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On Sunday, January 30, amid the aftermath of a snowstorm that battered New York, Sarah Huckabee Sanders partook in a fundraising effort for her run to be the next governor of Arkansas, a position once held by her father, Governor Mike Huckabee. The effort was the brainchild of Dr. Joe Frager, a longtime Jamaica Estates resident and QJL columnist.

There is perhaps no other holy site in Israel that is more emblematic of the Jewish people’s bond with their religion than the Kotel. Ancient stones that have endured for millennia are testament to the eternal link between the Jewish people and their Creator. It is no wonder that the Kotel is the repository of tears and prayers from Jews the world over.

Transformative gift to Rise Up campaign to fund Furst Hall renovation,
which will be renamed the Belz Building.

Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University, announced this week that the Belz family of Memphis, Tennessee, has signed a $20 million gift agreement to launch a comprehensive renovation of the cornerstone academic building on Wilf Campus in Washington Heights. In recognition of this transformative gift, the building, currently known as Furst Hall, will be renamed the Belz Building. With the full support of the Furst family and the Sol and Hilda Furst Foundation, a permanent memorial to Sol and Hilda Furst will be established within the lobby of the Belz Building.

The relationships that Rabbi Simcha Krauss zt”l, 85, fostered over his 25 years of influence in the Hillcrest community led to lifelong friendships and an everlasting mark on Modern Orthodoxy. From a career that began with pulpit rabbi positions, Rabbi Krauss rose above to make an everlasting mark on p’sak, Torah strides, and opportunities for women. His lifelong work concluded this past Thursday, January 20, with his p’tirah, following a stay at a Yerushalayim-based hospital.

The Seventh of Adar was the day on which Moshe Rabbeinu was born, and also the day on which he died, exactly 120 years later. Tzadikim were often given the ability to completely live out their years. It is written that Moshe passed away through the “Kiss of Hashem.”

In just four months, Queens’ Cheder Moshe Rayah Mehemina has changed the landscape of Sephardic Torah in the borough. Their open house and community reception on Sunday, January 9, attracted an impressive dais, including the presence of the Mosholu Rebbe, rabbanim, and roshei yeshivos from the Greater New York area, who all were strengthened by the large representation for the growing Sephardic movement of creating elite Torah scholars as an everlasting proof that we have risen above the sharp decrees of Communism and Socialism to allow Torah to spread with a divine fury.