Community Corner

In a heartwarming display of gratitude, several community organizations joined forces this Thanksgiving to provide complete holiday meals to local law enforcement agencies. Representing Chaverim of Queens and Great Neck, I had the privilege of spending Thanksgiving evening delivering these meals to numerous police precincts, including Highway Patrol Unit 3 in Cunningham Park on the Grand Central Parkway, the 102^nd Precinct in Kew Gardens, the 107^th Precinct in Kew Gardens Hills, and the 112^th Precinct in Forest Hills.

Master mechanech founded The Cheder educational network, opening
a Bukharian-focused Queens division two years ago

I was privileged to have enjoyed a number of touching moments with Rav Meir Chaim Gutfreund, zt”l, the pioneering master mechanech and the visionary founder of Queens Cheder Moshe Raya Mehamina based in Forest Hills and Jamaica Estates and its affiliates. This past Monday’s news of his petirah following a short illness was shocking and revealing; Rav Meir Chaim was 72. Rav Meir Chaim’s life was defined by an unwavering dedication to chinuch and a relentless pursuit of excellence in the craft, leaving behind a legacy that will continue to impact generations to come.

The Queens Jewish community recently had the privilege of welcoming Rabbi Shalom Khaimov, whose heartfelt passion and dedication to Torah learning are inspiring a new generation of youth. Rabbi Khaimov, an accomplished talmid chacham and Torah scholar, is known for his outstanding midos tovos. He currently studies at the thriving Sephardic kollel led by HaRav Yosef Bitton shlita and HaRav Avram Hasan shlita at Congregation Zichron Binyamin, Kollel Ohel Rachel, located on Princeton Avenue in Lakewood.

With just days left until Election Day, New York State’s 25^th Republican Assembly District Candidate Kenneth Paek held a friendly pizza party fundraiser exemplifying his campaign promise to stand tall for the Eastern Queens constituents residing within Flushing, Queensboro Hill, Hillcrest, Fresh Meadows, Oakland Gardens, Bayside, and Douglaston.

Pledges a safe and vibrant city

New York City Mayor Eric Adams swore in Jessica Tisch, 43, as the next commissioner of the New York City Police Department at One Police Plaza, on Monday, November 25, becoming the second woman to head the city’s police department in its storied 179-year history.

For the third year running, the Queens unity Sukkos concert drew a massive crowd in central Kew Gardens Hills. The free Simchas Beis Hashoeivah experience was once again held along Vleigh Place in front of the Queens Public Library and attracted an energetic audience of 2,500 spanning a myriad of Queens communities, including many unaffiliated Jews waiting for their spark to ignite. Thirty-year-old Israeli music sensation Itzik Dadya wowed the crowd with popular Jewish tunes new and old as well as several of his own masterful songs. Beginning shortly after seven in the evening on the third night of Chol HaMoed, festive dancing in the spirit of the chag quickly ensued with jubilation all around.