Not enough Dough for Theo!

Well that's it... We now know that Theo Epstein will not be returning to the Red Sox. Was it about Money? Was it him being unable to work with Larry Luchino? Was it the leak about Manny asking for a Trade? Whatever it was, the Red Sox will have to move on without him. Now my friends, That is a lot easier said than done. Let's not forget, Theo built this team with some brilliant moves, and now they will try to find a GM that can continue his work, but believe me, there isn't one. I'm no Red-Sox fan, in fact I'm a Yankees fan, but I know that if there is a better GM than Theo Epstein out there, trust me they are already employed, and none of the teams they work for will grant permission for the BoSox to interview. The Sox do have a few options. They could bring back Dan Duquette, They could Pick up Paul Depodesta, fresh off a firing from the Dodgers. They could try to lure Pat Gillick away from Seattle and out of reach of the LA Dodgers. Ed Wade (Phillies) is available as is Chuck Lamar (Devil Rays). Don't expect the latter two to receive much attention from the Sox. This is a pressing issue for the Sox, they have free agents to try and re-sign, and positions to fill. The Manny Ramirez issue. The Johnny Damon issue. The David Wells issue, and the Bullpen issue are of utmost important to this team. If the Red Sox don't pull together as an organization real soon, their chances of a playoff appearance in 2006 will diminish rapidly. Believe me that would make my day as a Yankee fan. ---- This is sure going to be fun to Watch

As for Theo, you can expect him to interview with Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. In my opinion the Dodgers will be able to offer him the most appealing contract, and that is where I think you can expect to see Theo sign in the upcoming weeks.

oVeR AnD oUt!!

Sports Week...

Manny Ramirez has requested a trade - again; Joe Gibbs has been shutout; Donovan Mcnabb did not complete a pass until halfway through the second quarter; Tedy Bruschi is back; Penguins finally win a game; Paul Depodesta was fired by the Dodgers; Georgia Tech loses a heartbreaker; Charlie Weis extends his contract through 2015; Virginia Tech, Texas, USC, UCLA all remain unbeaten; White Sox win the World Series... WOW what a sports week it has been!!

Of course some of these stories stick out more than others but all are needed to round out a very busy week in American sports. The White Sox have finally won a World Series; first time since 1917. And once again my prediction (Astros in 6) proves to be wrong. The last time the White Sox were in the series was 1959 when Mayor Daly's father was the mayor. They paraded and partied on the southside like they haven't seen since the Bears won the Superbowl in 1980. A refreshing feeling for lifelong White Sox Fans, and residents of Chicago. Congratulations to the ChiSox and their nutty manager Ozzie Guillen, Job well done, trophy well deserved!!

Pittsburgh Penguins, oh where to begin? So much hype heading into the season yet once it began they struggled to win a game. Mario Lemiuex, Sidney Crosby; it just wasn't pulling together for them until - there it was - A WIN!! Congrats to them for finally finding something to celebrate.

Joe Gibbs has been shutout for the first time in his regular season coaching career! That is something I never thought I would see! And to a team as big an enemy as the NY Giants, that's just plain bad. No, the giants are not 36-0 better than the 'Skins but for some reason Washington must have thought it was a bye-week. Or practice. Something just wasn't right. Brunnell looked awful, Portis worse. It just was not a good day for them. I sure hope they can get it together for next week when I am at FedEx Field watching them play the Philadelphia Eagles. Oh and speaking of the Eagles... Did you see Donovan McNabb's line yesterday? The broncos took a 28-0 before McNabb even completed a pass!! With the clock already clicking to only seven minutes left in the first half only one pass was caught, but unfortunate for him it was caught by the other team. Then look again in the third quarter and McNabb has thrown 3 touchdowns and 253 yards, but take a closer look and you will see that he still had only completed 9 passes. He had one touchdown pass for 91 yards. It started to look good for the Eagles, and then again, it fell apart. McNabb threw another interception on his way to completing only 12 of 34 passes, while the opponent became the first team ever to have a QB throw for 300+ yards and have to players rush for 100+ yards. In all the Broncos managed 564 yards of offense to go with fpur passing and three rushing touchdowns on the way to a 49-21 blowout. Wow, what a game.

Tedy Bruschi making an emotional return to the playing field less than months after he suffered a stroke that could have ended his playing career. Involved in the first three plays and never slowing down, Bruschi impressed his fans coaches and critics, with a beautifully played game, and getting invalid in more than 65% of defensive plays, and there were a lot being that the Bills had possession for more 37 minutes of the ballgame. His fans cheered for him time and time again, and lucky for him, the team was able to pull out a very classy come from behind victory 21-16.

And to make an already fun and exciting NFL week even more exciting, Ladanian Tomlinson threw for yet another TD, making him the first non QB player to throw three passes, all for touchdown since Kieth Byars in 1990. Byars had four passes, all for touchdowns, giving Tomlinson something to work on. The Rams beat the Jaguars 24-21 and each team had a player rush for 165 yards or more. That marks the first time that a game has seen both teams have a player rush for 165 or more yards since 1959. Steven Jackson had 179 yards for the rams and Fred Taylor had 165 for thr Jags. Correy Dillon had two 1-yard touchdown runs in 94 seconds in the fourth qaurter, the first time a NFL player has done this in nmore than 50 years. Joe Nedney kicked five field goals to amount to all of San Fransisco's 15 points in thier 15-10 win over the Bucs. Bret Favre threw 5 interceptions to the bengals, marking the third time this season the bengals picked a passer five times in game. Tiki Barber rushed for 206 yards, with 171 of them in the first half. Bill Parcells' team didnt record a penalty for the first time in his coaching career.

So, Manny Ramirez asked for a trade again. Surprised? You should'nt be, it was time for the request based on the history of the past few seasons. Oh and sorry Mr. Luchino, but when people are payed millions of dollars to do a job, they cant get all nitty-gritty about a stupid trade request being made public. Either trade him or don't, just move on with your work. Its not that bad. You got more important things to worry about than that. You need a GM, a centerfielder, a bullpen.

College ball was terrific this week, and we can expect another good week to follow, and this is the week I think we will start to see some upsets. I hope Virginia Tech isn't one of those.

Managers, General Managers, Coaches, and players on the move, already an exciting start to what many expected will be a fun offseason in MLB.

How about Bobby Valentine?! Becoming the first ever to manage a team to the World series and manage a a team to the Japan Series. That's pretty neat.

Charlie Weis has ended all speculation about him sprinting for the NFL by signing an extension that will keep him with Notre Dame through 3011... or so it seems.

Oh and like it was Paul DePodesta's fault that J.D. Drew and Derek Lowe didnt play well. Maybe Mr. McCourt should fire them. In the meantime he will be paying DePodesta for four more seasons to sit at home and watch the Dodgers lose. Thats moving forward!!

Looking forward to more exciting sports stories!!

oVeR AnD oUt!!

Mi Sh'beirach

If its possible to add these names to your shuls Mi Sh'beirach list, that would be wonderful.
Thanks very much, and may we all merit happiness, health and wealth, and of course may we all merit the ultimate happiness, with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, Bimheira V'yomeinu, Mammosh!!

Sholom Boruch ben Masha
Tzvi Hirsh ben Doba
Moshe Eliezer ben Chana
Channanya ben Esther

May they all have a refuah shleyma.

oVeR AnD oUt!!

Shmini Atzeres, Simchas Torah

Well that's it!! The holidays are over... Now What? Well before we worry about that, I would like to reflect on the past yontif. Shemini Atzeres by night we had a very small crowd and we were able to do hakafos our own way, with no ballei batim. Hardly any drinks went around, and they went on for a while. The hakafos were very nice. Shemini Atzeres day we had a small crowd as well, and it was nice. Simchas Torah night was the big deal, this is when all the people came. We had more than 15 new faces and over 95 adults and more than 55 children in all. This is what we call an incredible evening. The kids program was boruch hashem b'hatzlochoh, and the adults 'party', with full service bar, food, and much more, was just amazing. Hakafos went on for hours and surprisingly, there were still people there when we (chabadniks) were doing our own hakafos afterward. We had all kinds of people and many people on our committees were very visibly and audibly amazed. Simchas Torah day we also had a very respectable crowd and once again a very nice hakafos. The bar, of course, was open, and by the end of davening there was singing and dancing in a very lebidike manner. During Mussaf there was plenty of singing. After davening, which didn't end until 4:00, many people stayed the day and farbrenged.

As former President Ronald Reagan once said: "All in all not bad, not bad at all"

What a wonderful yontif, plain and simply amazing!!

...V'Yakov Holoch L'Darko...

Moshiach Now!!


oVeR AnD oUt!!

This is serious!! My place of work is going through a major 'breakdown' and departments and people are being cut right and left. It is really scary. It's all for the purpose of budget cuts, because apparently people pockets have gotten deeper and their arms have gotten shorter. Although I would like to think that they wouldn't cut Kosher Services, I cant be sure. I have no idea what will happen, but I do know that some of the people in my department (food service) will be cut. I tell you, each day brings something new... It's like a different place than it used to be, and I don't know if I want to hang around to see what happens... Hopefully it will all be good.

oVeR AnD oUt!!
Levi M.

Pitching wins Championships

If it is true that pitching wins championships, and i believe it does, than we are in for what will be a hell of a world series. With hot names such as Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Jose Contreras, and Mark Beurlhe this is going to be a low scoring and very exciting week. althoug there is bound to be the game where both teams break out the bats, dont expect to see any of those 15-2 scores that we've been seeing in the post season that last few years.

With Clemens, Pettitte, Roy Oswalt, and Brandon Backe vs. Contreras, Beurlhe, Jon Garland and Freddy Garcia, I think the edge in starting pitching goes to The White Sox. however, even after manager Ozzie Guillen used his pitchers for four consecutive complete games, dont expect it this time. in games 3, 4 and 5 Ozzie will almost deffinatly opt to pinch hit for his pitchers late in the game, being in a National League park. that will force hi to go to the bullpen, where i think houston has the edge. Chad Qualls (Perfect in the LCS) Dan Wheeler, Russ Springer and Mike Gallo, with Brad Lidge at the end are in my eys better than the arms of Damaso Marte, Orlando Hernandez, Cliff Politte, Dustin Hermanson and Neal Cotts with Bobby Jenks (a rookie) rounding out the end.

My Pick in this series is Astros in Six. Roger Clemens will make his way to a world series MVP by winning two games and giving up less than five runs. Oswalt and Pettitte will each win a game to round up the series.

Article From SEVJN

The following is the text of the article i wrote for the SEVJN (South Eastern Virginia Jewish News) about my merkos shlichus.

This past summer, Chabad of Arkansas invited my first cousin Shaya Lieberman and me to travel their state as well as Mississippi, and search for Jewish people. We would be participating in the Merkoz Shlichus program which has just completed its sixty-second year of operation. Founded by the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Yosef Schneersohn, the program sends sets of rabbinical students with Jewish books, teffilin, mezuzahs and more to over 200 different locations across the globe with the mission of reaching as many Jewish people as possible.

We eagerly accepted the challenge. Once there, we found Jewish people in all kinds of places. They are doctors at Baptist hospitals, teachers at high schools, and vendors for Wal-Mart. We even found one Jew who lived in a motor home in a remote city where cell phones did not work and the nearest payphone was over seven miles away!

While we were busy in the Deep South, my brother Mendy and his friend Shmuel Newman were located Jews closer to home. They provided mezuzahs, Jewish books, and the opportunity to put on teffilin to Jews in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Virginia’s Eastern Shore and Oceanfront and even Suffolk, and Emporia, Virginia. Searching for Jews in a non-Jewish stronghold, my brother, the ever-clever investigator, found a Jewish man who attended church in attempt to quench his spiritual thirst. The man gladly welcomed this contact with Judaism.

As for our own journey, highlights are far too many to list; however there are two stories I’d like to share.

While in Fort Smith, Arkansas, which is less than five miles from the eastern border of Oklahoma, we met a gentleman by the name of Dennis. Dennis had only recently discovered that he was, in fact, Jewish. Shaya and I had the honor of helping him put teffilin on for the first time. Afterward, Dennis showed us some papers stored in a shoebox. It turned out that these papers were given to him by his grandmother before she died. Among them was a Ketubah, Jewish marriage contract, of his great-grandparents. Through these papers we were able to tell him where his grandparents and other ancestors were from. We spent nearly four hours with him talking about everything he or we could think of.

Another visit to a Moroccan Jewish woman in Meridian, Mississippi was heartwarming. As we walked in, the smile on her face grew large. She told us that she waits all year for the “traveling summer rabbis”. The joy she displayed made the whole trip (six hours away from our base in Little Rock, AR, -each way- with very little sleep) worth it. She told us how she tries her best to keep kosher and that she invites the other two Jews in town to her home for High Holiday services. She also told us that when her husband was alive and in the military they were stationed in Norfolk. They even used to purchase kosher meat from a man named Sidney Perlin!
Twenty-five hundred miles, 15 cities through 5 states, countless meals out of the trunk and 3 rental cars later, I feel honored to have been part of this wonderful program. It is a privilege to deliver the words of Judaism to those who would otherwise not know. For me it was the ideal summer vacation. I enjoyed every minute of it and wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Tishrei

Hello Everyone, i know its been a while. ive been overwhelmed getting back to work and taking up new and old responsibilities. Since ive gotten back many things have changed and lots of new things have come about. Many of the people i have been working with have been layed off and others have come in to fill some of those positions, others hae not been filled.

Anyways, Tishrei in Tidewater Virginia has been incredible so far. We were blessed with extremely large overflow crowds on both Rosh hashana and Yom Kippur (90 RH, 110 YK). On First day Rosh Hashana Steve and I walked four miles each way to a nursing home to blow shofar for the ten jewish Residents, WOW did the feet hurt. We arrived back from our trip and came to tashlich late, but i was told that there was over 300 people from throughout the community at the river. All in all Rosh hashana was wonderful. Many new faces boruch hashem.

Yom Kippur was very nice, with many more new faces and people stayed in shul through the break to talk and say tehillim. The chazzan for both Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur was great, as usual.

Yom Tov Rishon of sukkos was fun with kiddushim both days at chabad house. on the first day i did mivtzah lulav down town and shook with nine people. on the second day we went on a Lchaim walk from sukkah to sukkah singing woth ballei batim and saying lchaim wih them. It was alot of fun.