TORONTO, Canada — Geovanny Hidalgo never expected an award. But at a ceremony last week at the Wilson Station bus depot, the 40-year-old Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) bus driver was presented with the Canadian Jewish Congress’ (CJC) Louis Lenkinski Memorial Award, which is named for the late labour and Jewish community official and given to individuals who demonstrate “excellence and dedication in the area of human rights, community service and social justice.”

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In last Winter’s column, (here) I reflected on Chabad’s admirable hospitality. Indeed, throughout the world, in virtually every city where a Jewish community of even modest size is to be found, Chabad shelichim (emissaries) conduct religious services, visit hospitals, teach children, organize Jewish holiday celebrations, and offer Shabbat meals to lonely Jewish students and travelers. No other Jewish movement—Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform—has been able to produce a corps of similarly devoted young men and women who are prepared to serve the Jewish people with such personal sacrifice.

Unfortunately, other Chabad practices are less admirable. Here are two examples.

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TWIN CITIES, MN — One month after a handwritten Torah was stolen from Yeshiva High School of the Twin Cities in Cottage Grove, a scribe is working on writing a new one.

Under a trained and experienced scribe’s watchful eye, on Sunday, the school’s students, rabbis and other members of the Jewish community had a chance to write the first few words of the Jewish holy book, which will contain more than 350,000 handwritten letters when it’s complete.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

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BROOKLYN, NY — The 21 days from November 4-25 promise to be quiet ones for Jewish children around the world who have signed up for the Kehot Book-A-Thon. With TV set turned off, thousands of children enrolled from over 250 schools and library may find that reading is an experience that can rival even the excitement of the PlayStation.

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MACHESTER, England — “The Minyan” established 5 years ago as part of the Manchester Beis Menachem Community Centre celebrated its 5th anniversary by commencing the writing of a new Kehillah Sefer Torah.- Ben Chomesh Lemikrah.

More Pictures in the Extended Article! (by Menachem Abrams)

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FORT MYERS, FL [CHI] — Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida and the Shluchim Rabbi Yitzchok and Nechamie Minkowicz host 20 Bochurim and Shluchim from the Yeshiva Mesivta of Miami Beach for Shabbos.

More in the Extended Article!

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CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn [CHI] — Over 700 hundred students from more then 60 campuses came together in Crown Heights for the annual Chabad on Campus Shabbaton. Students arrived on Friday and were set with places to stay amongst families who opened their doors for the guests.

Shabbos was filled with Farbrengens, sessions and lectures about various topics ranging from Chassidus and Kabbalah to the philosophy of chabad and contemporary issues.

Many more pictures in the Extended Article!

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NEW YORK, NY — The Manhattan Institute granted its prestigious Award for Social Entrepreneurship to Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Levi and Bassie Shemtov, founders of the trailblazing Friendship Circle, which pairs teenage volunteers with children with special needs in an effort to help those with developmental disabilities to eventually live independently.

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The entire Shas has been completely distributed in less than 48 hours!

As the family of Shluchim worldwide mourns the passing of Mrs. Sarah Rohr, wife of Yibadlu Lechaim Tovim Reb Shmuel Rohr and mother of Mr. George Rohr, all Shluchim unify in a joint commemorative endeavor.

All Shluchim are invited to partake in a global Chalukas Hashas to be completed during the shloshim period.

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Mrs. Charlotte Rohr, a devoted mother and grandmother who nurtured a family with philanthropic interests spanning the globe, died in her hometown of Bal Harbour, Fla., on Monday after a long illness. She was 78.

Known equally for her beauty and charm, Mrs. Rohr had a disarming penchant for displaying an inordinate amount of care and attention to friends and those who came to her for advice. Those who were close to her described a regal figure with an infectious laugh who paid great attention to the details of the lives of those around her.

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Last month, Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Jacob Goldstein planted the seeds of a Jewish infrastructure in a location most people don't think of a home to Jews: the U.S. military installation at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The expectation, said the Army colonel and chaplain, is that Jewish life there will only expand.

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In Tishrai 1977 (5738) when the Rebbe suffered his first heart attack, Dr. Ira Weiss from Skokei, IL came to Brooklyn to treat the Rebbe. From then on a very close relationship formed between the Rebbe, the Rebbetzin and Dr. Weiss.

CrownHeights.info has learned that Dr. Weiss will be speaking to the Shluchim at this year’s convention at the Motzoai Shabbos Sessions of the Kinus Hashluchim chaired by Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky the vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch.

CHI ED: Massive Kiddush Hashem made by Chabad Shluchim of California recognized by the AP!

RUNNING SPRINGS, CA — Dark beards blowing, black felt fedoras flying off their heads, the four Hasidic rabbis clapped their chests with open palms and cheered as the firefighting helicopter dipped its bucket into their camp swimming pool.

At the Camp Gan Israel, crews fighting devastating blazes in the mountains east of Los Angeles have found more than a source of water. The rabbis have been serving kosher meals, spiced with a dollop of their own spiritual musings.

More in the Extended Article!

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CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn — When hundreds of college students descend on the Chabad-Lubavitch enclave of Crown Heights in Brooklyn, N.Y., later this week, they will represent the largest-such gathering in the Jewish movement’s more-than half century of work on university campuses.

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The number of displaced Southern Californians climbed to more than 1 million Wednesday as several wildfires continued their warlike march across the state's arid brush and forests.

Tuesday night saw some 12,000 S. Diego residents bed-in at the downtown Qualcomm Stadium, waiting for word on the fate of their homes and belongings. There to feed about 3,000 of them were Chabad-Lubavitch representatives and a team of volunteers who had driven in a mobile kitchen to supplement the relief efforts of the city's own Chabad Houses.

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Mrs. Risya Posner, who with her husband Rabbi Zalman Posner established the first Chabad-Lubavitch presence in Nashville, Tenn., died Tuesday at the age 80. An inimitable force behind Lubavitch outreach operations and techniques across the world, she was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Lubavitch parents who had immigrated from Russia. She and her husband pioneered the field of campus-based outreach, almost immediately inviting Vanderbilt University students to their home after their arrival in Nashville.

From when she was a baby until her last day in the hospital, she elicited love from those who were mere acquaintances as easily as from those who had known her for decades.

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NEW YORK, NY — Rabbi David Berger, a historian who is a sharp critic of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, has been appointed head of Jewish studies at Yeshiva University’s undergraduate college in a move that has ruffled some feathers on the campus.

Writing in the college’s student paper, the Commentator, Josh Shteir, a senior at the school and a co-president of the Chabad Club on campus, argued that Berger’s “intolerance” of Chabad is unacceptable at Y.U. The university is affiliated with the Modern Orthodox movement but welcomes Orthodox Jews who practice differently.

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CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn [CHI] — Last night, there was an impressive premiere at the Jewish Children's Museum. The Early Years, Volume III was shown to a group of guests made up of interviewees, supporters of JEM, the production team and those that helped make the video possible.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

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CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn [CHI] — This November, the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute will unveil an intriguing new course at over 250 affiliates across the globe. Unlike other courses that are concerned primarily with the modern State of Israel or its ancient history, The Land and The Spirit focuses on the mystery of the deep bond so many people feel for the land of Israel.

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On Friday Vov Cheshvan/October 19, Yeshivas Lubavitch of Baltimore, only in its third year since opening, moved into their new building. During the past two years the yeshiva used space in Ohel Levi Yitzchok Lubavitch under the leadership of Rabbi Elchonon Lisbon. With the increased growth of the yeshiva from one Shiur in its first year to two Shiurim in its second year and close to 50 Bochurim and Talmidim Hashluchim, the need for the yeshiva to have a building of its own became quite clear.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

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On Sunday Bais Cheshvan, The Shluchim Office’s Chinuch Yaldei Hashluchim Division kicked off the new year with a Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan Celebration.

The CYH Celebration is unique, because it is the traditional Chassideshe Farbrengen in an ultra modern modem. Children from Calgary and Florida to Vilna get together via the internet to Farbreng, and to unite.

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The school library at Conejo Jewish Day School is looking forward to expanding in the near future. This, without having to worry about budget limitations.

The students, in kindergarten through sixth grade, will be reading books to raise money for their library. For the third consecutive year, the students will be participating in Kehot Publication Society's annual Book-a-thon.

More in the Extended Article!

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MALIBU, CA — A wildfire fueled by 50 mph Santa Ana winds and rising temperatures burned about 1,000 acres in the Malibu Hills area on Sunday, claiming several area businesses and landmarks, including Castle Kashan and Malibu Presbyterian Church, as well as threatening Pepperdine University.

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The newly-released film from JEM (Jewish Educational Media), The Early Years Volume III, chronicles the lives of the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin in the years before they arrived in the United States. The film documents the years 1937-1940, when the Rebbe lived in Paris.

Like Early Years Volumes I and II, Volume III includes first-person accounts and testimonies, never-before-seen documents, and a wealth of fascinating information that answers questions about this little-known period.

Click Here to see other new revelations in the film.

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BROOKLYN, NY — October 16th marked the 28th yahrzeit of Rabbi Dovid Okunov, who was brutally gunned down at the age of 68 on his way to the morning shacharit service on Montgomery Street. On Thursday, October 25, 1979 (Daled Cheshvan) at 7 a.m., Reb Dovid, as he was affectionately known, was shot in the head with one bullet. A much beloved Torah teacher and community worker, Reb Dovid died at the scene. The entire Lubavitch community and Jews in New York were in a state of shock when the murder story appeared in the New York Times and Daily News.

Over 3,000 Lubavitch chassidim attended his funeral later on that day, and he was laid to rest at the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens not far from the resting place of the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

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SYDNEY, Australia — Unveiling JLI as the largest adult education network in Australia. For the first time, the Australian JLI affiliates gathered for a regional conference to launch the new JLI semester for 5768. Unveiling JLI as the largest Australian network for adult education, the program was held at the Chabad House of the North Shore in Sydney, where its director, Rabbi Nochum Shapiro is the Chairman of JLI in Australia.

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WASHINGTON, DC — Maybe he gained a lot of chutzpah when he lost 100 pounds. Whatever the case, even those who have seen firsthand the incredible transformation of Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) from 338 pounds to somewhere just upwards of 200 may still be surprised to learn that he can scale high walls like a pole vaulter.

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FREEHOLD, NJ — The Township Committee recently adopted changes to the municipality's land use code to modify the words “church” and “churches” and the phrase “places of worship” to read houses of worship."

The change stems from an ongoing legal case involving Rabbi Avraham Bernstein, a member of Chabad Lubavitch, a worldwide Jewish organization headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y., who has lived on Stillwells Corner Road directly across from the municipal building since 1998.

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LOS ANGELES, CA — Mrs. Dasha Spira Lewin, a proud Holocaust survivor who became a top executive with the Neutrogena Corporation and a generous friend of Chabad, will be honored at a memorial service held at the Bais Sonya Gutte campus on Schneerson Square at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 17. Mrs. Lewin passed away on September 11, and was laid to rest beside her husband, Maury, in Prague's Jewish Cemetery.

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SPRINGFIELD, IL — Illinois' state House of Representatives voted Thursday to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich's veto of a moment-of-silence bill, effectively making law provisions for all public schools in the state to begin their days with a moment of silence.

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Five Chabad-Lubavitch centers in Maryland received just shy of $350,000 in federal Homeland Security grants over the past two years.

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For as long as anybody can remember, Jewish Jamaicans have never had a real set of the Four Species, otherwise known as a lulav and etrog, during Sukkot. The island has few date palms and no willows, let alone no etrogs and a strict import policy when it comes to produce. Despite holding on to a vestige of the Sukkot necessities, when it came to the real thing, the community of some 200 has always done without.

Until this year.

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DNIPROPETROVSK, Ukrain [CHI] — Tzivos Hashem of the C.I.S. organised the biggest children’s rally in the former Soviet Union. Shmuli Brown who heads the Publishing and Programs for Tzivos Hashem of the C.I.S. organised an event for more than 500 children to cruise along the Dnepr River in 2 boats, they enjoyed a very funny show from the clowns aboard. Upon arriving on one of the islands on the Dnepr River the children were surprised to find 2 Sukkos there and were greeted with lively music whilst disembarking.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

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