Chabad of Hunterdon County celebrated its sixth anniversary with a banquet at the Grand Colonial in Perryville.
More than 230 attended, including many business, civic and political leaders.
The event featured Joe Piscopo from Saturday Night Live as its emcee and entertainer as well as Yoel Sharabi, a world renowned Jewish singer and performer.
Honorees included Stanley and June Goldstein with a Lifetime Achievement Award, Miles and Zak Griffin with a Hebrew School Children of the Year, and Michael Camerino with a Community Leadership Award.
Rabbi Eli Kornfeld, executive director of Chabad of Hunterdon County, remarked, "The event was a tribute to the community and its willingness to support and partner with Chabad in ensuring its continued growth and success."
Proceeds from the dinner will fund Chabad of Hunterdon's growing number of programs.
Following the cocktail hour, everyone was treated to a special video presentation highlighting the achievements of Chabad during its first six years as well as its vision for the future.
The event featured many who shared their personal experiences with Chabad, including Richard Kaplan of Novartis and Sharon Gonnen of Thomson Reuters who spoke about the recent passing of her mother Renay Salamon A'H who was a chairwoman for the event and a prominent supporter of Chabad of Hunterdon.
The event concluded with the annual raffle drawings. Ilene Kaplan won a fur coat, William Fiore won a Breitling watch and Dave Ryback won the 50/50
Showing posts with label new jersey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new jersey. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Monday, February 02, 2009
My Elter Zeide and Lubavitch
By Jonathan Baker
ThanBook
As told by R’ Aaron Rakeffet, 4 Jan 2009.
Please follow title link for the full entry.
An example of transplanting the Alter Heim to the USA, rather than the translation of European Jewry for America which was the method of YU
The Rebbe was running away, the State Dept pulled him out of Poland, in 1940. Ads went out in the four Jewish dailies at the time, religious, secular, socialist, communist - “those of you that remember Lubavitch, the Rebbe is coming to America on this boat on this day, please greet him.” R’ Rakeffet’s cousin was there. A crowd came out about this. There’s video of this from Lubavitch. Maybe 5000 people came out, mostly not religious, they still knew what Lubavitch was, they had been raised Lubavitch, they remembered the cholent from Lubavitch.
The Rebbe came down, he couldn’t speak, he had had a stroke, his wife spoke for him in Yiddish, her translator was Rose Lieberman, Sharon Mintz’s (Mrs. R’ Adam) grandmother. As they wheeled the Rebbe in, someone strikes up a niggun from the Alter Heim. The Rebbe joins in. People started to cry, even distant from Yiddishkeit. And people swore they wouldn’t be mechallel shabbos then. The women would go to the beauty parlor on Saturday to do their hair for the movie palace Saturday night, the women became shomer shabbos when their kids went to yeshiva. Big thing, suddenly the husbands are going to be home on Saturday!
They brought him to the Greystone Hotel on the Upper West Side. Some of the older Chasidim came in to the Rebbe, told him “we have good news for you, in Lakewood there’s a nice community, warmer than NY, some wealthy Chasidim there, you can retire there, they’ll set you up nicely, and we’ll come farbreng with you once a month. At least you’re away from the Nazis, but New York is a waste of time.” I heard the Seventh Rebbe tell this story with my own ears (says R’ARR). This was shocking! Chasidim daring to tell the Rebbe to retire?
The next morning, they all come in to have breakfast with him, everyone is up & happy. The Rebbe tells them, “Chasidim don’t tell a rebbe what to do, the Rebbe tells the Chasidim what to do. “This is what I’m going to do. I’ll go to Lakewood, rest up for a month, and then we’re starting all over, and we’re going to prove that America can be exactly like the Alter Heim!” They thought he was nuts, but a Rebbe redt, speaks, you don’t say a word.
At the end of the month, he calls in the Chasidim, including Rose Lieberman, and her father R’ Cunin, the grandfather of the head shaliach in California today, and says to them, I want to open a shtibl in the finest neighborhood in New York City. So the Chasidim ask each other – how do we know what the finest neighborhood is? Where the biggest Conservative temple is! So that’s how Lubavitch came to Eastern Parkway, because the Brooklyn Jewish Center was right across the street, the biggest Conservative synagogue in the world.
********
Please follow title link for the full entry.
ThanBook
As told by R’ Aaron Rakeffet, 4 Jan 2009.
Please follow title link for the full entry.
An example of transplanting the Alter Heim to the USA, rather than the translation of European Jewry for America which was the method of YU
The Rebbe was running away, the State Dept pulled him out of Poland, in 1940. Ads went out in the four Jewish dailies at the time, religious, secular, socialist, communist - “those of you that remember Lubavitch, the Rebbe is coming to America on this boat on this day, please greet him.” R’ Rakeffet’s cousin was there. A crowd came out about this. There’s video of this from Lubavitch. Maybe 5000 people came out, mostly not religious, they still knew what Lubavitch was, they had been raised Lubavitch, they remembered the cholent from Lubavitch.
The Rebbe came down, he couldn’t speak, he had had a stroke, his wife spoke for him in Yiddish, her translator was Rose Lieberman, Sharon Mintz’s (Mrs. R’ Adam) grandmother. As they wheeled the Rebbe in, someone strikes up a niggun from the Alter Heim. The Rebbe joins in. People started to cry, even distant from Yiddishkeit. And people swore they wouldn’t be mechallel shabbos then. The women would go to the beauty parlor on Saturday to do their hair for the movie palace Saturday night, the women became shomer shabbos when their kids went to yeshiva. Big thing, suddenly the husbands are going to be home on Saturday!
They brought him to the Greystone Hotel on the Upper West Side. Some of the older Chasidim came in to the Rebbe, told him “we have good news for you, in Lakewood there’s a nice community, warmer than NY, some wealthy Chasidim there, you can retire there, they’ll set you up nicely, and we’ll come farbreng with you once a month. At least you’re away from the Nazis, but New York is a waste of time.” I heard the Seventh Rebbe tell this story with my own ears (says R’ARR). This was shocking! Chasidim daring to tell the Rebbe to retire?
The next morning, they all come in to have breakfast with him, everyone is up & happy. The Rebbe tells them, “Chasidim don’t tell a rebbe what to do, the Rebbe tells the Chasidim what to do. “This is what I’m going to do. I’ll go to Lakewood, rest up for a month, and then we’re starting all over, and we’re going to prove that America can be exactly like the Alter Heim!” They thought he was nuts, but a Rebbe redt, speaks, you don’t say a word.
At the end of the month, he calls in the Chasidim, including Rose Lieberman, and her father R’ Cunin, the grandfather of the head shaliach in California today, and says to them, I want to open a shtibl in the finest neighborhood in New York City. So the Chasidim ask each other – how do we know what the finest neighborhood is? Where the biggest Conservative temple is! So that’s how Lubavitch came to Eastern Parkway, because the Brooklyn Jewish Center was right across the street, the biggest Conservative synagogue in the world.
********
Please follow title link for the full entry.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
A Prayer Ritual Shared in Religion and Football
By COREY KILGANNON
The Martin Greenfield clothing factory on Varet Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is known for turning out sleek suits for presidents, mayors and star athletes.
But in addition to being a clothier for the power elite — customers over the years have had names like Eisenhower, Clinton and Bloomberg — the factory may well be aiding the success of the New York Giants, who face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in a National Football League playoff game. At least the factory owners think so.
Jay and Todd Greenfield, the brothers who run the company founded by their father, Martin, made a deal last season with a rabbi in the Chabad Lubavitch movement, and the Giants have been successful ever since.
The rabbi, Israel Shemtov, who runs a rabbinical clothing store on Kingston Street in Crown Heights, visited the factory regularly to buy items for his business. Rabbi Shemtov had been trying to get Jay Greenfield, 50, to become more spiritual.
Mr. Greenfield had been resistant because, while he is Jewish, he does not consider himself observant. He says his real spiritual pursuit is the Giants. He has rooted for the team since age 6, and his family has had season tickets to home games for decades. He attends the games with his son, David, 15 — whose bar mitzvah, of course, had a Giants theme — and a group of friends from his hometown, Roslyn, on Long Island. They do the ritual tailgating at the Meadowlands at every home game, and often travel to see the team’s away games, too.
In the fall of 2007, the Giants’ record was dismal and Mr. Greenfield was a desperate man. His team had gone 1-3 in the preseason. The Giants then lost their first two regular-season games and confidence sagged in their quarterback, Eli Manning.
It was around this time that the rabbi, who acknowledges not watching television, let alone Giants games, visited. With Yom Kippur approaching, Rabbi Shemtov was trying to encourage Mr. Greenfield to do the tefillin prayer — which includes strapping a pair of black leather boxes containing biblical verses around the head and on the arm, hand and fingers and reciting a prayer declaring loyalty to God and a request for blessing. The rabbi told Mr. Greenfield that the ritual would help make it a good new year.
“I told him, ‘You’re talking about a good new year, but if we lose against the Redskins this Sunday, my year is over,’ ” Mr. Greenfield said in his factory on Thursday, recalling the moment.
It was then that Mr. Greenfield, who follows strict game-day rituals including wearing the same jeans, undershirt and jersey, got an idea. None of his rituals seemed to be working, and here was this persistent rabbi telling him that simply saying the tefillin prayer might be just the thing needed to help Mr. Greenfield get what he wanted for his team.
“I was at a weak moment, so I considered it,” Mr. Greenfield said.
“I told the rabbi, ‘I’m not asking for them to win every week — I’m not greedy — I just want them to make the playoffs.’ He said, ‘What’s the playoffs?’ I said, ‘You don’t need to know that now.’ ”
Rabbi Shemtov said in an interview on Friday, “I told him, ‘We know prayer goes a long way, and I can see that this Giants thing means a lot, so let’s go for the prayer.’ ”
Mr. Greenfield did, and he saw immediate results. The Giants beat the Redskins the following Sunday. Soon, Mr. Greenfield began praying three times a week with the rabbi, who in turn began keeping the fan group in his thoughts while praying at the gravesite in Cambria Heights, Queens, of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch movement.
The Giants kept winning in 2007 and Mr. Greenfield kept praying. Soon, his brother, Todd, was also praying. So were many of their friends and relatives who attended the home games — and many games on the road. The tefillin prayers became rituals at the tailgating gatherings before games at the Meadowlands, and when some of the fans traveled to games on the road, the rabbi would contact Chabad rabbis in those cities to help Mr. Greenfield’s group with pregame prayers. One day, Rabbi Shemtov showed up with blue-and-orange yarmulkes bearing the Giants logo, and other ones bearing his name for the group, the New York Giants Tefillin Club.
The Giants went on to qualify for the playoffs and began their playoff run. Mr. Greenfield said he saw divine intervention during the playoffs in a dropped pass by a receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, which changed the tide of the game and allowed the Giants to go on to victory.
“When that happened, about 50 people jumped up and said, ‘Thank you, Rabbi,’ ” he said. “At that point, we really thought God was on our side.”
The Giants went on to win the Super Bowl, but even that did not get Mr. Greenfield to start attending synagogue or reading the Torah regularly — although he did agree to pray with the rabbi in the off-season.
The pregame tefillin prayers have gained momentum, and this season, Mr. Greenfield secured a parking pass for Rabbi Shemtov. Putting on tefillin in the Meadowlands parking lot drew stares and comments, but as the Giants continued to win, other fans — even some non-Jewish rooters — began doing it too.
“He thought he was converting me,” Mr. Greenfield said of the rabbi, “but I got a sector of his community interested in the Giants.
The rabbi said that he would probably never wind up watching a Giants game — although he plans on being in the parking lot Sunday morning at the Meadowlands — but “this means a lot to Jay, and each one should pray according to what he needs.”
“I may hear the score, but I still really couldn’t tell you if the Jets were playing the Mets — I don’t know the difference. But if it makes him happy, only good things will come out of it.”
The Martin Greenfield clothing factory on Varet Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is known for turning out sleek suits for presidents, mayors and star athletes.
But in addition to being a clothier for the power elite — customers over the years have had names like Eisenhower, Clinton and Bloomberg — the factory may well be aiding the success of the New York Giants, who face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in a National Football League playoff game. At least the factory owners think so.
Jay and Todd Greenfield, the brothers who run the company founded by their father, Martin, made a deal last season with a rabbi in the Chabad Lubavitch movement, and the Giants have been successful ever since.
The rabbi, Israel Shemtov, who runs a rabbinical clothing store on Kingston Street in Crown Heights, visited the factory regularly to buy items for his business. Rabbi Shemtov had been trying to get Jay Greenfield, 50, to become more spiritual.
Mr. Greenfield had been resistant because, while he is Jewish, he does not consider himself observant. He says his real spiritual pursuit is the Giants. He has rooted for the team since age 6, and his family has had season tickets to home games for decades. He attends the games with his son, David, 15 — whose bar mitzvah, of course, had a Giants theme — and a group of friends from his hometown, Roslyn, on Long Island. They do the ritual tailgating at the Meadowlands at every home game, and often travel to see the team’s away games, too.
In the fall of 2007, the Giants’ record was dismal and Mr. Greenfield was a desperate man. His team had gone 1-3 in the preseason. The Giants then lost their first two regular-season games and confidence sagged in their quarterback, Eli Manning.
It was around this time that the rabbi, who acknowledges not watching television, let alone Giants games, visited. With Yom Kippur approaching, Rabbi Shemtov was trying to encourage Mr. Greenfield to do the tefillin prayer — which includes strapping a pair of black leather boxes containing biblical verses around the head and on the arm, hand and fingers and reciting a prayer declaring loyalty to God and a request for blessing. The rabbi told Mr. Greenfield that the ritual would help make it a good new year.
“I told him, ‘You’re talking about a good new year, but if we lose against the Redskins this Sunday, my year is over,’ ” Mr. Greenfield said in his factory on Thursday, recalling the moment.
It was then that Mr. Greenfield, who follows strict game-day rituals including wearing the same jeans, undershirt and jersey, got an idea. None of his rituals seemed to be working, and here was this persistent rabbi telling him that simply saying the tefillin prayer might be just the thing needed to help Mr. Greenfield get what he wanted for his team.
“I was at a weak moment, so I considered it,” Mr. Greenfield said.
“I told the rabbi, ‘I’m not asking for them to win every week — I’m not greedy — I just want them to make the playoffs.’ He said, ‘What’s the playoffs?’ I said, ‘You don’t need to know that now.’ ”
Rabbi Shemtov said in an interview on Friday, “I told him, ‘We know prayer goes a long way, and I can see that this Giants thing means a lot, so let’s go for the prayer.’ ”
Mr. Greenfield did, and he saw immediate results. The Giants beat the Redskins the following Sunday. Soon, Mr. Greenfield began praying three times a week with the rabbi, who in turn began keeping the fan group in his thoughts while praying at the gravesite in Cambria Heights, Queens, of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch movement.
The Giants kept winning in 2007 and Mr. Greenfield kept praying. Soon, his brother, Todd, was also praying. So were many of their friends and relatives who attended the home games — and many games on the road. The tefillin prayers became rituals at the tailgating gatherings before games at the Meadowlands, and when some of the fans traveled to games on the road, the rabbi would contact Chabad rabbis in those cities to help Mr. Greenfield’s group with pregame prayers. One day, Rabbi Shemtov showed up with blue-and-orange yarmulkes bearing the Giants logo, and other ones bearing his name for the group, the New York Giants Tefillin Club.
The Giants went on to qualify for the playoffs and began their playoff run. Mr. Greenfield said he saw divine intervention during the playoffs in a dropped pass by a receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, which changed the tide of the game and allowed the Giants to go on to victory.
“When that happened, about 50 people jumped up and said, ‘Thank you, Rabbi,’ ” he said. “At that point, we really thought God was on our side.”
The Giants went on to win the Super Bowl, but even that did not get Mr. Greenfield to start attending synagogue or reading the Torah regularly — although he did agree to pray with the rabbi in the off-season.
The pregame tefillin prayers have gained momentum, and this season, Mr. Greenfield secured a parking pass for Rabbi Shemtov. Putting on tefillin in the Meadowlands parking lot drew stares and comments, but as the Giants continued to win, other fans — even some non-Jewish rooters — began doing it too.
“He thought he was converting me,” Mr. Greenfield said of the rabbi, “but I got a sector of his community interested in the Giants.
The rabbi said that he would probably never wind up watching a Giants game — although he plans on being in the parking lot Sunday morning at the Meadowlands — but “this means a lot to Jay, and each one should pray according to what he needs.”
“I may hear the score, but I still really couldn’t tell you if the Jets were playing the Mets — I don’t know the difference. But if it makes him happy, only good things will come out of it.”
Friday, October 24, 2008
Rosh Hashana Sermon
ROSH HASHANA AND Yom Kippur come around every year with predictable consistency and it is sometimes hard to motivate ourselves for another round of synagogue attendance, sermons, dinners etc. Perhaps if we recognized that each year possesses its “mystical karma” and carries its own unique message, we would be energized anew and open our hearts to the soul stirring inspiration of this year’s High Holy Day season.
This year is called the year of hachel — gathering. In the times of the Temple, on the Sukkot following the shmita — the sabbatical year, the Torah mandates that the entire Jewish people, men, women and children gather together at the Temple for a massive assembly at which the king would read passages from the Torah before the assembled and inspire them to rededicate themselves to God and the Torah.
The eternity of the Torah leaps over the bounds of time and place. Hence, even those mitzvot that are restricted to the Temple precincts, such as the mitzva of hachel, also have a spiritual content which may be applied at all times.
The mitzva of hachel represents the strength that we have when we gather together as one community and encourages us to humbly recognize the inherent Godliness in our fellow and to nurture our own spark of Godliness, creating a sense of unity and harmony within the community and ourselves as well.
Just as individual Jews can be brought together to form cohesive communities, every individual can organize his own personal hachel – by marshaling and harmonizing all the diverse faculties within his own spiritual personality. An individual’s leadership qualities, his receptivity, his ability to learn from others – all these inner thrusts can be mobilized and directed toward the goals of hachel. With best wishes for a happy, healthy & blessed new year.
Rabbi Levi Block
Union County Torah Center, Westfield
This year is called the year of hachel — gathering. In the times of the Temple, on the Sukkot following the shmita — the sabbatical year, the Torah mandates that the entire Jewish people, men, women and children gather together at the Temple for a massive assembly at which the king would read passages from the Torah before the assembled and inspire them to rededicate themselves to God and the Torah.
The eternity of the Torah leaps over the bounds of time and place. Hence, even those mitzvot that are restricted to the Temple precincts, such as the mitzva of hachel, also have a spiritual content which may be applied at all times.
The mitzva of hachel represents the strength that we have when we gather together as one community and encourages us to humbly recognize the inherent Godliness in our fellow and to nurture our own spark of Godliness, creating a sense of unity and harmony within the community and ourselves as well.
Just as individual Jews can be brought together to form cohesive communities, every individual can organize his own personal hachel – by marshaling and harmonizing all the diverse faculties within his own spiritual personality. An individual’s leadership qualities, his receptivity, his ability to learn from others – all these inner thrusts can be mobilized and directed toward the goals of hachel. With best wishes for a happy, healthy & blessed new year.
Rabbi Levi Block
Union County Torah Center, Westfield
From the Pulpit — Messages for the New Year
ROSH HASHANA is the Jewish New Year, when we celebrate the creation of mankind. We are the “chosen of all creations” and it is, therefore, incumbent upon us to lead by example in bettering the world we live in.
Rosh Hashana 5769 begins a year of hachel, which means “gathering and unity.” At the time when our Holy Temple was still standing, all Jews – men, women and children (even infants) — would gather in Jerusalem every seven years and the king would read selections from the Torah to them. These words of Torah helped to strengthen their faith in God and their dedication to His commandments.
Although we have no Holy Temple, the Lubavitcher Rebbe encouraged us to organize hachel gatherings to strengthen and deepen our relationship with God and the Torah. As our connection with God grows, so does our connection with each other. Any differences between us begin to seem trivial and insignificant. Regardless of each person’s strength or weakness, we are all united as one, with a greater awareness of God and his presence in our daily lives.
We can accomplish this on many different levels – in our homes, in our workplaces, in our communities. We can sit down with our families on Shabbat to share a d’var Torah or sing a Shabbat song together. We can periodically get together with our coworkers to do a good deed.
The harmony that will grow from our active participation during this year will hasten the arrival of Moshiach and, thus, bring the ultimate fulfillment of hachel with complete and joyous unity.
May God grant us all a joyful, prosperous, and sweet New Year.
Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky
Congregation Shomrei Torah Ohel Yosef Yitzchok and Bris Avrohom, Hillside
Rosh Hashana 5769 begins a year of hachel, which means “gathering and unity.” At the time when our Holy Temple was still standing, all Jews – men, women and children (even infants) — would gather in Jerusalem every seven years and the king would read selections from the Torah to them. These words of Torah helped to strengthen their faith in God and their dedication to His commandments.
Although we have no Holy Temple, the Lubavitcher Rebbe encouraged us to organize hachel gatherings to strengthen and deepen our relationship with God and the Torah. As our connection with God grows, so does our connection with each other. Any differences between us begin to seem trivial and insignificant. Regardless of each person’s strength or weakness, we are all united as one, with a greater awareness of God and his presence in our daily lives.
We can accomplish this on many different levels – in our homes, in our workplaces, in our communities. We can sit down with our families on Shabbat to share a d’var Torah or sing a Shabbat song together. We can periodically get together with our coworkers to do a good deed.
The harmony that will grow from our active participation during this year will hasten the arrival of Moshiach and, thus, bring the ultimate fulfillment of hachel with complete and joyous unity.
May God grant us all a joyful, prosperous, and sweet New Year.
Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky
Congregation Shomrei Torah Ohel Yosef Yitzchok and Bris Avrohom, Hillside
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Torah on Mount Sinai is celebrated at the Chabad Center
Published: Thursday, July 3, 2008 8:42 AM EDT
ROCKAWAY TWP. - An all-night study session took place at the Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey starting at 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, to commemorate 3320 years since the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. The all-night study session included a host of topics, ranging from history to philosophy to Kabbalistic and Talmudic thought. The program is open to the entire community and refreshments will be served throughout the night.
The Biblical holiday commemorating the Torah’s giving is called Shavuot. It started at sundown of June 8 and continues through nightfall of June 10. It is customary for Jewish people to remain awake in study during the first night of Shavuot. The Chabad Center is located at One Torah Way in Rockaway Township.
On Monday morning, June 9, a synagogue service, was highlighted by the reading of the Ten Commandments from a kosher Torah Scroll The synagogue service was followed by an elaborate dairy luncheon and an ice cream party geared especially for children.
“The all night study session is always a highlight of the year. Each person decides their own level of participation. Some will stay only for a short while and some will stay until 4 am, but the cohesiveness and inspirational atmosphere affects everyone who attended,” said Rabbi Asher Herson, Chabad’s Regional Director.
“The reason for the dairy meal goes back to the circumstances that existed when the Torah was first given. One of the Torah’s Commandments is the laws of kosher. Kosher preparation of meat, and meat utensils, is more involved than preparing kosher dairy. For the first duration of time after receiving the Torah, until they had time to prepare kosher meat, the Jewish people ate only dairy in observance of the Torah’s kosher laws,” said Herson.
“A beautiful aspect of the Shavuot holiday is the emphasis placed on children”, continued Rabbi Herson. “When the Al-mighty asked what guarantee the Jewish people would offer to assure the perpetuity of the Torah’s study and observance they responded ‘our children will be our guarantors’. It is therefore a time honored custom to bring even infants to share in the special reading of the Ten Commandments.”
The ice cream party that follows wa held in their honor.
This emphasis also reminds us as to the importance of educating our children with extensive Torah knowledge and values which will carry on for many generations to come”.
For further information or to learn more about Chabad, call 973-625-1525 x227 or visit OneTorahWay.org.
Copyright © 2008 - Recorder Community Newspapers
ROCKAWAY TWP. - An all-night study session took place at the Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey starting at 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, to commemorate 3320 years since the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. The all-night study session included a host of topics, ranging from history to philosophy to Kabbalistic and Talmudic thought. The program is open to the entire community and refreshments will be served throughout the night.
The Biblical holiday commemorating the Torah’s giving is called Shavuot. It started at sundown of June 8 and continues through nightfall of June 10. It is customary for Jewish people to remain awake in study during the first night of Shavuot. The Chabad Center is located at One Torah Way in Rockaway Township.
On Monday morning, June 9, a synagogue service, was highlighted by the reading of the Ten Commandments from a kosher Torah Scroll The synagogue service was followed by an elaborate dairy luncheon and an ice cream party geared especially for children.
“The all night study session is always a highlight of the year. Each person decides their own level of participation. Some will stay only for a short while and some will stay until 4 am, but the cohesiveness and inspirational atmosphere affects everyone who attended,” said Rabbi Asher Herson, Chabad’s Regional Director.
“The reason for the dairy meal goes back to the circumstances that existed when the Torah was first given. One of the Torah’s Commandments is the laws of kosher. Kosher preparation of meat, and meat utensils, is more involved than preparing kosher dairy. For the first duration of time after receiving the Torah, until they had time to prepare kosher meat, the Jewish people ate only dairy in observance of the Torah’s kosher laws,” said Herson.
“A beautiful aspect of the Shavuot holiday is the emphasis placed on children”, continued Rabbi Herson. “When the Al-mighty asked what guarantee the Jewish people would offer to assure the perpetuity of the Torah’s study and observance they responded ‘our children will be our guarantors’. It is therefore a time honored custom to bring even infants to share in the special reading of the Ten Commandments.”
The ice cream party that follows wa held in their honor.
This emphasis also reminds us as to the importance of educating our children with extensive Torah knowledge and values which will carry on for many generations to come”.
For further information or to learn more about Chabad, call 973-625-1525 x227 or visit OneTorahWay.org.
Copyright © 2008 - Recorder Community Newspapers
Friday, May 23, 2008
A new home, a new life
Rabbi Mordechai Weiss, who made aliyah from Teaneck, is now a tour guide as well as a religious guide.
Ronda Israel, a New Jersey school administrator turned Israeli chocolate-maker, encourages anyone contemplating aliyah to think outside the box.
"If your heart is here, you will say, I can live here and be a productive Israeli. I can take the skills God gave me over a lifetime and do something with them that doesn't have to be the same thing I did before," Israel says.
While many new Israelis choose to commute or telecommute to their diaspora jobs, others make major career changes in order to earn a living in the Middle East.
Ronda Israel, a New Jersey school administrator turned Israeli chocolate-maker, encourages anyone contemplating aliyah to think outside the box.
"If your heart is here, you will say, I can live here and be a productive Israeli. I can take the skills God gave me over a lifetime and do something with them that doesn't have to be the same thing I did before," Israel says.
While many new Israelis choose to commute or telecommute to their diaspora jobs, others make major career changes in order to earn a living in the Middle East.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Birthright opens circle to include special needs
by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer
March 27, 2008
Avi Saunders 18, of Livingston and Eric Kaye, 20, of Parsippany just returned from their once-in-a-lifetime Taglit-Birthright Israel trip.
Just thinking about being at the Western Wall made Avi clap his hands and sigh in contentment. Eric recalled how happy he was when they landed in Israel and emerged into the warm weather.
Those were highlights of a trip their parents never thought their children would be able to take. Avi and Eric both have autism.
Hosting youngsters with special needs was a first-time experience for Mayanot, a trip provider for Taglit-Birthright Israel, a program that provides free or heavily subsidized Israel tours for young travelers to Israel.
“There’s no reason people should miss Birthright Israel just because they have a disability. Every young Jew should be able to go,” said Avi Weinstein, director of Mayanot’s Birthright programming.
“I first thought, ‘no way,’” said Avi’s mother, Lori, when she found out about the trip last August. “I’m not letting him go 6,000 miles away without me. I couldn’t do it; he couldn’t do it.”
But as she heard more about the trip, she said, she warmed to the idea. “What better place for him to spread his wings and become a little more independent?” she said.
Linda Kaye was excited about the trip from the beginning.
“On the day he left, I burst into tears of joy that he could have this opportunity,” she said.
The trip was far more complicated to arrange than regular trips, Weinstein acknowledged. It included a thorough interview process, conducted with the help of two doctors who would also accompany the group. The staff-to-participant ratio was kept low, and the trip was conducted at a slower-than-usual pace.
“Birthright is famous for fast-paced, lack of sleep, zipping through Israel. We slowed it down for this trip, but they’ll still get to see many of the same attractions,” he said, interviewed by phone from his office in New York before the end of the trip.
“We’ve always had people asking if we do trips for people with special needs,” said Weinstein. “But this year we had way more than the normal amount of people asking.”
Avi, the oldest of three siblings, attends the Children’s Institute in Verona, where he takes senior-level classes. With his family, he is a member of the Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center in Livingston. Eric attends ECLC, a special education school in Chatham for students ages six through 21. In addition to his classes, he receives vocational training there. He is the third of four siblings and with his family is a member of Temple Beth Am in Parsippany.
Avi and Eric, like about half of the trip’s 25 participants, participate in the Friendship Circle, a program for special-needs youngsters run by the Chabad-Lubavitch hasidic movement in communities throughout the country.
Friendship Circle made a concerted effort this year to work with Birthright Israel to organize such a trip, according to Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum, executive director of the Friendship Circle of MetroWest NJ.
On this first go, Mayanot limited the trip to individuals with no physical disabilities and chose applicants who were very high-functioning.
“Most were independent in terms of eating and getting dressed,” Weinstein said.
They plan to continue the trips. “It’s been a beautiful, beautiful trip. There’s definitely a big motivation for us to do it again,” he said.
Avi and Eric, longtime friends, departed from JFK on March 12 and returned March 24 in the early morning hours.
Avi Saunders, far right, with friends on day five of their trip to Israel.
Later that same day, they gathered around the Saunders’ kitchen table, munching leftover hamantaschen, chocolates, and popcorn and reliving the high points of their visit to Israel.
Exhausted and jet-lagged from their overnight flight, the two friends were nonetheless exuberant about all they had seen. They talked about milking goats in Caesarea, taking cable cars to the top of Masada, swimming in the Dead Sea, seeing candles being made in Tzfat, and taking a boat cruise on the Kineret. They watched goat cheese being made, celebrated Purim, rode on camels, and slept in a Bedouin tent in the desert.
“We had to walk a long way to get to the bathroom!” said Avi.
“I liked looking at the buildings in Tel Aviv,” said Eric, who was also surprised at the farmland he saw in Caesarea. “I was expecting it to be more city-like,” he said.
Asked how he felt when the time came to board the plane and head back to the states, Eric said, “I was sad and happy at the same time.”
Upon seeing Avi return from Israel “so happy,” Lori said, “It just elevated me.”
NJJN Staff Writer
March 27, 2008
Avi Saunders 18, of Livingston and Eric Kaye, 20, of Parsippany just returned from their once-in-a-lifetime Taglit-Birthright Israel trip.
Just thinking about being at the Western Wall made Avi clap his hands and sigh in contentment. Eric recalled how happy he was when they landed in Israel and emerged into the warm weather.
Those were highlights of a trip their parents never thought their children would be able to take. Avi and Eric both have autism.
Hosting youngsters with special needs was a first-time experience for Mayanot, a trip provider for Taglit-Birthright Israel, a program that provides free or heavily subsidized Israel tours for young travelers to Israel.
“There’s no reason people should miss Birthright Israel just because they have a disability. Every young Jew should be able to go,” said Avi Weinstein, director of Mayanot’s Birthright programming.
“I first thought, ‘no way,’” said Avi’s mother, Lori, when she found out about the trip last August. “I’m not letting him go 6,000 miles away without me. I couldn’t do it; he couldn’t do it.”
But as she heard more about the trip, she said, she warmed to the idea. “What better place for him to spread his wings and become a little more independent?” she said.
Linda Kaye was excited about the trip from the beginning.
“On the day he left, I burst into tears of joy that he could have this opportunity,” she said.
The trip was far more complicated to arrange than regular trips, Weinstein acknowledged. It included a thorough interview process, conducted with the help of two doctors who would also accompany the group. The staff-to-participant ratio was kept low, and the trip was conducted at a slower-than-usual pace.
“Birthright is famous for fast-paced, lack of sleep, zipping through Israel. We slowed it down for this trip, but they’ll still get to see many of the same attractions,” he said, interviewed by phone from his office in New York before the end of the trip.
“We’ve always had people asking if we do trips for people with special needs,” said Weinstein. “But this year we had way more than the normal amount of people asking.”
Avi, the oldest of three siblings, attends the Children’s Institute in Verona, where he takes senior-level classes. With his family, he is a member of the Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center in Livingston. Eric attends ECLC, a special education school in Chatham for students ages six through 21. In addition to his classes, he receives vocational training there. He is the third of four siblings and with his family is a member of Temple Beth Am in Parsippany.
Avi and Eric, like about half of the trip’s 25 participants, participate in the Friendship Circle, a program for special-needs youngsters run by the Chabad-Lubavitch hasidic movement in communities throughout the country.
Friendship Circle made a concerted effort this year to work with Birthright Israel to organize such a trip, according to Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum, executive director of the Friendship Circle of MetroWest NJ.
On this first go, Mayanot limited the trip to individuals with no physical disabilities and chose applicants who were very high-functioning.
“Most were independent in terms of eating and getting dressed,” Weinstein said.
They plan to continue the trips. “It’s been a beautiful, beautiful trip. There’s definitely a big motivation for us to do it again,” he said.
Avi and Eric, longtime friends, departed from JFK on March 12 and returned March 24 in the early morning hours.
Avi Saunders, far right, with friends on day five of their trip to Israel.
Later that same day, they gathered around the Saunders’ kitchen table, munching leftover hamantaschen, chocolates, and popcorn and reliving the high points of their visit to Israel.
Exhausted and jet-lagged from their overnight flight, the two friends were nonetheless exuberant about all they had seen. They talked about milking goats in Caesarea, taking cable cars to the top of Masada, swimming in the Dead Sea, seeing candles being made in Tzfat, and taking a boat cruise on the Kineret. They watched goat cheese being made, celebrated Purim, rode on camels, and slept in a Bedouin tent in the desert.
“We had to walk a long way to get to the bathroom!” said Avi.
“I liked looking at the buildings in Tel Aviv,” said Eric, who was also surprised at the farmland he saw in Caesarea. “I was expecting it to be more city-like,” he said.
Asked how he felt when the time came to board the plane and head back to the states, Eric said, “I was sad and happy at the same time.”
Upon seeing Avi return from Israel “so happy,” Lori said, “It just elevated me.”
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Chabad rabbi sues town for filming home
A New Jersey rabbi filed a civil rights suit against a municipality alleging that it filmed prayers at his home to prove he was running a "house of worship." Rabbi Avraham Bernstein, a Chabad rabbi who hosts Sabbath prayers in his Freehold home, was given a summons by the township for operating a "house of worship" without zoning permission, according to a story appearing Wednesday on lubavitch.com, the Chabad Web site.
Bernstein sued, saying the council was overreaching. Subsequently, the rabbi alleged, the council set up a camera to monitor comings and goings to his home. That prompted a federal civil rights lawsuit with the assistance of the Rutherford Institute, a group that advocates for religious freedoms.
Bernstein sued, saying the council was overreaching. Subsequently, the rabbi alleged, the council set up a camera to monitor comings and goings to his home. That prompted a federal civil rights lawsuit with the assistance of the Rutherford Institute, a group that advocates for religious freedoms.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Praise for Jersey generosity
And a few words of praise for the teenagers of the Chabad of East Brunswick Friendship Club, who every Friday spend a few hours interacting with residents of The Chelsea of East Brunswick, an assisted-living facility on Cranbury Road.
Under the leadership of Rabbi Aryeh Goodman and his wife, Ora, the youngsters who range in age from 12 to 16 bring gifts, play games, put on performances, and perform mitzvahs like painting fingernails as they help the residents — who are of mixed backgrounds and faiths — enjoy their present lives and build memories.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Chabad to open school’s doors in Old Tappan
One year after setting up the first Chabad house in Old Tappan, Rabbi Mendy Lewis is set to create the town’s first Hebrew school this fall.
Registration is now open for the school, which Lewis will run with his wife Devora and which will meet on Sundays. Although it is scheduled to begin next month with less than half a dozen children, Lewis is confident it will succeed. And in an area without another shul, where children have had to go to Closter, Teaneck, or even New York’s Rockland County, for a Jewish education, Lewis believes the community is ready.
Old Tappan has close to 300 Jewish families and, with the surrounding communities, Chabad counts between 500 and 600 families in the area, Lewis said. A Hebrew school in Old Tappan signifies a significant shift among the borough’s residents.
"For a first year in a small community, that’s a tremendous sign of interest and growth."
Chabad will typically open a Hebrew school a few years after it enters a community. But Lewis said interest from parents led him and his wife to start the program now.
"I’m not sure we would have started something right away without the parents initiating it," he said. "It’s really coming from the community."
Tina DeNike was one of the parents who urged Lewis to start a school. She and her family live in Old Tappan but belong to an out of the area Reform shul where her 13-year-old son, Jake, was bar mitzvahed. Her 10-year-old son, Zachary, will attend the Chabad school.
"They felt like they could approach the rabbi so easily, there was no question that couldn’t be asked," she said of the relationship between the rabbi and her children. "Most important was the fact my children enjoyed being around him."
The school’s students are a mix of Reform, Conservative, and unaffiliated. Chabad accepts students from every stream of Judaism, the rabbi said.
"We don’t push anything on anyone, we just teach and provide opportunities to learn, to grow, and to enjoy Judaism," he said.
The school will focus on reading, writing, an appreciation of being Jewish, an appreciation of Israel, and basic conversational Hebrew, said Devora Lewis.
"Because there is nothing here, you have children who have not had any formal Jewish education yet," she said. "People appreciate something local. We’re hoping to tie the community together."
Devora Lewis has spent 10 years teaching Hebrew school in Australia, Manhattan, and, most recently, Long Island, where she and her husband were teachers for five years before coming to Old Tappan. The Chabad Hebrew School in Port Washington, N.Y., started off with 40 students and had grown to more than 100 by the time the Lewises left. "That’s the way it works," the rabbi said. "It starts off with 10, 15 children and it grows. There has been a tremendous response to the program."
"With experience the school will definitely grow," Devora Lewis said. "People are also looking for something different. This is going to be a wholly different experience."
The school will use color-coded levels to pass students from beginning, white, to the top level, black, much like the belt system used in karate. The system has become popular in Chabad schools across the world, she said. Although the oldest student registered is in fifth grade, the school will eventually offer kindergarten through sixth grade. Devora Lewis has found that seventh-graders are often too busy with bar/bat mitzvah preparation to participate in other activities but the rabbi will offer bar/bat mitzvah training and, eventually, post b’nai mitzvah classes, as well, the rabbi said.
"We’d like to get this going first," he said. "I do see something like that happening in the near future."
For more information, call (201) 421-1551.
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