New Tish Rule, Fearing germs, Swine Flu Ger rabbi discontinues drinking from same cup

Fearing germs, Ger rabbi discontinues communal cups

The swine flu scare has recently prompted one of the leading spiritual figures of the ultra-Orthodox world to change one of Judaism’s time-honored traditions – that of drinking wine together from the same glass.

Yaakov Aryeh Alter, seventh and current rabbi of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, instructed his disciples in Jerusalem a few weeks ago to toast with individual and disposable plastic cups containing a few drops of wine from the rabbi’s own glass.
Hasidic Jews have toasted from the same cup at events and meals for at least 200 years.

The rabbi, who heads the largest Hasidic group in Israel, is known for his sensitivity to health issues. A few years ago, when Israel was gripped by the avian flu scare, he refrained from eating eggs until he received ones specially-imported from abroad.

Sources close to him say that his latest decision about toasting was in no way meant to protect his own health, but that of the thousands of people who follow him.

Yeshiva students who recently came from the United States and sought to meet the rabbi were asked by his aides not to shake the rabbi’s hand when they see him in his Bnei Brak home.

A popular story about the rabbi’s grandfather, Abraham Mordechai Alter – the dynasty’s second head and a prominent writer and ruler on religion – says that when he visited Israel in the early 1900s, he rebuked a man who hesitated about drinking from the communal glass of wine.

“A hundred Jews sipped from this glass, and yet you think the wine isn’t clean enough,” the popular legend quotes him as saying to the germophobe.

So far, Israel has had more than 750 confirmed cases of the virus, many of whom frequent of the crowded seminaries of the ultra-Orthodox public.

Alter is not the only ultra-Orthodox leader to take precautions. Other spiritual leaders and yeshiva heads are reportedly weary of the prospect of infection in their institutions.

This concern is also reflected in Haredi media, though they prefer the term “Mexican flu.” The Health Ministry, under Deputy Minister Yaakov Litzman from United Torah Judaism – who is known to be Alter’s right hand man – calls the virus by its scientific name, H1N1.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1099161.html

Kosher food at baseball games gets three strikes

So A-Rod finally breaks his slump with a long drive into the seats, the fans leap to their feet – and wet tuna plops into your lap.

Even if there weren’t the usual spat over who makes and packs the snacks for a game, a tuna sandwich or PB&J just doesn’t cut it. At ballparks, salty, fatty, bad-for-you hot dogs and hamburgers aren’t merely tolerated, they’re required. So for observant baseball mavens, being kosher can be unfair.

The kosher baseball problem in New York was first addressed in 1998, when, under pressure from New York City Public Advocate Mark Green and Rabbi Marc Schneier, Shea and then Yankee Stadium opened small glatt kosher stands. Now that both Big Apple teams are playing in brand-new, tax-supported homes that include elaborate fast food and restaurant choices, kosher sports enthusiasts had new reason to hope that their needs wouldn’t be ignored.
They weren’t. New Jersey-based Kosher Sports set up four identical glatt kosher stands at the $800 million Citi Field – called “Debits Field” by older wags – and Ouri’s Superior Kosher Caterers in Brooklyn did the same in the $1.5 billion Yankee palace. The season’s on, and the 4 and 7 subway lines are jammed. So how’s the food?

In general, Citi Field thrashes Yankee Stadium in the variety and success of its nonkosher food-stand offerings: authentic tacos, Blue Smoke barbecue, a branch of Danny Meyer’s wildly successful Shake Shack. It’s no different for kosher food, I’ve discovered, and the reason is simple: Kosher Sports at Citi Field cooks dogs and sausages on a small grill in front of you, while Ouri’s somewhat wider selection is prepared off the premises, packaged, sealed and reheated. No matter how excellent the original recipes or ingredients, no fast food can survive such treatment with taste, texture or essential ballpark “snap” intact.

On a recent visit, the lines at both sets of carts are long right before the games begin, but they move steadily. Except for an occasional yarmulke, I couldn’t tell from the customers’ assorted ages and races that these stands are special – though once, near an Ouri’s, a minyan formed during the seventh-inning stretch.

At times, the always-friendly staffers struggled to get orders straight and make change. This is especially true at Ouri’s, because none of those carts have a cash register, just a lock-box. Also, all Yankee food stands except Ouri’s list calories after each item. Confidence was not exactly inspired, and after a companion and I bought and sampled almost all of Ouri’s food on offer = each stand was out of something, and even early on, none of the four had burgers – I am terribly sorry to say my confidence vanished.

The glatt frank ($5.50), mildly spiced and somewhat sweet, was lukewarm, watery and limp; the squishy bun didn’t help. Too bad, because a hot dog is baseball’s bottom line.

Barely heated chicken nuggets ($8) had long ago lost juiciness or savor and were hard to chew. Strips of rubbery beef layered on a flaccid hero with sweet pickle ($12) was almost impossible to negotiate, and the reddish mass of shredded shawarma ($12) on a similar roll had the feel of a perverse Pablum.

My Yankee advice? Try the toothsome knish, but make sure it?s hot, and then the respectable falafel plus tahini and greens ($8), if the pita?s edges haven’t gone dry. There’s also a fruit stand – yes, in Yankee Stadium – near Gate 4 for dessert.

Fewer kosher selections are offered at Citi Field, but they feel closer in merit and price to the temptations around them. I’ve always wished the fine Abeles & Heymann dog ($4.75) had a bit more garlic and spurt, but it went down well because the roll tastes like real bread; two pieces of quickly grilled pastrami placed on top to make a “pastrami dog” ($6.50) improve the bare frank enormously.

A plump A&H beef “Italian” sausage on an even better roll ($7.25) is topped with sautéed tricolor bell peppers. But bring your own mustard or ketchup; no packets are provided, and I was pointed to common condiment stations whose kosher qualifications are doubtful.

Many ticket buyers are grateful to have kosher options, yet I wish the “pleasure factor” were higher both in the food that’s served and in patrons? expectations. Dietary restrictions need not be culinary limitations, even in a ballpark, and there’s no reason for kosher cooking anywhere not to shine.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1098439.html

Marketing of Arden Hill Hospital site is getting a fresh start; residents fear a Kiryas Joel Style ‘flip’

Goshen — After a few setbacks, the marketing of the Arden Hill Hospital site to potential buyers is about to move forward again.

Realtor R.J. Smith is working with Arden LDC, the development corporation that bought the property from Orange Regional Medical Center, to sell the site. They have just come up with a price — but have not definitely settled on it, he said.

Last year, there was panic among Village of Goshen residents about a deal in the works to sell the property to a developer with ties to the intensely developed village of Kiryas Joel. But it’s not only intensive private development that residents fear.

They also worry that a buyer might “flip” the property in a quick turnaround sale to yet another nonprofit organization that would not bring much-needed revenue to the village.

Smith said several potential buyers have approached him about the site, but that “nothing panned out.”

“We decided to just let the winter go by, and try again in the spring,” Smith said. “Now we’re saying, ‘Let’s go out and actively market it.’”

Arden Hill and Horton Hospital in Middletown have merged to form Orange Regional Medical Center, which is building a new facility in the Town of Wallkill. Arden Hill will not be vacated until 2011, Smith said.

About two years ago, Orange County Executive Ed Diana was pushing to interest the Veterans Administration in the site. His spokesperson, Rich Mayfield, said the county thought it would be a good fit because of the “extraordinarily high cost of rehabbing the buildings on the [VA’s] Castle Point campus, and here is an existing hospital up and running.”

Mayfield said Diana wrote Senator Charles Schumer and U.S. Rep. John Hall early in the process.

Smith agrees a Veterans Administration purchase would be a great thing — but that nothing is happening now.

http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2009/07/09/the_chronicle/news/6.txt

Ramapo’s supervisor race draws another lawsuit

RAMAPO – Bruce Levine has filed countercharges against Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence for his lawsuit accusing Levine of proffering slanderous campaign literature.

St. Lawrence took offense at Levine’s characterization of Town Hall as a corrupt patronage mill, while Levine now accuses the supervisor of attempting to silence critics by bullying them in court.

In documents filed Tuesday with the state Supreme Court in New City, Levine, who is Spring Valley’s village attorney, said his comments and those of his running mates were constitutionally protected.

Levine said he saw St. Lawrence’s June 16 lawsuit as “intended to intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.”

The charges filed by Levine and his running mates, -Veronica Boesch and Rodrigue Lustin – included that St. Lawrence was attempting to stifle political debate “and chill others from running for office.”

Levine, Boesch and Lustin are challenging St. Lawrence and Councilmen David Stein and Yitzchok Ullman in Ramapo’s Democratic primary in September, the first of its kind in 26 years.

The primary also pits Town Justice Rhoda Schoenberger against challenger Marc Citrin, who is an attorney and a Montebello village trustee.

St. Lawrence, who is seeking his fifth two-year term, also has objected to a speech Levine made to about 200 supporters outside Town Hall on May 31.

In the speech, Levine accused St. Lawrence of giving builders “free rein to make windfall profits, while leaving us to suffer from excessive traffic, insufficient drainage, bloated sewers and higher taxes.”

St. Lawrence said Levine aimed to injure his reputation and expose him to public ridicule.

When asked whether he would debate St. Lawrence, Levine said he was drafting a challenge in a letter to the supervisor.

Levine said he was proposing a series of debates in various locations around the town.

“Litigation is not a way to run a campaign,” Levine said. “Voters decide elections. Judges decide lawsuits.”

St. Lawrence said he welcomed a debate.

“I look forward to the opportunity to expose his ineffectiveness in the village of Spring Valley and talk about the record of accomplishments we’ve had in the town,” St. Lawrence said.

Likewise, Levine saw debates as opportunities to expose St. Lawrence.

“I’m sure he doesn’t want to talk about his high taxes, or about why the town is constantly entertaining huge (construction) projects such as Patrick Farm,” Levine said. “I can’t wait.”

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Jewish News via SMS
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New 16-Lane Bowling Alley Opens In Williamsburg

Get ready to put on your bowling shoes.

Brooklyn Bowl, the new 16-lane alley in Williamsburg, finally opened this week.

In addition to lanes, the highly anticipated space has a 600-capacity performance venue, a full bar with 10 Brooklyn-brewed beers, a kitchen with a menu designed by the chefs of Blue Ribbon and nine high-definition digital video projection screens.

Leading up to their opening, the most significant challenge for owners Charley Ryan and Peter Shapiro when they were creating their bowling alley music venue has been managing and diverting sound.

“If you have a band and people are bowling and the sound is cranked up, honestly you don’t hear the bowling,” said Ryan. “If you think about any bowling alley, the amphitheater is structured back.Ours is wide open.The sound rises up behind the curtain wall up to the rafters and our pin spotters make a lot less noise.”

Ryan’s attention to detail is impressive.He has been planning the performance venue for the past six years, scouring the city for an industrial building with just the right dimensions and location for a professional bowling alley.

He fell in love with the Wythe Avenue location but delays from the city bureaucracy regarding LEED certification and the procurement of a cabaret license complicated the official opening, which was pushed back several times.

That’s all in the past now, as the first echo of bowling balls striking wooden pins at 6:01 p.m., Tuesday, July 7, folding underneath a DJ playlist of MGMT and Vampire Weekend was music to Ryan’s ears.

“Nice spare! Nice spare!” Ryan said, as he moved from lane to lane, shaking hands with the alley’s first bowlers.

Brooklyn Bowl staff have been clearly preparing for the onslaught of crowds expected to fill the facilities in the coming weeks.On Friday, July 10, the social calendar-site Flavorpill is hosting an open party, featuring O’Death, which will play on the stage behind the alley.

With the music venue featuring a custom-designed JBL Vertec system and digital video, the space will no doubt attract some of New York City’s hippest bands culled from Ryan’s rolodex, when he operated the popular Wetlands Preserve in Manhattan.

The bowling lanes themselves, designed by Tristam Steinberg and installed by woodworker Mike Gibb and Rab Ferraroni of Ferra designs are state of the art and, without exaggeration, form the most pleasant bowling experience in New York City.

On opening night, Brooklyn Bowl staff moved quickly and attentively throughout the evening.Bowling shoes arrived promptly in metal baskets, delivered directly to the lanes. A range of colorful balls sized 6 to 16 were available for players and an easy-to-use touch screen keeps track of your score, documenting every triumphant strike and embarrassing gutter ball rolled for everyone to witness.

Park Slope resident Danny Wallace, whose party was the first of the night to try out the lanes, certainly noticed, and praised the staff for their friendliness.

“I think it’s pretty amazing,” said Wallace.“We love the stage even though we don’t know what it’s used for yet.I wonder what this place will look like on the weekend.”

Ryan believes the crowds will materialize, to the extent that he will not be charging covers for future performances.The prices to rent a lane are $40 per hour, at parties up to eight, though happy hour prices are only $30, and shoe rentals are $4 per person.To some, that may seem high in a recession, though Ryan believes the venue is recession proof.

“We wanted to make this place as affordable as we could make it,” said Ryan.“If we were trying to put this together a little bit later, this might not have happened at all.”

Brooklyn Bowl is located at 61 Wythe Avenue and is open on weekdays from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m.For more information, call 718-963-3369 or visit www.brooklynbowl.com.

Budapest, Hungary – Hungarian Orthodox Jews Fear Extremist Attacks

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (Worthy News)– Officials of Hungary’s Orthodox Jewish community have urged the government to urgently provide police protection amid growing extremism and violent attacks in the country.

Religious Jews still try to pray at few synagogues functioning normally in Budapest. With some 100,000 people, Hungary has the largest Jewish community in Eastern Europe, after Russia.

Yet, representatives of Orthodox Jewish groups have suggested it is increasingly difficult for Jews to openly express their faith amid extremist violence and death threats.

The Chief Rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation, Slomó Köves, told BosNewsLife he has asked the government to provide police protection for his synagogue and cultural center.

Köves, 30, said he fears a repeat of what happened in Mumbai where the rabbi and his wife, who he knew personally, were among five hostages found dead inside the remains of the Jewish center held by Islamist militants.

DEATH THREATS

“My family has received death threats,” Köves, explained in an interview with Worthy News and its partner agency BosNewsLife at his Budapest apartment, located behind an electronic iron fence.  Last Saturday, he and his two young children were apparently harassed by supporters of the Hungarian Guard, or Magyar Garda, a paramilitary group.

“I was walking with my children to the synagogue and there was a group of these people and they said: “Oh you Jewish worms, we are going to kill you, and get ready to be hanged,” Köves recalled. “My children didn’t understand what [words] were flying. They didn’t understand why they were upset at us. And we have asked the police and prime minister for constant police…”

The July 4 incident came shortly after police broke up a demonstration of the Magyar Garda, whose members wear uniforms and flags that were used by Hungary’s pro-nazi regime during World War Two.

Magyar Garda has close ties with the far right party Movement For a Better Hungary, or Jobbik. Although Magyar Garda has been banned by a court, supporters of its perceived anti-Jewish and anti-Roma views, remains active.

UNDERGROUND TROUBLES

“Even at subway stations we are not safe,” added Köves He said a fellow rabbi and his family were nearly stabbed by a knife wielding man who shouted “Holocaust loving Jews.” Above ground, another member of the same Jewish congregation was beaten up by what Köves described as a hit-and-run gang.

Last week, he said, “Three young people followed him and followed him into the apartment building. They asked him: “Are you Jewish?” And when he said yes, they started kicking him and said: “You should go back to Auschwitz [concentration camp], you stinky Jews.” They kicked him till he fell down and left.”

The injured man reported the case to police who say they are investigating three suspects.

Jewish officials want the government to help them halt the violence against Jewish and other communities, including Gypsies, also known as Roma.

SCAPEGOATS SEARCH

They say far right groups such as Magyar Garda and Jobbik are involved in spreading hatred at a time when Hungarians are searching for scapegoats because of the economic crisis.

Jobbik representative and member of the European parliament Krisztina Morvai has denied any wrongdoing. She said Jobbik’s Magyar Garda group protect Hungarians. “That’s exactly what the Magyar Garda does. They don’t use arms, they don’t use violence. They just show power. So that we are not tortured…”

Yet, for now, rabbis like Slomó Köves, have to be on their guard, as authorities claim they have no money to boost security. Persecution is nothing knew for Köves, who was the first rabbi to be ordained in Hungary since World War Two.

Some 600,000 Hungarians Jews died in the Holocaust. (Part of this Worthy News story also airs via Deutsche Welle, the international broadcaster of Germany).

http://www.worthynews.com/6225-hungarian-orthodox-jews-fear-extremist-attacks

Pikesville, MD – Suburban House Linked To Baltimore’s Jewish community heavily damaged by fire

PIKESVILLE, Md. (WJZ) ―

   

The Suburban House restaurant was heavily damaged by fire. The Suburban House has been a rich part of Baltimore’s Jewish community for nearly half a century, but the restaurant was heavily damaged by fire late Wednesday.

Ron Matz returned to the Reisterstown Road landmark and spoke to the owners who are vowing to re-open.

From Sky Eye Chopper 13 you could see the heavy smoke, Thursday the heartbreak could be felt on Reisterstown Road as the owners of the suburban house returned to survey the damage at their popular restaurant and deli.

The two-alarm fire started in a storage area in the rear.  Tables still set in the main dining room, but there’s heavy smoke damage.  Owner Mark Horowitz vows to re-open if the building is found to be structurally sound.

“They’re going to check the structural aspects of the building.  If it’s not damaged in any way and can be cleaned up, of course we’re going to re-build.  We’re in it for the long haul,” said Mark Horowitz, Suburban House Owner.

The wall of fame and its familiar faces survived, as well as the menus.  Many customers watched in shock as the building burned.

“Well it’s an institution, obviously, everybody in the area knows it and they’ve been here, its one of a kind,” said Paul Adler, customer.

The Suburban House is much more than just a restaurant, its been part of the fabric of the Pikesville community for 43 years.

“People love coming here, because they come in and they look at another table and say, ‘you know what I went to elementary school with that guy over there, I haven’t seen him in 50 years,’” said Horowitz. “We’re not a fancy restaurant, we’re a deli restaurant.  We’ve been here a long time; we’re the anchor of Reisterstown road.”

The restaurant is one of Baltimore’s best and the owners vow to serve up the corned beef and Matzo Ball soup once again.

“We’re a landmark, we’re like Jewish mothers, we like to feed people,” said Horowitz.

The owners say they are hoping to re-locate temporarily, to try to do their catering at another location in the area.

“God forbid if we go, I hate to say what would happen to these next three blocks, they won’t survive.  We bring the traffic here and we’re good to the customers, the neighborhood and the community,” said Horowitz.

No one was injured in the fire, which is believed to have been electrical in nature.

http://wjz.com/local/pikesville.house.fire.2.1078977.html

Enhanced security measures at Ben Gurion International; 2nd passport check before boarding

JERUSALEM, July 9 (UPI) Enhanced security measures for departing passengers have been imposed at Israel’s primary international airport, airport authorities said.

The new procedures at Ben Gurion International Airport will require passengers to undergo a second passport control check in the waiting lounge prior to boarding, Haaretz reported Thursday.

The newspaper said the new measures will prevent attempts to bypass passport control and will also prevent criminals from skipping the country.

Ben Gurion International Airport is considered to have one of the most elaborate security systems in the world. Until the new measures were enforced, passengers underwent an initial security check before checking their luggage and receiving boarding passes. Prior to passport control, hand luggage also was screened.

All those procedures will remain intact, but will be enhanced by the second passport check, the newspaper said.

Statistics released by Israel’s Airports Authority estimate 2.3 million passengers will depart from the airport in July and August.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/07/09/Israeli-intl-airport-boosts-security/UPI-58951247139119/

COLLIVE @collive: Crown Heights Serial Groper Arrested was Anti-Semitic in Nature

Suspected Butt Slapper Arrested; Cops Say Anti-Semitism Not Suspected

The serial butt slapper, whose dozen-or-more unwanted touchings on subways in and around Crown Heights were reported yesterday, may be in custody. Cops think Frankie Hatton, 21, is their man. He was picked up yesterday at the corner of Union and Albany Streets, and he has been identified by at least one of his victims in a line-up. The Crown Heights Shomrim (neighborhood watch), which had apparently been notified of the molestations by local victim and was on the lookout for the offender says, “We are happy to hear that this creep has been apprehended, and we want to congratulate the SVU detectives for the arrest.” NYPD told the Chabad Lubavitch Community News Service that “we do not believe this was anti-Semitic in nature, or the work of a group, but rather a single perverted individual.”

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Jewish News via SMS
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DeBlasio: Borough Park Shomrim Patrol helped the 66th precinct see a 1.4 percent drop in crime this year.

Police Officer Orazio Boccadifuoco (center) was named Cop of the Month for March for arresting a thug accused of robbing several neighborhood women.

Cops are always on the job, even when they’re biding their time on a city bus.

A cop from the 66th Precinct ensured the safety of his fellow straphangers’ belongings recently when he arrested a pickpocket on an MTA bus as it lumbered down 60th Street in Dyker Heights.

The keen−eyed cop was one of several peacekeepers that the 66th Precinct recently honored for their outstanding work.

As he addressed the 66th Precinct Community Council recently, Deputy Inspector Peter DeBlasio, the precinct’s commanding officer, explained that Police Officer Anthony Carreira, who works for anti−crime and wasn’t wearing a uniform, was taking the B9 bus away from the precinct in order to transfer to a downtown train.

He was minding his own business when he saw one of the passengers trying to pick another’s pocket.

Carreira intervened and took the thief into custody.

But he was more than a thief, DeBlasio explained.

After bringing the suspect back to the precinct, it was discovered that the pickpocket was also a known burglar.

“[Carreira] brought him in and the detective squad did the rest,” DeBlasio said, adding that detectives were trying to connect the thief to a handful of burglaries in the area. As of June 28, 168 burglaries had been committed in the precinct since the beginning of the year – exactly the same as the year before.

Carreira received a special “Cop of the Month” certificate for the quick arrest.

Also honored was Police Officer Orazio Boccadifuoco, another anti−crime cop, who was quick to arrest a thief who had mugged over a half−dozen women in March.

Back on March 13, Boccadifuoco and members of his team were already searching for the thief when he struck on Fort Hamilton Parkway.

The thief would have gotten away if not for two Good Samaritan skaters who intervened as they exited a local skating rink.

The skaters hit the thief with their hockey sticks and thwarted the robbery.

Yet they didn’t stop the thief, who ran to an awaiting car and sped off.

The two were able to at least give a description of the car, which Boccadifuoco spotted during an area search.

Boccadifuoco managed to pull the car over and arrest the suspect, who is now in jail facing multiple counts of robbery, DeBlasio said.

Also honored were several members of the Borough Park Shomrim Patrol who helped police arrest a flasher exposing himself to young women.

The flasher, De Blasio said, had the misfortune of conducting his business on one of the Shomrim volunteer’s blocks.

After locating the flasher, the volunteer called his patrol, which helped facilitate the citizen’s arrest.

DeBlasio said that the good work of his officers, as well as his Shomrim eyes and ears, have helped the precinct see a 1.4 percent drop in crime this year.

 

http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2009/07/09/brooklyn/brooklyn_newspqoltyu07082009.txt