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The toughest basketball player he had to guard was Shaquille O’Neil. The greatest player he ever saw play was Kobe Bryant. But Mike Sweetney’s greatest struggle was battling depression.

It is not every day that a gadol of our times comes to Queens. On Tuesday evening, June 15, HaRav Shlomo Kanievsky shlita, son of HaRav Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky shlita, made an extraordinary visit to Kew Gardens Hills at the home of Nati and Revital Elishaev. Rav Shlomo delivered touching remarks on the need for the continuance of Torah education in Eretz Yisrael and here in America. Every word spoken was thought out, certain, and came from a place of self-assurance that its impact will last generations. Rav Shlomo brought his breadth of Torah knowledge, his boundless ahavas haTorah, his dazzling insights, and his embodiment of the genuine midos into the Elishaev home.

On Tuesday, June 22, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid appointed Asaf Zamir, 40, as the new Consul General in New York. Zamir, a member of Israel’s Blue and White party, is a former tourism minister and the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv. Zamir, who holds US citizenship, spent several years of his childhood in Florida, and holds a law degree from Tel Aviv University.

Chazaq, along with Chickens for Shabbos, organized and executed seven distributions at Congregation Ner Mordechai this year for m’lamdim, g’rushos, and agunos.

On Thursday June 17, this writer had the honor of meeting with Rabbi Aharon Yehoshua Pessin, well-known speaker and author, to discuss his holy work. I had the privilege two years earlier of hearing Rabbi Pessin speak at Lenox Hill Hospital at a class given to medical staff, family, and friends as a z’chus for a r’fuah sh’leimah for a wonderful friend, who has since passed away.

Touro College Division of Graduate Studies (DGS) celebrated the achievements of 1,300 graduates from its six schools at the division’s second virtual commencement, held Thursday, June 17.