"Benzion Shemtov, #rabbi at #Chabad #Jewish Center at #Michigan State #University was out of the state when someone spray-painted #Nazi symbols on the doors and threw rocks at the windows of the center in the days following the #massacre at #BondiBeach in #Australia, where 15 people were #killed during a #Hanukkah celebration.

But when Shemtov returned to #EastLansing, he said he was greeted by numerous letters from the #MichiganState University community that the center serves.

“I got home and I got letters in the mail from people that are not even Jewish, just writing letters of support. It’s break right now. There’s no one in town…. just to see from #students that graduated and maybe came to us, students [that weren’t] necessarily so close with [us] perhaps because maybe they didn’t attend that much, but they were writing, this is their home, this was their home on campus,” Shemtov said. “This will always be their home.”

https://eastlansinginfo.news/east-lansing-jewish-center-vandalized-after-bondi-massacre-community-responds/

"Benzion Shemtov, #rabbi at #Chabad #Jewish Center at #Michigan State #University was out of the state when someone spray-painted #Nazi symbols on the doors and threw rocks at the windows of the center in the days following the #massacre at #BondiBeach in #Australia, where 15 people were #killed during a #Hanukkah celebration.

But when Shemtov returned to #EastLansing, he said he was greeted by numerous letters from the #MichiganState University community that the center serves.

“I got home and I got letters in the mail from people that are not even Jewish, just writing letters of support. It’s break right now. There’s no one in town…. just to see from #students that graduated and maybe came to us, students [that weren’t] necessarily so close with [us] perhaps because maybe they didn’t attend that much, but they were writing, this is their home, this was their home on campus,” Shemtov said. “This will always be their home.”

https://eastlansinginfo.news/east-lansing-jewish-center-vandalized-after-bondi-massacre-community-responds/

" #America has no #chiefrabbi, but it is a testament to the international recognition #AngelaBuchdahl commands that a foreign-born terrorist would be under the impression that she is the person who fills this role.

For the past decade, #Buchdahl has served as #seniorrabbi at #CentralSynagogue in Midtown #Manhattan, one of the largest #Reform #congregations in the world, serving more than 3,000 households. The first woman to hold this position in the 175-year history of the #congregation, Buchdahl is also the first #AsianAmerican to be ordained as a #rabbi and among a select group of distinguished #US #rabbis to have been invited to light #Hanukkah candles at the #WhiteHouse.

Forget about "chief rabbi of America," this child of an inter- #religious and #interracial marriage hardly seemed rabbi material at all, as noted in her recently released #memoir "Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging" (Viking)."

https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2025-12-22/ty-article-magazine/.premium/how-the-daughter-of-a-korean-buddhist-became-one-of-americas-most-distinguished-rabbis/0000019b-4157-d3cf-a1bf-4d7f30df0000

" #America has no #chiefrabbi, but it is a testament to the international recognition #AngelaBuchdahl commands that a foreign-born terrorist would be under the impression that she is the person who fills this role.

For the past decade, #Buchdahl has served as #seniorrabbi at #CentralSynagogue in Midtown #Manhattan, one of the largest #Reform #congregations in the world, serving more than 3,000 households. The first woman to hold this position in the 175-year history of the #congregation, Buchdahl is also the first #AsianAmerican to be ordained as a #rabbi and among a select group of distinguished #US #rabbis to have been invited to light #Hanukkah candles at the #WhiteHouse.

Forget about "chief rabbi of America," this child of an inter- #religious and #interracial marriage hardly seemed rabbi material at all, as noted in her recently released #memoir "Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging" (Viking)."

https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2025-12-22/ty-article-magazine/.premium/how-the-daughter-of-a-korean-buddhist-became-one-of-americas-most-distinguished-rabbis/0000019b-4157-d3cf-a1bf-4d7f30df0000