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 […]
Hebrew Option for Children in Public Schools
“An astonishing project with stunning individuals running it” portrays Joey Garazi of Skylake, “my girl anticipates her opportunity there consistently, more than whatever else she does.” It’s nothing unexpected to the network that Dade province’s #1 appraised after-school program happens to be controlled by Chabad! An instructive counseling organization procured by Miami-Dade to rate all […]
50 Years Later: Robert F. Kennedy and the Rebbe
On Sept. 3, 1964, shortly after announcing his intention to run for a U.S. Senate seat from New York, Robert F. Kennedy resigned as Attorney General of the United States. Later that month, Kennedy headed to 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., to meet with the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, […]
A Pratt Student’s Immersion in Mikvah Design
he spaces that house mikvahs have a plethora of different aesthetics, ranging from the bare bones functionality of a European shtetl to an opulent spa at the Four Seasons. But after spending a summer in Israel in which she visited many ancient and historic mikvahs in Safed and around Israel, recent art-school graduate Rachel Udkoff […]
Demand for Books of Rebbe’s Teachings Leaves Print Houses Scrambling for Paper
In recent weeks, thousands of people have received their brand-new sets of Toras Menachem, 60 Hebrew-language volumes of the teachings of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. An email sent to purchasers notified anyone picking their books up in person in Brooklyn, N.Y., that they ought to come with a car: the three […]