Shabsie Saphirstein

It’s a regular Tuesday afternoon in Queens. Your child is coughing, running a fever — and you’re stuck between school pickups, Zoom meetings, and dinner prep. You call the doctor’s office, only to wait on hold, hoping to speak with a nurse and secure an appointment. Maybe you rush to urgent care instead — where the “quick visit” turns into sitting in a crowded waiting room for hours. By the time you’re seen, the day is gone.

Blue cotton candy floated like clouds above the block. DJ Avraham’s music pulsed through the air. And a brightly feathered parrot hopped from shoulder to shoulder, posing for photos. For one brilliant afternoon, 68th Road, just off 112th Street in Forest Hills, became a festival ground alive with joy, generosity, and pride.

Five days before Rosh HaShanah, the halls of One Police Plaza filled with rabbis, officers, and advocates for a meeting about safeguarding Jewish New Yorkers as the Yamim Nora’im approached. The evening’s agenda was procedural – preparations for the High Holidays – but the atmosphere was a reaffirmation that Jewish life in New York will be defended not just in theory, but in practice.

 On Sunday evening, September 7, a milestone few merit was marked with warmth and simchah as family, friends, and neighbors gathered in the social hall of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills to celebrate the 101^st birthday of Mr. Max Marcus. The evening was both a celebration of life and a tribute to a beloved patriarch whose years have been guided by emunah, perseverance, and Torah values.

New Yorkers have long endured sidewalks overflowing with black bags that attract rodents, prompting the Adams administration to launch a “Trash Revolution” - a plan to containerize waste and reduce infestations. With a June 2026 deadline approaching, Queens homeowners in one- and two-family homes are set to receive reimbursement checks covering the full cost of compliance.

New York State and City elected officials, city representatives, and community partners gathered on Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica for a landmark ceremony: the ribbon cutting of Sutphin Tower, part of the largest HPD/HPS affordable housing project in New York City’s history. Spearheaded by Velocity Management — a frum-owned and operated company — the three-building development delivers more than 1,200 apartments, over 900 of them affordable.