News

The fall semester is “shofar so good” at Chabad on Campus of Queens. A short rabbi, with a sharp sense of humor, pulled into a back alleyway in Kew Gardens Hills last Wednesday evening, September 21, with a drill and a bunch of animal horns. He was greeted by a bunch of Queens College students who were eagerly waiting for their opportunity to craft their own shofar.

UJA-Federation of New York will allocate a further $3.925 million in assistance for Ukraine. The new allocation brings UJA’s total emergency funding since the war started to over $20 million, which includes assistance for more than 720,000 refugees and evacuation for more than 90,000.

In my last column, I published two letters involving the same people/persons. These emails are from two friends, a married one and one single. “Shayna,” the married friend, is worried that her single friend, “Chanie,” has given up on dating and marriage because she is the primary caretaker for her father. Shayna has gone so far as to contact Chanie’s siblings who live in Israel, accusing them of willingly letting Chanie give up her life and chance of marriage to care for their father.

Alexander Rapaport and Chef Ruben Diaz at the Masbia Food Reserve Depot, sending out thousands of food packages for families in need for Yom Tov, delivered by a generous donation by DoorDash

Hundreds of Thousands of Children Around the World Daven for Klal Yisrael and Internalize the Chofetz Chaim’s Message

Rav Nissan Kaplan’s voice echoed in the forest around the 7^th Fort in Kovno, where Rav Elchonon Wasserman had been murdered al kiddush Hashem. Whoever was present and whoever saw or heard the Dirshu Videocast this year on the first night of selichos shuddered. A shudder of inspiration was felt as Rav Kaplan, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Daas Aharon, exclaimed, “We are a people who, on the one hand, are ready to die al kiddush Hashem should we be forced, and that is wonderful. On the other hand, that same person who is ready to die al kiddush Hashem may not be ready to wake up on time for zeman kriyas Shema!

Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 2,000 traditional, Orthodox rabbis in American public policy, Monday sent a letter to Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University (YU), commending him and his Administration for their “principled stance upholding the honor and the ideals of the Torah.” Yeshiva University has vigorously opposed a legal effort to force it to grant official recognition to a student organization promoting activities and relationships clearly contrary to Torah and Jewish Law.