Tuesday, December 30, 2008


Last minute preparations are underway for the massive event 'Shloshim LaKedoshim' that will take place tomorrow in Jerusalem. Tens of thousands are expected to attend, including over 100 Gedolim, Rabbis and Jewish leaders from all walks of life. COLlive will be broadcasting live video from the event at 10:00 am EST(9:00am chicago)video here

THE SHOW #3


THE SHOW HERE

Monday, December 29, 2008

Bava Kamma and Seder Nezikin begin tomorrow, December 30


The Merkaz Daf Yomi of the Chicago Center for Torah & Chesed invites you to take advantage of one of our 4 daily Shuirim the fits your schedule, 6:00-6:40 AM given by Rabbi Avrohom Shimon Moller, 8:00-9:00 PM given by Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Turin, 9:15-10:20 PM given by Rabbi Yakov Sussman & 10:00-11:00 PM given by Rabbi Shmuel Yeshaya Keller.
If you can not make it to a shiur I recommend THE OU'S DAF YOMI SHIUR given by Rabbi Elefant it is a great shiur and you can download it to an mp3 player or watch the webcast

VIDEO: Shea Rubenstein Music Video In Memory of Mumbai Kedoshim

video here

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Join the Shabbos Table Machsom L'fi monthly conference call, tonight
Thursday at 9:30pm EST. (8:30pm chicago)
Speaker: Rabbi Ephraim Eliyahu Shapiro, Rav Cong. Shaaray Tefilah, N. Miami
Beach FL
646-519-5860 pin 8821#

by The Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation

Friday, December 12, 2008

FROM CHABAD.ORG ON PARSHAS VAYISHLACH

The Angel in the Kitchen


By Tali Loewenthal
Kosher meat is defined in a number of ways--it must be the right kind of animal, slaughtered in the right way, and soaked, salted and rinsed to remove the blood. In addition, the rump of the animal cannot be eaten unless it goes through a delicate process called nikur or "deveining" of certain veins.

The reason for this last point is in this week's parshah.1 Jacob, ancestor of the Jewish people, was wrestling with a spiritual force, an angel. The Rabbis tell us that this angel was the supernal power of Esau. The battle was to affect the outcome of the meeting between Jacob and his physical (and hostile) brother Esau, which was to take place the next day. Further, the struggle between Jacob and the angel of Esau related to the global struggle between good and evil through the generations, which will only really be resolved with the coming of the Messiah.

Jacob had such spiritual strength that the angel could not conquer him. So the angel touched his thigh, tearing a sinew out of place. The Torah writes that for this reason, Jews do not eat the sinew which is in the thigh.2

Since this is difficult to remove, generally the rump is not eaten at all. Through nikur one can get some of the meat, but rump steak is out.

The special quality of Judaism is the way it connects something very spiritual with something very practical. What could be more spiritual than a great man encountering an angel, and the mystical struggle between good and evil? And what could be more practical than a kitchen in which a housewife cooks some cuts of meat and not others?

The parshah joins these two aspects of life together. That is the beauty of Judaism, joining the physical and the spiritual, the kitchen and the Messiah.

FOOTNOTES
1. Genesis 32:4-36:43.
2. Genesis 32:33 (Dedicated in memory of
Rabbi Gavriel Noach and Rivkah Holtzberg, emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to Mumbai, India, and all the other innocent victims of the Mumbai terror attacks.
May G-d avenge their murders.)

smp 51








hear music from all these cds/dvd that are coming soon on the smp 51

Friday, December 5, 2008

FROM CHABAD.ORG for Parshas Vayeitzei

The Sleep of Jacob


By Tali Loewenthal
Sleep is a rather mysterious element in our history. Jewish people are generally thought of as restlessly active, forceful go-getters, high energy people... Large numbers of us go to bed late, get up early, or both: there are things to be done! The Parsha1 provides an insight into the 'sleep' dimension of the Jewish people: both as regards our lack of sleep and also what we can achieve when we do sleep.

We start, of course, with our great ancestor Jacob. He is on a journey, and he comes to a place where he sleeps: "...and he lay down in that place." The Torah is so emphatic about the fact that he lay down to sleep that the Sages add an intriguing extra snippet of information.

We often find that parts of the narrative are skipped over in the text of the Written Torah, but are filled in by the Oral Torah, transmitted by the Sages. They tell us that after Jacob left home he spent fourteen years in the company of his illustrious ancestor Eber, a great-great grandson of Noah, studying the pathways of G-dliness. These early teachings about the Divine were so compelling that during this entire time Jacob did not actually lie down to sleep properly. He would only drowse for a while, and then continue studying.2

Hence the Torah says: "and he lay down in that place." Now, for the first time in years, Jacob really had a comfortable good night's sleep!

Jacob's sleep was in fact a amazing event, as is well known. He had a beautiful dream of a ladder, on which angels were going up and down. One explanation of this is that the angels signify G-d protecting him, wherever he goes. In the dream G-d said to him: "The land on which you are lying down, I will give to you and to your descendants."

The Sages comment: this means that G-d "folded up the whole of the Land of Israel and placed it under Jacob, in order that it should be easy for his descendants to conquer."3

Let us try to unpack this idea in terms of its component elements. The Torah regards the lives of the Patriarchs as setting the stage for the future achievements of their descendants. For this reason it sometimes provides many seemingly minor details--and sometimes leaves gaps, as we saw above.4

By the fact that Jacob slept on the spiritually compacted entire Land of Israel, neatly folded by G-d, he was preparing something important for his descendants. Of course, as we know, they would have to enter the Land of Israel and settle in it. However, this entry was planned to be completely peaceful. If the Jews had not sinned with the Spies, they would not have had to fight for the Land at all, the nations would willingly have given it.5

In order to create this future for his descendants, Jacob did not have to do anything at all, except to lie down and go to sleep. The essential mystical action of 'folding up the whole land of Israel' was performed by G-d.

What does this mean for us today? That in a profound, spiritual way, the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, Jacob's descendants. The ultimate promise of Judaism is that without having to battle for it, the nations of the world will recognize that this is our right.

Does this sound a Messianic dream? Of course. Yet like many Jewish dreams, including that of Jacob in the Parshah, if you take them seriously they have a habit of coming true6 !

FOOTNOTES
1. Genesis 28:10-32:3.
2. See Rashi to 28:11.
3. Rashi to 28:13.
4. See Ramban to Gen.12:6.
5. See Rashi to Deut.1:8.
6. See the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Likkutei Sichot vol.20, p.130( Dedicated in memory of
Rabbi Gavriel Noach and Rivkah Holtzberg, emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to Mumbai, India, and all the other innocent victims of the Mumbai terror attacks.
May G-d avenge their murders.)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

YAKOV YOUNGS NACHEIM DEDICATED IN MEMORY OF HIS COUSIN RABBI GABI AND RIVKY HOLTZBERG H"YD

CLICK HERE

TRIBUTE IN CHICAGO FOR KEDOSHIM

MORE INFORMATION AND PICTURES HERE

AVRAHAM FRIED SINGS NEW SONG FOR KEDOSHIM

VIDEO HERE
Dedicated in memory of Rabbi Gavriel Noach and Rivkah Holtzberg,
emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to Mumbai, India,
and all the other innocent victims of the Mumbai terror attacks.
May G-d avenge their murders

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Kislev 7, 5769 * December 4, 2008

=================================
T O D A Y I N J U D A I S M
=================================

* Laws * Customs * Jewish History * Daily Quote * Daily Study *

Today is: Thursday, Kislev 7, 5769

======================
Today's Laws & Customs
======================

· Prayer for Rain

Tonight, starting with the Maariv evening prayers, we begin inserting a request for rain -- "v'ten tal u'matar" -- in the 9th blessing of the Amidah

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

OHAD SINGS NEW SONG IN HONOR OF SHLUCHIM AND RABBI GAVI AND RIVKI HOLTZBERG

CLICK HERE

ACHEINU 3 SAMPLE

CLICK HERE

COMING SOON FROM SAMEACH



A MUST SEE VIDEO

love means love

Major Kinus Teleconference Event Planned In Response to Mumbai Terror

The Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation has just finalized the plan for a major kinus event in response to the tragedies in Mumbai which will be transmitted live over the phone to callers from all over the world. The speaker will be Rav Efraim Wachsman Shlita, and will take place this Motzei Shabbos at Yeshiva Ohr Somayach in Monsey.

The live teleconference is taking place at 9:30PM EST, and the call in numbers are 212-461-5815 or 212-990-2300; Pin # 4455#

Besuros Tovos…..

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

FROM YWN

Mi Kiamcha Yisroel?

Chabad, Satmar, Bobov, Litvish, Sephardic, Dati Leumi, Kipa Sruga, Streimel, etc. It made no difference. Jews were murdered, and we all felt it. This tragic story has perhaps accomplished one thing: It brought Klal Yisroel together as one nation, just as when we stood under Har Sinai
also someone commented The Klausenberger Rebbe Zatzal said about thirty years ago, that before Moshiach comes, there will be a Jew in India who’s fate would be debated by the whole world.

May these holy Kedoshim bring the Geulah very soon

my brother died at the Chabad House in Mumbai, india"

My brother died at the Chabad House in Mumbai, india"



Monday, December 01, 2008

My Dear Fellow Jew,

On Wednesday night I logged onto Reuters on my Blackberry and I saw
something about terrorists in Mumbai. No connection to me. Or so I thought.

The next morning the news slammed home when my chavrusa told me that his
cousin is the Chabad shaliach in Mumbai and that there was some kind of
attack and they can't seem to get him on the phone.

For the next 24 hours I, my family and everybody I know had only one thing
on our minds - the fate of the Chabad shaliach, his wife and the unknown
number of hostages inside the Chabad house.

Information was so conflicting. We tried to make sense of it all, grasping
at straws, hoping against hope that somehow, somehow they would come out
alive. And we davened. Hundreds of thousands of Jews. We all poured out
our hearts in Tefilah in every country, city, neighborhood, yeshiva, shul
and home. An unprecedented outpouring of Tefillah.

And then the news came that the counterattack had begun and commandos were
storming the building. How we sat on edge, imaging in our mind's eye the
commandos fighting room to room…through the bullets and the explosions…

And while all this was going on I thought to myself…

"Ribono Shel Olam, look at your amazing people. Hundreds of thousands of
people gripped by fear, davening for people they never knew and from
sections of Klal Yisrael that they don't belong."

Last Thursday it didn't matter if you were Chabad, Bobov or Toldos Avrahom
Yitzchok. OUR brothers were in that house and we reacted instinctively -
with the love of brother.

And so I wonder, my dear brothers and sisters:

Imagine we could always be this way!

…Imagine we walked in the street and gave a smile and a Sholom Aleichem to
every Jew, even if he didn't look like we did.

…Imagine there was a way we could hold onto the incredible Ahavas Yisrael
that was displayed this past Thursday, that showed we are one nation!

Yes, I know. I realize it's not so simple because tragedy has a way of
uniting people – but it's not impossible! Consider this:

If there wasn't Ahavas Yisrael in our hearts in the first place we wouldn't
have reacted so powerfully and instinctively with nonstop Tehillim…We
woudn't have listened to the news 20 times that day!

If we can just shake loose of the yetzer hora that pushes us to be
divided…If we just took a good look in the mirror we would see that under
that tough exterior we are all really Ohevi Yisrael - lovers of Jews.

My Rav spoke about Mumbai yesterday. He quoted an excerpt from the sefer
Amud HaAvodah. This is a quote from the sefer:

"It is a fact that when Yidden in one city hear that tzaddikim in another
city have been tortured and killed by gentile murderers, the Yidden in the
first city are certain to be terribly pained and anguished. Even if they
had never known them. Even if they had never seen them. Their hearts ache
upon hearing of Jews killed with cruelty.



This phenomenon is rooted in the unity of the souls of the Jewish people.
This is indeed a proof to the existence of this unity.

And so now the horrific truth of what happened in India has become revealed
to the world. My brother died in that Chabad house as did yours…

…and the immense Ahavas Yisrael that we Jews have for each other was
revealed - to the world, and more importantly to ourselves!

But we must not let this event slip by like a ship in the night!

Let's each make a kabalah – a personal resolution - that starting right now
we and our family will take something on that shows we care about every
single Jew.

Not just lip service - but a real goal. One that we write down and post in
our house, tell our friends about, and monitor weekly to see how we're
doing.

For instance:

…Maybe we should work on the way we greet tzedakah collectors at our door –
you know, put ourselves in their position of having to knock on a
stranger's door…

How we would we like people to greet us?

…Or maybe to really daven for specific people from our shul for their
childrens shidduchim or livelihood. And certainly to work on not speaking
loshon hora about individuals and certainly not sections of Klal Yisrael.

Hashem thrust the kedoshim who died in India on the stage of Jewish history
for a few days last week. But their impact can last a lifetime i f w e a
c t!

The last few months have seen major calamities befall the world at large.
They are affecting – and could further affect - Klal Yisrael very
profoundly.

Let each Jew as an individual and as a family take on one resolution - a
single kabbalah - of Ahavas Yisrael, so that in these trying times Hashem
will look down at us and see the love we have for each other. The love
that proves we're a family. His family. And with that impetus may Hashem
redeem His children from all the tzoros and bring us, as the one family
that we are, to our home in Yerushalayim.

Let's just do it NOW! Please pass on this letter to as many people as
possible so together we can keep the flame of Ahavas Yisrael burning.

With a sad but hopeful heart,



Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation



P.S. just some practical ideas…

To work on tefilah-write down a list of people you know need shidduchim,
parnassah, refuahs and keep in your siddur.

Shmiras Haloshon needs daily learning. Sign-up for a free daily email at
editorial@chofetzchaimusa.org or call in to a daily shiur 718-258-2008 ext.
5 then 1.

The Gedolim have asked of President Bush to pardon Jonathan Pollard before
he leaves office in afew weeks--we should too! Call the White House between
9 am and 5 pm EST at 202-456-1111 and request the release of Jonathan
Pollard!

FUNERAL PICTURES OF KEDOSHIM OF MUMBAI

CLICK HERE

Monday, December 1, 2008

LEARN MISHNIOS FOR THE SHILOSHIM

theyeshivaworld.com/news

MEMORIAL SERVICE

The Chicago Jewish Community Mourns



In the Aftermath of the Tragedy in Mumbai

Join in a Memorial Evening of Tribute & Solidarity



Wednesday, December 3, 2008

7 Kislev, 5769

7:30 PM



Holiday Inn North Shore

5300 West Touhy Ave. Skokie, IL

(Just west of the Edens Expressway)



We gather to mourn the passing of all the

victims of the recent brutal terror attacks in Mumbai



and to pay tribute to lives of

Rabbi Gavriel & Rivkah Holtzberg

Chabad emissaries to Mumbai



and their Chabad House guests:

Rav Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum, Rabbi Bentzion Chroman,

Yocheved Orpaz, & Norma Schwartzblat-Rabinovitch

השם ינקום דמם



Confirmed Speakers:



Harav Gedaliah Dov Schwartz שליט"א

Chicago Rabbinical Council



Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz

Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois



Dr. Steven B. Nasatir

JUF/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago



Deputy Consul General Gershon Kedar

Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest



For more information call 773-262-2770 x 113 or

CLICK HEREMemorial Books to be forwarded to the families will be available for signing at the event

or e-mail your thoughts and good resolutions to: info@ChicagoMemorialService.com
In a moving conversation with Chabad.info, minutes after the plane
carrying the remains of the victims took off for Israel, the Shliach
to New Delhi, Rabbi Shneur Kupchik, related a shocking detail that
became apparent at the airport. Among the items slated to be returned
to Israel, was the Sefer Torah belonging to Chabad of Mumbai which was
damaged by bullet holes, after the terrorists had fired several rounds
into the Aron Hakodesh. The bullets tore through the scroll leaving
gaping holes. When the torah was opened at the airport it became
apparent that the bullets tore near the words "
" - "And Hashem spoke to Moshe after the deaths of the
two sons of Aharon", in Parshas Achrei. "The entire delegation stood
frozen, in shock after seeing these words torn by the terrorist's YM"S
bullets" said Rabbi Kupchik in a choked voice.

This passage refers to Aaron's righteous sons Nadav and Abihu who, as
we are told earlier in Leviticus 10:1-3, were consumed by a fire that
came forth from G-d and Moses tells Aaron this is what G-d meant when
he said "I will be sanctified through those who are close to Me."

Throughout the ages Jewish Sages would use this chapter to explain
why righteous people die in unnatural deaths.

This Torah Scroll is now on its way to Israel together with Rabbi and
Mrs. Holtzberg, may G-d Avenge their blood, who sanctified the Name of
G-d.

Rav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita

While we do not attempt to understand the way of HaKadosh Baruch Hu,
we do seek to understand events such as the Mumbai terror in the hope
of understanding what we must do, what we must take away from such
incidents.

Rav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita on motzei Shabbos was asked how could such
an event have occurred when we know that a shaliach mitzvah is
protected, and in this case, Rav Holtzman and his wife were shlichim,
as were Rav Aryeh Leibish Teitlebaum and R’ Bentzion Chroman.

Rav Kanievsky pulled out a Gemara Shabbos and explained that the
Tzaddikim atone for the generation, a kapora for all of us – further
stating that what we must take away from this is the reality that we
must increase our efforts towards Avodas Hashem and kiyum mitzvos.
(Source:Shirat Devorah)

FELDHEIM CHANNUKA SALE HAS STARTED

SO PRINT OUT THOSE ORDERS FOR YESHIVA BOOKSTORE
if for some reason your going to another booktore here are some coupons

A TRIBUTE TO THE KEDOSHIM WHO WERE KILLED IN CHABAD HOUSE

R' Leibish Teitelbaum, son of the Volover Rebbe from Boro Park, and a son-in-law of the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe

A TRIBUTE TO THE KEDOSHIM WHO WERE KILLED IN CHABAD HOUSE

R' Bentzion Chroman from Eretz Yisroel