Returning to my childhood neighborhood, it is easy to see how much things have changed. The massive reconstruction of the Beth Gavriel synagogue in Forest Hills continues, as its exterior receives a palatial look and a dome. Inside, the labyrinth of hallways and stairs have not yet been altered. On the second floor, a set of rabbinic portraits on the wall lead to the beis k’neses and the office of Rabbi Emanuel Shimonov, the Rav of Beth Gavriel.

Earlier this year, in a bid to reassure Jewish voters doubting the Democratic presidential candidate’s support for Israel, Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman publicly endorsed Kamala Harris, who then suffered a crushing loss to Donald Trump.

 The most effective method of passing on Jewish values to the next generation is with Jewish education. Since 2017, the Queens-based nonprofit Chazaq has touched the lives of thousands of public school students and guided over 1,800 to transfer from public schools to yeshivos that fit their individual needs.

Deborah Shimon has been living in Whitestone with her husband Albert and children for 12 years, having grown in their observance but very much at home in a neighborhood where there is little Jewish life. This year, their community is more visible with the first ever public menorah lighting at Francis Lewis Park, a historic waterfront space next to the great bridge that shares the neighborhood’s name.

In every creative endeavor such as art and writing, artificial intelligence tools make the job easy and enable the ideas of people untrained in painting or photography to produce a high-quality work. The same can be said about journalism, in which AI can begin with an open-ended question and then follow up based on the respondent’s answers. Should this writer feel threatened by software?

The Sunday before Chanukah was a very busy day for the Jewish community in West Hempstead. For the local Chabad, the preceding Shabbos was Yud-Tes Kislev, a farbrengen commemorating the passing of Rav Dovber, the Maggid of Mezeritch, in 1772. He was a talmid of the Baal Shem Tov and the teacher of Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founding rebbe of Chabad chasidus.