Sergey Kadinsky

A once-ubiquitous packing material that the manufacturer refused to take back was kept by the Orenbuch family of West Hempstead and assembled into a menorah like no other. “We used to drive past a home on 136th Street that had a sukkah made of red Coca-Cola crates. When we got married, we started collecting them from shuls after their kiddush,” said Rachel Orenbuch. “Our first home in Queens was a garden apartment, and that’s where we made our first sukkah.”

The land that has experienced an ongoing struggle with terrorism also has unique landscapes ideal for hiking and spiritual renewal. For nearly two decades, the OneFamily Fund has been supporting Israeli victims of terror attacks and their families with their emotional and physical needs. Among their programs is a hike that brings together the survivors of bombings and donors from America.

Keeping on message is among the difficult elements of a political campaign, when a soundbite receives more attention than the subject of the speech, or when a crowd of supporters defines the candidate rather than the other way around. Last Sunday, Republican gubernatorial contender Rob Astorino stood outside the office of Bronx Democratic Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz to protest his bill requiring vaccination for all students to attend classes.

(This article was written late Tuesday night with the latest information possible.)

In an election that focused on concerns over crime, former cop Eric Adams easily defeated civilian patrol founder Curtis Sliwa among other Democrats in citywide races who earned their spots on the November ballot after winning in crowded primaries earlier this past June. The Queens-born headliner ran on a centrist platform that included the reversal of a few of his predecessor’s ideas such as abolishing the plainclothes police unit and eliminating the gifted and talented program in public schools.

Among this nation’s cities, the power of the purse to shape policy is perhaps the strongest in New York City, which has a pension fund worth more than $273 billion that it invests in industries that reflect the values of the city government. Earlier this year, Comptroller Scott Stringer invested $8 billion in projects related to the Green New Deal, which failed in Congress but was promoted by its progressive members. In line with its environmental vision, the city also divested $4 billion from fossil fuel companies.

The center of the Queens Jewish community can be mapped in a few precise ways: the Eruv boundary, certain ZIP Codes that match these boundaries, and the legislative districts into which they fit. Following the publication of last year’s nationwide census, the state is preparing to redraw the district lines to reflect shifts in the demographics and population, which could unite some neighborhoods under a single district, and divide others among several representatives, diminishing the clout of a community.