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The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) last week expressed its appreciation to the Trump administration after US Customs and Border Protection put into effect an order that mandates that products made in areas of Judea and Samaria (otherwise known as the “West Bank”) controlled by Israel and exported to the United States shall be labeled “Made in Israel.”

Midrash L’man Achai, a close-knit high school under the leadership of dean Rabbi Shmuel Z. Kleinman, took its annual weekend trip to New Square, NY, this past Shabbos, Parshas Vayigash.

The get-together was virtual, but the ruach certainly wasn’t.

Fleetwood Synagogue hosted a community-wide menorah lighting and latke fry on Zoom to celebrate Chanukah “together” as best as possible, given the circumstances.

For the fifth straight Chanukah, the Chazaq Organization hosted a toy drive for ill children at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn.

Chanukah is always a very special time for the Mishkon family. Although COVID has forced us to celebrate differently, celebrate we did!

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, is was the age of foolishness… it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...” These iconic lines, from the opening of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, certainly sum up the many contradictory feelings for 2020. It was a year that brought the promise of a new decade, but then quickly shifted into a time of uncertainty with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mixed emotions and tribulations aside, 2020 has also been a time of scaling back and focusing on what is truly meaningful in life. For the educators and students at Emet Outreach, it has been a year of moving forward with Torah study and strengthening emunah and bitachon in Hashem.