Community Corner

On Tuesday evening, November 12, community members gathered at Congregation Bais Dovid (Rabbi Rubin’s shul) in Kew Gardens Hills, to hear a thought-provoking shiur from Rabbi Aharon Pessin, well-known speaker, author, and magid shiur who lives in Israel. The shiur was hosted by the renowned Chazaq organization. Rabbi Pessin spoke about cloning of humans and animals and the halachic ramifications and questions this involves. He focused on deep, important ideas that we can learn from studying this issue.

Few people realize that there is a whole community of hidden Jews in Puerto Rico who can trace their ancestry back to the Conversos in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. Can you imagine being brought up as a Christian and finding out that the family you never met and the quiet secret your family was hiding was that you were really a Jew and your family was descendants of Conversos from the 1400s?

The 17^th annual Rachel Imeinu Yahrzeit Commemoration took place on November 9, Motza’ei Shabbos of Parshas Lech L’cha, all over the world. In Kew Gardens Hills, the Commemoration took place at Congregation Ahavas Yisroel. It was sponsored on behalf of the Torah Umesorah Aniyim Fund. Rebbetzin Miriam Welcher, representing the shul, led t’hilim on behalf of cholim. Next, Mrs. Sherry Rada welcomed everyone. She quoted Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky shlita, who said, “Klal Yisrael belongs to Rachel Imeinu. She’s with us all the time.”

On Motza’ei Shabbos, Hoshana Rabbah, Chazaq and TorahAnytime hosted two all-night learning events in Queens, one in the Young Israel of Forest Hills and one in Congregation Ohel Simcha.

This year, Rabbi Avraham Dovid Garber’s weekly parshah class is taking place at the home of Rebbetzin Trani Rosenblatt in Kew Gardens Hills in memory of the Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva Kesser Torah, Rabbi Elyakim Rosenblatt zt”l.

The Rambam taught that we are commanded to emulate Hashem. There are so many quotes in Tanach that illustrate how Hashem takes care of the poor and needy. It says in T’hilim 146, “He performs justice for the oppressed. He gives bread to the hungry.” In Mishlei, it states, “Blessed is he who is generous to the poor.” T’hilim 112 states, “Widely distributed charity he dispersed to the needy.” Leviticus says, “And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of the vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner.”