Susie Garber

On Tuesday evening, April 27, Tuesday Timely Torah Talks, hosted by Chazaq, featured Rabbi Menachem Nissel, well-known author of Rigshei Lev, who shared powerful insights about prayer. Rabbi Yaniv Meirov, Operations Manager of Chazaq, interviewed Rabbi Nissel.

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.

On Sunday evening, April 11, Rabbi Yaniv Meirov, Operations Manager of Chazaq, interviewed Dr. Moshe Katz, author of Nine Out of Ten, Holocaust survivor, and well-known speaker about the Holocaust. Dr. Katz was a co-founder of most of the Torah institutions in Far Rockaway, including Yeshiva Sh’or Yoshuv, TAG, Yeshiva of South Shore, and Agudath Israel of Long Island. His book Nine Out of Ten is about the history of the Hungarian Jews’ will to survive the war.

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 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.