Community Corner

Nearly seven decades after he founded the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, a decade after he retired as the synagogue’s full-time spiritual leader, and six months after he passed away, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld zt”l was honored in a virtual tribute event this week.

The Bukharian community in Phoenix, Arizona, is thriving, with hundreds of families settling in the Grand Canyon State over the past two decades. The economy and housing market has grown dramatically during this time, and the Jewish community has benefited greatly.

The Gluck Beis Midrash Minyan of the Young Israel of Forest Hills conducted its annual exciting basketball tournament on Saturday night, June 19. The program, held in the Bnos Malka Academy gymnasium, attracted eager players for the three-on-three matchups. Each team competed quite hard, but alas only four were allotted playoff slots.

Mazal tov to our Pre-1A class and their morah, Mrs. Nissanian, at Yeshivat Ohr Haiim upon receiving their siddurim at their siddur presentation. They learned so much about the importance and value of t’filah to Hashem, and they shared with their parents and relatives an amazing play and sang beautiful songs all about davening to Hashem.

This past Friday evening, June 25, congregants and neighbors of the Bukharian shul Ner Mordechai Congregation in Kew Gardens were left in alarm after a homemade boxed firework, similar to an M-80 firecracker, exploded just outside its gated enclosure at the corner of Metropolitan Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard around 7:45 p.m. There were no known injuries or damage to infrastructure. As a precaution, the bomb squad, fire marshal, and police remained to investigate.

Chazal tell us that the Three Weeks, and the month of Av in particular, are days that are set aside for t’shuvah. But that leaves us with a question: How can a person do t’shuvah at a time of mourning and sadness, since Chazal tell us that Hashem’s presence will not rest on someone who is not b’simchah (Rambam, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 7:4), and true t’shuvah cannot happen unless we recognize that Hashem Himself is right there helping us through the process.