Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community 
On Tuesday, March 23, the Queens Borough Safety Patrol-Shmira unveiled a fleet of three vehicles that will now be used to monitor our communities. A sizable crowd stood for the ceremony and ribbon-cutting in Forest Hills. “Your presence today attests to the value and significance of Queens Shmira as a community service,” said founder Hiski Meirov.
The Yeshiva of Central Queens (YCQ) family is eagerly looking forward to Sunday, May 2, when the Yeshiva will celebrate its 80th anniversary as one of the premier yeshivos in Queens, it was announced by YCQ President Joel Wein. The theme of the event will be “Ben Sh’monim LiGvurah” (Pirkei Avos 5:21), which is so apropos to the Yeshiva’s dynamic and proactive response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, March 15, Shevach High School was privileged to have noted inspirational speaker Rabbi Meir Simcha Sperling address its students. In his captivating manner, Rabbi Sperling took the well-known signs of kosher animals and gave everyone an interesting insight and a new appreciation of this mitzvah.
The Torah commands us to count the days from Pesach to Shavuos in order to connect the Exodus on Pesach with the Giving of the Torah on Shavuos. The days of S’firas HaOmer are a time to rectify character attributes. Rav Moshe Feinstein explains that the name Shavuos, literally Weeks, so beautifully conveys this idea, since the holiday of Shavuos is an outcome of the weeks that precede it. For this very reason, the date of the holiday of Shavuos is determined by the 49 days of S’firas HaOmer, and not the date, because the 49 days prior, which are used to prepare, are essential to the holiday, and are required in full (see Shem MiShmuel, BaMidbar 5675).
A Tribute on His Passing
Our rabbis teach us that while it’s a transgression not to bury a dead person right away, if the burial is postponed to bring greater honor to the deceased, it is not a transgression (Sanhedrin 46a).
Hashevaynu Opens Its Doors For Mass Vaccination Drive
The road to recovery for Kew Gardens Hills took a welcome turn this past Monday evening in the Simchah Room of the former home of Khal Aderes Eliyahu – Rabbi Teitz’s shul. The story to my Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine (Johnson & Johnson) is credited to Rabbi Yehuda Zakutinsky and his Rebbetzin Adina of Hashevaynu, as well as Zev Nirenberg, a registered pharmacist and resident of Kew Gardens Hills. Hashevaynu lived true to its mission of making “all Jews who pass through its doors feel like cherished members of the family who know that their problems are our problems and their joys are our joys.”
