Community Corner

Over the past year, Jewish college students across the US have been yearning for meaningful, relevant, and supportive programs as they face unprecedented challenges on campus. Emet Outreach has now embarked on an exciting collaboration with Olami. A new initiative called jHealth debuted last spring and just wrapped an incredible fall semester at both Queens College and Adelphi University. Geared towards students pursuing careers in health-related fields, the eight-week course provided a “prescription” for success in melding career and Judaism.

Hatzolah of Queens and Great Neck held its annual members appreciation event over Chanukah at Congregation Ner Mordechai in Kew Gardens. The lavish celebration, befitting the organization’s life-saving work, featured vibrant live music and moving words of gratitude from Hatzolah of Queens and Great Neck coordinators, including Rabbi Binyomin Kessler – Menahel of Yeshiva Ketana of Queens – and Sruly Lowy.

Cantor Nissim Saal, renowned for his exceptional vocal range and versatility, is set to lead an uplifting Shabbos of chazanus and song at the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates. This special event will take place on January 31 and February 1, Shabbos Parshas Bo.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the closure of an unlicensed cannabis shop that operated at 103-17 Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, blocks away from a public park and a junior high school. More than 30 pounds of marijuana, with a street value of approximately $38,200, were confiscated, as well hundreds of packages of cannabis product, following a search of the premises.

In Parshas VaEira, Hashem commanded Moshe to first warn Pharaoh about the impending plague. Moshe told Pharaoh that if he refused to free the Jews to serve Hashem, “so said Hashem: ‘In this you shall know that I am Hashem.’

On Motzaei Shabbos, January 11, Young Israel of Hillcrest hosted its second annual Game Night, Playing for Our Land, to raise funds for essential equipment for the chayalim serving in the IDF. The event brought together over 80 community members for an evening filled with games, food, and camaraderie, all to support a meaningful cause.