Community Corner

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

Malkah Esther bas Sarah

The spirited sounds of chavrusos engaging in Torah study filled Beth Gavriel Bukharian Jewish Center when Emet Outreach debuted its new TorahConnect program for men. After months of planning and anticipation, the room was transformed into an animated beis midrash, as almost 70 men joined together for learning and achdus.

The Queens community congratulates Naomi’s Manna Kosher Pizza on celebrating a half century of service to our neighborhood. On February 17, 1970, Michoel and Naomi Levy-Dahari opened the doors of the Main Street staple, and they have been open for business ever since.

Fleetwood Synagogue hosted Miriam Krupka Berger on Saturday night, as part of its annual Charles Sidlow Memorial Lecture series. This year’s program was titled “The Prophet, the Priest, and the Public: An Examination of the Balance of Powers in the Age of Prophecy and What it Means for Us Today.” Ms. Berger, the current chair of the Tanach Department at Ramaz and a teacher there for over a decade, highlighted the differences between a navi and a kohen, elaborating on the navi’s role as a leader and the challenges he faced in translating the words and emotions of G-d.

In Parshas Mishpatim, we learn: “Im kesef talveh es ami – When you lend money to My people, to the poor person who is with you, do not act toward him as a creditor/lender; you shall not impose interest upon him” (Sh’mos 22:24). There is a positive commandment in the Torah to lend money to anyone who needs it. Our sages teach us that the mitzvah to lend money is even greater than the mitzvah to give tz’dakah, because a person is much less embarrassed to receive a loan than to receive tz’dakah. The Torah prohibits a Jew from imposing interest on the borrower, because when people help each other, they are uniting through their act of kindness. However, when a person takes interest, he acts in the opposite manner, taking advantage of his fellow Jew’s misfortune in order to enrich himself.