News

QJA registers over 500 voters in two weeks

Residents from Far Rockaway, Kew Gardens Hills, Kew Gardens, and Rego Park came together to launch the Queens Jewish Alliance (QJA) with a free community concert at the beach on Thursday evening, July 11. Their weather outlook of rain and thunderstorms did not stop the over 250 people who came to hear the eloquent notes of Shea Rubenstein and Joey Newcomb at O’Donohue Park, off Seagirt Boulevard, between Beach 15^th and Beach 17^th Streets.

New York State Budget Awards STEM Funding to 338 Nonpublic Schools As Part of Historic Bill

Teach NYS, a project of the Orthodox Union (OU) and a leading advocate for equitable funding for New York State’s nonpublic schools, applauds New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state legislature for distributing the first $5 million of funding to reimburse nonpublic schools for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) educators. New York is the first state to establish a STEM educator reimbursement program, making this a historic new program.

Met Council on Jewish Poverty owns and operates 19 buildings of affordable housing across New York City. This week, for the first time since the waiting list was closed five years ago, Met Council is reopening their waiting list for a beautiful building in Canarsie to allow seniors the chance to live in affordable housing with great amenities including a laundry room, community room and park-like grounds with a garden area. Council Towers III is a 122-unit, 12-story building located in the heart of the Canarsie section of Brooklyn. Met Council’s affiliated Jewish Community Council of Canarsie is also located in the building complex. As a subsidiary of Met Council, they provide a wide array of services to both seniors living in Council Towers and the rest of the neighborhood.

The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) Tuesday slammed Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders after he threatened to use US foreign aid to Israel as leverage to pressure the Israeli government to do things differently. Sanders issued his warning about cutting aid to Israel during a recent interview, in which he also maintained that “our policy cannot just be pro-Israel, pro-Israel, pro-Israel,” and referred to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government as an “extreme right-wing government with many racist tendencies.”

No matter what former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris, and other pundits claim, there is no “Occupied Territory!” Great Neck activist Dr. Paul Brody observes: The only thing designated as “OCCUPIED” are the restrooms on the older El Al 747 jetliners – and the Arabs can have them all!

When I was a young yeshivah student, I came to study in Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah in Kew Gardens, Queens. One aspect that made attending this institution especially appealing to me was that at its head was Rabbi Zelig Epstein. Before knowing him personally, I knew he had studied in the Mir, back when it was in Poland, and that he was married to the great Rabbi Shimon Shkop’s granddaughter. I had also heard that he had attended the Yeshiva in Kelm, famed for its refinement of students’ character and commitment to Rabbi Yisrael Salanter’s musar movement. Having the privilege of being linked to all that, and especially being linked to a world that is no longer – pre-Holocaust Europe – was especially meaningful to me. And so I attended the Yeshiva, making a conscious effort to get every opportunity I can to spend time with Rabbi Epstein, or as he was known by so many: “Reb Zelig.”