by The Jewish Star Staff Issue of October 8, 2010/ 30 Tishrei 5771 The Great Neck Synagogue has welcomed a new assistant rabbi and he is warmly welcoming them back. "It's just as I … more

Headline hairlines To the Editor: Since David Nesenoff took over the Jewish Star I have noticed the following: featured on the front page were David Nesenoff, Ari Fleisher, Joel Lion and baby … more

The festival of Sukkot was around the corner, and I realized I had no way to get a set of four species (arbah minim) in time for the festival. We were actually in Lebanon at the time, and as the only kippah-wearing soldier on the base, I knew I was on my own, and the thought of having no set of ‘arbah minim’ was really depressing. more

Some of my friends criticize me because they believe I am too hard on President Barack Obama. They say they can’t believe that there is not one of his policies which I support wholeheartedly. Even a broken clock is right two times a day they say, isn’t there one policy where you can say, “Lets help Obama on this one?” And I would reach down to the bottom of my soul and really try to come up with something, but I always failed. more

With an eye to the recent bombings directed at Israeli diplomats in India, Georgia and Thailand, the Anti-Defamation League issued an advisory to Jewish institutions across the United States to heighten security and awareness. more

While Chapter 11 in the book of Bamidbar bears little resemblance to the famous reorganization process of the Bankruptcy Code, it does have a series of setbacks that seem to put the people in a negative light. Disobedience, complaining, people getting punished by fire, or their bodies suffer the effects of too much quail. more

With the New Year observances now behind us, we begin to look ahead liturgically by considering, in hindsight, what we now conclude by finishing with the annual cycle of Torah readings. more

This week the Hasidic community in Brooklyn exploded with the news that Nechemya Weberman, an unlicensed youth counselor, was convicted on 59 counts of sexual molestation of a young girl whom he had been counseling. He was sentenced to a staggering 103 years in the state penitentiary. Weberman had been counseling this young teen, although he had no license and no professional training and no legal right to counsel this young victim. more

Every year, on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, we read the story of the expulsion of Yishmael (Avraham’s first son with his handmaiden Hagar), and the binding of Yitzchak (Isaac). Both are stories of the sons of Avraham, and both involved Abraham’s ability to be willing to sacrifice or let go, of a son. more

The Lawrence Board of Education may act as soon as Jan. 13 to advance the sale of theNumber Six School. Top bidders are two yeshivot — the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach and a yeshiva in Queens. more