Community Corner

REACH will initially service families in the Empire State

Yachad, the Orthodox Union’s division for individuals with disabilities in the Jewish community, has announced the launch of REACH, a new Jewish communal resource and referral service for individuals with disabilities and their families. The program will initially serve the New York region, although the group plans to scale operations to accommodate families throughout the United States over time.

As world Jewry rebuilt in the aftermath of the Holocaust, Forest Hills was one of many areas that merited to continue the evolution of frumkeit. One of its most prominent yet unassuming residents, Reb Yechiel Benzion Fishoff z”l, passed away on Monday, September 20 at age 97. The man who was known the world over simply as Benny was a devoted servant of Hashem, and used his daring escape from the Nazis as a catalyst to perpetuate authentic religious Judaism in a post-war world.

Yeshiva Tiferes Moshe is excited to welcome their new Menahel, Rabbi Don Pacht, back to Queens! While Rabbi Pacht grew up in Kew Gardens Hills, he has spent the last 17 years in Vancouver, Canada, where he was Head of School of the Vancouver Hebrew Academy. During his tenure there, he built VHA into a top-ranked school with an international reputation for quality instruction, with a strong focus on midos tovos and social/emotional growth.

The already strong bonds between the Kew Gardens Hills Jewish community and Israel were strengthened on the evening of Sunday, September 19, at a special ceremony commemorating the lives of Sydell (Shaindy) and Israel (Zippy) Sipzner. The Sipzners, residents of Kew Gardens Hills for nearly 40 years and members of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, passed away within months of each other in 2019. The evening took place in the United Hatzalah of Israel Center on Yermiyahu Street, Yerushalayim. It featured the dedication of a fully equipped ambucycle in the Sipzners’ names by their children Howie and Reize Sipzner, both of whom grew up in Queens and now divide their time between Israel, Florida, and Lido Beach.

Throughout history, David HaMelech’s book of Psalms has been a traditional source of inspiration, clarity, chizuk, and comfort in times of distress. Whenever we find ourselves in difficult situations, whether individually or communally, we open the Book of Psalms and use David HaMelech’s poetic praises and supplications to ask Hashem for mercy. Throughout the 150 chapters, there are praises, declarations, and supplications spanning the full range of human emotions (e.g., fear, hope despair, excitement). All of the chapters convey an emotional awareness of Hashem’s involvement in every aspect of our lives. The Midrash tells us that when King David compiled the Psalms, he had in mind himself, as well as every Jew of every generation and every circumstance. The words of the Psalms contain appropriate chapters for every possible situation, feelings, and circumstances.

The rain held up on the afternoon of Thursday, September 23, the first day of Chol HaMoed, for a Sukkos celebration hosted in the sukkah of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards outside of the Helen Marshall Cultural Center at Queens Borough Hall. Under the two previous Jewish Borough Presidents, no sukkah was ever erected on Borough Hall property.