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Shocking: One of Britain's largest synagogues in the Hampstead Garden suburb canceled an adult-education class on the Tanya, following objections by senior congregants who declared it "racist." Vivian Wineman, vice-president of the Board of Deputies, said: "Lubavitch philosophy has elements which are unacceptable." A synagogue's decision to abandon a study course after a religious commentary was pronounced "racist" has been criticized as "outrageous" and "spineless" in the latest edition of the shul magazine. London's Hampstead Garden Suburb United Synagogue, one of Britain's biggest synagogues, discontinued an adult-education class on the Tanya earlier this year, following objections by three senior congregants,...

I'm getting a hunch the Republicans just might win for one reason alone, and it makes no sense, just like Chabad makes no sense to the Jewish elite. That one reason is Sarah Palin. She reminds me of about a thousand different Chabad shluchot (the rebbe's women representatives). She's seems friendly, sexy (forgive me) in an Orthodox way, with that magnetism, optimism, and accessibility that has made Chabad shluchot successful in 5,000 different locales, even though they are almost always considerably more right-wing -- religiously and politically -- than their congregants and financial supporters. Reform, Conservative and other Orthodox Jews...

A Jewish Democratic leader says he will decline invitations to future Chabad-Lubavitch events in the nation's capital because of its "partisan activities." National Jewish Democratic Council executive director Ira Forman will skip the events because “certain Chabad associated individuals and institutions” have been “taking part in partisan activties” in the last three election cycles. “I currently do not feel that it is proper for a NJDC representative to give a ‘bi-partisan hechsher’ to your events,” wrote Forman in an e-mailed letter to American Friends of Lubavitch Washington director Rabbi Levi Shemtov that was obtained by JTA. Forman was upset most...

(IsraelNN.com) Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain has asked the Chabad-Lubavitch movement to support him in the November elections. In a conference call to 40 of Chabad's leading rabbis, the senator told them that he is the underdog in the race and that Chabad's support "would mean a great deal to me." He pledged "never again" to another Holocaust and he reminded the rabbis of his vow to keep Israel secure. However, Chabad is forbidden from officially endorsing a candidate because it is listed as a tax-exempt and non-profit organization.

(IsraelNN.com) A brief Chabad-sponsored course on the Temple, to be held in Israel this week and the next, has angered Islamic organizations, who call it a threat to the Al-Aksa Mosque compound. "We view this as a serious and drastic move toward the fruition of extremist organizations to establish a temple in place of al-Aksa Mosque," said Zahi Nujidat of the Islamic Movement. "This represents a real danger to al-Aksa." The Aksa Foundation issued a similar statement. The course, offered at roughly 200 locations throughout Israel, comes during the two weeks leading up to Tisha B'Av, the fast day that...

sioned humanity. His message became a mantra: give charity, pray daily, offer hospitality, and love every stranger as oneself. He practiced what he preached. A Catholic gay man I know wrote the Rebbe a letter disagreeing with the Bible's views on homosexuality. Never expecting his letter to even reach the Rebbe, he was blown away when he received a five-page response in which he was treated as being infinitely beloved of God. Where some religions condemn abortions, the Rebbe sought to cultivate a love of children. THOSE OF us who can still close our eyes and remember the enormous public...

The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory and President Ronald Reagan enjoyed a deep relationship for many years. National Day of Reflection By the President of the United States of America Amid the distractions and concerns of our daily existence, it is appropriate that Americans pause to reflect upon the ancient ethical principles and moral values which are the foundation of our character as a nation. We seek, and steadfastly pursue, the benefits of education. But education must be more than factual enlightenment-it must enrich the character as well as the mind. One shining example for people of...

Chabad Flood Relief 1,000 pounds of meat donated by Agriprocessors distributed by Chabad through the Red Cross more photos hereIts been called the greatest flood in Iowa history, a "500 year flood". Cities have been submerged, lives lost, homes washed away in torrents of rain, thunder and tornadoes. It seems like daily a new story of a levy on the verge of collapse or giving way to the rush of out of control rivers, stills the hearts of Americans. People await the answers to their prayerful calls for help. In response, Americans have donated money and volunteered for relief operations....

A recent fire has led to an outpouring of generosity for a struggling synagogue that lost its Torah in the blaze. A Broward County woman who wants to honor her dead parents, and a couple who commute between Miami and New York, are donating new Torahs to a beleaguered Jewish congregation in Miami Beach whose synagogue was ravaged in a recent fire. ''These show people that we're going to come back stronger after a tragedy,'' said an appreciative Rabbi Zev Katz, the head of Miami Beach's Chabad Shul, part of Judaism's Orthodox Hasidic movement. Miami Beach police and fire officials...

Concluding the Passover Seder half an hour after it began was almost a family tradition for the Sifens. Larry and Pam Sifen, together with their children and parents, would sit around the table in their Norfolk, Va., home as the aroma of holiday foods warming in the neighboring kitchen competed with the text of the Haggadah for attention. In recent years, however, the Sifens have taken a new approach to the annual Passover ceremony and feast, ditching the house altogether to embark on an inspirational holiday learning experience away from home. The experiences of other families suggest the Sifens are...

Asaf Wohl calls on rabbis to replace horrifying gay-bashing with social acceptance of homosexuals Asaf Wohl Published: 02.21.08, 15:30 / Israel Opinion The issue of religious homosexuals is a serious test case for leaders of the so-called God-fearing public. With the exception of very few people, the leaders of this community fail time and again in handling this question. The miserable anti-gay expressions uttered by Orthodox Knesset members are especially concerning, and in fact horrifying. Had I been God, I would immediately sue those Knesset members for making pretenses to represent me in such a deficient manner. The argument that...

A chief rabbi of Russia concemned Kosovo's independence. Berel Lazar, of the Chabad-led Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, said at a news conference Tuesday that Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia could further contribute to world instability, according to a report by Interfax. He said a "totally wrong approach," had been taken in deciding Kosovo's future. "Today it is Kosovo, tomorrow it will be someone else or Kosovo itself will be divided in two, and there will be no end to this process," he said. Kosovo, a province of Serbia that has been administered by the United Nations since...

At Camp Gan Israel, crews fighting devastating blazes in mountains east of Los Angeles find more than a source of water Associated Press Published: 10.28.07, 09:36 / Israel Jewish Scene Dark beards blowing, black felt fedoras flying off their heads, the four hassidic rabbis clapped their chests with open palms and cheered as the firefighting helicopter dipped its bucket into their camp swimming pool. At the Camp Gan Israel, crews fighting devastating blazes in the mountains east of Los Angeles have found more than a source of water. The rabbis have been serving kosher meals, spiced with a dollop of...

Mrs. Risya Posner, who with her husband Rabbi Zalman Posner established the first Chabad-Lubavitch presence in Nashville, Tenn., died Tuesday at the age 80. An inimitable force behind Lubavitch outreach operations and techniques across the world, she was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Lubavitch parents who had immigrated from Russia. She and her husband pioneered the field of campus-based outreach, almost immediately inviting Vanderbilt University students to their home after their arrival in Nashville. From when she was a baby until her last day in the hospital, she elicited love from those who were mere acquaintances as easily as from...

After spending the last days of Sukkot in a neighboring town, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries Rabbi Menachem and Moussia Teichman returned to their Uzhgorod, Ukraine, home only to find it gutted by fire. Following the recovery of key pieces of evidence, authorities in Ukraine's furthest western region are investigating the destruction as an apparent act of arson. Anti-Semitism has not been ruled out. The Taichmans, co-directors of the Jewish Community of Uzhgorod, spent the holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah and the following Shabbat in the town of Mukachevo, birthplace of the Munkatch branch of Chasidism. They returned Saturday night to...

(IsraelNN.com) Jews around the world are commemorating the 13th anniversary of the death of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Rabbi Schneerson, generally known simply as the Rebbe, is widely considered to have been one of the most outstanding Jewish personalities of modern times. The seventh leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty, he is described on one Chabad website - with little argument from non-Chabad Jews - as "the one individual more than any other singularly responsible for stirring the conscience and spiritual awakening of world Jewry." The Rebbe was born on Nissan 11, 5662 (April 18, 1902), in Nikolaev,...

Few men are able to shape the world in death as they did in life. To do so is to so subsume your existence to a lofty ideal, with such complete thoroughness, that your life comes to symbolize the values for which you toiled. In the latter half of the 20th century perhaps only two men can be said to have so completely revitalized their communities that they achieved immortality by becoming the symbol of their nations. They are Martin Luther King, Jr., who offered dignity and self-worth to a persecuted people, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, who...

Havah Nagilah Hebrew Havah nagilah, Havah nagilah Havah nagilah v'nismchah Havah nagilah, Havah nagilah Havah nagilah v'nismchah Havah n'ran' nah Havah n'ran' nah Havah n'ran' nah v'nismcha Havah n ran' nah English translation: Come let’s dance, come let’s dance, Come let’s dance, and be merry! Come let’s dance, come let’s dance, Come let’s dance, and be merry! Come let’s whirl, come let’s whirl, Come let’s whirl, and be merry! Come let’s whirl, come let’s whirl, Come let’s whirl, and be merry! Rise, rise, brothers! Rise, brothers, with a glad heart. Rise, brothers, with a glad heart. Rise, brothers, with...

One of the early expressions of the dignity of the individual is in this week's Torah reading. The greatness of giants is a commonplace -- Adam, Noah, the Patriarchs, Moses - these are all noteworthy names. But the anonymous, the scores of thousands who were not leaders and chiefs, the masses -- they too are endowed with worth by the simple theme of this week's Torah reading, the census. Counting implies value, for worthless things are not counted, certainly not as individual units but in the mass at best. The Torah counts Israel to the last man, because each one,...

"G-d spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai and said ... Six years you may plant your fields... and the seventh year shall be Shabbat, you shall not plant.” Why was this Divine commandment of shmita (Sabbatical year when fields are left fallow) particularly related to Mt. Sinai? After all, the entire Torah was taught to Moses on Sinai. Shmita, perhaps to a greater degree than other commandments, tests the Jew's faith in G-d, because it explicitly calls upon him to demonstrate his confidence in G-d's bounty, his belief in G-d's power and providence. "And if you ask what will we...

The weekly Torah portion describes the characteristics of kosher and forbidden animals, fish, and fowl. Nachmanides in his commentary observes that the forbidden fowl are predatory. Among these prohibited birds enumerated we find the chasida, translated as "stork." The literal meaning of chasida is "kindly," an appropriate name, says Rashi, because this bird is helpful to its friends, and shares its food with them. In this case, asks the Gerrer Rebbe, since the bird is kindly and sympathetic, then according to Nachmanides it belongs among the kosher instead of the forbidden fowl. The Gerrer drew an interesting moral from this....

After the enthusiastic reception of the Ten Commandments, the people, impatient for Moses' descent from the mountain, made themselves a new god -- a Golden Calf. Examine the text carefully1 and perhaps a few observations might be made. Can't we find some exoneration for their idolatry? Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, so the people demanded of Aaron a "god that will go before us," for the Moses who led the people from Egypt is gone. Was this not a sincere religious quest for the divine? Was not their rejection of Moses (and all he taught) justified,...

What is the significance of the name "Jew"? Where does the word come from and what does it mean? The word Jew (Yehudi in the Hebrew) is a derivative of the name Judah (Yehudah), Jacob's fourth son; hence calling someone by this name would seemingly imply that the person is a descendant of that particular tribe. However, as is well known, Jacob had twelve sons, progenitors of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, all of whom comprise our great nation. Why, then, is the entire Israelite nation known as "Jews"? (The conventional answer to this question is that the majority of...

Chabad rabbi argues that visit intended to garner political gains Chaim Levinson Published: 02.25.07, 21:58 / Israel Culture A recent request by socialist Venezuelean President Hugo Chávez to pay an official visit to a Chabad synagogue in Caracas was rejected. The Chabad official news site posted an article saying that Rabbi Moshe Ferman, the chief Chabad envoy to Venezuela, had rejected the president's request arguing that it was aimed at garnering political gains in light of the West's revulsion of him. Chavez who has been in office since 1999, allied with Saddam Hussein at the time, befriended Iranian President Mahmoud...

"My grandson made a Passover seder in Kobe!" "150 people!" "In Kobe Japan!" "My grandson!" I was on a trip back to Brooklyn several summers ago, and had met up with one of the elders of the Crown Heights community. A butcher by trade. Polish born. He had stopped me in the middle of 770; after a hurried hello started gushing about his grandson's Pesach, some three months before. I didn't get the excitement. I understand a grandson's nachas. I find it amazing there were 150 Jews in Kobe and am impressed by near teenagers who spend their time off...

When talk-show host Dennis Prager wrote a column in November decrying a congressman-elect's decision to take his oath of office on the Koran rather than the Bible, he argued that it would "embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones." In a column for Townhall.com, Prager wrote that Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim elected to Congress, "should not be allowed" to swear on the Koran because "the act undermines American civilization." Soon, the Los Angeles radio host was at the center of the biggest controversy he has faced during decades in public life. Op-ed pages around the country rushed to...

Moses has demonstrated the signs Pharaoh demanded of him as a messenger of G-d. Several of the destined ten plagues have already struck Egypt and the stubborn king is prepared to bargain with Moses. "Go bring offerings to your G-d in the land (Egypt),"1 he proposes. Moses refuses. Israel must take a three-day journey into the desert there to worship G-d. The three-day journey is repeated a number of times in the Exodus account. Why wasn't Pharaoh's reasonable offer acceptable to Moses? Moses had not yet demanded the unconditional freedom from slavery -- that thought had not even been broached...

The slavery in Egypt is approaching its final stages. The ten plagues are beginning to descend upon a hapless Egypt. Though Pharaoh's reactions are not spontaneous -- his reversals and broken promises were foreordained -- still, men of free and not pre-determined will, often emulate him. It was after the second plague, Pharaoh had assured Moses that Israel would be freed, and the plague was in fact lifted. "But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart"1 and repudiated his pledge. His promises were forgotten when the pressure was removed. Religion and G-d are frequently kept...

IsraelNN.com) Multiple bombing attacks in Bangkok have left Israelis unscathed, according to a report several minutes ago by Chabad representatives in the Thailand capital. The Foreign Ministry has advised Israelis in the area not to venture outside. Five bombs killed at least two people, and other bombs, placed in an area where Israelis are touring, did not explode, Chabad said on the Mabat television program.

We share a wondrous account sent in by Rabbi Moses Hayyim Greenvald, translated from the Yiddish. My father, Rabbi Abraham Zvi Greenvald, was born in Lodz, Poland, and was orphaned from his father at the age of 8. His mother was left with seven little orphans, and she worried much about the education of her eldest boy, whom she sent to live with a cousin, the exalted scholar Rabbi Menachem Zemba, may G-d avenge his blood. It was he who raised my father with great self-sacrifice. Understandably, he was concerned about my father's studies and even tutored him personally. My...

Windham sends first Orthodox Jew in NH to legislature By JULIE MASIS Special to The Union Leader Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006 Windham – A young man who does not shake hands with women was recently elected to the state Legislature, and the support of several members of the Salem Women's Club was instrumental in his victory at the polls. "My faith out of respect for women does not allow contact between unrelated men and women," said Rep. Jason Bedrick, 23, R-Windham. He said he explains this on a daily basis to female colleagues who reach out their hands to him....

Rabbi Brackman attends Chabad emissaries international convention, returns with uplifted feelings and great sense of pride Published: 11.20.06, 23:55 Eating dinner with three thousand rabbis is indeed an experience to write about. This week for the first time I attended the International Convention of Chabad Emissaries. Over three thousand Chabad Rabbis from all corners of the globe came together to share inspiration, camaraderie and love of Judaism. Chabad is arguably the largest Jewish organization in the world. At the convention it was announced that this year three new countries, Vietnam, Laos and Guadeloupe, were added to the list of countries...

Some 3,000 Chabad rabbis and communal leaders converged on Brooklyn for an annual conference. The International Conference of Chabad Lubavitch Emissaries, colloquially known as the “Shluchim” conference, began Thursday and will run through Monday. It will be highlighted by a banquet Sunday night that is expected to draw some 4,000 people to the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset, N.J. It will be the first time the banquet is held outside New York. The banquet will honor Sami Rohr, who has given tens of millions of dollars to Chabad and other educational causes.

Jewish leaders meet with Shashi Tharoor, center left, the U.N. Undersecretary General, at an event organized by American Friends  of Lubavitch in Washington on Sept. 7.Photograph: Chabad-Lubavitch Lubavitch assumes high profile at U.N. I can speak for a movement with an energetic, ongoing presence in 73 countries,” said Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Chabad’s envoy in Washington, who organized the Tharoor meeting and is spearheading the effort to establish a permanent Chabad presence at the United Nations.Ron Kampeas/JTA WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (JTA) - As the U.N. General Assembly opens, diplomats vying to be the world’s top peacekeeper are taking the time to consult...

It was exactly one year ago. Storm hit New Orleans, turning Mardi-Gras city into rubble. Local Chabad rabbi writes to Ynetnews about days following disaster, and about one good-hearted act, that infused hope into hearts of all Rabbi Yossie Nemes Published: 08.29.06, 14:50 New Orleans: As today is the one-year anniversary of Katrina we reminisce about the passed year. Pre-Katrina Greater New Orleans was a city of 1.3 million inhabitants, amongst them 12,000 Jews, half of whom have not returned. The life of every single New Orleanian was shaken to the core and changed forever by Katrina. We remember levees...

This morning as the sun rose over Jerusalem, my wife Leah gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at the Hadassah Medical center. A few hours later I drove to the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Malachi where my wife's parents live.After packing several personal items that my wife will need for her hospital stay, I set out to drive back to Jerusalem. As I passed the central bus station in Kiryat Malachi, I saw an Israeli soldier waiting to get a ride. I rolled down the window and asked him where he needed to go. He said his...

Salita is not just a Jew but a deeply observant Jew, involved with one of the world’s most ultra-Orthodox branches of the religion, the Brooklyn-based Chabad Lubavitch. He wants to be a champion, but he yearns to be pious. He lectures schoolchildren about the rewards of prayer, but he wants to hit someone so hard that those who say he isn’t mean enough will shut up once and for all. He wants to inspire others to be better Jews, but he earns his living by pummeling opponents into submission.

TEL AVIV – A Florida teenager lying in a coma here after being critically injured last week in a suicide bombing opened his eyes for the first time since the attack yesterday just as his rabbi donned him with teffillin, or Jewish prayer phylacteries. Daniel Wultz, 16, was one of over 60 people injured in last Monday's attack in which a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded section of Tel Aviv as Israelis celebrated the fifth day of the Passover holiday. The blast ripped through a falafel restaurant just outside the city's old central bus station, killing...

To Chabad, every Jew counts By DAVID ELIEZRIE Talkbacks for this article: 11 Marvin Schick in "Where is Chabad heading?" (January 10) would have us think he perceives the world through an Orthodox prism: You don't meet the standard, something is missing. A Jew who is not fully observant and keeps kosher and Shabbat is a person whose glass is half empty. Many in the Orthodox world look for reasons to distance themselves from the non-observant. Chabad, in contrast, goes out in search of the Jew regardless of background or affiliation. Some years ago George Rohr, a major Chabad supporter,...

Chabad, the Lubavitch movement, is the Walmart of Jewish life, a mega-phenomenon that keeps growing at a remarkable rate by entering new and underserved areas, and by exploiting the vulnerability of existing service providers. Growth provides the impetus and resources for additional growth. Walmart uses loss leaders to attract customers, the aim being to get them to buy profitable items and to further weaken and dishearten the competition. In Chabad there is the perhaps unintended defining of Judaism downward, the aim being to attract participants and to maintain for them at least a tenuous connection with Jewish life. In the...

Few people would deny the amazing work that Chabad has done in Jewish outreach and the success of this global hassidic movement founded by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liady in bring previously unaffiliated Jews into the fold and giving them a sense of community, belonging and heritage. While Kfar Chabad, with its replica of 770 Eastern Parkway, is the focal point of Chabad activity in Israel, and contains the largest concentration of Chabad families, educational institutions and printing works for Chabad publications, Chabad is extremely visible in Jerusalem and has become even more so in recent years as its down-town...

PEABODY — Mayor Michael Bonfanti will not attend tomorrow night's menorah lighting ceremony at City Hall, as part of a compromise between the city and local religious leaders. The practice of lighting a large menorah in front of City Hall to mark the start of Hanukkah began last year when Rabbi Nechemia Schusterman of Chabad of Peabody, a Jewish outreach group unaffiliated with a Peabody synagogue, approached Bonfanti about placing a menorah at City Hall and asking him to light one of the candles. Chabad had a public lighting ceremony on the first night of the eight-day holiday last year....

Chabad, the Lubavitch Hasidic movement headquartered in New York, is the most effective movement in the Jewish world today, according to Michael Steinhardt, a major figure on the American philanthropy scene, who is a self-defined secular and non-believing Jew. Steinhardt made the statement at the annual Chabad convention last week in the grand ballroom of New York's Hilton Hotel before an audience of 3,000, of which more than 2,000 were Chabad emissaries worldwide. Steinhardt, who contributes millions of dollars to Jewish education in the United States, helps fund the Chabad youth movement, which has branches in over 100 cities in...

NEW YORK CITY, USA - Shoppers, fresh from the streets of a city mad with holiday glitter swept into the lobby of the New York Hilton and found themselves in a different world. Eddies of buddy groups, the boys who played basketball in the yeshiva gym and grew up into spiritual leaders the world over, who only saw each other over the four-day International Conference of Shluchim clustered alongside the lobby sculpture. Newlywed young, wise eyed sages, the thin, the not-so-thin. Ginger headed, blond, gray streaked, speaking a polyglot of Hebrew, Yiddish, English, Russian and French. Chabad -Lubavitch Shluchim--2,769 representatives--had...

The California-based West Coast Chabad's annual star-studded telethon is making a special appeal for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The lineup of stars asking for donations includes Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Los Angeles Lakers basketball legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Earvin "Magic" Johnson. "It's impossible to see the images of destruction and loss coming from the Gulf Coast and not be moved to action," said Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, director of West Coast Chabad-Lubavitch. "Our hearts go out to the hundreds of thousands who are suffering from this disaster, and we will continue to do...

LOS ANGELES, CA, September 14—A California governor, a Chassidic reggae singer, a pair of basketball legends, and a son of “The Godfather.” What do they have in common? All of them have joined the ranks of celebrities scheduled to appear on the upcoming Chabad “Celebration 25” Telethon. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Matisyahu, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Caan are among those stepping forward to salute the Telethon’s 25th anniversary and encourage viewers to support Chabad’s educational and nonsectarian social service programs. This year’s show will broadcast live from Hollywood on Sunday, September 25th, from 3 pm to midnight, PDT. It...

"In the days after Katrina hit, Chabad saved lives", US President George Bush told Republican Jews in Washington on Wednesday. In a speech he gave at the 20th anniversary luncheon of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Bush called on the American people to keep on helping the victims of hurricane Katrina and praised the Jewish Community that raised $17 million for that cause. Bush, in the second appearance in one week before Jewish audiences, told the story of Jewish Rabbis in Louisiana who launched rescue missions to help the victims, among them Chabad people that went out to the flooded city...

Rabbi Zelig and Mendel Rivkin visiting people at the Astrodome In the Face of Katrina: A Community PersistsHOUSTON, TEXAS Monday, September 05, 2005   The indiscriminate invasion by Hurricane Katrina into the lives of its victims leaves in its wake dislocation and trauma across the board. And yet the damage is of such variety, each family must feel itself, in some sense, an island alone as it tries to begin to regroup from the disruption into the particular rhythm of its life. Presently it seems that nothing is more certain than the uncertainty itself. No one knows what will be tomorrow,...

Along the northern coast of Norway, not far from North Cape, Europe's northernmost point, is the quaint city of Trondheim. There, among the troll dolls and fishing paraphernalia, one discovers a most unusual sight: a synagogue. Though a minyan is hard to come by - the shul is open only on Friday nights, weather permitting - the president struggles valiantly to keep the institution open. A survivor of Auschwitz, he proudly displays the compact but concise Holocaust Museum housed in the synagogue's anteroom, and explains that he returned after the war with the express purpose of keeping the tiny shul...