ShalomNewYork.com

“After years of beating around the bush, Rabbi Avi Weiss came right out this past week and said what everyone assumed he’s been thinking all along: Sara Hurwitz, the woman he has mentored and trained to function as an Orthodox cleric is, in his view, an Orthodox rabbi.Rabbi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, who founded both Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (for men) and Yeshivat Mahara”t (for women), announced that after a year-long trial run for Hurwitz with the title “Mahara”t” — an acronym for Manhiga Hilchatit Ruchanit Toranit — she will henceforth be known by a more familiar-sounding title: “Rabbah.”” more@JewishStar.com

more@MishpachaMagazine.com

“Alexander Chassidim represented the second largest Chassidishe group in pre-WWII Poland; exceeded in number only by Gerer Chassidim. As his following grew, Rabbi Yechiel Danziger, in 1878, established his Chassidishe court in Aleksandrow/Lodzki, called Alexander by the Chassidim. It is a township near Lodz in Poland. It was established on March 22, 1822 and named in honor of the Tsar of Russia, Alexander I (1777-1825) of the Romanov Dynasty. Thus, the Alexander Chassidishe dynasty carries the name of a Russian tsar. ” more@Matzav.com

“When Eli Kaplan had his initial psychological assessment when being inducted into the Israeli military eight years ago, he wasn’t asked about his sexual orientation, but he told the interviewer anyway that he was openly gay. In Israel, it wasn’t a problem then nor is it now. “The army practices an inclusionary policy,” said Yagil Levy, an expert on the army and society and a professor at the Open University. “It doesn’t have any options to exclude any Jewish group that wishes to join.” more@AOLnews.com

“Editor and Publisher of Yated Ne’eman, Rabbi Pinchus Lipshutz, through his regular appeals in the weekly newspaper, has raised more than $200,000 from June-November 2009, towards the Rubashkin defense fund, says the Committee of Concerned Anash for Pidyon Shivuyim. The Yated newspaper, based in Monsey, NY, enjoys one of the largest international Jewish readerships .Following a series of articles editorials exploring the pioneering work of the Rubashkin family with regards to Kashrus in the U.S., and illuminating various aspects of the case and the travesty committed against the Rubashkins, Yated readers were inspired to contribute funds to the cause.” more@Chabad.info

“Williamsburg Shomrim (WSPU) received a call to their hotline by someone who noticed the spray-painted swastikas on the bus parked at Harrison Avenue & Wallabout Street, and sent units to investigate. Upon the arrival of WSPU, they requested officers from the nearby 90th Precinct to respond - who in turn requested the NYPD Hate Crimes Unit for an investigation. ” more@YWN.com

 
photo:’”ULY 2nd Grade Feed the Birds “Chabad.info

“On Shabbos Shirah, 5702, the Previous Rebbe related that the Maharal of Prague (Rabbi Yehuda Lowe) established a custom — hopefully the custom will be reinstituted — that during the week before Shabbos Beshallach he would inform all the teachers and parents of small children to bring their children to the courtyard of the synagogue on Shabbos Shira. There they were told the story of the splitting of the sea and how the birds sang and chirped at the time that Moshe and the Jewish people burst out into the song of “Az Yashir.” The children picked fruits from the trees that had sprouted in the sea-bed and fed the singing birds. The Maharal then distributed “kashe” (buckwheat) to the children with which to feed the birds and fowl as a remembrance of the fruits of the sea which the children gave to the birds.” more@SichosInEnglish.org

” A detail of a toy-sized diamond-studded train by Danish artist Marco Evaristti, part of a sculpture commemorating the horrors of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, in Copenhagen, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010. Evaristti, a Chilean-born Buddhist convert with Jewish parents, said parts of the 5.1-pound (2.3-kilogram) sculpture were built with enamel and gold fillings from teeth that he bought in Austria from a person who said they came from Nazi death camps.” DayLife.com

Controversial model goes on display@CopenhagenPost.com

“To all outside appearances, Assembly Member Dov Hikind had been something of a mench for his former chief of staff, David Greenfield. When Greenfield had gone to Albany to lobby elected officials, he had lunched in Hikind’s office. A couple years ago, Hikind’s political club, the United New York Democrats, held an event honoring Greenfield for his community service. And only a few months ago, when the bris of Greenfield’s second son fell on a Jewish holiday, the conservative Orthodox Hikind walked miles to Greenfield’s synagogue for the ceremony.” more@CityHallNews.com

“The 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat is the official “birthday” for trees in Israel. Calculating the years of a tree is necessary for several mitzvot of the Torah: ma’asorot - tithing [of each year’s fruit]; orla-forbidden fruit of a tree’s first three years; reva’i-[redemption of] the fruit of a tree’s fourth year; shemita-the Sabbatical year. Tu B’Shevat is considered the beginning of the year for trees because it is the mid-point of winter: the strength of the cold becomes less, the majority of the year’s rains (in Israel) have fallen, and the sap of the trees starts to rise. As a result, fruit begins to form. (Fruit that was already ripe is known to have been nurtured by the previous year’s rain.)” more@KabbalaOnline.org

“Washington, D.C. – Agudath Israel of America executive vice president Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel joined a group of prominent rabbis gathered for a news conference at the National Press Club here today to express dismay and concern over the premature imprisonment of Sholom Rubashkin, and to urge the U.S. Department of Justice to closely scrutinize the demands by federal prosecutors in Iowa that Rubashkin be imprisoned before he is sentenced.” more@TheYeshivaWorld.com