Local

Yeshiva University’s Macs men’s basketball team is having a banner season. Last Thursday, Yeshiva earned a convincing victory over Worcester Polytechnic Institute moments before the onset of Shabbos in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, 102-78, then continued its momentum shortly after Shabbos by defeating Penn State Harrisburg in the second round, 102-83. Both meets were hosted by Johns Hopkins in what was believed to be the first US sports event held without spectators because of the rise in coronavirus within the Baltimore region. This was a decision by the school alone. NCAA president Mark Emmert has since announced that all championship events for the season will go on in empty gyms with only essential staff and limited family attendance. The National College Players Association had succeeded in urging the NCAA to host March Madness games without fans in attendance.

In Parshas Ki Sisa, Moshe Rabbeinu comes down from Har Sinai, after spending the last 40 days and nights dwelling in the presence of Hashem, carrying the Luchos – only to be confronted by the sight of the people who had been waiting below – that they had constructed a Golden Calf. As it states, “It happened as he drew near the camp, and he saw the calf and the dancers, that Moses’ anger burned. And he threw down the tablets from his hands, and shattered them at the bottom of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, and he burned it in fire. He ground it into a fine powder, and strewed it in the water. And he made the Children of Israel drink from it” (Sh’mos 32:19).

(Please recite Psalms 20, 30, 88, 121, and 130.)

Eliezer Yitzchak ben Shifrah

 On Motza’ei Shabbat, February 29, almost 800 parents, community leaders, faculty members, family, and friends gathered to celebrate the 79^thAnniversary Dinner of Yeshiva of Central Queens at the Old Westbury Hebrew Congregation. It was an evening celebrating a distinguished group of honorees.