Community Corner

Early Monday morning, May 8, Sam Levy reached out to the Queens Jewish Link with a welcomed update in his ongoing case stemming from a February 19 anti-Semitic attack. “The DA’s office called me yesterday, alerting me that on Saturday, they arrested another attacker who committed the hate crime against me.” Levy expressed immense appreciation to our publication for our extensive ongoing reporting in his case.

An uplifting family-strengthening evening sponsored by Project Lead took place at Simcha Palace in Kew Gardens Hills, this past week. In attendance were nearly 100 young, accomplished professionals stemming from the Queens Bukharian Jewish community. Rabbi Yitzchok Young, noted educator, opened the event with poignant words to help people show sensitivity and uplift their spouses.

On Monday, the Pulitzer Prize Board announced the winners of its coveted annual awards - and did not include the deeply objectionable New York Times series on the Orthodox Jewish community and their yeshivas.

The Women’s Division of Emet Outreach was privileged to welcome Maya Namdar of Maya’s Place as guest speaker for the launch of their ten-week spring semester of Step It Up and Step Into Prayer. Held at Congregation Machane Chodosh in Forest Hills, the evening drew a motivated crowd eager to hear words of inspiration from Maya about her daughter Liel Dina, a”h. Liel was 15 when she passed away in a car accident in December of 2021. Since then, Maya, her husband Efraim, and their children have taken their tragedy and rallied klal Yisrael to “Live for Liel” in her z’chus. “The Namdars have brought so much positivity and light into the world in memory of Liel,” said Sara B., Program Director. “We wanted to energize the girls at the start the semester, and Maya was the perfect person to do so with lessons from Liel.”

Responding to a Tweet sent by Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) from her official government account on Monday, calling Israel an “apartheid state” and claiming that it was “born out of violence and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, issued the following statement:

Emet’s monthly couples’ workshops returned for spring with an informative evening at Shaare Emunah Sephardic Congregation of the Five Towns. In keeping with the goal to provide helpful content for couples at all stages of marriage, the relevant topic was “How to Have Tough and Delicate Conversations with Your Adolescent Children.” The guest speaker was Rabbi Doniel Frank, a marriage and family therapist, who was back by popular demand after delivering a similar workshop to Queens-based couples a few months ago. There was a relaxed feeling in the room as participants caught up with friends and mingled over sushi. Rabbi Nissim Musheyev, Emet Community Development Director, set the tone by explaining the importance of communication within the family since parents have the responsibility to be a “light” for their children.