Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community 
Is West Hempstead Next?
The name of a civic leader was removed from a street last week in Malverne, after a report by school students revealed that Paul Lindner was a Klan leader whose local chapter twice burned an African American orphanage and kidnapped a Jewish business owner in the 1920s.
Gene Richter, 90, has been a Queens resident for most of his life. A veteran of the United States Navy, he speaks of his experiences to schools and shuls. One such encounter inspired a team of teens to depict his story in comic form in a new children’s magazine published by the Youth Department at the Young Israel of Queens Valley.
How do you explain the world’s oldest form of hatred to today’s young audiences? With an author who knows how to combine a narrative with memorable visuals and short visuals. The task was handled ably by Israel B. Bitton, a marketing and advocacy professional who devoted two years to produce A Brief and Visual History of Anti-Semitism, published by Gefen.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Chanukah was often used by shuls and Jewish organizations for dedication dinners, fitting with the holiday’s celebration of the Beis HaMikdash being rededicated so many centuries ago. A groundbreaking, grand opening, sefer Torah dedications, and completion of mortgage payments, are documented in detail by Jewish and secular media, along with journals published by the shuls.
The second yahrzeit for Rabbi Yehuda Kelemer zt”l, the late rav of the Young Israel of West Hempstead, was marked by a busy weekend that included a parent-child tish on Friday night with singer Eitan Katz, who also led Shabbos davening, and Kollel Yom Rishon with two leading speakers from Yeshiva University. The events were attended by members of all West Hempstead shuls, demonstrating Rabbi Kelemer’s influence across the community.
Less than a week after Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul attended a community forum on anti-Semitism at the Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan, the Jewish community of West Hempstead had its own forum, hosting Nassau County Legislator John Giuffre.
