This week on the Jewish calendar, we commemorated the breaching of the Old City walls of Jerusalem by the Roman Tenth Legion on the 17th day of Tammuz in the year 70 C.E., heralding the beginning of the end of the Jewish Second Commonwealth, and the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. As we gaze upon the ruins of those walls, we will fast, and some of us will even cry, remembering how 2000 years ago, the peaceful streets were filled with the triumphant cheers of Roman legionnaires bent on our destruction. more

The race for Anthony Weiner’s seat is heating up as Democratic pick David Werpin struggles to distance himself from the president on foreign policy, while vigorously standing by health care reforms. On July 18, the congressional candidate, who currently sits in the State Assembly, visited the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills to speak with senior citizens, introducing himself to a prime voting group. more

The JCC of the Greater Five Towns is making history this week, competing for the first time in the JCC Maccabi Games, taking place in Israel this week. A team of 11 teenage girls will play basketball. “This is the first time that the Five Towns JCC is in the JCC Maccabiah. It’s a wonderful opportunity to be there and we are proud to send them to the games,” said executive director Rina Shkolnik. more

Calendar for the week of July 22, 2011 more

Local yeshiva students have been making their mark in the fields of science and technology this past year. At the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, students spent months building a robot for the Gildor Family Projects and Inventions competition, an Israeli science and technology contest for high school students. HANC was one of only two American teams present at more

With just a few simple brush strokes, a renowned young Orthodox artist awakened two opposite worlds on acrylic canvas at J Greenstein Gallery in Cedarhurst on July 11. Elke Reva Sudin exhibited works from her “Hipsters and Hassids” painting series, introducing the dynamic of two developing yet differing groups in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. more

When Bellmore resident Alan Forman, 58, received his honorary degree from the Technion Institute in Haifa, it was in recognition of his work in promoting the school in the local Jewish community. more

A four-alarm fire tore into a historic Manhattan synagogue, placing the 110-year-old Kehilath Jeshurun, a modern Orthodox congregation on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, in danger of collapse. more

When a local philanthropist speaks, there’s usually a personal connection to the cause. For Lawrence attorney Phil Rosen, it was a trip to northern Israel with his daughter last year, where they kept encountering Hebrew speakers with American accents. At a coffee shop outside Tzfat, they met a young Californian olah in uniform, and asked to hear her story. more

Letters to the Editor more