The Kollel is being very active these days. I have posted the ad above for the public Siyum and Shiur each night this week. (click on the picture for an enlarged view)
The lectures tonight on the Beis Hamikdosh were very interesting and extremely well attended. Kol hakavod to the organisers.
Talk about learning,
ReplyDeleteVery strong rumours coming out of CH that the selling of books from the Chabad Library is rampant and priceless treasures have been sold.Can anyone verify.We need the seforim to be secure
as our next stop is Yerushalayim
Nice to see that this site has become more positive.
ReplyDeleteI guess the 9 days is a good time to slow down on the negative posts and loshon hora.
An easy fast to one and all.
From NY Newsday
ReplyDeleteBillboard latest sign of Messianic fervor among some
BY CAROL EISENBERG-STAFF WRITER
August 7, 2005
A new billboard on the West Side Highway and 44th Street proclaims "Moshiach," or Messiah, "Is Here" under a picture of the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Crown Heights -- the charismatic Jewish leader known as the Rebbe who died 11 years ago.
The billboard, put up Tuesday and paid for by a group called Jewish Women United for the Redemption, is the latest sign of the messianic fervor continuing to grip parts of the Lubavitch community that Schneerson once led.
"If people take the Rebbe's words to heart, it will be good for them and good for the whole world," said Shterna Spritzer, a member of the group.
But within the ultra-orthodox Lubavich sect, which is bitterly divided over the messiah issue, some say they are embarrassed by such pronouncements. And most in the mainstream Jewish community see heresy in the idea that a person who died and was buried in an unredeemed world could be the Jewish Messiah.
In the tough town that is New York, meanwhile, reactions to the billboard Friday seemed anything but reverent.
"It's intrusive," complained Jessica Maisson, who works across the road at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.
"To be honest, I think the average joe would not know what it's all about," said Christopher Vulpi, a Unitarian from Teaneck, N.J., now living in Düsseldorf, Germany. He took a photo of the billboard from the deck of the USS Intrepid.
"I didn't know who he was. But I like that it says underneath: 'Just add in goodness and kindness.'"
Others had set ideas about the identity of the Messiah that they were not about to abandon. "Actually, as Roman Catholics, we think the Messiah appeared quite a while ago," said David Stanford, visiting from western Ontario.
Still, members of Jewish Women United for the Redemption are not discouraged. Spokeswoman Basha Oka Botnick said that they believe that publicly acknowledging Schneerson as the Messiah would hasten the process leading to the End of Days, when, according to Jewish teaching, all people will live in peace.
They point to the Rebbe's extraordinary charisma and wisdom, and to the prophecies they say he made about world developments as well as about the Messiah's imminent arrival as evidence he is the Redeemer. The Rebbe, who died at 92 without a successor, had rebuilt a group nearly annihilated during the Holocaust in his 44 years leading the sect.
"If the world is more receptive, people will start to behave differently and we'll have a better world," she said.
The Hebrew word "moshiach" translates literally as "the anointed one," referring to the ancient practice of anointing kings with oil. The moshiach is the one who will be anointed as king in the End of Days, ushering in world peace, according to Jewish teaching.
Throughout Jewish history, many Jews have been seen as the Messiah, from Shimeon Bar Kochba, who led a second-century revolt against the Romans, to Jesus, whose followers went on to found a new religion. But none of them were judged to meet the requirements set down in Jewish teaching.
Officially, the Lubavitch movement refuses to address the question of whether the Rebbe is the Messiah, simply encouraging followers to prepare for his coming with faith and good deeds.
This is not the first time a messianic Lubavitch group has proclaimed its beliefs on metropolitan area roadways. Another group posted similar billboards about Schneerson near the entrance to the George Washington Bridge and in Atlantic City about 10 years ago. That effort ended after several months because of the cost.
Botnick said her group hoped to raise from the community the $20,000 per month required to keep the billboard up indefinitely.
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.
August 08, 2005 2:06 PM
So why do we need Tisha B'Av!
ReplyDeleteIdon't think I will fast!
Mr Yechi, If you a going to take every sign put up by every meshugana seriously you would not be Jewish any more!
ReplyDeleteJust fast as Moshiach is NOT here, irrelevant what some spaced out people say!
Isn't a public sign "Moshiach is here" false advertising under the laws of NYC!
ReplyDeleteif Moshiach is here, then why am I still stuck in traffic looking at this billboard?
ReplyDeleteIUf Moshiach is going to make the world into a wonderful place I am reading the wrong newspapers!
ReplyDeleteIs Moshiach only in New York or is he already in Melbourne also?
ReplyDeleteMoshiach is on the waiting list of Qantas (First class). Will be arriving ASAP, to make sure we do not need to fast on Sunday!
ReplyDeleteCan I please have the flight details when they become available. I think it is disgusting that when Moshiach arrived in New York there was no public welcome. I believe Moshiach should be welcomed at the Town Hall in Swanston Street and then a parade.
ReplyDeleteTo those Moshiachists who say we have to announce that Moshiach is here, I ask this: what kind of a Moshiach is it if people have to be told he is here? Obviously, this is a rhetorical question, because anyone who knows anything about Moshiach, knows that when he arrives it will not be neccessary to announce his arrival. I think those people who feel we have to announce that Moshiach is here ought to go back and re-learn the Rambam's Hilchos Melachim which specifies all the known halachas about Moshaich that all posekim agree with.
ReplyDeleteWhen Moshiach comes there will be no need to furnish you with details of his arrival. The SHOFAR GADOL will resound throughout the world and the holiness will be apparent to all.
Ad Mosai.
Shoshana you are old fashioned. The Yechiniks put up a Billboard that Moshiach is here, so that is it!
ReplyDeletezalman, yeah, I guess I am not with it. I believe in the traditional concept of Moshiach that Jews believed in for over two thousand years. Funny thing though--The Rambam's Hilchos Melachim is what some of my teachers taught me before they themselves abandoned all this and became YECHNIKS. They used to say that the Rebbe had to be Moshiach because he fit all the criteria, but that he was an assumed Moshiach, not a revealed one, and one of the reason he was Moshiach was dafka because the Ramabam says Moshiach had to come from the living, and at that time the Rebbe was alive. But then when he passed away, they conveniently forgot all that and said the Rebbe had to be Moshiach dafka because Moshiach had to come from the dead. I was appalled at the intellectual dishonesty of many of my teachers because they made a 360 degree turn around in thier beliefs overnight. I guess it is a case of changing halacha when it suits your ideology.
ReplyDeleteBut Ramabam is old hat now. I need to catch up with this new styled reformed Christianized Moshiach YECHI mania. Out with old and in with the new!
And remember that Christianity is also newer than the Torah.
By the way, I know most of those women from that group that put up the billboard. They haven't changed a bit in years--still ranting on with the same old dribble.
Shortly before the Rebbe's stroke I witnessed these fanatics when seriously discussing buying a septor and a crown to give to the Rebbe for his coronation as King Moshiach. And once they organised a Melave Malkah to greet Moshiach in 770. The place was packed with women and there was an international hook up and one of these women got up at the microphone and excitedly said "Alright! This is it! We have sent a delegation in to the Rebbe to urge him to declare hinmself Moshiach! This it it! Get ready!" And they did send some women in to see the Rebbe and as I understand it, the Rebbe was not too pleased!
It was at that point I became a non-YECHINIK. I realized that night that this mishegas had gone too far into the realm of looniness and it has never changed since.
Ad mosai!
That may all be true, but however it does say in Rashi In masechta Taanis that Moshiach can be from the dead. Secondly a Litvish Rosh Yeshiva called Rabbi Soveveitchik wrote a whole letter about how the Rebbe can be moshiach although he is not amongst the living phisically.
ReplyDeleteBut even if Moshiach could be from he dead that does not give anyone reshus to go around yelling to the world that the Rebbe is definitely Moshiach, like the YECHINIKS do. They have no basis to be so certain in their conviction that the Rebbe is Moshiach since it is only a possibility but no one can know this for certain. Those who calim they know for certain are playing a dangerous game of second guessing Hashem and are not to be taken seriously.
ReplyDeleteAgain it seems that only Shoshana talks like a sensible person.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone REALLY think that Moshiach hasn't come becuase we were lax in putting up ($20,000 per month) posters, wearing badges and waving flags??
But of course doing all these meshugaasim is MUCH MUCH easier than doing teshuva, davvening in shul twice daily without chatting thru it, having daily shiureu torah, learning rather than davvening Chittas etc etc.
Oh I forgot, how many meshichisten [or even chabadniks] are prepared to toss out their TVs - to merit the hastening of moshiach??
How many???
Yeah, that's waht I thought..
Sigh.
shoshana
ReplyDelete"I need to catch up with this new styled reformed Christianized Moshiach YECHI mania. Out with old and in with the new!
And remember that Christianity is also newer than the Torah."
how dare you compare the meshichists to christians, lehavdil. these are people who are being mekayem the rebbes haaros, and believe the rebbe is moshiach. no chosid can ever doubt that their rebbe is moshiach, and if a chosid does, this shows on a lack of connection to their rebbe.
it is hypocritic to call yourself a chossid of the rebbe and simultaneously doubt that he is moshiach.
next time you start calling other chassidim "christians" and the like, maybe you should lok into your own avodah, your own connection to the rebbe, and see if you can apply this term to yourself possibly more than to them.
chossid, yada, yada, yada. we've heard all this gobbeldygook before.
ReplyDeleteThe Rebbe returning as Moshiach.
Jesus returning as Moshiach.
No difference between the two.
shoshana and aussie gal,
ReplyDeletehow dare any of u compare yoshke or christaintiy to the rebbe or the the MIshichistin. Who says that these Mishachists don't daven or watch TV???? maybe a amall miniroity, but most of them are proper chasisdishe jews. hoe dare u compare them to christiantiy and the rabbe to yoshke. these mishichists r ure brotheres. how can u say such a thing???
shoshanna Silcove said...
ReplyDeleteI was never hired so I could never be sacked.
I was elected to the committee and I quit two days later. Mat Gelman asked me not to, but I quit.
Why did I quit? Because I was disgusted by Elkman's attitude. He was yelling at whoever did not agree with him. He was intolerant of any points of view but his. He was unfocused in his goals. Elkman's little committee of self proclaimed friends of the Gush functioned exactly like a group of high school activists--full of emotion and impulsive, erratic, attention seeking behaviour.
In my view, Elkman showed me that he did not understand Israeli politics or the Rebbe's shittahs. And all of these perceptions have been validated with time.
But even I never dreamed Elkman's campaign would have become as ridiculously out of control, unethical, and scandalous as it has become. At the time I quit the group, I never even imagined they would wind up making such a gigantic Chilul Hashem and Chilul Lubavitch. So, I am extremely happy I quit when I did.
Moreover, Elkman & Co. have no more right to express their opinions publicly than I or anyone else does. If they can spread their opinions all over the press at their own whim, then why can't I or anyone else express ours? Are they the special CHOSEN ones? Of course they are not, unless they are deluding themselves that this is the case! What gives them the right to express their views without opposition?
My views about their radicalism are strong because I love EY and the Rebbe and I cannot stand to watch these irresponsible, sophomoric, people besmirch his name and make a mockery of our cause. I have made my voice heard on this issue because I knew from the start Elkman's group was headed for disaster and wanted to warn people.
Because of Elkman and Co. the entire dialogue with the Jewish community about these issues has never taken place. We have been unable to educate anyone on this issue from the beginning because the general Jewish public has been turned off and disgusted by Elkman and Oliver's shenanigans.
This is what upset me the most---that we lost a golden opportunity to actually explain our point of view to our fellow Melbournite Jews. We lost an excellent opportunity as a community to actually do some good for the people of the Gush. I get upset when I think of all the tzedakah that people would have given to the Gush if Elkman & Co. had not made this issue into the fiasco that it is now. I know because I have gone about educating people about shleimas ha Eretz, and I have gone about collecting funds for the people of the Gush, and people have expressed their disgust with the AFOGKAS and have told me that they identify our entire camp with them now.
Because of Elkman and Co., Chabad is now labeled as a radical organisation of extremists. Because of Elkman & Co. the anti-disengement camp is a laughing stock.
So, yes, I take this personally, because I care about the issues and I care about the Rebbe.
For me this is a machlokes l'shem shamayim!!
August 22, 2005 3:13 PM