Sergey Kadinsky

For three days last week, the West Hempstead community celebrated the new building of Bais Torah U’Tefilah (BTU) at 401 Hempstead Avenue. It began on Thursday evening with the first Minchah minyan that was followed by Rabbi Eytan Feiner as the guest speaker. “Hashem trusts us even when we don’t necessarily trust ourselves. He trusts us to turn this mikdash m’at into a place of k’dushah,” said Rabbi Uri Lesser, mara d’asra of BTU. “There are too many nissim that happened over the past year that show HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted this.”

The social media star of the political right, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, issued a public apology on Monday after visiting the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. “There are words that I have said, remarks that I’ve made that I know are offensive, and for that I’d like to apologize,” she said. “So I should own it. I made a mistake.”

With the ranked choice vote being used for the first time in citywide races, it is too early to declare a winner in the races for mayor, comptroller, and public advocate. Across the five boroughs, there are 5,901 voting precincts where Tuesday’s ballots are counted, along with absentee and early votes submitted ahead of time. Also in play are the second and third choices of voters that could determine the outcome if there is no candidate with the majority of the votes. We may have to wait until the middle of July to know the next mayor of New York.

With the coronavirus cases sharply declining in New York, movie theaters are reopening along with other high-density venues. But this past week, Center Cinemas in Sunnyside had an unexpected message on its marquee: “From the river to the sea,” the rallying cry of Palestinian activists who seek the erasure of the Jewish state.

Cultural institutions are reopening as pandemic restrictions have eased, and there is a sense of novelty to walk their halls after more than a year of virtual exhibitions and online lectures. On a recent drive through Manhattan’s Lower East Side, I was curious to see whether the Eldridge Street Synagogue had reopened to the public. Along with the Jewish Museum, the Center for Jewish History, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, this building is one of the leading landmarks of Jewish culture in New York.

In its mission to provide a Jewish education along with services and secular subjects to children with special needs, Sinai Schools also seeks to inform the larger communities about its work and the value of its work. “This is to create a sense of community as we serve a population with complex special needs that deserves a Jewish education,” said Sinai Director of Communications Abigail Hepner.