Community Corner

Emet Outreach took the typical Shabbaton to new heights with its annual mid-winter retreat. Thirty-four students from area colleges spent a weekend of solidarity and spiritual connection. It all started early on a Friday morning when the group gathered at the Emet Center for breakfast. Rabbi Akiva Rutenberg, Emet’s Director and Co-Founder, gave an uplifting class to add a Torah perspective to the retreat, which was themed “Mind, Body, and Soul” to encompass all the religious and fun activities.

More than 25 mother-daughter teams from five Brooklyn yeshivos spent Thursday morning lobbying their local state legislators to fully fund STEM instruction in nonpublic schools. Organized by Teach NYS, a leading voice for nonpublic schools in New York State, the mother-daughter lobbying teams held 30-minute meetings with the legislators. During these meetings, the lobbying teams introduced the legislators to their STEM teachers, while also showcasing STEM projects from their schools, as a way to illustrate the impact of STEM education on young women and girls.

Chazaq, TorahAnytime, the Queens Jewish Link, and many other sponsors were part of a special half-time Torah learning program on Super Bowl Sunday. The first speaker, Mr. Charlie Harary, well-known inspirational speaker, began with the fact that everyone is looking for ways to be better. “We know we have the potential of being great.” He pointed out that many lessons in football apply to greatness across the board. One idea is to focus on the game and not the score. When Hashem called Moshe up to Har Sinai, the pasuk says, “Come up with Me to the mountains and be there.”

The Utopia Jewish Center in Hillcrest recently donated a Sefer Torah to Nachal Charedi in Eretz Yisroel - under the leadership of Rabbi Yonoson Hirtz and the efforts and success of Dr. Sana Bloch in obtaining funds for a brand new Sefer Torah from Mr. Paul Dick, whose relative Mr. Barrett Dick, A”H, a member of Utopia Jewish Center, passed away last January. Rabbi Hirtz and Dr. Bloch traveled to Israel and, together with several former members of Utopia who now live in Eretz Yisroel, participated in a celebration at the headquarters of Nachal Charedi in Yerushalayim.

This past Shabbos, Parshas B’Shalach, took on a new meaning for the Kew Gardens Hills community as the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) combined forces with eight minyanim and two illustrious families to share Torah thought.

The Queens Jewish Link, together with the Bukharian Jewish Link, Chazaq, and Step Ahead Networking, invite their friends from far and wide to join for a spectacular networking event on Wednesday, February 19, at the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, where hundreds of like-minded professionals will share similar thought and exchange ideas to further their respective businesses. For eight years, the QJL, under the helm of co-publishers Yaakov Serle and Naftali Szrolovits, has been a vital asset to the Queens community, covering news and highlights most often exclusive to its readers. The BJL has provided the Bukharian and Sephardic neighborhoods of Queens with content geared toward its communities for two successful years. Both publications present the networking evening as a time to reflect on its respective growth and share its successes with the communities that make them flourish. Their partnership with the Chazaq organization and its esteemed CEO Rabbi Yaniv Meirov is one of rarity and makes it a privilege to combine forces on this endeavor. Step Ahead Networking, under the direction of Mark Krieger and Mary Redler, operate a business meeting platform to help those they encounter cultivate new successful relationships.