This week, in America, you will read the double portion of Acharei-Mot-Kedoshim which, translated literally, means “after the death of the holy ones,” a meaning that was all too appropriate last week when we were reading the same double portion, as it fell on the Shabbat immediately following Israel’s Memorial and Independence days: Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut. more

The Hewlett Lawrence Soccer Club (HLSC) has established a partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) to ensure a positive, character-building experience for all youth athletes in HLSC programs. PCA, a Stanford University-based non-profit organization, conducts workshops for coaches, organizational leaders, and parents involved in schools and sports organizations serving five-to-18-year-old athletes. more

Dec 21–22 Lawrence Congregation Beth Sholom Scholar in Residence Rabbi Benjamin Blech Internationally recognized educator, religious leader, author & lecturer. Talmud professor at Yeshiva University & Rabbi Emeritus of Young Israel of Oceanside. 7:45 p.m. Friday night Oneg at Congregation Beth Sholom: “The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo’s Forbidden Messages” Shabbat AM: Drasha 4:15PM: “Confronting the Ultimate Crisis: A Rabbi’s Response” Congregation Beth Sholom is located at 390 Broadway Lawrence, New York 11559 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

There are six remembrances that are included in the siddur at the end of Shacharis. Remembering the Exodus, Shabbos, G-d’s presence at Mt. Sinai, what happened to Miriam, how you provoked G-d in the desert, and to destroy Amalek. This list does not include all the times the word zachor (to remember) appears in the Torah. more

Five Five Towners were honored at OHEL Children’s Home and Family Services 44th Annual Gala at the New York Marriott Marquis on Sunday, Nov. 24. more

Achiezer’s Krias Megilah Program is back for another year! Last year, volunteers in the Five Towns and Far Rockaway performed more than 45 lainings and enhanced the Purim celebration for many in our community. more

A sixth grade social studies fair tied great-grandsons to great-grandparents and united four families related to the same ancestor, at Far Rockaway’s Yeshiva Darchei Torah. more

For most third graders, the school year began this week with the hustle and bustle of new teachers, fresh notebooks, and crisply ironed uniforms. But the third grader in Gaza whose photo appeared in the New York Times on Aug. 30 wore a different kind of uniform: a headband with “jihad” slogans and military-style camouflage pants, while carrying a Kalashnikov rifle and marching alongside adult members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group. more

Five Towners celebrated the dedication of a new Torah scroll at the Chabad House of Hewlett last Sunday. Participants had the opportunity, with the help of a sofer, to write the last letters of … more