David Schneier

Reuven Morrison didn’t have to confront the terrorists at Bondi Beach, Australia, on December 14, 2025.  He could have stayed on the ground, covering his head like the three police officers assigned that first night of Chanukah.  When Morrison saw that something needed to be done, and nobody else was doing it, he did it, said his daughter, Sheina Gutnick, at Chabad of Forest Hills North on Father’s Day, June 21.

 Arnold Newfield, a Holocaust survivor born in a transit camp in 1942, and Rabbi Dr. Elimelech Gottlieb, who has a master’s degree in Holocaust Studies, were the main speakers at the annual Yom HaShoah commemoration at the Young Israel of Forest Hills.

Rabbi David Algaze’s last day as full-time rabbi of the synagogue he created in 1981, Congregation Havurat Yisrael in Forest Hills, will be on June 6. Rabbi and Rebbetzin Tamara Algaze will relocate to Miami Beach, Florida. Both hope to spend more time with family.

The authors of the book 40 Stories, 40 Heroes, which tells stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things on the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, spoke to more than 50 people at the Queens Jewish Center in Forest Hills on Sunday, November 2.

Blending mourning with resolve, the Queens Jewish Center marked Israel’s Memorial and Independence Days. Four local rabbis, a Jewish media leader, and more than 60 attendees honored the difficulties and sacrifices. Rabbi Dovid M. Cohen, CEO of The Algemeiner, a free online Jewish newspaper, was the keynote speaker. Cohen received s’michah from Yeshiva University and was a pulpit rabbi for 18 years in Manhattan, New Jersey, and the Five Towns.

I first learned about Yehonatan “Yoni” Asayag through a group email sent by the Forest Hills Jewish Center. The message referenced his involvement in a presentation by Purple Fox, an organization run by Special Forces soldiers that provides support to families of fallen IDF soldiers. Purple Fox helps these families navigate loss and regain stability, offering educational scholarships, mental health and PTSD treatment, and direct financial and material assistance.