Two soldiers, sporting sfira beards, standing guard at the Kotel on Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day in Israel. more

An esteemed and influential force in Jewish education will be uniting with a new and different idea of learning this coming school year. The goal of modernizing Jewish education to increase learning and decrease costs galvanized a group of Five Towns parents to form Tiferet Academy. It was to start with grades K and 1 under a plan known as blended learning. Beginning in the fall of 2013, the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB) will be absorbing Tiferet Academy into its student body, incorporating its principles of blended learning into the curriculum of HALB’s 1700-student campuses. more

The bombings at this past Sunday’s Boston Marathon sent repercussions through the Jewish community, bringing up memories of terrorist attacks in Israel and New York, wreaking horror and devastation in what were once peaceful places and times. more

On Monday evening, the Young Israel of Woodmere held a communal Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut program, with a moving and inspiring recollection by Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz, Rabbi Emeritus of the White shul, of others’ reactions to the re-founding of Israel. A special video presentation by Knesset member Naftali Bennett, addressed to the “Long Island” community, was screened. more

President Obama has constantly urged Israel to take risks for peace with its Arab neighbors. Despite the murderous rhetoric coming from the entire PA, from Abbas on down; despite never-ending murderous rock and rocket attacks by PA Arabs against Israeli civilians; despite repeated public refusals to recognize Israel’s right to live as a Jewish State of any size, with any borders, President Obama has repeatedly urged Israel to continuously take more risks for peace. more

South Shore residents have returned to their normal lives in the months since Hurricane Sandy, but many people’s thoughts are starting to turn to the potential for another big storm. Is it possible to stop the floodwaters that inundated coastal neighborhoods? they wonder. more

Apr 14 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Rabbinical Theological Seminary (RIETS) and Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future will be hosting a full-day learning program for all audiences to commemorate the 20th yahrtzeit of ‘The Rav’, Torah luminary and YU Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l, at Yeshiva University’s Wilf Campus in Washington Heights. The program will run from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM and will include lectures, discussions, and presentations on the Rav’s life and legacy. The multi-faceted learning program was made possible in part through the generous support of Rabbi Max N. Schreier and family. For a full list of sponsors and to register for the event, please visit: www.yu.edu/the-rav/ more

Eight years ago, HAFTR lost an ambitious student, star athlete, and extraordinary friend, Jacob Haden Greenberg. Anyone who knew Jacob will tell you that he lived life to the fullest and strived for excellence in everything he did. more

Over 800 solemn and attentive men, women, and children filled the main sanctuary at Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence for the community wide annual memorial service for Yom Ha’Shoah. At 6:30 PM, the usually quiet corner of Broadway and Washington was bustling as it would on a wedding night. There were a handful of Nassau County police officers present. Inside the shul, there was a table set up for candles as a memorial for the souls of those who were murdered in cold blood in the Holocaust or “the Shoah” (catastrophe). more

Over 100 prominent Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) lay leaders and supporters from the United States and Panama were accompanied by over 50 IDF officers as they toured the Old City of Krakow, Poland on April 9th as part of the ten-day FIDF “From Holocaust to Independence” journey to Poland and Israel. more