On Tuesday, March 23, the Queens Borough Safety Patrol-Shmira unveiled a fleet of three vehicles that will now be used to monitor our communities. A sizable crowd stood for the ceremony and ribbon-cutting in Forest Hills. “Your presence today attests to the value and significance of Queens Shmira as a community service,” said founder Hiski Meirov.

The Yeshiva of Central Queens (YCQ) family is eagerly looking forward to Sunday, May 2, when the Yeshiva will celebrate its 80th anniversary as one of the premier yeshivos in Queens, it was announced by YCQ President Joel Wein. The theme of the event will be “Ben Sh’monim LiGvurah” (Pirkei Avos 5:21), which is so apropos to the Yeshiva’s dynamic and proactive response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Torah commands us to count the days from Pesach to Shavuos in order to connect the Exodus on Pesach with the Giving of the Torah on Shavuos. The days of S’firas HaOmer are a time to rectify character attributes. Rav Moshe Feinstein explains that the name Shavuos, literally Weeks, so beautifully conveys this idea, since the holiday of Shavuos is an outcome of the weeks that precede it. For this very reason, the date of the holiday of Shavuos is determined by the 49 days of S’firas HaOmer, and not the date, because the 49 days prior, which are used to prepare, are essential to the holiday, and are required in full (see Shem MiShmuel, BaMidbar 5675).