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Rabbi Alvin Kass

Rabbi Alvin Kass, ‘soul of NYPD,’ longtime police chief chaplain, dies at 89

Rabbi Alvin Kass Rabbi Emeritus Dr. Alvin Kass was the spiritual leader of East Midwood Jewish Center for 36 years until his retirement in 2014. He was a former head of the New York Board of Rabbis. Rabbi Kass was a chaplain for the New York City Police Department (NYPD) since 1966 and was the longest serving chaplain in department history. Rabbi Kass was inducted into the BJHI Brooklyn Jewish… Read More »Rabbi Alvin Kass, ‘soul of NYPD,’ longtime police chief chaplain, dies at 89

Phillip and Leonard Lopate and a photo of their mother Fran Lopate, spokesmodel for Levy’s Rye. Photo by Andrew Silverstein

How a Jewish mother from Flatbush became America’s most recognizable Italian on TV

How a Jewish mother from Flatbush became America’s most recognizable Italian on TV For Levy’s Rye and Alka-Seltzer, you didn’t have to be Italian to play Italian — and Fran Lopate definitely wasn’t Phillip and Leonard Lopate and a photo of their mother Fran Lopate, spokesmodel for Levy’s Rye. Photo by Andrew Silverstein By Andrew Silverstein August 7, 2025 Fran Lopate, a 53-year-old former Garment District worker and Jewish mother of… Read More »How a Jewish mother from Flatbush became America’s most recognizable Italian on TV

BJHI Hall of Fame

JBS Film on BJHI Hall of Fame 2023

Good News!! JBS-TV will be broadcasting our BJHI Brooklyn Jewish Hall of Fame Class of 2023 evening:Friday, August 9th – 4:00am & 1:00pmSaturday, August 10th – 8:00pm

Israel Flag

2024 Brooklyn Jewish Torchbearers Award

     BJHI Salute to Israel Click This Link to RSVP  to attend the 2024Brooklyn Jewish Torchbearers Award Ceremony at theEast Midwood Jewish Center on  April 3, 2024 at 6 pm. Brooklyn Region Hadassah Brooklyn Region Hadassah is being honored for their work in creating and continuing its health care agenda. In the early 20th Century Brooklyn hospitals were organized around the idea of healthcare for women. Henrietta Szold, who… Read More »2024 Brooklyn Jewish Torchbearers Award

Brookjlyn's Largest Menorah

Largest Menorah in Brooklyn

The Largest Menorah in Brooklyn has been towering over New York since 1985 and is a must on everyone’s calendar, Jews and non-Jews alike. Every night of Chanukah, thousands celebrate with the accompaniment of live music and latkes for all. With the assistance of a 60-foot boom lift, Rabbi Shimon Hecht, accompanied by community leaders, philanthropists and special guests light Brooklyn’s Largest Menorah. Learn more on the Chabad of Park Slope website.… Read More »Largest Menorah in Brooklyn

Ani Maamin - Shlomo Carlebach

Ani Maamin – Shlomo Carlebach Feat. Eli Levin

The iconic Shlomo Carlebach and contemporary singer Eli Levin join together in an unforgettable music video transporting viewers to the streets of Jerusalem where the eternal promise of redemption hovers tantalizingly in the air. https://youtu.be/NwHO7Gpf0mI?si=Y1Y1xB4p_LOm_mOs BJHI Brooklyn Jewish Hall of Famer Cecelia Margules wrote this song for Reb Schlomo Carlebach. Margules and Danny Finkelman produced this video and BJHI’s music video, BROOKLYN with Nissim Black.

The Hon. Abraham Gerges

Council Members Past and Present Discuss Issues Then and Now

Steve Levin by Claude Scales on November 1, 2013 2:29 pm in Brooklyn History, Events, Government, Other Brooklyn The present–Steve Levin (photo above)–and past three–The Hon. Abraham Gerges (photo below),  Ken Fisher, and David Yassky–who have represented City Council District 33, which includes Brooklyn Heights, were in the Moot Court Room at Brooklyn Law School Tuesday evening for a panel discussion moderated by Brooklyn Law Professor David Reiss. The moderator opened the discussion by asking each panelist what was… Read More »Council Members Past and Present Discuss Issues Then and Now

Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Brooklyn Heights

Saving Abraham’s Children – Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum 

This article, by Suzanne Spellen, was published by the Brownstoner,  Sep 13, 2012. In 1878, a group of German Jewish philanthropists gathered at Temple Beth Elohim on Kean Street to do something to protect and shelter Jewish orphans. Before that time, Brooklyn’s Jewish orphans were being taken care of by the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of New York, in Manhattan, in an orphanage on East 77th St. In 1878,… Read More »Saving Abraham’s Children – Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum 

Henry "Hank" Sapoznik

Henry “Hank” Sapoznik

A pioneering scholar and performer of klezmer music, Sapoznik was the first director of the Max and Frieda Weinstein Archives of Recorded Sound at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, from its founding in 1982, until 1994. As an outgrowth of that work, in 1985 Sapoznik started “KlezKamp: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program”, the world’s most important training venue for practitioners of this nearly lost art and, in 1994, founded the Yiddish arts… Read More »Henry “Hank” Sapoznik