Less than three days before a festive holiday in which Jews dance with the Torah, a fire engulfed a prayer house on Norton Street — but the the scroll inside survived. The fire broke out Sunday at around 4 a.m. at 296 Norton St., in the heart of New Haven’s growing Chabad Lubavitch Chasidic Orthodox Jewish community. Rabbi Berl Levitin, who lives on the second floor of the house with his wife Feiga, customarily wakes up at that time. He went into the kitchen to wash his hands. He smelled smoke from outside the house • Full Story, Photos

From the desk of Rabbi Gershon Avtzon of Yeshivas Lubavitch – Cincinnati: I am on the committee that is tasked with setting up the administrational structure of a new educational institution in our city. Knowing that the administrational structure is essential to the success of the education in the institution, the committee has been meeting frequently with professionals to get it right. Has the Rebbe issued guidance on this very important topic? • Click to Read

The lockdown which has been in place for over three consecutive months has left shuls locked up and schools closed, keeping families and all community members home celebrating alone during the recent high holidays. Legendary Jewish singer Yaakov Shwekey will be broadcasting live to Australian Jewish communities who are still under lockdown • Full Story, Photos

Under the terms of his plea agreement with federal prosecutors, attorneys for John T. Earnest and the government will jointly recommend that he receive a life term in prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 28, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. Earnest is accused of killing one worshiper and wounding three others in a shooting spree inside a California synagogue about a month after setting fire to a nearby mosque • Full Story

As he does every year, Israeli Chabad activist Rabbi Yaakov Gloiberman has been making his rounds gifting sets of daled minim for Sukkos to prominent figures in Eretz Yisroel. Today he delivered a set to Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a close friend of Rabbi Glauberman’s and of Chabad for many years • Photo, Video

When Category 4 Hurricane Ida recently wreaked havoc on New Orleans, power, basic supplies and patience quickly grew scarce. Having seen firsthand how hurricanes can affect a city, several Houston Jewish community members sprang into action. Rabbi Chaim Lazaroff of the Chabad Lubavitch Center, Texas Regional Headquarters, contacted Rabbi Mendel Rivkin and others in New Orleans to see what they could do to help • Full Story

A 16-year-old boy and three other people were detained Thursday in connection with a suspected plan for an Islamic extremist attack on a synagogue in the German city of Hagen, authorities said. The detentions took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, and two years after a deadly attack in another German city on the Yom Kippur holiday • Full Story, Photos

Hundreds of community members, dignitaries, and rabbis attended the festive inauguration event in which a brand new Torah Scroll was introduced into the historic Golden Rose Synagogue of Dnipro, Ukraine, first established in 1868. The Chief Rabbi of Dnipro and the surrounding region, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky, warmly thanked the members of the Jewish community who contributed towards the writing of the new Torah Scroll • Full Story, Photos

A life-changing directive of the Rebbe 30 years ago is coming to fruition with the opening of a new yeshiva in South Florida. TAG Academy, an acronym for ‘Torah, Avodah, and Gimilus Chassadim’, will create an individualized educational experience for Bochurim ages 14-16 • Full Story, Photos, Video