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Jewish Voices for Peace activists heckle as PM addresses Jewish Federation in New Orleans; 6 demonstrators removed from hall by security guards.

Limor Livnat, Ariel Mayor tell crowds "the cultural center was built by the state of Israel. We traveled a long path to get to this day."

Hecklers protesting against occupation of West Bank, loyalty oath interrupt PM's Jewish Federation GA speech where he says Teheran is greatest threat to the world, sponsors terror in Lebanon, Gaza.

"מיכאל שניצעלער - די חתונה פונעם יונגסטן" Michoel Shcnitzler -The wedding of the Youngest The album will have songs from many famous composers, such as: Yossi Green, Lipa, Pinky Webber, Motty Ilowitz, Naftali Schnitzler, Tuli Weill, Duvid Kaufman, Meir Adler and more. This new hit with over 20 beautiful brand new songs to be released on about chanukah iy"h

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates rapped Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's knuckles for his comment in New Orleans Sunday, Nov. 7, that "Iran must be made to fear a military strike against its nuclear program." Gates shot back: "I disagree that only a credible military threat can get Iran …to end its nuclear weapons program."  debkafile: The Obama administration is building up military pressure on Iran and resents the Israeli prime minister's bid to force the pace beyond its calibrated momentum.

Before taking off for Asia Saturday, Nov. 6, President Barack Obama ordered the Pentagon not just to beef up American and NATO military pressure on Iran but to do so as conspicuously as possible, debkafile's Washington and military sources report.  In the last few days, three aircraft carriers, four nuclear submarines and several marine assault units have piled up opposite Iranian shores. US Sen. Lindsey Graham has called for US to strike Iran's navy, air force and Revolutionary Guards.

Saudi intelligence, while giving Washington, Berlin and London three early warnings of an impending Al Qaeda -Yemen airborne terror offensive, was itself deeply immersed in the kingdom's back yard organizing, mustering bombers and arming Al Qaeda-Iraq for its biggest operation in the Middle East - the storm of anti-Shiite, anti-Iran violence which swept Baghdad Tuesday, Nov. 2 and left some 130 dead and 300 injured. Shiite Sadr City took the brunt of the attacks.

[MULTIPLE VIDEOS & HUNDREDS OF PHOTOS POSTED BELOW] A warehouse at Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Pier 12 erupted in dance Sunday night as approximately 4,500 people got on their feet, locked arms, and circled around the giant room to the rhythmic chords of traditional Chasidic melodies. Coming just after the traditional roll call portion of the gala banquet of [...]

Jerusalem – Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz came to the Knesset Monday to officially present the 2011-2012 biennial budget to the Finance Committee, but rather than concentrating on Steinitz’s plans to reduce unemployment and encourage fiscal growth, opposition MKs came ready for a fight following contradicting reports that Steinitz had made a backroom agreement to advance [...]

Dutch politician Geert Wilders will speak at a conference in Tel Aviv in early December, which will be dedicated to promoting the idea that Jordan is 'Palestine' (original link in Hebrew, translation here) (Hat Tip: Didi Remez via Twitter). Dutch anti-Muslim nationalist Geert Wilders will come to Israel in order to support the idea that “Jordan is the Palestinian nation state,” which is being

“Following the thwarted terrorist plot last week to conceal and ship explosive devices on board aircraft bound for the U.S., the Administration took a number of immediate steps to increase security by tightening existing measures related to cargo bound for the United States. Some of the steps that have been taken by the Department of Homeland [...]

In another major sign of growing ties between India and the United States, President Barack Obama on Monday backed a permanent seat for India in the U.N. Security Council. “In the years ahead, I look forward to a reformed U.N. Security Council that includes India as a permanent member,” he said in an address to the [...]

Levi Rabin (Edgware, England) and Mushkie Loschak (S. Barbra, CA)

L'Chaim Tonight Monday at FREE
1383 President St [between Kingston and Brooklyn Ave]

From a New York Times article on the Corrie trial: Sarah Corrie Simpson, Ms. Corrie’s older sister, who is here with her mother and father, Craig, has taken a leading role in bringing attention to the case. Asked what she thought of how her sister was viewed, she said her family did not consider itself anti-Israel and was not responsible for the way in which Ms. Corrie’s name had been used by

Washington – The Supreme Court is weighing whether Costco and other discount sellers can offer cut-rate goods from foreign manufacturers without violating U.S. copyright laws. The justices heard argument Monday in a dispute between Costco and the Swiss watch maker Omega over a line of watches that Costco sold for a third less than they cost [...]

Ontario, Canada – A lawyer wants the case halted for a Canadian man facing extradition to France in connection with a 1980 Paris synagogue bombing that killed four people. Donald Bayne said Monday in an Ontario courtroom that documents related to his client Hassan Diab’s case have been manipulated to falsely implicate Diab in the attack [...]

From YNet:
Many men spend weeks coming up with the most original way to propose marriage to their loved ones in order to ensure a positive response. For the most part, grand gestures are considered the safest bet, but Elad Dekel, 25, proved otherwise – the smallest wedding proposal in the world convinced his girlfriend to say "yes."


Last August, Dekel, a physics student at the Israel Institute of Technology, was sent to Dresden, Germany as part of an exchange program where he worked at a Nanotechnology research center developing miniature silicone chips.


Before leaving Israel, Dekel and his girlfriend, Chen Mendelowitz, agreed she would come visit him in Germany. He planned on using the opportunity to propose to her after seven years together.


During his time at the research center, Dekel came up with the idea of "printing" his proposal on a 1 sq. centimeter titanium and gold coated silicone chip. He spent days working out a way to carry out his vision.


Dekel eventually came up with the winning formula and printed a marriage proposal over 0.0001 centimeters in Hebrew and German. He also added a photo of himself and Chen, the first ever printed in the German lab.


The big moment arrived when Dekel invited Chen for a tour of the lab during her visit to Germany and showed her his work on the chips. "Elad put the chip under the microscope lens and I started looking to see what was there," Chen related. "I looked for quite a while, zooming in and out, magnifying the image and finally detected a weird shape. I magnified it and slowly began to realize it was a photo of the both of us. I magnified it more and saw there was something written, and then I realized it said 'Chen, will you marry me? Elad'.


"Even before I said anything I got a sudden hot flash all over my body, and when I could finally speak I just said 'sure'."How does that compare with the world's smallest Koran?

The largest teen program in New York, Neshama Cteen of Chabad of Brighton-Manhattan Beach, proudly displays the toys they have collected and wrapped to distribute to special needs children in our community to make their Chanukah celebrations especially happy.

The mini-spike in murders that has pushed the homicide rate up 15 percent so far this year continued with three more killings this morning, following four on Saturday night and Sunday. Through Sunday, there were 459 murders this year, compared with 399 at this time last year, the police said this morning. Here are the [...]

Four-term Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman talked politics and spirituality in Oklahoma City, Okla., taking the dais at the Chabad Community Center for Jewish Life and Learning to celebrate 13 years of full-time Chabad-Lubavitch activities in the state.

The NYPD says there's no such thing as a ticket quota, but memos posted at a Brooklyn stationhouse say otherwise.

Two notices obtained by the Daily News clearly spell out how many moving-violation summonses cops should be handing out.

As you might have suspected, the solution to the 'Palestinian refugee' problem has been known since shortly after the War of Independence ended. In light of the recent Whitley fiasco, it's worth looking at how UNRWA handled similar disclosures nearly 60 years ago. SOMETIMES UNRWA will simply deny its internal critics even existed. In 1952 Lt.-Gen. Sir Alexander Galloway, a noted British

New York, NY – The mini-spike in murders that has pushed the homicide rate up 15 percent so far this year continued with three more killings this morning, following four on Saturday night and Sunday. Through Sunday, there were 459 murders this year, compared with 399 at this time last year, the police said this [...]

Abbas says Palestinians have 7 options if talks fail, dismisses anything short of full freeze; Erekat claims Israel choosing settlements over peace.

Hamas' London-based newspaper, Palestine Info, has an Arabic article about an Israeli plan to build eleven new towns between Arad and Beer-sheva in the Negev. One of them would be an Arab community.

The language it uses is identical to articles about Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria - the Israelis are referred to as "usurpers" (Google translates as "rapists.") The Arab town is regarded as just a means to "steal" more "Arab land. " And, of course, it calls the towns "settlements."

Just in case you had the slightest thought that Palestinian Arabs were only against construction in the territories...

The completion of the Steinsaltz Shas

Matzav is wearings its Yeshivishe coat today, three days after advertising "Jews and Baseball" as its video of the day. I assume that was also to show you what not to see at the movie theater... After all, Maran said that in 1989 that all his (Steinsaltz's) works are kefirah... I'm sure Maran took the time to read them all then... The fact that this was right, smack in the middle of his Milchemes Hashem against Lubavitch in general also is a mere coincidence. Rabbi Scherman should also send him like a box of chocolates or an assortment of herbal teas, since that opened the door for them. They translated the Shas L'sheim Mitzvah, so as not to allow millions of Jews to be influenced by Steinsaltz. No other considerations whatsoever. It's interesting to note that despite the fact that he was only attacked because of his connection to Lubavitch - take my word for it, people - that Steinsaltz is sort of in no-man's land. Lubavitchers find him too way too "simplistic" when it comes to his interpretations of many aspects of Chassidus, including the Rebbe/Chossid relationship. Steinsaltz tells it like he sees it, in all areas of life, and that ticks many people off. So in short, Maran attacked a man for really no reason, well, other than being a Lubavitcher, of course, which is all the reason in the world.

ah freilikhen khoydesh!

Jerusalem – In its first key public forum, the International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim (Mount of Olives Cemetery) held a major public event Saturday at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue under the banner of “Reclaiming Our Abandoned Ancestors.” The Committee’s expressed goal is to dramatically improve the current situation of the historic burial ground [...]

Search for more information about Tyra Banks at 4torah.com.

To accommodate families of Hasidic Jews who limit their kids' exposure to popular culture, there are no TVs in the rooms. You won't find Bibles there either, but you will find stands for the wigs traditionally worn by married Hasidic...

The largest union of airline pilots in the world is urging its members to boycott body imaging machines currently being rolled out in airports all over the globe, citing dangers of excessive exposure to harmful levels of radiation during the screening process. The president of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 11,500 pilots, many of whom work [...]

In Beirut visit intended to support investigation amid mounting tensions, US Senator says of the UN tribunal: "nobody has the power to change it."

35 trucks of food and medicine arrived in Egypt's El Arish port today to be sent to Gaza.

They include some 500 tons of food and refrigerated trucks with medicine.

It was coordinated between the UAE's Red Crescent, Egypt, UNRWA and Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza.

No one is reporting this story.

The reason? Because the purpose of this aid convoy is - surprise! - aid. It is not meant to be a political statement, it is not meant to demonize Israel, it is not meant to support Hamas. The entire purpose is to provide aid to those who need it.

The contrast with George Galloway's Viva Palestina could not be starker. In that case, the aid was a mere prop to the real purpose of the trip. Both of them carried some 500 tons of aid - but one of them only cared about making noise.

While Viva Palestina said that they had "broken the blockade," they had done no such thing. Aid from Arab nations has been routinely coming to Gaza through Egypt. Israel has no problems with giving legitimate humanitarian aid for Gazans, except in the fevered imagination of Israel-haters more interested in photo-ops with terrorists than with the actual people of Gaza.

This was a real humanitarian aid convoy. The ships and trucks from the terror-supporters are gimmicks.

The absence of any Western media reporting this story shows that journalists are more than happy to play their part in the charade of "aid boats" and "aid convoys."

'Palestinian' chief negotiator bottle washer Saeb Erekat told Army Radio on Monday that his 'people' will ask the United States to recognize a 'Palestinian state.' The Palestinian Authority plans to ask the US to recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders in the event that "Netanyahu and the Israelis decide to choose settlements over peace," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat

• Joel Pollak lost the election, but he keeps on fighting for the good guys.  Take a look at his latest piece. (h/t WorldJewishDaily)
• Those who talk on cellphones in the synagogue should be peppersprayed, according to this cute video.  I agree with the overall message despite the last line.
• Interesting paper on the Jewish presence on the Internet, which includes blogs. (h/t Hirhurim)
• According to statcounter, I got my 400,000th pageview recently since I started keeping records a little more than 5 years ago.  I know it doesn't seem like much compared to some of the more popular blogs, but it does to me.  Thanks to those who come here and read the blog.

Following the conclusion of the Banquet in Redhook, Shluchim poured back into Crown Heights where they made their way to 770 and sat down for a lively fargrengen amongst fellow Shluchim.

Shlomo Horowitz (Kfar Chabad) and Feige Marinovsky (Texas)

Nachi Shusterman (Monsey, NY) and Rikki Baron (Columbia, MD)

L'Chaim Tonight Monday at Lubavitcher Yeshiva
570 Crown St [hall entrance on Albany Ave]

PA negotiator slams PA for approving Interior Ministry plans to go ahead with construction of 1,3000 east Jerusalem homes.

Westerwelle calls closure of strip "unacceptable, must end"; doesn't meet Hamas leadership due to refusal to renounce violence, recognize Israel.

New York – There is a Yeshiva in the Five Towns, Far Rockaway community that is looking to build. They have the property. They have the plans. They are securing the funding. The problem? A tree. A fruit-bearing tree – to be precise. Not that this little tree is preventing them from [...]

This can be thrown together very quickly which makes it perfect for these early Shabbosim.  2 (21 ounce) cans cherry pie filling ¾ cup flour ¾ cup old-fashioned oats ½ cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons cocoa 1/3 cup margarine, cut into pieces ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spoon pie filling into a 9-inch square baking dish.  Combine flour, [...]

Brooklyn, NY – New York City’s safest neighborhood is in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. The company NeighborhoodScout revealed its rankings of U.S. neighborhoods, based on FBI data, on Monday. The group said the Bedford Avenue area was safer than 90-percent of all neighborhoods in the nation, with a crime rate of only two per 1,000 and [...]

New Haven, CT – A Connecticut man will be sentenced to death for a night of terror inside a suburban home in which a woman was strangled and her two daughters tied to their beds, doused in gasoline and left to die in a fire. A jury decided Monday that Steven Hayes should receive the death [...]

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Holidays are supposed to be happy times, but for large Orthodox Jewish families, they can be a handful.

"Most of the families here have on average eight, nine, maybe 10 kids," said Zalman Glauber, a 35-year-old father of five in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "Housing a guest - it strains the family."

It's no fun for guests, either, who often must contend with a pullout couch and kids buzzing around.

Hotels aren't an easy solution for people who follow religious laws and customs strictly. That's where Glauber, a developer, saw a business opportunity.

Six weeks ago, Glauber and his partner, Zelig Weiss, opened the Condor Hotel at 56 Franklin Ave. in Williamsburg. The Condor targets observant Jews who don't travel on the Sabbath or major holidays, and prefer a hotel that accommodates their needs.

"It's half a block from a shul, from kosher food," Glauber said. "A Jewish businessman who has a show in the Javits Center will much more want to stay in a place where he can daven [pray] and have something to eat kosher."

With introductory rates at $159 - prices are expected to rise to between $170 and $190 - the Condor is trying to tap travelers of all faiths who don't want to spend a small fortune to stay in a Manhattan hotel.

Glauber, who also developed five condo buildings in Williamsburg, has a lot riding on the venture. When the real estate market tanked, his business was pushed to the financial brink and many of his properties were hit with foreclosure actions. He settled with his lenders on most of them, although one foreclosure proceeding is ongoing.

Another major hurdle: Glauber and his partner have no experience in the hotel business. Nonetheless, they invested $5 million to turn a garage on a commercial strip into the Condor.

The idea of a niche hotel for Orthodox Jews had already been tested in Borough Park, which has at least two. Demand for the Condor's 35 rooms has been strong so far, Glauber said, especially on the weekends.

"It's a necessity," said Chaim Markowitz, a nearby resident. "It's a big void, which he is filling up."

At first glance, the Condor looks like any other midpriced, stylish hotel popping up in Brooklyn. But a closer look reveals elements aimed at a niche clientele.

To accommodate families of Hasidic Jews who limit their kids' exposure to popular culture, there are no TVs in the rooms. You won't find Bibles there either, but you will find stands for the wigs traditionally worn by married Hasidic women.

The concierge at the front desk speaks Yiddish. Of course, don't expect anyone to answer the phone from sundown to sunset on the Sabbath, which runs from Friday evening to Saturday evening, or on holidays when the use of phones and other electrical devices is shunned by observant Jews. Also during the Sabbath and holidays, so-called Shabbos elevators stop on every floor.

With a 3,000-square-foot ballroom in the basement (including separate entrances for men and women), the hotel will also try to compete with neighborhood catering halls for weddings and bar mitzvahs.

The Condor is part of a Brooklyn hotel boom. While five years ago, the borough - the city's most populous - had just 600 hotel rooms, there are now 2,400, with up to 900 more under construction.

Even so, "there is a huge underserved market for a hotel that can meet the ritual and highly specific needs that the Orthodox community has," said Lori Rafael, director of real estate and development at the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

Soon enough, the Condor will contend with a competitor - another hotel catering to Hasidic Jews is planned on nearby Wallabout St.  NY Daily News

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