January 8, 2017 Come hear the first hand incredible testimony of a holocaust survivor and become a witness to the triumph and history of the Jewish people on Thursday January 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the La Quinta Inn, 94 Business Park Drive, Armonk.
Chabad of Armonk, Chappaqua and Pleasantville is honored to present Dr. Moshe Avital, who will share his amazing story about his survival from concentration camps, and his incredible story of imprisonment by the British and rescue by the Hagannah. Hear his first-hand testimony as a soldier in the Hagannah and the early years of the IDF.
Dr. Moshe Avital was born in Bilke, a village on the Eastern part of the former Czechoslovakia called Ruthernia (now Ukraine). In 1939, Czechoslovakia was torn apart by Germany. The German Reich annexed much of Eastern Europe. Slovakia became an independent fascist state, a satellite of Germany. Ruthenia was relinquished to Hungary, destroying the safety of his former homeland.
During the Holocaust, Avital was imprisoned in Ghetto Berhhovo. From there he was deported with his entire family to Auschwitz, Poland. After a series of transfers between concentration camps, he ended up in Buchenwald Germany. The United States Third Army liberated him on April 11, 1945.
After the war, Dr. Moshe Avital joined the Aliyah Bet movement and emigrated illegally to Palestine. He joined Hagannah, a Jewish paramilitary organization that later became the Israel Defense Forces. He served in the IDF until 1950 and then again in 1956.
This lecture series is a project of the Chabad Center, serving Armonk, Chappaqua and Pleasantville. The series is dedicated in loving memory of Barbara Schwartz, by her family. For more information please contact Chabad at chabadacp@gmail.com / www.chabadacp.org, or call 914-273-9770. The cost to attend the lecture with Dr. Moshe Avital is $10. Register here
Ways to Achieve Peace and Personal Liberty Discussed at Chabad By Caroline Silpe
July 26, 2016 Last Tuesday evening, The Chabad Center of Armonk, Chappaqua, and Pleasantville held an event featuring Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe, a prominent speaker on Judaic ideas and values. The evening was held to honor the date on which Rabbi Yosef Schneersohn was freed from Russia in 1927. As Rabbi Butman explained in his introduction, Rabbi Schneersohn was sentenced to death for his religious beliefs, but ultimately exiled and then freed because of strong international pressure. His liberation sparked the beginning of the Chabad movement’s journey to the United States.
In commemoration of the freedom of Rabbi Schneersohn, Rabbi Yaffe focused his speech on how the teachings of Kabbalah can help one achieve peace and personal liberty. The Rabbi stressed that these teachings apply to all human beings, not just Jews. “We are capable of using our minds to transcend the limits of the mind itself,” he said. “If you have a mind and are willing to think outside your own limits, you are capable of remaking yourself in a very positive way. This is a lifetime process.”
Rabbi Yaffe centered his talk around four freedoms: freedom from having no limits, freedom from disappointment, freedom from circumstance, and freedom from external constraints. If a person can achieve all of these freedoms, he can live a life full of meaning and devoid of internal restrictions and conflict according to the Kabbalah.
With respect to freedom from limits, Rabbi Yaffe explained that freedom isn’t always the absence of limits, Some limits can actually free us. “True freedom is not being locked into a single paradigm,” Yaffe said. Freedom from disappointment pertains to the true measure of the value of our lives and the freedom to not define one’s life by anyone else’s thoughts. Freedom from circumstance is not about sense of accomplishment or importance, but rather about the idea that we can place a person in the most difficult situation where it seems like he has no freedom, but he ultimately possesses freedom. Finally, freedom from external constraints is about preventing outside forces from determining one’s life.
This lecture was one of a series of lectures that the Chabad house will be hosting this year. Go to chabadacp.org for more information on guest speakers and other events.
St. Stephen's An Episcopal Church 50 Bedford Road Armonk, NY (914) 273.3812 ststephensarmonk.org
Weekly Services
Sunday 8:00 a.m. & 10:00 a.m. With Choir and Sunday School for children ages 4 - 13 years of age.
Nursery Care is available for younger children. Please join us for coffee hour after the service.
St. Stephen’s Outfits Organ for the 21st Century Amid Celebrating its 175 Year Anniversary By Jackson Harrower
August 18, 2016 St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church has made music an integral part of its masses since its humble beginnings in 1842. The first pipe organ was installed in the late 1880’s followed by a Hammond organ in the 1940’s. The current pipe organ, built by the Quebec manufacturer Casavant, was installed in 1969. The organ has served the church well for almost 50 years, but it’s time for an upgrade.
This past February it was dismantled and brought to storage near the Peragallo Pipe Organ Company in Paterson, NJ — the same company that renovated the organ of St. Patrick’s in New York City. The organ will be cleaned and restored, but that’s not all; 25 electronic pipes are being added that will simulate high quality metal pipes for a fraction of the cost. The updated organ is expected to be installed in time for Christmas into the newly renovated church sanctuary. The renovation of the organ will cost $248,000, $200,000 of which has already been raised. St. Stephen's hopes to put a dent in this deficit through a benefit concert being held on Saturday September 10 at St. Matthew’s Church in Bedford. Expert pianist Tony Newman will be performing the Goldberg Variations and other pieces of Johann Sebastian Bach. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased by emailing Charity Lunder at music@ststephensarmonk.org.
Reverend Nils Chittenden notes the parish is “lucky to have such incredibly generous citizens” who have donated to support the sanctuary and organ renovation. He adds, “This will be one of the best organs in Westchester.”
This spring St. Stephen’s will celebrate its 175th Anniversary; the same can be said for the town of Armonk. St. Stephen’s was responsible for subdividing the land between Bedford Road, Maple Avenue, and Main Street that would become today’s downtown Armonk.
St. Stephen’s has commissioned world renowned Welsh composer Paul Mealor to write a piece celebrating Armonk and the sacred space that is St. Stephen’s Church. Mealor was voted Britain’s favorite living composer in 2012 and composed music for Prince William and Princess Kate’s royal wedding. St. Stephen’s has invited singers from St. Patrick’s Church and Congregation B’Nai Israel to join in honoring Armonk’s rich and prolific history through the debut of the song. Chittenden concludes, “This will be a celebration of all of us.”
