The New York Jewish Week reports on the fight for control of the main Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue in Crown Heights:
The two camps — the anti-messianists run the Chabad worldwide outreach, while the messianists, a smaller but very active gorup, control the street in Crown Heights — have waged a simmering war since 1994, when the Lubavitcher [...]
Entries from June 2005
June 30, 2005
NY Jewish Week On The Fight For 770
June 30, 2005
The Forward Goes To Crown Heights
The Forward has coverage of the split within Chabad over how to react to Disengagement:
Hundreds of Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim gathered in New York City last week to rally community opposition to Israel’s plan to dismantle settlements in Gaza and the northern West Bank.
The rally, held June 23 at the movement’s worldwide headquarters in the Crown Heights [...]
June 29, 2005
Was It All About Extortion? Why Russia Really Tried To “Ban” The Code Of Jewish Law
The JTA reports:
Following a storm of protest from Jewish groups and Israeli politicians, Russian officials have dropped a probe into a Russian Jewish group for publishing a religious Jewish book.
But Russian and U.S. Jewish officials warn that those interested in human rights should remain vigilant to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“The fact that the [...]
June 29, 2005
Chabad Rabbis Meet With Prime Minister Sharon – Rabbis: We Can Barely Exert Our Authority Over Chabad
An account of Prime Minister Sharon’s meeting with Chabad rabbis (from Arutz 7):
The meeting began in a friendly atmosphere, but tensions gradually rose, and at certain points it was "almost on the verge of an explosion." So said today one of the participants, Chabad Spokesman Rabbi Menachem Brod, to Arutz-7’s Yosef Meiri.
Participating in the meeting [...]
June 29, 2005
Iowa County Again Rejects Rubashkin Bid To Open Massive Factory Chicken Farm
An Iowa county has again rejected a Rubashkin bid to open a massive factory chicken farm:
[Rabbi Sholom M.] Rubashkin is manager of Agriprocessors, meat packing plant, which would take the broilers raised by Cottonballs. The Environmental Protection Agency has filed a lawsuit against Agriprocessors claiming the company repeatedly exceeded legal limits on pollutants discharged from [...]
June 29, 2005
How To Oppose Disengagement Thug (And Chabad) Style
How to oppose Disengagement thug (and Chabad) style. Note the sick use of small children:
Several dozen protesters, all of them children and teenagers, dashed into the road and stopped traffic in both directions. Police dragged about 10 protesters into a van. The protesters resisted and several escaped.
A few minutes earlier, children under the age of [...]
June 28, 2005
Rubashkin Ready To Open New Nebraska Slaughterhouse
“We are excited to work with our local partners in Nebraska and South Dakota to make Local Pride a full part of the Gordon community,” Sholom Rubashkin, whose family owns Local Pride, said in a press release. “For us, this effort represents the best of all worlds: The Gordon plant is a great business opportunity [...]
June 28, 2005
Famine Sweeps Southern (Christian) Sudan
… Naked but for a pair of bangles on his ankles and white dust caking his skin, the four-year-old had collapsed a few steps from a group of starving children sheltering under a tree. It was as if he had been discarded.
Working as a reporter in Africa, it’s not uncommon to see people dying. For [...]
June 28, 2005
Russia “Ends” Effort To Ban Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh
Russia has officially "ended" its attempt to ban the Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh for "incitement" against non-Jews.
The Jerusalem Post’s coverage makes it appear that Chabad’s "chief rabbi of Russia" Berl Lazar is behind the lifting of the probe.
Ha’aretz tells a fuller, more complete story. It seems Israel and international Jewish organizations got involved and the Israelis [...]
June 28, 2005
Chabad Delegation Meets With Sharon – Opposes Disengagement, Violent Protests
According to Ynet, a Chabad delegation from Brooklyn led by Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner met with with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The upshot?
Chabad opposes disengagement but also opposes all non-violent forms of protest (that would include blocking highways, burning tires, vandalism, etc., along with more violent actions).
Ynet also notes that:
At this time it is still unclear [...]
June 27, 2005
Russia Moves To Ban Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh
Related news story here. Miriam Shaviv’s take here.
June 26, 2005
Chabad Rabbinical Court: You Demonstrate, You Get Arrested, We Expel You From School
According to Arutz 7, Chabad’s Israel rabbinical court has decided to expel any student arrested in anti-disengagement demonstrations, unless those demonstrations were specifically pre-approved by the court.
The court has only minor influence over most rank-and-file Lubavitchers; it would appear enrollment in Chabad’s openly messianist schools will soon be growing.
June 25, 2005
Jack Abramoff’s E-mails
Republican lobbyist and Orthodox Jew Jack Abramoff’s e-mails reveal much about his apparently criminal motivation.
Abramoff defrauded* the Choctaw Indians in order to have more cash to pay for his Orthodox school and for other Jewish charitable causes.
(You’ll note that Rabbi Daniel Lapin appears to be lying in the second linked article. Why? Read the fully-quoted [...]
