Community Corner

On Wednesday evening, November 5, over 100 community women, as well as women from all over the United States, gathered excitedly at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills for an amazing Jewish Women’s Unity Challah Bake. There were women of all ages and from all different backgrounds and all different levels of observance united to do a beautiful mitzvah and to connect to one another in a meaningful way. Some women braided challah for the very first time.

Our dear father’s levayah was on Veterans Day, 2012. How befitting that a man who invested 21 years of his life in service to this country in the United States Army would have his burial on that day.

Mission

Project Inspire mobilizes and empowers Torah-committed Jews around the world to reach out to our less-affiliated brothers and sisters, using their natural abilities and talents to create genuine relationships that awaken Jewish connection and strengthen a growing movement of outreach.

In this week’s parshah, we read of Avraham Avinu’s search for a wife for Yitzchak – a mission filled with t’filah, emunah, and siyata diShmaya. When Eliezer stands at the well, he doesn’t rely on his own wisdom or experience. Instead, he turns to Hashem and says, “Hashem, Elokei adoni Avraham, please cause something to happen before me today.”

On Tuesday, UJA-Federation of New York announced a $1 million emergency grant intended to help alleviate pressure on local food pantries and strengthen the citywide system of emergency food procurement and distribution.

Chief Chaplain of the NYPD, Torah Scholar, and Advocate for Jewish Officers

My final image of Rabbi Dr. Alvin Kass remains vivid: steadying himself with a walker, smiling as he waved to the NYPD crowd during the recent High Holiday briefing. His familiar humor and warmth filled the room with life. It was the first time he used a walker on stage – and as he exited, he paused, turned back, and waved one last time. That gentle, dignified farewell became his final blessing, a moment that captured the grace, humility, and faith that defined his nearly six decades of service.