Jewish News

Chabad Celebrates the Hewlett Sefer Torah

An enthusiastic crowd of families on Sunday celebrated the completion of a new “Hewlett Sefer Torah” at the Chabad of Hewlett.Beginning a little after noon, music, food and drink, dancing, and expressions of “mazel tov” set the scene for the happy occasion. Dozens of children participated in the celebration as well, with special crafts and activities.“We always talk about the ...

Chabad Builds First Shul in Tacoma Since 1968

After a two-year legal battle and nearly a year of construction, an Orthodox Jewish group is about to open its $2.4 million synagogue and education building between two houses on Tacoma’s West End.Rabbi Zalman Heber calls the completion of the brick-and-wood structure “history in the making.” It provides a traditional-style synagogue for practicing Orthodox Judaism, including a kosher kitchen in ...

Chabad Breaks Ground on New Center in Mexico

An historic event took place in the famous tourist destination of Cancun, Mexico: the laying of the cornerstone for the new 15,000 square foot edifice that will serve the thousands of Jewish visitors and the small local Jewish population of Cancun. The Chabad Welcome Center will serve as a home away from home for all that enters its doors.Nearly five ...

Chabad Activist Seeks to Be Next Mayor of Tenafly

Barry Honig, Republican candidate for mayor, is no stranger to local politics.A resident for sixteen years, Honig has been a member and past president of the Jewish National Fund of Northeast Bergen County, has run the Tenafly Chabad Free Loan Association, and has been an appointee of Governor Christie to the New Jersey State Israel Commission.“Tenafly is a town that ...

CH Coworking Space Offers Community Members Creative Edge

On a recent, unusually cool Spring afternoon, the energy of up-and-coming Crown Heights entrepreneurs fills the CHYE Workspace. Two business partners finalize the plans for their new start-up on a bank of couches near the entrance, while the clack of fingers of others fills the room. Near the back, a writer and designer stand, cups of coffee in hand, discussing ...

Celebrated Brooklyn Organization Begins Vocational Program for Chareidi Community

B’Derech, the Brooklyn based organization founded by Chareidi attorney Ruchie Freier to aid the large number of children who are not reaching their full potential in the current yeshiva system, held its first ever orientation and registration meeting, this past Thursday night, for its newly created GED (general equivalency diploma)/ vocational program, geared to the 18+ year old age bracket, ...

Celebrate Sukkot, Bono style

Two words you don’t often see in the same sentence: Bono and Sukkot.But the U2 rocker/activist’s ONE advocacy group, which fights poverty in the Horn of Africa, released a PDF booklet on Tuesday that links the desperate situation in Africa with the ancient Jewish holiday.On Sukkot we gather in flimsy booths to remember when the Children of Israel wandered through ...

Celebrate Israel by Buying Israeli Passover Goods

StandWithUs, the non-profit organization dedicated to informing the public about Israel and combating anti-Semitism, is urging all members of the international Jewish community to celebrate the Jewish state by designating March 30 as the day to buy Israeli goods at local stores.While the Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement continuously attempts to ostracize Israeli goods, they are escalating their efforts by standing ...

CBC Investigation: Who killed Lebanon’s Rafik Hariri?

It wasn’t until late 2007 that the awkwardly titled UN International Independent Investigation Commission actually got around to some serious investigating.By then, nearly three years had passed since the spectacular public murder of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafik Hariri.Hariri, the builder. The billionaire tycoon who’d reclaimed Beirut’s architectural heritage from the shattered cityscape of a civil war and made it ...

Cathie Black Appointed Head of NYC Schools

Joel Klein is resigning as Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. Mayor Bloomberg is appointing Cathie Black to replace him.Mayor Bloomberg made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon.Black has been dubbed “The First Lady of American Magazines” as the chairman of Hearst Magazines. She has a New York Times bestseller called Basic Black .She was appointed chairman in ...

Case Against Melbourne Rabbi to be Heard in N.Y. Rabbinical Court

A rabbinical court in New York will determine the fate of a Chabad rabbi in Melbourne who was dismissed from his post amid allegations of improper conduct.A Chabad-Lubavitch spokesman confirmed that Rabbi Chaim Herzog has appealed his dismissal after he received an official letter last month saying he no longer has the authority to operate in the name of Chabad. ...

Canadian Jewish Advocacy Group Calls to Boycott United Church

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) has called on the Canadian Jewish community to make a wholesale break from the United Church of Canada (UCC), according to a report in the Canadian Jewish News.The call came after the country’s largest Protestant denomination voted to affirm a motion supporting a boycott of goods produced in Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria ...