Shabsie Saphirstein

S&M Pharmacy on Main Street has been a quintessential neighborhood store, serving medicine with a smile since 1969 when Stuart Pomper founded the family establishment; it’s now run by his son Sean of North Woodmere. Launched as an equal partnership with Martin Behar, a pharmacy school pal, they each used their life savings and some family capital to accrue the necessary $20,000 to begin. In 1984, Pomper became the sole owner and expanded to the current number of combined storefronts by 1989. Sean follows the motto that the customer is always right, a staple of his grandfather’s, the longtime proprietor of a Manhattan hardware shop. The pharmacy cherishes its neighborhood clientele with its core Orthodox Jewish base.

“Please talk in shul. It’s okay, really. But… only to Hashem,” has become a tagline ingrained into thousands of homes throughout the worldwide Orthodox Jewish community. The brainchild of Kew Gardens resident Rabbi Aloni Russek, founder of Divrei Chizuk, the catchphrase has successfully spread to minute corners of the globe.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer visited the Queens Jewish community of Hillcrest this past Thursday morning to provide rabbanim and community leaders with a strong reassurance that the American government stands firm with Israel. The meeting, organized by Assemblymember Nily Rozic, noted the measures taken locally to ensure the safety of the city’s 1.6 million Jews. Before departing, the senator spoke exclusively with the Queens Jewish Link, providing further insight.

This past Monday afternoon, in front of the Kew Gardens Hills branch of the Queens Public Library, New York lawmakers and hundreds of community members joined forces to denounce Hamas’ ruthless terror attack on Israel.

Last Tuesday, October 17, Divrei Chizuk spearheaded the Queens Gear Drive at Bais Yaakov of Queens, where they collected over 100 duffel bags worth of men's undergarments, towels, hygienic goods, baby powder, protein bars, foldable mattresses, and tactical water bags.

An impromptu T'hilim recitation Sunday night brought together men and women of the Queens community in heartfelt prayers to the Almighty. The signature spirituality and warm atmosphere has become a trademark for Hashevaynu in Kew Gardens Hills, the fastest growing Ashkenazi shul in the area. The reading was led by the heartfelt passion of Zalman Pollack as each posuk reverberated throughout the walls of the shul built by the Teitz family. Amongst the crowd were the mara d’asra Rabbi Yehuda Zakutinsky and his esteemed son Rabbi Avi Zakutinsky, a maggid shiur at the shul.