Op-Ed: "I am a Chosid. I am a Rav. I am a Misnagid. I am a Rosh Yeshivah. I am frum. I am not yet frum. I am a Jew. I am the Lubavitcher Rebbe." Full Article
The Risks of Summer
Op-Ed: The Catskills - about as close to Gan Eden as we can get. Fresh mountain air, no congestion, wide open spaces. We can hardly wait for the summer. But during these months, parents must remain vigilant to the dangers that lurk everywhere, writes Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski. Full Article
A Heart Attack in Jo’burg
VIDEO: COLlive presents the popular program "Shabbos Night Live" by Rabbi Shmuel Butman, Director of Lubavitch Youth Organization. Weekly story: An Israeli had a heart attack in Johannesburg and was told by the Rebbe to check his Mezuzas. For Parshas Nasho: What can we learn from Aharon's way to reach another Jew. Video
What’s With Crown Heights?
Anonymous Op-Ed: "When one leader doesn't like the other's opinion he calls his own elections, or disqualifies the elections. Or better yet, opens his own organization. Ever wondered why is democracy so successful in the USA and yet it is so dismally failing in Africa or in Crown Heights? Full Story
I am Frum and Attractive
Op-Ed: "Some of our most honored and beloved matriarchs in the scriptures were noted for their beauty. Hashem gave woman her vanity for a reason: So she could attract a mate. And I mean attract," writes Claire Grunwald. Full Article
We’re Losing Mesivta Bochurim
Anonymous Op-Ed: Would it be fair to say that Mesivta bochurim do not graduate a class because they have mastered the knowledge, but merely because they have grown a year older? Full Article
A Word from a Shadchan
From the COLlive Inbox: As we are nearing Shavuos, allow me to use a Dvar Torah to clarify a point I am trying to make about bochurim and girls not finding their prospective Shidduch. Full Story
“They All Must Go”
Anonymous OP-ED: "Something is just not working in Crown Heights. We are beset by problems of children going off the derech, of adults who are barely hanging on physically as well as spiritually, of rising crime, and of a general atmosphere of decline." Full Article
“Why We All Need To Vote”
OP-ED: Our "leaders" are failures, and the only way to fix up this community is do it by ourselves and not rely on the "leadership." If we just look the other way without protesting, then we deserve what we get, writes Michoel Chazan, former Chairman the Crown Heights Vaad Hakohol. Full Story
A “Letter to My Supporters”
Anonymous OP-ED: This is what I would tell my supporters, as a contestant in the Vaad Hakhol elections. It is purely hypothetical, as I unfortunately cannot see the value of spending time and effort in running for a seat, being that there is so much politics, name-calling and smearing going on. Full Article
“I Was Saved From Debt”
COLlive is proud to launch "The Shluchim Show," a weekly podcast featuring Chabad Lubavitch Shluchim who discuss their life and work, in coordination with TheCoolJew.com. This week: Head Shliach of Florida, Rabbi Avraham Korf reveals how he was saved from debt and the far-reach of summer camps. Audio
Spreading Ideas With Photos
Lubavitch photographer Michoel Ogince is using email and Twitter to spread Torah values and Chassidic teachings. Thousands receive his weekly photo and spiritual message. "G-d provides me with the picture and the Rebbe with the words," he told COLlive. Full Story, Photos
Ended: Live from Eastern Pkwy
COLlive and My Shliach ended their live coverage of the Tzivos Hashem Lag B'Omer celebration and rally held Tuesday in front of 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights. Close to 2000 people tuned in for a program and concert with Uncle Moishy. Photos
A Wasted ‘Mazal Tov’ Wish
OP-ED: You run into a wedding to wish your best to the celebrating families. You push your way through the crush of people to the father of the bride and say "mazal tov." There's a very strong possibility that an acknowledgment is not being registered, writes Rabbi Shea Hecht. Full Story
Why Shluchim Don’t Whine
Op-Ed: The economic storm has taken its toll on charitable giving, particularly on hard-hit Jewish institutions. Among them Chabad and its thousands of schools, camps and synagogues has weathered more than its fair share of the damage, writes Rabbi Shea Hecht. Full Article
Revital’s Deathbed Letter
From the COLlive inbox: "I, Revital A., 19 years old, am standing on the threshold of death, so young, but already feeling all the gates of life shutting slowly before me. I am like a beautiful flower closing its petals." Full Story
You Know How to be a Mother?
Op-Ed: To become a healthy mother, you first need to be a daughter and sister. Only when you have received that unconditional nurture as a child, can you then imbue others with that unshakable sense of confidence and love, writes Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson. Full Story
Chumros Alert!
OP-ED: Anyone that ever spent Pesach as a guest knows that it is nothing close to a festival of freedom. The amount of 'chumros' piled up in orthodox and frum homes amounts to Pharaoh's decrees in ancient Egypt. Full Story
Brochstat Presents His Niggun
Following the others who have composed a niggun on the Rebbe's new chapter in Tehillim, the master Sholom Brochstat presents his own. As customary, a melody is written each year with the words of the Rebbe's Kapital which Chassidim recite daily from the 11th of Nissan. Audio
Hakhel Remake By Sparks Choir
COLlive DEBUT: Sparks boys choir is boasting a new remake of the "Hakhel" song, first performed by the Tzivos Hashem choir in Jerusalem in the Hakhel year of 1988. Arranged and composed by Israel Edelson, choir conducted by Danny Finkelman. Audio
The Furniture Store Jew
COLlive INBOX: Zalman Dubinsky and Nisson Friedman, bochurim at the Yeshiva Ohr Elchanan Chabad in Los Angeles, CA, visit an elderly man, in his mid-to-late eighties, every week at a furniture store. And have they got a story to tell... Full Story
Documentary on Chassidic Life
A nostalgic film documentary in English about the Kfar Chabad village in Israel was filmed by the Jewish Agency some 48 years ago. It documents the common Chassidic life: Learning, Farbrengens, work, shopping, children playing, travel by train and a Bar Mitzvah. COLlive now broadcasts the film on the web. Video
Bogomilsky, Kaplan Halacha talk
Yagdil Torah held a Morning of Learning at Getzel's Shul today, over 40 Crown Heights residents attended. Classes included "Seforim Case in Halacha," by Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky, and "The Mitzva of Educating Children," by Rabbi Nochum Kaplan. COLlive presents exclusive audio. Photos, Audio
Lighting Menorah Before Battle
Minutes before leaving for Gaza on the eighth night of Chanukah, Shluchim from Chabad of Be'er Sheva joined a group of soldiers for a Menorah lighting. The shluchim gave warm words of encouragement, and joined the soldiers in a dance, finally ending the gathering at 2:00 am. COLLive was allowed to video, however the images were distorted by IDF request for security reasons.
“Chasoif”
Sruly Meyer, who recorded this new single, says, "I dedicate this song to Gavriel's HY"D passion and his warmth and of course, his smile. We should all have his mindset that nothing is too hard, and we should do everything with passion and with a smile on our face." The beautiful melody is sung by Yisroel Werdyger, Yitzy Spinner and Benny Friedman. Full Story
