Community Corner

On Sunday evening, September 15, the Kew Gardens Hills community gathered at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills to dedicate the new Congregation Mikveh Israel, the Beverly Blisko Women’s Mikveh. The scene was alive with warmth and an ruach, as neighbors, rabbanim, and supporters came together to mark a true simchah for the community.

“When I heard the horrific news on October 7, I wanted to jump on a plane from America and be there for my brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael!” Although she wasn’t able to do that then, two years later, Audrey Abramowitz, educator and New Jersey resident, shared her recent experience volunteering with her fiancé, David Newton, a realtor and New Jersey resident, at the Shuva Achim Junction at the entrance of Shuva near the border of Gaza.

Strolling in the Beis David neighborhood in Yerushalayim, this writer and her husband passed a building with a plaque and stopped to read it. We discovered it was the Rav Kook House Museum. When we stepped inside, we were transported back in time to explore the life of the great tzadik, Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook.

On Monday, August 25, the OU Women’s Division of Israel sponsored a beautiful Rosh Chodesh Elul seminar at the Great Synagogue in Yerushalayim. This writer had the privilege of attending in person.

“This is the spot where Rav Yitzchak Luria first sang the famous nigun for L’cha Dodi on Friday night,” a tour guide for a Birthright group shared as he recounted history and miraculous stories that took place in Tzfat.

On Sunday, July 27, Bikur Cholim of Queens hosted an event at Congregation Ahavas Yisroel featuring Mrs. Dina Schoonmaker, renowned teacher, popular lecturer, relationship counselor, and staff member of Michlalah Jerusalem College. Mrs. Schoonmaker delivered a beautiful shiur on nosei b’ol im chaveiro – carrying the burden of a friend.