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Make sure to pick up your free copy of the Country Yossi Family Magazine and read the brand new original article 'The Theme of Purim' written by Chaptzem, the only Heimishe blogger to make the transition from cyberspace to print.
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Jewish students at the University of California, Berkeley, recently clashed over insensitive advertising for a Hillel-sponsored Valentine's Day event. The ad, which labeled a newlywed Orthodox couple as "scary," was originally posted on the Facebook social networking Web site, and generated a heated response.

Hillel was attempting to attract students to a "speed friending" event in honor of the holiday. It was based on speed dating, a structured matchmaking process in which one meets many members of the opposite sex in a short period of time.

The ad, a Hillel staff member explained, was meant to poke fun at more traditional kinds of matchmaking. But some were not amused.

One Orthodox Jew sarcastically referred to the ad in a Facebook post: "Gasp, he has a black hat and a beard; PERHAPS it's his way of clinging to Chasidic religious tradition?"

Another commented, "How dare you? How can you be so insensitive? Are Orthodox couples frightening? Does the couple appear at all threatening?"

A secular student responded that the intention wasn't to paint Orthodox Jews as "scary," but rather the prospect of marriage.

"The caption was intended to convey the message, 'Does the idea of getting married right away seem daunting to you? Don't worry; this is a more light-hearted take on speed dating, playing to the reality that many college students are nowhere near a marriage-minded state of life, just yet, but they still might have fun with this event,'" he wrote.

But that didn't convince the increasingly aggressive commentators.

"This is disgusting and shameful," one wrote. "And this is not the first time Berkeley Hillel has offended the more observant Jewish community."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235410730055&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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Two people were injured and taken to the hospital.

 
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Reports are coming in that a Boro-Park grocery store is resorting to a new low of unsavory marketing practices. According to these reports, the grocery is calling customers of their nearby competing grocery store with offers of better price and service if they switch where they shop for food. Now that's low even for Boro-Park business standards.
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Sent in by MahNishmah.com


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According to a source, the amount of safe deposit boxes robbed from the vault at Astoria Federal Savings Bank on East 2nd Street and 18th Avenue in Boro-Park was sixty out of their twenty-nine hundred boxes. According to the source, the larger boxes were the ones that were hit. There is currently about a two hour wait to get in to check safe deposit boxes at the bank.
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This photo is of an actual sign in the Diamond District in Manhattan.



http://www.bestweekever.tv/2009/02/23/jewelry-sign-fail/
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Natalie Portman, who previously partially filmed a movie, 'New York I Love You', with Hasidic actor Abe Karpen, said of another actor, possibly due to his appearance, that he looks like he works in a Hasidic meth lab.


“You look like you work in a Hasidic meth lab.” --Natalie Portman
In what was probably the most hilarious moment of the evening, Ben Stiller and Natalie Portman poked fun at whatever is going on with Joaquin Phoenix these days. From the mountain man beard to the totally awkward speech pattern, Ben Stiller nailed Joaquin's wacky behavior most recently showcased during an appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman. But the funniest line of the bit came from Natalie Portman, the straight woman of the pair, when she made the observation above about Stiller's haggard appearance. Because really, didn't she just say what we've all been thinking?

http://www.examiner.com/x-2220-Celebrity-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m2d23-From-Natalie-Portman-to-Sean-Penn-the-top-5-quotes-of-Oscar-night
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Leaders of the Bratslav Hasidic community in Safed have been covering up instances of physical and sexual abuse of children at school in the community, ostracizing anyone who wants to deal with the issue, several community members said recently.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said that in some cases families have been ripped apart, with the ostracized parents forced to cut off ties with their children.

"Everything blew up after seven children left heder [religious elementary school]," said one community member. "At first we didn't understand why, and then it turned out that they had been sexually abused. The parents wanted the matter to be dealt with, but they were warned that if the abuse became known it would harm their children's chances of finding a match. The parents got quiet and the children remained damaged because no one defended them." He and a former community member also said one of the teachers beat the children. Accusations of child abuse within the Bratslav community in Safed were first made public nine months ago.

One former community member said his family was forced to leave the community after his son was sexually harassed by a male teacher at his religious school. He said his son was receiving psychiatric help and taking medication to ease his mental distress, but refuses to go to the police and said he wants the issue resolved only by an ultra-Orthodox rabbinical court.

"Whoever goes to the establishment is a moser," he said, referring to the Talmudic term for informer. Jews who passed information to the authorities about other Jews have traditionally been treated harshly by persecuted Jewish communities, since in such cases denunciation could lead to death and destruction.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065121.html
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The comment below was sent in By Dr. Benzion Twerski as a response to personal attacks regarding his appearance at the Hikind hosted community-wide event to show solidarity with victims of sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community.



The following is the comment by a reader Expatriate Owl directed at Dr. Twerski.

My understanding was that Dr. Twerski was so threatened and intimidated and scared, for himself, his reputation and his family, that he had forever forsworn any participation in these types of things.

It's certainly good to have him on board again, but his sudden development of a spine, in addition to being a medical miracle, does raise some questions as to what evil forces are at work, and what has been done in the past few months to reduce or elimiate the threat they posed to Dr. Twerski's person, reputation and family.



Here Dr.Twerski responds.

The question was asked and deserves an answer.

Yes, there were threats to my reputation (not threats to my safety). No, it was not an issue of spine at the time of my withdrawal, nor has anything changed now. I consider Dov Hikind a good friend, and respect his passion to resolve this serious issue.

The task that was placed before me was the establishment of a process by which complaints and accusations could be handled in a manner that would effectively preserve the personal safety of every child while also maintaining complete compliance with halacha and the dignity of our yeshivos and communities. This mission is extremely delicate, and requires much input and teamwork. Unfortunately, there are too many people out there whose understanding of the task and of me was distorted and myopic. The assumption was that my association with Dov and with the subject matter would result in my being responsible for exposing schmutz throughout the community, closing yeshivos, and chasing innocent people to jail through mesira. None of these suspicions could be farther from truth. Many who know me better spoke out in my support, and those who understood what the mission was continue to seek my thoughts about the subject matter.

I will continue all efforts I was making prior to any involvement in the Dov Hikind project to improve and protect the safety of our children, and I will do in accordance with halacha and secular law. My spine is exactly where it always was.

The event that heads this thread of comments is a public forum that has zero political importance. It is simply a show of support for those victims that have not gotten the attention of the public until now. These innocent victims have typically suffered in silence with their secrets under threats of revictimization, and in many cases have been revictimized by the system. If you, the reader, do not know any of these people, stay home or dig your denial heels in deeper. I know many of these, and Dov’s office knows many more.

The message I hope to share is that we are going to be innovative, and devise a system that does not allow for victims to be revictimized, nor will an accused molester be able to impose an address change in order to escape prosecution while continuing the murderous exploits somewhere else. I hope that those who need professional help will avail themselves of it sooner, and I hope that all the professionals, rebbeim and school staff, and parents be educated about abuse. It does happen, and knowledge about it goes far to prevent it.
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First it was Avrohom Schor and now it's the New York City Fire Department. Major crowds packed themselves into the lobby of the Avenue Plaza Hotel on 13th Avenue in Boro-Park where a video screen was set up for a hookup of the live broadcast of the Nachum Segal Show taking place at Hi-Tech 2000 next door to the hotel. The show attracted an extra large crowd due to the featuring of his special guest for tonight Lipa Schmeltzer. The crazy massive crowd that showed up to watch the live broadcast prompted someone to call the Fire Department. They promptly showed up and told the people to leave the hotel, citing a fire hazard due to overcrowding as the reason.
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Some neighbors of Vizhnitzer Hall on 53rd Street and 18th Avenue in Boro-Park have long had contentions to the Chasunah hall operating next to their home. With ongoing court cases and much pressure by those neighbors to close down the hall, Fox 5 TV was called down by those neighbors to do a story on the situation. Below are pictures of the neighbors giving an interview to Fox 5 TV.

Sent in by a Chaptzem reader

  
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Just a short while ago if you Googled the word hamodia and clicked on the first link from your query, you were directed to a simple place-holder site with the words "We will not be publishing an internet Edition of the paper."

However, that has all changed now. With the growing popularity of the internet, even within the Heimishe community, the Hamodia has realized that by not publishing an online edition they miss out tapping into an otherwise lucrative market. By beefing up their online presence, although their online news, like their print news, is far from award-winning, they nevertheless hope to use their web-site to reel in subscribers to their print edition.

Aside from the obvious hypocrisy by the Hamodia of going back on their original self-righteous condescending visionless words, there is an even deeper flaw here. For some reason it just plain smacks of chutzpa when a newspaper that refuses to accept advertisements for web-sites goes right ahead and builds a site of their own. The overwhelming message here seems to be that the Hamodia is adamantly against the use of the internet until they can use it as a way to profit from it for themselves.
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http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/tfr/1037375341.html
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A new service will allow religious Jews to plumb the Internet for answers to questions and information – without having to connect to the Internet themselves. The initiative, dubbed ‘Internet Gemach,’ will involve sending questions and queries to the service anonymously. According to ladaat.net, the providers will then look for the information on the Net and send back answers by fax or e-mail.

‘Gemach’ is a Hebrew acronym for gemilut chasadim, or charitable acts, and refers to a service that is common among religious Jewish communities the world over. The traditional gemach extends loans on a short- or long-term basis for any need, including emergency loans, medical fees and wedding expenses. However, the concept has been expanded and there are now gemachs for everything from blankets through books to children’s pacifiers and silverware.

The idea for an Internet gemach was born among a group of community organizers who decided to do something in order to reduce the number of hareidi families with Internet access in their homes. They conducted a short survey and discovered that many hareidi people connect to the Internet because it makes discount shopping easier and because of the information available through Internet search engines.

Many of these people do not have Internet at home and instead go to friends’ homes, just to “check something small,” but wind up surfing the Internet for an hour or more.

In order to make these situations unnecessary, the Internet Gemach operators will conduct searches for the hareidi public. The person wishing to receive information will call the gemach and say what it is he wants to find out. There will be no need to identify himself – only to leave a fax number or a ‘kosher’ e-mail (from an Internet provider deemed reliable).

The service will be offered to a specific (but unnamed) hasidic community as a pilot project.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129961
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Watch the first thirty seconds as Lipa's mic doesn't work. Was it sabotage? We'll never know for sure.


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The disheveled man looks momentarily confused. He's wearing a puffy red coat that looks as if it was salvaged from the city dump. "Are you guys cops?" he asks.

He's been set upon by four Hasidic Jews in the center aisle of House and Home Hardware on Flushing Avenue, a commercial strip that runs through the Hasidic section of Williamsburg in Brooklyn – a neighborhood uncanny for its resemblance to a 19th-century shtetl.

The man's presence is as misplaced as a Hell's Angel in Amish country. But it's not just the grimy clothes that make him unwelcome: His pants are inexplicably torn open, exposing his boxer shorts to the frightened Hasidic patrons he's been begging for money.

With bushy beards and black yarmulkes, the four Jews entreating the vagabond do so with an air of authority. Their intimidating posture, coupled with the two-way radios that hang from their belts, elicits the man's question again: "Are you guys cops?"

"Just get out of here," he's told, with an expletive thrown in to convey gravity. The man leaves and order is returned to the shop.

The four enforcers may not be members of the New York Police Department, but to the hardware store manager, if they're not exactly the law, they're certainly keepers of the peace. They're members of a volunteer civilian patrol called Shomrim (Hebrew for "watchers"), which, in addition to Williamsburg, has independently run chapters in Crown Heights, Flatbush, and Borough Park – all Brooklyn enclaves densely populated by religious Jews.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=6875330&page=1
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New Yorkers know better, especially these days, than to expect any sympathy from the rest of the country — even though the city, with three Apple Stores for a population of more than 8 million, is conspicuously underserved by the company’s retail outlets. (San Francisco’s three stores, by contrast, serve a population of fewer than 800,000.)

But what about Brooklyn? The most populous of the five boroughs (pop. 2.5 million) would be, as any cabbie can tell you, the fourth largest city in the United States if it weren’t yoked to Manhattan, Queens and the rest. It is home to tens of thousands of Mac users of every stripe — teachers, students, writers, artists, designers, musicians, mobsters — yet it has zero Apple Stores.

Which is why Brooklynites get so excited when there is any news, as there was this week, about Apple putting an outlet in their borough.

At a real estate roundtable on Tuesday, the developer of a huge condominium project on the Brooklyn side of the East River announced that an Apple Store was a “real possibility” for one of its prime ground floor retail spaces.

“There’s no deal,” developer Jeff Levine told the audience, according to the website Brownstoner. “But we are talking and they are interested.”

The EdgeEdge viewThe site in question is the Williamsburg Edge, a 575-apartment complex still under construction with two blue-glass towers and million-dollar views of the Manhattan skyline.

Sounds cool, huh? The problem for the rest of Brooklyn is that the Edge is on the edge of nowhere, with water on one side and Williamsburg on the other — a crazy quilt of ethnic enclaves teeming with Germans, Hasidic Jews, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and, most recently, artists and indie musicians fleeing Manhattan’s exorbitant rents. There is only one subway — the crowded L line — and it connects Williamsburg to Manhattan, not to the main thoroughfares of Brooklyn.

http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/02/14/an-apple-store-for-brooklyn/
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About 200 people turned out downtown for the "Rhode Island Stands with Palestine" demonstration on February 7.

The event began with a rally featuring speeches from leaders of the local Arab and Muslim community, anti-Zionist Jews, campus organizers and several Palestinians. The speeches were notable for their uncompromising solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian freedom struggle more generally.

The speaking program also featured songs of struggle and poetry contributed by members of the Providence Poetry Slam. Several members of Neturei Karta, a movement of anti-Zionist orthodox Jews formed in 1935, traveled from New York City to participate.

Endorsers included the RI Mobilization Committee to Stop War and Occupation, the American Friends Service Committee, Campus Antiwar Network and Students for Justice in Palestine at Rhode Island College, Common Ground at Brown University, the International Socialist Organization, the Muslim Students Association at University of Rhode Island, the RI Council for Muslim Advancement and many others.

The demands of the protestors included: ending the siege and blockade of Gaza; respecting Palestinian self-determination; ending U.S. aid to Israel; and divesting from Israel.

http://socialistworker.org/2009/02/13/rhode-island-stands-with-palestine
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If my thesaurus's inclusion of "schmuck" and "cockamamie" is any indication, it is safe to say that Yiddish has officially permeated the English language. From the workplace to the classroom, peppering one's speech with Yiddish catchphrases is becoming increasingly commonplace.

Yiddish's growing presence in everyday speech is due to a greater revival of the language, sparked in part by a large population of young Jews who worry that their grandparents' beloved mameh-loshn (mother tongue) is dying out, and fast. These Generation Y and X-ers are not getting themselves worked up for nothing; though Yiddish remains a vernacular language among ultra orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, Jerusalem and other insular Jewish communities, the last generation of secular Jews who spoke Yiddish as their first language has practically completely died out.

This recent revival, born largely of urgency, is made up of young and enthusiastic Yiddishists who are responsible for the burgeoning Yiddish language clubs on college campuses, as well as a great number of Jews who remember Yiddish as the language that their grandparents spoke when discussing matters inappropriate for the "kinder."

The Pioneer Valley serves as perhaps the quintessential example of this resurgence; over the past several decades, the Five College area has seen the creation of myriad cultural and language centers for amateur Yiddishists, most notably the National Yiddish Book Center (NYBC), founded in 1980 by Hampshire College alumnus Aaron Lansky.

http://media.www.smithsophian.com/media/storage/paper587/news/2009/02/12/Features/Yiddish.Not.Just.For.Jews-3626972.shtml
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The video of the girl that wrecked her parents' kitchen attracted a lot of attention and garnered a lot of reader comments. Some of the commenters are ready to rip the father to shreds and others think what he did was cute.

Here is why what he did was completely inexcusable.

Whether the child was at home all by herself or whether someone else was somewhere in the house is irrelevant. The fact is this child was left completely usupervised long enough that she was able to completely destroy the entire kitchen. From the looks of things that did not happen in just a couple of minutes. A kitchen is not a safe place for a child to be all by herself and have free and full reign. Had there been an adult nearby they would have stopped this chaos before it ever got this bad.

Next, there is no excuse for calling a child a retard. To all the commenters who have anything nice to say about the father, this negates it all.

Further, no sane person will tell you to discipline a child by standing behind a camera and videotaping what they did. If the father wanted to make a point of the mess, he could have done so by taking her by the hand and showing her what she did wrong. If he really wanted it all on video, he could have done so without his daughter in the room. The father instead walks around the room behind the camera laughing at and mocking his daughter. He makes fun of her speech, of what she did and then to embarrass her even more makes her talk to the camera.

Whether this video was meant for the whole world to see or not is completely irrelevant. The fact is the whole world did see it. If it was truly a really private video it would have stayed that way. Someone obviously didn't care enough to protect their daughter from public humiliation, or maybe they enjoy it.

This father obviously has some very serious issues and needs to rethink the way he disciplines his children. What was evidenced on this lone short video clip is enough to showcase behavior that in the least borders very closely on neglect and abuse.

So to all the commenters who think this video is so cute and that it's just so ok, please get help and take this father along with you.
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A Vladivostok court Wednesday ordered a senior Far East rabbi, a U.S. citizen, to be deported after it ruled that he misrepresented his activities in the country on his visa application.

The city's Pervorechensky District Court ruled to deport Israel Silberstein, 26, the chief rabbi of the Primorye region, Daniil Yakovlev, a spokesman for the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, told The Moscow Times.

Silberstein plans to appeal the ruling and by law has 10 days to file a motion, Yakovlev said.

"We believe the violation was not serious enough to deport him," Yakovlev said. "We hope that the outcome of the case will be positive," he added.

On his visa application, Silberstein indicated cultural ties were the purpose of his visit, which only partially covered his activities as a rabbi, Yakovlev said. A Federal Migration Service spokesman told The Moscow Times that the rabbi should have indicated religous activities as the purpose of his visit.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said it was aware of the case but could not immediately comment.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/600/42/374455.htm
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On Sunday, March 1, 2009, Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) will host a community-wide event entitled, A Morning of Chizuk (support) to show solidarity with victims of sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community, and to provide information to concerned citizens. The program includes inspirational speeches and the recitation of tehillim (psalms).

Dr. Benzion Twerski; Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum, Director of Iggud HaRabbanim; Shmelke Klein of Eitzah; and Rabbi Yerachmiel Milstein, Executive Vice President of Project Chazon, among others, will address the audience. “We are all guilty of not doing more to address sexual abuse in our community,” Hikind said. “The time has come to ask forgiveness from the victims and to pray for continued strength from God to combat this issue. I urge the community to join in this unprecedented event.”

A Morning of Chizuk will be held at the Boro Park Y, 4912 14th Avenue, at 11:00 AM. Separate seating will be available.

In furtherance of Hikind’s mission to educate the public about sexual abuse in the Orthodox community, Hikind will dedicate two radio shows on February 21st and 28th to interviewing two sex abuse victims from the Orthodox Jewish community.

During the course of the shows, Hikind intends to announce that the multi-faceted plan created by his task force to tackle sexual abuse is nearing completion. “We are putting the final touches on our plan to implement education, prevention, and intervention systems in homes, schools, camps, and the general community,” remarked Hikind. “Education and awareness are the only way to protect our children from predators.”
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Shomrim is not your typical neighborhood watch. For starters, the groups have a 24-hour hot line and dispatcher, their own marked vehicles, and a track record for dealing with everything from assault and battery to domestic violence.

“Everything that happens in the world happens here,” says Yossi Pollack, a senior Shomrim member, as we drive through the streets of Williamsburg peering down alleyways. “Our telephone number is just like 911 – they call us for everything.”

It raises the question: In a city like New York, with one of the largest and most respected police forces in the world, why not just call the cops directly when a problem arises?

“A lot of people in the community are a little apprehensive of the police,” says Binyomin Lifshitz, who, along with fellow Shomrim member Gadi Hershkop, took me on a separate ride-along in Crown Heights. “They don’t want to interact with the police unless they absolutely have to.”

And when that happens, adds Mr. Hershkop, “Shomrim is like the liaison between the community and the police.”

The members of these Jewish enclaves feel more comfortable dealing with their own, both for language (Hebrew and Yiddish are prevalent) and cultural reasons. Furthermore, many are descendants of Eastern European and Russian shtetls, where, more often than not, it was the authorities who were behind their persecution.

Like the traditional dress, language, and customs sustained in these communities for centuries, apprehensions of law enforcement endure, too.

Community leaders also worry about the police getting involved and locking up someone who might not deserve it. When it comes to Jew-on-Jew crime, Crown Heights Shomrim will always consult a rabbi before involving the police.

“It’s been for centuries that Jews settle matters internally,” says Mr. Lifshitz.
Yet the main focus of Shomrim seems to be protecting Jews from non-Jews. Williamsburg’s patrol, in fact, was started in 1977 by Rabbi Moshe Hoffman because he was tired of seeing fellow Jews fall victim to violent muggings.

http://features.csmonitor.com/backstory/2009/02/10/jewish-street-patrols-curb-crime-%E2%80%93-and-generate-controversy/
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A Hasidic Jew indicted on shocking kiddie-porn and child-rape charges claims he's too religious to even look at the grotesque photographic evidence against him.

The 23-year-old Rockland County man is due in a Manhattan court today to seek bail. If convicted, he could go to jail for as many years as he's lived.

Prosecutors say David Silverman and two buddies - both now fugitives in Israel - used MySpace to lure three girls, ages 14 and 15, from their Westchester County homes to nightclub-style porn set near the Javits Center in March 2007.

Once there, the men allegedly plied the girls with alcohol and filmed the resulting orgy.

"The worst part is, we have no idea if these pictures - and there's video, too - are still out there," one source said

Raised in a Hasidic family upstate, Silverman left home in his teens, shaved his hair, tattooed his body, pierced both ears multiple times, and joined the sex- and drug-drenched rave and trance music scene.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02092009/news/regionalnews/perv_twist_154189.htm
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The members of the Lost Tribe motorcycle club don't have any rules, leaders, membership fees, dues or commitments, but they do request one thing: Jewish pride.

Ed Forman and Michael I. Ashe, both avid motorcyclists, started the club five months ago. There are 18 members, and they are looking for more to join.

The Lost Tribe's name derives from the ancient tribes that disappeared when the kingdom of Israel was destroyed and remnants were exiled.

Jim Hibberd, cantor at Congregation Beth Chaverim since 1999, grew up riding dirt bikes and motorcycles. "My dad, Jim Sr., is 72 and he still rides. He turned me loose at 15," said Hibberd, who sometimes rides his 1985 BMW to Friday night services at the Reform temple, to teach Hebrew School on Sundays, and enjoys cruising with the Lost Tribe on Saturdays.

"You can ride if you want to or not. Some people just show up to schmooze," said Hibberd, 49. Group members plan to gather year-round at either Boneshakers or The Route 58 Delicatessen for an early morning nosh before hitting the road. "We ride to eat and eat to ride," said Ashe, an attorney.

Club members ride throughout Hampton Roads, exploring back roads, stop for lunch and head back, all in one day.

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/02/lost-tribe-motorcycle-club-has-one-rule-jewish-pride
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Sent in by a Chaptzem reader

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An ailing, 81-year-old retired rabbi won't give his ex-wife a get, and now a judge said he can't have any of her gelt.

The Brooklyn couple got a civil divorce in 2005, but the poverty-pleading hubby can't touch her valuable state pension, a judge ruled, until he stops withholding the get - a Jewish divorce granted by the husband.

"The wife deserves the right to move on with her life, free from the control of the husband," Justice Jeffrey Sunshine said in a decision published in the Law Journal Friday.

The husband, who is referred to as K.F., is a Holocaust survivor nearly two decades older than his wife.

His refusal to give the get won't allow her to remarry under religious law.

"For him it's a question of conscience," said his lawyer, Joan McFarquhar. "He thinks the court doesn't have the right to interfere, that the court can't order somebody to give a get."

Under strict Jewish law, a husband is not forced to relinquish the get but could be shamed or embarrassed by others if he doesn't.

The wife, referred to as S.A., has been the primary breadwinner since the couple were married in 1972, earning an estimated $783,881 pension from her New York State job.

Because of that, he would be entitled to half the gelt - if he would only give the get.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/02/06/2009-02-06_judge_tells_rabbi_to_let_exwife_go.html
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Many different versions about what exactly took place at the 'Big Mic Grabbing Event' have been circling around. Here are the details of what took place at the showdown according to many different confirmed sources that were present at the time.

Lipa Schmeltzer, who is long known to be a leidigeyer and troublemaker in the Frum community, who makes people miserable, has no real job and lives off others, was desperate to make this year's 'The Event' concert a success. In order to accomplish this he barged into the first simcha he came across in Boro-Park, ran up to the band, grabbed the mic and started to sing Goyishe songs. Upon hearing that the horrible sheigetz Lipa, who lost his pants last year for blindly listening to Rabbanim, was at the chasunah, everyone started yelling at him "Sheigetz Araus". But the loud and explosive Lipa refused to leave. Even after all the mechutanuim and machetenistas came rushing over for him to shut up and leave, he still refused.

It was at that moment that the patient, passive and self-controlled Avrohom Schorr saw that he could wait no longer and had to come and save this wedding. He grabbed his tzitzis said an ehrliche 'Shema Yisroel' and stormed the stage. Only Lipa was not going to give up that easily. He grabbed the mic, pointed it at Avrohom Schorr as if it were a gun and then told him to 'Heib Auf his Hentalech' to his tatteh in himmel.

Schorr grew panicked. He thought that was going to be the end of him. He would have no more shuls, no more yeshivas and no more bans to make. That was when, according to most accounts, he started yelling repeatedly, "gimme a mesechtas Avodah Zorah, gimme a mesechtas Avodah Zorah". He then grabbed the mic from Lipa and saved everyone at the chasunah hall and all their future generations from eternal damnation.

Lipa, seeing how the true derech HaTorah of Avrohom Schorr had saved everyone, was immediately turned to tshuvah and asked Schorr to be him mekarev. It was at that point that Schorr revealed to Lipa that he was never really a Yid and needed to be megayer kehalacha. At that point Lipa just said "Moichel Toives" and turned around and left.

And this is exactly how it all happened.



Just a little hint for the braindead folk, the above post is a satire. Duh!
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Lipa singing at wedding and Schorr Pulls away the microphone from :47-1:00 then lipa says "Ehrliche Yidden zennen m"karev andere yidden" and then later on goes on to say " Ich bin yedem moichel ble'v shulem:"


Sent in by a Chaptzem reader
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The Obama administration will not immediately hire a staffer to exclusively serve as White House Jewish liaison.

Tina Tchen, director of the White House public liaison office, said Susan Sher, an associate counsel to the president, and Danielle Borrin, a staffer in the vice president's office, would be assisting her with Jewish liaison duties. She spoke to United Jewish Communities leaders who were in Washington Wednesday to lobby for the economic stimulus bill.

Tchen told JTA that the decision was made because of budgetary constraints at the public liaison office. She said the plan was to eventually name a single staffer to deal with Jewish outreach. but she could not yet provide a timetable for when that would happen.

Like everyone in today's economy, she said, "we are all doing more with less," she said.

Before coming to the White House, Sher was vice president for legal and governmental affairs and general counsel of the University of Chicago Medical Center -- and Michelle Obama's boss. In her job at the White House, she provides legal advice to the first lady and works on legal issues associated with health care policy.

Borrin most recently served as deputy press secretary in Joe Biden's Senate office.

The move is not unprecedented. Several of the Bush administration's Jewish liaisons had other duties, although the job was not split between two people.

http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2009/02/04/1002781/no-exclusive-white-house-jewish-liaison-for-now
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Two years after the debut of a controversial public school focusing on Arabic language and culture, a Hebrew language charter school is opening in New York City, stoking further debate about the purpose of a public school education.

Backers of the Hebrew Language Academy Charter School, slated to open this fall, say it will appeal to diverse ethnic and religious groups and not just Jews. But critics here and elsewhere around the nation question whether public schools should celebrate one particular culture.

"They're trying to transmit cultural values and identity, and that's not the purpose of a public school," said Michael Meyers, executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition.

Last month the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit over a school in Minnesota that caters to Muslim students, and a Hebrew charter school in Florida has spurred debates over church-state separation.

New York City's Hebrew charter school is planned for the Mill Basin neighborhood of Brooklyn, which has a substantial number of Jews, including immigrants from the former Soviet Union but is three-quarters black, Hispanic and Asian.

Sara Berman, chairwoman of the school's board, said Jewish and non-Jewish students alike will benefit from learning Hebrew.

"We really believe that learning a second language helps children in other ways besides the language itself," she said, citing studies that suggest that language instruction stimulates brain development.

The state Board of Regents approved the Hebrew charter school on Jan. 13 with one dissenting vote.

"Any opportunity for your child to learn a second language, whether it's Hebrew or any other language, is beneficial," said Maureen Gonzalez-Campbell, the principal, who is African-American and speaks no Hebrew herself.

Gonzalez-Campbell, 48, said parents will be attracted to the charter school's low student-teacher ratio — there will be one English-speaking teacher and one Hebrew-speaking teacher in each classroom — and academic rigor.

The Hebrew charter school, which does not have a site yet, is due to open with 150 students in kindergarten and first grade and will grow to 450 in grades K-5.

Like other charter schools, it will be taxpayer-funded. But it expects to raise additional money from private donors and has commitments of $500,000 a year from philanthropist Michael Steinhardt and $250,000 a year from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iSUYbGpPUoZb-asfWt5H_6CI74lAD96407K00
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Joel Engelman and Joe Diangelo are driving through their old Brooklyn neighborhood. Williamsburg is a place from another time and country. The shop signs are in Hebrew. The men scurry by in long black coats; their hair hangs in cork-screw curls. Married women wear wigs to cover their heads.

Engelman and Diangelo haven't been here in years. They just met a few weeks ago, but as they begin swapping stories and the names of family members, they realize they have a lot in common. Both men are in their 20s, both were raised as strict Hasidic Jews, and both fled their upbringing for the same reason.

"Are you ready for this?" Engelman asks Diangelo, glancing at his friend in the back seat.

"Yeah," Diangelo says, his breath quickening. "Yeah, I'll do it, just a quick pass by."

Diangelo grows quiet as we approach a nondescript brownstone building: a synagogue.

"See the Hebrew sign?" he says, pointing. "You go downstairs, and that's where the mikvah is."

The mikvah is a bathhouse usually used by women for ritual cleansing. But in some Hasidic communities, like this one, fathers bring their young sons on Friday afternoons before Shabbat begins. Twenty-one years ago, when he was 7, Diangelo recalls going to the mikvah with his father to find the place packed with naked men and boys.

"And I was in the tub, and I had my back turned, and somebody raped me while I was in the water," he says. He takes a shaky breath. "And I didn't know what happened. I couldn't make sense of it, really."

Diangelo says he never saw the man who abused him. These days, monitors are posted by the bath to stop any sexual activity. But back then, the boy was on his own. He told no one but began refusing to go to the mikvah. He left Orthodox Judaism when he was 17. He changed his name from Joel Deutsch and cut almost all ties with his family and friends.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99913807
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http://www.myspace.com/hazkenivoicesM
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A community is mourning the loss of a 100-year-old Holocaust survivor who was killed in a fire at his home in Brooklyn.

Authorities say David Weiss, a Satmar Hasidic Jew, died Saturday in a fire that raged through his home in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

A funeral for Weiss was held on Sunday.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

http://www.silive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-41/123357297813740.xml&storylist=simetro
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3:30 Monday afternoon at Marquee nightclub isn't exactly the setting you'd expect to see two Hasidic Jews, clad in kippahs and tzitzit (tassels), discussing how they'll import thousands of pills of Ecstasy to New York City with the help of a Russian drug kingpin.

It's a scene being filmed for "Holy Rollers," a movie that tells the tale of two Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn who get ensnared in, and eventually enraptured with, a global Ecstasy smuggling ring in the late 1990s.

Based on true events, the film is the brainchild of actor and nightlife figure Danny A. Abeckaser.

The Israeli-born, NYC-raised Abeckaser, who has had bit parts in "Alpha Dog" and "Don't Mess With the Zohan," was watching a documentary on the Discovery channel at 3 in the morning.

"It was about Interpol's fight on drugs, and this story about the Hasidic Jews smuggling drugs jumped out at me," he says. "I've always wanted to make a movie my whole life, and this seemed perfect."

Realizing that "drug movies are largely boring," Abeckaser set out five years ago to make a character-driven film, through the eyes of a young Hasid smuggler.

On this day of filming, as Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha - cast in the respective main roles of Sam Gold and Yosef Zimmerman - move about Marquee, Abeckaser eyes the set with pride.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2009/02/01/2009-02-01_marquee_a_hasidic_hotspot__on_film-1.html
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From The Jewish Press
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