Followers

Monday, February 27, 2006

CONDOLENCES FOR ILAN HALIMI HY"D

Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Shimshon Benhamou - Eli - Israël
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Moshé Benhamou - Paris 19ème
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Elbaz - Jérusalem
Toute l'équipe de radio kolmevasser
partage la douleur de la Famille Halimi
et que le Maitre du Monde leur donne la Force de surmonter cette épreuve
De tout coeur avec vous dans cette terrible épreuve, qu'Hachem vous apporte la consolation et amène Machia'h maintenant pour que tous nos êtres chers se relèvent avec lui et nous accompagnent tous en vie à Yerouchalaïm. Hachem vous bénisse dans tous vos besoins.
Famille Bronfman (tante de Menahem Rotban)
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Devorah Raccah et enfants
toutes nos condoléances
Famille Fargeon France Paris 19e
pas de mots pour vous exprimer notre peine que D. vous aide à surmonter cette épreuve et que son sang soit vengé
Rebecca Bittan

Que D-ieu repose son âme et qu'il apporte à la famille que de bonnes nouvelles, Amen.
Vive le peuple d'Israël
FAMILLE AYACHE GAD
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Ohana (PARIS)
Toute notre affection et notre soutien vont à la famille d'Ilan z"l.
Hamakom yenahem ethem im chear avle Tsion veYeroushalaim.
David Scetbon
Que D.ieu vous réconforte dans cette douleur et qu'il protège tous les enfants d'Israël
Famille Its'hak Sultan - Paris 19éme
Ilan, mon frère, ta perte me cause un chagrin immense, tous les jours je pense à toi, bien que tu ne me connaisses pas. Le Rabbi a dit que tous ceux qui ont souffert pour le peuple juif ont leur place au Gan Eden près des Tsadikim, Madame HALIMI j'ai un jour croisé votre regard au centre Rachi, mais, qui aurait cru que je me souvienne de vous pour de telles circonstances. Sachez que vous n'êtes pas seuls, que la force du peuple juif est la solidarité, surtout en de tels moments Je vous envoie du courage de mon cœur et vous soutiens de toute mon âme,
car moi aussi j'ai perdu mon frère : Ilan HALIMI
Cynthia ASSABAN

Aucun mot, aucun geste humain ne pourra jamais consoler
la Maman, le Papa, les frères et soeurs (s'Il en avait), la famille et les amis d'Ilan.
Mais croyez que nous sommes tous, proches de vous dans ces moments difficiles, que nous prions tous les jours Hachem pour qu'Il vous apporte la sérénité.
Qu'Ilan repose en paix auprès des Tzaddikim, et qu'Il prie pour notre téchouva et la venue de Machia'h AMEN
Famille Cukierman - Paris
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Mendel Benhamou - Eli, Israël
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
A la famille Halimi,
Que D-ieu vous apporte la nehama et qu'il repose son âme . AMEN ! Ilan
zal veille sur vous d'en haut. La Geoula est krova .
De tout Coeur avec vous
Famille Silberstein, Haifa
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Au nom du
Grand Rabbin Mendel BELINOW
des institutions Ohr Menahem Lubavitch et de la Communauté d'agglomérations de la Plaine commune
et du Rav Isroeil BELINOW
et de toute la communauté de Saint Denis et voisines,
nous vous envoyons nos plus sincères condoléances pour votre fils, Ilan Halimi Hatsadik Vehakadoch et à la Famille et aux amis et à toute la communauté Ilan hatsadik hakadoch qui est mort parce qu'il était juif Al Kidouch Hachem.
Veuillez nous croire que Hachem le protège près de tous les Saints, et qu'Hachem vous donne la force Madame, Monsieur, la famille et les amis de pouvoir surmonter cet acte de barbarie, et que nous méritions de le revoir prochainement comme les sages nous le promettent et nous le disent avec le roi Machia'h en Israël Amen.
Nous remercions le gouvernement pour son implication rapide.
Et particulièrement Nicolas Sarkozy qui, une fois de plus, a été à la hauteur
Nous attendons malgré tout, toute la lumière.
Que D.. repose son Ame en Paix AMEN
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
qu'il prie pour nous, que Machiah vienne très vite, daï latsarote
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Je tiens à adresser toutes mes condoléances à la famille Halimi,
plus particulièrement à sa maman, son père, ses frères et soeurs.
Je leur souhaite beaucoup de courage, que D... vous réconforte pour cette tragédie, qu'Ilan z''l repose en paix.
Je suis de tout coeur avec vous, et que ce malheur soit le dernier pour le peuple juif AMEN.
Jaki Partouche Paris 19ème.
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
UNE GRANDE PENSEE DANS CES MOMENTS TERRIBLES
POUR VOTRE FAMILLE ET TOUTE NOTRE COMMUNAUTE.
QU'HACHEM NOUS AIDE ET REÇOIVE ILAN AU GAN EDEN.
JE SUIS TRISTE ET TERRIBLEMENT TOUCHE
JE SUIS DE TOUT COEUR AVEC VOUS.
Sylvain MULLER
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
il faut être avec Hakadoch Barouhou, je suis très touché
moshe halimi israel
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
QUE D REPOSE TON AME EN PAIX
TU TE REPOSES DE CE MARTYR QU'ILS T'ONT FAIT SUBIR
PERSONNE NE T'OUBLIERA... MEME SI BEAUCOUP DE GENS NE TE CONNAISSENT PAS
COURAGE ET MES CONDOLEANCES A TOUTE TA FAMILLE
FAMILLE ALLALI MADAR
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Que D.ieu vous réconforte dans cette douleur et qu'il protège tous les
enfants d'Israël
de la part de la famille GOZLAN d'Aulnay s/bois

Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
que D fasse que son âme siège au Gan Eden et que Machiah arrive et restaure Israël
Alex Cohen, Miami
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Cela me fait beaucoup de peine
Perla Basange petite fille de 9ans
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Elie Attal
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Ce qui s'est passé est un acte horrible, c'est un malheur pour le peuple juif.
Chacun de nous a ressenti cette peine.
Chacun de nous doit réfléchir à un moyen pour que cela n'arrive plus.
Pour cela chacun a réagi après ce triste événement à sa façon, en allumant une bougie pour Ilan Halimi qui est parti de ce monde en martyr et donc considéré comme un Tzadik (un juste) à la même enseigne que les justes qui sont morts pour le peuple juif
Mais combien de temps faudra-t-il à cette bougie pour se consumer, un mois, un an ? le nom du Tzadik Ilan, veut dire ARBRE, Un juif est comparé à un arbre des champs qui produit des fruits, un juif doit produire des actions. Pour que la mémoire d'Ilan soit vivante, nous devons prendre chacun une décision dans l'action qui va garder en vie l'âme d'Ilan, une décision qui va être prise avec responsabilité. Grâce à cette décision que chacun prendra le peuple juif s'enrichira d'actes de bonté qui protègera le peuple juif et amènera Machiah' très prochainement avec la résurrection des morts. Personnellement, je prends sur moi de consacrer 5 minutes d'étude de Torah par jour pour Ilan Halimi
Mïkaël Cohen, CCF New York
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Mergui Emmanuel Mendel

Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Ilan Halimi...
Une Personne que je ne connaissais pas jusqu'à ce jour...
Pourtant, une personne si proche de nous..
Ilan, Frère Juif, Tu me manques.
Ta perte me cause un sentiment de grande tristesse et de peine.
Je ne cesse de me remettre en question , je n' arrête pas de penser a toi ...
Aucun mot ne peut exprimer notre douleur ,celle de sa mère, de son père , et de ses frères et soeurs.
Ilan ton décès doit nous servir à quelque chose.
Réagissons Am Israël Prions pour que plus rien d'aussi atroce n' arrive à notre peuple Notre Famille !!
Que son âme repose en paix dans le plus beau des endroits qui puisse exister : le Gan Eden
Aujourd'hui tu es heureux d' être là-bas . Mais nous, nous te pleurons...
Nous pleurons Un frère...Un fils...
Que Dieu nous aide à tous et surtout à la Famille Halimi à surmonter cette terrible épreuve
N'oubliez pas que tout juif est là pour vous, vous n'êtes pas seuls
Nous partageons cette souffrance..
Joyce Bellaiche - Paris
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Toute la famille Raccah se joint à vous dans ce moment de douleur insupportable
et vous présente ses condoléances.
Nous prions pour que l'âme d'ILAN soit en paix à jamais au Gan Eden.
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Menahem ASSERAF
Nous sommes de tout coeur avec vous et prions pour que d...
Vous aide dans cette épreuve nous sommes sûrs qu'Ilan est près d'Hachem .. Tendrement
Famille Chichportiche Aulnay sous Bois
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Qu'Ilan HALIMI repose en paix.
Je vous souhaite beaucoup de courage pour surmonter cette tragédie et qu'Hachem vous soutienne tout au long de votre vie.
Que chacun de nous fasse une Mitsva à la mémoire d'Ilan. .
Que chacun de nous étudie la Thora à la mémoire d'Ilan.
Que chacun de nous allume une bougie à la mémoire Ilan.
Que chacun de nous fasse des efforts pour faire son Alya et habiter notre terre sainte.
Le Machiah est à nos portes, préparons nous à l'accueillir.

Salomon ASSABAN, Rabbin d'Argenteuil
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Mr et Mme GUEDJ et leurs filles
de Chatillon (92320)
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Moshé Benhamou - Paris 19ème
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Gerbi – Le Havre
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Moyal
SINCERES CONDOLEANCES
Lechan Frederic
Cela nous a vraiment fait mal au coeur de savoir qu'Ilan (un jeune garçon juif)
nous a quittés le jour de Tou Bichevat en souffrant
Nehama Asseraf petite fille de 9 ans
Cette horrible nouvelle a anéanti tout le peuple juif, aujourd'hui nous crions que nous voulons machia'h c'est tout ce qui nous reste comme espoir, en attendant partons en Israël, notre avenir n'est plus ici.
Quant à Ilan, nous pensons à toi tous les jours et nous espérons que tu ne seras jamais oublié de nos mémoires
Famille GOUTVAKS Paris
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
famille Sudry 14e
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
toutes les Familles MERGUI
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
repose en paix petit frère...
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Pourquoi? pourquoi toi ? Même si ll'on ne se connait pas, tu me manques mon frère !!! il ne se passe pas 1 jour où je ne pense pas à toi, pas 1 jour où ma rage de te venger ne grandisse !!!
Que Hakadoch Baroukh Hou garde ta Nechama toujours auprès de lui et auprès des Tsadikim !!
ON T'AIME !!!!
David Sabbah
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Nos plus sincères condoléances ...
Les mots ne suffiront peut être pas à apaiser la douleur
des parents d'Ilan et de toute sa famille.
Que tu reposes en paix Amen et que les auteurs de la barbarie
dont tu a été victime paient pour ce qu'ils t'ont fait.
Sache que de là haut, tu es devenu un saint
et que nul ne pourra t'oublier dans le coeur.
En souffrant comme tu as souffert, c'est chacun d'entre nous qui souffre aujourd'hui.
Nous soutenons la famille entière
et les amis de ce petit ange disparu trop durement et si rapidement
toutes nos pensées vont vers vous afin de traverser cette douloureuse épreuve.
ILAN, NOUS NE T 'OUBLIERONS JAMAIS
Famille BINISTI de Lyon Villeurbanne
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Toute nos condoléances à la famille d'Iilan
c'est un ami qui est parti rejoindre Hashem au Gan Eden.
Qu'Hachem vous donne la force d'affronter cette épreuve.
la famille Bismuth


Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Ce soir nous avons allumé nos bougies pour Ilan, demain nous les allumerons pour Chabbat en pensant encore à Ilan. Il est certain qu'Ilan Halimi sera une éternelle flamme pour son peuple .
à la famille Halimi.
Kassabi de paris

Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim

Des Valeurs Invariables et Absolues

La Communauté Juive est en deuil, la France est sous le choc ; un arbre, un plant, a été arraché à la vie. Ilan Halimi nous a quittés le jour de Tou Bichevath – Nouvel An des Arbres dans le calendrier hébraïque.

A l’heure où les arrestations se suivent, les hommages et les manifestations s’enchaînent, les questions fusent, là dans nos esprits pêle-mêle des interrogations de tout ordre tant philosophiques que matérielles. Pourquoi tant de haine et de violence quotidienne? Jusqu’à quand tant de souffrance? Pourquoi nos médias et les pouvoirs publics, après tant d’années de malheureuses expériences, n’arrivent toujours pas à nommer un chat, un chat, et un acte antisémite, un acte antisémite !

Certains accusent déjà l’échec de l’enquête. Certes, la police a montré son efficacité, mais trop tard. Malheureusement, toutes ces questions, ces révoltes, viennent faire de l’ombre à des interrogations plus essentielles : Comment en sommes-nous arrivés là? Comment ce groupe composé d’individus – relativement jeunes – d’origines ethniques diverses – pouvait-il commettre de telles atrocités ? Le procureur avait, d’ailleurs, dès les premiers jours, signalé que ce groupe était connu des services de police pour des actes de violence gratuits.

Il est évident que ce gang n’est pas le seul du genre sur notre territoire. La violence chez les jeunes est devenue banalité. Lorsque, il y a quelques mois, des hordes de jeunes faisaient la loi dans nos cités en les mettant à feu et à sang, certains s’empressèrent à expliquer, à comprendre et à justifier les actes de «ceux qui se sentent délaissés par la société.» La violence serait devenue le recours du désarroi des minorités et des laissés pour compte. Non ! La violence n’est pas justifiable. Rendons-nous à l’évidence: violente est le qualificatif le plus approprié pour notre époque.

La violence fait vendre. Les jeux de consoles vidéo font de la surenchère sur ce thème. Le CSA a beau avoir imposé un barème pour les émissions télévisées – des fictions aux talk-shows – celles qui remportent le plus de succès sont celles qui proposent violence, vulgarité et arrogance. La musique que nos jeunes écoutent est plus que révélatrice de ce malaise. Certains clips pourraient même être interdits en salle mais ils passent aux heures de grande écoute le mercredi dans le petit écran. Tout y est bafoué, toutes les valeurs d’une société saine. Nos enfants se nourrissent de scènes de violence, de machisme, de sexe et de racisme sans que personne ne se soucie des conséquences. La Paracha de cette semaine – Michpatim, Les Lois – énonce une série de commandements qui pourraient être qualifiés de simples. Ils constituent l’essentiel des codes civil et pénal des sociétés modernes et justes. Nos sages disent que ces commandements sont d’une telle évidence que si la Torah ne nous avait pas été donnée, nous aurions déduit ces lois de bonne conduite grâce à la bonne logique humaine.

Pourtant, D-ieu les énonça ; Il leur donna une place d’honneur en les dictant juste après la promulgation du Décalogue et avant les lois strictement rituelles. Il procéda, ainsi, pour les Dix Commandements où les principes fondamentaux du monothéisme rencontrent des lois aussi basiques que le crime et le vol. Pour nos sages, il ne s’agit pas ici d’un mélange des genres. Ils affirment que la garantie pour que ces valeurs d’égalité et de justice – énoncées dans Michpatim et sur la deuxième Table – soient protégées, il faut qu’elles ne restent pas le fruit de la logique humaine. Celle-ci est relative et soumise à la subjectivité égocentrique de l’Homme prêt à justifier ses actes à tout prix. Ces valeurs sont absolues et invariables autant que les principes fondamentaux de la foi.

Le Talmud décrit les Temps pré-messianiques d’époque de confusion, de temps où les définitions du bien et du mal seront ambiguës. Nous y voilà ! Préparons-nous, alors, à la venue de Machia’h, le plant issu de la Maison de David – ainsi qu’il est écrit (Isaïe XI – 1) : «Un rameau sortira de la souche de Yichaï, un rejeton poussera de ses racines…» – pour que cessent les souffrances et règnent la justice, l’équité et le bonheur.
Rav Eliahou DAHAN
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Florian Alleoud
Ilan tu nous manques , ton départ 15 chevat nous as tous laissés ... , Ilan... , Ttou Bichevat... ?? Vas comprendre, une chose est sure, c(est que ton sang sera vengé comme il est écrit :"Nations, félicitez son peuple , car D-ieu venge le sang de ses serviteurs; il exerce vindict sur ses ennemis, réhabilite et sa terre et son peuple !" (Devarim 32; 43) im a lev(32) gam (43). Je souhaite de tout mon coeur que nous puissions te revoir ou tout simplement te connaître lors de la résurrection des morts parmis lesquels tu seras tout de suite immédiatement concrètement,
Amen !!!!
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Nos plus sincères condoléances ...
Famille Samama Yossef Haïm et Haya Betar IIlite
HaMakom Yenakem Et'Hem Betoch Chear Avle Tzion Veyeroushalaim
Très touchée par la disparition d'Ilan al Kiddush Hashem
que D-ieu vous soutienne dans votre douleur
c'est notre frère, c'est notre douleur
qu'il soit notre envoyé auprès de HAKADOSH BARUCH HOU
et nous envoie le Mashiah maintenant.
Daniella Katzenberg (Bouskila) Montréal Canada

Je souhaite qu'aucune tragédie ne se reproduise au sein du peuple juif et que D-ieu venge son sang
et que l'antisémitisme cesse!
Pour l'élévation de son âme, je prends sur moi une très importante Mitsva, de mettre une pièce de Tsedaka tous les jours, en espérant que la venue du Machia'h se rapprochera avec Ilan à nos côtés ainsi que tout le peuple juif à Yérouchalaïm reconstruit!
Menahem S., étudiant à l'Ecole Beth 'Hanna Garçons
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
qu'Hachem vous apporte la consolation et amène Machia'h maintenant. Pour toute la famille des bonnes nouvelles.
Famille Bensoussan - (Strasbourg)
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
Sincères condoléances
Frédéric Lechan
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
Que D.vous aide à surmonter cette terrible épreuve, nous nous joignons à votre douleur et prions pour Ilan.Que Machiah arrive au plus vite afin que vous soyez à nouveau réunis!
Gai Serehen
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim

Une Flamme pour Ilan.
La maison de Yaacov sera un feu. La maison de Yosseph une flamme. La maison d'Essav un amas de chaume, ils le brûleront, ils le consumeront, et rien ne survivra de la maison d'Essav, c'est l'Eternel qui le dit. Et des libérateurs monteront sur la montagne de Tsion, pour se faire les justiciers du mont d'Esdav et la royauté appartiendra à l'Eternel (Ob 1-18/21)

La Flamme de l'Âme sainte d'Ilan, s'associe à toutes les flammes des âmes saintes de tous les Tsadikim pour brûler le dernier voile de l'exil et demanderont à Hachem la réalisation de la promesse qu'il a faite, de la libération finale, par la venue immédiate de notre juste Machiah, qui effacera définitivement nos larmes et apportera avec lui la joie éternelle qui éclairera nos visages par le retour de nos chers disparus.
Famille Yaacov ALVO - Fontenay sous Bois - France
toutes nos condoléances
Hamakom Yénahem Et'hem Beto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Cohen Stephane Paris 19eme
toutes nos condoléances et que D. Tout Puissant venge son sang
et le ramène avec Machiah' immédiatement
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
FAMILLE CHALOM ET MYRIAM SABBAH (Place des Fêtes)
A toi Ilan notre frère juif qui nous a quittés dans la souffrance et la barbarie de gens qui n'aspirent qu'à la haine! Tu ne peux siéger qu'auprès de D.... ta perte est un grand malheur pour chacun d'entre nous! Nous avons perdu un frère! Même plus qu'un frère une partie de nous-mêmes le peuple juif ne formant qu'un seul être... nous prions tous pour toi que ton âme repose en paix auprès des justes et qu'on puisse te revoir très rapidement avec la venue du Machia'h. A toute la famille Halimi beaucoup de courage que D-ieu soit toujours auprès de vous et vous console. Nous sommes de tout coeur avec vous amakom yéna'hem et'hem beto'h chear avlé tsion viroushalaim
Famille Asseraf (St Ouen)
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Familles Abitbol de Créteil
Hamakom Yena'hem Ete'hem Beto'h Chaaré Avalé Tsion ViYerouchalaïm
Bérélé LUBECKI, Paris
Hamakom yéna'hem Ethèm Bétoh Chéar Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
Famille Sidès
Toutes nos condoléances
Nous sommes une même famille et fière de l'être
Hamakom Yénahem Et'hem Beto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Sebag Mendel Antibes JLP France
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Bra'ha Coen
Hamakom yéna'hem Ethèm Bétoh Chéar Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
Hashem yinkome éte damo
Qu'Hashem console et envoie les forces à toute la famille du jeune défunt Ilan Z"l afin de surmonter cette terrible et douloureuse épreuve
Famille Partouche - Sarcelles
Hamakom yéna'hem Ethèm Bétoh Chéar Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
Famille Yehouda LEVY Paris 19ème
Hamakom yéna'hem Ethèm Bétoh Chéar Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
que hachem vous envoie la force et le courage.
Toutes nos condoléances.
Famille Colin Paris
Hamakom yéna'hem Ethèm Bétoh Chéar Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
Que D. vous apporte la consolation et venge son sang
Erez
hamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion virouchalayim
FAMILLE RAJCHMAN
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
H ier comme aujourd'hui rien ne change,
nous pleurons une fois de plus l'un de nos frères.
Que D. vous apporte la consolation.
Famille Aouizerate
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Acher Bensimon
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
"Quand le sang d'un juif coule c'est tout le peuple d'Israel qui pleure....."
Que ton âme repose en paix au Gan Eden
de la part de Yael F.
Ilan fait aujourd’hui partie des plus grands,
que D… fasse qu’il soit hissé au niveau des justes d’Israël.
Avec nos chaleureuses condoléances.
Famille PARTOUCHE de Vincennes
Que D-ieu repose ton âme après tant de souffrances sur terre et surtout aide ta famille à surmonter cette douleur atroce.
Que ta mort puisse apporter l'unité au sein du peuple juif et dans le monde et que nous puissions quand même te venger.
R.I.P. p'tit frère
STEPHANE TAYAR PARIS 19e.
Toutes mes condoléances à toute la famille
je suis triste comme si un membre de ma famille était parti tout ceci me boulverse.
Je ne sais pas quoi dire sauf que je suis triste très triste à jamais pauvrre Ilan
Sincères condoléances à toute la famille d'Ilan
MAZAL
Sincères condoléances à toute la famille de notre Ilan
Toute l'équipe de www.feujcity.com le site portail des feujs
partage la douleur de la Famille Halimi
et que le Maître du Monde leur donne la force de surmonter cette épreuve
Sincères condoléances à toute la famille.
Famille Elbaz
Condoléance à toute la famille d'Ilan Halimi, je suis un juif, j'ai 16 ans et j'aurais pu être à sa place.. je pense fort à la famille d'Ilan que je soutiens ainsi que toute la communauté juive de Marseille qui le montrera dimanche
Hamakom yéna'hem Ethèm Bétoh Chéar Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
Famille Abitbol (Sarcelles)
Hamakom yéna'hem Ethèm Bétoh Chéar Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
Ilan
Notre coeur a été pétrifié de cette nouvelle
comme on n'en veut plus jamais.
L'obsession d'imaginer chacun de tes appels au secours,
chacune de tes indicibles souffrances.
Une seule consolation à présent,
te savoir au Gan Eden, heureux et soulagé.
Proche à présent de tous les Tsaddikim.
Ruth, chère maman qui pleure son enfant au regard si doux, pense que
ton fils prie à présent pour tout son peuple,
que Machia'h ne peut que venir dès à présent pour nous sauver, pense
que tous les Juifs sont unis main dans la main
et te souhaite tout le courage et toute la force. Tu es toi aussi une
Tsaddekete. Par toi et ton fils, tu as précipité la rédemption.
Tous les méchants disparaîtront, les ennemis des enfants d'Israël.
Que D.ieu ait pitié de nous, qu'Il nous bénisse, et nous accorde une
délivrance immédiate.
Famille Halimi, Beit-Chemech, Israël.

Hamakom yéna'hem Ethèm Bétoh Chéar Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim.
que ton âme repose en paix au Gan Eden de la part de la famille SAADA 'HEILO

Paris 19e France
Notre souffrance est trop grande pour notre frère Ilan .
Bientôt cet exil amer va prendre fin avec toutes ses épreuves et ses souffrances.
Notre juste Machia'h va vite arriver et il ramènera avec lui
notre cher Ilan avec la Guéoula à Yerouchalaim
près du Beth Hamikdache Hachlichi.
Qu'il trouve la paix et la félicité près du Trône Céleste
Etudions tous la thora et la (hassidout) faisons beaucoup de tehilims, aimons-nous
les uns les autres et pratiquons la bienfaisance, AMEN

YE'RIA ET YO'HEVED BENSAID
ainsi que Haya Mouchka ZENOU
Ilan,
la dernière fois que j'ai eu des nouvelles de toi c'était en août
et c'est ta soeur qui m'en donnait
aujourd hui je ne pourrais plus savoir si tu vas bien ou pas
ils t'ont arraché à la vie
et à 12 ils s'y sont mis
ça fait plus d'une semaine que t'es parti
mais je ne m'en remets pas comme tout notre peuple
je suis à l'envers comme beaucoup d'entre nous
il n'y pas une seconde ou je ne pense pas à toi et aux souffrances que tu as endurées chacune de mes visions me projète ton visage.
Tu vas nous manquer petit frère
comme les mots qui me manquent en écrivant
et on se sent impuissants fâce à ça
puisse D. venger ton sang qui a coulé si inutilement

Yoann Nataf
hamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion virouchalayim
FAMILLE BRODOWICZ
hamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion virouchalayim
J'ai entendu cette tragédie horrible lorsqu'elle
a été rapportée dans les journaux ici à Londres. Mes pensées sont avec la famille.
Soyez forts! Je prie qu'Hashem vous donne la force en ces moments difficilles.
Tammy-Ben-Dayan (Londres-Angleterre)
En apprenant cette tragédie, on se dit "C'est pas possible...
Ce jeune garçon n'avait que 23 ans...
Il avait encore la vie devant lui... pourquoi ces gens ont tant de haine?
pourquoi toute cette haine contre nous, peuple JUIF?
"Jusqu'à maintenant je me pose ces questions mais je n'y trouve pas de réponse...
Je ne connaissais pas Ilan (z"l) mais en apprenant ce qui lui est arrivé,
j'ai éclaté en sanglots...
C'est comme si je venais de perdre mon frère!!
Je ne m'en remets pas et je ne sais pas si un jour je m'en remettrais
Ilan (z"l) est, maintenant, au côté des plus grands!!
Que D. fasse en sorte que le MACHIA'H arrive vite
et qu'Il bannisse toute cette cruauté.......
Je tiens à présenter toutes mes condoléances à la famille d'Ilan (z"l)
Je suis de tout coeur avec elle dans l'épreuve tragique qu'ils vivent...
Sachez que vous n'êtes pas seules, tout le peuple juif est avec vous!!
De là où est Ilan (z"l) il vous protège et prie pour vous...
Soyez forts! que D. vous aide, AMEN!
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim

Shirley ATTIA (Créteil)
Ad matai????
jusqu'à quand ??????
Ilan je ne t'ai jamais connu, mais je pleure
et je pense à toi tous les jours depuis que tu as quitté ce monde.
C'est impossible d'imaginer quelles souffrances tu as enduré tout ce temps.
Que tes cris se fassent enfin entendre
et que D... nous amène la délivrance!!!!
Mr et Mme Halim,i je partage votre souffrance et peine,
que D... vous aide à surmonter cette horrible épreuve.
Que le peuple juif soit à jamais protégé de souffrance et de barbarie!
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
ZELDA ROTENBERG

Mes condoléances à toute la famille d'Ilan et je compatis à votre douleur
moi-même maman cela me touche énormément
que D. repose l' âme d'Ilan
et un gros bisou à toute la famille
hamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion virouchalayim
Judie Malhouf
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Que D.ieu vous réconforte dans cette douleur et qu'il protège tous les enfants d'Israël
Famille Attal - Choisy le Roi
Toutes nos condoléances à la famille d'Ilan
que ton âme repose en paix auprès des Tsadikim
une pensée à ta soeur Yaël que je connaissais (Ozar Hatorah)
qu' Hachem vous donne la force de surmonter cette épreuve
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Yael Abbou (Saffar)
Qu’hashem donne les forces à toute la famille de supporter cette terrible epreuve
et qu’il venge le sang innocent d’Ilan.
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Sojcher
Je suis chrétien d'origine arménienne
et je souhaite envoyer toutes mes condoléances à la famille Halimi.
Pierre M.
Je présente avant toute chose toutes mes condoléances a la famille d'Ilan
et à tous ses proches!

on ne se connaissait pas et pourtant cette tragédie nous a tous rapproché de
toi Ilan z"l de ta famille et de tous tes proches qui avaient tant subi ces
derniers temps.
Cette tragédie il a fallut que ca t'arrive a toi, que tu revive ce que
d'autre ont vécu dans le passé il y a plus de 60 ans. Comme quoi le monde ne
montre guère grande évolution. On est en 2006 tu es le 1er depuis bien
longtemps mais des gens continu et continueront surment encore a tuer du
juif pour le plaisir.
Ilan depuis que tu n'es plus la le vide s'est installé en moi, je ressens
une profonde tristesse, je ne fais que penser a toi, à ce qui t'es arrivé!
je me dis pourtant qu'il ne faut pas se laisser abattre, il ne faut pas que
tu sois mort pour rien. il faut ke ta disparition reveille le peuple Juif et
qui nous luttions, TOUS unis, contre cette maladie qui touche beaucoup trop
de personne: L'ANTISEMITISME. que nous luttions contre ces gens qui ont la
haine du peuple juif.
aujourd'hui je me présenterai, comme beaucoup, a cette manifestation
organisée en ta mémoire. et je marcherai a coté des tiens pour les soutenir
car ils ont besoin de nous pour traverser cette épreuve! soyons tous unis
pour que cette atrocité ne se reproduise plus, pour que personne ne
connaisse ce que tu as connu.
prions pour que ton ame repose en paix au gan eden et pour que ta famille
trouve la force de traverser cette épreuve....
repose en paix TSADIK protége tous les tiens de la haut...

Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim

A. Tracy
Le malheur qui vous frappe d'une manière si brutale me bouleverse profondément.

Les desseins de H-achem sont parfois impénétrables, or c'est auprès de Lui seul que vous trouverez un apaisement à la douleur qui vous terrasse.

Mon coeur pleure auprès du vôtre en vous redisant mon immense compassion.

Puissiez-vous trouver le courage nécessaire afin de surmonter cette terrible épreuve.
Amen.

Carole Chuwes
Clichy (92110)
HaMakom yénahem etjèm béto Jear avlé Tsion vIroushalaim
HaShem vous réconforte dans cette douleur et qu'il protège tous les fis d'Israël

Es-Israel.org
Hamakom yéna'hem et'khèm béto'kh chear avélé tsion vYirouchalayim
que D... vous aide à surmonter cette terrible épreuve
Sidney et Eveline ATTAL
hamakom yenahem ethem betoh chear avle tsion virouchalaim
FAMILLE COHEN
Maintenant tu es au gan eden avec hakadoch barouhou, tu es avec tous les grands justes: le Rabbi de Loubavitch, le Rabbi Nahman de Breslev, Baba Ssalé, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai et bien d'autres... ou tu te trouves tu nous protègera de tous ce qu'il peut se passer dans ce monde, de toutes ses barbaries. Tu veilles sur nous. Repose en paix et beaucoup de courage pour tes parents et ta soeur que je peux comprendre car nous sommes passé par ou est passé ta famille, tu es à côté de mon frère... lui aussi il avait 20 ans... que D. repose son âme...

aurevoir Ilan...
Famille Goeta Villemomble
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille Grynberg - Oiknine - Belgique
hamakom yéna'hem ethèm bétoh chéar avlé tsion virouchalayim
FAMILLE ROTSZTEIN
tu sera notre ange on ne toubliras jamais
repose en paix
condoleances a mme halimi et tous ses proches puisse qu sa terrible disparition de ce monde nous reveil et que la ou il se trouve il puisse intervenir pour que tous le peuple d israel a fin que plus un juif lui arrive cette atrosite.
S.D
nous partageons la douleur
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
que D... vous aide
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
Famille AFRIAT
Hamakom Yéna'hem Et'hèm Béto'h Chear Avlé Tsion Viroushalayim
de la part de chalom dov ber basanger
que D.vous aide à surmonter cette terrible épreuve,
nous nous joignons à votre douleur et prions pour illan.
Que Machiah arrive au plus vite afin que vous soyez a nouveau réunis!

Threadless T-Shirts - Ashkefardic Ultra Refoconservadox, by Shmouel Halimi

Free plug for whover came up with this shirt!

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Land of Confusion: Youth Is The Engine of The World...

There has been a lot of talk about Matisyahu lately. I see him on MTV, MTVu.com, hear him on the radio and read blogs. I figured I will speak a little about him as well.

I recently watched the new "Youth" music video and I was really inspired. First off the lyrics really touched me. He sings about how the youth makes the world go 'round and because of that they have to make the right choices in life. At times everything looks grey and nothing seems right but it is up to them to make the right decisions and make the world a brighter place. Now the video itself looks like any other professional music video that we see on MTV. There is just one thing missing. All the normal trash that we have become accustomed to see is not there. No scantily clad women or Grillz on the teeth. Just a really hip entertaining clean video.

When I was speaking to a friend about the new video, he had this to say. "Matisyahu said in an interview that he won’t be jumping into crowds anymore since there may be women in it and that would be against his religion to be touched by another woman". He went on to say how he looked carefully on the video and he is "sure" that there was woman in the crowd. Well here is some news for you:

Music Features
Matisyahu: Spiritual and Spirited
By Bram Teitelman
Feb 23, 2006, 19:00 GMT

And there continues to be a fine line to tread between pushing the music and observing his beliefs. Because of his religion Matisyahu belongs to the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidism he cannot touch women or sing romantic love songs, which means his days of audience diving may be over unless there is advanced planning.
When he made the first low-budget video for 'King Without a Crown,' he asked his rabbi if he could jump into the crowd, Caplan recalls. 'The rabbi said, `Sure.` He tries not to jump on a woman. His wife says, `I don’t think you can do it.` The rabbi comes back and says, `What? There are women in the crowd? No, you can’t do that.`' So, Caplan adds, for the 'Youth' video, the audience that Matisyahu jumps into is all male: 'His religion is the most important thing to him.'

So there you have it, an excerpt from an article on www.music.monstersandcritics.com

Another "problem" someone brought up to me is the fact that on one of the clips a woman is dancing by herself. Is there really a problem there? She is fully dressed. You cannot see an inch of her skin. Secondly she does not do anything that would be considered provocative. Am I wrong on this one? Is it wrong to have a woman dance by herself on the video?

I get the feeling that people cannot stomach the fact that he is a huge success. Why is it that when someone is doing good in the world, spreading Judaism and a teaching life lessons to the youth, why is it that they get a thrashing for it? This is his way of doing it and he is doing a great job.

The opening clip of the "youth" video starts off with someone taking off their Tefillin. Do you know how many people, specifically jewish teens, will be seeing that? I think it is unbelievable and amazing. posted by On My Own at 1:48 PM

Jewish org. unites all faiths over traditional Friday dinners

Shira Nanus
Friday, February 24, 2006


Every Friday evening, Mendel and Henya Matusof open up their home on West Gilman Street to students of diverse religious backgrounds to relax, share discussion and enjoy a homemade Shabbat meal.

The Matusofs are co-directors of the UW-Madison chapter of Chabad, the largest international Jewish outreach movement dedicated to supporting Jewish life and observance.

“Chabad is a warm and friendly Jewish environment where students are always welcome,” said Henya Matusof, originally from Crown Heights, N.Y., who moved to Madison to start up Chabad. “In many ways, it is a home away from home.”

The international organization first appeared at UW-Madison in 1972, serving both students and the Madison community. However, in the early ‘80s, Chabad’s presence on campus fizzled when it opened up a preschool and moved to Regent Street.

“Campus started slowing down in the mid ‘80s and the community picked up—so that became the main priority,” said Mendel Matusof, originally from Madison.

This year, the program’s focus is shifting back toward students with the help of the International Chabad Committee, which gave Madison’s chapter seed money to refocus its outreach on campus.

The organization is still in its beginning stages, but since September it has grown from having a few students attend Friday-night dinners to over 30.

Chabad also offers diverse classes and social events and has plans to co-sponsor events with Hilel in the future.

Mendel Matusof said the goal is not to inundate students with religion, but to provide insights into Jewish tradition.

“It’s to educate and teach people by a living example that Judaism has meaning in today’s day and age,” he said. “We have more of an attraction for the completely unaffiliated. Those that know nothing find Chabad very open, all-inclusive and teaching.”

Henya Matusof agrees, saying that when students get involved in Chabad, “they come to realize that being proud of being Jewish and acting that way is not as scary as many of them thought it to be.”

UW-Madison sophomore Adam Poster, who is active in Chabad, said it is a great escape from everyday student life.

“A lot of kids, you know, they don’t want to be religious,” Poster said. “I think it’s a great way to keep the traditions and keep the culture, and obviously the religious part is there. There’s a whole array of things you can get from it.”
Copyright © 1892-2006 The Daily Cardinal Media Corporation. All rights reserved.

Groundbreaker Matisyahu is spirited and spiritual

By Bram Teitelman

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Of all the artist-development stories to emerge in 2005, Matisyahu's was perhaps the most unique. Not only was his breakout album, "Live at Stubb's," hastily recorded for $8,000 (4,600 pounds) at an Austin, Texas, club, but its first single, "King Without a Crown," is a modern-rock smash -- a nearly unheard-of feat for a reggae track. And then there is Matisyahu himself: a Hasidic Jew whose reggae- and rock-tinged sound celebrates his faith.

Yet while the 26-year-old artist is devoutly religious, he is not letting that stand in the way of getting his music heard. "Who doesn't want success?" he asks. "There's some artists that say they don't, and they're not looking for it, but I'm not one of those artists."

Clearly his music is resonating with the public. "King Without a Crown" is in the top 10 of Billboard's Modern Rock chart and is starting to make an impression on top 40 outlets. "Live at Stubb's" has topped Billboard's Top Reggae Albums chart for eight weeks. It has sold 340,000 copies so far and is No. 43 on the Billboard 200.

On March 7, his new studio album, "Youth," comes out on JDub/Or/Epic. Sources say the initial shipment for the album will be 400,000 units.

Is Matisyahu an artist with staying power or a novelty? Believers say he has longevity.

"Is it novelty? Of course it's not. It's too real to be novelty," declares Bruce Warren, assistant GM for programming at the influential non-commercial WXPN Philadelphia, which was one of the first stations to play "King Without a Crown."

"It was our sense that this was the kind of musical discovery our listeners listen to public radio for," Warren says. The song is "very spiritual, and it touches people regardless of what their race or religion is. It reminds me of Bob Marley in that Matis has a universal message and some great grooves to match."

KIMMEL CLIP'S THE CLINCHER

Matisyahu's debut album, "Shake Off the Dust ... Arise," was released with relatively little fanfare in 2004 on JDub, a nonprofit label and event production company. When Michael Caplan, co-founder and then-president of Or Music, first heard of Matisyahu, he wrote him off as a novelty. But several months later, "I watched a clip of him performing on the Jimmy Kimmel show, and my reaction was like most people's: The first 30 seconds, it's novelty, and 90 seconds in, you realise it's real," he says.

Caplan, who is now senior VP of A&R for Sony Music, got in touch with JDub and found out Matisyahu was playing at a Jewish high school the next day. Impressed by his live show, Caplan and his partner, Larry Miller, signed him to Or Music (now Or Media Group).

Caplan thought the studio album did not accurately represent Matisyahu's music, so one of the label's first moves was to have him record "Live at Stubb's."

There was a strategy to taping in Texas. "Austin was perfect because it screams 'goyim,'" Caplan says with a laugh. "It wasn't like taping it in Crown Heights (a Brooklyn, New York, neighbourhood with a large Jewish population). I wanted to show it works here too."

Indeed, Caplan says that so far, Matisyahu is playing well to the mainstream. "This is an informal observation, but secular Jews have more of a problem with it than (non-Jews). In the larger world, people are yearning for spirituality. Some people are going, 'Is this a Christian song?'"

The clip of Matisyahu performing on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" was circulated on the Internet. Digital success continued when mtvu.com embraced the live video of "King Without a Crown": The song ended 2005 as the Web site's most downloaded video.

After "Live at Stubb's" sold 20,000 units, it was moved from Or Music to parent label Epic.

THE RADIO HURDLE

With Matisyahu's jump to the majors came the difficult task of getting radio to view him as more than a gimmick. His appearance and beliefs never struck him as something that might hinder his success, however. "I became religious, and that was a very serious thing for me, and music was always a serious thing for me, so this was just an expression of my life -- the decisions I made and the music that I make," he says. "I was never worried about it."

At modern-rock KROQ Los Angeles, "We threw it on and it got immediate phone response," music director Lisa Worden recalls. "Lyrically, it's really striking a chord with people." For several weeks, "King Without a Crown" was KROQ's most-played song.

Considering that at the end of 2004 Matisyahu was doing a regional Hanukkah tour, he has enjoyed the past year. "I didn't know what to expect," he says of his success. "I've always been a lover of music, and I've always wanted to be able to perform and make music. When it's just an idea or a dream, you're not aware of the details of the process, what goes into it."

And there continues to be a fine line to tread between pushing the music and observing his beliefs. Because of his religion -- Matisyahu belongs to the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidism -- he cannot sing romantic love songs or touch women other than his wife, which means his days of audience diving may be over, unless there is advanced planning.

When he made the first low-budget video for "King Without a Crown," he asked his rabbi if he could jump into the crowd, Caplan recalls. "The rabbi said, 'Sure.' He tries not to jump on a woman. His wife says, 'I don't think you can do it.' The rabbi comes back and says, 'What? There's women in the crowd? No, you can't do that.'"

So, Caplan adds, for the "Youth" video, the audience that Matisyahu jumps into is all male. "His religion is the most important thing to him."

Reuters/Billboard

Federal attorneys sue city of Hollywood in religion case

By Shannon OBoye
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

February 17, 2006


The U.S. Department of Justice is accusing the city of Hollywood of withholding evidence in a religious discrimination case and failing to provide full answers to questions.

The federal agency is suing the city over an Orthodox Jewish group's right to hold religious services in a house in a residential neighborhood. The city says the Chabad violated zoning laws by gutting the Hollywood Hills home and converting it to a synagogue.

As part of its case, the Justice officials asked the city in August for all records pertaining to Rosa Lopez, who claims the Virgin Mary appears at her west Hollywood home on the 13th of each month. Approximately 100 people show up monthly to pray and seek miracles.

The city has never tried to shut her down like they have the Chabad. Officials say Lopez's home is not a house of worship and therefore does not need a special zoning exception.

Hollywood's lawyers in September supplied some documents to the Justice Department but failed to turn over a series of memos from Police Chief James Scarberry detailing police surveillance of the Lopez home. Those were turned over Feb. 2 -- after depositions were taken from top Hollywood officials.

Justice attorney Sean Keveney argued that had the department known police were watching the Lopez house, it would have done its own surveillance to possibly "rebut any testimony offered by the city." He also accused the city of providing incomplete information regarding why it contends the Lopez home is not a house of worship.

Keveney asked U.S. District Court Judge Joan A. Lenard on Monday to issue sanctions against the city and to allow the federal government to re-interview several city officials at the city's expense. Lenard has not yet ruled on the motion.

On Thursday, City Attorney Dan Abbott referred questions to outside counsel Tom McCausland, who could not be reached for comment.

The city outlined 16 reasons in January why Lopez's house is not comparable to the Hollywood Community Synagogue. They included that the property has not been "architecturally or structurally altered" and that Lopez does not claim publicly that her home is a place of worship.

What the city did not mention, according to Keveney, is the city attorney visited the home in 2004 and noticed gift shop hours posted on the house and "huge religious artifacts," including a sign, a crucifix and a fountain, in the yard.

"I don't know if there have been a lot of structural modifications to the house," Abbott later told city commissioners during a closed-door meeting, "but it certainly does not look like a typical single family house."

Shannon O'Boye can be reached at soboye@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7912.

Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


Riga Synagogue sees new life ahead

By Paul Morton


RIGA - In 1904, a small group of wealthy Jewish merchants fought a maze of rules to open a synagogue in Peitavas Street in Riga’s Old Town. It would be far from the Moscow District where they lived, but close to the shops and markets where they worked. In Czarist Russia, synagogues were prohibited from being built too close to churches, so they had to get permission from the pastor of a Reform Church with which it would share the block.
The German architect Wilhelm Neumann (who had also been responsbile for the striking Museum of Fine Arts), a follower of the Jugendstil school, had been contracted and a total of 150,000 rubles had been spent. Finally, in the days before Rosh Hoshannah, they had gotten everything ready when the local government decided to forbid the synagogue’s opening.

A meeting between the wealthy benefactors of the synagogue and a local governor followed. An article in a Yiddish newspaper from the 1930s recounts a key speech:

“Young people are being led astray by the revolutionary movement. And with each day, the movement’s influence is stronger and stronger. So in order to restrain young people from these ideas, we decided to build a beautiful synagogue.”

The answer, perhaps goaded by fears of the incipient threat of 1905: “Go and pray.”

Forty years later, it was the only synagogue among hundreds in the country to survive World War II. An obscure Psalm was written atop the marble alter, “Blessed art you the good, for you did not allow teeth to tear me,” to remember the 80,000 to 100,000 Latvian Jews who did not. Michael Freydman, the synagogue’s guide, claimed that a pastor at that local Reform Church had instructed the Nazis not to burn the synagogue as it put his church in danger.

The Riga Synagogue still functions today and if you come by anytime from Sunday to Friday you’ll probably meet Freydman, a plump sardonic bachelor of 47. It’s the winter now and he’s receiving few visitors. In the summer, he gets a deluge of American and Israeli tour groups, “the allied forces” as he calls them. When I came by on a weekday afternoon, a repairman was fixing the hinge on the congregation hall’s green wooden door. Freydman: “It’s no great tragedy.”

Freydman grew up with the synagogue, and recalls its problems under Soviet rule in the 70s. “Jews were suspicious. [Russian authorities] thought Zionism and Judaism were the same thing.” Jewish holidays were celebrated in as integrated a way as possible. “We would be outside the synagogue drinking vodka, Russian-style.”

For as long as Freydman has known the synagogue, it hasn’t changed. It still has the same dilapidated brown-and-yellow pews, and the same splintery green door. Much of the synagogue will be renovated soon.

There’s an old black piano in the basement embossed with a Star of David and accoutred with two candlestick holders. In the back of the congregation hall is a bookcase of 19th-century Talmuds printed in Vilnius, which was once one of the great centers of Jewish learning. They survived only because the Nazis couldn’t find them. The bindings are peeling, and the pages are ripped.

Two palm fronds are etched atop the doorway and the pillars are stacked with lotus leaves. Freydman has what some others feel to be a dubious theory that the decorations are related to the era in which the synagogue was built. In 1904, Zionism was in its nascent state in Germany. “This was a time when Jews were trying to remember their roots [in Egypt],” says Freydman.

A few days later, I sat in the office of Rabbi Mordechai Glazman, an Israeli-American Hasid who first came to Riga in 1992 with his wife and son to start a Chabad service. He became the synagogue’s head rabbit in 2004. Now has 10 children – “a minyan.” He told me I had to take much of what Freydman had told me with a grain of salt.

He didn’t believe the story of the priest. “Of course, the Germans didn’t want to burn the synagogue down. It was in the middle of a crowded city.” The books Freydman honored were of course spiritually valuable, but in his opinion, no more worthy of study than any modern prayerbook. He rolled his eyes at the idea that the palm fronds could have any Zionist connection. (Glazman didn’t say so himself, but the Art Nouveau style that was popular in Riga at the time involved prettifying buildings with an elegant kitschy style, playing with strange decorations and patterns that meant absolutely nothing.) So much for guides.

Sabbath

Saturday, the Sabbath, is the one day of the week when Freydman doesn’t attend the synagogue. Riga’s Jewish community – approximately 5,000 strong – was represented in the main hall by a group of 50 or so men. In keeping with Orthodox tradition, the women and children sat in the rafters, sometimes peeking behind a blue curtain.

There were a few Hasidim dressed in black, including an American who was living in Riga and worked in marketing. The cantor, Zeev Shulman, a 33-year-old round-faced trained opera singer with glasses and some light facial hair, stood at the pulpit and sang out the prayers. The congregation was made up of old men in old fraying suits and ties, wearing yarmulkes, milling about through the service from pew to pew, casually socializing. There were some younger more devout members rocking back and forth in prayer. A few whispered casual conversation to each other. One man sat and read a Russian newspaper.

There were a few 90-somethings in the group, a few of whom, I had been told, were swept up by the Russians in the gulag system before they could be sent to a Nazi death camp.

When I looked up into the rafters, where in accordance with Orthodox Jewish custom, women and children sit far from the men, I caught the eye of a young redhead who immediately closed the curtain in front of her. During the torah reading, the more devout became impatient with the casual parishioners. They banged on the banisters and demanded silence, which they never fully received.

When I asked Glazman about this later, he said, “Do you expect 80-year-old men to learn and study Hebrew?”

At 12:30, we had the Kiddush meal. Long tables had been set up with theater seats from a failed movie theater serving as chairs. Plastic plates and cups. Radishes, gefilte fish and matzo bread. A bottle of wine and shots of vodka in plastic cups for all the men. The women and children still sat separately. But now, everyone was in the same room.

I talked to Shulman, the cantor. “Before the war, the synagogue had a very good children’s choir,” he said. “They played at the Latvian Opera House. ‘Carmen.’” With some foreign funding, he’s looking to revive the tradition.

Freydman had told me that he greatly disliked Prague’s Jewish Quarter, in which old synagogues had been converted to museums charging admission. “It was part of Hitler’s dream to turn Judaism into a museum.” The Riga Synagogue, in the time before its renovation, may feel more old than young. But it is emphatically not a cemetery.

Shul food

Not many people think of going to Shabbat services as a gastronomic experience. Yet after diligently praying for heavenly goodwill, many appreciate temporal rewards in the form of Jewish soul food. The occasion for the indulgence is the kiddush, which technically means a blessing over wine, but has been extended to refer to a light meal served at the ceremony.

Chabad Web sites advertise this bonus on the Saturday schedule: "morning prayers, followed by kiddush with hot cholent." For those who are not computer literate, I've often heard the rabbi finish his recitation of upcoming services and classes with the announcement: "and we have the best cholent in town."

The tasty, well-seasoned cholent at our local Chabad synagogue contains little cubes of beef, potato chunks, sweet vegetarian kishke, barley and beans. Those who want something lighter than cholent usually find tuna salad, gefilte fish with horseradish, egg salad, coleslaw, crackers, cookies and marble cake. Occasionally there might be potato kugel, smoked whitefish salad and even Chinese chicken salad with a sweet ginger dressing and fried chow mein noodles. And for "l'chayim," a shot of vodka.

But there's much more to shul food; it varies by location and by congregation. When I was growing up, kiddush at our shul was composed of typical American-Jewish brunch food - bagels with lox and cream cheese, mini gefilte fish balls, marinated herring, jello molds and iced white and chocolate sheet cakes.

Several years ago, my mother and I visited Honolulu and found the Shabbat experience at Chabad of Hawaii completely different from any we'd had before. First of all, the shul was in a hotel. The kiddush was a full lunch, for the benefit of tourists searching for a kosher Shabbat meal. On our visit, the Israeli-Moroccan buffet included spicy fish and cooked pepper salad, as well as the islands' sweet pineapple in a fruit salad, and the local soft, block-shaped Hawaiian sweet rolls.

When there's a bar mitzvah, shul spreads can become elaborate or even downright fancy, especially if the family brings a caterer into the picture. A shul in Montgomery County, Maryland, where I grew up, offers kiddush dishes that I never heard of as a child, like balsamic four bean salad, sesame cabbage salad, crisp apple rice salad and cumin-flavored corn and bean salad. A Rhode Island kosher caterer suggests French style quiches for a kiddush menu: one of mushrooms and caramelized onions and another of eggplant, roasted peppers and goat cheese.

In Melbourne, Australia, the kiddush food of Passionate Kosher Catering is eclectic. In addition to the usual Ashkenazi-Jewish items, you can have Indian and Japanese vegetables, Moroccan couscous, Persian brown rice and a sabra cake made of orange and chocolate cake layers, chocolate mousse and chocolate ganache. With such offerings, going to the synagogue is practically like visiting a gourmet restaurant.

Small shuls have their own selections of tempting kiddush treats. At a neighbor's bar mitzva kiddush, the shul's caterer happened to be Persian. His menu featured three types of cholent. The one I liked best was a vegetarian one, consisting mainly of deeply browned rice, carrots, tomatoes and sauteed onions.

The most memorable shul food I've had to date was in the humblest of surroundings - Yemenite Shabbat services in the converted garage of a Los Angeles house, the rest of which serves as a Moroccan synagogue. There the meal was potluck. Some people brought typical Israeli items like potato burekas, spicy carrots, humous, tehina, pickles and pita. For me, the highlight was the wonderful Yemenite Shabbat cake called kubaneh, made of a rich, slightly sweet yeast dough. The woman who baked it overnight kept it warm at shul by covering the pot with a blanket.

A favorite shul food of mine is Jerusalem kugel (kugel Yerushalmi), which is not known to many American Jews. I often wish it would appear on the kiddush tables at American synagogues to evoke the flavors of Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM KUGEL
This caramel-flavored kugel is dense and rich and has an intriguing peppery yet slightly sweet taste. It bakes all night in a very low oven and turns deep brown throughout. Don't worry if the caramel forms pieces when you mix it with the other ingredients; they will melt during the baking.

To cook the kugel faster, you can bake it uncovered at 175C for 1 hour. It will still taste good but its color will not be as brown. You can reheat any leftover kugel slices by wrapping them in foil and heating them in a oven at 175C, or microwaving slices uncovered on a plate.

350 grams fine egg noodles
3 large eggs
1⁄3 cup sugar
1⁄2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground pepper

Generously grease a round, 2-liter casserole. Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water about 5 minutes or until barely tender. Drain, return to pot, and toss briefly with 3 tablespoons of the oil. Keep on stove so noodles remain warm; do not cover.

Pour remaining oil into a heavy saucepan, then add sugar. Heat over low heat, shaking pan gently from time to time; do not stir. Cook 15 to 20 minutes or until sugar turns deep brown. Gradually add mixture to noodles, mixing well with tongs.

Beat eggs with salt and pepper. Add to noodles and mix well. Transfer to greased casserole. Cover with foil and with a lid. Refrigerate kugel if not ready to bake it.

Put kugel in oven set at 82-95C. Bake kugel overnight, or for about 14 hours. Run a knife around edge and turn out onto a round platter. Serve hot, in slices.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Faye Levy is the author of Feast from the Mideast (HarperCollins).

Hasidic reggae? Yah, man

By Paul de Barros
Seattle Times jazz critic

In the three-ring circus of American identity, where a Minnesota Jew can adopt the name of a Welsh poet and write African-American blues, nothing should be surprising.

But somehow, Matisyahu is even more startling than Bob Dylan.

A converted, 26-year-old Hasidic Lubavitcher, Matisyahu (née Matthew Miller), sings reggae and hip-hop about the actual Jerusalem, not the metaphorical Rastafarian one, wearing a yarmulke and scarf.

Unfortunately, unless you already have a ticket for this sold-out show, you're not going to be able to see Matisyahu, at least this time around. He plays at 8 p.m. Monday at the Showbox, 1426 First Ave., Seattle; $10.77 (800-325-7328).

You can hear him, though, on "Live at Stubbs" (JDUB), currently perched at the top of the Billboard reggae chart and No. 33 on the Top 200. Or on his forthcoming disc, "Youth," a major-label debut slated for March release.

You'd be part of a big crowd. Matisyahu recently played a sold-out show at Manhattan's 1,500-seat Webster Hall and performed last year at the Bonnaroo and Carifest festivals.

So what's the fuss?

For starters, the guy has a huge, cantorial voice and knows what to do with it. Sometimes, he thrusts it skyward into yearning, anthemic arcs that recall Robert Plant or Anthony Kiedis. At others, he lip-dribbles reggae toasts like a speed-demon auctioneer, or scats the nonsense syllables Hasids call niggun, with the folksy phrase, "Diggy-diggy-do" being a particular favorite.

The kid's also a pretty good poet, in that cinematic, hallucinatory style Dylan copped from Allen Ginsberg. (Most of the songs are in English, though some are in Yiddish). On "Aish Tamid," a song about the coming of the Third Jerusalem, he raps: "The daughters of Zion, lyin', cryin', in the mist, morning light slips in, shifting through the darkness, like a mourning wife, reminisce!, having vision of her long gone prince, memories drip raindrops, sowing emptiness intermixed with tears, like fears, that got fixed ... "

Occasionally, Matisyahu's affection of a Bob Marley accent is a bit silly, but there's so much urgency and joy in his delivery, it's hard to mind.

His band sound is distinctive, too, a bold and bouncy, West African-inflected reggae, with candy-colored guitar lines shadowing the words. None of those languid Jamaican smoke rings for this true believer.

Matisyahu was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Berkeley and White Plains, N.Y., by reformed Jewish parents who were social workers. His conversion (and name change) to a Hasidic sect that believes the messiah arrived last century in the person of the late Menachem Mendel Schneerson came later — after college, in Oregon.

Matisyahu now lives in the Lubavitcher neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which figures in some of his songs.

His popularity on the East Coast, where there has been a resurgence of interest in Jewish roots among the young, is as logical as his sold-out show in politically correct and profoundly un-Jewish Seattle is surprising.

Maybe he's more than a novelty. But this is also a guy who expresses nostalgia for theocracy ("Refuge"), refuses to shake the hand of any woman outside his family and believes Israel's borders are ordained by God.

That deep reggae bass is irresistible, though.

Paul de Barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com

UNION RATS

By Ariella Cohen
The Brooklyn Papers

While some New Yorkers still follow the jingle’s advice and “look for the union label,” you won’t find one affixed to Brooklyn’s construction boom.

Last year in Brooklyn, the Department of Buildings awarded more construction permits than it had in any year since the 1973. The vast majority of these projects are being built by non-union laborers.

“We’re being hammered,” said Anthony Pugliese, organizer of New York District Council of Carpenters.

During Brooklyn’s last construction boom in the late 1960s, construction union membership was around 40 percent nationwide. Now, it’s 13 percent.

Locally, the result is that only 50 or 60 of the 4,000 residential construction projects green-lighted last year were built by union hands, according to the carpenters union.

Union organizers see this as a historic crossroads in the labor movement: After all, the next 10 years will bring more construction jobs to the city than any period since World War II, according to deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff.

Yet the trend is clearly moving away from union labor, leaving organizers little to do but pump up their giant rats and walk around with picket signs, as they did this week at locations in DUMBO and the South Slope.

“It’s just plain wrong that they are building these huge, 100-unit buildings without unions,” groused Joe Rizzo, a Laborers’ International Union organizer who spent this week protesting the construction at 84 Front St.

The building’s developer, Shaya Boymelgreen, was persuaded to go union at one of his building sites in Manhattan. But at his luxury residential developments in DUMBO and on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, he did not feel similarly compelled.

Part of the reason, experts said, is because Manhattan’s labor locals are more powerful politically, and the projects themselves have traditionally been larger.

Yet even as Manhattan-sized buildings are increasingly being built in Brooklyn, union power is waning in the borough.

Hiring union laborers does considerably ramp up the cost of a construction project, but there is still a huge political benefit to using union muscle, union leaders say.

Pugliese estimates that his union will get 10,000 jobs at Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards megadevelopment — which won Ratner union support.

“The construction industry has sway over elected officials and its support [of the project] has a major impact,” said Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Prospect Heights), who opposes the Atlantic Yards project.

Yet Ratner remains the exception to Brooklyn’s growing addiction to non-union construction. As a result, Brooklyn has become the hot-sheets motel for an odd case of strange bedfellows: union construction workers are now teaming up with opponents of over-development to halt or harass non-union projects.

James, for example, has been spotted recently walking the picket lines below the inflatable gray rat, and teaming up with the very unions she battled over Atlantic Yards.

“We talk about overdevelopment and some of them really understand,” said James. “They don’t want it where they live either.”

James’s point was on display this week in the South Slope, where the non-union construction of some 30 new residential projects has incited protest from neighbors — whether they draw union or non-union paychecks.

Crude messages slamming developer Isaac Katan — such as “Katan is Satan” — were spotted on vans parked next to a 12-story condo at 162 16th St., which is being built by non-union workers.

Protest organizer Bo Samajopoulos has two, seemingly conflicted, gripes: He doesn’t want the too-tall condo in his neighborhood — but if it must go up, he wants his workers on the job.

Union workers.

“[The builder] is exploiting workers with no insurance and little or no training,” Samajopoulos said, actually using the term “overdevelopment” to describe the building — a surprising word choice for a union builder.

“I kept out of the fight at first,” he said. “Unions usually want big work, but who wants to live next to a monstrosity, especially if it’s a monstrosity built by men and women making $10 an hour?”

Pugliese considers non-union labor to be a public safety issue. In the past year, two day-laborers were killed on job sites in Brooklyn, including one who was fatally crushed by an 800-pound beam as he laid the foundation of a condo building on 20th Street in the South Slope.

And this week, a worker was carried off by co-workers and placed into a car-service taxi at the 16th Street site. Witnesses believe he was shaken up in a construction accident, but the foreman on the job denied it, telling The Brooklyn Papers to “have a nice day.”

Rocking the House to Sell Condos

YOU could call it a real estate battle of the bands.

A week from today, two New York condominium developers will vie for the attentions of the city's top brokers and most promising buyers with performances by the pop singer Seal on the Upper West Side and by John Legend, this year's Best New Artist Grammy winner, in the financial district.

In an effort to spur sales in a cooling (some real estate agents prefer to say "stabilizing") market, these developers are trying to outdo their peers in cities like Miami, where fireworks, circus performers and all the tuna tartare you can eat became de rigueur last year.

Without the cachet of "starchitects" like Richard Meier and Jean Nouvel or the locations that buildings like 15 Central Park West or the Plaza Hotel can boast, these developers are turning to pop music muses to create buzz for their projects.

"There is a lot of new development coming on the market and we want to differentiate ourselves from everything else and this will really do it in a way that no one else has done it," said Pamela Liebman, chief executive of the Corcoran Group, the Manhattan brokerage firm that is helping Extell Development Company market the Avery, a new condominium going up on Riverside Boulevard. Extell is spending more than $500,000 to inaugurate the sale of apartments in the building, due to be completed in the fall of 2007, with a party next Thursday on a strip of grass next to its construction site. Seal will perform there under a tent designed to hold 800 people.

"These kind of events have been held in other parts of the country before, but never in New York," said Ms. Liebman. (At least not since Jewel and Marc Anthony gave a concert at Time Warner Center's grand opening party two years ago.)

Until recently, most New York developers tried to woo brokers and buyers with a few hors d'oeuvres and drinks and maybe a D.J. That's apparently not enough for this year's buyers, who have a surfeit of condominium units to choose from.

"I don't think people are really interested in coming to another party where you're given a package of information and a few drinks," said Michael Shvo, a real estate marketer who is working with Leviev Boymelgreen, the developer of 20 Pine: The Collection, a newly opened condominium in the financial district with interiors by Armani/Casa. According to invitations sent out this week, Mr. Legend will be performing on Thursday at the building, where prices for studio apartments start at $600,000.

You can certainly see why the developers want to do whatever they can to rise above a crowded field: there are about 7,600 condo, co-op and rental units being built in Manhattan this year, and another 20,000 planned, according to Yale Robbins, a real estate publishing company in New York.

"We're going to throw a big party so people will at least look at us," said Gary Barnett, president of Extell, which together with the Carlyle Group paid $1.8 billion to buy 20 developable acres of land between 59th and 65th Streets, along with a few other properties, from Donald Trump and a consortium of Hong Kong investors last year.

Extell and Carlyle plan to build a series of six buildings on the land, which overlooks the West Side Highway and the Hudson River to the south of the seven luxury condominiums built over the last few years by Mr. Trump. The Avery will feature one-bedrooms starting at $750,000, with penthouses going for about $3.9 million. Mr. Barnett said this party was as much as anything about "signaling that there's new ownership and we're doing things a bit differently."

Mr. Barnett hastened to distinguish the Avery party from the dozens of extravagant affairs held by condo developers in Miami in the past couple of years. That was "marketing to say 'come in and buy buy buy because it's urgent,' " he said. Prospective buyers at the Avery party would be able to make appointments to visit the sales office, he said, but would not be able to put down any deposits or reserve specific units as they sometimes did at the Miami parties.

"There's another kind of marketing," Mr. Barnett said: "Buy if you want a really fine place to live in."

Seal, evidently, was deemed the best performer to send that message. The building's marketers said they carefully chose him from a list of about 20 possibilities. Acts like the girl band the Pussycat Dolls and Blondie were ruled out as "not appropriate" for the 30- and 40-something professionals the developers were trying to attract, said Selma Nasser, a publicist with Corcoran. Sting, while appropriate, was not available.

Meanwhile, Mr. Shvo, who seemed unaware of the other party featuring a Grammy award-winning pop star, insisted that the 20 Pine fete, which is being held in part as a benefit for the New York Academy of Art, was designed to be different from all other parties. "Anything that we're trying to do, including the building itself, is different," he said.

The project's developer, however, has used lavish parties to hype buildings before, including a two-karat diamond giveaway a year ago at the Marquis, a 306-unit condo in Miami. Boymelgreen spent about $200,000 on that party (about what it will spend on the 20 Pine party), and sold about 60 percent of the building within a month. (Sales have since slowed, and the developer has fired two marketing companies in a row.)

Not all developers are persuaded of the value of such extravagant events. "I cannot say that we've had to do that," said Arthur Zeckendorf, a partner in the development at 15 Central Park West, where 115 of the 201 units have already sold at an average of more than $3,000 a square foot. "It's probably a lot of hype for not much return except to get some press articles."

But Bassie Deitsch, Boymelgreen's marketing and sales director, said the parties were worth the cost. "It promotes the project in a way that gives it a big jump start," she said, noting that 20 Pine's invitation-only party would attract "different characters from New York, different socialites." She declined, however, to name any of them.

Chabad opens Jewish center at Oxford

Chabad opened a Jewish student center at Oxford.

The Oxford University Chabad Society opened this 900-year-old British university’s first official Jewish student center on Jan. 26.

The $500,000 Rohr Jewish Student Center, sponsored by New York philanthropist George Rohr, houses a synagogue, cafe, entertainment room with Internet access and dining hall. It was designed by a student committee, which also chose the books in its library.

Until now, Jewish students were served only by the Oxford Jewish Center, a 30-year-old community-run institution that holds Orthodox, Reform and Conservative services

Burial in Jewish cemetery is available for unaffiliated Jews

Jews who are not affiliated with a congregation that has a Jewish cemetery can still be buried in a Jewish cemetery in Portland, according to Rabbi Moshe Wilhelm, head of Chabad of Oregon.

Wilhelm said he occasionally gets calls from people wanting information about some aspect of Jewish burial or mourning process and he said it dismays him that some people do not realize there is a local option for Jewish burial even if they are unaffiliated.

Last fall, Chabad of Oregon dedicated a section of Riverview Cemetery as a Jewish burial ground. The Chabad section, which is open to any Jew, is adjacent to a section designated Jewish by Congregation Shir Tikvah and P'nai Or last spring.

Riverview, a century-old, nonsectarian, nonprofit cemetery, is located at 0300 Southwest Taylor's Ferry Road. The Jewish section has 600 available plots and is separated from the rest of the cemetery by a hedge of winter-blooming camellias.

For information on a plot in the Jewish section overseen by Chabad, call Wilhelm at 503-977-9947.

Say Aloha to Purim

Chabad slates luau March 14

As the Book of Esther outlines, Purim has been celebrated thousands of times with charity, a festive meal and intoxicating beverages. But who's to say the Jews wouldn't have gone to Hawaii to celebrate their victory over the Persians had they the opportunity?

"Everybody has a good time in Hawaii, from youngsters to elders, that's why we chose it," said Simi Mishulovin, co-youth director at Chabad Lubavitch of Oregon and organizer of their Hawaiian Purim Luau.

This March 14 at 6 p.m., the MJCC auditorium will turn into America's official tourist spot, our 50th state, complete with a sandy beach volleyball court, in celebrating a Hawaiian Purim.

The luau will feature many of the customary perks available on the island while also mixing in reminders of Judaism and the celebration of Purim. For instance, attendees are encouraged to wear Hawaiian attire while singing and dancing to Jewish music. And the Hawaiian buffet dinner will feature delicacies such as hearts of palm, while the traditional hamantaschen will be provided with optional tropical fillings.

Mishulovin herself was guarded about what she intended to wear to the celebration but acknowledged she'll probably see plenty of leis, Hawaiian shirts and hula skirts.

"I'd love to see even more creative ideas," she said. Mishulovin said some men would even be wearing "Aloha" kippahs, made specially for Hawaiian-themed events.

To fully appreciate tropical Hawaii, and as tradition requires, libations available will be anything but ordinary. Those of age will be able to enjoy a cash bar that will feature more substance than fancy straws and decorative umbrellas. There will also be a non-alcoholic smoothie station where multiple flavors of fruit will be at your disposal.

Other festive events for the family will include professional hair stylists providing Caribbean hair braiding and a "sandy candy" factory. Mishulovin says this is all in an attempt to "make things more innovative and exciting."

"It's completely a community event, for all Jews in the Portland area and further, from here to Hawaii," she said.

A Megilah reading will start at 5:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $6 for children. To RSVP or for more information, call 503-977-9947 or visit www.ChabadOregon.com/Purim.

The Web site's virtual Purim also features an online, world-wide Purim costume contest. Anyone, child or adult, can enter by following the instructions at www.ChabadOregon.com/costumecontes

Chabad members return from Israel

JENNA CIARAMELLA , Register Citizen Staff

LITCHFIELD - Six Chabad Lubavitch members who recently went on a spiritual trip to Israel were welcomed home Friday at a dinner in their honor. The members of the executive mission shared stories about bringing toys and thousands of dollars to victims of terrorism.

"Everything we’ve studied and learned about came to life," Chabad Member Nathan Zimmerman said.

Friends and members of the Chabad Lubavitch, a branch of Jewish Hasidism that began more than 250 years ago in Lubavitch, Russia, came to hear the stories and songs and enjoy Israeli food at the Liorah Greenberg Jewish Center, 77 Village Green Drive.

The group took an eight-day mission from Feb. 7 to the 18 to tour the their spiritual home land, Rabbi Yosef Eisenbach said. The mission was to represent a synergy of learning, fun activities, spiritual and meditative acts and political and historical actions, he said.

The group traveled through the Jordan Valley and river, visited the ruins of Bethshean Proceed to Tiberias, walked along the Western Wall, drove along the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, visited ancient synagogues, Kabala, Tel Aviv, Oscar Schindler’s grave, and swam in the Dead Sea, Eisenbach said.

Chabad members also visited a family of a father and two daughters who lost their mother to a terrorist shooting, Eisenbach said.

"There were emotional times, but we were all uplifted with prayer and each other," Chabad member Alain Levy said.

Thousands of people of all different cultures and Chabads around the world were dancing together and treating each other with peace and respect throughout the entire trip, Zimmerman said.

Levy said one of the memorable moments of the trip was after the group exited the Holocaust Museum.

"After all that pain, the path we were walking on widened and I could see 10,000 light bulbs that lit Jerusalem up," Levy said. "There was so much hope in that moment."

Contrary to common belief, Israel is a very safe and beautiful place, Chabad member Warren Cyr said. The group met many soldiers patrolling the land and were able to connect with them as well, Cyr said.

"The teenage Israeli soldiers remind me of sabras, the cactus fruit, that is prickly on the outside but sweet on the inside," Eisenbach said. "We all thought we were going to inspire and uplift their spirits, but the beauty is that we came back uplifted ourselves."

Jenna Ciaramella can be reached by e-mail at litchfield@registercitizen.com.


Monday, February 20, 2006

Melody Maker

The true story of a White Plains boy who found both God and reggae

Mike Rubin writing for nextbook.org

Essay by Mike Rubin

Walking through Brooklyn last summer, some tattered advertising on a scaffolding stopped me dead in my tracks. Peering out from the upper left corner of a red, yellow, and green poster for the annual Reggae Carifest, the giant showcase for the top stars in Jamaican music, was a photo of a bespectacled young man in a black fedora and suit, solemnly stroking his thick beard. I'd fallen somewhat out of the cultural loop in the previous months while taking care of my new baby and was dumbfounded: Who was this lone white face among dancehall titans Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Luciano, and Elephant Man?

Next to the ad hung a poster for a newish CD titled Live at Stubb's by Matisyahu, featuring a silhouette of the same young man clutching a mic. The poster led me to a website trumpeting the artist as "the Hasidic Reggae superstar." Whether that means he's a superstar who plays "Hasidic reggae" or a reggae superstar who happens to be Hasidic is moot. Right now, both statements are true: Live at Stubb's spent most of the last year near the top of the Billboard reggae charts, peaking at No. 1, and if Hasidic reggae is a movement then Matisyahu is a genre unto himself.

2005 was a banner year for Matisyahu, and he's braced for even greater success in 2006. He recorded two songs with born-again headbangers P.O.D. for their recent CD, and is set to release Youth, his first major-label album on Epic this March. In addition to Carifest, his recent gigs range from sold-out shows at Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom and Webster Hall to the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee, where he performed Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" alongside Phish veteran Trey Anastasio in front of 90,000 people. It's been a remarkable journey for a high school dropout, now 26, who followed that same jam band across the country a decade ago.

Hasidic reggae: The very phrase sounds like fodder for a Saturday Night Live skit, and a predictably unfunny one at that. By dressing in the anachronistic manner of Lubavitch forebears—call it "Old Shul"—and shunning the temptations of the secular world, an adherent of Orthodox Judaism would seem an extremely unlikely candidate to entertain the masses. It's certainly an attention-grabbing combination, a surprising marriage of secular and sacred, black and white, made richer by the memory of the 1991 race riots in Matisyahu's adopted neighborhood of Crown Heights.

TO READ MORE PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK...

Mike Rubin has written about music for The New York Times, Spin, GQ, and Rolling Stone