My hockey skills are improving...

As some of you know, I've joined the MJHL (Montreal Jewish Hockey League), organized by fellow Lubavitcher Mr. Abenaim here in Montreal.

I've always been a roller hockey player, and only made the transition to ice when I was about 18 - when I started going with some regularity. It took a long time for my skating to get decent.

As a roller hockey player, I used to be known for my speed, stickhandling, passes and defensive play. But now my stomach has expanded (thanks to having the best cook as a wife), and I've slowed down. I moved back to defence about 5 years ago, and in roller-hockey I do a great job at it - controlling the offence, setting up plays, stepping in to shoot at the right times, and being defensively responsible.

In my first year of marriage, I joined the league for 1 game, and hated it. Too many players, all better than me, and very little ice time for myself.

This year, after watching some buddies of mine improve dramatically (and become beter players than me) through playing in the league, I decided to join.

I played 2 preseason games, and it was clear that I was the worst player on the ice (even though in my second game I got a goal).

"You'll improve, you'll improve," everyone told me. "Why we remember when ______ started, he couldn't even skate backwards, and now he dominates the boards..."

Well, tonight was the first time I felt that I was playing at the same level as most of the regular players. I was up to their speed, and I was actually leading my defence and giving directions. I played my heart out every shift, and played responsibly yet aggressively, keeping the forwards away from my goalie.

I blocked 6 shots, broke up four 2-on-1's and one 3-on-1 in which I'm pretty sure i saved a goal. I cleared pucks from the zone well and even though we lost 11-6, when I was on the ice we were up 4-3, which leaves me with a plus-1.

I was very proud of myself.

So far my stats would read as follows: 2 team wins, 1 team loss.

2 assists, 2 penalty minutes. Plus-4. Or 3-0-2-2-2-+4 in NHL terms :).

Maaser issues

I don't know what exactly he plans on doing, but president of the new community in Stavropol Kostya Solomonov called me yesterday and we had a conversation. Apparently he is under the assumption that I am like the chief Rabbi of Canada or something, and he wants to list Stavropol as Montreal's "sister city."

What do I tell him? I told him it's a good idea, and he should email me what exactly that entails, and what his ideas are.

Then we spoke about our Maaser problem. Basically, Moscow isn't giving them enough money to really have a decent Sunday school (they get enough to keep it running though). Obviously, we want the Jewish children to get a Jewish education, and now that I have a couple of jobs, I have Maaser (10%) that I have to give to Tzedaka.

So I asked if there is any easy way for me to transfer funds to them every month... They didn't know, but they suggested that I contact Moscow. Perhaps I can donate to them, and they'll add it to the monthly budget they send...

Anyway, that's what I'm working on now...

Mikva means money?

A couple of weeks ago, I bumped into Reb Chaim Demurcur in the street. He's a friend of my father, and a very quiet guy. I rarely had spoken to him before. I know his wife and him were involved in making my mother frum and setting her up with my father, but other than that - I never really chatted with him.

He stopped me and told me that he knows what happened to me in Russia and he can see that I need money. At the time it was very true - I was desperately looking for a job, since the guy who sold stamps ran out of things for me to do.

Then he told me that Hashem is waiting to give me lots of money, and all I have to do to claim it is go to Mikva. He went on to say that even though my father only goes on Erev Yom Kippur, I should still make it important because Mikva means money and is a blessing for Parnassah.

So the next few days i went, but then I got lazy.

Oddly enough, during the two days I went, I received enough job offers to get me on my feet again.

I bumped into him again toward the end of last week, and this time he gave me a book on Mikva.

I decided to start going again, and suddenly received two more AWESOME job offers... And I've been going since.

This past Shabbos I davened in Yeshiva and for the first time since I was in Stavropol pulled out a Likutei Sichos (Chelek Alef), and started learning.

The Rebbe writes that the flood in this week's Torah portion was like a 'Mikva' for the world, purifying it - which is why it was 40 days (a Mikva needs to be 40 Sa'ah water minimum).

At mincha I picked up a pamphlet in Yeshiva to read. This one discussed how 'Mabul', the Hebrew word for flood, is made up of 'Mem Bul' - 40 levels of confusion - and it went on to say how the secret of receiveing lots of blessings for Parnassah is by going to mikva.

I feel bombarded... How weird is this?

A new Kosher restaurant in the middle of Russia

From Yossi Marozov in Ulyanovsk, Russia (try to find it on a map).

For the first time in history, the far and remote city of Ulyanovsk has opened a kosher restaurant named "Cafe Jerusalem". The cafe opened up immediately after the completion of the holiday of Sukkos.

The goal of this new restaurant is twofold: 1- to encourage and serve the need of Kashrus in the city 2- to have a place where Jewish people meet. Let's face it, wherever I go, whether it is "Coffee express" or Restaurant "Bagema", I always see my Jewish friends sitting together, having a meeting etc. "Why shouldn't they come to the Jewish center? Why shouldn't they meet in a Jewish atmosphere?" says Igor Dabakarov, president of the Jewish Center.

Of course, we have already seen the effects of the restaurant. Thanks to Cafe Jerusalem, we were able to host a business conference, and a regional seminar - where the youth leaders of 10 cities came to enjoy a Shabbos full of learning and fun.

So far prices are pretty competitive, cheaper then many local restaurants.

G-Lo sends another report from South Dakota

My Grandma Lo sent out this other email (note: she isn't Jewish):


I decided that yesterday was the only day this week I could return to the Trial, so by 8:30 I had my seat, just behind Leah Rubashkin. And yes, I introduced myself and we had a great visit. Leah even invited me to Shabat. I can't imagine how she pulls it off in a Motel. You recall that I fall asleep right after the salads are served, so I think I'd better decline the invite, but I like being invited, right here in SF SD. I had planned to leave at noon but the next probable witness was certain to be very interesting-the head bank guy who had been in charge of the revolving bank loan. One of the charges that the Fed's are trying to prove is bank fraud and money laundering. Agri had a loan limit of $35,000,000 and were often close (at) to the limit. It appears that the bank let the loan become very risky and it became clear that all they were interested in was making a pile of money off the plant. In cross, they admitted to lots of errors on their part. I hope the jury folks were paying close attention. They don't appear to be real bright and shinny. Leah said that many of their supporters can't be there because they will be called as witnesses. Aaron Rubashkin for example. I have to say that I was totally fascinated for the whole 8 hours I was there. There continue to be over 20 Hasidic visitors. I wonder if they will all stay to the end? which could be many weeks from now. In the afternoon I sat by the newspaper reporter from the Des Moines paper and we had some interesting visiting. I'll return again next week when I find a free day. I finished my day with a meeting at the church at 6, and then a lecture at Augie at 7:30. I was soooo tired.

How can they do that?

3 years ago when we first moved to Canada, we brought a car in. It was listed under Chayale's name, since it originally belonged to her father. She didn't have to pay taxes on it since she had a religious visa.

The car was a typical Lubavitch one, a dump. After a couple of months, it sputtered and died. If I remember correctly we got like 200 dollars for scrapping it.

Three years go by. We are in Russia, thrown out, and now in college. One day we try to take out 20 bucks from our bank account and it doesn't work (even though we know that we have quadzillions of dollars in there). We try to find out why our bank account has been cut, and find out that it's on hold, for the following reason:

The government assumes that we kept the American car in Canada, and unless we pay a hefty fine, our account will remain shut. Or, we can prove that we scrapped the car.

Apparently they sent us many notices. Problem was, it was to my parents address and we were in Russia. By the time we returned, the only mail my father would remember to give me were the colorful ones that are basically promotional materials for Chinese auctions held two months before, and some catalogs for snowblowers from the previous year.

Anyway, so we went a week without any money access. Fun, fun. No. I mean stress, stress. But thank G-d it's over. Persistency paid off, and our account was returned.

Chayale assures me that such a thing would NEVER, and I mean NEVER happen in America. Is that true?

Upsherin without a Rabbi

The first cut, by his father Alexander.



He licked the alef beis, JUST AS WE TAUGHT THEM! Hillel supervises and olga helps.



The festive meal.


Ever seince we left, Hillel Davydov has been the acting Rabbi, and he has been doing a fantastic job! Olga Zhukova, who we were close to and even put a Mezuza on her wall, wanted to give her son Matvei a nice Upsherin for his third birthday. So she called Hillel (Gennady) Davydov and he organized the cutting.

It was done in her house, and this is her report:

On the 13th of October, 2009 Stavropol's new jewish organization "Yachad" gave an Upshernish to Matvei Zhukov, who celebrated his third birthday on the 29th of September (On the non-jewish calendar... that's my addition - Zvi).

Upshernish = the first haircut given to a boy of 3 years.

Why is the first haircut given at three years old? The Torah tells us that man is metaphorically like a tree. Trees in Eretz Yisroel (their words, not mine. and I am impressed - Zvi) aren't cut for the first three years.

Therefore the cutting for little Matvei was organized by spiritual leader of our community, Gennady Davydov.

Matvei tasted some honey poured on the Alef beis, symbolizing the start of his Jewish education, and afterward, was blessed by his mother Olga, father Alexander, and Gennady with health and happiness!

Afterwards, Gennady presented Matvei with his own pair of Tzitzis and some toys, which included a little doll Torah. Guests included the Berkun family, Igr Lerner, the Mataev and Filatov families who joined together afterward for a festive meal.

I'm so proud!!!

It even made the news: here and here




In other good news, Chaim Shimshon started walking. Now I have to buy him skates.

My Grandma Lo

She's awesome! She a non-Jew living in South Dakota.

She went to the trial of Sholom Rubashkin, and just sent the following email:

Let me bring you up to date on my resent visit to the SF Federal Court house to sit in on the trial currently going on, in which Sholom Rubashkin is accused of all sorts of mistakes. He was part of the management of the Postville, Iowa Kosher packing plant which unfortunately has gone bankrupt. The trial had been moved to SD in hopes of more fairness. As I arrived, I noticed that the curtilage around the court house had only metered parking. The end result of that was I now have a parking ticket violation to pay. Also, there was vis major (Rain) to dash thru to get inside. I survived the security inspection, having left my knife at home, and turned in my cell phone, which added to their huge collection. I took a seat with the Hasidic Jews that were gathering to support their friend. Before the Offense began their opening statement, they presented their list of res gestae which seemed to number somewhere in the 3000's! When the Defense presented their's, they assured the court that the whole thing was a barratry. There seems to be no novation, as it's way too late for that to happen. But we were assured that the old contract with the bank was honored even after there appeared to be financial problems with the business. I'll be back to watch more of the trial on any slow days I have in the future. The Defense assured us that their witnesses would go on for weeks. I'm feeling sadness for all those folks visiting in a totally non-Jewish world. Not much in SF is like Crown Heights. And where do they eat? I've told Ang, I'll say some encouraging words to Leah Rubashkin the next time I go.

What I would have had to deal with in Stavropol

People claiming that the old testament should be outlawed

How ridiculous is that? and shouldn't the Koran and new testament be included?

Rabbi'less Rosh Hashana and sukkos

Gennady Davydov blows the Shofar while Gavriel Zizov watches (in Tefillin, which is odd. The fact that the photo was taken on the first day of Sukkos will not be mentioned).



Children dressed up for Rosh Hashana, and they look like such Yeshiva boys.


Chayale cried when she saw that second photo. She wrote back an emotional email and made me pledge most our future maaser to Stavropol (Benny don't worry. The rest is for you ;).

I think i wrote it before, without a Rabbi Rosh Hashana in Stavropol meant a small trip to the park where they put on Israeli music and danced around for a bit.

They also gathered for a meal on Sukkos, where they put on Tefillin and ate a small meal. Gennady Davydov, deemed the most religious man left in Stavropol (and he probably is... well, between him and Igr Lerner), blew the Shofar for everyone.

They wanted to gather on a different day, but people were only able to show up on Shabbos, so they met during the day. Naturally, the event was preserved with photographs.

This is the report i received. They wrote that "Zvi, you taught us well. We're going to be making an Upshernish for Matvei Zhukov, and Gennady will be the 'Rabbi.' We'll put Tzitzis and a Kippah on him, and make a nice cake. We need you back."

The reason nothing major was able to be done is that it takes awhile to register the 'new' congregation, and then for Moscow to get it all right and start transferring money to be used for events. So I sent a couple of emails to moscow, and hopefully by chanukah things will be worked out.

Other Russian Shluchim blogs

There aren't many American/Canadian shluchim in cities of Russia. There used to be 5, but with Yisroel Silberstein of Vladivostok and myself kicked out of Russia for reasons still unknown, there are 3 left. All are blogging. Here are some highlights from their blogs that I found.

Please visit their blogs and comment on them. Show them your support and if possible, send them a donation as well ;). But even if you cannot, write them a message reminding them what great work they're doing. Someone once called me in Russia just to tell me how inspired he was that I was out there. I wrote about it ages ago... he made my week, and made me feel normal after going through all the stares of hatred every time I walked the streets...

Rabbi Levi Stiefel in Voronezh - his blog at jewishvoronezh.blogspot.com

A Hasgacha protis story

An amazing Mezuzah story

The difficulty of getting a Sukkah

Beautiful video from their sons Upshernish


Rabbi Yossi Marozov in Ulyanovsk - his blog at marozov.blogspot.com

A few are in my older posts, but here are 3 more nice stuff from their blog:

First Chuppah in 80 years

An amazing program Yossi's family started

Some pictures from their son's Upshernish in Ulyanovsk


Rabbi Chaim Danzinger in Rostov - his blog at lifeinrostov.com


Some very typical shocking Russian situations such as no hot water

A late night visit to someone's home

Five Brissim in one day

What preschool and shopping is like in Rostov

There are so many fascinating stories, accomplishments and pictures I missed out. Please visit the websites to see them.

Found!

At the end of last summer (not this past one, the one before), after Yefim (president of our community) had said all his lies to many community members, I went through all my papers and collected proof of his lies. this included;

- From our first meeting, a paper in which we both listed our 1, 3 and 5 year plans and how we'll get there together, which he claimed I had never done with him and therefore was trying to say I wanted to work alone...

- All our signed contracts up until then - important because I had the originals and his signature on all of them.

- The 3 lists of children that we had worked out deserved to receive aid after the Pesach disaster in which he was only handing out aid from Moscow to his friends (some of whom weren't even Jewish). 1 list was from Moscow with the list of names he had sent them (that included some children who weren't receiving), another was from Anya Davidova who represented the poor women who weren't getting any aid anymore, and the third was from when I sat down with him and told him to give me 30 names 'poorest to richest' of who he thinks deserves the aid. I even included his reasons on that third list...

- A community list that I had only procured from Natasha of the Sachnut after like 8 months.

- A letter from two businessmen in Stavropol who wanted me to help them find some investors in America.

- A copy of the history of Stavropol's Jews, taken from a very fancy book put out by Stavropol city and given to only a couple of hundred families.

- Some Divrei torah I had prepared for Shabbos and the like.

- My bank transfer information.

- A list of all the finances Yefim received from Moscow, and a list (in his handwriting) of what he claimed to receive from Moscow and in which he requested they send him more money (for example, he claimed that he only received 200 rubles a month for food for Shabbos, when in reality they gave him 2640 rubles). Also on the finances he received were included an entire program he was getting funding for that didn't exist, and conditions on the programs that he had never kept (such as that everything must always be kosher)...

I had also had something I loved looking at and showing people - a map of Russia and a map of Stavropol Krai.

I brought these home with me last summer and lost them. Every time I had returned I had looked for them. I had also at one point turned over my apartment in Russia looking for them.

Yesterday my mother asked me to take some of my stuff that had been sitting in her basement. I didn't even know anything was down there. Turns out she had made a small box of stuff that I had left there before i had moved to Russia, and added into it stuff i had left in their house on our visits from Russia (which we had to leave every 3 months).

you guessed it. I found my papers and my maps. I am happy now.

Ulyanovsk does it again!

Yossi and Suri, amazing shluchim of Ulyanovsk, Russia have just finished renovating their shul building.

For more pictures read their blog and comment. You have no idea how much support you give them by just telling them to keep it up.

Their blog is at marozov.blogspot.com

Cultural day in Stavropol

When I was back in Russia, I used to chat on the phone all the time with Yossi Marozov, the incredible (and American) Shliach in Ulyanovsk. I loved our talks, since we bounced ideas off one another very good. He's also a doer, and has accomplished an incredible amount in the 3 years he's been out there.

He dreamed about making a personal calendar for the Jews of Ulyanovsk, with their classes and birthdays listed in there, pictures from the community... something people would proudly display in their homes... He imagined being able to publicly honor donors in the calendar, and not having to go to the back of the calendar to find local Shabbos times.

Well, he accomplished it, and even better and more impressive than I could have thought. Please go visit his blog (linked on the left) and tell him what an awesome job he did and is doing. Check out the calendar, it is spectacular.

This is a page from the calendar. I think it is beautiful. He also has complete pages devoted to: Sunday school, Mommy and me, Mezuza campaign, a chuppah he arranged, youth clubs, his overnight camp, his kosher store, his classes titled 'Judaism in the 21'st century', women's club, and their shul.
I recently received an email from a member of our community with some pictures from a recent Stavropol cultural festival. The community rallied together (avoiding Yefim's people) and put on something beautiful. Here is some public Klezmer...
The Jewish table at the fair. Aaaaaaaah, I miss them all!
A picture of just the kids...
And this is their Rosh Hashana experience, with cameras, and if you look closely on the left of the picture, apparently television too. Looks like they rented somewhere nice. they could use some guidance on what Rosh Hashana is all about.
And leading the services (at least without a mike) is Hillel Davidov with 13 year old Gavriel Zizov. Two people who were my friends and whom I greatly miss.

:(

I love frum Jews

When I was about 10 years old I witnessed something really cute. My brother Benny broke a glass in the kitchen. A couple of minutes later my mother came into the kitchen and saw the mess.

"Who did this?" She shouted.

"Me!" Benny admitted.

My mother, who was in a bad mood, gave Benny a 'frask' as they say in Kitah Gimmel.

Benny started howling and bawling. Between sobs, he squeaked out his complaint. "But... sniff sniff... in the Marvelous Midos Machine... sniff sniff... it says that if you say the truth then your mommy will be PROUD of you!"



What brought this memory to the surface of my brain?

Comment #7 of this article: http://collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=5478

For those of you too lazy to read the entire article, it discusses PETA coming to Crown Heights to protest Kapporos.

This guy launches into a full page tirade. To quote: "An animal must be treated kindly and with respect according to the Torah. The same Torah has told us to use parchment for Tefillin and Mezuzos and meat of animals for Korbonois."

Beautifully written, in my opinion.

But here is how he finishes his comment and I quote:

"Remember that Country Yossi (I think) song:"...I swing a chicken over my head....'cuz I'm a Jew, 'cuz I'm a Jew I do that too...AND I'VE GOT NOTHING TO APOLOGIZE TO YOU!!!!!...."

So Peta get out of town and learn some manners."




My favorite part is how the 'I've got nothing to apologize to you' part is in big letters.

:)

Still a Shliach

Erev Rosh Hashana I had school (and a sample screenplay storyline due).

I debated whether to go or not, and then, my yetzer Hara winning, went.

At the end of the class, a woman sitting behind me leaned over and says, "excuse me, but can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure."

"I'm Jewish and i know a holiday is coming up. When is it?"

I told her all about Rosh Hashana, and yom kippur for good effect, and she promised to go to Shul. I invited her to a meal, but she'll be at her children...

Another Stavropol connection

This past Shabbos after the meal, we went downstairs to the Samama's to play some board games and let the kids beat each other up.

After the games, we sat on the front porch of our duplex, chatting. We noticed that garbage which had been strewn along our front walk by our mean downstairs neighbor (everyone has one of these) had been picked up nicely and put in a large black bag on the side of the stairs.

Apparently we also have a nice neighbor.

As we discussed this, the Samama's told us that in fact, we did. There was a Jewish woman living across the street on Vezina who is married to an Armenian. She has in past picked up garbage the garbage men missed on Friday.

As we spoke about her, she showed up. In a car. She rolled down the window and started chatting with Zalmy Samama, who invited her and her family for Rosh Hashana.

Listening to her speak, I noticed she had a strong Russian accent. I approached her and asked her in Russian where she's from.

"Yerevan, Armenia. But my native tongue is Russian." was her reply.

"Oh cool. My family lived in Stavropol, Russia for over a year where I served as Rabbi of the province!" I told her in Russian.

Her eyes widened. "Stavropol? I was raised and spent most my life in Pyatigorsk! (2 hours from Stavropol, in the province).

I don't know why I keep meeting these Stavropolian Jews. I invited her also for a Rosh Hashana meal. Maybe we can have a Stavropol ex-pats Rosh Hashana meal in Montreal...

Bar Mitzvah call

yesterday was Sasha Filatov's bar mitzvah. I called him to wish him Mazel Tov and remind him to put on tefillin (there are 2 pairs in Stavropol, once of them thanks to the Tefillin bank of the Shluchim office, who provided them to Igr Lerner after he promised to put them on daily).

Boy were the Filatovs happy to hear our voices. Chayale chatted with his mother, Anya, who is a wonderful woman full of life and character, and a fellow Mom. They spoke for awhile. Chayale told her that we remember her every time we see this Stavropol 'plate' which hangs on our wall that she gave Chayale before she left.

Then I told her to have a meal and eat apples with honey and pray a little on Rosh Hashana. Her husband, by the way, isn't Jewish, but he is a very good man.

Then we asked what they are planning for Rosh Hashana, and she said, 'this year we have no Rabbi to guide us, so we're going to the park and dancing to live music.'

I don't even know what to do about that. That's as far from Rosh Hashana as it gets. But what can I do? it's already been planned and all...

They so need a Rabbi, and I wish someone would move out there.

Finality

I don't have much time, so I'll be brief.

The news:

- Our stuff arrived from Stavropol! Finally! This past Friday the container arrived from stavropol with all our stuff in it. It took two days to organize getting it to our apartment, and another few days to unpack it (still not done). We also had a guy rebuild our furniture quickly, and he was great. So now we are completely out of Stavropol.

The guy who did the shipping job was so professional and reliable, which was very surprising. Sending our stuff to Russia from Montreal was a pain... our stuff took 6 months to arrive and we weren't updated on what was going on at all. We also barely had help and it was mostly an unprofessional job.

But Alexander Aksenov from Rostov was amazing! Not only did our stuff arrive within 3 months, but he also constantly was in contact with us, updating us about our stuff and being very professional.

What a mentsch.

2 - I started school in concordia today. chayale got me a school bag and school supplies, which is a first for me, since in the past my father always gave me some old pens and cheap paper. Or I'd find some notebooks in the basement to use. But this was a schoolbag FULL OF STUFF!

The professor was a Jewish guy, and it's good to be learning for a change. Business administration here I come!

3 - I played ice hockey tonight! Preseason began, and this season I'll be playing full time (once a week for about 30 weeks) in the MJHL (Montreal Jewish Hockey League). I had a better game than last time. No goals or assists, but I was somewhat up to speed, and played sound defence. I blocked 4 shots and stopped 2 shots with my stick that had dribbled through the goalie's legs. In other words, a good defensive game, without even taking a shot on goal. I am exhausted though.

4 - Lots of opportunities have arisen, and we'll see what happens. Hashem closes one door and opens another. One of them involves being a Chazzan for Rosh Hashana and Yom kippur in a local Shul for good pay, another is a good writing job, another is a fantastic shlichus'dik part time job, and lastly - I started tutoring two cute little kids who think I am the greatest since their favorite video is 'Maccabees', a video that honestly embarrasses me in its unprofessionalism.

My beef with it is that it should have been done HASC-video style (and I said this from the beginning when they were filming). Like a 'this is what you missed and you should have been there' sorta film, with lots of shots of audience reactions and participation.

Instead, there are entire scenes without an audience... I could go on and on, but the lesson I learned is to run the films myself. Now i got to keep writing and go to sleep.

Another stamp story

I'm uploading more stamps, and I find this other one, above.

Basically, unbeknown to most, Russia has tons of little 'republics' inside of it. I'm sure most of you heard of Tatarstan and Chechnya, but have you ever heard of Mordovia, Mari El, Ingushetia, Chuvashia, Evenkia, Bashkoristan and many others?

Russia is huge, and there are many nationalities in there.... many republics. In the 1920s (or maybe the 30s), Stalin planned to make a Jewish republic. He set it up in an area of Russia that's beyond Siberia, in a city called Birobidzhan. It's above Mongolia, and there is nothing there except lots of snow.

He sent around 50000 Jews there before he gave up on the plan. Still, early on there was a huge Yiddish theatre and Shul.

Anyway, for some reason they never stopped calling it the 'Yevreiski Avtonomy Okrug' or the 'Jewish Republic' and this is a stamp I found from there. Actually a mini sheet set.

Cool, huh?