Flood Chaos Hits UK Jews

Jewish communities across the country were this week counting the cost of the worst floods to hit Britain for 60 years, as families were trapped in their homes, shul services were cancelled and funerals faced postponement.
Downpours in Gloucestershire forced Cheltenham Synagogue to shut its doors last weekend, while shuls in the Thames Valley and Oxford braced themselves for a deluge for fear they too may be struck amid reports that nearby riverbanks and drains may burst.
Michael Webber, Cheltenham Synagogue chairman, said: “We have been making sure everyone is ok. We couldn’t get into the synagogue on Friday and had to cancel our services for the first time as the car park was flooded up to the steps.”One Jewish home affected in Cheltenham belongs to sisters Judith and Eva Heymann. The front of their house was covered in 2ft of water on Friday and their electricity and water is due to be turned off to protect power stations and to stop sewage seeping into the supply.Eva told TJ: “The water went up above our feet, we are still mopping it up and the carpet stinks. The emergency services came round on Friday but there was nowhere for the water to go. We couldn’t even go to synagogue as we couldn’t get past the front doors“We have filled the bath and all our saucepans with water. I am not looking forward to our electricity and water being cut off.”Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire were the worst hit regions with around two months worth of rain falling last Friday, the heaviest downpours since 1947.Reverend Malcolm Weisman, the Chief Rabbi’s minister for small communities, yesterday waded through waterlogged roads to officiate at a funeral at Cheltenham Jewish Cemetery. He told TJ: “The waters are rising and there is a risk the nearby River Chelt will burst. I am tempted to commission someone to build a Noah’s Ark and get people in two-by-two so we can get a minyan to synagogue.”Torrential rain in Oxfordshire has placed the banks of the Thames and drains under increased pressure and forced hundreds to leave their homes for a makeshift evacuation centre inside the Kassam Stadium.Oxford Lubavitch has opened the David Slager Chabad Centre to Jewish and non-Jewish evacuees providing food and temporary accommodation. Rabbi Eli Brackman told TJ: “We have visited the stadium where people are being held to see if we can help out. We have put up a notice on our website and set up a 24 hour helpline.”Graham Jones, the manager of Oxford Synagogue, said: “There is a lot of uncertainty and apprehension. The biggest threat to the synagogue is the overwhelming blockage of sewers and storm drains.”Meanwhile Maidenhead Synagogue, whose congregants come from the flood-threatened Thames Valley areas of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey and Hampshire, took precautions to ensure the shul and community is protected.Maidenhead Rabbi Jonathan Romain said: “We had a much lower attendance at synagogue last weekend, certainly people found it difficult to get here. We are checking with all our members to ensure they are alright."We are bracing ourselves for any water coming from the Thames. All the prayer books have been moved onto the second floor and we are advising people to be alert and minimise damage by moving valuables.”

Florida Opens First Hebrew Public School

Larry Luxner

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.

Margaret Schorr, a marketing and public-relations consultant, wanted her 5-year-old daughter Hannah to learn Hebrew, but she wasn't willing to pay the $8,000 to $13,000 annual tuition that Jewish day schools in South Florida typically charge for kindergarten.
For attorney David Barnett, price wasn't the issue -- he wanted his daughter in a more diverse environment.
Both families are set to take advantage of a groundbreaking option: the nation's first Jewish-oriented charter school.
When the school year starts on Aug. 20, Schorr's daughter and Barnett's daughter will be among the 430 or so students attending the new Ben Gamla Charter School in this city. The taxpayer-funded institution says that it will offer two hours of instruction a day in Jewish-related topics, but not religion.
Not a single class has yet been taught, but the school is generating controversy among the estimated 240,000 Jews living in Broward County, which also has one of the nation's largest concentrations of Israelis.
Ben Gamla's charter was approved in March, but the school was still the hot topic at a July 24 school-board meeting that drew a standing-room-only crowd. Supporters of the school -- the brainchild of the area's former U.S. congressman, Peter Deutsch -- say it could serve as a national model, providing families with a financially accessible option at a time when most non-Orthodox households are opting not to send their children to Jewish day schools.
Some critics, on the other hand, worry that the school's main contribution will be to serve as a road map for religious communities seeking to lower the wall separating church and state.
"In other countries, we Jews were forced to support religious institutions of the dominant religions," said Rabbi Allan Tuffs of Temple Beth El, a Reform congregation in Hollywood. "The Jewish community has succeeded in America largely thanks to the principle of separation of church and state.
"But with charter schools like Ben Gamla, we are opening the door for public money to be used to support all sorts of religious ideologies across America," he warned. "What will we say to the imam down the street who says he wants to teach Arabic within an Islamic cultural setting? Or the fundamentalist Christian group that wants to start a school to teach Christian culture?"
By definition, charter schools are publicly financed elementary or secondary schools that are managed privately, with minimal input from local school boards, and whose innovative teaching methods are expected to produce higher academic results.
Ben Gamla's director, an Orthodox rabbi named Adam Siegel, said that students will learn Hebrew, Jewish culture and Jewish history for two hours a day; faculty will be forbidden from teaching Torah or prayer. Siegel, 37, added that the school will serve kosher meals, and students will be permitted to organize their own worship services.
"I didn't get hired for this job because I'm a rabbi," he said. "Plenty of Orthodox Jews work as stock brokers and lawyers without converting people. If you're a math teacher, you focus on the math. It's not my job to chase people and make them Jewish."
Susan Onori, the charter-school coordinator for the Broward school board, noted that her agency rejected Ben Gamla's original curriculum, which utilized textbooks replete with menorahs, Stars of David and other religious symbols.
"We felt that was inappropriate for a public school," she said, adding that the school made changes, and is now in compliance with the law.
"The Ben Gamla school is not religious in nature at all," stated Onori. "We do not fund public religious schools in the state of Florida."
Onori vowed that the school would be monitored, and have its charter revoked if it was found to be teaching Judaism.
"They have a contract with us," she said, "and the contract is very clear about separation of church and state."
About 16,500 of the county's 236,000 students attend charter schools, with 52 such institutions expected to be operating by the time classes begin next month.
The new Jewish-themed school is named after Rabbi Joshua Ben Gamla, a first-century rabbi in ancient Israel who is credited with establishing the concept of public education.
"Ben Gamla was the one who saved Torah study for his generation," quipped Tuffs, the Reform rabbi. "He was known for teaching religion, not math or science."
Tuffs accused Deutsch of misrepresenting the school as secular in nature, while heavily marketing it through Chabad Lubavitch congregations as providing the equivalent of a Jewish day-school education. He also criticized Siegel.
"The director doesn't call himself rabbi anymore; now he's Mr. Siegel," claimed Tuffs. "This is an Orthodox rabbi who has a B.A. He's got no credentials of any kind other than having run a yeshiva-style school. If you really want to have a Hebrew-language program, you hire an Israeli with an advanced degree in pedagogy. It's so disingenuous."
School-board member Eleanor Sobel also raised concerns about the school and its director. During the recent board meeting, she noted that she and her brother had learned Hebrew in a public school, and said that she had originally been excited by the idea of Ben Gamla.
"But your principal is an Orthodox rabbi, and your original location was going to be a synagogue," she said, according to the Florida Jewish News. "The only way we can know what's really going on is if we have a mole in your school."
Deutsch insisted that "Ben Gamla is not a Jewish day school, but a public school open to anyone who lives in Broward County, regardless of religion."
"Trust me," he said, "if we were doing anything in violation of that, we would have already been sued."
Competition for Day Schools Deutsch and Onori both asserted that the school's main detractors are backers of expensive private Jewish day schools terrified of losing students to Ben Gamla. Representatives of day schools who raised questions about Ben Gamla at the recent school-board meeting cited legal concerns.
A champion of the charter-school movement during his time as a Democratic lawmaker in Congress, Deutsch said that Ben Gamla is licensed to have 600 students, but because of space restrictions there can only be 430 for now.
"We have an additional charter from Miami-Dade County for another 600 kids," he added, "and our expectation is that we will be applying for more charters in Palm Beach County and, most likely, several places outside of Florida."
'A Self-Selected Group'
According to Deutsch, 80 percent of Ben Gamla's students are coming from other public schools. He said that it's safe to say that most of them are Jewish, although it is impossible to provide an exact figure because as a public school, the institution is forbidden to ask applicants their religion.
"We have a lot of kids from Israel, but we also have Hispanic kids. Obviously, it's a self-selected group," said Deutsch.
The school is being managed by Academica, a firm that currently runs 21 charter schools in Florida. According to Deutsch, the firm will receive from the Florida Department of Education roughly $5,000 per student -- 95 percent of what the state would pay a regular public school. That works out to just over $2 million for Ben Gamla at current enrollment levels.
"Consider that in Broward County, there are approximately 50,000 Jewish kids attending K-12," said Deutsch. "Last year, there were 1,600 kids in Jewish day schools, or less than 5 percent of the total. Clearly, there is a huge void in Jewish education in Broward County."
Barnett, the Hallandale Beach attorney who felt a regular day school would not be diverse enough for his daughter, said that "you'll find a lot of parents in South Florida are always willing to try new schools because our education system ranks near the bottom."
Tzipora Nurieli, an Israeli-born Hallandale woman, said that she registered her three children -- ages 11, 9 and 7 -- at Ben Gamla, thereby saving a combined $48,000 in annual tuition fees that she would have been spending over the course of the year.
"I was supposed to send them to Hillel in North Miami Beach, but this school is the most amazing miracle that's ever happened," she said. "It's a combination of teaching my kids Hebrew, but also taking advantage of the public-school system. This is like having the best of both worlds."

Program provides fun, friendship for kids in need

MERLE ENGLISH
August 5, 2007

On Monday afternoons when her school day ends, playtime begins for teenager Nicole Yehezkel, but it's playtime with a purpose.Nicole, 15, walks 10 blocks from her home in Floral Park to the home of Betsy and David Mandel. There, looking out the window, Nicole's playmate, Emma Mandel, 11, smiles when she sees Nicole approaching.Emma has Down syndrome. She is excited, because Nicole is coming to play with her for the next hour.Emma has two brothers: Chaim, 14, and Eli, 6, but Betsy Mandel, Emma's mom, said Emma looks forward to seeing Nicole."It's sort of like a big sister," Betsy Mandel said. "They play games, read books, play in the backyard, play with dolls, the sort of things Emma loves to do."Nicole and Emma were brought together through The Friendship Circle, an international program of the Chabad Lubavitch Movement headquartered in Brooklyn, which matches Jewish students with children with autism, multiple sclerosis, vision loss, developmental delays and other conditions. The students volunteer to be friends for the children."It came about because there were many special needs children in the Jewish community and the community at large that were being left out of the loop socially," said Chanie Zalmanov, of Hollis Hills, who founded the Friendship Circle's Queens Chapter."A lot of the children have therapists coming to their home, but they didn't have friendships," Zalmanov said."Some parents are able to get as much help as they need," she continued. "For others, it was the need for respite. But more than that, it was the need for the child to connect emotionally and to have a friend come and play. That is something that was lacking in the life of special needs children."The organization screens the volunteers, who once a week, visit children 4-months-old to 14-years-old. "They need to be emotionally stable and strong and doing basically well in school so that their parents feel they can spare the time," Zalmanov said of the volunteers."For some, it's the first time they're being exposed to someone who's needy," she continued. "A lot can do things [volunteer work] that are not interactive, like painting the park. This is very interpersonal. This gives them the feeling, 'I did a good deed with my time today.'"The organizers visit the children's home to evaluate the family's needs so an appropriate match can be made with the volunteers, who are recruited through junior high and high schools, clubs, and B'nai B'rith youth organizations. To give parents respite, volunteers also accompany their playmates to workshops and Jewish holiday events.Nicole enjoys her role. Emma is her second playmate."I love it. We're having fun," said Nicole. "My parents love it, and my little sister, Emily, 11, wants to do it."Orit Levi, a private school teacher of Kew Gardens Hills, and mother of three, has a daughter, Aviya, almost 6, in the program."She gets two girls who come every Tuesday and play with her," Levi said. "It's a relief for me. I can cook or do work with the other two kids. I think it's a wonderful program."

Rabbinical students visit Nyack on educational journey

By JESSICA SEMINELLI

SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL NEWS

August 5, 2007

NYACK -

Two rabbinical students have been in the Nyack area for the past two weeks as part of the global Chabad-Lubavitch movement, which aims to educate and unite Jews in all communities.
Adam Epstein, a 24-year-old originally from Houston, and Toronto native Asher Schochet, 22, will be in Nyack and Piermont for another week while completing their outreach assignment. They are senior Lubavitcher rabbinical students in Morristown, N.J., and Crown Heights, Brooklyn, respectively.
Through meetings with local rabbis, appointments with Jewish community members, talking to shop owners and going to offices, the students have met with about 100 individuals already.
"We are here to speak with various Jews and learn about Jewish life in this community," said Epstein. "We're eager to listen to interesting family histories and stories."
They also inform the Jews with whom they speak about Jewish resources and programs in the Rockland area, such as Hebrew Learning Circles, a Nyack school run by Rabbi Reuben Modek.
"They have a very open-minded spirit," Modek said. "They have a real commitment to meeting people and speaking with them one-on-one."
Chabad-Lubavitch is a Hasidic group aimed at the promotion of mitzvot, or good deeds, and spreading of communication, understanding, aid, and unity. In areas without synagogues or Jewish community centers, Lubavitcher students establish acting temples.
"We're Jews for Judaism," explained Epstein. "We're not missionaries; we're not a member-seeking organization." For the past 63 years, students like Epstein and Schochet have traveled to all parts of the globe, observing and sharing with smaller Jewish communities.
"I applaud these two students for taking away from their vacation to share their time with the community," said Rabbi Chaim Ehrenreich from Chabad of Chestnut Ridge, who met with the pair. "They are providing an opportunity for the residents of the Nyacks to reach out to them if they have any Jewish needs."
This is the fourth consecutive year that Rockland has been assigned Lubavitcher students.

Chabad House takes yeshiva on the road

Volunteers bring lessons to students

BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

School may be out for the summer, but not at Toledo’s Chabad House-Lubavitch.The Jewish outreach center is offering free classes on Jewish studies taught by six students from yeshivas, or Jewish educational institutions, around the country.And if it is inconvenient to come to Chabad House for classes, then Chabad House will come to you with its “Summer Yeshiva on Wheels” program.Andy Golding signed up for classes at his Sylvania home because he wanted his children to see that studying the Torah, Talmud, and other Jewish texts is important.“I want them to have a sense of Jewish identity, and I think identity is created in the home,” said Mr. Golding, a member of the Temple-Congregation Shomer Emunim in Sylvania. “Having a rabinnical student come to the house is another layer of that identity.”He and his wife, Cami, have four children — Joey, 6; Benny, 5; and twins Sammy and Sophie, 2.“My kids are young. I think the important thing for the kids is that they see their father studying Jewish things,” Mr. Golding said. “And studying Jewish things is a mitzvah, a good deed. This is an easy one.”Mrs. Golding said she has the highest regard for the programs offered by Chabad House, which is part of the worldwide Jewish organization that carries on the teachings of the late Rebbe Menachem Schneerson.“They have such passion. They are the most extreme in being observant [of Jewish traditions], and yet they are the most liberal in how they love and accept people.”Henoch Rosenfeld, a Pittsburgh native studying at a Detroit yeshiva, came to the Goldings’ home this week to teach a class on Jewish ethics.Wearing a black suit, white shirt, and wide-brim black hat, Mr. Rosenfeld brought three books written in both Hebrew and English.As Joey sat on Mr. Golding’s lap, both of them wearing kippahs, or head coverings, Mr. Rosenfeld spoke of how Moses received the Torah from God on Mount Sinai and passed it down from generation to generation.“Listen up,” Mr. Golding told his son. “This is very important!”Benny joined them briefly, then wandered off. Same with Sophie.Mr. Rosenfeld jokingly told Joey to pay attention because he had to teach the lesson to his younger brother. “You repeat this to Benny. I’ll give you a test,” Mr. Rosenfeld said with a grin.Joey just smiled shyly.Mr. Golding read two sentences and Mr. Rosenfeld launched into an enthusiastic lecture, for more than half an hour, about the need to be patient in judgment, and to raise up disciples. “Wow. That’s a lot,” Mr. Golding said with a laugh. “And it’s only been two sentences!”Rabbi Yossi Shemtov of Chabad House, said the Summer Yeshiva program started July 25 and continues through Aug. 15, with classes available almost any time of day or night, at Chabad or in an individual’s home.The program is made possible because the yeshiva students are willing to give up vacation time to teach others, the rabbi said.“Instead of jet-skiing, they graciously offer to come and teach and we are truly grateful,” Rabbi Shemtov said.More information on Summer Yeshiva and Summer Yeshiva on Wheels is available by calling Chabad House-Lubavitch at 419-843-9393. Toledo’s Chabad House is at 4020 Nantucket Dr., off Sylvania Avenue in West Toledo.

Berlin Jewish Center Builds 1,000 Sq. Foot Replica of Jerusalem's Western Wall

by KRISTEN ALLEN

The Associated Press

BERLIN

The German capital's new $8.2 million Jewish community center will feature a replica of Jerusalem's Western Wall accurate down to the plants sprouting from its cracks, the center's leaders said.

The 1,000 sq. foot replica will be part of Szloma Albam House. The center's Sept. 2 opening will symbolize the growth and vitality of Berlin's 12,000-member Jewish community. Germany's Jewish community is the world's fastest growing, fed by immigrants from the former Soviet Union, according to the World Jewish Congress.

"This is a symbolic part of making Berlin a central hub of Jewish life again," the center's executive director, Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

The project began when a team from the Chabad-Lubavitch organization traveled to Jerusalem to photograph a section of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, famous for the tradition of inserting tiny prayers on paper into its many cracks.

Almost 19 tons of "Jerusalem Gold" sandstone quarried in the region arrived in Berlin on July 11, and has since been chiseled and installed to match the photographs. The complete replica, located in the center's entryway, will also include identical plants sprouting from the cracks.

The Western Wall replica is not meant to be used for worship, but as a symbol and reminder of the center's mission.

Teichtal told the AP that the center's architecture directly reflects center's philosophy. A large cobalt and light blue glass window greets visitors as a symbol of transparency. The sleek, contemporary design by Russian architect Sergei Tchoban, shows that Szloma Albam House focuses on the future.

"Within the transparency is tradition, and that's why we're building the wall," he told The Associated Press. "It's the strongest symbol of the survival of the Jewish people."

Rabbi Chaim Rozwaski, an orthodox rabbi from New York who serves at Berlin's Pestalozzistrasse Synagogue, said the replica has "no more meaning than a picture."

"But the wall itself has a tremendous attraction and obviously a deep-felt meaning for many people, so it's still nice to have a replica."

The Szloma Albam House, located on Muenstersche Strasse in Berlin's Charlottenburg neighborhood, has been under construction for three years. But its synagogue is already open for worship.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany says the Jewish community has some 110,000 registered members.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

Flooding Severely Damages Mineola Synagogue

(CBS) MINEOLA, N.Y. For nearly 20 years, Rabbi Anchelle Perl had been rebuilding the once struggling Beth Sholom Chabad Synagogue in Mineola. When Wednesday morning's storm rolled in, he watched the synagogue's offices, library, and social hall disappear under more than four feet of water. He tried desperately to save anything he could."By the time I got to the second level, I just saw it literally surging up and up and up. And I was literally running for my life upstairs," Perl tells CBS 2 HD. Everything down in the temple's basement was damaged beyond repair and must be replaced, including all the appliances in the kitchen and the entire floor in the ballroom.The cost to rebuild is estimated to be more than half a million dollars."It's very sad because I've spent so many years building lives and communities, and now I have to turn and rebuild myself," Perl says. Priceless religious books, letters, records and even the temple's Torah found floating in water will be buried in a formal ceremony. Still, it's the broken heart of Rabbi Perl, known as a generous contributor to his community, that has drawn members and non-members to the temple to help."The damage here is all going to be fixed. This isn't about the structure of the building or the Torahs or the scriptures. This is about giving back to Rabbi Perl and be supportive of him," said congregant David Lerman."I'm not a member here, but I felt the need and the obligation to help out and give back," said volunteer Barry Heffron. And under Perl's spiritual leadership, there's no doubt the synagogue will be even better than before."It's sad, but I'm gonna take it as a sign that we have to work harder and turn this tragedy into a triumph," Perl said.The second floor worship area was not damaged. Services will continue to be held there.

Jungle Treks, Chabad Style

(IsraelNN.com) A Chabad emissary in Bolivia, Rabbi Yotam Klein, has begun offering Israeli backpackers in Bolivia the opportunity to participate in a jungle trek while learning about Judaism. Participants practice their survival skills while studying Torah and Hassidic philosophy.

Rabbi Klein, a former kibbutz member, said he came to Bolivia after his IDF service and later became involved in Chabad outreach. The idea of mixing wilderness treks and Torah study was inspired by a colleague in India, he said.

Cancun Gets Rabbi And Sees Revival Of Judaism

Rabbi Mendel and Rachel Druk, along with their eight-month-old daughter Mushka, have just made Cancun their new home. The family will service the needs of the 200+ Jews living in Cancun, as well those in as Mexico City, the island of Isla Mujeres and other nearby locales. They will also cater to the thousands of Jewish tourists who visit during spring break and year-round.

According to Samuel Rovero, past president of the local Jewish community, “We’re very excited. We truly believe that it is better for the community to have a spiritual and religious authority. Without a rabbi, it cannot be the same.”

Rabbi Druk, a 25-year-old native of Detroit, was most recently was the teen director of the Jewish Learning Institute, a Chabad-Lubavitch educational program that provides the curriculum for classes at hundreds of synagogues and community centers across the United States. Before that, he directed the Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s search-and-rescue response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans; one year prior, he was doing the same thing, but in response to the 2002.

Tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia.

Before relocating to Cancun from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the Druks visited Cancun’s Jews, most recently during Purim, smack in the middle of spring break. More than 100 students showed up for the megillah reading and festive Purim bash that the Druks arranged. They also set up and have been regularly maintaining the website: www.jewishcancun.com.

More immediately, the Druks plan to hold community-wide Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services in a hotel this fall. Said Rabbi Druk before leaving New York earlier this month, “Already we have 30 reservations. Not a day goes by when I don’t get e-mails from people.”

For an American family of three to pack up all their belongings for a permanent move to a place that just 40 years ago was a jungle is unusual, to say the least. But such is the Druks’ devotion to reaching out to Jews wherever they may be found, and making them proud of their heritage.

Rachel Druk, 21, a trained educator who grew up in Crown Heights, plans to start a women’s monthly group and children’s classes. She remarked, “It feels like a whole new beginning. It’s exciting that this is what we’re going to be doing for the rest of our lives.”

The Druk’s move is seeded by a grant from prominent philanthropist Mr. Sami Rohr, of Bal Harbour, Florida, who funds projects worldwide that spur Jewish communal growth.

Chabad-Lubavitch west of Boynton honors slain Jewish soldier

By Chrystian Tejedor

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 12, 2007

West Boynton
Beth Agami received another American flag Wednesday night during a memorial at the Chabad-Lubavitch of Boynton Beach in honor of her son, who died fighting in Iraq.

This one flew over the capitol in Tallahassee.

"Daniel would want us to continue supporting Jewish soldiers," Beth Agami said, periodically taking deep breaths. "Daniel was all about helping others on a large scale or on a small scale."

Wednesday night brought the arrival of the siyum, or the completion of the Torah. It was the perfect time for a second tribute for Pfc. Daniel Agami, 25, who was killed with four other soldiers when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee about four weeks ago, said Rabbi Sholom Ciment, director of the Chabad-Lubavitch, which is west of Boynton Beach.

"He is one of heroism, patriotism," Ciment said. "His mission as a soldier in Baghdad was to bring freedom to every soul that he possibly could. No doubt he completed his mission."

During the hour and a half long ceremony, friends who gathered to remember Daniel Agami were brought to tears.

David More of Boynton Beach cut short a vacation in Orlando to pay his respects.

"When I saw him come off the airplane wearing his uniform with his name on it, Agami, I was so proud," More said.

During a previous ceremony in Coral Springs, the Army posthumously bestowed Agami with the Purple Heart, Army commendation medal and the Bronze Star.

Agami enlisted in the Army two years ago and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Germany.

Because Agami was proud of being a Jew and because he taught fellow soldiers about his faith, friends on the battlefield affectionately came to call him "G.I. Jew."

The military even planned to have him appear on advertising material.

Agami was in Iraq for about a year and his unit was sent on raids to inspect bombs and other weapons.

In that short time, Ciment said Agami distinguished himself as a soldier, earning "no less than 15 medals, honors and awards from saving several soldiers' lives to classified acts."

Born in Ohio, Agami moved with family to South Florida at age 4. He attended the Hebrew Academy Community School in Margate and lived in various Broward cities, including Coconut Creek, Margate, Coral Springs and Parkland.

While on leave from his duties in Iraq, Agami spoke to the members of the Boynton Beach Chabad about his experiences during a Passover ceremony, Ciment said.

"He was an American patriot," said Haim Benzino, a longtime friend of Agami's father, Itzhak. "We had to pull stories out of him. He once shot a man who was coming at them with a grenade. He saved his whole unit probably from being killed."

Agami is survived by his parents, Itzhak and Beth, of Parkland, his sister, Shaina, 7, and brother Ilan, 23.

The family requests donations in Daniel Agami's memory be made to the Hebrew Academy Community School, 1500 N. State Road 7, Margate, FL 33063.

Chabad translating Jewish texts into Russian

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia announced a five-year project to translate 50 Jewish religious texts into Russian.

According to federation spokesman Baruch Gorin, the project, called The Library of Jewish Texts, is aimed at Russian-speaking Jews worldwide and non-Jewish Russian speakers interested in getting acquainted with Judaism.

"It is the largest-ever project for the publication of academically accomplished Russian translations of the fundamental book of Judaism," Gorin told the Interfax news agency.

The first title in the series will be "The Lamentations of the Ninth of Av: The Temple We Have Lost." Accompanied by an article explaining the history of the First and Second Temples, the federation, a Chabad umbrella organization, plans to print 10,000 copies.

Beckham to join Chabad?

Footballer David Beckham is set to be one of the star guests enlisted by Chabad to raise millions of dollars for its annual To Life Telethon to support projects aimed at helping those less fortunate.

The LA Galaxy player has been approached by the Jewish organisation to appear either live or pre-recorded for the broadcast - which is famous for its dancing rabbis - on September 9.

The six-hour show is transmitted from Hollywood and broadcast across the United States.

"As soon as we heard that David Beckham was coming to Los Angeles, we knew we had to get him involved," said a Chabad insider. "Over the past 27 years, the Telethon has raised many millions of dollars that have supported community projects and people of all backgrounds. We hope our ideals will appeal to him to get involved."

Celebrities who have shown support to the annual telethon have included Bob Dylan, Whoopi Goldberg, Adam Sandler, Anthony Hopkins and cast members from TV sitcom Friends.

A logic of their own

Why is a religious group that is opposed to university setting up on campuses?

Nathan Jeffay

It is late afternoon on Friday. As if they had received some subliminal command, 30 undergraduates, postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers stop what they are doing and dash from their faculties at Cambridge University. There is nothing obvious uniting them. They span a variety of subjects, have disparate interests, and vary in appearance from the suited-and-boooted Darren Gower to the hippyish Pete Flemming, always bare-footed so he can "feel the texture of the ground".
They do, though, share a mentor, whom they are all heading to see. He is neither a cultural icon nor a political ideologue. And he is certainly not a revered academic; he never went to university. Rather, he is the local emissary of Chabad-Lubavitch, a Hassidic sect that is gaining unprecedented popularity on British campuses.
Hassidic is the term for the mystical and deeply devout form of Judaism, each sect led by a single guru-like rabbi, that was born in Eastern Europe in the 18th century. Most of its adherents take pride in the conviction that their practices, beliefs and language of choice (Yiddish) have changed little since then, and shun many aspects of modern culture.
This explains why the mentor in question, Rabbi Reuven Leigh, 28, an Essex boy who grew up in a non-observant home and became passionately religious in his teens, does not have a degree. But any Friday night at his home-cum-community-centre in Cambridge, you will find a sort of salon society under way, with the clinking of whisky glasses and rigorous discussion of every topic under the sun until the early hours of the morning. Some students will be back during the week, for study sessions or pastoral advice.
Campus confusion
Leigh admits it may seem incongruous that a sect that shuns university is among the fastest-growing organisations on campus. "Chabad does not promote attending universities as it argues that young people at the most impressionable time of their lives should devote their time to being well educated in their own heritage and culture," he says, adding that the campus atmosphere, with its marketplace of ideas and gender-mixing, creates "a confused environment that pulls young people further away from their roots'."
While the campus may not be Chabad's first choice for Jewish youngsters, it is determined to be there for them. If a marketplace of ideas exists, it will ensure that Orthodox Judaism is there, too, providing what Leigh calls "a place for intelligent people to ask challenging and intelligent questions about Judaism".
Leigh flatly rejects the idea that his group's objection to campus life means it should stay away from universities, or that its presence is somehow hypocritical. The fact that the group has concerns about campus life makes its presence all the more important, he believes.
This is why, with 85 centres at US universities and others around the world, it started establishing campus centres in the UK in 2001, and in the last academic year it has doubled its presence from three to six. In September it will open its seventh, at Leeds - the most popular campus for Jewish students - and is planning its eighth. This year in the UK, 2,000 students attended Chabad activities; worldwide the figure was 100,000.
What characterises Chabad's encounter with students is that both parties take each other at face value, and for this reason many of the students are open about their non-religiosity, and make no pretence that they intend to change.
Leigh is comfortable with this. The sect teaches that unfamiliarity with Judaism, rather than disaffection, accounts for low observance rates, and therefore representatives should give the faith exposure instead of trying to coerce people. "We give people the experiences; what they do with them is their choice," he says.
Tal-Chen Straussman, a 28-year-old from Jerusalem who is finishing an MPhil and starting a PhD in music, visits Leigh with her husband, Ithai, a postdoctoral researcher, and believes this other-worldliness is what attracts students.
"Everything else in this city revolves around the university. Chabad offers something fresh, a complete break," she says. "It offers something that is very definite in terms of religion, and is filled with spirituality, which is absent in the university setting. The fact that Chabad's Hassidim do not go to university is well-known and discussed among visitors, and actually helps create this popular sense of a visit there being a break. Students feel that if he had gone to university, he would be 'one of them'. Instead, he can offer something completely different."
This contrast between the lifestyles of the Hassidim and most of their visitors was one of the first things to strike 21-year-old Londoner Vika Evdokimenko four years ago, when she started attending Leigh's group as a fresher on her history degree. Her parents grew up in communist Russia where religion was forbidden. Chabad provided her first encounter with Judaism.
Evdokimenko is hoping to become both a film-maker and a musician. But encountering Leigh's wife, Rochel, made her recognise that "there is another way". At 25, Rochel is already a mother of four, as Orthodox Judaism places great religious value on having children.
"She is very happy with family life, not because she has abandoned a whole set of plans for this, but because it is what she wants to do," says Evdokimenko. "While I won't go out and have four kids, it gives a new perspective to the way I look at lifestyle choices. Also, while I don't plan to become religious, I now want to be part of the Jewish community."
Sarit Sivan, in her 30s, is a regular at Chabad's centre in Oxford, where she is a postdoctoral researcher in biomedics. She is keen to point out that the Hassidim may disapprove of university, but they do not shun intellectualism. "The Hassidic movement is very logical, and very challenging intellectually. It has a very sophisticated logic of its own," she says. "Visitors savour the encounter with a fresh mindset and novel lifestyle."
Open-minded
This encounter is what made Pete Flemming, 22, from Surrey, a frequent visitor to Leigh's home. His recently completed theology degree at Cambridge took him through many religious phases and left him "emphatically undecided". In a sense, Chabad served as an antidote to the endless questioning of the seminar room, and he enjoyed the Leighs' unshakable faith by proxy. "Given that I don't have a clear Jewish identity or position, it means a lot to go somewhere where I can participate in and enjoy a Jewish environment. I know that I will be welcomed wherever I am at personally," he says.
Joe Herman, a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, is deeply involved in undergraduate activities and has a hectic social life."In most Orthodox environments, you would be expected to leave behind all your views of the world and adopt a single way of seeing things," he says. "This is never the case at Reuven's, and that's why I go."
Chabad also has its critics. The most vocal is Professor Geoffrey Alderman, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, and prolific author on British Jewry. He believes that before Chabad's arrival, there was unity among Jewish students - those who got involved in Jewish activities went along to their local Jewish society, affiliated to both their university union and the Union of Jewish Students.
He is now "very aggrieved", considering Chabad's presence "an imposition" and accusing the sect of being "separatist". By establishing up its own centres, it is undermining the unity of the Jewish community on campus, he says.
"I am not just concerned with its infiltration on campus but concerned full stop," he says, citing the movement's lack of religious stability. He is referring to the fact that some members claimed their overall leader, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to be the messiah after his death in 1994 - a belief that endures in a small part of the sect.
But even an old foe of Chabad like Alderman does not accuse it of indoctrination, saying the sect's religious affiliations are clear to all.
It is rare for students to become Hassidim, but one of Leigh's followers, Darren Gower, a 20-year-old land economy student from Southend, is converting. Gower says that the apparent clash of cultures will not prevent Chabad's growth, because anything goes when you are at university, including an organisation that questions whether you should be there.
Even the sight of Gower, transformed over the course of a summer from a regular teenager to a Hassid in traditional dress, hardly raised an eyebrow. "In Cambridge there are so many odd people it makes no difference. One person came up to me and asked whether I was Jewish or just eccentric. I said 'probably both'."

Roving rabbis promote unity

BENNINGTON — Two young "roving rabbis" will be visiting town this week, reaching out to the local Jewish community to reinforce pride and enhance education.

Rabbi Eli Rapoport, 20, from London, England, and Rabbi Yaakov Raskin, 19, from Burlington, came here on Friday afternoon. They paid a visit to Rabbi Joshua Boettiger of Bennington's Congregation Beth El and visited and prayed with a Jewish veteran at the Vermont Veterans Home.

The two men are traveling around Vermont for more than three weeks this summer as part of a program often likened to a "Lubavatcher summer Peace Corps."

"Basically it's pairs of students traveling the world. Each pair takes a state or country — Florida, London, Idaho, Wyoming, North Africa, Vietnam," Rapoport said. "We go around visiting Jewish families, Jewish communities, just to spread Jewish unity, Jewish identity."

The pair spent the weekend in Montpelier to observe the Sabbath at a Jewish center and will return to Bennington this week.

Rapoport and Raskin are members of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, one of the largest branches of Hasidic Judaism. Since June 21 they have been traveling around the

state with brochures, books, videos, programming ideas and even kosher food.

The program was conceived more than 50 years ago by the Lubavitcher Rebbe ("leader") Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, who died in 1994. Part of Rapoport and Raskin's effort is to reach out to unaffiliated Jews to help them rediscover their heritage, and they have spent much of their time visiting people in their homes.

Both young men — each the son of a Chabad rabbi — are proceeding with their rabbinical studies. "We don't have rabbinical degrees yet, but we are getting there — soon, hopefully," Rapoport said.

"Learning never really ends," he added with a laugh. "We've just been together for five years. We were two years in Michigan, two years in Israel, and this past year we studied together in Brooklyn. Before that I studied in London, Yaakov studied in Montreal.

"And now we've come to the stage where they send us to other Jewish schools and Yeshivas to help out with younger students," he said. "They're sending me back to Israel and Yaakov to Chicago."

They reeled off a long list of Vermont communities they have visited so far. In the southern part of the state these include Rutland, Manchester, Wilmington and Brattleboro.

Besides visiting people in homes, they've also met many fellow Jews on the street. "Just on Main Street in Brattleboro we met many Jews. We actually met a Jew on Main Street who never had a Bar Mitzvah, so we made one for him," Rapoport said. "That was interesting."

They haven't gotten many questions from non-Jews so far, but were asked if they are Amish.

They explained what their religious movement means in terms of the Jewish religious spectrum ranging from Orthodox to Reform.

"What I say to people is our movement is just there to take away these things of 'Reform, Conservative, Orthodox,' and just (promote) Jewish unity," Rapoport said. "We're all Jews, and we don't need all these labels."

"I mean there are more observant and less and observant Jews," he said. "You can probably tell we are more observant."

The Lubavitch movement started more than 200 years ago. It is known for its centers around the world, known as Chabad Centers, essentially a Jewish community center providing education and outreach to all Jews, regardless of their level of observance.

Around the world there are about such 3,100 centers in 79 countries. Only a handful of U.S. states do not have permanent centers. There is a large Chabad Center in Burlington, which has been active for about 25 years, and another recently opened on campus at the University of Vermont, Rapoport said.

Raskin grew up in Burlington until age 11, at which time he left to attend a Jewish school in Montreal. "My father was sent as a Chabad rabbi in Burlington, and my grandfather was sent to Morocco as a Chabad rabbi."

This is the first summer as "roving rabbis" for both young men, and they hope to participate in the program again in the future.

"Hopefully the first of many (summers). It's a very nice place, Vermont, and who knows if I'll come back here — or, say, to Vietnam or to the Congo," Rapoport said. "Actually a cousin of mine was in the Congo three times in the summers. There are many Jews over there, believe it or not."

More information about the Chabad-Lubavitch movement can be found at chabadvt.org. Rapoport and Raskin can be reached at 917-825-9353.

Canberra to get first mikvah

The small Jewish community in the Australian capital of Canberra is building a mikvah.

Aharon Serebryanski, a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi from Melbourne, has pledged to fund Canberra’s first Jewish ritual bath. Approximately 600 Jews live in Canberra, whose lay-led community has no rabbi or kosher butcher. Orthodox and liberal Jews share prayer facilities at a Jewish center.

The motion in favor of building the ritual bath was passed Monday by a 61-14 vote at a general meeting of the community at Canberra’s National Jewish Memorial Center.

"The majority of younger women are very excited at the prospect," Anita Shroot, one of the leaders of the mikvah project, told the Australian Jewish News. "I think a mikvah is a starting point. I honestly feel that once we've achieved that, we will manage to get an educator, hopefully a rabbi and the community will thrive, and that is why we have pursued this so strongly."

Jewish students visiting local Jewish community

By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL

Freeport News Reporter

The Jewish community of Grand Bahama received a visit from two of their brothers from New York this week. The two are part of a rabbinical group, Merkos Linyonei Chinuch, based in Brooklyn and are students of the Chabas Lubavitch Rabbinical Institute.

About 170 students of that school use their summer break to visit remote parts of the world to interact with the few local Jews who may live there and share with them some learning. Students are currently in China, Russia, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

Mendel Kalmenson and Chaim Zaklos arrived in Grand Bahama on Sunday and will stay until Thursday. They will then go on to visit the Turks and Caicos, New Providence and Bermuda.

"The general idea behind it is that we focus on that which unites us as a people. So no matter how much the individual may know about their background, no matter how much they practice the religion, that is not relevant. We're just here to share the word, to give them a little bit of Jewish awareness, if they didn't have it prior to that, and just to fortify them because living out here in a far place it is hard for them to retain some of their identity," said Kalmenson.

He said that since the beginning of the program, the visiting students would make contact with the local Jews in an area and pass on those contacts to the next group of students visiting that region.

"We learn a little bit about the locals from our peers who were there in previous years, and the ones that are local and we call them up and ask for a visit if they are interested, sit down with them and have a chat and dinner or service. For the men we'll do a ceremony called the bar mitzvah, if they didn't have it previously," he said.

The students say they are willing to meet with non-Jews who may have an interest in the religion and who may want to find out more about it. They have brought with them literature and other items from the Jewish faith.

Although they've only been here for a couple of days, the students say they have met quite a few Jews who were able to introduce them to others.

"Basically we are bringing our warm regards from Jews who are in larger communities to Jews who are in smaller communities out there in the world who don't have a rabbi throughout the year and even though geographically we're divided, there's more that unites us than divides us," said Zaklos.

Persons interested in contacting the students can do so by emailing them at chabadfreeport@gmail.com.

VISITORS – Jewish rabbinical students Chaim Zaklos (left) and Mendel Kalmenson are visiting Grand Bahama this week to interact with the local Jewish community here on the island. They are students of the Chabas Lubavitch Rabbinical Institute in Brooklyn, New York.

Area adherents trek to Rebbe’s grave

When a tzaddik dies, a part of his soul remains with the body, making his grave a holy place, said Rabbi Ephraim Simon as almost 50 people traveled with the Teaneck Chabad House last week to visit the grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson in honor of his yahrtzeit.

Israel’s Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger addresses a crowd of hundreds gathered near the Lubavitcher rebbe’s grave in honor of his 13th yahrtzeit.

As the bus made its way to the cemetery in Queens, Simon told the visitors what to do when they arrived. Everybody would be able to write a letter to the rebbe, asking him to beseech mercy on his or her behalf from God. They would then carry the letters to the grave and read them quietly before tearing them in half and dropping the pieces by the gravestone.

"That place has a certain level of kedusha," holiness, Simon said. "When we pray at the gravesite of a tzaddik, the tzaddik intervenes and beseeches HaShem on our behalf. It’s a place to ask HaShem for all of our needs."

The trip was a combined effort of almost 40 Chabad houses from across the tri-state area and brought hundreds of people to the rebbe’s grave last Thursday, just days before his 13th yahrtzeit on Tuesday. Rabbi Yona Metzger, Ashkenazic chief rabbi of Israel, spoke about his experiences with the rebbe and the importance of Chabad’s shluchim, the emissaries the organization sends to remote locations all over the planet.

He told the story of a king who was so inspired by the friendship and dedication between two men, one of whom had been sentenced to death, that he suspended the sentence and asked the two if he could be their friend. God acts in the same way, said Metzger, and the rebbe taught his chasidim to love their brothers all over the world.

"‘Let me be your friend,’" he said. "This was the rebbe. This was the education he gave every shaliach; the rebbe educated him to love [others] as himself."

Joe Leffel, who went on the bus trip with his wife, Judy, had been to the gravesite three times before but said this was the most impressive trip.

"I consider him truly one of the holiest men of the 20th century," said Leffel, who is not chasidic but has been going to Chabad for more than 12 years. The trip was "an exhilarating and inspired experience," he said.

Judy Leffel was awed by the diversity she saw in the gathering.

"There were so many different kinds of people there: sheitel-wearing women, women in pants, and everything in the middle," she said. "Black women, white women, Asian women, all different types of people coming together for the same thing.

"I felt like we were all one voice," she said. "It would be hard for HaShem to ignore us because we would be so loud."

Because of the response, Teaneck Chabad plans to organize another trip to the gravesite on its own, Simon said, possibly for this summer. Like Judy Leffel, Simon took note of the diversity at the gathering, especially among those from Teaneck.

"It was a real mix on the bus, people from every level of observance to every level of Chabad," he said. "A lot of regulars, people who are not regulars, and people I never met before."

Linda Storfer is not a regular at Teaneck Chabad but she’s not a stranger to Crown Heights. More than 25 years ago she had worked for UJA in New York, and one of her jobs was to bring prominent people to meet the rebbe.

"He was such a great man," she said. "Everyone who met him was so inspired by him."

Mendel Shemtov, president of the Jewish Community Council of Crown Heights at the time, was Storfer’s contact when she brought new visitors, and dubbed her "the ambassador to Crown Heights."

Last year, almost 30 years later, she was visiting her intensely observant son in Crown Heights when a chasid came up to her and said somebody — who turned out to be Shemtov — wanted to see her. Shortly after their brief reunion, Shemtov died. Storfer’s visit to the gravesite coincided not only with the rebbe’s yahrtzeit but also Shemtov’s first yahrtzeit.

"I was glad I went," she said. "It was very inspirational."

Inspiration was the goal, said Simon "The whole idea behind all of it is for each of us that were there to increase in our own Torah and mitzvahs in the rebbe’s honor," he said. "Everybody there did that."

CHERUBS WANTED

A rarity in real estate is a developer who calls attention to his own project tanking. Such a developer is Lubavitch Chabad, an organization dedicated to Jewish counseling and teaching that has spent $6 million on a planned Center for Jewish Life at the southwest corner of Clark and Chestnut. Trouble is, the money has gotten them only a hole in the ground.

The group needs another $6 million to complete the spiritual sanctuary, complete with a place for mivkas, or ritual baths. Rabbi Meir Chai Benhiyoun, director of Chabad of the Loop, Gold Coast and Lincoln Park, said the group needs to find donors to complete the project or add a developer for a commercial and residential component.

That means, you guessed it, a zoning change would be needed for a structure larger that originally contemplated. A supporter of the center, Yehuda Sugar, said something in the 15-story range seems doable.

Ald. Brendan Reilly, whose 42nd Ward includes the site, said he has an open mind about a rezoning but said the organization must first draw up specific plans and get support from the neighbors before asking for his commitment.

Another alternative is to sell the property, former site of the Chestnut Station theater. The rabbi said he has no "developer preference" if he has to go that route. He said developer Alter Group Ltd. and architect Dan Coffey have provided valuable help.

Why start a project without the money in hand? Benhiyoun said he trusted advice that once work started, the biggest donations would materialize.

Bringing home the matzoh

Valley rabbi shows his devotion by making the symbolic bread.

By Michael Duck Of The Morning Call

As flames leapt up the sides of a Brooklyn bakery's wood-fired oven, Rabbi Yaakov Halperin of South Whitehall Township thrust a floppy circle of dough toward a brown-paper-lined table surrounded by fellow Jews.

Halperin's young cousins scampered underfoot while workers, following centuries-old, minutely detailed instructions, flung the dough over long wooden rods and plunged it into the 2,000-degree oven. In less than 25 seconds, the dough emerged as matzoh -- the special bread eaten by Jews around the world at Passover, which begins today at sundown.

To non-Jews, matzoh looks and tastes like a bland, slightly burned cracker made only with wheat and water. But to Halperin and other Lehigh Valley Jews, eating matzoh is a sacred link with their ancestors' escape from Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.

''It's one of the commandments of the Torah,'' or Jewish scriptures, to eat matzoh during the weeklong celebration of Passover, Halperin explained. ''When we do any of the commandments from God, we like to do it with our heart and passion. ... We want to do it the best way.''

That's why Halperin left his home at 5:15 a.m. on March 22, skipping breakfast and braving a 21/2 hour trek through New York City rush-hour traffic to make matzoh with his family, which belongs to the Lubavitch sect of Orthodox Jews.

Halperin, founder of the outreach organization Chabad Lubavitch of the Lehigh Valley, is one of just a few local rabbis who travel to Brooklyn for matzoh every year before Passover, though he may be the only one who personally helps make it.

Halperin's family, like several others in the Lubavitch sect, takes over the Lubavitch Matzoh Bakery in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood for one morning every year, said Yossi Spalter, Halperin's uncle. The family has come to this matzoh-only bakery for at least 30 years, said the uncle, who lives in Brooklyn.

From the street, the bakery looks more like an abandoned storefront with its graffiti, its broken windows and its house number scrawled in marker on a flimsy wooden door. But inside, the cramped rooms hum with Jews speaking Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian and following matzoh-making rules even stricter than those applied to kosher food eaten during the rest of the year.

Every year between late fall and mid-April, bakery workers make ton after ton of Passover matzoh by hand. Roughly 3,500 Crown Heights families buy matzoh for up to $20 per pound from the bakery, and last week its rickety shelves were stacked to the ceiling with matzoh to be shipped as far away as Russia.

Between 8 a.m. and noon March 22, about 25 members of Halperin's family helped prepare 267 pounds of Passover matzoh, he said.

More than 100 of those pounds came back to the Lehigh Valley, where Halperin gave away about 25 pounds and used the rest to fill dozens of orders from local Jews -- including Ronald Stein of South Whitehall, who bought about a pound of matzoh from Halperin this year.

''That special matzoh [is] about as close as we feel we can get to the way it was likely prepared � thousands of years ago,'' said Stein, a member of Allentown's Congregation Sons of Israel who also worships with Halperin.

At most meals during his family's eight-day Passover celebration, Stein said he and his family eat machine-made matzoh -- the square kind available in supermarkets. But during the Passover Seder, tonight's ritual meal of matzoh and other foods that opens the holiday, his family always uses round, handmade matzoh.

''The idea is for all of us at the Seder to put ourselves back at that place and time and see ourselves as being liberated,'' Stein said.

The ancient Jewish people fleeing their Egyptian slavedrivers had no time to let bread rise, Halperin said. According to Book of Exodus in the Torah, God commanded the Jews to dress for traveling, and then quickly eat roast lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. That night, the Torah says, God killed the firstborns in all Egyptian homes but passed over the homes of the Jews, who escaped in the following chaos.

God, through Moses and the Torah, commanded the Jews to commemorate their freedom every year by eating matzoh (sometimes spelled matzo or matzah), which means unleavened bread.

The Torah also condemns Jews who eat any leavened bread during Passover or even have any leavening in their homes during the holiday, saying their souls would be cut off from the community.

Even though flour for matzoh contains no yeast, it can still rise if it remains wet for 18 minutes, Halperin said. As a result, makers of the highest quality matzoh -- known as ''shmurah matzoh,'' meaning watched matzoh -- use strictly detailed rules to prevent even the minutest bit of leavening.

At the Lubavitch Matzoh Bakery, the water and flour are kept in separate, tiny rooms that resemble a closet only with a pass-through window.

All work surfaces are lined with brown paper that gets cleaned or changed every 18 minutes. Hundreds of holes are punched throughout the uncooked matzohs to prevent any bubbles from forming during baking. The short wooden rods used as rolling pins are even fed through a belt sander after each use to obliterate even the smallest specks of wet, leftover dough.

Machines also can be used to make shmurah matzoh, but a machine can't duplicate a baker's piety and devotion, said Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner, who heads Congregation Sons of Israel.

Besides, he said, handmade matzoh just tastes better.

''In terms of the taste and the texture of it � this is really the best one that I've found,'' said Torczyner, who also travels to Brooklyn every year to buy handmade matzoh from another bakery.

Most of Halperin's relatives have certain jobs they do every year at the Lubavitch Matzoh Bakery, but Halperin flitted throughout the building to pitch in wherever he could.

He inspected the wooden rods alongside uncle Yossi Spalter. He packed finished matzoh with father-in-law Rabbi Sholom Spalter of Morristown, N.J. He even helped sister-in-law Mushka Spalter, 15, of Morristown clean the metal mixing bowls with ice-cold water. (Warm water is forbidden, because it could help the dough rise).

''It's freezing!'' Halperin exclaimed as he scrubbed the bowl under the water.

''Guess what -- we do it every year!'' Mushka shot back with a grin.

Around the grown-ups' ankles scrambled young nephews and cousins like 5-year-old Eli Spalter of Montville, N.J., who was so excited before the trip that he couldn't sleep at night.

As the morning wore on, Jewish elementary students on field trips filed through the factory.

Exposing Jewish children to the matzoh-making process is an important and fun way to teach them about their heritage, said Halperin, who sometimes brings his three children to the matzoh bakery.

Most Jews, including Torczyner, don't personally bake their own matzoh, and Halperin said he's sure the bakery makes excellent matzoh regardless of whether his family is there. But to him, the annual excursion to Brooklyn is both a family reunion and a way of showing devotion.

''If we have the ability [to help make the matzohs], why not?'' he said. ''When you do something, do something right. � Do it with passion, with your whole soul and mind.''
Copyright © 2007, The Morning Call

Chabad's good works not diminished by fringe group's flyer

BY ROBERT A. COHN

This article is in response to the commentary piece by Rabbi Bruce Warshal, publisher emeritus of the Jewish Journal of South Florida, which appeared on page 7 of the March 21 edition of the St. Louis Jewish Light. It pains me to express my strong disagreement with the content and tone of Rabbi Warshal's piece which was headlined, "Is the Lubavitcher Rebbe the Messiah?"

I consider Rabbi Warshal to be a respected colleague in Jewish journalism, and I have often expressed my admiration for his writing, especially his thoughtful recent piece stating why Jews must be involved in efforts to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. On the other hand, I strongly disagreed with Rabbi Warshal's lengthy, two-part defense of the current book by former President Jimmy Carter, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. At the same time, I respect Rabbi Warshal's right to his views, and feel that his comments on the Carter book were based on a careful reading of its contents.

Regrettably, in Rabbi Warshal's piece on his experience of receiving a flyer while taking a walk a few months ago in Times Square from "two Chabadniks handing out literature," jumps to the harmful and I believe incorrect conclusion that the entire worldwide Chabad movement deserves to be accused of bizarre beliefs based on a flyer that he "assumes" is "official Chabad doctrine" based on the fact that the flyer contained the address "770 Eastern Parkway" in Brooklyn, which was the headquarters and home of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Rebbe or spiritual leader of the Chabad movement. Journalists, like our physician colleagues, have a solemn obligation to "first do no harm," and we are obligated not to "assume" facts without doing some simple fact-checking.

According to Rabbi Yosef Landa, Director of Chabad of St. Louis, the flyer from which Rabbi Warshal quotes "is the work of unknown individuals, and has no official connection with Chabad whatsoever." Rabbi Landa also asserts that the outlandish views expressed in the flyer do not reflect the official views of the worldwide Chabad movement, and that Chabad officials have "tried, in some cases successfully, to legally challenge the unauthorized uses of the name Chabad." He adds, however that "consequently, some of these mavericks have resorted to simply using the address of '770 Eastern Parkway' on their flyers in order to mislead the public," adding that "unfortunately, an address cannot be legally protected."

Despite the above, easily obtainable facts, Rabbi Warshal, in his piece writes, "The pamphlet says it comes directly from 770 Eastern Parkway, so I assume that it is official Chabad doctrine." To base a harshly critical and potentially harmful column against an entire worldwide Jewish movement on an "assumption" is deeply disappointing.

Over the years, I have received countless flyers from people on the street, some of them purporting to be Jews or of Jewish origin, who support Hare Krishna, Rev. Moon's Unification Church, the Hineni Ministries (Jews for Jesus) and other movements. If one of these flyers contained the address of a mainstream Jewish organization, I would not "assume" that it was authentic without firm verification.

I do not believe that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994, was the Moshiach, or Messiah, but it is clear that the Rebbe was, in the words of Rabbi Norman Lamm, a leading Orthodox rabbi, "an indomitable leader, a preeminent scholar and a truly creative visionary of organization." Rabbi Sholom Riskin, a leading Israeli rabbi, in a New York Jewish Week article, said that Rabbi Schneerson was "truly the great leader of this past generation."

Because of Rabbi Schneerson's towering intellect, powerful charisma and personal magnetism, there is a group of his followers who have asserted that he was or is indeed the Messiah, but this was never "official Chabad doctrine." Rabbi Landa in St. Louis says that "it should come as no surprise that we occasionally attract some 'strange birds'" but that "there's very little that the official Chabad authorities can do to stop this." In any event, the worldwide and St. Louis Chabad movements have never advocated the outlandish views quoted by Rabbi Warshal in the pamplet he received on Times Square.

It is highly regrettable that an entire worldwide and local movement, which is a strong force for good in the Jewish community, has been tarred with the brush of a strange and unofficial faction. Even more regrettable and inaccurate is the lumping together of Chabad with Jews for Jesus, to which it bears absolutely no similarity. Rabbi Landa has described the comparision as "obscene."

I was also taken aback by Rabbi Warshal's criticism not only of Chabad, but of Chasidism in general, and the exalted position of its rabbis. "No one stands between a Jew and his or her God," writes Rabbi Warshal, adding, "That's the distortion that Chasidism introduced into Judaism, whether a particular Chasidic rabbi believes that the Rebbe is the Messiah or not." At the Torah class at my home congregation, which is Reform, the wise words of Chasidic rabbis are often quoted with respect. In the class at Shaare Emeth, the commentaries of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Chabad Rebbe, are sometimes among the rabbinic sages quoted in the handouts. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Buber, who had backgrounds in traditional and liberal Judaism wrote and spoke respectfully of Chasidism. Far from being a "distortion," Chasidism's great rabbinic sages have helped us gain greater clarity on the meaning of our sacred texts. Surely our great rabbis, including Rabbi Schneerson, are deserving of the greatest respect.

Here in St. Louis, Chabad now has four centers: The Lazaroff Chabad Center in University City; Chabad of Chesterfield; The Source Unlimited; and Chabad on Campus, directed with great skill by Rabbi Hershey Novack and his wife Chana, which works in close cooperation with Hillel at Washington University. Just yesterday, at the Wohl Building of the Jewish Community Center, I saw scores of Jewish families taking part in Chabad's annual "Matzo Baking Workshop."

Worldwide, there are over 3,200 Chabad centers and educational programs. Back in 1978, in Morocco, a North African Arab country, I was with a group of Jewish journalists who visited a Chabad Jewish day school, whose students ranked at or near the top academically in nearly every subject nationwide. In the former Soviet Union, Chabad did truly heroic work in helping rescue victims of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster, making sure children who had been born with serious birth defects from the nuclear meltdown, received medical care either in Russia or Israel.

Rabbi Yosef Landa is respected by his rabbinic colleagues from all streams of Judaism, and he serves as chairman of the St. Louis Rabbinical Council, the rabbinical organization of all Orthodox and Traditional rabbis in St. Louis. Rabbi Landa is active in communitywide programs, including participation in last summer's rallies in support of Israel during the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Our tradition teaches us that we can disagree with our colleagues without being disagreeable or engaging in ad hominem attacks. The great Sages and Rabbis Hillel and Shammai 2,000 years ago in the Land of Israel, often disagreed with one another on biblical or other text legal interpretations, but always with great mutual respect and even with personal affection and friendship. I have affection and respect for both Rabbi Yosef Landa, a leader in our community, and for Rabbi Bruce Warshal, a respected Jewish journalistic colleague. It is my hope that this article helps set the record straight to asssure that the many good works and official views of the Chabad movement can be clarified and appreciated. It is written to foster shalom bayit, peace in our household of the Jewish community. It is my hope that it will foster mutual respect among all Jews in our community, locally and nationally.

Robert A. Cohn is editor-in-chief emeritus of the St. Louis Jewish Light.