Despite Democratic losses in Congress on Tuesday, local Dems fared well in the House of Representatives, retaining the 3rd, 4th and 5th Congressional seats. Incumbent Gregory Meeks handily won re-election in the 5th C.D., capturing 92 percent of the vote, while incumbent Steve Israel hung on with 54 percent. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice won election to the 4th Congressional District seat now held by Democrat Carolyn McCarthy, who is retiring. She defeated Republican Bruce Blakeman, a former presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature. more

Last month, many readers of The New York Times were outraged to learn that columnist David Brooks’s son is serving with the Israel Defense Forces. more

The warning siren suddenly blared, and Rabbi Charles Klein, spiritual leader of the Merrick Jewish Centre, knew precisely what to do. Run. The siren, he said, “gave us 20 seconds to find a shelter.” Five seconds earlier, a Hamas rocket had pierced Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, which is capable of shooting down 90 percent of the rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Ten percent of Hamas rockets, however, make it through, as one did in late August, while Klein was touring Ashkelon, a city of 117,000 eight miles north of Gaza. Klein found shelter and survived the attack unscathed, but that moment of terror, he said, will remain with him for life. more

It’s summertime and the living should be easy, but we are being tossed by a tsunami of big-time bad news. more

New York’s governmental leaders took a quick trip to Israel last week to show that the state stands with Israel in its current conflict with Hamas. more

The first day of kindergarten may be around the corner for some Bellmore-Merrick preschoolers, but dozens have had an eventful summer at Camp Gan Israel, organized by Chabad of … more

News coverage of the month-long battle between Israel and Hamas has triggered strong reaction among readers of some daily newspapers, particularly The New York Times. more

The idea for “Little American Man,” a memoir by Lior Lampert, 17, of Merrick, came from a Lampert family Shabbat table conversation about a year ago. “We were talking about how, 12 years ago, I couldn’t even speak English, and now I’m going to college ... more

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave a concise summary of recent international events: “To put it mildly, the world is a mess." more

On July 22, the Federal Aviation Administration banned U.S. flights to and from Israel due to security concerns after a rocket fell near Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. more