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The tremendous hakaras ha’tov that I have for Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld shlita compels me to write this article. Having been fortunate to work alongside Rabbi Schonfeld for close to a decade, I would like to publicly thank Rabbi Schonfeld for all his mentorship and guidance. The Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, as well as the Kew Gardens Hills community at large, has benefited greatly from Rabbi Schonfeld’s wisdom and leadership for 30 years, and it has been a z’chus for me to witness firsthand many of these leadership qualities. As Rabbi Schonfeld retires and leaves our neighborhood, I would like to share some of the lessons that I have learned from watching and helping Rabbi Schonfeld at the YIKGH.

The fractious coalition between right-of-center, left-wing, and Arab parties that made up the Israeli Knesset majority disbanded this week, prepping the Jewish state for its fifth election since April 2019. This will end the one-year tenure of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and the first time an Arab party was included in the majority coalition.

After the Supreme Court ruled that the state of New York could not pick and choose who is allowed to exercise their constitutional right to self-defense, Democrats mobilized to pass a law that says they can pick and choose who is allowed to exercise their constitutional right to self-defense.  Every New Yorker should be outraged at this egregious power grab based on nothing but a determination to keep their own citizenry in line.

“Pride goes before ruin” – Mishlei 16:18

The above quote, which the Christian community translates to “Pride comes before the Fall,” has greater significance today than in generations past. Unless you are incredibly fortunate, the relentless avalanche of “Pride” has been blinding you with their aggressive seizure-inducing barrage of colors, and the accompanying displays wouldn’t be appropriate for a Las Vegas nightclub, let alone public consumption. The Jewish community is not immune from this, not by a long shot.

Victories abound for life, religion, and self-defense rights came down from the Supreme Court over the past week, reaffirming and protecting freedom for at least one more generation.  While Democrats, the media, and Never Trumpers are trying to distract from the real issues of the nation with the irrelevant and wasteful January 6 committee, the true legacy of President Donald Trump is sitting in those three big chairs in the Marble Palace down in D.C.

In the epilogue of the popular series on “I don’t do anything wrong,” which garnered hundreds of positive comments, including offers for me to speak at their cultural institutions, let’s talk about what bored housewives or even husbands can undertake, to fight the evil inclination that rages inside each of us. The Rambam says it’s impossible to love two things at once. Either we concentrate on G-d, our great attitude of our Torah and its ideals, or we let our minds get cluttered with wonderful imaginations and pursue expensive and meaningless objects of desire that get us into trouble.