Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community 
Questions of "annexation" have taken center-stage lately. Since the revealing of President Donald Trump's Peace Plan, pundits and politicians have been asking: Should Israel annex "Area C," a/k/a Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, as outlined in the Oslo Accord? Before we can answer this question, which evokes mixed feelings worldwide, we must question whether "annex" is the correct word at all.
The Three Weeks is the time period during which we mourn the churban of the [First and Second] Beis HaMikdash as well as the countless atrocities that klal Yisrael has endured over the centuries at the hands of those who hate us and want to annihilate us. We know on an intellectual level that life without the Beis HaMikdash is not as it should be. We also understand that there was much pain and suffering during the Spanish Inquisition, pogroms, blood libels, the G’zeiros Tach v’Tat, and the Crusades. But many of us are most able to relate on an emotional level to the more recent events that hit closer to home. There is an abundance of museums, books, videos, testimonies, and programs designed to ensure that the Holocaust will never be forgotten. Despite the fact that the number of Holocaust survivors is dwindling, our generation continues to be impacted by their experiences and inspired by their spirit and m’sirus nefesh. It is especially poignant when there is a personal story within one’s family.
A Memorial Day Poem
The wet, salty tear
Falls down from the dry, soft cheek
In a cavernous conference hall at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Downtown DC last week, over 18,000 delegates from across the US and Israel and around the world thundered with cheers over highly partisan addresses by an all-star roster of Trump administration-affiliated speakers, including Vice President Mike Pence, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. During their speeches and others, the crowd gave standing ovations for mentions of President Donald Trump, while references to leading Democrats like Senator and Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Representative Ilhan Omar, and former President Barack Obama drew resounding boos.
Every year around this time, we all ask the same basic question: “What do I want to give for shalach manos this year?” But no one really asks, “What do the people around me want to get?” Isn’t it about the receiver?
A controversial October vote by the New York City Council to shutter the Rikers Island jail complex has stirred up serious concerns for residents of Kew Gardens Hills and the surrounding areas.
