Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community “The Mayor of Yerushalayim is coming!” Students and teachers of JIQ (Jewish Institute of Queens)...
On Tuesday evening, March 2, Chazaq and TorahAnytime hosted a virtual shloshim event in memory of Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski zt”l. Rabbi Twerski was a pioneer in psychiatry, a giant in Torah, and a giant in all that he accomplished for klal Yisrael and the world.
On Tuesday evening, February 9, the Navigating the Medical System Lecture Series featured a virtual lecture on diabetes and diabetes prevention. Dr. Mel Breite, Founder and Director of the Navigating the Medical System Lecture Series, introduced the speaker, Josef Tibaldi, MD, FACP, FACE, Chief of Endocrinology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Queens. The lecture series is hosted by Congregation Etz Chaim of Kew Gardens Hills.
On Tuesday evening, February 9, Chazaq and Chickens for Shabbos held another beautiful distribution at Congregation Ner Mordechai in Kew Gardens, this time dedicated l’zeicher nishmas Zalman ben Yosef. The focus this time was on m’lamdim, moros, and g’rushos. Chazaq worked with Sister to Sister, a comprehensive resource and support network for Jewish divorced women, and invited women from this network to attend. We have written about the details of the distributions in previous articles. This article will focus on the way this help is offered. The volunteers spend hours unboxing and sorting donated items by size and item. On the day of the distribution there is a volunteer for every table. This makes it possible for each person who comes to be greeted with a smile. Robbie Aboff, Chazaq Events Coordinator, explained, “We want people to be excited to come. We want to give back to the community.”
Rebbetzin Devorah Kigel presented the second part of a two-part virtual series on the mystical connection between financial success and challah, hosted by Emet Outreach. Rebbetzin Kigel taught that the woman creates the physical place connected to Hashem. Baking challah is opening gates of blessing. “Shabbos is the soul of the week. Baking challah is not just baking bread. It’s much more. It symbolizes the unification of our two worlds: the physical and the spiritual.” The word challah has the root of chol, which means regular or every day. When we bake challah, we are in essence raising up the weekday – the chol – and making it holy. She shared that a holy, righteous life is made up of little moments.
On Wednesday evening, February 17, Rabbi Daniel Glatstein, rav of Kehilas Ahavas Yisrael (of Cedarhurst), author, and speaker, shared part two of a fascinating virtual shiur on accessing the power of Purim. This shiur is part of Chazaq’s program of inspiring speakers every Wednesday night at eight p.m. The shiur was hosted by Chazaq, TorahAnytime, and Chickens for Shabbos.
On Sunday evening, February 7, Chazaq and TorahAnytime live-streamed Halftime for Torah at the halftime of the Super Bowl. The four inspiring speakers used football analogies to share beautiful Torah principles and ideas.
