Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community 
A child Holocaust survivor, who did not know she was Jewish – nor did the family hiding her – was the keynote speaker at the Yom HaShoah program at the Young Israel of Forest Hills on Wednesday, April 23. Around 45 attendees listened attentively.
Queens Jewish Center marked the solemnness of Israel’s Memorial Day with tempered joy for Israel’s Independence Day, hosting about 70 people on April 30.
The Torah instructs us to count the days from Pesach to Shavuot – a practice known as S’firas HaOmer. But this isn’t just a countdown; it’s a build-up. We count to link two defining moments in our history: the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
It was a murder that shocked a family and the community: Dr. Daniel Malakov was shot dead in Rego Park on October 28, 2007, while expecting to hand his four-year-old daughter Michelle to his ex-wife, Dr. Mazoltuv Borukhova. She hired her uncle, Mikhail Mallayev, to shoot her ex-husband. Both were convicted and are currently serving life sentences in prison.
It was an extraordinary evening and a true display of unity when the Emet JBoard hosted its first challah bake on April 24. Held at the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, the room was literally overflowing with over 200 young women from St. John’s University, Queens College, Adelphi University, NYIT, and other campuses.
I have been teaching Sports Management courses at Touro University’s Lander College for Men for a number of years. When I first saw the large field and baseball diamond in the rear of the college building, I thought of the most famous line in the movie Field of Dreams, which is, “If you build it, they will come.” I knew that I had to start a baseball team at Lander College for Men.
