The Moshiach Men celebrate in the streets of Melbourne last year. Photo: AJN file

AJN STAFF

MELBOURNE’S “Moshiach Men” are continuing to publicise their claims that the late Lubavitcher Rebbe is the Messiah, even after having been ostracised from the Chabad community.

In a video released on YouTube last week by the group -– which also calls itself honk4joy -– speeches and stories are used to “prove” Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the Messiah.

And the man who hosted a celebration on the Fast of Tevet, which was subsequently filmed and circulated on the internet, last week expressed regret over his actions.

The video was the subject of a letter issued by Yeshivah dayan Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Telsner banning the Moshiach Men from participating in the organised Jewish community.

In a posting submitted to ajn.com.au, the lunch host, who chose not to be publicly identified, said he was “deeply sorry”.
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Cranked up from crank status

SINCE man first turned his gaze to the heavens in search of the Creator, he has also sought manifestations of that Creator on earth in human form. Over the millennia, that spiritual quest has led him to invest his belief, his aspirations and his faith in countless leaders, hailing them as prophets and messiahs.

In some cases, devotees were decried as blasphemers or heretics; in others, they became the forefathers of great religions. In some cases, they were viewed as subversive elements; in others, they were dismissed as cranks.
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The Moshiach Men celebrate in the streets of Melbourne last year. Photo: AJN file

NAOMI LEVIN

THE head rabbi of Melbourne’s Chabad community this week moved to excise a controversial fringe group from the Jewish community.

Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Telsner, dayan of the city’s Yeshivah College, called on the so-called “Moshiach Men” to be shunned for publicly flouting the Fast of Tevet.

The group is best known in the wider community for their regular antics around St Kilda East. Followers dressed in yellow shirts and novelty hats wave large flags and sing songs proclaiming the arrival of the Messiah, who they believe to be the late Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

Late last month, a small number of people associated with the Moshiach Men flouted the fast of Tevet 10 by hosting a party at a private home and recording the celebration, which was posted on YouTube.

The video and the event riled Rabbi Telsner, who called the action a chillul Hashem (desecration of God’s name) and in complete contradiction to the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s teachings.
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Mendel Schmukler enjoys Chanukah in the Park. Photo: Peter Haskin

AJN STAFF

THOUSANDS of people attended Chanukah in the Park to take part in the menorah lighting ceremony and watch the spectacular fireworks display on December 13.

The event also featured children’s rides, food stalls and entertainment from Dov Farkas and the Schnapps Band.

The annual event at Caulfield Park in Melbourne was organised by Chabad House of Caulfield.

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Chanukah in the Park

Rabbi Dov Gruzman (left) pictured with former US Ambassador Ronald Lauder in 2008. Photo: Chabad

VIENNA — A Chabad rabbi was attacked after presiding over a public Chanukah menorah lighting in Vienna.

The assailant who punched Rabbi Dov Gruzman and bit off part of the rabbi’s finger following the lighting on December 12 in Stephansplatz Square was Muslim, according to reports.

Gruzman, principal of the Lauder Chabad High School in Vienna, underwent a partial amputation of his finger, Chabad.org reported.

More than 1000 people were in attendance at the menorah lighting.

Security has been increased at public menorah lightings in the city, according to Chabad.org.

JTA

SAM LIPSKI

ALL I want for Chanukah is a fluffy doughnut with lots of jam throughout, not just a shmir in the centre. I’d also welcome a good seminar on the history of post-Maccabean Judea.

Oh, and one more thing: I don’t want to see a chanukiah alongside Christmas decorations, a tree, or plastic replicas of Santa Claus. Not in a shopping centre, a bank, or a market.
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YOSSI ARON

THERE is a cycle of the Jewish year well known to all. We have recently completed the month of Tishrei, with its solemn commencement followed by the almost excessive feasting and rejoicing.

We then experienced the calm of Cheshvan and have now reached Kislev – the month characterised by Chanukah, which, for most Australians, also presages summer holidays. Chanukah, of course, symbolises light piercing the gloom, re-dedication of a temple that our adversaries sought to destroy but which outlasted their negativity.
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The legacy of Mumbai

THE Jewish community paused this week to acknowledge the first anniversary of a brutal terror attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai, India, that left the two-year-old son of Chabad emissaries Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg an orphan and took the lives of four guests: Rabbi Benzion Kruman, Rabbi Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum, Yocheved Orpaz and Norma Shvarzblat-Rabinovich.

Even for a people who endured the Shoah less than a lifetime ago, and have become numbed by the horror of repeated terror attacks over recent years, Mumbai continues to strike an emotional chord.

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Moshe Holtzberg, orphaned by the Mumbai terrorists last year, is given his first haircut at Kfar Chabad, 20 kilometres east of Tel Aviv, on November 18. Photo: Isranet

DALIA SABLE, CHANTAL ABITBOL AND SYLVIA DEUTSCH

AUSTRALIAN students were among thousands worldwide who commemorated the first anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attacks with a communal Shabbat dinner.

A global directive by Chabad on Campus in New York, “Bring a Friend Shabbat” aimed to be the largest campus-based Shabbat celebration and was held in memory of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, who were Chabad shluchim (emissaries).

The couple, together with four others, were murdered in Nariman House, the headquarters of Chabad in Mumbai, on November 26, 2008.

In all, more than 170 people were killed over three days of terrorism in the tourist districts of the city.

Moshe Holtzberg, the infant son of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, meanwhile, was spirited to safety by the Holtzbergs’ Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel.
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Angor Wat in Cambodia.

NEW YORK — Chabad-Lubavitch will open its first outreach centre in Cambodia.

The international Chasidic movement has announced it will send two rabbis to the south-east Asian nation to open a Chabad House in Phnom Penh, the capital city.
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