Free Republic

Every normal civilized person is still shuddering at the horror in Mumbaiat the end of November past. The senseless murders of innocents, the savagery, the barbarism, the hatred exhibited by IslamoFascist terrorists was appalling as the world was glued to the news reports about the events and especially what was taking place at the Chabad Center in Mumbai. The Chabad Lubavitch movement posted this information on their website.Threats Made Against 770Tuesday, there was a huge police presence following threats that were made against the community on a Muslim blog • This morning, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly made a phone call...

In addition to tidings of peace and joy, St. Ambrose Church in Old Bridge has another message for the community this season: Don't even think about stealing the parish's new nativity scene. Not only are Mary and Joseph secured to the manger with steel cords, but the Baby Jesus also will be bolted to his crib and equipped with a high-tech GPS device to track anyone who might snatch him. "GPS. We call it God's Positioning System," the Rev. Bob Gorman, St. Ambrose's pastor, said. The Roman Catholic church is one of about 100 churches and synagogues around the country...

Outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin will award the country's Badge of Honor to Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Yitzchak Kogan, director of Moscow's Bronnaya Synagogue Agudas Chasidei Chabad, for helping to stop a knife-wielding assailant in a January 2006 attack at the synagogue, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. Student Yosef Kogan, the rabbi's son, will also receive an honor from Putin for wrestling 20-year-old Alexander Koptsev to the ground after he ran through the synagogue, attacking and injuring nine people. Tried in the Moscow City Court on charges of attempted murder and incitement of ethnic hatred, Koptsev was sentenced in September 2006...

Returning to Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, for a Shabbat is an exhilarating experience. Lubavitchers are arguably the most alive people in the world and there is a pulse and electricity in the air that can scarcely be found anywhere else. [A view of Crown Heights.] A view of Crown Heights. Photo: Courtesy What I did not expect, however, was to be approached by a large number of young rabbinical students of marriageable age who wanted counseling as to how to overcome their obsession with a woman's looks on dates. Some of the young men who approached me had...

For the first time since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, a chief rabbinical chaplain is servicing the spiritual and religious needs of Jewish soldiers in Russia's armed forces and various security services. Rabbi Gurevich and three Russian Jewish soldiers. Photo: Courtesy Rabbi Aharon Gurevich, 34, was appointed after being asked to fill the role by the chief rabbi of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar, who had received official permission from the Russian government to establish a military rabbinate. Upon accepting the post, Gurevich was granted the rank of colonel by Russian authorities and was given permission to visit...

One thing I've come to realize is that many of us have an innate, enduring loyalty to our preconceptions. We'll stick with them through thick and thin, no matter what reality sends our way. I first realized this some twenty years ago when a friend and I, as two young Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical students, spent our summers canvassing the state of Montana looking for Jews. We'd drive from town to town--some of which only had one or two Jewish families--and try to do our bit to encourage Jewish identity and observance. We were quite a curiosity, and were often featured in...