Happy New Week. I’m trying a topical approach to my roundup, so I went trolling for new, interesting things about Lag Ba’Omer (only a couple of days ahead), the ‘Asifa’ in Citi Field, and stam interesting Jewish tidbits. Let me know if this format works for you, I’m trying new things.

There’s a classifieds ad circulating the Israeli blogosphere which just has to be translated and shared as the most insightful sales pitch ever:

For sale, first owner! Encyclopedia Britannica, the complete set – 45 volumes! Bargain price, or to the highest bidder. I no longer need it. I got married last week – and my wife knows everything.

Is that deep, or what? And just in case you might actually be interested, since this year has seen the shutting down of the printed Britannica, the number for this wise seller is, in Israel, 03-576-9283.

Let’s blog.

Going to Meron. From Jerusalem people like myself including hundreds of thousands of Jews, are making their way to the Galilean city of Meron Wednesday night and Thursday 10th May, 2012, participating in the annual celebration of Lag Ba’Omer. Police in the quiet town situated just one mountain away from the mystical city of Tzfat are expecting half a million Jews to arrive, traveling in busses, private cars, and some even on foot.  As of 7:30pm Wednesday night, its expected for 20,000 people to have already arrived. Midnight Rabbi Inspires

First haircut & pe’ot shaping ceremonies for 3 year old boys are the highlight of Lag b’Omer for many families, as everyone gathers to help snip. Actually, everywhere in the world, Jewish boys born between Pesach and Lag b’Omer receive their first haircut and pe’ot on Lag b’Omer. Upon reaching the age of 3 (i.e., completing three years and beginning the “holy fourth” – see Lev. 19:23-25), a Jewish child begins to receive his or her official training in mitzvot. Rabbi Babs, Lech Lecha

Lag B’ Omer Picnic. The Jewish holiday of Lag B’Omer is next Thursday, May 10. Since this holiday is celebrated with picnics, parades and bonfires there’s still time to grab these great picnic essentials: Fun napkins from Target, Crate and Barrel’s collapsible basket… Rita from Connecticut, Design Megillah

The Internet Asifa @ CitiField. Some people expressed their frustration with the fact that women cannot attend, others blasted the rabbis for ruining the Jewish future. As I am female, I will not be able to attend the asifah (bummer, no inspiration for me), a male friend kindly offered to take his time and attend on my behalf, so hopefully, there will be more to discuss after May 20th. Tania, Thinking Jew Girl

Lubavitch not invited to “Internet” asifa. I’m sorry for doing this, for airing our “dirty laundry” here in public, and in English yet! but this charade has to stop. This week’s meeting with the Satmar Rebbe is only one example of the exclusionary tactics being used by the organizers of the Internet event. You can choose not to believe what I write here, if it makes you feel good, but I know it to be 1000% true. Many efforts were made to get the organizers to include Lubavitch in this asifa. They were all rejected. For all kinds of supposed reasons. All people involved got the run-around, and the end result was that we got the message. Even the Skulener Rebbe said it has nothing to do with him. Hirschel Zig’s Blog Mistaken Report Says Asifa at CitiField to Be Held on May 28. Matzav.com has confirmed that despite a report in the chareidi media this week indicating a change of date, the upcoming Ichud Hakehillos L’Tohar Hamachane gathering, otherwise known as the “Internet Asifa,” will be talking place on Sunday, May 20, at CitiField in Queens, as originally scheduled.

A report on the front page of the Brooklyn-based Hamodia newspaper on Monday stated that the event would be taking place on May 28. Organizers, though, tell Matzav.com that this is mistaken and that the original date, May 20, was never changed. Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter

Life Beyond Internet. On Monday, Paul Miller, a Senior Editor at a “technology-focused news publication” called The Verge, announced that he was quitting the Internet for a year. He’s switched to a “dumb” phone, and has pledged to neither use the Internet nor ask others to use it for him, if he can.

His reasons for this drastic move are informative. He hopes that “leaving the internet will make me better with my time, vastly more creative, a better friend, a better son and brother… a better Paul.” He said that he was spending an average of over twelve hours each day using some sort of device with an Internet connection, not even including his smartphone. Yaakov Menken, Cross Currents

Internet Asifa. While I often think that a stance may be valid even if I don’t agree with it, when it comes to the internet, I don’t even think the chareidi view is valid. I mean, let’s look at what happened. The internet comes out, and chareidi Rabbis decide it’s like TV. They assur it completely. Then, they see that some people need it in order to make money. Then they decide it’s still forbidden, but there are loopholes. You can show proof that you need it for work, and then you can have it – but only if the woman of the house has the password, and her husband is dependent on her to open it up. You also need a filter that meets chareidi standards. Proud MO, OrthoWatch

Jewish leadership fails us again. The Netanyahu government keeps praising Obama and publicly smiling even though Obama keeps sticking the knife in. As a result American Jews maintain their support of Obama. Because Netanyahu doesn’t defend our right to build, they and even Israeli Jews, lose confidence in our rights. Many become ashamed of the “occupation” because our government gives the impression that criticism of us in this regard is well founded. Under these conditions we cannot win the PR battle. Ted Belman, Doc’s Talk

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Israel marked twenty years of diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan on Sunday, with a visit to the 95% Muslim country by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who also visited the capital city’s Chabad house, according to a report by Lubavitch.com.

Azerbaijan, which borders Iran to the south, has pursued increasingly warm relations with the Jewish state, in contradiction to the will of Tehran.  In January, Azeri authorities arrested an Iranian national who allegedly plotted to kill two Israeli Chabad emissaries working at the Chabad Ohr Avner Jewish School in the capital city of Baku, including the Chief Chabad Emissary of Azerbaijan, Rabbi Shneor Segal.  The Chabad complex, “overlooking the scenic Caspian Sea”, according to Lubavitch.com, was established by philanthropist and President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the CIS and Baltic Countries, Lev Leviev, in 2010.

Rabbi Segal played in an integral role in arranging Foreign Minister Lieberman’s visit.  During his two-day stay, Lieberman met with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and other high-ranking officials, as well as Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan,  Michael Lotem and Israeli Consul Ron Schechter.

The NY Post reported that Rabbi Joshua Metzger has signed a contract to pay $40 million for the 12-story, 60,000-square-foot building at 509 Fifth Ave., in the middle of the block between East 42nd and 43rd streets, which is occupied by Metzger’s nonprofit Chai Foundation and Chabad Lubavitch of Midtown.

According to the Post, the signing will put a stop to several law suits which have been filed with the NY Supreme Court over the purchase of 509 Fifth.

Chabad.org reports that a new replica of Jerusalem’s Western Wall was unveiled last Thursday by Israeli Public Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein and El Al CEO Eliezer Shkedi, at the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn, N.Y..

So, after moving the Rebbe’s home at 770 Eastern Parkway to Israel, Lubavitch now moves the Kotel to America. My advice to you is, fasten the bolts and beams in your house, or one morning you’ll wake up to discover Lubavitch has moved you to a new continent…

The massive replica serves as the centerpiece of the museum’s new 6,000-square-foot fourth-floor exhibit, “A Voyage Through Jewish History.” Visitors will be invited to write their prayers on a note and insert it into the wall just like in Jerusalem; the notes will then be flown to Israel via El Al and placed in the actual Western Wall. The exhibit will officially open on April 1.

When you think of Lubavitch and Bears, you’re more likely to come up with Dov Ber than that illustrious trio renowned for that infamous Goldilocks incident. But this time you’d be wrong, the bears in questions are the Three Bears Restaurant, a Westport, Connecticut landmark since the early 1900s, which closed in 2009 after filing for bankruptcy.

According to Westport Now, Chabad Lubavitch of Westport moved into the town’s shuttered Three Bears restaurant in early January and was subsequently issued a town cease-and-desist order. Chabad has submitted a special permit and site plan application to the local Planning Zoning Department.

Lubavitch submitted the application Feb. 22, a day before the deadline, allowing the congregation to continue conducting religious education classes at the site, at 333 Wilton Road.

The matter is scheduled to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) on April 12.

UPDATE: A spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Office said that after contacting local police it turns out there was no basis to the claims against Rabbi and Mrs. Bernstein. Rabbi Bernstein himself told Israel Today that he hoped “this was not a case of anti-Semitism. From rumors I heard I understand that this began with a complaint from one of the neighbors. For now, I have not been arrested or questioned. Clearly these are baseless accusations.” His wife added: “What’s happening here is a funny joke.”

An Israeli couple, members of the Lubavitch movement, who came to the city of Fort Kochi, in Southern India, in 2010, will be deported for “suspicious activities.”

Shneor Zalman and Yaffa Bernstein came to India on a multiple-entry visa and rented a house on Rose Street, Fort Kochi, for 50,000 rupees a month, far higher than the market rate. Their willingness to pay exorbitant rent caught the attention of local police.

“A monthly rent of 50,000 rupees is disproportionately high, even in Fort Kochi,” said a police source. “This is one of the main factors that made us suspicious.”

An intelligence officer told the Times of India that “Central intelligence got an alert about a covert operation being carried out by suspected Israeli agents after the terror attacks in which south Mumbai’s Chabad House came under attack and six Jews, including a Rabbi and his pregnant wife, were killed. A communication was sent to all states and it was our wing in Kerala that traced this couple at Fort Kochi.”

Indian agencies will question two suspected Israeli agents before they are deported. “We have traced the couple’s financial transactions. Preliminary investigations suggest similar Israelis are camping in various parts of the country,” an official said.

But a cursory examination of the facts at hand suggests that the Bernsteins were engaged in nothing more subversive than Lubavitch “farbrengen” get-together. Indeed, In their report, the state intelligence department said a group of people turned up at the couple’s rented house regularly and held meetings.

“These meetings lasted for hours in the night. They were under close surveillance”.

Zalman and Yaffa Bernstein were handed the deportation order last Monday, after undercover police officers, who had tracked them for a year, questioned them and filed a report.

Shneor Zalman, born 1984, and Yaffa, born 1988, entered India on multiple-entry visas.

Fort Kochi is a major tourist attraction for Jewish travelers, situated near the Mattancherry neighborhood, where Jews set up their first trading outpost centuries ago and built the country’s oldest synagogue in 1568.

In honor of the annual White House Hanukkah celebration, Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Director of American Friends of Lubavitch,  kashered the White House kitchen.  Shemtov – with the help of the White House kitchen staff and Chef Tommy Kurpradit, prepared the White House to host 550 guests for the annual celebration.

The  first conducted by President George W. Bush in 2001.

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, members of the House of Representantives and Senate, Supreme Court Justices, rabbis,  artists, astronauts, members of the military, Democratic activists and donors gathered in anticipation of Hanukkah at the White House on December 8, enjoying traditional foods such as latkes, jelly doughnuts and smoked salmon as well as new Jewish favorites such as sushi.

Guests were treated to a jazz rendition of “Rock of Ages” and a musical tribute to Jewish-American Composers by the U.S. Marine Chamber Orchestra and lit a Chanukah menorah – a little early – which had been salvaged from a synagogue ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

President Jimmy Carter was the first to recognize Hanukkah, when he lit the National Menorah in Lafayette Park erected by Chabad-Lubavitch.  The first Hanukkah lighting ceremony at the White House was conducted by President William J. Clinton.

I collect cookbooks the way other people collect coins, shot glasses, or miniature teaspoons. I began my cookbook collection a few weeks before our wedding, and today, I know it intimately. I know in which book to find which recipe, which book has the best pictures, and even which one lays flat when opened, making it easier to read while cooking.

I can also tell you which book is my favorite, which was my first purchase, and which I use most often. My Spice and Sprit; the Complete Kosher Jewish Cookbook by the ladies of the Lubavitch community, probably known better by its semi-official title, “The Purple Book”, holds pride of place in my collection. Not only was it my first cookbook, but it is also highly esteemed, because its older, yellow version was my mother’s first cookbook. The yellow cookbook kept my mother’s already kosher kitchen “heimische” no matter where in the world we were living.

The book has accompanied me on a veritable cooking odyssey, from spicy cheese lasagne to summer fruit soup. At other times, it has led me through the details of rolling knish dough and kneading challah. I have traveled to China with lemon chicken and South America with empanadas. I once asked my mother if the Lubavitch women had collected their recipes from all the different Chabad houses around the globe. My mom said she wouldn’t have been surprised, though she couldn’t possibly imagine which national cuisine had spawned “beer-batter-covered deep fried meatballs.” The Purple cookbook is a highly recommended addition to any cook’s reference library, from novice to Michelin-starred chef.

My early childhood was spent in Caracas. The Chabad House in Caracas was like a second home to me. It was a fun-filled place to go on a Sunday morning. My mother would teach arts and crafts in the back room, my brothers would run in and out of rooms teasing each other and anyone else who came past them. While the younger kids were busy making cardboard marionettes or yarn pompoms, the older ones played educational games or learned Torah with the Chabad emissaries. On one memorable rainy Sunday, a young Chabad emissary taught us South American kids how to play his new American game, “Twister”. I can still remember us as young kids, hopelessly tangled, with the young Chabadnik laughing along with us.

The summers in Caracas were spent traveling back and forth on the school bus to Chabad Camp. At camp, my brothers were three-star generals and I was a cadet. These were our ranks in the Tzivos Hashem or “G-d’s Army” (please don’t think for a second that there were any militant over- or undertones to any of this). Our ranks were determined by how many good deeds we had done.

On one memorable outing, my brothers made up a song concerning me, and to this day – 30 years later − anyone on the bus that day can remember the Ilana song, word for word. Let me just say that Ilana and banana rhyme perfectly in any language. I believe that for creating that song alone, they should have been stripped of their stars.

A few years later, my parents took the show on the road again; this time to Hong Kong, where the Chabad emissaries made every Jew who came to town – whether transient or permanent – feel welcome. In this outpost, so far from the communities in which most of us grew up, the welcome was a wonderful surprise. Lubavitch in the Far East (“LIFE”) made Judaism as accessible to the traveler or resident as chopsticks in a Chinese restaurant. Yet again, the tremendous energy that the Chabad emissaries bring to their jobs has never failed to impress me.

The loss of any life is to be mourned; yet, G-d is kind to us. He lets us feel only the closest of deaths with heartbreak, with complete sadness. But a death within the Chabad community, a community that for years has seen their charter as offering Judaism in every corner of the globe, affects us all. Orthodox or secular, traveler or resident, the Chabad representatives who venture out into the world are not missionaries. They are emissaries.

A missionary is a persuader. His job is to convince you that his way is correct, and that what you have been doing until now is incorrect. An emissary is an ambassador whose job is to represent his boss; be it a country, an organization or a religion. With diplomacy, he offers another point of view. Chabad’s job is to teach that Judaism is not only possible wherever you may find yourself − it is desirable.

I can’t comment on global terrorism, or the age-old question of why good people suffer. I don’t know how the Lubavitch community will deal with the tremendous loss their family; their community has suffered in the last week. For my part I’ll bake. It’s the only way I know how to deal with any crisis. Whether stressed or sad, I have one surefire coping mechanism. The more I “potchker” with my food, the more time I spend on a particular recipe, the closer I feel to G-d – as if by creating puff pastry from scratch, I can hold on, even for a millisecond, to some ever-fleeting godliness.

This week, you can be sure that I will be using my Chabad cookbook for inspiration. Perhaps the baking will help me find the strength to cross the chasm of despair into faith. When we lose something, we each find a way to make it better in our own minds.

This coming week, find a way to commune with G-d. Light Shabbat candles, do good deeds, put on tefillin. That is what the people in Chabad recommend. For my part, I will bake.

May we only hear good tidings about our families and brethren around the world. May God comfort you among all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

Cauliflower Kugel – Adapted from
Spice and Sprit, The complete kosher Jewish cookbook:

In recent years kugels have gone the way of the Crepes Suzette, and Cornish hens. I would like to make the case for this kugel; it is not only low in fat, it is jam packed with vegetables. The original recipe calls for a corn flake crumb crust I prefer a little Mediterranean touch with the pine nuts, but that is totally your call.

2 small heads cauliflower, cut into florets
1 large onion chopped (about 1 ½ cups)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium leeks, whites and light green parts, thinly sliced (about three cups)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons finely ground almonds (or matzah meal)
½ cup toasted pine nuts

Pre heat oven to 350 F.
In a large pot of salted water, cook the cauliflower until soft when tested with a fork. Drain the cauliflower and return to pot using a potato masher, break up the cauliflower into very small pieces.

While the cauliflower is cooking, warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion and leek and sauté, stirring once in a while until the leek has lost its shape and the onion begins to brown slightly.

Add the sautéed leeks to the cauliflower, mix well and add seasoning to taste; I like a hefty amount of pepper. Once the seasoning is adjusted, add the eggs and ground almonds.

Place the mixture in a 9×13 ovenproof dish, sprinkle with toasted pine nuts, cook uncovered for about 50 minutes until center is set and top is golden.