For all you hockey fans

I cfried from laughter: http://www.downgoesbrown.com/2010/01/other-toronto-maple-leaf-training-camp.html

The complete Kovalev story

I was recently asked by a contact to email him my 'Alex Kovalev' story, and I looked back in the blog archives, and found it cut into pieces, so I figure I'll write the story again in full.

In my early months in Stavropol, I used taxis all the time to get from the Jewish center to my apartment. One evening after work, I got into a taxi and sat down wearing my hat and jacket.

The driver looked at me and said, "hey, are you Jewish?"

"SuperJewish."

He said, "My grandmother was a Jew."

"Maternally, or paternally?"

"My mother's mother."

"Then you are a Jew too!"

With typical Russian mentality, he says, "then why don't I have money?"

Turned out he was a solid guy, and we really got along. I told him that while we are disproportionately wealthy, most Jews are quite poor, actually. He told me that he knows why Judaism is through the mother - "since you never know who the father is."

We had lots of fun chatting, and when we reached my apartment, I told him I want to invite him and his family for a Shabbos meal. He refused, explaining that while I may consider him a Jew, he doesn't consider himself a Jew. So I told him to come instead to the Purim event. He again refused.

Finally, I told him that I use taxis all the time, and I'd rather give a fellow Jew business. So i asked him for his phone number, and warned him that I'd nonetheless be calling him occassionally to invite him for a meal.

I put his number into my phone, and then asked him his name. He handed me his passport and I flipped out. His name was Alex Kovalev.

I thought to myself, out of the thousands of Chabad Rabbis that could be sent around the world, G-d sent the ONE crazy Canadiens fan to Stavropol.

For those who don't know, at the time Alex Kovalev was the best player on the Canadiens. Matter of fact, there are groups in Montreal still making petitions for him to return to Montreal.

I told him, "oh my gosh! You have the same name as one of the greatest hockey players in the world. Did you know that?"

"No."

I told him to research a little into who the other Alex Kovalev was. I told him that I was a huge fan, and now he HAD to come for Shabbos. He smiled and shrugged off the invitation.

Over the next year, I would regularly use his taxi, and we had many fun conversations. I even moved the Torah out of the Jewish center during that battle using his car, and stopped on the side of the road to show him what it was. Of course, he always refused my invitations for a good Shabbos meal.

Two weeks before I was thrown out of Russia by the FSB together with R' Yisroel Silberstein (presumably for spreading Yiddishkeit, though I'm still not sure why), I gave my secretary a list of people to call and invite for a class on the subject of prayer.

An hour before the class, I called her and asked her who was coming. She went through the list, and finishes odd with "and Alex Kovalev."

I thought I didn't hear her correctly, but she confirmed that Kovalev would be there. I wondered why he had suddenly agreed to come.

The class was amazing, and he asked many questions. After the class, everyone left but Kovalev stayed. I asked him why he had suddenly come, and his answer was even more incredible.

He had a sister who lived in the Czech republic, an hour out of Prague. She was married to Czech guy, whose name was (here I may be mistaken) Uzhik. She was pregnant with a boy, and the Czech tradition is that every firstborn son in the family is named after the father.

In other words, this Uzhik was the son of Uzhik who was the son of Uzhik for generations.

Everyone in her village knew the baby would be named Uzhik, and someone even knitted her an 'Uzhik' baby blanket.

When they went to register the baby's name, the guy behind the counter asked what the name would be. She looks up and says, "Dovid."

He husband was shocked. "Don't you mean Uzhik?"

"No, the baby MUST BE Dovid."

The village was in an uproar, and even she didn't understand why she had named her baby Dovid - where the name had come from.

She called her brother and told him the story. He answered, "You are a Jew! Everyone knows that dovid is a Jewish name! I met this crazy Rabbi here and he explained that we are Jews. That's the only explanation I can think of!"

No sooner did an amazed Alex Kovalev hang up the phone on her, then my secretary called with an invitation to come to my class (and he wasn't supposed to be on that list).

He had to come to share the story with me.

I wonder where Alex Kovalev is now and how he is doing. I hope another Rabbi moves out to Stavropol, or I'm allowed back there someday. It was a special place.

Shout out to BENNY!!!

Not Friedman you weirdos. Benny my brother, who blogs at running84.blogspot.com


He posted this cute picture of Chaim Shimshon and his cousin Kovi (Benny's son) watching Malkali together back when Kovi was visiting Montreal.

so cute!

Stepher Harper is AWESOME

Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn of Chabad of centrepoint shows the PM something...

Here is a terrific article about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to Chabad of Mumbai.

Ottawa!

This past Shabbos, Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn of Chabad of Centrepoint, which is an area in Ottawa - was in Mumbai with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who in my opinion is the greatest PM Canada has ever had. Anyway, Harper was going to visit Chabad of Mumbai (he didn;t visit any other locations) on the yahrzeit of the Kedoshim, and he asked Rabbi Mendelsohn, who was close to him before he even became Prime Minister, to join him.

So we came to Ottawa to cover for him. I think I did a good job leining, giving a nice speech and leading the Davening, and on Sunday we went downtown and to the Canadian Museum of civilization, which has an entire well made Children's area.

Here are some photos:



Chayale in front of the parliament building, where they have fire on water (or is it water on fire)?


Miriam in front of the parliament building.



In the Museum of Civilization, where Miriam got to be a shopkeeper and sell vegetables.


On a ship. Of all the cool things you can do like lift actual boxes and move them around via pulley, all Chaim wanted to do was take a mop and clean the deck (which he saw some other kid do).




Miriam in front of the pyramid. Inside there is a secret passageway.


Chaim on a camel.

The last one left - a glimpse into life in Voronezh

That picture is of a band playing Jewish songs in Stavropol during the 'City day' festival about a month ago.

Brynie Stiefel wrote a beautiful article about a woman in her community. You can read it here.

Miriam is cheating

Before I get to the story, here's me reading a story to Chaim Shimshon.



Miriam with baby Moishe, her (former) favorite doll.


This is her with TWO new dolls!!!!

I found Baby Moishe UNDER HER BED today (while she was in the other room with the new doll).

For those who understand hockey somewhat

This is a description of last night's hockey game in Boston.



Another one:



Bonus one that is just hilarious, reminding me of all the Lindros concussions...

Pictures form the event

Put them in backwards, so the sequence should start at the bottom...

Kickoff event

So I've been hired to run a program in which teens (not lubavitch) do different cool types of volunteerism and get their volunteer hours needed for school.

I'm doing it for Rabbi Krasnanski of 'Chabad of the Town'.

My first idea was for them to make a monument and donate it to some organization. Yesterday that is what we did. A woman named Edna Katz came over and taught the kids (and I) how to make monuments.

After chatting about anti-Semitism, we then took pictures of arms, and cut them into styrofoam, which we then slowly molded into looking (somewhat) like actual arms. It was very cool.

I'll post a picture when it's done, but it's in the forge right now being cast into alumnimum. The final 'product' will be a bunch of arms poking out of a bumpy peace of metal, with the words 'we will never forget' engraved into it, and the names of each teen next to their 'arm.'

Cool, huh?

Celebrate October 29th!!!

Good news from Stavropol. On the same date as Kostya Solomonov's birthday, he received notice that the new Jewish cultural group and center was approved!

Now he wants to write some sort of document listing Montreal as the religious 'sister city.'

Fine by me.

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?