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I had my bar mitzvah in a shul that asked little from its members. It could afford to pay for its expenses with the Hindu temple across the street renting its parking lot and a Chinese daycare renting out the former Hebrew school. My grandfather was a member and his brother-in-law was a gabbai, and the only Levi in a minyan that echoed in a sanctuary designed for at least a hundred worshippers. On paper, Kissena Jewish Center is an active synagogue but it is a shadow of its former self.

An experienced voice from Queens will be chairing the House Foreign Affairs Committee after securing the support of his party’s colleagues last Thursday. Rep. Gregory Meeks, 67, who is also the chair of the Queens Democratic organization and serves the sizable Jewish communities of Far Rockaway and Jamaica Estates, as well as areas of Nassau County, will also be the first African American at this post. “I’m extremely honored to be elected Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” Meeks said in a statement, where he called to “bring diplomacy back.” “The new era of US foreign policy will not be just a return to normal, but an opportunity to broaden the committee focus and forge new coalitions to address global challenges.”

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt has been holding public online briefings on the latest developments concerning the virus. This past Sunday, he had a much larger audience in a presentation sponsored by Yeshiva University, where he made a solid case for vaccination alongside Rabbi Mordechai Willig, a rosh yeshivah at its rabbinical seminary. “We have to understand that it’s an incredible chesed from HaKadosh Baruch Hu that within one year we’ve been able to come up with two vaccines,” Rabbi Glatt said. “The Ebola vaccine took five years and most vaccines take 11 to develop.”

Less than two months remain before voters in the 24^th Council District in central Queens will be the first in the city to conduct a ranked choice election. On Tuesday, February 2, 11 candidates will appear on the ballot for the seat vacated last month by Rory Lancman. In preparation for the historic election, Assemblymembers Nily Rozic and Daniel Rosenthal held an online lecture last Thursday with the advocacy group Rank the Vote NYC.

An experienced voice from Queens will be chairing the House Foreign Affairs Committee after securing the support of his party’s colleagues last Thursday. Rep. Gregory Meeks, 67, who is also the chair of the Queens Democratic organization and serves the sizable Jewish communities of Far Rockaway and Jamaica Estates, as well as areas of Nassau County, will also be the first African American at this post. “I’m extremely honored to be elected Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” Meeks said in a statement, where he called to “bring diplomacy back.” “The new era of US foreign policy will not be just a return to normal, but an opportunity to broaden the committee focus and forge new coalitions to address global challenges.”

Dana Aderet Brody, an attorney and pro-Israel from Great Neck, made aliyah this past Rosh Chodesh Kislev, inspired by her parents, Dr. Paul and Drora Brody, whose activism for Israel extends to a variety of causes and events.