Susie Garber

On Sunday night, February 12, Chazaq and Torah Anytime hosted “Halftime for Torah” during the halftime of the Super Bowl. The first speaker, Charlie Harary, well-known inspirational speaker, shared that there are lessons we can draw from the Super Bowl that impact our lives. He told the story of the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. Jalen Hurts started playing football for Alabama and he was in a championship game with Georgia in 2017. The coach put a freshman in the game to replace Hurts. Sitting on the bench was devastating for Hurts. He left to a different college and his team lost again. The thing is that despite these losses, Hurts never gave up. He didn’t throw in the towel; instead, he kept working. Now, he is a starting quarterback in the NFL. Mr. Harary taught that life throws you challenges. “People who succeed are the ones who don’t avoid challenges. They never give up and they stick with it when things get hard.”

It is special when Hashem gives you the opportunity to thank someone who has changed your life. Yeshiva Kesser Torah’s Rabbi and Rebbetzin, Rabbi Elyakim Rosenblatt zt”l and Rebbetzin Trani Rosenblatt, have changed so many people’s lives, including the lives of this writer and her family, and the rosh yeshivah’s legacy continues to impact our community.

When we feel darkness and sadness it’s hard to go on.  That’s when we need to feel that Hashem is with us in our pain.  Mrs. Sipy Nissanian, beloved Bais Yaakov of Queens pre-school teacher, shared how painful it was when she and Rabbi Avraham Nissanian, of Eshel Avraham, lost their dear son Yaeer a”h in 2002, at age 19.  It was too hard to go on, she confided, but with help from Chai Lifeline Bereavement and Dr. Norman Blumenthal, she was able to live through this horrible grief, and she and her husband have helped other parents who had to deal with this type of unspeakable loss.

On Sunday evening, January 29, Let’s Get Real With Coach Menachem featured Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser, well-known speaker and author, on the topic of “Bridging Our Pain And Suffering” and “Living Through The Birth Pangs of the Messianic Era.” The program began with the recitation of T’hilim 121.

On Wednesday evening, February 8, a standing-room-only crowd flocked to the home of Sruli and Shaindy Glazer to support Yad Batya L’Kallah and to hear famous motivational speaker Gedale Fenster.

On Tuesday evening, January 31, community women gathered at the Agudath Israel of Queens, located in the Yeshiva of Central Queens building, in spite of the freezing temperatures, to hear an enlightening shiur from Rabbi Mordechai Finkelman shlita, well-known speaker and educator, Mashgiach at Yeshivas Ohr HaChaim.