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Due to a lapse in
website updates, there's no updates to "News in the Family" at Shabbos House
for Spring 2010 past mid-Feb. Our apologies, we look forward to beginning
anew and consistently in Fall 2010. |
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updated
2/14/09 |
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Two weekday suppers |
Due to the limited dining
options this Presidents Weekend (and no Kosher dining) Raizy offered to make
suppers on Sunday and Monday Night of this weekend. We had nice supper and
conversation on Sunday Night, and look forward to more on Monday.
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Costume Shopping |
We make our Purim costumes
in house, and try to do something different each year. Over Shabbos, we
finalized the idea with the kids, and went out on Sunday to get some craft
materials for it. We hope you'll like it! |
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Presidents Weekend
Shabbat |
Due to the extended
Presidents Day Weekend (thru Tuesday) most students headed home or away, but
we still had 50 students on Friday Night. Because it was Cozy-Shabbat-like,
and the day before Rosh Chodesh Adar (the month of Purim when we're supposed
to increase in joy) we went around the tables between courses, and everyone
got up to share something small that brings them joy (among the different
things that people said were: crosswords and jumbles, candy, dancing, a
quiet suite to myself, and many other things).
The amazing thing was
that we somehow mustered up a Minyan for Shabbos morning, which we didn't
expect. In addition to Mishpatim, we were able to read the special reading
of "Shekalim" which is traditionally read on this Shabbos, plus we had a
Minyan for the blessing of the new Rosh Chodesh Adar. Mendel's brother Simmy
spent Shabbos with us, and we were happy to welcome back alumni Craig and
Jessica, Saul and Jackie. In addition to making our Minyan, it was simply
very nice to spend a Shabbos together again. |
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Torah-Tues with Rabbi
Zeff |
It's been some years since
we had Rabbi Joel Zeff speak at our Torah-Tuesday, so we were happy to have
him back to give a class. His topic was a novel interpretation of the
Talmudic passage of the mountain suspended over the Jews at Sinai. |
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JWC Duct-Tape & Raizy's
Birthday |
On Monday Night, the Jewish
Womens Connection was "on a roll" with more than a dozen rolls of colorful
duct-tape. Mushky taught the girls how to tape their way to wallets,
rose-topped pens, even hair-band holders. Since it was Raizy's birthday,
they passed around a platter with a bunch of random items: battery,
scissors, band-aid, toy-airplane, you name it... and people chose an object
from the platter and used it to form the basis of a Happy Birthday wish for
Raizy and everyone present. |
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updated
2/8/09 |
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Welcome Back Raizy |
It's great having Raizy
back at Shabbos House - Mendel is thrilled to have her back. She enjoyed the
extended weekend in Brooklyn, together with her sisters in from all over -
for the Intl Chabad Women's Convention known as the Kinus HaShluchos. It was
an inspiring and uplifting weekend. We missed her here, that's for sure.
Mushky and Chani enjoyed a Junior Convention for Chabad girls from around
the world and they back tired but happy.
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updated
1/27/2010 |
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Purim Theme Planned |
L'chaim Board and friends
had a planning meeting between the two Torah-Tuesday sessions, and came up
with ideas for booths and carnival entertainment, as well as the general
overall theme: "Purim Under the Sea - Go Overboard!" See our Purim 2010
webpage with a list of pre-Purim and Purim Day events at Shabbos House and
in the UAlbany Jewish campus community. Purim is now less than a month away,
at the end of February, so it's a good time to start thinking of your
costume... |
First Torah-Tuesday 2010
1/26/2010 |
We had nice turnouts to
both sessions of the first Torah-Tuesday of the new semester, on the topic
"Are We Avatars" a chassidic body-soul dimension in light of James Cameron's
new hit movie. It seems that 5:45pm and 8:45pm are better start-times
considering people's class schedules, so we're going to move to those
slightly different start times. |
Alumni Visits to the new
Shabbos House
1/26/2010 |
In one day we had two
alumni couples visit, one was Steve G. (and his wife and two kids) from the
graduating year of 1990 when he remembers the old Shabbos House deck still
shaped like a boat and when the compromise was worked out after the
construction of the new Chapel House to daven there on Shabbos mornings, and
a bunch of other interesting historical Jewish UAlbany trivia. Earlier for
lunch we had Josh (2000) and Faith (1999) and their son, and three daughters
(two of whom are 9-month old identical twins). Josh and Faith were from the
"first generation" when we arrived in 1997 and really helped Shabbos House
and the UAlbany Jewish community grow and flourish. The groundwork they put
in place, still carries us to this day. Both couples could not believe the
new place... |
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updated
1/24/2010 |
Spa for the Body and
Soul in Malta
1/24/2010 |
14 students went up to the
Hyatt Place in Malta NY with Raizy of Shabbos House and Lisa of Hillel to
the 5th annual Spa for the Body and Soul. The featured speaker, Jessica
Klein-Levenbrown is a TV show producer and writer (for Sesame Street, 90210,
Scout's Safari, Just Deal etc...) spoke of her personal experiences and life
journeys. Workshops that followed included pilates, making body-washes and
facials from household ingredients, a writers workshop, a meditation
experience and more... The food was prepared at Shabbos House, salmon and
salads, fruit platters etc. It was a really nice event that brought together
more than 100 women from throughout the Capital Region Jewish community.
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First Shabbat Back
Spring 2010
1/22-23/2010 |
It's great to see the
students back! First Friday Night of the Spring Semester was at Hillel in
the Campus Center. There was a post-dinner Hillel Oneg with Mordechai and
Nisa. Shabbat morning we had a lively, exciting morning prayer service, but
no Minyan for Torah-Reading until after 12pm! (Guys, we can use the help..
maybe once or twice a month stop by at 11:30am before lunch and see if you
can be #10...) and a beautiful Shabbat lunch. We welcomed back students who
were studying abroad, or traveled to Israel with birthright, or down at
Snorkel and Study. Before and during lunch students were browsing the recent
"What's Cooking?"
newsletter update, finding themselves in photos. We also had the new
Torah-Tuesday bookmarks out for Spring 2010 and students were looking over
the topic listings. |
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Batsheva
Schreiber Engaged |
Mazal Tov to former Shabbos
House directors Pinchas and Yehudis Schreiber on the engagement of their
daughter Batsheva (who of the siblings is old enough to really remember
their four years at Shabbos House - and students of the mid-1990's will
remember her well) to Yossi Shomer of Toronto... Mazal Tov, Mazal Tov!
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updated
1/21/2010 |
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On Wednesday, Raizy and
Mendel "went out to eat" at Dutch Kosher dining for lunch. Albany doesn't
have any Kosher eateries (besides for Price Chopper Colonie's deli counter
and the Kosher eateries on the UAlbany main campus). Besides, it was a great
opportunity to see returning students after break, say hi and catch up as
the new semester begins. Welcome back everyone! |
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updated
1/19/2010 |
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Welcome Back Students
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We've already seen a few of
the returning faces. Winter break flew by (and we didn't accomplish
everything planned) but it's exciting now that we're starting a new semester
- a new decade. There's a lot of events and activities planned, and a lot
more that needs planning, so we look forward to much celebrating together.
Good luck with settling in. |
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Haiti Vigil at Small
Fountain |
On Tuesday Night, there was
a vigil at the Campus Center Small Fountain arranged by the Haitian Student
Association and a sorority, and facilitated by the University. Most speakers
were students, aside for the Chair of Africana Studies and a professor from
the French languages department. This is a tremendous humanitarian tragedy,
so many dead, so many homeless, so many hurting and grieving. So much has
been lost. The program was more religious than expected, usually these type
of things are more non-denominational. |
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Womens Spa for Body and
Soul Planned |
This annual communal womens
event is planned for this coming Sunday, January 24th. Raizy is catering the
food, its co-sponsored by UAlbany Hillel and Shabbos House, along with
nearly a dozen local Jewish womens groups. It's free for students, and
there'll be carpooling from campus. The speaker is a TV producer (90210,
Scout's Safari, Just Deal, Sesame Street etc) who will speak on "More than
meets the eye: Embracing inner change." If you want to go, give Raizy
438-4227 or Nomi 489-8573*24 a call or email. |
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More Online Voting...
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oy, not another online
vote! after the heroes voting, we know the feeling. Here are 2 items you can
vote for, it's only 1 vote each:
1) Friendship Circle based in Michigan helps
kids with special needs. It's a Chabad organization that's done great work,
our own Mushky and Chani just signed up as volunteers for weekly visits with
an autistic kid in the area. They have a chance to win $1 million from Chase
Bank. Visit
www.VoteFC.com to vote once on a Facebook Page.
2) Locally, Berkshire
Bank is donating $5,000 to a local non-profit and we're trying to get as
many 1-time votes as possible for our children's school. All you need is to
fill
out the online form with the school's name and address (we'll list
that here) plus your email and address. It's "Maimonides School" located at
404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12203. Deadline for this is the end of
January. Thanks!
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updated
1/18/2010 |
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New Office Furniture |
What exciting changes! what
unexpected upgrades! Last year the computer and office was in the bedroom at
the old Shabbos House. This year it has a nice space of its own. And to top
that off, an alumni friend (Steve of 2007) sponsored custom furniture to
make the workspace as efficient and comfortable as possible. It was ordered
a few weeks back and delivered today (1/18/10). A custom "U" shaped desk to
fit the Fuller Road facing portion of the office room, a round thin
conference table for the back portion of the room, plus 3 combo cabinets for
closed shelving and lateral file space. It takes our office-work to a whole
new level. And there's some computer upgrades coming, too! |
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updated
1/17/2010 |
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Winter-Break Events at Shabbos House |
Winter Break is our time-off, and time for
us to catch-up on paperwork, website updates, and everything that's been
pushed off during the hectic and exciting semester. But there's still stuff
going on around here, it's not as quiet as you might think...
Shabbos house hosted a Sheva-Brachos
here for about 80 guests (catered by Raizy, with students as wait-staff)
celebrating the marriage of an Albany daughter and and her husband, both of whom are
alumni of our Maimonides High School in Albany. There were individually
plated salads, soup served individually, and elegant platters of delicious
baked deserts. The bride's family has a long history with the Maimonides
School, and with Chabad of Albany and the Capital Region, her father was
instrumental in the establishment of Chabad Lubavitch in this area in the
early 1970's.
A Brooklyn Yeshiva, Mendel's
High-School alma-mater, stopped by Shabbos House for a Sunday afternoon
Frozen BBQ at the end of their upstate Shabbaton weekend. We set up for
about 170 people, but they brought and prepared all the food. Being that it
was the 24th of Tevet and the yartzeit of the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Mendel
shared a sheet of relevant Tanya intros.
We had 3 Cozy-Shabbat weekends over
this winter-break for students who stayed up in the area, for internships
and work, or for those who live locally. One weekend we actually had a Minyan, thanks to some visiting Yeshiva students.
Shabbos House Office-Work: We sent out
long overdue thank-you notes to Shabbos House Operating Fund and Building Fund
contributors. We prepared, printed and mailed the new "What's Cooking?"
update newsletter with photos of the past semester, including summer alumni
reunions, the "Sweet Beginnings" opening date, and events of Fall 2009.
Extended Weekend in NY over New Years -
we spent time with our family - the Galperins and Hendels, Mendel and Moshe
toured the Rebbe's Library new exhibition, we went to a cousin's wedding in
Crown Heights and to Zo and Laura's engagement party in Queens.
Rabbi Mendel and Raizy
as parents at the Maimonides School coordinated the annual Chanukah
Raffle-Auction, which was a great success and an important fundraiser for the
school. We beat last year's totals, which is wonderful considering the
economic situation.
Kids News: Mushky & Chani joined the
local Friendship Circle, they now visit a 4-year old autistic boy in
Loudonville each Wednesday and Mushky helped staff the Friendship Circle
camp for special needs kids this New Years Break. Moshe signed up for a
special online Chabad Mitzvah project where he submits monthly missions and gets
prizes. Sara and Bassie are loving their own room, Bassie sleeps in her own
bed most nights. Bluma started to walk! Her eating/swallowing issues are
improving slightly, we're still working on it.
We met with the Hillel
Staff, coordinated the calendar schedule for Spring 2010, and planned
ahead for some of the programming. The Torah-Tuesdays schedule of classes is
now online and soon to be printed as a bookmark.
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Hiatus in Website
Updates
Fall 2009 |
We apologize for the hiatus
in website updates during Fall 2009 - the first semester at the new, bigger
and better Shabbos House. The big move to the new place, which began on the
eve of Rosh Hashanah 5770 and continued gradually throughout the hectic and
exciting semester, made us postpone these updates. We hope to post as many
updates and photos etc as soon as possible.
In the meantime, check
out the "What's Cooking?" Fall 2009 newsletter update, (mailed to homes and
soon to be posted online in PDF format) which
has photos and updates from this exciting first semester in the new Shabbos
House.
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updated
8/30/09 |
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First Minyan of Fall
2009 |
Thanks to 2 fathers,
visiting Heshy and Aron, and 3+ freshmen, we had a great minyan before 11am
at Chapel House on Shabbos morning. Thanks to freshman Ben for volunteering
as Chazzan on his first weekend at Albany. And the lunch that followed was
pretty full, too. Thanks to all participants for making it such an amazing
Shabbos. Next weekend will be the first full weekend back, and hopefully the
last full Shabbos weekend in the old Shabbos House.. since 1976!
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Freshmen Weekend 2009
Friday Night |
For Freshmen weekend we set
up 9 tables and left the couches in. We never had more than 9 tables on
Freshmen Weekend. Until this year! It was really exciting to see so many
freshmen come out, meet new faces, learn new names. Over the next few weeks
(usually up until Sukkot) we look forward to meeting more and more of the
Class of 2013, and celebrating together! |
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updated
8/25/09 |
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Journal and Registry in
preparation for Sept 13th... |
Sunday, September 13th
will, G-d willing, be the official opening day and dedication ceremonies
titled "Sweet
Beginnings" for the new Shabbos House - Rohr Chabad Jewish Student
Center. The day is getting closer. Crews are working on the hardwood floor
in the main room, on the 2nd color of wallpaper there, on tiles in the
bathroom and much more.
In preparation we're
working on a souvenir journal to be printed in honor of this historic
milestone event, and anyone wishing to participate with an ad or greeting
can do so prior to 9/3 or 9/4. For additional details, see
the Sweet
Beginnings Page.
We've also opened an
online Shabbos House registry at MyRegistry.com - and are slowly adding
kitchen equipment, accessories and other items to furnish and accessorize
the new Shabbos House. Thanks to those who already purchased a professional
series Kitchen-Aid, 2 hot-water urns, and other gifts. We will continue to
update this registry, as time goes on.
The event program is
still in formation and tentative. Updates will be posted to the
"Sweet
Beginnings" page.
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New Mechitzas |
That's right. No more
tug-of-war or yanking and unwinding the Mechitzah cord and panels. At first
we thought of putting a Mechitzah curtain on a track, but we scrapped that
idea, realizing that it would mean a floor-to-ceiling Mechitzah and even if
we'd have part of it lace, it might look too hospital-like. Then we came up
with room dividers, the folding kind - but were thinking of mounting them on
wood and wheels. We looked high and low for appropriate panels that would
complement the room decor, and serve the purpose, but didn't have much luck.
Then Rabbi Shmuly (Mendel's brother from Chabad serving Union College in
Schenectady) called from Lowe's, about a huge sale on outdoor privacy
screens, and we went and bought them out on the spot. We're still not sure
if we'll be mounting them or not, but we do have them now.
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Leadership, Move-in,
Last Week in August |
Together with the faith
groups at Chapel House, UAlbany Hillel hosted a leadership training seminar
on Tuesday 8/26 for leaders of the student groups. The Jewish groups also
came for pita and felafel lunch at Shabbos House and a Torah study with
Rabbi Mendel discussing five aspects of leadership qualities.
Wednesday and Thursday
were freshmen move-in days at Indian and State Quads. Quite a few Empire
Commons folks started to move in as well. Classes begin on Monday, August
31st.
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The Daily Vote! Help us
stay up there... |
http://www.jewishcommunityheroes.org/nominees/profile/rabbi-mendel-raizy-rubin/
We've been trying not to obsess over the hero voting thing, but it can be
addictive. Thanks to all who have been voting for us once da day, keeping us
in the top ten, actually top five nationwide (may we be able to stay up
there!). Please share the word with friends, the more daily votes we can get
up until October 8th, the better chances we have. To find the vote simply
google: Raizy Hero - or visit this link (once per day, you can even do it
every 12 hours, but we don't want to make people crazy...). |
Shalom Festival in
Saratoga
8/23/09 |
Each year Rabbi Mendel's
brother, Rabbi Abba and Saratoga Chabad puts on the "Shalom Festival" in
Saratoga's historic and beautiful Congress Park. This year Mushky and Chani
pitched in to run the edible sand-art and jewelry-making activity booths. We
also had amazing caricatures done of the kids by Phil Singer. We all enjoyed
felafel, hotdogs and lively music by Yoel Sharbi, and the kids watched
Incredible Larry's juggling show. One of the best booths was "A Nickle a
Pickle" with half-sour and garlic-dill Kosher pickle tasting. |
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Thoughts of Packing...
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It hasn't settled in yet,
but we have to give some thought to packing and moving over to 320. We still
don't have a definite date when we can start bringing stuff over there (at
least to the upstairs portion which is being finished first) but hope it
will be sometime early September. The kids have begun putting away clothing
they don't need for right now, sorting it in piles and clear bags, and
perhaps we'll move those first. We're still waiting on carpet and light
fixture installation in the upstairs rooms. |
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Planning for the new
semester... |
This year the
honey-prescription bottles are coming back for a pre-Rosh-Hashanag giveaway
(and as a giveaway for the Sweet Beginnings event...) so we're working on
the prescription label, and ordering the vials and caps. Also the L'chaim
Board came up with a "Mad Science" themed Shabbat with a distinguished
professor of science at this University, and we got him to agree to the
first weekend in November. The new Shabbos House business cards with the
candle-lighting times on back are now ready, and we have the Torah-Tuesday
bookmark with the Fall 2009 listing of classes and topics. We're also adding
"TorahTRAX" where students can choose their learning adventure, by getting
3+ students to find a time and topic that works for all of them, and Mendel
or Raizy will study it with them once a week for five weeks. If you're
interested in TorahTRAX give us a call/email. (438-4227 /
mail@shabboshouse.com)
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The Rosh Hashanah
Question |
UAlbany always give off for
Rosh Hashanah (Yom Kippur, and first days of Passover) but this year, the
Jewish New Year falls on Saturday and Sunday, so there are no full-days off.
Most students interesting in a high holiday service will probably headed
home to spend it with family, but we'd imagine quite a few may stay up here.
Most years, Hillel and Shabbos House arrange local synagogues for these
students, but perhaps this year, if there is enough interest, we can host a
traditional, meaningful yet student-friendly services at Shabbos House.
Please let us know if you would be interested in this, so we can figure out
the best arrangements. |
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The Teaneck BBQ and NY
Trip |
Thanks to Dan and Jenni
Levy for hosting the BBQ at their home in Teaneck. We met several alumni
from the early 90's before our times at Shabbos House (we started in 1997)
and also spent some quality time with alumni friends from our first years
here in the late 1990's. Altogether, the fund raised were more than a
"share" in the new Shabbos House, and we thank all for participating.
After Teaneck we drove
to NY to spend some time with Raizy's sister Sara who is laid up with a leg
cast. We also went around to several shops in NY to purchase items for the
new house, including Mezuzot. |
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updated
8/15/09 |
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Looking forward to the
Levys in Teaneck BBQ |
Now that Shabbos is over,
we're packing up and preparing to head down to Teaneck for Sunday, many
thanks to the Levy's for hosting this BBQ event (open to parents, students,
alumni and all Shabbos House friends) and possibly stay in Brooklyn to visit
Raizy sister Sarah who's in a leg cast. May she have a speedy and complete
recovery. |
Last Cozy-Shabbat for
Summer 2009
8/14-15/09 |
We've had quite a few
Cozy-Shabbat weekends this summer, and we're happy to have concluded the
season with a beautiful Shabbat. Special guests included Jason ('05) and his
fiance Chavi, Rachel W. (who returned from a Hebrew total immersion program
in Vermont in preparation for his masters program this Fall at Brandeis)
with her parents, Ilana and her mom (Ilana was here for a semester and is
likely returning to Brandeis for the Fall semester). We also had Mendel's
brother, Rabbi Yossi and Leah Rubin of Clifton Park Chabad and their kids
(who had a great time with our kids). There were six tables - quite a crowd
for a Cozy-Shabbat Friday Night! |
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updated
8/13/09 |
Family Outing to Altamont
Fair
8/13/09 |
While there are a million
and one things to do before the start of the new year, and to catch up on
paperwork, and prepare for the opening of the new Shabbos House - a big item
on our to-do list is to enjoy quality time with the kids. So on Thursday,
the one day this week without rain in the forecast, we went to the Altamont
Fair (a 3-county fair) continuing a 12 year tradition since our arrival at
Shabbos House in 1997. This year the kids especially enjoyed the Zoppe
Circus, the car-drop by the Fire Department, the birth of a calf, and a 1913
Schenectady Ketuba in one of the historic museums. We also chatted with a
blacksmith at work, ate our home-brought Kosher supper on a picnic table
behind one of those "Fried Dough" vendors, and met some Guilderland
neighbors. We even saw a parrot sitting on a bench between two people in
conversation. This year we didn't spend as much time in the animal barns or
exhibits. |
Wow - in top 10 in under
24 hours...
8/13/09 |
Thanks to the many friends
who voted and helped spread the word - we reached the top 10 on the
leaderboard in less than 24 hours! We hope we can continue the momentum to
stay up there! Anyone can vote (so spread the word) it's once-per-day until the
beginning of October. One vote a day can keep us up there!
http://www.jewishcommunityheroes.org/nominees/profile/rabbi-mendel-raizy-rubin/
Guess who is #2 on the
leaderboard (as of this writing?) Rabbi Chaim Lazaroff, our brother-in-law,
of Chabad in Houston Texas - who stepped up to the plate and helped out with
the many who ended up in Houston during Hurricane Katrina! Go Chaim, Go! |
Picking a stain...
8/13/09 |
We have the July Building
pictures up on the
320 Building Blog, for a while now, but sorry - no August photos
yet. We hope to get them up by mid next week. Here's a mini-update: all the
wallpaper is in on the upper level, and most of the hallways and lobbies.
The main room is scheduled to get primed and painted starting this coming
Monday (Aug 17). The tiles are now being laid in the main floor lobbies. The
kitchen's already have most of the tile backsplash installed and the
appliances are starting to go in. Today we experimented with a range of wood
stains, to figure out a good color for the main room wood trim.
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updated
8/12/09 |
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We've been nominated..
please vote.. and vote again! |
A good alumni friend
nominated Mendel and Raizy for the UJC United Jewish Communities "Heroes
Award" for which the national finalists receive $25,000 toward the charity
of their choice. Basically, the more people who vote for us, the better
chance we have! The neat thing is that you can vote once each day - so if we
spread the word (and our friends in turn spread the word...) and people keep
voting... who knows!
http://www.jewishcommunityheroes.org/nominees/profile/rabbi-mendel-raizy-rubin/
try it!
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Last Year's News? |
Looking for last year's
News in the Family? Click here for "News in
the Family 2008-9" and see this "News
in the Family INDEX page" for news pages and links in the years
before that.
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