Susie Garber

Every year for more than ten years, Chazaq and TorahAnytime have hosted an incredible Tish’ah B’Av Torah learning marathon at Beth Gavriel Center in Forest Hills. This is the first year that it could not take place live at Beth Gavriel Center, due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was livestreamed by TorahAnytime all over the world.

On Tuesday evening, June 30, Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier, Director of The Shmuz, shared a livestreamed shiur on appreciating our bodies, which was hosted by Asher to the Yatzar, Chazaq, and www.TorahAnytime.com.

In response to negative emotional reactions to coronavirus, Coach Menachem Bernfeld, Certified Life Coach at NexStep Education, began sharing Zoom therapy sessions over two months ago and called them Let’s Get Ready with Coach Menachem. They began with a small group and grew to include hundreds of participants.

Rabbi Aharon Margalit’s autobiography, As Long As I Live, is an incredible story with many layers. This book reads like a novel with all the literary elements. The author builds the suspense, his writing voice is strong, and the descriptions of the setting are vivid and add to the story. On a deeper level, this book teaches the reader emunah and bitachon through the writer’s real-life examples. The lessons in emunah in this book are life-changing. Rabbi Margalit’s life is a lesson in believing in brachos from tzadikim, davening, and a positive attitude that Hashem is here and whatever challenge He gives us is for the best to help us grow. He shows how he learned these important lessons in bitachon from his parents, both Holocaust survivors who built a new family and life in Eretz Yisrael in a moshav after World War II. They both taught Rabbi Margalit unwavering trust in brachos from tzadikim and in Hashem’s presence in their lives. He begins the story with his early childhood, growing up on a religious moshav in Israel.

Monday, July 13, started out like a regular wonderful day. I rose extra early, planning to head to Long Beach Island, New Jersey, to visit my mom. The sun shone and I sped towards the Belt Parkway, my favorite highway with the glorious view of sailboats and rippling water. I was grateful for the usual traffic snarl until Exit 17W, which meant more people are back at work and the world is more on a normal schedule. I coasted to the Verrazzano Bridge, admiring the stunning view and thanking Hashem for the ability to go visit my mom in person. My plan was to arrive early enough to take a long walk on the beach.

On Sunday evening, June 21, Rabbi Ephraim Eliyahu Shapiro, rav of Congregation Shaaray Tefilah in North Miami Beach and well-known speaker, shared an inspiring virtual shiur on behalf of Chazaq and Emet.