Uncategorized
Hundreds of women in Crown Heights mourn the death of a Chabad emissary
(JTA) — Thousands of women who serve as Chabad emissaries gathered this week in Brooklyn for a conference that’s meant to provide a mix of professional development and networking opportunities. But on the conference’s first afternoon on Thursday, many of the attendees came together not to meet but to mourn.
Standing under an overcast sky outside of 770 Eastern Parkway, the movement’s headquarters in the neighborhood of Crown Heights, the crowd of women formed the core of a funeral procession for a colleague, Henya Federman, 40, an emissary of the Hasidic outreach movement who died on Wednesday. Federman, who was based in the U.S. Virgin Islands with her family, had been on life support for nearly three months after trying unsuccessfully to save her 4-month-old daughter from drowning.
The women, who made up the vast majority of the attendees, many standing with strollers and small children of their own, pulled out their miniature prayer books, whispering psalms to themselves and words of comfort to each other as they embraced. The crowd was largely silent. Chabad funerals do not traditionally include eulogies, for fear of embellishing the life of the deceased.
Henya Federman, back row, third from right, died Feb. 8. Federman was the co-founder of the Chabad of St. Thomas with her husband Rabbi Asher Federman. (Courtesy of Chabad)
Some women let tears fall quietly down their faces, while others wailed as their bodies shuddered. Still others focused on religious logistics: One woman asked another which psalms to say, in the absence of any other expressions of solace.
Although the conference attendees traveled to New York City from across the globe, some had a personal connection to Federman. Nechama Laber, a Chabad emissary based near Albany, said her husband grew up with Federman, who was originally from Milwaukee. Federman’s parents, Rabbi Yisroel and Bracha Devorah Shmotkin, opened the first Chabad-Lubavitch center in Wisconsin in 1968. Laber said the family “had a great impact.”
Like her parents, Federman and her husband, Rabbi Asher Federman, were the first Chabad emissaries in their adopted city. The couple founded the Chabad-Lubavitch of St. Thomas in 2005. She is survived by her husband and 12 children.
Laya Slavin, a Chabad emissary based in Sydney, had been praying for Federman’s recovery for the past two months.
“We were davening from Australia,” Slavin said. “It wasn’t supposed to end this way.”
—
The post Hundreds of women in Crown Heights mourn the death of a Chabad emissary appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief”
מזל־טובֿ! דעם 20סטן יאַנואַר 2026 איז געוואָרן 120 יאָר זינט דער גרינדונג פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“ — דער עצות־רובריק פֿונעם פֿאָרווערטס. די רובריק איז פֿאַרלייגט געוואָרן פֿונעם גרינדער און לאַנגיאָריקן שעף־רעדאַקטאָר אַב קאַהאַן אין 1906.
כּדי אָפּצומערקן דעם יום־טובֿ ברענגען מיר אײַך צוויי זאַכן:
• ערשטנס, אַן אַרטיקל וועגן אַ טשיקאַווען בריוו וואָס איז אָנגעקומען אין דער פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקציע אין יאַנואַר 1949, פֿון אַ לייענער וועמעס זון האָט חתונה געהאַט מיט אַ קריסטלעכער פֿרוי
• צווייטנס, אַ פֿאָרווערטס־ווידעאָ אויף ייִדיש וועגן דער געשיכטע פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“, מיטן געוועזענעם פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלער און דער פֿאָרווערטס־אַרכיוויסטקע חנה פּאָלאַק.
The post 120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief” appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Report: Khamenei Moved to Underground Bunker in Tehran
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a televised message, after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Amid tense expectation of US strike on key assets of the Islamic regime, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was moved into a special underground bunker in Tehran, the Iran International website reported on Saturday.
The report further added that the supreme leader’s third son Masoud Khamenei has taken over day-to-day management of the leader’s office, functioning as the de facto main channel for coordination vis-à-vis the executive branches of the government and the security forces.
The report describes Khamenei’s hideout as a “fortified site with interconnected tunnels.”
On Thursday US President Donald Trump said that a “massive” naval force was heading toward Iran.
“We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction. And we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters.
“We have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see,” Trump added.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, along with three destroyers, was spotted making its way to the Middle East from Asia, according to ship-tracking data.
Uncategorized
Israel, Syria to Finalize US-Brokered Security Deal ‘Soon,’ as ‘Developments Accelerate Noticeably’
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria, March 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
i24 News – Syrian and Israeli officials are expected to meet soon under US mediation, perhaps in Paris, to finalize a security agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem, a source close to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told i24NEWS on Saturday.
According to the Syrian source, the talks will also focus on various potential joint strategic and economic projects in the buffer zones between the two countries.
“There is very optimistic talk suggesting the possibility of even opening an Israeli embassy in Damascus before the end of this year, given the significant progress in the prospect of Syria joining the Abraham Accords,” the source said.
The original Syrian plan was limited to a security agreement and the opening of an Israeli liaison office in Damascus without diplomatic status, the source tells me. “But developments are accelerating noticeably under pressure from the United States, and specifically by President Trump, and amid growing Syrian openness.”
If Damascus manages to reach an integration agreement with the Druze in southern Syria, similar to its agreement with the Kurds in the northeast, and Israel commits to respecting Syria’s unity and territorial integrity, then al-Sharaa would be open to elevate the status of the agreement with Israel to more than just a security agreement, to also include diplomatic relations and an Israeli embassy in Damascus.
“The al-Sharaa government believes that a viable compromise to advance a peace process with Israel would include a 25-year lease for the Golan Heights, similar to the one Jordan previously signed with Israel over the border enclaves, turning it into a ‘Garden of Peace” of joint economic ventures,” the source said.
The source close to al-Sharaa also tells me that US President Trump is seeking to bring Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Al-Sharaa together for a peace agreement signing ceremony.
It should be noted that Israel has repeatedly rejected returning any part of the Golan Heights, let alone the entire territory.
On another front, the source stated that Damascus intends to adopt a new local administration system based on expanded administrative decentralization to enhance participation in local communities across all Syrian governorates.
According to the source, this solution would resolve persisting disputes with the Druze, Kurds, Alawites, and other minorities. A new Syrian government is expected to be formed within the next three months, the source added.