A few weeks ago, my niece told me that she was on her way to my neighborhood to pick up an older woman and take her to a wedding. Oh thats silly, I said, Im leaving the house now; I can drop her off for you. My niece explained that the woman was elderly and blind. Im not dropping her off; Im going with her. I saw a text from the Mitzvah Man and thought Id do a good deed today, she said.

I was impressed. My niece had been a mitzvah girl as a teenager but that sort of dissipated after she married and her husband, home and kids took up all of her time. When she got the text from Mitzvah Man, it sparked something buried down deep. Many of us have had similar experiences. We want to do good deeds, but were busy. We want to help the needy, but dont know how. We want to volunteer, but life seems to always get in the way. The Mitzvah Man has found a way to combat all those buts and actually get us in the game, one dollar, one day, and one act of goodness at a time.

A new beautifully ornamented mitzvah tank was recently dedicated by Chabad of Flatbush. Almost every day of the year, Chabad Director Rabbi Zalman Liberow and Rabbi Tomer Rotem are out on the streets of Flatbush/Midwood, mainly on Kings Highway, spreading the news of geulah (redemption) and Judaism to unaffiliated Jews. The mitzvah tank is comparable to a Chabad house on wheels.

The new mitzvah tank is artistically designed with images depicting the greeting of Moshiah and is dedicated in memory of Rabbi Zalmans son, Avrohom Dovid Liberow AH, who perished in a tragic car accident. They also dedicated a special Torah in Avrohoms memory from which they read the weeks parashah, every Monday and Thursday, in the mitzvah tank.

Sunday. April 1st. 7 PM. MDY Elementary.

Have you ever been in a room filled with professional singers, dancers and comedians all at one time?! Well the Koby Mandell Talent show gives you that opportunity for only 20 dollars. The show gives all of its proceeds to the Koby Mandell Foundation in Israel. Our talented artists are all handpicked and work tirelessly to produce a wonderful show. The Koby Mandell show branches together our community women to do an amazing chesed whilst having a great time!

Sixty years ago, Milton Friedman suggested eliminating the public-school system as it exists, and giving parents a taxpayer-funded voucher for every child to use toward tuition at any school of his/her choice. His vision hasnt come to pass, but around 1990 school choice for parents and children appeared in various places in the United States.

The school-choice proposals were never envisioned as tuition relief for parents who already send their children to private and religious schools, but as a means to allow children to escape from failing public schools. Opponents of allowing children to escape from failing schools suggest that we improve all the public schools, but they never say how to do it. Various methods have been tried for nearly 40 years, and the public schools still provide the same unsatisfactory results. Our children cant wait another 40 years.

Purim is the festival which commemorates the breathtaking Jewish victory over the murderous designs of Haman. It is a story of great courage and self-sacrifice, first and foremost by Queen Esther and Mordechai, and ultimately by the whole Jewish nation. This joyous festival reveals the hidden hand of G-d in the event of man.

Haman, who descended from the Jew-hating tribe of Amalek, devised a scheme to solve the Jewish problem once and for all by annihilating every Jew.

Modechai, a descendant of King Saul and advisor to King Achashverosh, sensed the danger. He called for his niece, Queen Esther, and told her that she must go to the king and plead for her people. Haman was defeated and the Jewish people were saved. They celebrated the holiday of Purim

The Magen David Synagogue, the oldest of the three Sassoon Synagogues in Greater Bombay, recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. The synagogue was built by philanthropist David Sassoon in 1861, to serve the Jewish community in the Byculla district of Bombay (now Mumbai).

At the end of a movie, the credits flow down the screen. We see names upon names of people who contributed to creating a smooth, flawless film. This is the image that comes to mind when one looks behind the scenes at the Sarah Sutton AH, Sephardic Bikur Holim Food Pantry, for the list of volunteers is astounding! From the 250 women who cook fresh meals to fill the pantrys freezers, to the kids who bring cans of food in to school, this is an organization that hums along successfully with the help of a village.

One of the jewels of the pantry is its freezer section. Open one of the huge steel doors and you will see many clear-covered containers filled with rice or roast or ziti or vegetable souffles, as well as other home-cooked meals. Each container is labeled clearly, stating what food is inside and when it was made. There are also brightly colored stickers indicating whether the food inside is meat, dairy or pareve.

As part of the Project SAFE curriculum, the students in the upper division in Magen David Yeshivah have focused on learning the proper skills to conquer and eliminate bullying. Through lessons in the classroom, and with special programming, the students have learned the effects of bullying and the skills to stop and stand up to bullies.

Unfortunately, bullying occurs in every school. The essence of all of our dreams and efforts, is to develop not only the minds, but the hearts and souls of our students, as well. The We program and the supplemental anti-bullying programs are to ensure that our children reflect the finest of Torah values and practice real life middot (values)that change the world, said MDY Principal Rabbi Dr. Baruch Hilsenrath.

Since the beginning of time, music has been an important form of expression, a language from the heart. Music can express joy, hope, anger or pain. It comes straight from the heart, without anything holding it back. It is a special language that can be heard and felt.

We, at the SCC Encore School, have witnessed firsthand, how the common passion of music has broken the ice in communicating and meeting new people. Individually, music promotes a sense of achievement. It teaches self discipline, concentration, creativity, self confidence, promotes imagination, coordination, tactical skills and the ability to analyze and calculate information. Medical studies prove studying music improves a persons ability in math and long and short term memory retention. It also teaches fortitude. Weve seen the quality of family life changed and enriched by the study of music.

Afamily tree can reunite branches of your family separated my migration and document the fate of deceased relatives, said Sarina Roff, a descendant of the Missry and Salem families. As families grow, the children dont understand the relationships that their parents and grandparents had. A family tree puts all the information together.

When I got married, my husband David Roff and I went to see Rabbi Jacob Kassin AH, just as every couple getting married did in those years, she said. Rabbi Kassin took out his ketubot logbook and showed us the entry he had for both our parents, whose wedding ceremonies he had performed. In this act, he was checking our lineage. In later years, when I had occasion to see the logbooks, I noticed that when a person married into the community, he had a letter from the community rabbi asserting the person was Jewish, attached to that page. Thats how important tracing your lineage is.