In the mid-2000s I lived on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, at the corner of 80th and Amsterdam. Giuliani’s New York, which was characterized by aggressive policing of low-level crimes, was well scrubbed and largely entirely safe for a woman to walk alone at night. A twinkly-lighted Upper West Side was captured by Nora Ephron in her 1998

“Mommy, are people still wearing masks?” This was the first question our youngest son asked when he got off the bus this past week after a few weeks in the protected “bubble” of a shortened Camp Mesorah summer season. Unfortunately, we had to tell him the answer was yes, we are all still wearing masks.

It’s been an astounding, shocking, frightening 157 days. Daf Yomi learners began Masechet Shabbat, the second book in the 14th Daf Yomi cycle, on March 8. Let’s just pause a second to let that date sink in.

On March 8, 2020, our shuls and schools were open and vibrant. We didn’t wear masks, unless

Last week, Teaneck resident and mom Margot Kagan was assaulted at the Staples store in Hackensack, when she asked a fellow store patron to pull her mask up onto her nose and mouth.

A cancer survivor and an immunocompromised liver transplant recipient, Kagan’s leg was broken after she was pushed to the

I have long felt that in addition to being a talmid chacham, the next best and most critical quality for a rabbi to have is the ability to be a skilled counselor to the many individuals and families who walk through a rabbi’s door. I have also long believed that all rabbis must have some type of degree, certificate or real training in

As day camps enter their second week, and some of our community’s children head off to sleepaway camps, we pray that each day will bring us only smiling photos and glowing reports of our children. We relish our children’s intense relief at getting the chance to let off the pent-up steam of this unexpected four-month lockdown.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), founded in 1998 by former Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson, is an organization that has done a singular and exemplary service to today’s Jewish community. It has created a working definition of anti-Semitism (

Some leaders are born, not elected.

Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin has served on Teaneck’s town council for 12 years, and is finishing his eighth year as Teaneck’s mayor.

For our friend Mohammed, what began as community service turned into a display of

In my 20s and early 30s, before I had kids tumbling in, metaphorically—and sometimes actually—clanging cymbals and shaking me awake before I had time to properly get up, I used to think of three things I was grateful for, before I started my day. It was an idea that I had heard someone suggest on a radio station several thousand moons

The coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns and stay-at-home orders upended life as we know it. Yet, as always, our community pulled together. Now, as we slowly emerge from our homes and move toward our “new normal,” we at The Jewish Link have brought on a special cohort of summer interns, who will work remotely to help document our rebirth and renewal in the

It seems that the more letters we print this summer, the more we receive the following week. For now, we are continuing our policy of printing as many letters as we can, provided they are, in broad terms, fact-based, congenial and respectful. We certainly don’t welcome or allow letters that are slanderous or would qualify as lashon hara

It was a spring none of us expected. Our young graduates, poised to catapult to the next stages of their lives and educations, certainly never imagined completing every credit and assignment online, hardly glimpsing a teacher in person over these last three months.

We are sure they also never imagined