Queens and Long Island

If you live in Queens, chances are that you will be seeing a sign around town over the next few days. That's because this coming Shabbos - Parshas Vayetze - is the community-wide Queens Shabbos Hatzolah, the most important annual fundraiser for Hatzolah's Queens division.

"Building From Bottles" is a community-wide endeavor orchestrated by Avigail Borah, an 11-year-old from Hewlett, NY. Her goal is to amass enough recyclable bottles and cans and donate the redeemed proceeds to One Israel Fund (OIF) to help build a playground for the Jewish children living in Israel.

Imagine being in the unenviable position of choosing between filling up your car or putting food on your family’s Passover table. For many in the Five Towns – including senior citizens faced with the decision to buy medicine or food – that is a sad and grim reality.

More than 500 people dedicated a new Torah scroll in the Long Island town of Woodmere, N.Y., last Sunday, a little more than one year after the sudden passing of a nine-year-old sent shock waves through the tight-knit Jewish community.

A popular performer who brings smiles to the faces of the elderly at Atria Kew Gardens, a senior assisted living home, has been recognized with an award. Anthony Soriano, known to everyone as Tony, has been honored with the Exceptional Service Award by Atria Senior Living.

What brought together hundreds of Jewish fashionistas to attend an event with women with taste, class and an appreciation for the finer things in life and for an evening filled with laughter, joy, camaraderie, kindness?

As I parked my car in the lot and prepared to cross the tracks and board the 7:49 at the Inwood station, I thought back seven-and-a-half years.

The medical world and the laws associated with it are changing rapidly, and the focus is on the quality of life. More and more frequently, patients and their families are encouraged to forgo “excessive” or “unnecessary” treatments and therapies so as to maintain a greater quality of life.

As parents, inculcating our children with a love and enthusiasm for learning Torah is of paramount importance to us. We invest our energy, efforts and time, working in tandem with our sons' rebbeim and yeshivas, doing everything we can to ensure that our children grow in learning and in middos.

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Yeshiva Darchei Torah is well known among institutions of Jewish education and has transformed the Far Rockaway/Five Towns community. The yeshiva's mission is that of integrating Torah learning with the development of good character traits, ethics, and mentshlichkeit.