rabbinical Students Embark On World Tour

Shelby, Montana, with a population of 3,000 and, at most, a handful of Jews, is not high on the priority list of any Jewish organization. But it is one among thousands of locations worldwide to be visited this summer by Lubavitch . . .

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, July 8, 2004

Olympics 2004: Kosher Served Here

Massive sports arenas starring Hercules-like heroes are not new to Athens, but the kosher restaurant being installed this summer will be a first for the ancient Greek city, home to some 3,000 Jews.

Shana Olidort | Features | Friday, July 2, 2004

Rabbi Steinsaltz on the Rebbe: He Wanted to Change Human Nature

Among the many events marking the 10th yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe , was a lecture by Rabbi Adin (Even-Israel) Steinsaltz at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, last week.

B. Olidort | Features | Sunday, June 27, 2004

Kehot Publishes New English Translation of Torah

A newly translated Chumash-the Book of Numbers-was released by Kehot , the Lubavitch publishing house, on Tuesday, June 22. Translators and editors worked at a feverish pace to meet this date, which marked the Lubavitcher Rebbe 's 10th yahrzeit.

Features | Friday, June 25, 2004

Rebbe's Gift To Humankind Remembered in Senate

In Washington D.C. the senate session opened with a prayer that invoked the Lubavitcher Rebbe 's memory and his gift to humankind.

Features | Friday, June 25, 2004

Taking a Global Approach to Helping Israel's Littlest Victims

If it takes a village to raise a child, what does it take when a child is injured, maimed or G-d forbid killed, in an act of terror?

Fay Kranz-Greene | Features | Friday, June 18, 2004

Education With Heart

What's in a name? According to Rabbi Benny Zippel of Chabad of Utah, a lot. Having finally given "Project Heart" its official designation, he feels the name says it all.

Raizel Metzger | Features | Monday, June 14, 2004

Remembering President Reagan

As the nation pays final tribute to President Ronald Reagan , Chabad-Lubavitch recalls a warm rapport between the President and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson , of righteous memory.

Features | Thursday, June 10, 2004

Jewish Communities Prepare to Mark Rebbe's 10th Yahrzeit

Hundreds of people are expected at the JFK Library and Museum on June 17th to mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson .

Features | Friday, June 4, 2004

70 Bar/Bat Mitzvahs Celebrate in S. Petersburg Celebrate

The Great Choral Synagogue of S. Petersburg hosted a Bar and Bat Mitzva ceremony for about 70 girls and boys from the city's Jewish schools and Family Clubs last week.

Features | Wednesday, June 2, 2004

Mitzvahs At The Cannes Film Festival

It's all glitz and glamour at the Cannes Film Festival where the red carpet is rolled out for purveyors of the imaginary. Yet even here, where success is often measured by how well the fantasies depicted on the big screen displace reality, more than a few of the film moguls have taken some time to do a mitzvah.

B. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Kaddish For A Jewish Marine

Rabbi Zvi Konikov , director of Chabad of the Space Coast, officiated at the full military funeral and told the 400 mourners that Dustin Schrage took the Hebrew name Shmuel for himself when he was named at the Torah in the Chabad Center just prior to his leave for the marines.

Features | Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Children Celebrate in Israel

Breaking into a seven week stretch of no holidays, weddings or live music celebrations, Lag B'omer was celebrated yesterday by Jewish children in cities and countries round the world.

B. Olidort | Features | Monday, May 10, 2004

Children Parade for Jewish Unity

Some 25,000 people from across the Tri-State area turned out early this glorious Sunday morning to watch a Jewish unity parade make its way along Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue.

Raizel Metzger | Features | Sunday, May 9, 2004

Wrapping Tefillin in Brussels

Any way you turned at the annual Israeli Day Fair in Brussels, Belguim last week, there was one thing you couldn't miss: A lively tefillin and Jewish information stand surrounded by a large crowd drawn to the Yeshiva students manning the booth.

Raizy Metzger | Features | Thursday, May 6, 2004

England's Jewish Children To Parade In North London

More than 1500 Jewish schoolchildren from London and the surrounding provinces are praying that it won't rain on their parade.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Monday, May 3, 2004

Secretary of State Welcomes Establishment of New Lubavitch Center

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met yesterday with Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal , director of Chabad in Berlin. Mr. Powell told Rabbi Teichtal that he has heard about the new Rohr Chabad Center & Albam Educational Center , which is being opened by Chabad of Berlin.

Features | Thursday, April 29, 2004

Anti-Semitism: Don't Just Talk, Do Something About It!

"This is our response to anti-semitism," said Rabbi Yudi Teichtal, speaking to the American delegation to the Berlin Conference on Anti-Semitism.

Features | Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Passover In Uzbekistan

Jewish communities across Uzbekistan celebrated Passover this year, many of them experiencing the richness and joy of this holiday for the first time in their lives.

Features | Friday, April 16, 2004

Seders Around the World

Eritrea and Namibia are exotic, far, and don't rank high on the map of Jewish demographics. But there are Jews in the Sub-Saharan African region . . .

B. Olidort | Features | Friday, April 9, 2004

Honoring The Rebbe's Birthday

The 11th of Nissan, this year corresponding to April 2, marks the 102nd birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. For thousands of Jews . . .

B. Olidort | Features | Friday, April 2, 2004

Feeding the Hungry in Philadelphia

Feeding the hungry has assumed biblical proportions in the Delaware Valley with a wildly successful program created by Lubavitch House of Philadelphia. The project known as JRA . . .

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Thursday, April 1, 2004

Russian Jews of Brighton Beach: Jewish and Proud

Some 200 local Jews are expected to join F.R.E.E.'s annual communal seders next week . . . For nearly all of the participants, the F.R.E.E. seder experience marks their first time ever celebrating the holiday.

Raizel Metzger | Features | Wednesday, March 31, 2004

International Torah Contest Ends

The finals of a national contest challenging 5th-8th graders knowledge of Judaism's 613 mitzvahs took place at the Moshe Ganz hall in Los Angeles from March 18-21, 2004.

Features | Thursday, March 25, 2004

Chabad of Midtown

Features | Tuesday, March 23, 2004

30 Tons of Matzah To Reach Jews in Eastern Europe

Herbert Hoover's goal of "a chicken in every pot" was tame by comparison. The Chabad Lubavitch Organization wants to provide matzah this Passover for every Jewish man, woman and child . . .

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Wednesday, March 17, 2004

A Homecoming in Montana

The Flathead Valley of northwest Montana has no synagogue or rabbi, but this year, they had Purim. Thanks to the hard work of three Brooklyn yeshiva students and many area residents, the Flathead Valley had a very special Megillah reading . . .

Yosef Dahne | Features | Wednesday, March 17, 2004

First Post-Holocaust Orthodox Synagogue Opens in Dresden

Hundreds turned out out last week to participate at a dedication ceremony for the first Orthodox synagogue to open in Saxony, Germany since the Holocaust. The synagogue is part of a new facility named the Rohr Chabad Center . . .

Features | Friday, March 12, 2004

Got Purim?

If the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch Purim experience were to be summed up, perhaps a postcard gimmick from a newly-opened Chabad branch in Ponte Vedra, Florida would do it best.

Raizy Metzger | Features | Wednesday, March 10, 2004

FSU Jewry Celebrates Purim In Record Numbers

On March 7th and 8th, Jews from 420 communities throughout the Former Soviet Union, members of the Federation of Jewish Communities, celebrated Purim.

Features | Monday, March 8, 2004

90210 Meets Judaism 101

"Public schools should not be hostile to the religious rights of their students and their families," said Education Secretary Rod Paige in a February 7th letter to public elementary and secondary schools.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Thursday, March 4, 2004

Personalized Purim Gifts For 40,000 Children

An enormous outreach project led by Chabad-Lubavitch representative and Chief Rabbi of Odessa, Ukraine, Rabbi Avraham Wolf, will give 40,000 Jewish children in the region good reason to celebrate on Purim.

Features | Wednesday, March 3, 2004

Purim Goes Mainstream

It's hard to imagine a time when most American Jews didn't know what Purim was. But if you remember the sixties, you'll recall that by and large, Jewish holiday observances were limited to Yom Kippur and Passover.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Monday, March 1, 2004

New Chabad-Lubavitch Yeshiva High School In Westchester Appoints Dean

The appointment of Rabbi Dr. Chaim Dovid Kagan as Dean of the Lubavitch Yeshiva High School in Westchester, was made official earlier today by Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky at Lubavitch World Headquarters.

Baila Olidort | Features | Friday, February 27, 2004

Munich's Jewish Community Celebrates

"No other Jewish initiative has enriched the Jewish community of Munich as much as the activities of Chabad," said Mrs. Charlotte Knobloch, Vice President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and president of Munichï¿œs Jewish community.

Baila Olidort | Features | Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Jewish Revival In Lithuania

Lithuania's Jewish community is now preparing for a 10-year anniversary celebration, marking a decade since the arrival of the country's Chief Rabbi.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, February 23, 2004

International Women's Conference

"We can do the impossible" was the message implicit in every line spoken at last night's banquet dinner of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchos.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, February 16, 2004

Europe Today: A New Era For Jewish Life

One elderly Jew who recalled growing up in Austria "scared to utter the word 'Jew,'" said he had to rub his eyes at the sight of Israel's Chief Rabbi laying his hands in blessing on Austria's President.

Baila Olidort | Features | Sunday, February 8, 2004

A Double Blessing for San Francisco's Jewish Community

On any given Shabbat, the dining room of Rabbi Yosef and Hinda Langer's home in San Francisco is jam-packed with 40-50 people enjoying good food, spirited singing and spiritual nourishment.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Thursday, February 5, 2004

Chabad Opens in Ko Samui, Thailand

After locating space for the new Chabad House, Rabbi Kantor recruited Rabbi Gaon Maatuf with his wife, Shterna to serve as Chabad-Lubavitch representatives to the tiny Jewish community of Ko Samui and the multitudes of Jewish tourists.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Wednesday, February 4, 2004

Camp Gan Israel, Brazil: 23 Years and Strong

Jewish children from all over Brazil, closed a fun-filled, lively and spiritually enriching summer at Camp Gan Israel.

Features | Wednesday, February 4, 2004

In Retrospect: 55 Years Ago Today

The 10th of the Hebrew month of Shevat, corresponding to today's date, marks a transitional period in the history of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, February 2, 2004

Four Days In February

Sara Blumenfeld is making last minute arrangements before she leaves to New York for the Annual International Conference of Shluchos (Chabad women emissaries).

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Chabad Representatives of Tuscon in White House

Chabad-Lubavitch representative of Tuscon, Arizona, Rabbi Yossi Shemtov, who is also the pulpit rabbi of the Chabad at Young Israel synagogue in Tuscon, and his wife Chanie, received the much coveted invitation to the White House Chanukah party last month.

Baila Olidort | Features | Sunday, January 18, 2004

France President Chirac: Close Ties To Chabad-Lubavitch

"I maintain a warm, personal and outstanding relationship with the people of Chabad-Lubavitch," said France's President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday while addressing a group of Israeli journalists at the Presidential Elysee Palace.

Baila Olidort | Features | Thursday, January 15, 2004

In Support of Jewish Children: Clinton, Pataki, Guiliani . . .

More than 600 guests turned out in support and celebration of the realization of a dream at last night's Jewish Children International Tzivos Hashem dinner.

Baila Olidort | Features | Thursday, January 15, 2004

Chabad Representatives of the FSU Convene in Israel

Among the Jewish communities represented at a four day conference at the Dead Sea in Israel were those of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Azerbaijan.

Baila Olidort | Features | Thursday, January 8, 2004

Chabad Camp to Open in Wildwood, Florida

Chabad-Lubavitch of Florida announced the recent purchase of a new, $4 million campsite in Wildwood, to open for the 2004 summer season.

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, January 6, 2004

From Azerbaijan to Israel, With Love

Taking the initiative to launch a project of communication with their Israeli peers, the students of Chabad's Ohr Avner School in Baku, Azerbaijan are learning of a shared empathy and essential bonds that run far deeper than the cultural and geographic differences would suggest.

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, January 5, 2004

Terror Alert Doesn't Stop Chabad's Prison Programs

The names read like something out of a movie script. Sing Sing, Attica, Allenwood., medium security jails and Federal penitentiaries. To Rabbi Kasriel Kastel, these prisons are outreach opportunities.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Wednesday, December 31, 2003

New Yeshiva Building Goes Up In Miami

Anyone who has ever been to North Miami will remember the Golden Glades Interchange - the double, figure-eight elevated junction which is the intersection for almost every major Florida highway. If ever there was a 'golden' spot near which to build a Yeshiva, this would be it.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Deploying the Power of the 23rd Psalm

Move over palm pilot--"psalm pilot" is here. This unique school project seeks to harness the power of prayer, especially the 23rd psalm (the L-rd is my shepherd) and the innocent faith of school children in support of our troops.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Chinese Government Goes Kosher

Israel's president Moshe Katzav follows a kosher diet, and is a Shabbos observer. That's not altogether surprising, but it made for unusual circumstances when he was invited to China on an official State Visit last week.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, December 25, 2003

Florida Governor Jeb Bush Receives Chabad Representatives

Chabad-Lubavitch representatives to the state of Florida met with Governor Jeb Bush in his office, on Tuesday, in honor of Chanukah.

Baila Olidort | Features | Thursday, December 25, 2003

DULUTH MAYOR DECLARES CHABAD WEEK

Duluth Mayor Gary L. Doty has issued a proclamation declaring the week December 19 - 27 as "Chabad Week" in the city of Duluth.

Features | Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Millions Witness Governor Schwarzenegger and Chabad at Menorah

According to Nielson and Media Clips reports released this morning, 114 television stations nationwide ran news stories featuring the Chabad Chanukah Menorah lighting ceremony at the State Capitol on December 19.

Features | Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Getting A Leg-Up On Chanukah Menorahs

It took 6,000 Lego pieces, two and a half hours, 50 adult volunteers and dozens of children to build it. But when the colorful 9-foot high, 8-foot wide Menorah, constructed entirely out of Legos, was completed, it was a magical sight to behold.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Four Israeli Hostages Released on Chanukah

In this Festival of Miracles, few feel the miracle more than the three Israeli hikers who were kidnapped by Marxist Colombians

Baila Olidort | Features | Monday, December 22, 2003

A Chanukah Wonderland

Tyson's Corner in Northern Virginia is one of the premier upscale shopping centers in the United States. Home to Neiman Marcus and Saks, Bloomingdales and Bennetton, it is now also home to the Chabad Lubavitch Chanukah Wonderland.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Monday, December 22, 2003

Chabad-Lubavitch Lights up the French Alps

Lubavitch in France is undertaking an ambitious Chanukah campaign this week, with 13 public menorah lighting ceremonies throughout the French Alps.

Features | Saturday, December 20, 2003

Chanukah 2003: Bigger and Brighter Universal Celebrations

Reports coming into the offices of Lubavitch World Headquarters indicate that this will likely be the most widely celebrated Chanukah yet.

Baila Olidort | Features | Friday, December 19, 2003

Jewish Troops to Receive Menorahs

Special Chanukah kits are being sent to U.S. troops in Baghdad, Mosul, Tikrit, Afghanistan, Antarctica, Bosnia, Korea, Germany, Norway, The U.S.S. Peleliu and many military bases in the States.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Jewish Communities Worldwide Celebrate Historic Date

Sunday, December 14 will long be remembered for the day on which Saddam Hussein was captured by American Coalition Forces in Iraq. This year, the date corresponds to the Hebrew calendar date of 19 Kislev, known as the Chasidic New Year.

Baila Olidort | Features | Sunday, December 14, 2003

Science and Torah Conference

Have scientists discovered G-d? Is Judaism's belief in free will compatible with concepts of genetic predestination? These are some of the questions to be addressed at The International Torah and Science Conference.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Sunday, December 7, 2003

Chabad Facilitates Father-Son Reunion

"The first time I met Ari, was at a fundraiser in our shul" recalls Rabbi Sholom Ber Rodal. "He told me that he was going off to Berkley to study and I wished him well."

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Tuesday, December 2, 2003

A New Home for Chabad in Geneva

The voice mail system at the Geneva, Switzerland offices of Chabad Lubavitch answers in four languages: French, German, Italian and English.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Friday, November 28, 2003

International Conference Draws 2,500-Plus

More than 2,500 Chabad-Lubavitch representatives from around the world, convened at the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel this past Sunday nite.

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Michigan Friendship Circle Breaks Ground For New Facility

"We all grow up and have a dream that we will get married and have children. We take it for granted that our children will be normal and healthy. Unfortunately, for some of us, that dream doesn't always come true."

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Thursday, November 20, 2003

Chabad-Lubavitch Represented at the GA of the UJC

Twenty-five Chabad-Lubavitch representatives from cities across the United States and the former Soviet Union, attend the General Assembly of the UJC, in Jerusalem.

B. Olidort | Features | Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Lubavitch Rabbi in Leavenworth

When Rabbi Bentzion Friedman received a call recently from the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, he assumed it concerned his monthly visits to the maximum-security facility.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Thursday, November 13, 2003

Chabad-Lubavitch in California Fire Relief Effort

Chabad-Lubavitch on the West Coast is on the scene and on hand to help victims of the fires now blazing in southern California, even as some of their own centers suffer damage.

Features | Thursday, October 30, 2003

Weprin Center for Jewish Life and Learning

After ten years of working out of cramped storefront quarters, they had more than outgrown the space and were desperately seeking a permanent location . . .

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Chabad's Racing Rabbis

Chabad rabbis in California to compete in competitive car racing.

Features | Sunday, October 26, 2003

A New Signpost In Town

Residents of Dix Hills, New York, have a new signpost they use when giving directions: "Just turn right at the Chai Center to get to the library."

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Thursday, October 23, 2003

Sukkot Amid Civil War In Bolivia

As Bolivia experiences unrest and violence with thousands marching across the country in angry protest against the government, Chabad-Lubavitch brings Sukkot to the streets.

Features | Friday, October 17, 2003

Sukkot On Cyprus

Jewish residents and tourists who frequent this lovely Mediterranean island, had the opportunity to celebrate the Festival of Sukkot inside a sukkah-the first kosher sukkah ever in Cyprus.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, October 16, 2003

Sukkot With IDF's New Recruits

Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical student Mendy Ofen has a personal rapport with many of Israel's Defense Force's seargants, and when he received a call from one at a recruiting base requesting that he come to celebrate with new recruits, Mendy was there within hours.

B. Olidort | Features | Thursday, October 16, 2003

A Sukkah On Saddam's Palace Grounds

In an interview with Lubavitch.com, Col. Jacob Goldstein, Chief of Chaplains for New York State Army National Guard, said, "Yesterday I ate in a Sukkah we put up on the grounds of the Palace."

Baila Olidort | Features | Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Sukkot in Baghdad

Jewish soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq did not sit comfortably in their local synagogues alongside their families, this Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. But just as surely, the holidays did not pass them by either.

Baila Olidort | Features | Friday, October 10, 2003

A Community Grows In Boynton Beach

When the magnificent 500-seat synagogue and social hall, a part of the Rae and Joseph Gann Campus for Living Judaism was completed about 14 months ago, Rabbi Ciment began to explore possibilities of having housing available within walking distance.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Wednesday, October 8, 2003

2200-Plus At Chabad of The Conejo Yom Kippur Services

Every boardroom, conference room, and ballroom at the luxurious Hyatt Westlake Plaza Hotel, was used to accommodate the overwhelming turnout for Chabad of the Conejo's Yom Kippur Services.

Features | Wednesday, October 8, 2003

Lithuania's Second Wind

Last week, one hundred years since the Vilnius Choral synagogue first opened its doors on Rosh Hashana 1903, 650 Jews poured into this magnificent sanctuary-the only remaining and functioning synagogue in all of Vilna-to hear the sounding of the shofar.

S. Olidort | Features | Friday, October 3, 2003

Pasta and Puerto Rico

It's hard to believe that a Chabad House in Puerto Rico-an island where no kosher meat, chicken, or dairy products are produced-can offer a kosher, gourmet menu of freshly prepared and beautifully packaged meals to any tourist who wants it.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Wednesday, October 1, 2003

Remembering the Vilna Ghetto: Sixty Years Later

Marking 60 years since the liquidation of the Vilna ghetto, Lithuanian members of parliament, including the president, prime minister, and chairman of the parliament, paid tribute to the tens of thousands of Jews murdered here during the Holocaust.

Features | Monday, September 29, 2003

A Miracle in Thailand

This is the heartwarming saga of a young man from a small town in Israel, an accident in a small town in Thailand, a Chabad House in Bangkok and a Lubavitcher shliach in Florida. All four came together during one terrible night to bring comfort and aid to a Jewish boy who was a stranger to them all.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Friday, September 26, 2003

Princeton Students Prepare for Rosh Hashana

Forty students attended the first-ever Shofar Factory at Chabad of Princeton University, where they carved their own ram's horns to be used on Rosh Hashana.

Features | Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Lubavitch and Coca Cola Team Up

The Coca Cola fundraiser began to bubble about fifteen years ago, when a group of Chabad's Hebrew school parents met with Rabbi Doron Aizenman, director of Chabad in Myrtle Beach.

Fay Kranz Greene | Features | Wednesday, September 17, 2003

The First Synagogue in New York's Oldest Village

Irwin Simon, CEO and chairman of Hain Celestial Group, is a member at four New York City synagogues. But it's the Chabad shul in Southampton that he favors above them all.

S.Olidort | Features | Sunday, August 31, 2003

Summer Escape: Nurturing the Spirit

How do the Divine attributes of kindness, beauty and royalty translate into our physical world? What does G-d really want from us? How can we become attuned to the yearnings of the soul?

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, August 28, 2003

And Bind Them For A Sign Upon Your Hand

Between Zalman and Leizer Twerski, Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical students on a five-week stint in Romania, the leather straps of tefillin have been bound around the arms of hundreds of Jews.

Baila Olidort | Features | Sunday, August 17, 2003

Among the Mystics of Safed

Rafi Kaplan wasn't looking for inspiration. The 22 year old L.A. native, exploring the world with a backpack and a buddy needed a place to stay.

R. Wineberg | Features | Wednesday, August 6, 2003

17 Days in Poland

Yossi Stein 24, of Detroit, Michigan, and Sender Kavka, 23, of Seattle, Washington had two and a half weeks in which to seek out as many Jews as possible.

B. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, August 6, 2003

Camping in Paraguay

Landlocked between Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia, Paraguay has long been considered the continent's "empty quarter," nondescript and unnoticed even by its closest neighbors.

S. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, July 30, 2003

A Summer to Last A Lifetime

At this camp the counselors communicate with their campers through interpreters, or, alternatively, says one counselor, "with lots of hugs, smiles."

S. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, July 23, 2003

A New Mikveh for the Florida Panhandle

A mere three years since Chabad has settled in Tallahassee, Florida, local Jewish women and those in surrounding cities in northwest Florida and Southern Georgia will finally have a mikvah all their own.

S. Olidort | Features | Sunday, July 20, 2003

Torah Study in Japan

In most respects, it's a Torah study class much like any other. But for the six men who meet every Monday night with Rabbi Gaon Yosef Maatuf of Chabad of Kobe, Japan, there's one crucial difference . . .

R. Wineberg | Features | Tuesday, July 15, 2003

Rebbe's Ninth Yahrzeit Marked Worldwide

The 3rd day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, this year corresponding to July 3, is the ninth yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.

Features | Wednesday, July 2, 2003

A New Torah in Dixieland

When Dave Lerner settled in the small town of Lincolnton, near Charlotte, North Carolina, in the early 1920's, the prospects for any sustained Jewish future seemed grim.

S. Olidort | Features | Friday, June 27, 2003

Honoring the Rebbe's Legacy

Some three thousand yeshiva students from around the world have joined in a global campaign of Torah study to honor the Rebbe's legacy.

S. Olidort | Features | Monday, June 23, 2003

A Leap of Faith for the Rationalist

In a bold step for a man of his age, Yochai Gutman chose to bring his Jewish identity home, full circle, with a Brit Milah at 82 years old.

S. Olidort | Features | Monday, June 16, 2003

Challah 'N Grits

They came from all stripes of the small but active community of Magic City, to participate in a festive ceremony marking the culmination of a four-month long campaign.

S. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, June 11, 2003

Saved by Shabbat

"Saved by Shabbat," says Chabad Rabbi Leib Raskin , referring to the miracle that occurred in Casablanca on the fateful Friday evening two weeks ago.

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, May 29, 2003

Honorary Citizen of Rio

The Honorary Citizen title, bestowed yearly by the Chamber of Commerce on several deserving individuals or organizations, awards citizens for their contributions to the benefit of the city.

Features | Tuesday, May 27, 2003

Halachic Seminar in former Soviet Union

Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis of the Former Soviet Union convene for an annual seminar on Jewish law.

Features | Monday, May 26, 2003

A Celebration at 12 Pushkinskaya Street

Thousands turned out to celebrate the completion of the largest shul in the CIS, in Kharkov, Ukraine.

S. Olidort | Features | Sunday, May 25, 2003

Turning Ordinary People into Leaders

For every kid teetering on the brink of disaster, there are five more practicing kindness and enhancing the lives of their families and communities, and promising a future far brigher than the present.

R. Wineberg | Features | Sunday, May 25, 2003

Living Jewish, Feeling Safe, in Muslim Azerbaijan

Hardly a Muslim country in the world today can claim kind hospitality to Jewish people. And yet, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Rabbi Meir Brook is routinely greeted with warm blessings by Muslim passersby.

R. Wineberg | Features | Monday, May 12, 2003

Living Jewish in Muslim Azerbaijan

Hardly a Muslim country in the world today can claim kind hospitality to Jewish people. And yet, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Rabbi Meir Brook is routinely greeted with warm blessings by Muslim passersby.

R. Wineberg | Features | Monday, May 12, 2003

Turning 12, Turning Serious

It's an exclusive camp, so exclusive in fact, that eligible campers have but a once-in-a lifetime chance to get in.

S. Olidort | Features | Friday, May 9, 2003

Torah Center To Rise in Heart of Montreal

The 7-million dollar, 35,000 square-foot full service Jewish community center and synagogue currently under construction in the heart of Hampstead, marks an exciting milestone for the Montreal Jewish community.

R. Wineberg | Features | Thursday, May 8, 2003

An Oasis in Paradise

A curious thing happens with the arrival of young Chabad Rabbis who bring Jewish students together in a celebration of their faith . . .

R.Wineberg | Features | Monday, May 5, 2003

On a Mediterannean Island: Jews Revisit Judaism

Last Wednesday marked the first time in three decades that residents of Cyprus were allowed to cross from one side to the other of their divided island.

S. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, April 30, 2003

President Honors Rebbe's Legacy

By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation

Features | Friday, April 11, 2003

American Legal Cases: Lawyers Examine the Talmudic Angle

What rights does a non-custodial parent have, according to Jewish law? How does Jewish law evaluate the damages caused by an incurred physical or emotional injury?

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, April 10, 2003

Synagogue Get Second Wind

In 1908, when Hana Shnir was three years old, the Jewish community of Kuibyshev, Russia celebrated the construction of a grand community synagogue. Every Shabbat, as Hana walked with her father to Shabbat services, he would tell her about this special structure.

Features | Thursday, April 10, 2003

The Sound of Jewish Music

It was November 1938, a few days before Kristallnacht, when Cantor Heinrich Schwarzwald led the final services at Offenbach's main Synagogue.

S. Olidort | Features | Tuesday, April 8, 2003

Russian Jewry Gives Back

This time last year, over 120 Yeshiva students from the US traveled to 63 far-flung cities in Russia to conduct Passover Seders for Jewish communities with no full-time rabbi.

R. Wineberg | Features | Thursday, April 3, 2003

The Joy of Passover in Argentina

"Some 7,500 Jews will celebrate Passover in Argentina this year," says Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt, director of Chabad-Lubavitch in Argentina, which is organizing more communal Seders this year than ever before.

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, April 3, 2003

On Manhattan's Upper West Side: A Great Lab of Jewish Learning

When Amy Weil began looking into preschools for her son Sasha, then two and a half years old, there were lots of options. Chabad, she says, simply wasn't one of them. The stereotypes surrounding ultra-orthodoxy made her uneasy.

S. Olidort | Features | Monday, March 31, 2003

A Decade of Jewish Unity

Celebrating 10 Years of Chabad in Thailand" was held last Monday at the Brooklyn Marriot Hotel, drawing over three hundred friends and supporters of Chabad activities in Thailand.

R. Wineberg | Features | Friday, March 28, 2003

A Jewish Youth Library Grows . . . And Grows

Six years ago Sarah Swedler, an Ottawa resident, lost her daughter, and with her two-year-old, orphaned grandson in tow, she turned to the Jewish Youth Library for support.

Features | Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Jewish Visibility Rises in the European Union Headquarters

"Being openly Jewish in a place like the EU is not easy," and most of the Jews were keeping that quiet. But that's changing now with the European Jewish Community Centre . . .

Features | Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Dancing With The Torah On 42nd Street

Against the backdrop of pro-troop and anti-war demonstrations, two hundred people took to the streets of Midtown Manhattan on Sunday,in song, dance and celebration.

Features | Monday, March 24, 2003

Purim In the Alps

In a gesture of renewed interest in Jewish activity and affiliation, more than 150 people, a sizable sum for this tiny community, joined Rabbi Chaim and Rivky Drukman, new Chabad representatives to Lucerne

S. Olidort | Features | Friday, March 21, 2003

You Have A Home In Midtown Manhattan

What to do when you land a job an hour away from home, in Midtown Manhattan, on Purim day?

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, March 20, 2003

Chabad Celebrates "Purim Jerusalem" Worldwide

"A Purim party focused on the Holy Land is the perfect way to combine a holiday celebration with a tangible way to express support for Israel during this difficult time."

R. Wineberg | Features | Monday, March 17, 2003

Hamantashen In Kuwait

Jewish troops posted in Kuwait will have something to smile about this Purim. Hundreds of Jewish schoolchildren have prepared food packages and letters for them . . .

S. Olidort | Features | Sunday, March 16, 2003

A 30th B-day for Chabad of the Lone Star State

Chabad Lubavitch of Texas celebrated 30 years in the state at a gala anniversary founders' dinner on March 9.

Features | Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Resolution Favoring Israel Passed Unanimously

Florida's House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution declaring the state's solidarity with Israel

S. Olidort | Features | Monday, March 10, 2003

Chabad House To Give Dinner Proceeds to Victims of Terror

As a demonstration of its steadfast support, the Sara Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center will donate 20 percent of the proceeds of its annual dinner to victims of terror in Israel and to members of the Israel Defense Forces.

Susan Tawil | Features | Thursday, March 6, 2003

Ilan's Subtle Call To Celebrities and Movie Producers . . .

While the Columbia Accident Investigation Board prepares for its first public hearing, Ilan Ramon continues to be rememberd as a "rare Jewish light."

Baila Olidort | Features | Thursday, March 6, 2003

On the Rebound: Jewish Life in the Bronx

All that remains of the once thriving Jewish community in the Bronx section of New York City, is the relatively small, but vibrant neighborhood of Riverdale, home to some 40,000 Jews.

S. Olidort | Features | Tuesday, March 4, 2003

Jewish Marriages Made In Denmark

Jeppe Lilholt, a native of a small village north of Copenhagen in Denmark was always looking for something to believe in.

R. Wineberg | Features | Tuesday, March 4, 2003

Torah Cup Competition for Jewish Children of the Far East

What would it take to unite Jewish kids living in tiny Far East communities so isolated that their closest Jewish friends could be a three-hour flight away?

R. Wineberg | Features | Thursday, February 27, 2003

Looking Back: A Quarter Century Later

It's a lifestyle that leaves little time for the luxury of reflection, but last week, thirty of these 70's pioneers, appointed by the Rebbe to pack up and "move to Israel," took some time to reminisce.

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, February 27, 2003

Yeshiva Trains Rabbis In Berlin

"I have heard of Jews leaving Germany to study abroad, but this is the first I have heard of Jews leaving Israel and the States to further their Jewish education in Germany," said Berlin's Governor Klaus Wowereit . . .

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, February 20, 2003

The Power of Three

It's amazing what can happen when Jewish organizations pull together for a common cause. Just ask Dr. Wallace Green, director of Educational services at the UJA-Federation of Bergen County and North Hudson, New Jersey.

Features | Wednesday, February 19, 2003

Yiddishkeit In Vegas?

Unfolding along the western rim of the Las Vegas Valley, Summerlin is a new, 22,500-acre master-planned community, with a quality-of-life to match its azure skies, and the majestic Spring Mountain Range and Red Rock Canyon Conservation hugging its perimeter. "Eleven years ago I told Rabbi Harlig we'd need a Chabad center in Summerlin," recalls Terry Knight, among the first of Summerlin's residents.

S. Olidort | Features | Monday, February 10, 2003

Rabbi Addresses NASA Memorial Ceremony (Text Attached)

Rabbi Tzvi Konikov, one of nine distinguished guests invited to address NASA's memorial ceremony Friday morning, brought tears to the faces of many in his words of solace, remembrance and courage.

Features | Friday, February 7, 2003

An Astronaut's Legacy

In the wake of the shuttle Columbia's tragic end, so many painful questions will remain unanswered long after NASA establishes the technical causes of the disaster.

Baila Olidort | Features | Wednesday, February 5, 2003

Children of the World: Making A World of Difference

Joe Sheridan , a Catholic quarantine inspector in Sydney, Australia, had a ten-minute appointment with Rabbi Zalman Kastel . The session lasted an hour, but its impact would stretch across the width and breadth of Australia's largest city.

S. Olidort | Features | Tuesday, February 4, 2003

A Sense of Permanence

When Jack Mezrahi was growing up in Barranquilla, Colombia, a small city one hour from the capital, most Jewish people he knew were on their way out . . .

R. Wineberg | Features | Tuesday, February 4, 2003

What Makes Them Tick? Chabad-Lubavitch Women On Home Turf

Sylvia Rothblum came to New York from Munich last week "not knowing what to expect," she admits.

R. Wineberg | Features | Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Jewish Astronuat Takes Mitzvah Into Space

Col. Ramon has asked Rabbi Konikov for a dollar bill from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, which he will carry with him on his mission. "His mission is an inspiration," says Rabbi Konikov.

Baila Olidort | Features | Wednesday, January 15, 2003

20 New Chabad Centers To Open on West Coast

Chabad social service and outreach programs that were previously overlooked because of their religious affiliations will now be linked to the new White House faith-based initiatives, announced Rabbi Shlomo Cunin at the 35th annual convention of West Coast Shluchim.

S. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, January 15, 2003

MAGEN: Counter Missionary Force Fights Soul Snatchers

A flyer appears in a Russian city inviting the Jewish community to celebrate Shabbat. Illustrated with Jewish symbols, it offers dinner and inspiration at no charge and draws a sizeable crowd of local Jews.

R. Wineberg | Features | Wednesday, January 15, 2003

Yiddishkeit in Middle Class Suburbia: It's Good for the Kids

When Rabbi Shalom and Sara Paltiel initially arrived here, Port Washington's residents were somewhat confounded, and Rabbi Paltiel recalls being asked by a well-intentioned fellow if, perhaps, he was lost.

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, January 9, 2003

Another First for Post Communist Hungary

"As a native of Budapest and a survivor of the Holocaust, the rejuvenation of the Hungarian Jewish community and other Jewish communities throughout Central Europe following the decimation the Jewish community suffered under Nazi Germany, is one of the most deeply gratifying developments I can imagine."

S. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, January 8, 2003

On the Slopes and At Chabad: Peak Season

Most of Rabbi Mendel Mintz's congregants at Chabad of Aspen are in town now. Which is a nice thing, especially since it's so unusual.

R. Wineberg | Features | Friday, January 3, 2003

A Perfect Package at Contour Day Spa

When Fanit Panofsky told Rabbi Posner of her plans to relocate her spa from small, rented facilities to a huge plot of land and a custom-designed brand new building, he jumped at the idea and added to it.

S. Olidort | Features | Monday, December 30, 2002

A Different Sort of Magic

On your average Shabbos, a minyan at Chabad of South Orlando is usually made up of several dozen men and women, about half of whom are only visiting, and conversation after prayers is exchanged in a lively variety of foreign languages.

R. Wineberg | Features | Saturday, December 28, 2002

Not For Water

The ratings are in and they've never been better, says Michael Kigel, producer of Passages and Messages, two religiously themed shows that air weekly on Rogers Cable Channel 9 in thousands of Ontario homes.

R. Wineberg | Features | Monday, December 23, 2002

A Bar-Mitzvah to Remember

Mendel is the first of all the sons of the hundreds of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchim in the former Soviet Union, to turn 13.

S. Olidort | Features | Sunday, December 22, 2002

Chabad Rabbis Awarded Queen's Gold Medal

"The commemorative medal for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the accession of Her Majesty to the Throne in February 1952," reads the award presented to Rabbi Israel Landa.

S. Olidort | Features | Friday, December 20, 2002

Creating Community

When Chabad at Flamingo, named for the obscure little road it sits on in Northern Thornhill, opened the doors of the Ernest Manson Lubavitch Center, a 22,000 square foot facility...

R. Wineberg | Features | Monday, December 16, 2002

Light Begets Light . . .

Millions of television viewers nationally watched last Friday's public Menorah lighting ceremony in Lenin Square.

S. Olidort | Features | Sunday, December 8, 2002

Jewish Revival in Birobidjan

The irony of 100 Jews braving icy streets of a remote Russian backwater in 20 degrees below zero, to participate at a public menorah lighting ceremony is nothing short of exquisite.

S. Olidort | Features | Friday, December 6, 2002

Around Africa in Eight Days

Living in tiny communities where the closest sign of Jewish life can be hundreds of miles away, the Jews of central Africa give new meaning to being Jewishly isolated.

R. Wineberg | Features | Thursday, December 5, 2002

A Menorah on the Slopes

Jason, a 24 year old Australian ski enthusiast was heading down the slopes one day in the winter of '95 during a season-long ski stint, when he saw something that made him stop in his tracks and stare.

R. Wineberg | Features | Sunday, December 1, 2002

Seashells on the Beach

In the Sunshine State of Florida, where temperatures seldom fall short of the 70 degree mark, and sailing and surfing are year-round activities, Chabad puts a uniquely tropical spin on its Chanukah celebration.

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, November 28, 2002

Form and Function: A Menorah of Canned Goods

Collectors of Jewish artifacts will be amused by this menorah, too large to take home, yet unlike any of the giant menorahs that will grace public squares next week.

S. Olidort | Features | Tuesday, November 26, 2002

A Light At The End of The Tunnel

Commuters passing through the Holland Tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey every day will soon be noticing a new fixture at the tunnel's New Jersey entrance, on the outskirts of Hoboken: A twelve-foot electric menorah, brightly lit, with a large sign wishing drivers a Happy Chanukah from Chabad of Hoboken.

R. Wineberg | Features | Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Universal Studios To Host Chabad Chanukah Celebration

"If it's an event in L.A., it's happening on CityWalk!" proclaims Universal Studios CityWalk website. Chanukah 2002, then, must be an event in Los Angeles, because this year Chabad of the Valley, Chabad of Conejo, and Chabad of Studio City are taking Chanukah to the busiest place in southern California: Universal CityWalk on the busiest day of the year, December 1st , expecting to draw some 25,000 people in all.

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, November 21, 2002

Chabad-Lubavitch of Ontario Receives Major Government Grant

Chabad-Lubavitch of Ontario was the proud recipient of a major government grant by the Trillium Foundation, last Thursday, November 14th, to help launch the Friendship Circle program in Toronto.

S. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, November 20, 2002

The Building on Lacplesa Street

Twice a year, a hunched, old man would make his way over to the Chabad school at 141 Lacplesa Street in Riga, Latvia, and offer Rabbi Mordechai Glazman a small donation.

R. Wineberg | Features | Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Healing for the Soul

In a diary entry written only days before her death, M., a 40-year old woman from New York battling cancer, listed several things she was grateful for in her life; at the top of the list she wrote: "Spending time with Dad before I go, and, Meeting the Lazaroffs and Yiddishkeit in Houston."

R. Wineberg | Features | Friday, November 15, 2002

A Jewish House of Healing

Nine hundred and fifty dinner guests turned up on October 1 at the Westin Hotel, one of Sydney, Australia's most prestigious venues, in a broad show of support for Chabad of Sydney's "Jewish House Crisis Center", a unique and very successful project celebrating its 18th anniversary.

R. Wineberg | Features | Thursday, November 14, 2002

Sun and Surf and Soul

"The idea of a Lubavitch center springing up here on the island was just surreal," perhaps as surreal as the island itself, says Kim Barkan, a businessman and father who's lived here for the last decade.

S. Olidort | Features | Monday, November 11, 2002

Ukrainian Government Awards Chabad Rabbi

Once a capital crime in this region, Jewish outreach and spiritual leadership were recently awarded the highest government recognition.

S. Olidort | Features | Tuesday, November 5, 2002

Siberia's Warming Trend

For the 25,000 Jews living in Novosibirsk, Russia's third largest city, Jewish identity has long become no more than a sad footnote in their personal histories.

S. Olidort | Features | Thursday, October 24, 2002

A Second Chance

Over the last few decades, a full 80% of Atlanta's Jewish population of 100,000 migrated to the suburbs. For a while, it seemed as though Jewish life in the city's center was a closed chapter.

R. Wineberg | Features | Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Rebuilding Jewish Life in Dresden

The elderly man expressed interest in receiving Chabad's new weekly update, providing that its cover won't display anything too Jewish.A former hotbed of Anti-Semitism, first under Nazi and then communist rule, Saxony, East Germany, is now home to 5,000 Jewish families, where old fears die hard.

Features | Friday, October 18, 2002

Adding Links to A Chain of Goodness

For nearly 150 children with special needs-learning, emotional, or social, the Chabad Friendship Circle 's various programs effectively involve them in activities that are both enjoyable and educational . . .

S. Olidort | Features | Friday, October 11, 2002

Torah in the Technology Corridor

Coined the "technology corridor" of Illinois, Naperville and its surrounding areas are home to dozens of hi-tech firms and company headquarters for several large companies. The area is also home to approximately 20,000 Jews

R. Wineberg | Features | Friday, October 11, 2002

Bulgaria Blooms

For the better part of the last half-century, Bulgaria's Jewish population (12,000) has not had the benefit of educational and social institutions so integral to Jewish communal life.

S. Olidort | Features | Wednesday, October 9, 2002