by Susie Garber

On Sunday evening, November 24, a large crowd gathered for a memorial for Mr. Nissan Yakubov a”h. Mr. Yakuov was a dearly beloved member of the Beth Gavriel community who had a tremendous impact on so many people in the community. Sadly, he passed away at the age of 50 from a type of leukemia.

On Monday night, November 18, Rav David Yosef shlita, son of HaRav Ovadia Yosef zt”l, inspired and stirred a crowd at Congregation Ohr Natan. Rav Yitzchak Yisraeli, Chief Bukharian Rabbi of the United States and Canada, introduced Rav Yosef. The program was hosted by Chazaq.

A standing-room-only crowd of community women packed Congregation Ahavas Yisroel on Motza’ei Shabbos, November 30, to hear Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller speak about Chanukah. Her theme was how to light up your life, bringing light to ourselves and others.

On Sunday evening, November 17, there was a standing-room-only crowd of women at Congregation Ahavas Yisroel who came to hear Mrs. Dina Hurwitz share her inspiring story. With warmth and tears, Mrs. Hurwitz showed all of us how to face an extremely difficult challenge with love and hope and even joy. It was humbling and at the same time she gave each member of the audience the gift of hope.

On Motza’ei Shabbos, November 16, Chazaq and Chickens for Shabbos hosted a shiur with Rabbi Moshe Meir Weiss at Congregation Nachlas Yitzchok in a community-wide gathering in support of Eretz Yisrael.

On Tuesday evening, November 12, community members gathered at Congregation Bais Dovid (Rabbi Rubin’s shul) in Kew Gardens Hills, to hear a thought-provoking shiur from Rabbi Aharon Pessin, well-known speaker, author, and magid shiur who lives in Israel. The shiur was hosted by the renowned Chazaq organization. Rabbi Pessin spoke about cloning of humans and animals and the halachic ramifications and questions this involves. He focused on deep, important ideas that we can learn from studying this issue.