Thursday, September 22, 2005

The Famous Smile...

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The Famous Smile...

17 Elul, 17 years ago.  The Rebbe's famous smile to philanthropist David Chase, at the laying of the foundation stone to expand Beis Moshiach - 770.

To watch the video, click here.





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PA RETURNS HOLY BOOKS FROM DESTROYED JERICHO SYNAGOGUE

(IsraelNN.com) An anonymous Palestinian Authority (PA) resident has come forward, returning a number of religious books salvaged from the vandalism attack against the Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue in Jericho.

About five years ago, when Israel turned over control of the area to the PA, residents promptly entered the ancient synagogue, setting it ablaze and destroying its contents.

A PA resident who fears that disclosure would place his life in jeopardy, managed to make off with a number of books which he hid in his home. The books were now returned via the Jericho Israel-PA District Coordinating Office.

A number of months ago, the IDF once again permitted limited Jewish access to the synagogue, which has since been partly refurbished.

Chabad Leaders Meet Yuschenko at UN Summit

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Chabad Leaders Meet Yuschenko at UN Summit

Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz with President Yuschenko
During the General Assembly of the United Nations in NY, the President of Ukraine, Victor Yuschenko met with Jewish leaders to discuss issues and concerns of the Jewish community in Ukraine. Their conversation focused on recent acts of anti-Semitism in the country and the situation concerning the restitution of Jewish communal property confiscated under the Soviet regime.

Avraham Berkowitz, the Executive Director for the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS and Baltic Countries, also participated in the meeting. He spoke to President Yuschenko about the continued development of Jewish life in Ukraine and gave a brief overview of the network of communities run by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine. Mr. Berkowitz also took this opportunity to thank President for his support he has provided and concern he has voiced for the protection and growth of Jewish communities in Ukraine.

This meeting was organized by the National Council on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ), which is headed by Mr. Mark Levin.


President Yuschenko assured the leaders of his government's commitment to a 'no tolerance' policy to any anti-Semitic act on the part of Ukrainian citizens or government officials, as well as suggesting that the leaders set a plan into motion in regards to specific buildings they are looking to be returned to Jewish community ownership.
In addition, Yuschenko requested the support of these Jewish leaders – so that they may use their influence in the USA to assist Ukraine graduate from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.



Special Event for Women in Central Park

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Special Event for Women in Central Park

Entrance to Conservatory Garden, Central Park
Jewish Women United for the Redemption will be holding a special event entitled “The King is in the Field,” an afternoon in Central Park to celebrate the month of Elul. This  Sunday, 21 Elul 5765, September 25, 2005, from 2 – 6 PM, at the Conservatory Garden Fifth Avenue & 105th Street in Manhattan.  Box lunch, guest speaker, garden tour, fishing, and more… Please tell your friends!   Suggested donation: $25

The event is co-sponsored by the Cohen family in honor of Sophie's bas mitzva.

“Now, especially, we must strengthen and increase in our adherence to all customs connected to the concept, “A goodhearted person feasts always.” This means to utilize every possible opportunity to arrange joyous events connected with mitzvos, affording much joy and beauty – literal joy and gladness of heart – with the participation of an innumerable amount of Jewish people.” -  The Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach, 10 Elul, 5751





Arab Squatters Near Grave of Reb. Menucha

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Arab Squatters Near Grave of Reb. Menucha

The Jewish community of Chevron was stunend to find that Arab squatters had set up two caravans near the gravesite of Rebbetzin Menucha Rochel in Chevron.  The caravans are immediately adjacent to the grave with only a fence separating between them.

The Jewish community of Chevron and the Beis Chabad of Chevron request that you register your protest, either through telephone or by mail, to the office of the Security Minister, to prevent danger to the thousands of visitors who come to pray at Rebbetzin Menucha Rochel's grave, as well as to protect the graves of chassidim from desecration.

Telephone and fax numbers:
Office of Security Minister: ‎03-6976218‏, fax: 03-6975436
Vice Minister Zev Baum:  03-6977155, cell 0544479787


 



New Shluchim to Florida

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New Shluchim to Florida

R. Shmulik Gutnick blows shofar at a workshop for children
Rabbi and Mrs. Shmulik Gutnik of Crown Heights will be joining the staff of the Rebbe's shluchim to Boca Raton, Florida.  Rabbi Gutnik will be working primarily on children's programs and has been appointed by R. Moshe Denburg.

Chabad.info wishes them much success in their shlichus, especially the main shlichus, to prepare the world to greet Moshiach.





Bush Praises Chabad's Activities

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Bush Praises Chabad's Activities

(Jerusalem Post) "In the days after Katrina hit, Chabad saved lives", US President George Bush told Republican Jews in Washington on Wednesday.

In a speech he gave at the 20th anniversary luncheon of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Bush called on the American people to keep on helping the victims of hurricane Katrina and praised the Jewish Community that raised $17 million for that cause.

Bush, in the second appearance in one week before Jewish audiences, told the story of Jewish Rabbis in Louisiana who launched rescue missions to help the victims, among them Chabad people that went out to the flooded city of New Orleans and rescued stranded residents, supplied kosher meals and gave shelter to those who lost their homes.





Siyum Harambam in Sacramento

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Siyum Harambam in Sacramento

Over 200 people gathered in Sacramento, California for a Siyum Harambam.  At the event, the 800th year since the Rambam's birth was also noted.  Ten shluchim from surrounding areas also participated.

The event was held on Yud Alef Elul, the second Yahrtzeit of R. Yosef Motchkin, father-in-law of R. Mendy Cohen, shliach to Sacramento.  R. Cohen distributed a booklet with explanations of the Rambam as well as a biography of R. Yosef Motchkin.

Amongst the speakers at the event were:  R. Naftali Estulin of the Beis Chabad for Russian immigrants; local rav R. Feldman; R. Mordechai Farkash; R. Resnick, the newest shliach to N. California, R. Kadosh and R. Zirkind.





Special Picture for Special Event

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Special Picture for Special Event

As reported on Chabad.info, the Moshiach and Geulah Center of Yerushalyaim is holding an event entitled "How to be rich in our times."  During the event, a portrait of the Alter Rebbe and the Rebbe MH"M will be auctioned off.  The portrait was made especially for this event by the artist Binyamin Epstein.




Arutz Sheva News Report

This news item from Arutz Sheva has been sent to you by: Ariel Sokolovsky

Message: By the grace of G-d
Shalom uBrocha!
Just wanted to share this with you and add that :
1) There is 2 million more of them I think it's a whole state in northern India including it's goverment have a tradition that they are from Shevet Menashe. 2) As far as I know the Rebbe King Moshiach Shlit"a gave brocha (His holy blessing) for this program (to bring those of them who want to come and convert them already in Israel) in 5753 -1993
Please send me a link to the story in Beis Moshiach or I'll post it when I find it.

With respect and blessing.
Ariel Sokolovsky
http://www.torah.5u.com/aboutme.html
Long Live our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe King Moshiach Forever and Ever!
Arutz Sheva News Service
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
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200 BNEI MENASHE IN INDIA CONVERT TO JUDAISM

Some 200 Bnei Menashe living in northeastern India formally converted back to Judaism this past week by a team of Israeli rabbis organized by the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel.
For the first time, some 200 Bnei Menashe living in northeastern India formally converted back to Judaism this past week by a team of Israeli rabbis organized by the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel.

The Bnei Menashe claim descent from the tribe of Manasseh, one of the ten tribes exiled from the Land of Israel by the Assyrian empire over 2,700 years ago. Some 7,000 of them reside primarily in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, along the border with Burma and Bangladesh.
<IMAGE1>
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.shavei.org" class="wntu">Shavei Israel </a>arranged for a team of six <i>dayanim</i> (rabbinical court judges) to travel to India in order to carry out the conversions with the approval of Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar. On March 30, Rabbi Amar issued an historic ruling in which he formally recognized the Bnei Menashe as "descendants of Israel" and agreed to restore them to the Jewish people.

<IMAGE3>"It was an incredibly emotional and spiritual experience," said Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund, who accompanied the rabbis to India. "There were men and women, young and old, many of whom had been longing to return to the Jewish people for decades, and finally their dream has come true."

Each of the candidates for conversion was interviewed by a <i>Beit Din</i> (rabbinical court) consisting of three of the visiting rabbis, who sought to assess their level of Jewish knowledge and commitment. "The rabbis showed great sensitivity and understanding, and they were deeply impressed by the Bnei Menashe and their grasp of Jewish law and lore" said Freund.

A particularly poignant moment, he said, came when 83-year old Sara Haunhar was informed by the <I>Beit Din</I> that she had been accepted into the Jewish people. <IMAGE2>"She began to cry," Freund recalled, "and when one of the rabbis asked her if she was OK, Mrs. Haunhar composed herself and told them: 'All of my life, I have feared that I would die before meriting to see G-d's Holy Land. But now that you have accepted me as a Jew, I am confident that I will soon be able to set foot on the land of my ancestors, the Land of Israel."

In recent years, over 800 Bnei Menashe have made aliyah thanks largely to Shavei Israel and other organizations, which reach out and assist "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people. But that came to a halt in 2003, when then-Israeli Interior Minister Avraham Poraz of the Shinui party decided to freeze their immigration.

After Poraz' decision was announced, Freund turned to the Chief Rabbinate, and began lobbying to receive official rabbinical recognition of the Bnei Menashe as a means of circumventing the Interior Minister's decision.
<IMAGE4>
The 200 Bnei Menashe converted last week all plan to move to Israel in the near future, and Freund believes that the remaining members of the community will eventually follow as well.

Freund added, "This is the breakthrough we have been waiting for, and we will do everything we can to bring this lost tribe home to Zion. G-d is gathering in His people, just as the Prophets foretold, and I am grateful to be playing my small part in this process."
<IMAGE5>
Shavei Israel's work is in accordance with Jewish Law and under the ongoing supervision of the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel.

Arutz Sheva News Report

This news item from Arutz Sheva has been sent to you by: Ariel Sokolovsky

Message: By the grace of G-d
Shalom uBrocha!
Just thought these videos might be interesting to many of my readers. Caution some of the videos contain songs sung by women. While there are those who are linient as long as it's not a live performance etc. other men should avoid those or watch them with sound off , Zeh Haiah Beiti in particular.
With respect and blessing.
Ariel Sokolovsky
http://www.BostonChabad.com
Long Live our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe King Moshiach Forever and Ever

Arutz Sheva News Service
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INTERNET VIDEOS OF GUSH KATIF EXPULSION ABOUND

A number of movies, home-video and photo-montages are available on the internet, documenting the expulsion and mourning the destruction of Gush Katif. The following is a sampling of those clips.

An emotional video that has been making the rounds via email is a photo-montage of Gush Katif set to a classic Israeli song mourning the withdrawal from Yamit, remade and updated by hip-hop group Kele 6. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cu7ab" class="wntu">Click here</a> to view the video, the words of which are translated below:

<u>Zeh Haya Beiti</u>

This was my home
With a garden and a chicken coop, it was my home
It was yours, it was mine, it was ours
With daybreak foreigners will live here
An we, with all our memories, will disappear

We battled so much
That we forgot for what
For me it’s a war
For them its for profit
For me it’s home
For them it’s another line on a map
Long ago this transformed into much more than just land
Perhaps I don’t agree, but understand without a problem
We made the desert bloom and this is what you give in return
The memories didn’t die, they just moved apartments
Yamit was resurrected

My imagination plays flashbacks of my memories
From the day I wrote my first verse
Running against the clock
Separating between dream and reality
In my photo album, beautiful years
Memories of a childhood, 100 percent
Nothing will stop the time
The clock ticks, the hands moving forward
And I am growing distant, “There’s no place like home”
It’s not just another line from the heroine in The Wizard of Oz

This was my home
With a garden and a chicken coop, it was my home
It was yours, it was mine, it was ours
With daybreak foreigners will live here
And we, with all our memories, will disappear

And now it is theirs
We will no longer create memories there
I remember the first night, the first kiss
A separation without return
Where I sweat from the heat
Quarrels and reconciliation, everything happened just like that
When we betrothed and I lifted you through our doorway
Doubled over on the ground, taking a handful of earth
This is my home, my childhood, my soul
In the morning I rose and breathed in the air and the ash
Between us until today, the house was part of the relationship
Don’t believe that it’s finished now that all is taken
Hand in hand we’ll always be and disappear like the wind

This was my home
With a garden and a chicken coop, it was my home
It was yours, it was mine, it was ours
With daybreak foreigners will live here
And we, with all our memories, will disappear

Lit candles will no longer be seen
In the windows since we left
Lit candles will no longer be seen
In the windows since we left

When you left, they went with you
All the friends, with them we always laughed

This was my home
With a garden and a chicken coop, it was my home
It was yours, it was mine, it was ours
With daybreak foreigners will live here
And we, with all our memories, will disappear

<a href="http://www.xagoon.com/gush/index_l.php" class="wntu">This video clip</a> was produced by Shmuel Benamu. It consists of photos of Gush Katif sites before and after they were destroyed, put to music. (<a href="http://www.xagoon.com/gush/index_l.php" class="wntu"><b>Click here to view</b></a>-must wait for video to load and the push 'play')

A <a href="http://www.israelreporter.com/files/video/netzergerush.wvx" class="wntu">5-minute video clip (click here to view)</a> was produced by Avi Abelow (friendsofnetzer@gmail.com). It provides a visual documentation of the explusion of the Jews of Netzer Chazani. The video covers the expulsion of the well-known Tucker family, including agricultural entrepreneur Anita Tucker, her children, and grandchildren.

<a href="http://www.col.org.il/pics/inbox/8822595_0.7994.wmv" class="wntu">This clip (click here to view)</a> is a Hebrew-language television program that was aired by Channel 10. It is an overview of the destroyed communities and documents their destruction. It features interviews with residents as they watch their homes being crushed under bulldozers. Another interesting aspect of the programs is its focus on the anti-expulsion leadership’s cooperation with the police and security forces to thwart active opposition to the withdrawal. Yesha Council members are seen arranging with police the time and manner in which the synagogue would be broken into and members of the Gush Katif municipality are seen strategizing with police on how to clear the masses of teenagers blocking N’vei Dekalim’s gate.

The video also includes heart-wrenching scenes of intense prayer in the synagogues of both N’vei Dekalim and Netzarim prior to their being emptied of Jews by force.

Arutz-7's <a target="_blank" href="http://www.israelnnTV.com" class="wntu">INN TV</a> has produced video documentation of the expulsion of several towns as well. <a href="mms://msmedia.a7.org/arutz7/eng-video/05/aug/netzer-100.wmv" class="wntu">Click here to view</a> the expulsion of Netzer Hazani's Jews, <a href="mms://msmedia.a7.org/arutz7/heb-video/05/sep/nezarim-100.wmv" class="wntu">click here to view</a> (in Hebrew) the expulsion of Netzarim, <a href="mms://msmedia.a7.org/arutz7/heb-video/05/aug/ganei-tal-100.wmv" class="wntu">click here to view</a> (in Hebrew) the expulsion of Ganei Tal and <a href="mms://msmedia.a7.org/arutz7/heb-video/05/aug/atsmona-100.wmv" class="wntu">click here to view</a> (in Hebrew) the expulsion of Atzmona.

Arutz-7’s Kobi Finkler also produced a short amateur clip of the desolation and destruction that the towns of Gush Katif have become. <a href="mms://msmedia.a7.org/arutz7/misc/video/aza4.wmv" class="wntu">Click here to view.</a>

Though not a video, <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/mishkaegli2/344.html" class="wntu">this site (click here to view)</a> gives an in-depth look into the tent city many Gush Katif residents have been living in since their expulsion one month ago.

Videos from before the expulsion include an <a href="http://www.israelreporter.com/files/video/sylvia.wvx" class="wntu">interview with grandmother Sylvia Mandelbaum</a> by freelance journalist Shlomo Wollins of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.israelreporter.com/files/video/sylvia.wvx" class="wntu">IsraelReporter.com</a> as she packed up her house and said goodbye to the home she built in the N’vei Dekalim sand dunes.

Wollins also posted <a href="http://www.israelreporter.com/files/video/hilberg-h.wvx" class="wntu">a clip (click here to view)</a> of bereaved mother Rina Hilberg speaking (in Hebrew) prior to the uprooting of her son, killed in Lebanon while serving in the IDF, from his grave.

The <a href="http://www.israelreporter.com/files/seruv.wmv" class="wntu">heroic refusal (click here to view)</a> of American oleh (immigrants to Israel) IDF Corporal Avi Bieber also remains archived and is a reminder of the fact that IDF soldiers could have said “no” - and that many indeed did. Avi has now been released from army jail and is considered a hero by many in the Land of Israel movement.

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