Op-Ed: A Rov is not Subject to Public Opinion
The writer does bring up some good points, on the shortness of time being given to the community, to get to know the candidates. There most certainly should have been more time, no one is disputing that, and an Op-ed by Yitzchak Wagshul to that affect was published some time back.
But the medicine (a tryout period), the writer is suggesting, is way worse then, the disease (not enough time).
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Op-Ed: Solution to the Shidduch Challenge
By Menucha Cohen
Most people agree that there is a major shidduch challenge in Lubavitch, and that unfortunately it's only getting worse. However, although many ideas have been suggested, no tachlis has come out of all this yet.In this article, I'll try to outline what I believe are the major causes of the shidduch challenge as well as propose some potential solutions. My goal is that something concrete should come out of all our kvetching, as in the end, what we all want is to end this frustrating and sad issue ASAP.
Please feel free to comment and add any solutions you think may be helpful. I believe if we are to fix the issue, all of Lubavitch has to come together to do it, from all the factions, geographical locations, etc. Achdus is the only way! Besuros tovos!
Op-Ed: Please Think Before you Spam!
by Rochele Vorst - Charlotte, NC
Like all Mosdos, our small day school is struggling. Many more of our students require financial assistance, and the donations that in the past were difficult to procure have now become next to impossible. I’m sure you are familiar with what I am talking about.
Re: Are There Any Lines for Chabad's Ahavas Yisroel?
By Rochel Goldblatt
Dear Crown Heights Residents,I wrote an op-ed a couple of weeks ago titled “Love Your Fellow Crown Heightser As Yourself” and hope it was well received. Another piece, “Are There Any Lines for Chabad's Ahavas Yisroel?” recently responded to it. This is my response.
The article concluded by asking two questions:
1. “Do not the individuals who walk here at home in Crown Heights and call themselves Lubavitchers also deserve rebuke?”
2. “Are there any lines for Lubavitch’s Ahavas Yisroel”?
Op-Ed: Are There Any Lines for Chabad's Ahavas Yisroel?
by Yerachmiel Glickstein
I waited until after Tisha B’Av to respond to the letter, Love Your Fellow Crown Heightser as Yourself, lest I be accused of inciting sinas chinom on Tisha B’Av. Other websites and individuals have now taken up the issue as well. Sinas chinom is not the goal of this letter. Rather, this is a wakeup calls to the Lubavitch community to remedy the situation in a way that is both effective and sustainable. Acceptance is beneficial for peace and improving society, but it does not better the lack of tznius and observance in Lubavitch.
The assertion that it is the Lubavitch way to do things with Ahavas Yisroel is correct. Ahavas Yisroel should guide how individuals in the community act toward one another, especially to the point of helping others achieve a better level of spirituality. Even when correcting the bad actions of others, Ahavas Yisroel is mandatory.
Op-Ed: One Standard Of Justice?
by Nathan Lewin
A front-page story in The New York Times of July 10 reported that federal immigration authorities in the Obama administration have adopted a “new strategy” to replace the military-style raids that were conducted in the Bush years to find and arrest illegal aliens.
Op-Ed: Stop Bugging Me!
“Stop asking me to vote--bug off!”
That's what someone told one of my colleagues yesterday when asked to vote for a school to win $500,000 in the Kohl's contest.
My first reaction was, “Wow, is it really that annoying? Now that I am on the asking end of it I didn't think of that.” But then I remembered back to a year ago when Devorah Benjamin asked people to vote for her amazing organization, Keren Simchas Choson V'Kallah.
Love Your Fellow Crown Heightser As Yourself!
In response to the recent op-eds on CrownHeights.info, a resident emailed us a letter addressed to the whole community. She reminds everyone, as Lubavitchers we must love every Jew, whether we understand or agree with them.
Op-Ed: Thank You Shomrim!
A toddler alone. Illustration Photo.
From the inbox: Rabbi Bentzion Elisha writes of the horror of being awakened on a Friday night, and being informed that his 2-year-old son went missing, and was found by a volunteer in Shomrim. At 4:00am.
Op-Ed: On the Race for the Rabbinate
by Yitzchok Wagshul
With elections for a new Vaad Hakahal successfully behind us, I think our community should take a moment to reflect on our accomplishment, and to congratulate ourselves on a job well done.
The idea for these elections—as mandated in the recent psak din that resolved all outstanding community disputes—was that we should have a Vaad Hakahal universally accepted by all segments of the community. As in any election, there will always be some people disappointed by the results, but—since virtually every eligible voter in Crown Heights participated—there can be no doubt that those results are the legitimate will of the people. True, “the people” aren’t always perfect; there’s always the possibility of winding up with an outcome that is less than objectively ideal. But democracy is the best system we have, and it was endorsed by the Rebbe, so, once a valid election has been held, we can all feel good about the results. It’s part of the system that, if things don’t turn out as expected, there will be another election in a few years and we will be able to choose again.
Op-Ed: Fretting Over Inevitabilities
Photo Courtesy Basil
RETRACTION AND APOLOGY: a previous version of this letter alleged that the op-ed in question was slanderous. The letter writer retracts the allegation being that it was hyperbole. The letter writer also apologizes that the letter was taken as a personal attack on the op-ed author's. It was not intended as character attack, rather as a sharp criticism of the op-ed author's ideas. It has been edited in this new version for clarification.
An Open Letter to Mottel
Dear Mottel,
Your op-ed, A Fire Burns in Crown Heights: An Essay on Religion, Modernity and Pizza, was based on false pretenses. It misunderstand everyone attacked in the long and erroneous expose (with its ensuing comments) on the current tensions between the so-dubbed zealots, the restaurants, and the men and women on the streets of Crown Heights. Its view of the situation is narrow; its ability to influence is limited; and its solutions may be effective in Nevel or Never Never Land, but not in Crown Heights. Your advice is not helpful.
Op-Ed: I Can’t Bring Myself to Care About the Elections
by Tova Bernbaum
A woman casting a vote. Illustration Photo.
Despite all the talk about Community Council elections lately, I find I can’t really bring myself to care too much about who’s in and who’s out. My apathy is partially due to the fact that I don’t really know what the Community Council does, but I think the bigger reason might be that like other women in Crown Heights, I can neither run nor vote in these elections.
Op-Ed: Congratulations Crown Heights!
Yosef Katzman (L) farbrenging with Zaki Tamir and Reb Yami Lifshitz.
By Yosef Katzman
First of all congratulations and a hearty Mazal Tov to the newly elected Vaad of Crown Heights, you were voted in by an election that was held with the participation of an overwhelming majority of the residents of the Rebbe’s Shchuna, and we all pray for you and for your success on behalf of the residents of Crown Heights.
Op-Ed: A Fire Burns in Crown Heights
By Mottel
Photo Courtesy Basil
An Essay on Religion, Modernity and Pizza
We live in a dual culture - pulled by the Jewish, Chassidic, and uniquely Lubavitcher traditions that bind us, we also seek on some level to integrate into the society around us. Our use of innovations in technology, our homes, and even our clothes, are all the result of the modern world's influence on our lives. [Note to those that take issue with the belief that any modernity has seeped into our Lubavitcher meta-culture: Our mode of dress - be it the short jacket, the choice of a more modern fedora over the more traditional Russian kasket, or even the relatively modern design of the Kapote (based on the Victorian Prince Albert frock) are all signs of our organic adaptation to the modern world]. The calls of modern life offer a lot of potential. They also give room to incredible danger. It is the tension of spanning this spiritual chasm that we must address if we are to remain viable as a group.
Op-Ed: Love, with Respect, is all you need!
By Rabbi Pinchas Allouche
Obsessed With Love
Some people are willing to do almost anything to be loved. Our society lacks no example of ridiculous cases in which cravers of love are willing to strip themselves of their innermost dignity to desperately attract the affection of others. The recent ‘balloon boy’ saga, ‘kiss cams’ at sports games, lavish lifestyles or simple, yet bizarre human behaviors, all shout the same message: “Please love me!”
The Indian Phone Rep Recalls Mumbai Shluchim
From The Inbox:
Yitzchak Sapochkinsky from Chabad of Westlake Village, CA was speaking with an American Express representative at an indian call center, when the rep suddenly expressed interest in Chabad. The indian rep went on to say “I live in Mumbai, India, next door to the Chabad House” and spoke about the Holtzberg's.
Editorial: Prosecutions are Not the Answer to Immigration
Editorial for Des Moines Register
It sounds like a simple approach to this country's illegal immigration problems: Crack down on businesses that employ undocumented workers.
But it's not so simple. Just consider the jury's verdict of “not guilty” for Sholom Rubashkin. The former Agriprocessors Inc. executive had been charged with scores of child labor violations and was acquitted on all of them. The Iowa Attorney General's Office alleged Rubashkin knew there were many children working in the Postville slaughterhouse prior to the 2008 federal immigration raid - but that he did nothing to put a stop to it.
Rubashkin Aquittal: Behind The Smoke And Mirrors
By Debbie Maimon - Published in the Yated Ne'eman
Former Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin, right, hugs defense attorney Mark Weinhardt after being acquitted of all 67 counts of child labor violations at the Postville slaughterhouse at the Black Hawk County Courthouse Monday, June 7, 2010, in Waterloo, Iowa.
The dramatic vindication of Sholom Rubashkin in the state child-labor trial last week has wreaked havoc with the public's view of him. Given his media-battered reputation, no one expected him to be acquitted of the state charges. Bias against him, especially in Iowa, was rampant. Many described their shocked reaction to the verdict.
The government had promised they had a solid case and there was no reason to doubt it.
The public had long been convinced that Sholom Mordechai presided over a crime-ridden plant where, in addition to minors being forced to work with dangerous chemicals and machinery, workers were subjected to forced labor and other outrages.
Op-Ed: Friedman and Paltiel: Chassidishe Openness or the Thought Police?
By Anonymous
A great person once told me that whenever she enters a room, the first thing she notices is the racial makeup of the people in the room. As an observer at last night’s question and answer session with Rabbis Manis Friedman and Yossi Paltiel, I was struck by how un-diverse the audience was. The room was brimming with an almost entirely young moderate- to very-chassidish crowd or those with the hergesh to wear white shirts on Gimmel Tammuz, if you will. Mostly older 770 bochurim and yungerleit.
What was more glaring was who were not there – the so-called single working class and the young Lubavitch college students. It is ironic that a program put on by the newly founded Besht Center did not attract an audience from their target group at one of its largest events of the year. But it is unsurprising considering how predictably unfulfilling these events tend to be. I only came down there because I felt I must do something on Gimmel Tammuz and because my friend paid my five-dollar admission fee.
Op-Ed: The Never-Ending Lynching of Sholom Rubashkin
by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Sister Mary McCauley, the former pastoral administrator at St. Bridget's Catholic Church in Postville, Iowa, who provided support for families affected by the Agriprocessors raid, publicly condemned the complete acquittal of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin on charges of child labor violations as a tragedy. “I was heartsick,” she declared. “I had to just sit and deal with the heartbreak I was feeling.”
Never mind that a jury deliberated only 12 hours to reach a verdict exonerating Rubashkin on all 67 counts. Never mind that Rubashkin, a father of ten with a long of history of charitable acts feeding the hungry and the poor, has been so demonized in the press that it was practically impossible for him to receive a fair trial, and still he was found innocent. The good sister is convinced that the man should have gone down. Her heart tells her so. The jury be damned.
Reizes on Elections and Voting
We are holding community elections to choose candidates for Vaad Hakahol / CHJCC and for Gabboim, to run the crown jewel of crown heights, 770 Eastern Parkway - the Rebbe’s shul.
I will ask of you to please read the following with the attention that it deserves, and don’t judge the ideas by the writer but by the content.
The Rebbe once said that everything which happens in Crown Heights has an effect on the entire world. In a footnote, the Rebbe adds that (being that this generation is the last generation of golus, and the first generation of geulah, hence the culmination and climax of all generations therefore, the Rebbe emphasizes that) everything that happens in Crown Heights has an effect (not only on this generation but also) on all the previous generations.
Op-Ed: The Issue of the Withdrawal of Mesira
In an open letter to the community titled “Re: various claims on the issue of the withdrawal of Mesira,” Yosef Katzman and Yanky Sufrin explain the various claims on the issue of the withdrawal of Mesira.
Helen of Oy, Reuters, and the Deceitful Press
by Getzy Markowitz
There was a time that I figured everyone to be mortal except for Helen Thomas. However, the 89 year old “Queen of the Press,” has proven her mortality through a royal indiscretion that will discredit her legacy.
Millions have now seen the footage of Thomas suggesting that Jews, “Get the hell out of Palestine,” and “Go back to Germany and Poland.” What's more, Thomas' awful remarks were made at a White House reception celebrating American-Jewish heritage.
