A newly constructed Chabad House-Almaden Valley synagogue in San Jose, California was utterly destroyed in a fire on December 23, 2021. I learned about this when I saw a tweet by the Consul General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, Nasimi Aghayev, who stated: “Last December I was saddened to learn that a fire had destroyed Chabad House synagogue in San Jose, CA. @AzConsulateLA contributed funds to the reconstruction of the synagogue. Sharing it to encourage others to support this meaningful effort. I look forward to grand reopening soon” • Full Story

Rabbi Sholom and Goldie Eagle (nee Wasserman), together with their daughter Toby, recently moved to Malibu, California to establish a welcoming Chabad presence at Pepperdine Universityn • Full story

Anti-vaccine posters that featured a Star of David on them were discovered in at least two Los Angeles-area locations this week, including pasted to an electrical box outside a synagogue.

A beautiful teshura was distributed by the recent wedding of Avi Cunin of Pacific, CA to Ita Hertz of Chicago, IL, in both Hebrew and English, which contains answers and letters from the Rebbe MH”M to both the families of the chosson and kallah, as well as letters to the chosson’s grandfather Rabbi Shlomo Cunin, Senior Shliach in California, regarding specific matters of his decades long shlichus in the state • Download

The Jewish community of Chapman University had cause for celebration Sunday when the last of the 304,805 Hebrew letters were painstakingly inked onto a parchment scroll, marking the completion of the Chabad’s first Torah scroll. Containing the first five books of the Hebrew bible, the Torah is “the greatest treasure of Jewish knowledge in the world,” said Rabbi David Eliezrie, president of Rabbinical Council of Orange County • Full Story, Photos