High Holidays are a time for renewed spirituality Ari Shortt is looking forward to celebrating Rosh Hashanah with his community. Shortt, a Ph.D. candidate studying psychology in Guelph, Ontario, will head to his neighborhood Chabad center with his wife, Eva, and two sons, ages 5 and 2, to enjoy the holiday alongside students and locals […]
A Bee-Keeping Rabbi Explains What the Buzz Is All About
The complex world of honey bees has correlations to Judaism, and not just at High Holiday time Human instinct may be to swat, run away or do a frantic little dance to avoid contact with bees, but like most small living creatures, they have more to fear from us than we them. In fact, they […]
A Look at 5779’s Most Formative Stories
From hatred to hope, and from loss to resolve The Jewish year 5779 was replete with consequential events, and Chabad.org/News covered hundreds of them. We shared uplifting moments of humanity at its best and heart-wrenching stories about humanity at its worst. We were there in Pittsburgh, as a community reeled from a horrific attack and […]
The Sights and Sounds of Prepping for Rosh Hashanah
Pre-holiday activities at Chabad centers around the globe Rosh Hashanah is in the air. Hundreds of thousands of adults and children learn about and experience the holidays at Chabad centers each year, with more than 4,000 centers worldwide offering pre-holiday activities for young and old alike. Here are just a sample. Toot Your Horn! Dozens […]
Two Men From Worlds Apart Fulfill the Same Dream: To Chant the Torah
Separate Jewish journeys culminate in a difficult, but rewarding, effort Sixty-seven-year-old Fima Shmulburd was born in Ukraine, during Soviet rule, and the child didn’t know he was Jewish until overhearing a conversation between his grandparents in Yiddish. “My grandfather made a joke about G‑d,” Shmulburd recalls, “and grandmother berated him, yelling ‘You are a Jew!’” […]
Historic Home to Khazars and Cantonists, Astrakhan Gets a Mikvah
City’s first ritual bath in 90 years a certain sign of Jewish revival The Jewish community of Astrakhan has roots that go back to the dawn of recorded history in Eastern Europe. Situated near the salt mines of Lake Baskunchak, northwest of the Caspian Sea in the southernmost reaches of Russia, Astrakhan has experienced the […]
What’s Joe DiMaggio Got To Do With Chabad?
Joe DiMaggio walks into a Chabad synagogue. This is not a joke. Although he died years ago, Joe has become a friend of our center. We even named our social hall in his honor. I’m the rabbi (and cantor) at a Chabad shul in Hollywood, Florida. And this is the story of a how a […]
There are Jews on Bali?
Dan Kohane of Teaneck will describe his new community on Indonesia’s storied island We know that there are small communities of Jews all around the world, often in the most surprising places. There are not only clusters of Jews in Shanghai and Tokyo and Hong Kong — which isn’t so surprising, given how important those […]
Remembering R’ Yosef Kievman z’l
By Rabbi Moishe Kievman, Highland Lakes, FL – 23 Tamuz, 5779The below excerpt is from my remarks at the Family Shul event marking my father’s Shloshim, based on my personal memories, feelings and understandings. Today marks the Shloshim, the thirty day mourning period after my father’s passing. Many of you remember my father from his […]
Chanukah Comes to Life in Modi’in, the Birthplace of the Maccabees
Merging past, present and future in a hyper-modern Israeli city The people of Modi’in have some pretty big shoes to fill come every Chanukah. The city, located in Israel’s center midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is the illustrious epicenter of the Chanukah story and hometown of its heroes—the larger-than-life Maccabees and their emboldened leader […]