| | Chabad Rescues 32 Jews from New Orleans | | |
(IsraelNN.com) Rescue teams sponsored by Chabad orthodox Jews have rescued 32 Jews from their flooded New Orleans homes, the organization said. It estimates hundreds of more Jews still are trapped in their homes.
The team of medics from New York and other cities has been using boats to reach the homes. They discovered many elderly people and convinced most of them to agree to be evacuated.
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חדשות חב"ד
| | And Rabbi Akiva Laughed... | | |
 | | Chabad House of Gush Katif in ruins |
Once a group of chachamim were on their way up to Yerushalayim. When they reached Har Hatzofim they tore their clothes. When they reached the Har Habayis they saw a fox going out of the place of the Kodshei Kodoshim, and they started to cry. R. Akiva laughed. They said, why are you laughing? He said, why are you crying? They said, in the place were the Torah says that "A stranger who approaches it will die" a fox is now roaming. Should we not cry? He said to them, because of this I laugh. It says: "Trustworthy witnesses have borne witness for me, Uriah Hakohen and Zecharia ben Yevrechya. What is the connection between Uriah and Zechariah? Uria lived during the time of the first Beis Hamikdash and Zecharia during the second. But the passuk is making a relationship between the nevua of Uriah and the Nevuah of Zecharia. By Uriah it is written "Tzion will be plowed lik! e a field." In Zecharia it says "Old men and women will once again sit in the streets of Jerusalem." Until Uriah's prophecy was fulfilled, I was afraid that Zecharia's prophecy would not be fulfilled. Now that I see Uriah's prophecy fulfilled, I know that Zecharia's prophecy will be fulfilled as well. At this, the sages said: Akiva you have comforted us; Akiva you have comforted us.
Picture by Yisroel Bardugo
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חדשות חב"ד
| | Mohel Performs 3500th Circumcision | | |
(FJC.ru) YEKATERINBURG, Russia – Dr. Yeshaya Shafit, the Mohel of Russia, has just carried out his 3500th circumcision this week. This notable event took place in the Synagogue of Yekaterinburg, a major Russian city and the capital of the Urals Federal District.
In all, ten Jewish children of various ages came forward to enter the Covenant of Avraham by having their Brit Mila. Among them were several newborn children and students of the Ohr Avner Chabad Day School. In addition to undergoing a ritual circumcision, the participants adopted their new Jewish names.
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Each of the boys received gifts from the Chief Rabbi of Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Region, Zelig Ashkenazi.
This event involved Chief Rabbi of Kfar Chabad, Israelб Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi, who is the father of Rabbi Zelig Ashkenazi. Rabbi Menachem Barkan, the father of Rabbi Ashkenazi’s wife, also participated in the Brit Mila during his current visit to Yekaterinburg. “It is always heartwarming to witness such events and to see that Jewish life and traditions are indeed being revived here," commented Rabbi Barkan. "A wonderful Community Center has been built here in Yekaterinburg, but now the challenge is to fill it with the meaning."
Today, the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS, in strategic partnership with the 'Brit Yosef Yitzhak' organization, supports two full-time certified mohels – Yeshaya Shafit, who performs circumcisions in Russia and other former Soviet republics, and Yakov Gaisinovich, who mainly covers Jewish communities in Ukraine.
Based in Moscow, Yeshaya Shafit is a certified physician and surgeon. After immigrating to Israel from Russia in 1992, he has returned to his native country on this important mission. Dr. Shafit also serves as the Director of the 'Brit Yosef Yitzchak' Center in Moscow.
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חדשות חב"ד
| | Destruction and Rebuilding | | |
(Jerusalem Post) When The Jerusalem Post last spoke with the Kirshenzafts in late July, they were at home in Neveh Dekalim, Rabbi Yigal Kirshenzaft recovering from multiple shrapnel wounds incurred when a mortar exploded near him on July 17. Today, the family of 14 is living temporarily at the Caesar Hotel in Jerusalem.
Kirshenzaft refers to the evacuation as "the calamity."
"It was the only home our family has ever known," he said. "We lived there for 23 years... all my children were born there.... We have no other home. My younger children don't like staying in a hotel – a public place – they ask to go home. But I myself don't know where we will be... there are no immediate solutions."
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Chabad emissaries for Gush Katif, the Kirshenzafts would be welcomed in Kfar Chabad and have sent three of their daughters to attend school there until they move to their, as yet unknown, new home. "Until then, we are split up," he said.
Kirshenzaft said his mission was to remain with his Gush Katif community, adding: "We want to stay where we are needed, and now people need us more than ever."
"After the calamity, for which we are still in mourning, the people here are very depressed and we are trying to raise their spirits," he said. "I held a hitvaadut [hassidic gathering] in the Jerusalem Hyatt last week, and Chabad performers are traveling around the country to cheer them up."
"Before the expulsion, people called me at 2:30 a.m. asking for chizuk [spiritual strengthening]," he added. "But now it's worse... they have no faith in our state, in our army, in the police.
Everything has changed. People wanted to leave Israel – people who were born here. Everything that was holy turns out not to be holy after all. It's not simple....
"What hurts most is not my personal pain, but the suffering of Am Yisrael.... Rewarding the terrorists with our land will bring greater terror.... They are reinforcing roofs in the South.... The forces scattered in Gaza will converge and launch massive artillery at Israel... more Jewish blood will be spilt."
Kirshenzaft, who has survived automatic fire, grenades thrown at his car and the mortar attack, awoke at 5:30 a.m. August 18 to loud pounding on the door.
"The whole house shook... Swarms of soldiers broke down the door and burst in," he said. "My first reaction was that it was a terrorist attack and I nearly grabbed my gun....
"Police chief Moshe Karadi promised me the day before that we would be the last to leave. But entering my living room I found my guests, two rabbis, being dragged outside to a bus, bare-headed... their hats and kippot had fallen on the ground.
"I asked the senior officer to stop, that I am a terror victim, but he wasn't interested. The officer was so wound up that I had to calm him down!"
Kirshenzaft said more senior officers arrived shortly afterwards, apologizing for the unpleasantness and finally released his guests.
"They said we could stay until the end," he said. "But later, my neighbor set fire to his home and our house filled with heavy smoke and fumes, so we had no choice but to leave early."
The Kirshenzafts arrived at their hotel at night, only to be informed they were not registered and no rooms were available. Kirshenzaft pleaded that he had no more strength to continue, and only then were they were allowed to stay.
The evacuation took place exactly one month after the mortar attack that had placed him in serious condition, he said, adding: "I haven't had time to be sick."
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חדשות חב"ד
| | "Eretz Yisroel Hashleima" to Kibbutzniks | | |
Copies of the CD "Eretz Yisroel Hashleima", a compilation of sichos of the Rebbe on Shleimus Haaretz, will be distributed to Kibbutz members across Israel. A Kibbutz member who saw the CD during a massive internet campaign to publicize the video approached R. Yakov Ben Ari of the Kibbutzim Chabad House, and asked for his help in distributing it to kibbutzim. R. Ben Ari decided to maximize the opportunity and spread the CD on a large scale to kibbutzim.
To watch the CD, click here.
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חדשות חב"ד
| | Chernobyl Children Celebrate Bar Mitzva | | |
Eleven boys and girls from Chernobyl celebrated their Bar and Bat Mitzva at the Kotel in a ceremony organized by Tach of Israel.
Five boys celebrated their Bar Mitzva with an aliya, laying Tefillin and Tefilla at the Kotel. Each of the Bar Mitzva boys received a gift - a pair of tefillin and personalized Siddur. The girls had their own Bat Mitzva ceremony, during which they each received a candlestick and a Chitas embossed with their names.
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חדשות חב"ד
| | Group Picture - Toras Emes Alumni | | |
Alumni of Toras Emes Yeshiva who are spending the year learning in 770 pose for a group picture in front of 770.
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