Community Corner

Avi Perets returned to Cunningham Park on Wednesday evening, August 19, for another Queens Jewish Community Council concert, drawing a broad cross-section of Jewish Queens for an evening of music, dancing, and ruach. Amid the celebration, however, Assembly Member David Weprin warned that future funding for the program may be in jeopardy. Taking the stage, Weprin warned that future budget cuts could jeopardize funding for the concert and urged the community to speak up in support of the program.

The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV) is expanding its leadership, appointing former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and prominent pro-Israel advocate Irit Tratt to its Advisory Board while adding three senior staff members. Representing more than 2,500 traditional Orthodox rabbis, CJV has taken an increasingly visible role in Washington and in debates surrounding Israel, antisemitism, religious liberty, and communal policy.

Four weeks before New York marks 25 years since September 11, 2001, President Donald Trump arrived in Nassau County on Friday, August 14, to present new national crime figures from a county ranked first in America for public safety. Ground Zero is not a term New Yorkers use lightly, and nothing in politics compares with the sacred ground in Lower Manhattan. Yet in the 2026 contest over New York’s direction, Nassau County has emerged as a political ground zero. This year’s 9/11 commemoration will also include a seventh moment of silence for those lost to 9/11-related illness and injury.

“It’s not a schmooze; it’s a shiur.”

For more than half a century, the Queens Jewish Community Council (QJCC) has anchored the borough’s diverse Jewish communities while providing a lifeline to residents in need. Now, a new chapter begins as Diana Rachnaev, a familiar face in Queens communal and civic circles, takes over as executive director.

New Yorkers Rally on Fifth Avenue Against Anti-Semitism and for a Stronger Community Response

“We are not running from New York.”