Rabbi David Fohrman stands by the podium at the Young Israel of Woodmere and speaks with a clear intensity, self-effacing, folksy, stating the pshat (the text of the Torah). He points to a phrase here, a word there, drawing connections, linking 3,300 year old verses and suddenly it’s all clear and alive. Fohrman, an internationally renowned lecturer on biblical themes, is presenting a well-attended series of talks on Bereishit at 7 pm motzei Shabbat. The live classes are videotaped for use by Aleph Beta Academy, an online Jewish studies program. more

“Sukkah City,” a film documenting a competition of innovative sukkot, will be shown in Manhattan this Sunday, Sept. 22, at the the site of the original display of the sukkot in Union Square Park. The film begins as a jury considers the more than 600 international design submissions in the contest originated by author Joshua Foer and Roger Bennett, co-chairman of the Jewish cultural organization Reboot. more

Dear Friends: This is an open letter which concludes with a notice of cancellation of Sunday’s event at the Great Neck Synagogue. The synagogue, and particularly Rabbi Polakoff, merit a debt from American Jewry for an instinctive understanding of the need to awaken us all to a gathering storm. In the end, the pressure from left-wing Jews, deliberate media ignorance, “shtetl” mentality which informs that a problem goes away if you ignore / do not discuss it; and the resulting enormous cost burden for security and the fear engendered in our school kids’ parents - was simply too great a cost for the synagogue to bear. more

Rabbi Herschel Schacter, a Jewish leader whose life intersected and joined major events and institutions in modern Jewish history, passed away from natural causes before Passover at the age of 95. He had been living at a hospice residence in Riverdale. His funeral was held on March 21st at the Riverdale Jewish Center. more

Recently, a New York Supreme Court justice ruled that there was sufficient evidence to try homegrown terrorist, Ahmed Ferhani, for conspiring to bomb a Manhattan synagogue. Ahmed was arrested last year together with co-conspirator, Mohamed Mamdouh, on terrorism charges for plotting to attack a synagogue. more

As part of Midreshet Shalhevet’s mentoring program, and as an extension of their course Nashim b’Halacha (Women in Jewish Law), the seniors met with Dr. Penina Dienstag, a resident at Downstate Medical Center and a yoetzet halacha for a shiur, discussion and question and answer session last Friday. more

A bible teacher from Salanter Akiba Riverdale (SAR) High School led a room of more than 50 breakfasting listeners through a whirlwind, eye-opening lecture on the Jewish originators and founders of Christianity. more

They raised questions, hypothesized, tested and made winning designs, earning prizes at the Yeshiva Science Olympiad on March 6. This year’s venue was Touro College’s Lander College for Men, welcoming students into its lab classrooms. “It’s important for the Orthodox community to contribute to science for the betterment of the world. We welcome these talented young men and women on our campus,” said Dean Dr. Moshe Sokol. more