Community Corner

Every day I am profoundly grateful for the interconnectedness of my personal and professional lives.

(a complete recovery)

Please recite Psalms 20, 30, 88, 121, and 130.

Chaim Avraham ben Shifrah Zisel

In normal times, the odds of a new restaurant in New York City lasting a year or longer are not good – maybe 50-50, according to much anecdotal and statistical evidence.

More than 27% of assets distributed to charities in all sectors

The Jewish Communal Fund (JCF), the largest Jewish donor-advised fund in the country, distributed a record $536 million in grants to charities in all sectors during the 2020 fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 – a 17.5% increase from 2019. JCF Fundholders recommended a record-number of grants – 64,188 – to thousands of charitable organizations, an 18% increase from 2019. The average grant amount was $8,352 – an increase of 16% as compared to the previous year.

With Rosh Chodesh Kislev approaching, Chanukah is on the way. There is a famous machlokes [dispute] in the Gemara (Maseches Shabbos) on the following question: Madlikin mi’ner l’ner, o lo? (Can you take a Chanukah candle and use it to light another Chanukah candle? Yes or no?) On this there is a machlokes [between] Rav and Shmuel: Rav says no, Shmuel says yes. Rav says no because ka mach’chish mitzvah – you diminish the mitzvah. If I take a light to light another light, then I’m going to spill a little of the oil, or a little of the wax and the result is that I will diminish the first light. And Shmuel doesn’t worry about this. Now, we know, in general, Machlokes Rav u’Shmuel, halachah k’Rav – the law is always according to Rav (against Shmuel) with only three exceptions, and this is one of them.

Along with cascading leaves, crisp temperatures, and changing clocks, the season has arrived for the fall semester of the Ateret Emet Seminary. This past Sunday heralded Emet Outreach’s latest installment of the higher-level learning initiative for young women. There was great reason to rejoice as the first class of this four-week program got off to a promising start at Congregation Bene Naharayim in Jamaica Estates.