Yishai and Rachel will be living nearby (320 Fuller..) for the first months of their marriage. Yishai is working his last credits at an internship at the Attorney General's office.

May we always share Simchas!

Shabbat meals (Friday Night, Saturday Lunch and evening) were at Shabbos House, with late-night Friday Night Chavurah and a Sat afternoon Meet Hillel Staff sessions at Chapel House.

>> Here's a picture taken following Havdalah.

7/2-3

They're having at "L'chaim" at the "FREE" Synagogue 1383 President St in Crown Heights, on Tuesday night 6/22/04 - following "Gimmel Tammuz" - the day of the Rebbe's Yartzeit. All who remember Shmuly are welcome to come.

This fundraiser was made possible by the diligent efforts of Adam Kofinas (SH intern Spring '04 and incoming Hillel Student President Fall '04). Thanks!

6/13/04

There's also the Building Campaign Fund, while 2/3 there, has much work to be done, zoning (and other kinds of) meetings and new building planning, updating databases, filing paperwork, keeping in touch with alumni (we miss so many more friends each year!), arranging reunions, printing and mailing the new Cookbook, sending out a summer edition of "What's Cooking at Shabbos House", preparing for the New Year, and much more. Be in touch!

5/18-20

Sorry for the long update delay...

5/16

Graduates and familes kept coming and going all afternoon, and it was a special time for last best wishes and goodbyes.. though we hope to always keep in touch!

5/14-15

5/9

The annual Grad Party (for the Class of 2004) has become an important tradition at UAlbany, eagerly anticipated and many graduates and students participated.

5/4

5/2

> Pictured on right are the student leaders of the Jewish groups with David, Hillel Staff and Shabbos House folks.

The Egged Bus was a fundraiser to help outfit Israeli buses on vulnerable routes with better additional security options, which are not covered by the operating budget of Egged or Israel's security.

KAJ's Seniors Visit - a Shabbos House Catering
4/25-2

We have some interesting pictures of the vigil at 1am on Sunday Night, hope to be able to post those soon.

A Highlight of this Shabbos Lunch was Mushkie's 7th Birthday party! She stood up proudly by lunch and said a little Dvar Torah - a list of 7 Jewish things that have to do with 7 (her idea!)... and then we had a cake made by Raizy in the shape of a 7. Happy Birthday Mushkie!

Got Pictures?

As in past years, a picture-memories presentation is being prepared, all seniors who would like their pictures included please get them over to Shabbos House sometimes this week or next. While we do have a good number of photos from "Shabbos House Archives" we can not take pictures on Shabbos and Holidays, so we'd appreciate some extras to be sure we can include as many seniors as possible.

We're so glad we did. It turned out to be a beautiful holiday, with many students participating and enjoying the home-cooked Passover food and atmosphere. With Kosher Dining closed, there was simply no alternative for Passover-interested students. About 50 came on Sunday Night (including Dan Small's family, who it was a pleasure to meet), about 25 for Monday Lunch, 70 for Monday Night and 45 for Tuesday Lunch. The Lunches were open door, with students coming throughout the afternoon as their class schedule allowed.

During the non-holiday Passover days, we tried to give the kids a good time. The highlight was our trip to the Utica Zoo (1 1/2 hours west of Albany) where the kids had a marvelous time. We also went to North Bethlehem Park (just 3 minutes drive) where they had a good time as well.

It was a beautiful Simcha, and an exciting time to meet Rachel's parents and Yishai's extended family. May we share many Simchas and joyous occasions.

Introduced by Harriet Roffe, President of L'chaim, the Shabbos is one of the unifying cultural (and religious) observances of all Jews. She also mentioned the Holiday Packets distributed on the Quads by L'chaim, and people seemed to recognize that.

We spread a white tablecloth over a little table, Raizy lit the candles with Mushkie and Chanie and Mendel made a Kiddush over a up of grape juice. When Moshe drank his Kiddush following the blessing, there was this collective "ahww" from the whole crowd. (Of course, being Thursday, we did not do the actual Candles or Kiddush blessing).

The Ballroom was packed with students and dark, with lights only up on stage, and it was quite an experience to share this little taste of Shabbat with so diverse a crowd.

We concluded by saying: "Shabbat Shalom. Shalom means Hello, it means Peace, it means Complete, and it also means Goodbye." And then we waved and went off stage.

a taste of Bat-Ayin

Guests included 5 students from Brandeis University in Albany for an inter-collegiate acapella competition. A few brought warm regards from Rabbi and Mrs. Peretz Chein who run the Chabad at Brandeis. We also hosted 3 students from the Albany Mesivta /  MHDS High, Foly Chudaitov, Tzvi Shuchat and Meir Simon. And Jason Kersch had some friends visiting from Queens and Stern Colleges.

You can get these papers at Shabbos House, and soon at Kosher Dutch Dining. Some will also be available with the Purim Packets to be distributed in all Quad Dining Halls on Thurs and Friday March 4th and 5th. Of course they will also be available at all Purim events.

Look on page 3 for the Shabbos House promotional piece.

It was an exciting and unusual celebration for Shabbos House, and the UAlbany students who attended are likely to remember this event for a long time to come. Thanks to all who participated in making this such a special and memorable event. Click here for pictures and details...

Mazal Tov to Fred and Stacey (Wolinetz) Lotwin ('01) on the birth of a baby daughter "Rachel Chaya" on 2/21/04. May we share many Simchas!

Special Guests for the Weekend were: Dr. & Mrs. Robert and Vera Kurlantzik (Shoshana's parents) with their children Avi and Aviva (is between Mushkie and Chanie's ages, so she was a good playmate) of Maryland.. Alumni Mike Kashani, Arie Lipnick and Ben Kallos were up for the weekend, and it was good to celebrate again together with them.

Believe it or not, we had a good (on-time!) minyan - thanks to the guests and to the students who pitched in being that few were around. It was held at Shabbos House, and we ended ahead of time.

Raizy made the fruit and nut platters, and being that Harriet Roffe is an intern for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, she attended the event as well. Good thing she did, because we almost got lost in the labyrinth of hallways and staircases with all the food. Raizy and Harriet are pictured at right with Speaker Silver.

We also met Brian Levine ('03) in the Assembly Chamber. He was actually elsewhere in the building, but came running over to see us when he heard our names being announced in the Assembly session.

Sunday afternoon was Hillel's Ice-Skating Trip to Delmar's B.I.G. Arena. Haven't heard yet back of how it went, but no doubt all had a great time on the professional rink (practice rink for the Albany River Rats and others).

2/6/04

Each table's centerpiece was a "vase of flowers" seen on left. The flowers were all edible, being made of dried fruit or fruit leather. As was the soil, (artificially) fruit-flavored jelly beans.

The dinner menu followed suit, with dishes on a fruity theme. Some were confusing however, since it included a delicious mushroom-barley soup (being that barley is one of the "7 Kinds" which Israel is praised for in the Torah).

We had a mini-celebration with the few students remaining (and enjoyed nibbling the freshly baked fruit tarts intended for Shabbos desserts), and a little while later a few students trekked back in the snowstorm for L'chaim's and congratulations.

May we celebrate many Simchas!

>> The picture of Yishai and Rachel on right was taken this past summer during their semester in Israel, in Moshav Modin, aka The Carlebach Moshav.

2/3/04

1/31/04

Welcome back to alumnus Gabe Duci who brought the Jamming Night to a whole new level when he got up here from New Paltz, and a welcome to transfer students Aaron Goldberg (from Cleveland State) who played drums and Mike Katzberg (from Rockland) who played guitar.

For more on the Jamming Night and for Pictures....

One more Challah Baking Night is planned for this semester (stay tuned for a date) and those Challahs will be distributed in the "Challah with Love" program. Also look for the Hamantasch Baking and Purim Packing Night scheduled for WED March 3rd. Our Schedule page is updated frequently, look there for more info.

Thanks to Adam Kofinas, Craig Brimmer and Saul Maslansky for shlepping out the couches and setting the tables before Shabbos. And thanks to the Clean-Up crew whose teamwork made it all run smooth and quick.

On Shabbat morning the Minyan went well, with Yishai, Ben and Brad pitching in for Torah Reading, and a host of guys sharing Gabbai duties. Lunch was really nice, with a nice turnout, and people hanging out long after the meal, with quite a few still at Shabbos House for Havdalah. The conversations were great, all had a good time.

Also, we're working on a special video presentation "Maimonides 800 - An Albany Perspective" interviewing a spectrum of local personalities on their connections and reflections of the Rambam - Moses Maimonides. We're now done with the filming, but the editing seems to be quite a challenge, especially since we have not done it before.. Hey, you live and learn.

We've been taking out books from the library and spending some time reading.. Now Mushkie can read "The Fire Cat" (anyone remembers 'Pickles the Cat'?) all by herself!

As the storm began we went to the Israeli Marketplace held at Temple Israel - to support Israeli artisans and vendors. A few UAlbany students were there as well. We bought a Jerusalem hat, an Israeli camel (for Moshe) and some jewelry. The kids were amused to hear one of the Israeli vendors recite the same chapter of Tanya (a chassidic text) that our kids know by heart! This guy also sang a Chassidic melody which is appropriate for this day - the 19th of Kislev...

We planned to drive down to Monsey for a cousin's wedding, but decided (little choice) to stay home instead. Justin and Wendy  (who were going to stay with the kids while we were away) came over for dinner and played JR Monopoly with the kids.

At 11:15 sharp we had our Minyan, with 16 fellows total. By 12:45 we were ready for Kiddush - after Torah Reading (thanks to Max Wein for good Gabbai-ing), Musaf (by Saul Zeitlin) and even Mincha (by Brad Legum with Torah Reading by Steve Kessler). Thanks to all who participated and made this holy experience at SUNY Albany possible!

After midnight it began to fall, slowly at times, heavier at others, by Shabbos morning all of SUNY was white. A few students had a bug, others were afraid to venture out into the snow.. so we had no Minyan at Chapel House on Shabbos Morning. But we came back for a cozier lunch than usual, sang a number of Zemiros, and enjoyed delicious salads and cholent. By Lunch-time we made our Minyan, and were able to read Torah after Lunch and even have a Minyan for Mincha. The little Rubins had a blast outdoors (in full snow-gear) thanks to Shoshana and Honey.

Mike Landsman, our resident student weather forecaster, turned out to be right when he predicted 1 1/2 feet of snow. Shabbos morning wasn't that bad, but by the time Shabbos ended - the deep snow was here.

<< Rabbi Mendel's somewhere in the photo on left, but there are too many of us, and the resolution here way too low for any hopes of finding him.

On Friday Night (and what a packed Friday Night it was, with Dr Laz talking near the doorway to allow the students out in the carport to hear as well) Dr Laz spoke about "Getting Along": his experiences working with special ed kids in the inner-city, his inter-racial work in Crown Heights after the 1991 riots, and about his struggles and growth in Jewish dedication. He hung around after the meal, spoke some more, & after the crowd dwindled - taught us some of his original "raps"..

The New Carport on the Sukkah Deck

We kept searching for a way to temporarily close in the deck to gain some space before the new building goes up, but each solution was more expensive than the next. Until alumnus Oren Silvers came up with the carport solution, and in addition to paying for the material, spent a good part of several days putting it up - together with help from students (Ben Lieb, Saul Maslansky, Jason Kersch...)

The families of Dressler, Legum, Rastegar, Hirsch, Miller, Gillman, Kersch, Ginsburg, Hale, Szymkowicz, Kurlantzik, Small, Lesser's Grandparents, were among the parents and family who visited for the weekend. I know we missed some folks - but being Shabbat we could not write names down..

Jim Diamond (now a defense attorney in Stamford CT), Steve Ostrove (and his wife Karen, who illustrated several of the books our children enjoy), Bruce Lorence (living in Albany, and a regular at Cong. Shomray Torah aka "Shteeble" downtown), and Jerry Kahn (who entertained with his comedy on Shabbos Day, and his newly married wife Suzie) were UAlbany WCDB alumni who stayed at Shabbos House. And of course, we were delighted to have Jeff Wertheim back 2 weeks in a row (for Simchat Torah and for the WCDB reunion). Marc Gronich, another good friend of Shabbos House and Capital Chabad, as well as a regular in the shuls downtown in Albany was a prime mover and organizer behind this whole reunion.

to everyone who kept the singing and dancing going strong for so many hours.. and those who helped make festive L'chaim's possible - in a responsible and enjoyable way ... Ariel, Jeremy, Eric, AJ and Dan.

In addition, a number of students attending other colleges: Queens College, Brooklyn College, Nassau Community College, Brandeis University and others came up to celebrate the holiday weekend with us.

Following the party, the Hillel student group hosted a "Hookah in the Sukkah" event in the Shabbos House Sukkah, and it seems that all had a great time.

Thanks to everyone who pitched in - the Sukkah and the big Simchat Torah tent were up in record time! As usual, we had a BBQ running all afternoon in the backyard, under the capable watch of AJ Nordlicht, Ben Lieb and others. Continuing a tradition, the Sukkah-lovers guild, led by Saul Maslansky, Sam Gillman and friends, richly covered the Sukkah with a sea of cut evergreens.

Less heavy this year, we did not use pine boughs, instead we got hemlock - which gives good cover but is not as heavy. Good thing, because added support beams would have taken up precious space on the packed Friday Night in the Sukkah.

On the same afternoon Jason Kersch (with some help from Moshe Rubin..) built 8 new benches to help accommodate the growing turnouts on Friday Nights. Good thing he did, because we would not have enough room in the Sukkah for 130-140 students - if not for the benches.. and people make more room for each other.

The week following Sukkot we will be moving the learning night to WED, to have a special evening with visiting Israelis Aryeh and Tzachi, of Mayanot birthright, and all are welcome to come an enjoy "an evening in Israel" courtesy of TAGAR - and enjoy Israeli foods, music and info (especially about the FREE trip, which many Shabbos Housites have greatly enjoyed!)

We'll be back on - first week in November - on Tuesday Nights with Dairy Dinner, 5:30 or 7:30, new topic to be: "Torah on Self-Esteem".

The services ran smoothly, and quickly (as far as Yom Kippurs go) and all in attendance said it helped them have an easier fast, and some said it was their best Yom Kippur service and things like that. Thanks to all who made this a special Yom Kippur, by coming and participating and being a part of it.

For about a dozen or so years, I (Rabbi Mendel) was the Orthodox Cantor at SUNY Albany Yom Kippurs, but I got so hoarse that I just couldn't do it this year. Special thanks to Rabbi Shimon Andrusier (and his family) of the Albany Yeshiva High who volunteered his services and did a beautiful job leading Kol Nidrei, Musaf and Neilah. Alumnus Chaim Spilman and Freshman Brad Legum were great Cantors for Shachris and Mincha respectively.

To keep the prayers running smoothly, keep people in the loop and avoid the Prayerbook Blues - I did the page numbers with a little running commentary. In addition we made a booklet of Machzor Notes - comments and instructions for many pages, and Gadi Schultz, Hillel's JCSC put together a Yom Kippur supplement with interesting and inspirational reads.

Thanks to Raizy for a great prefast and breakfast! The big hit at the breakfast were Teri Goldstein's delicious mandelbread - everyone enjoyed them.

* Farrah Fidler, Rachel Harris, Sam Gillman and Harriet Roffe, and the Maimonides High School Girls: Debbie Jellet, Devorah Leah Simon, Mazal Mardekhayeva, and Shaindy Klein for making the dough, shaping and baking over 100 high-holiday-style round Challahs.
* Saul Maslansky, Nathan Tobin, Teri Goldstein, David Gretah and Michele Adler for bringing the Challahs to seniors in their homes at Bnai Brith Parkview Apartments, and to the Whitehall Senior Apartments on 10/02/03.

Study will continue with Dairy Dinner each Tuesday, next originally prepared theme will be after Sukkot: "Torah on Self-Esteem". Until then we will discuss Holiday themes.

This time we prepared some Jewish and regular sheet music. The Pasternaks at www.jewishmusic.com (Tara Music) donated 7 books of Jewish sheet music (along with 12 cases of grape juice!). Special thanks to (Shabbos House Intern) Farrah Fidler to running back and forth managing all the pizza and hot pretzels that all enjoyed.

In past years, before Rosh Hashana we did variations on the Honey-theme: Honey-cake, honey-cookies, honey-sticks and honey-candies. This year we discovered sweet apple-flavored jelly beans by Just Born Inc. makers of Mike and Ikes. They donated 50lbs!

Special thanks to the many students who pitched in to make 1500 of these packets, with a little bag of ten "Apple Dumpling a la Mode" Jellybeans stapled to a mini-New Years card - at the Jamming Night on Sat 9/20: Michael Kupferberg, Justin Hersch, Dan Caplan, Tina and Cora Collitin, Sam Gillman, Shoshana Kurlantzik, Adam Kofinas, Michele Adler, Dara Stofenberg, Teri Goldstein, Harriet Roffe, Saul Maslansky, Pam Blumenthal, and others!

For Shabbos 9/20 Wendy Miller baked delicious Honey-cookies, and Harriet R. came over to make Oatmeal Apple Crisp and other delights. Steve Lidner mixed up the tuna for Shalosh Seudos which we enjoyed over the last of our Pirkei Avos (Ethics of our Fathers) readings, as the season winds down before Rosh Hashana.

Turn out there was just enough room, a little tight - but thanks to all who came over - great atmosphere. Raizy made plenty of food (hardly any leftovers) and it was wonderful to meet and celebrate with new and old faces.. This Shabbos is one more reason to get moving on the building project, and try and get as many contributors to participate as possible, so the new, bigger and better Shabbos House Student Center can be up by next Fall. In the meantime we hope to do whatever possible to fit everyone in, and being that it will be temporary, to hang in there until the new place is up and running. Thanks!

We also welcomed special guests: Mrs. Rita Shachne of Albany (who sponsored Kiddush and sent over a delicious platter of Leo's Bakery pastries), Rabbi Shmuel and Chanale Tiechtel, who will be opening a new Chabad House Student Center at Arizona State University in Tempe AZ after the Holidays, and alumnus Oren Silvers - who brought lots of spring water for a refreshing Shabbos drink (as well as a very generous building pledge/contribution).

We celebrated the birthdays of Allison Port, Teri Goldstein, Dan Fingerman and Steve Orfali. Best wishes! We are not prophets, so we only know your birthday, if you give us that info sometime throughout the year.

Ben Lieb, Jason Kersch, Eric Himy, Brad Legum and Harriet Roffe for coming over Friday afternoon for brainstorming, shlepping and maneuvering the set-up to maximize every bit of space in Shabbos House.

To all who helped serve (not an easy feat getting though the maze of tables) and clean-up - special thanks to Saul Maslansky, Eyal Cohn and David Gretah for getting a row of tables cleaned and out of the way, and got the couches back inside before the rain.

We tried two times 545 and 6:45 to accommodate more student schedules, but we still have to explore the best time(s) possible for most students. Our first topic of the Fall semester is "Tzedaka - a prospectus" presenting the classical Jewish texts (Torah, Talmud, Maimonides, Tanya etc) in a financial investment format. This series will continue for at least one, perhaps two more weeks. If you missed the first one, you can jump right into the 2nd - have no fear.  Also if these times do not work, we can do some individual learning - minus the dinner - at a time good for both of us.

Reminds us of 1997 when we first came to Campus, and the Hillel student group's 2 Friday Night dinners in the Campus Center each year were a draw (the others were at Chapel House, on alternate weeks of Shabbos House dinners) but numbers have declined since those days, and it is inspiring, once again, to see so many students come out for a Shabbos dinner...

This year, as begun last year, Shabbat Lunch as become more of an "in" thing, with more students coming over to celebrate. Some years back, former Hillel President, 320 Fuller Resident, and Shabbos House enthusiast Ed Levin used to say that "Shabbos Lunch is the best kept secret at UAlbany"... the word seems to be getting out.

Funny thing, there's a group of local Albany area freshman students this year - who attended the High School Midrasha program at Temple Israel last year. Rabbi Mendel teaches there a mini-course each semester and they recognized him from those classes - and even remembered the night he could not teach because baby Sara was born in the next-door St Peters Hospital! They were so pleased to see her, about 10 months later...

We were pleased to host the Mandelkorn, Lesser and Klimaszewski families who joined us for the meals. Also a special welcome to alumnus Mike Hoenig, now 2nd year at Thomas Cooley Law School in Michigan, as well as returning students Bethanie Lesser (from a semester in Washington DC), Marshall Haber (from a semester in Syndey Australia) and Sara Szymkowicz (returning - engaged!- from a year in Hebrew University, Jerusalem). 'Tis good to see you back! On Friday Night we also had the opportunity to introduce Gadi Schultz, Hillel's new JCSC originally from the Chicago area.

Special guests included Gregg, Shara and (not-so) little Yosef Aryeh Gilbert from Israel, as well as former Shabbos House director R' Pinchas Schreiber (with 3 children) who drove in from Hartford. R' Pinchas shared a nice story introduced by a special tooting by Jason Nadell (a ceremony before our time). Approximately sixty alumni joined for this celebration and we appreciate all who made their effort to come, especially Dan and Atara Marzouk (with their twin year-old boys Noach and Binyamin) all the way from Albany, Rimma Altshuler who made the trip from Boston, Rachel Commer and Joel Feuer who came soon after their birthright israel trip. Alumni with babies also included Eyal and Tali Seinfeld with their daughter Michal, Ronen and Chana Raizel Segal with their daughter Gittel Tova, and of course our own baby Sara and the rest of our bunch - Mushkie, Chanie and Moshe.

A new Shabbos House will be able to seat more students on Friday Nights, be a better facility for events, have a lounge for students to hang-out, more space for the family, and a decent-sized kitchen to get things done. It will make a huge difference to Jewish Life at UAlbany, greatly enhancing the SUNY Albany Jewish Campus Community.

Please be a part of it! This is only possible with everyone's support!

If you are not on our mailing list, please e-mail or call with your contact info -  Thanks.