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Mr. Shiu Reichmann, a veteran Queens Hatzolah member for the past 38 years, spoke about the intensive training that goes into becoming a Hatzolah volunteer, and he explained the process of any Hatzolah call in depth. “Well before the member arrives at the door, the volunteer could be in the middle of working, sleeping, helping around the house, or even eating a Shabbos meal. When the call comes over the Hatzolah radio, he drops everything to respond immediately. Your emergency becomes his emergency.”

Photographer Yaakov Katz, a resident of Kew Gardens Hills, saw an urgent need in klal Yisrael and he stepped up to the plate. People were hosting simchos without their family members and friends, and they needed a way to include them in their simchos. Mr. Katz used his photography and videography expertise and he created a new division of Yaakov Katz Studios that would do livestreaming. He offers livestream or Zoom for weddings and other simchos.

For as long as I can remember, I have always been curious to learn about Hatzolah volunteers and their families.

As we see them zoom by with lights and sirens blaring, rushing to save a life, we recite a chapter of T’hilim and wonder what it is like to have a family member who is a Hatzolah volunteer? How does this vital mitzvah impact the family?

On Sunday evening, November 15, Chazaq, Renewal, Thank You Hashem, and TorahAnytime presented a shiur on the topic of gratitude. Rabbi Uri Lati began with an example in the Chumash where it states that Leah was hated by Yaakov. It wasn’t that Leah was hated – it’s just that Yaakov loved Rachel more. Hashem saw this and he gave Leah sons after sons. “When she felt hated, then Hashem switched everything around.” With Hashem, there is no concept of evil. Sometimes medicine is bitter, but its purpose is to heal. Hashem is there to heal us – to make us stronger.

Shalom Bayis is such an important mitzvah and Rabbi Avraham Nissanian, well-known inspirational speaker, shared an eye-opening shiur on Monday evening, November 9, via Zoom with advice that could change the atmosphere in the home and the world and really bring Mashiach right now. Rabbi Nissanian shared that the angry feelings we might have on the highway if someone does something we don’t like can also crop up in our home. What happens after a disagreement in our home? Does each spouse try to prove that he or she is right? He pointed out something that his mother taught him when he got married: “Never go to sleep with the anger of the day with you.” Even when one spouse wins an argument, he is still the loser because he lost the respect of his spouse.

On Tuesday evening, November 24, Rabbi Moshe Bamberger, Mashgiach Ruchani at the Lander College for Men and the Beis Medrash L’Talmud, spoke on behalf of Chazaq and Torah Anytime about his inspiring new sefer, titled Great Jewish Journeys – To the Past, published by ArtScroll. Rabbi Bamberger is the author of many other inspiring s’farim.