Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community 
The spirit of Purim radiated throughout the aisles at Seasons of Queens Kosher Supermarket in Kew Gardens Hills this past Sunday, March 10, as the community staple held a family-friendly festive celebration dubbed “It Must Be Purim at… Seasons.” The program drew many neighborhood families and filled the store with gleaming faces of community children.
Rabbi Yitzchak Sladowsky zt”l was one of Queens Jewry’s early visionaries who saw a need to amplify Torah and Yiddishkeit throughout the borough and spent more than a half century seeing this life mission through. Two decades ago, the rabbi retired from the rabbinate to spend time amongst family in Lawrence, Nassau County, where he continued his avodas ha’kodesh. The Torah giant passed away on Sunday, February 18, at the age of 92. The next morning, a touching levayah was held at Central Avenue’s Cong. Shaaray Tefilah, followed by k’vurah in Eretz Yisrael.
On Tuesday, a drawing of hate against the Jewish community was sketched with a marker on a door at Hillcrest High School. The depiction has since been removed, and the incident remains under investigation by the detective squad of the NYPD’s 107th Precinct.
Early Monday morning, March 4, news leaked that Assembly Member Helene E. Weinstein had announced her retirement after nearly 44 years of service, Brooklyn’s longest serving member to date. “After I decided to retire, I reached out and encouraged Kalman to run for Assembly,” explained Weinstein, giving credence to a corroborating Politico announcement that fellow Democrat, New York City Council Member Kalman Yeger of Borough Park and Midwood’s District 44, was seeking the seat. “I can think of no better successor than Kalman, someone I have known for years, a dedicated public servant.” Since 2018, Yeger has also represented Bensonhurst, Gravesend, and Sunset Park, and served on his local Community Board for many years prior.
I took a few minutes this past Sunday afternoon, Rosh Chodesh Adar Beis, to visit Congregation Ahavas Yisroel’s Purim Carnival. Talmidim and talmidos of members at Rav Hershel Welcher’s shul enjoyed paradigmatic carnival booths, like Coke or Pepsi, staffed by elder bachurim, as Jews worldwide gear up for Purim jubilation. Pizza, cotton candy, and more fun kept all entertained!
Taylor is the highest-ranking religious member of the NYPD and Commanding Officer of the Department’s Community Outreach Division
Last Friday had special significance in Queens for the Jewish community in particular, as Deputy Chief Richard S. Taylor was awarded a well-deserved promotion to the third-highest position in the NYPD for his “excellence,” said Hon. Edward A. Caban, NYPD’s Commissioner. Taylor, known in the Jewish community as Yechiel, is recognized as the “ultimate NYPD ambassador,” and has successfully built bridges both in times of celebration and in times of turbulence. At the Friday program, held at the Police Academy in College Point, Caban noted how the Deputy Chief outshines his peers in always answering his calls, deserving of the title “real mentch.”
