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On Monday night, April 12, Emet Outreach hosted a live and virtual shiur with Mr. Harry Rothberg, well-known speaker, at Beth Gavriel. He shared that he works as a lawyer and he recalled a time when he was asked by a judge to appear on a certain date in May and it was Shavuos. He told the judge that he couldn’t come because it was a Jewish holiday. The judge protested and said, “I know there’s Passover and Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, but I never knew there was another holiday.” He proceeded to explain to the judge by pointing out the statue of Moses holding the tablets that was in front of the courthouse. He explained that we have a holiday celebrating when G-d gave us the Torah. It was significant to Mr. Rothberg that in all the years this judge was on the bench, he had never had a Jewish lawyer tell him that he couldn’t appear because of Shavuos.

This year, Hashem is taking away the mageifah, and He should bless us with double simchah since last Pesach was so hard. Rabbi Herschel Welcher, rav of Congregation Ahavas Yisroel, ended his question-and-answer shiur on Pesach with this beautiful optimistic note.

On Monday evening, April 5, the Eshel Avraham Organization presented a virtual shiur with Rabbi Avraham Nissanian, well-known inspirational speaker, on Pirkei Avos. Rabbi Nissanian focused on the first mishnah, which states that Moshe received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Yehoshua, Yehoshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. He taught that the Pirkei Avos are the sayings of our great chachamim in the generation before the destruction of the Second Beis HaMikdash, and it begins with telling us how we received the Torah.

Mr. Dennis Shore was a well-loved Kew Gardens Hills community member who passed away in November 2019. Chol HaMoed was always a time when community members could call and bring their children to his house to see his treasure trove of model trains. His oldest models include a #42 train from 1923 and a #29 from 1915.

On Tuesday evening, April 6, Rabbi Eliezer Krohn, well-known speaker, mohel, and author, shared a virtual shiur hosted by Chazaq for Tuesday’s Timely Torah Talks. Rabbi Yaniv Meirov, Operations Manager of Chazaq, introduced Rabbi Krohn and shared that during this time between Pesach and Shavuos, we want to improve our middos to become a kli to receive the Torah.

On Sunday evening, March 7, Chazaq hosted a pre-Pesach shiur at Beth Gavriel and on Zoom. Rabbi Ilan Meirov, Founder and Director of Chazaq, shared that “When a person wants to do good, nothing bad will happen to him.” The machatzis ha’shekel was on fire. Why were the coins on fire? This teaches us that when you give, you don’t lose anything. “When you give, you get more. This should be our mentality when we give tz’dakah. Anyone who gives tz’dakah receives six blessings. If you help someone feel good, you get 11 blessings. It’s so important to give with kindness to help the person feel wanted.