On the first weekend of November, the International Student Shabbaton was held in New York City, where Texas A&M students, together with the directors of the Chabad Jewish Student Center, Rabbi Yossi and Manya Lazaroff, joined over 750 other students from around the world for a weekend of inspiration and student leadership.
The weekend began with a student leadership conference where selected students from different universities gathered in Manhattan for two days of intensive student leadership training. “We met many business philanthropists and marketing executives who really inspired us with the work they do and shared many ideas on how we can be good leaders on our campus,” explained Ryan Coane, the sophomore treasurer of the Chabad Jewish Student Group at Texas A&M and the director of finance of Student Government–Diversity at Texas A&M. “In addition, we got to meet other student leaders from other Chabads on Campus to share and exchange ideas.” The president of the Chabad Jewish Student Group, Naomi Heller, a sophomore majoring in animal science at Texas A&M, also attended the leadership conference. She said, “It is amazing to see so many Jewish guys and girls who want to help increase Jewish life on their campus!”
The Chabad Jewish Student Center at Texas A&M opened in July 2007. Since that beginning in the home of the Lazaroffs, Chabad at Texas A&M now owns, and operates out of, a 4,000-square-foot facility with plans to expand!
For Shabbat, the students converged into the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn at the world headquarters of Chabad Lubavitch and the Chabad on Campus International Foundation for a Shabbat Experience. With inspirational speakers and lively atmosphere throughout the weekend, the Shabbat experience was enhanced with the multitude of students joining in. “There was so much energy, I hope to carry some of that back with me to Texas A&M!” exclaimed Chad Davis, a senior Corps of Cadets member at Texas A&M.
Saturday night, students were treated with a live concert from YOOD, a band from Israel that is currently touring the U.S.A. A surprise guest, critically-lauded rock troubadour and Emmy-nominated film and television composer, Peter Himmelman, joined the evening.
“I loved the weekend with all the singing, dancing and touring New York City and, best of all, meeting so many Jews from all over the world. We are all family at Chabad!” Davis exclaimed.
The Chabad Jewish Center at Texas A&M is independently funded by friends and families. For more information or to make a donation, contact Rabbi Yossi and Manya Lazaroff at 979-220-5020 or on the Web at www.jewishaggies.com.
Showing posts with label shabbat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shabbat. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Alaska - Part XIV
Saturday - Shabbat
Vay'hi erev vay'hi boker - Yom hashishi. Vay'chulu hashamayim v'haaretz....
Okay, maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but we did at least see a good part of the land and sky that was totally new to us.
On the Sabbath we ceased from our "labors" of driving around, kayaking, hiking and cooking, and instead visitied somewhere somewhat familiar and somewhat foreign - Chabad Anchorage.
(Please follow link for the full entry)
Vay'hi erev vay'hi boker - Yom hashishi. Vay'chulu hashamayim v'haaretz....
Okay, maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but we did at least see a good part of the land and sky that was totally new to us.
On the Sabbath we ceased from our "labors" of driving around, kayaking, hiking and cooking, and instead visitied somewhere somewhat familiar and somewhat foreign - Chabad Anchorage.
(Please follow link for the full entry)
Friday, February 09, 2007
Jewish Superbowler speaks on NFL
HANDLING PIGSKIN WAS NO PROBLEM FOR ALAN VEINGRAD
BY ROBERT A. COHN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EMERITUS
What does it take for a "nice Jewish boy" to have a successful career in the rough-and-tumble of the National Football League? For Alan Veingrad, former NFL offensive lineman and Super Bowl champ, it helps being six-foot-five, 240 pounds, having a very "thick skin" and a sense of humor. All of those qualities were on full display last Saturday evening after Shabbas, when Veingrad, who now sports a full beard in addition to his Super Bowl ring from the 1992 Dallas Cowboys championship, and who also answers to the name Shlomo, spoke to 126 enthusiastic fans at the Sheraton Clayton Plaza, at an event sponsored by Chabad of St. Louis.
The self-described "skinny Jewish kid from Brooklyn" who remembers "often skipping Hebrew school which I really hated," regaled his appreciative audience with the story of his remarkable football career, which evolved from attaining athletic prowess in high school, and accepting a football scholarship at East Texas University, where he recalls "being the only Jew at the school and within a 75-mile radius," to a successful NFL career with the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, where he helped his teammates win the Super Bowl in 1992. He also described his journey from Jewish pro football player to fully observant supporter and follower of the Chabad Hasidic movement.
"When I was first talked into coming to a discussion of the Torah Portion of the week, I had no idea what a "parsha" or portion was, and was surprised at the second discussion that there was a different Torah portion each week. Now I really look forward to studying the Torah seriously, and at home, my daughters and I have come to look forward to our new weekends of observing and celebrating Shabbat together. I had been nervous about telling them we would have to give up our weekend camping trips, but the next morning they were all dresssed up and ready for shul," Veingrad said.
Veingrad's wide-ranging talk and the discussion that followed, alternated and blended his colorful football anecdotes with his spiritual journey. Drawing a comparison to the hard training of "bench-pressing 400 pounds, getting eight hours of sleep and maintaining a healthy diet" to his "spiritual journey," Veingrad said, "The key word to both is preparation. There is no way you can be a serious foootball player, especially at the NFL level without serious preparation, and there is no way you can be a serious Jew without preparation. After while, what seems hard and challenging at first becomes a joyful experience," he said.
"I had to take some giant steps to make it in college and pro football," Veinegrad said. "We all have to take a giant step spiritually as well as physically. I had heard all of the great motivational speakers, including Zig Zigler, but nothing can compare to the power of the Chabad rabbis I have met who have helped me become a baal teshuvah, a Jew who has returned to his spiritual roots."
Veingrad said that during his college football career at East Texas University under Coach Ernest Hawkins, "I really did not experience any anti-Semitism at all. I guess it helped being the biggest guy on the team at 6-foot-5 and then 200 pounds, but my Christian teammates were very positive about Judaism and the Jewish people."
Only once in the NFL, while training for the Green Bay Packers, did a teammate say, "Okay, Jewboy, show me what you've got," Veingrad recalls. "Well, I used full force in blocking him as hard as I could, and I guess that showed him what I've got. I asked how he figured out I was Jewish since my name is not for sure a Jewish name. He said it was the name on my helmet and he really didn't mean anything by it, and I chose to let it go."
Veingrad said that Jewish newspapers have kept track of the few Jewish football players in the NFL. Reminded that comedian Jerry Lewis once said that the "Jewish Pro Football Hall of Fame could be listed on the edge of a Super Bowl score card," Veingrad laughed and said, "It was the Jewish Press in Brooklyn, where I was born, which first interviewed me about being Jewish. In my seven years as an NFL player, I counted five other Jewish NFL players in all. They were all great guys, including Bret Novostelsky on our team, Harris Barton of the 49ers and Ariel Solomon of the Steelers. After the games, we would usually seek each other out and shake hands as fellow Jews who were proud to have made it in the violent sport of pro football." Asked jokingly if it was a problem for an observant Jewish player to "handle a pigskin," Veingrad smiled broadly and said, "As an offesive linebacker, I did not have to come in contact with the ball that often, but I would not hesitate to pounce on it as needed. Now I'm proud to go into the record books as the first Sabbath-observant, Shomer Shabbas NFL player to wear a Super Bowl ring, who looks forward to coming to shul early in order to be as prepared for Judaism as I tried to be for pro football."
BY ROBERT A. COHN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EMERITUS
What does it take for a "nice Jewish boy" to have a successful career in the rough-and-tumble of the National Football League? For Alan Veingrad, former NFL offensive lineman and Super Bowl champ, it helps being six-foot-five, 240 pounds, having a very "thick skin" and a sense of humor. All of those qualities were on full display last Saturday evening after Shabbas, when Veingrad, who now sports a full beard in addition to his Super Bowl ring from the 1992 Dallas Cowboys championship, and who also answers to the name Shlomo, spoke to 126 enthusiastic fans at the Sheraton Clayton Plaza, at an event sponsored by Chabad of St. Louis.
The self-described "skinny Jewish kid from Brooklyn" who remembers "often skipping Hebrew school which I really hated," regaled his appreciative audience with the story of his remarkable football career, which evolved from attaining athletic prowess in high school, and accepting a football scholarship at East Texas University, where he recalls "being the only Jew at the school and within a 75-mile radius," to a successful NFL career with the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, where he helped his teammates win the Super Bowl in 1992. He also described his journey from Jewish pro football player to fully observant supporter and follower of the Chabad Hasidic movement.
"When I was first talked into coming to a discussion of the Torah Portion of the week, I had no idea what a "parsha" or portion was, and was surprised at the second discussion that there was a different Torah portion each week. Now I really look forward to studying the Torah seriously, and at home, my daughters and I have come to look forward to our new weekends of observing and celebrating Shabbat together. I had been nervous about telling them we would have to give up our weekend camping trips, but the next morning they were all dresssed up and ready for shul," Veingrad said.
Veingrad's wide-ranging talk and the discussion that followed, alternated and blended his colorful football anecdotes with his spiritual journey. Drawing a comparison to the hard training of "bench-pressing 400 pounds, getting eight hours of sleep and maintaining a healthy diet" to his "spiritual journey," Veingrad said, "The key word to both is preparation. There is no way you can be a serious foootball player, especially at the NFL level without serious preparation, and there is no way you can be a serious Jew without preparation. After while, what seems hard and challenging at first becomes a joyful experience," he said.
"I had to take some giant steps to make it in college and pro football," Veinegrad said. "We all have to take a giant step spiritually as well as physically. I had heard all of the great motivational speakers, including Zig Zigler, but nothing can compare to the power of the Chabad rabbis I have met who have helped me become a baal teshuvah, a Jew who has returned to his spiritual roots."
Veingrad said that during his college football career at East Texas University under Coach Ernest Hawkins, "I really did not experience any anti-Semitism at all. I guess it helped being the biggest guy on the team at 6-foot-5 and then 200 pounds, but my Christian teammates were very positive about Judaism and the Jewish people."
Only once in the NFL, while training for the Green Bay Packers, did a teammate say, "Okay, Jewboy, show me what you've got," Veingrad recalls. "Well, I used full force in blocking him as hard as I could, and I guess that showed him what I've got. I asked how he figured out I was Jewish since my name is not for sure a Jewish name. He said it was the name on my helmet and he really didn't mean anything by it, and I chose to let it go."
Veingrad said that Jewish newspapers have kept track of the few Jewish football players in the NFL. Reminded that comedian Jerry Lewis once said that the "Jewish Pro Football Hall of Fame could be listed on the edge of a Super Bowl score card," Veingrad laughed and said, "It was the Jewish Press in Brooklyn, where I was born, which first interviewed me about being Jewish. In my seven years as an NFL player, I counted five other Jewish NFL players in all. They were all great guys, including Bret Novostelsky on our team, Harris Barton of the 49ers and Ariel Solomon of the Steelers. After the games, we would usually seek each other out and shake hands as fellow Jews who were proud to have made it in the violent sport of pro football." Asked jokingly if it was a problem for an observant Jewish player to "handle a pigskin," Veingrad smiled broadly and said, "As an offesive linebacker, I did not have to come in contact with the ball that often, but I would not hesitate to pounce on it as needed. Now I'm proud to go into the record books as the first Sabbath-observant, Shomer Shabbas NFL player to wear a Super Bowl ring, who looks forward to coming to shul early in order to be as prepared for Judaism as I tried to be for pro football."
'Jewish Jordan' speaks on balancing basketball with Orthodox faith
By Nathan Edgerton
Princetonian Staff Writer
A six-foot, three-inch point guard took Dillon Gym by storm Wednesday night, effortlessly sinking 19 of 20 shots from just inside the three-point arc. As he spun, dribbled and launched the ball high into the air, the lanky player would have caught the eye of many college coaches.
But he wasn't a high school prospect aiming for a spot in the Princeton men's basketball program. He was Tamir Goodman, a player for an Israeli semiprofessional basketball team, and he was shooting some hoops with rabbi Eitan Webb, director of Princeton Chabad, and two reporters.
Earlier in the evening, over garlic bread and soup at Webb's Nassau Street apartment, Goodman discussed balancing his talent and passion for basketball with his determination to observe the rules of Orthodox Judaism.
Now 25, Goodman first garnered national attention as a junior in high school, averaging 35.4 points per game for the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore. He earned recognition in Sports Illustrated and was interviewed by ESPN, 60 Minutes and Fox Sports. In 11th grade, he was ranked the 25th-best high school player in the country. He was dubbed the "Jewish Jordan," a title he said he has been trying to downplay ever since.
Goodman received a scholarship to the University of Maryland, which has one of the top-ranked basketball teams in the country. The news of his plans to go to Maryland attracted over 700 media requests that week, he said.
But the team's schedule of practices and games would have meant playing on Friday nights and Saturdays, against the rules of Orthodox Judaism.
"They said I'd have to play on Shabbat," he said. "I refused."
Goodman's talent was evident at a young age. As an eighth-grader, he held the starting point-guard position on the varsity high school team of Yeshiva High of Greater Washington. Many rabbis and members of his local Jewish community frowned upon his dedication to basketball, encouraging him to spend more time on religious study.
He enrolled in high school at the Yeshiva of Pittsburgh, which lacked a basketball team. His religious training there convinced him that it was proper to continue playing basketball.
"I learned that I needed to use my talent for Hashem," Goodman said, using the Hebrew term for God.
He enrolled at the Talmudical Academy for his sophomore and junior years, but the school became unhappy with him for allegedly drawing heightened attention to sports and distracting other students from focusing on the Torah. He transferred to Takoma Academy, a Seventh-Day Adventist school that allowed him to study with a rabbi while the other students studied Christian materials.
Following a senior season in which he averaged 25 points per game, he practiced with the Maryland basketball team for the summer.
When he decided not to play for Maryland, Towson University offered him a spot on its men's basketball team.
In December 2001, during his sophomore year at Towson, an incident with his coach led to the end of his season. Irate after a game, Goodman said, his coach "held up a chair like he was going to hit me, then kicked another chair into my leg." Goodman alleges that the coach was anti-Semitic.
Goodman refused to play unless the coach was fired, but Towson did not reprimand the coach.
Two weeks later, he got an offer to train with the Israeli basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv. After passing the team's skills tests, he signed a three-year contract.
Goodman said he's happy to be playing in Israel but that the atmosphere is different from playing in the U.S.
"I think 100 Israeli fans are louder than 3,000 American fans," he said. "If you don't play well, people start throwing things at you."
Princetonian Staff Writer
A six-foot, three-inch point guard took Dillon Gym by storm Wednesday night, effortlessly sinking 19 of 20 shots from just inside the three-point arc. As he spun, dribbled and launched the ball high into the air, the lanky player would have caught the eye of many college coaches.
But he wasn't a high school prospect aiming for a spot in the Princeton men's basketball program. He was Tamir Goodman, a player for an Israeli semiprofessional basketball team, and he was shooting some hoops with rabbi Eitan Webb, director of Princeton Chabad, and two reporters.
Earlier in the evening, over garlic bread and soup at Webb's Nassau Street apartment, Goodman discussed balancing his talent and passion for basketball with his determination to observe the rules of Orthodox Judaism.
Now 25, Goodman first garnered national attention as a junior in high school, averaging 35.4 points per game for the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore. He earned recognition in Sports Illustrated and was interviewed by ESPN, 60 Minutes and Fox Sports. In 11th grade, he was ranked the 25th-best high school player in the country. He was dubbed the "Jewish Jordan," a title he said he has been trying to downplay ever since.
Goodman received a scholarship to the University of Maryland, which has one of the top-ranked basketball teams in the country. The news of his plans to go to Maryland attracted over 700 media requests that week, he said.
But the team's schedule of practices and games would have meant playing on Friday nights and Saturdays, against the rules of Orthodox Judaism.
"They said I'd have to play on Shabbat," he said. "I refused."
Goodman's talent was evident at a young age. As an eighth-grader, he held the starting point-guard position on the varsity high school team of Yeshiva High of Greater Washington. Many rabbis and members of his local Jewish community frowned upon his dedication to basketball, encouraging him to spend more time on religious study.
He enrolled in high school at the Yeshiva of Pittsburgh, which lacked a basketball team. His religious training there convinced him that it was proper to continue playing basketball.
"I learned that I needed to use my talent for Hashem," Goodman said, using the Hebrew term for God.
He enrolled at the Talmudical Academy for his sophomore and junior years, but the school became unhappy with him for allegedly drawing heightened attention to sports and distracting other students from focusing on the Torah. He transferred to Takoma Academy, a Seventh-Day Adventist school that allowed him to study with a rabbi while the other students studied Christian materials.
Following a senior season in which he averaged 25 points per game, he practiced with the Maryland basketball team for the summer.
When he decided not to play for Maryland, Towson University offered him a spot on its men's basketball team.
In December 2001, during his sophomore year at Towson, an incident with his coach led to the end of his season. Irate after a game, Goodman said, his coach "held up a chair like he was going to hit me, then kicked another chair into my leg." Goodman alleges that the coach was anti-Semitic.
Goodman refused to play unless the coach was fired, but Towson did not reprimand the coach.
Two weeks later, he got an offer to train with the Israeli basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv. After passing the team's skills tests, he signed a three-year contract.
Goodman said he's happy to be playing in Israel but that the atmosphere is different from playing in the U.S.
"I think 100 Israeli fans are louder than 3,000 American fans," he said. "If you don't play well, people start throwing things at you."
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Chabad wants all Jews to rest this Shabbat
Chabad hopes to bring the world one step closer to the age of the messiah by encouraging the entire Jewish people to rest this Shabbat. "By uniting the Jewish people, and hence the world, we hope to bring Moshiach," said Aaron Hurwitz, a Jerusalem-based Chabad rabbi who is helping organize the fifth annual One Shabbat, One World project.
According Jewish sources, Hurwitz said, if the Jewish people rests for two Shabbatot, Moshiach will come.
Chabad organizes the One Shabbat, One World project to coincide with the weekly portion that recounts the first Shabbat kept by the Jews after the Exodus from Egypt.
This year, the international endeavor also coincides with Tu Bishvat. The Torah (Deuteronomy 20:19) likens man to "a tree of the field," Hurwitz said. "Just as a tree grows and produces more and more fruit, so too should a man strive constantly to grow spiritually and do more and more good deeds."
On its oneshabbat.com Web site, Chabad says worldwide events like One Shabbat, One World "were foretold by our prophets and sages. They are part of the tumultuous and historic developments that precede the Messianic era. It is up to us to do what we can to hasten the process by increasing in goodness and kindness, and by adding more light."
According Jewish sources, Hurwitz said, if the Jewish people rests for two Shabbatot, Moshiach will come.
Chabad organizes the One Shabbat, One World project to coincide with the weekly portion that recounts the first Shabbat kept by the Jews after the Exodus from Egypt.
This year, the international endeavor also coincides with Tu Bishvat. The Torah (Deuteronomy 20:19) likens man to "a tree of the field," Hurwitz said. "Just as a tree grows and produces more and more fruit, so too should a man strive constantly to grow spiritually and do more and more good deeds."
On its oneshabbat.com Web site, Chabad says worldwide events like One Shabbat, One World "were foretold by our prophets and sages. They are part of the tumultuous and historic developments that precede the Messianic era. It is up to us to do what we can to hasten the process by increasing in goodness and kindness, and by adding more light."
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