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Overcast Hewlett-Woodmere board, parents wrangle over adding Eid holidays to school calendar
Since 2017, Muslim parents and students in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District have asked that the Board of Education consider adding two Muslim holy days, Eid al Fitr and Eid al Adha, to the school calendar. The days are now recognized by 22 districts across Long Island.
Giving back, gifting Hanukkah toys in Hewlett
Before the roughly 200 families strode through the Stewart Avenue entrance of the Mark Ramer Chesed Center at the headquarters of the Leon Mayer Fund in Hewlett, Gabriel Boxer, who heads Kosher Response, a charitable program founded by the Hewlett resident, obtained up to eight pallets full of toys, West Hempstead resident Sam David, who runs King Contracting had his trucks pick up the toys and then volunteers readied the toys for distribution on Nov. 21.
Hewlett-Woodmere students serve lunch at St. Mary’s Hospital
Hewlett High School students Rachel Halpert, a junior, and freshmen Sam Abramovich, David Kushnirsky and Ethan Silver, along with Woodmere Middle School students Ben Abramovich, Shayna Silver and Sophia Abramovich spent Nov. 11 serving lunch to staff at St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park. Keyfood in Valley Stream donated the food.
Spreading the Hanukkah light of holiness
Although a relatively minor festival in the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah has become one of our most popular celebrations. It touches on many wonderful themes – religious freedom, fighting evil, the rededication of our Temple, the spreading of light.
The good guys beat the odds
There is a passage included in the Hanukkah liturgy which recalls the Maccabean victory and thanks God for the miracle of delivering “the strong into the hand of the weak, the many into the hand of the few… and the wicked into the hand of the righteous.”
Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett recalls past, looks to the future
A huge swath of the outside play area was covered with folding chairs, the basketball hoop poles were decorated with balloons and the dais ran half the length of one side as Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett, an Orthodox Jewish boys only school, celebrated a groundbreaking of a new building and the street dedication for its founder on Nov. 21.
Welcome to the Gural JCC school fair in Lawrence
Seven area private Jewish schools elementary schools, including a few that have upper levels, took part in the Marion and Aaron Gural JCC’s first-ever Elementary School Fair on the Harrison-Kerr Family Campus in Lawrence on Nov. 18.
St. John’s Hospital feeds patients, families for Thanksgiving
More than 80 patients and their families received an array of food items for Thanksgiving meals donated by employees of St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway. Turkey, chicken, ham, potatoes, rice, vegetables, stuffing mix, gravy, macaroni and cheese, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, desserts and utensils were in the decorated baskets.
It’s a blessing of a Thanksgiving in the Five Towns
Volunteers in the Five Towns have teamed up with organizations such as Gammy’s Pantry, a food pantry in the Five Towns Community Center in Lawrence, Rock and Wrap It Up! Of Cedarhurst, Island Harvest and the Manna Project of Long Island to help those in need this Thanksgiving, after the coronavirus pandemic heightened food insecurity in the area in 2020.
Inwood woman charged with assault
An Inwood woman is charged with assault after allegedly attacking a person with a knife at 5:40 p.m. in Inwood on Nov. 26, according to police.
HAFTR Highlights
Spiriting through Hawk pride and Open House
Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School joined together for another extremely eventful week. With the school year under way, classes are progressing, extracurricular activities are sprouting, sports teams are back on the court, and school spirit is building.
Second noose found in Hewlett, $30,000 reward being offered
For the second time in the past three months, a noose, a symbol of hatred and racism, was found at the work site shared by National Grid and PSEG Long Island at 455 Mill Road in Hewlett. The noose was discovered on Nov. 22. One was also found in September.
Editorial
UBS Arena is a win-win for Long Island
The social media posts generated by Long Islanders at the very first Islanders game at the new UBS Arena came fast and furious on Saturday, showing an excitement not seen since the Islanders’ four straight Stanley Cup wins in the early ’80s.
Op-Ed
I didn’t have a disability. Our institutions do.
After watching a boring sci-fi movie, I stared at the blinking orange hand signal outside the Lynbrook movie theater, waiting to cross heavily trafficked, four-lane Peninsula Boulevard.
Hewlett Harbor installs cameras, license plate readers
To provide greater security to its residents, Hewlett Harbor installed six cameras and the same number of license plate readers in an effort to created what village officials called a “virtual gated community.”
Bronx man arrested for weapon in Inwood
A Bronx man found to have a loaded gun was arrested after a car stop in Inwood at 11:11 p.m. on Nov. 21, Nassau police said.
Editorial
LIRR, NICE Bus move toward greener future
The Long Island Rail Road and Nassau Inter-County Express Bus are making significant strides to reduce their carbon footprints, with the LIRR testing battery-powered trains . . .
Randi Kreiss
Year of wonder, one Thanksgiving to the next
Last Thanksgiving we dined alone. I’m remembering an over-roasted turkey leg with a side of anxiety for me . . .
Scott Brinton
Recalling two failed coups that will live in infamy
"The Event,” a 2015 found-footage documentary by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, opens with black-and-white images of mostly men marching in August 1991 through the streets of Leningrad . . .