Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community 
In the years following the development of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, Israeli military control was ensured by constructing military roads through the territory, subjecting residents to checkpoints between population centers. Upon returning to Gaza following the October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel, security corridors were brought back on the Egyptian border and south of Gaza City.
While some Reform and progressive groups raised objections to Ambassador Huckabee’s nomination, Orthodox leaders quickly mobilized in support.
For the Los Angeles-born Rabbi Ari Edelkopf, appointed as a Jewish spiritual leader in Montenegro in 2017, his commitment to espousing halachic principles to an increasingly curious and growing community nestled in the Balkans remains inspiring.
In a moving ceremony filled with warmth and purpose, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee officially presented his credentials to Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog, formally assuming his post as the United States Ambassador to Israel. Held on Monday, April 21, at the President’s Residence in Yerushalayim, the event marked not only a diplomatic milestone but the fulfillment of a decades-long relationship rooted in faith, values, and an enduring love for Eretz Yisrael.
This Pesach, my wife Atara and I had the great z’chus to spend Yom Tov in Eretz Yisrael with our children and grandchildren in Beitar. What made the trip even more meaningful was the bris milah of our newest grandson, Mordechai Chaitovsky – born to our children Dovi and Chana Chaitovsky – held at the home of Mashgiach HaGaon Rav Don Segal. The celebration was a moment of deep simchah and profound hakaras ha’tov to Hashem for the gift of family and the brachah of continuity.
At the Shtilim Special Education Network, we believe that every individual—regardless of the challenges they face—is an essential part of the social fabric. As such, every person deserves to experience inclusion, dignity, and opportunity at every stage of life.
