On Sunday evening, March 12, Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, well-known speaker, spoke at Torah Center of Hillcrest on staying religious in a secular world, in commemoration of the yahrzeit of Eliyahu ben Istam Nisanov a”h. The shiur was sponsored by his sons, Yaakov and Baruch Nisanov, and hosted by Chazaq. The shiur can be viewed on TorahAnytime.

Despite the freezing temperatures on Motza’ei Shabbos, March 4, a large crowd gathered at Congregation Ahavas Yisroel to hear an inspiring shiur about Purim delivered by Rabbi Moshe Schwerd, well-known maggid shiur and speaker. He began by sharing that we all know that Taanis Esther and Purim are auspicious times for t’filah. Galus began with the sale of Yosef and ended with K’rias Yam Suf. G’ulas Mitzrayim is the template for the final g’ulah. The final g’ulah can come only when Amalek is gone. Amalek has to be gone at the End of Days as they are inconsistent with the idea of g’ulah.

On Sunday evening, March 12, family and community members gathered for a meaningful fourth yahrzeit commemoration of Rabbi Eyakim Rosenblatt zt”l, Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshiva Kesser Torah. Rabbi Avraham Dovid Garber, rav of Kesser Torah, welcomed everyone in person and on Zoom. First, Dr. Rick Shields, well-known nutritionist and speaker, shared a heartfelt remembrance on Zoom. He related that, in his Gemara shiur, Rabbi Rosenblatt would start by saying, “Where are we holding?” He soon turned this question into a spiritual nigun that he sang to his talmidim in the beginning of shiur. The literal meaning was: Where are we holding in the Gemara daf, but the deeper question was: Where are we holding in life? This question has stayed with his talmidim for all these years.