Shabsie Saphirstein

At the Satmar Yeshivah Gedolah in Glendale, Chasdei Lev recently demonstrated a unique model of communal support. During this specific Queens distribution, several hundred rebbeim were provided with the resources to prepare for Yom Tov with both financial ease and personal dignity.

Family and friends gathered at Shaare Shalom in Great Neck on Thursday evening, February 26, for a deeply moving Seudas Hodayah hosted by Eden and Mayan Yaghoubi in honor of their son, Netanel. Standing before the crowd, Eden described the past months as a roller coaster of faith, fear, and gratitude.

I arrived at the Javits Center last Tuesday afternoon, March 17, for a session that, on paper, probably wouldn’t have drawn much attention. It took place in a smaller room, with just a few dozen people — many of them familiar faces.

The room grew quiet as Sami Steigmann stepped forward in the lower-level beis midrash of the Young Israel of Hillcrest. Moving slowly but confidently between the rows of chairs, the 86-year-old Holocaust survivor greeted attendees, shook hands, and made eye contact with nearly everyone in the room. Before long, the more than 50 participants gathered that evening were leaning forward in their seats. For them, this was living history unfolding only a few feet away.

On February 25, community leaders from Queens gathered at City Hall for a lengthy hearing of the New York City Council’s Committee to Combat Hate, bringing the experiences of Jewish neighborhoods directly into the debate over how the city should protect houses of worship during protests. For those of us who traveled from Queens that morning, the issue was not an abstract policy discussion; it reflected events that have already unfolded on the streets of our own communities.

There was a feeling of warmth and joy at Commonpoint’s Central Queens location in Forest Hills on Thursday, March 5, as Holocaust survivors from across the community gathered for a special Purim luncheon hosted by the organization’s Resilience Program and proudly co-sponsored by UJA-Federation of New York.