Bronx Jewish Center’s community seders FDNY ATTENDS VNNA MEETING
The Bronx Jewish Center
is offering two community
seder’s on Friday, April 19 and
Saturday, April 20 starting at
7:30 p.m .
FDNY Home Safety Deputy Chief Chuck Holzinger was the guest
speaker at the Van Nest Neighborhood Alliance Meeting on Monday,
April 1 at the Msgr. Fiorentino Apartments.
(Above, l-r) VNNA treasurer John Messenger, VNNA president Bernadette
Ferrara, FDNY Home Safety Deputy Chief Holzinger, VNNA
senior advisor Bob Nolan, VNNA secretary Marion Manfredi and
VNNA vice president Sharlene Jackson-Mendez.
Photo courtesy of Robert Press
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A BTR PRIL 12-18, 2019 69
The eight-day festival of
Passover is celebrated in the
early spring, from the 15th
through the 22nd of the Hebrew
month of Nissan, April
19 - April 27. Passover (Pesach)
commemorates the emancipation
of the Israelite’s from
slavery in ancient Egypt. Pesach
is observed by avoiding
leaven, and highlighted by the
Seder meals that include four
cups of wine, eating matzah
and bitter herbs, and retelling
the story of the Exodus.
After many decades of
slavery to the Egyptian pharaohs,
during which time the
Israelites were subjected to
backbreaking labor and unbearable
horrors, G-d saw the
people’s distress and sent Moses
to Pharaoh with a message:
“Send forth My people,
so that they may serve Me.”
But despite numerous warnings,
Pharaoh refused to heed
G-d’s command. G-d then sent
upon Egypt ten devastating
plagues, affl icting them and
destroying everything from
their livestock to their crops.
At the stroke of midnight of
15 Nissan in the year 2448 from
creation (1313 BCE), G-d visited
the last of the ten plagues
on the Egyptians, killing all
their fi rstborn. While doing
so, G-d spared the children of
Israel, “passing over” their
homes—hence the name of the
holiday. Pharaoh’s resistance
was broken, and he virtually
chased his former slaves out
of the land. The Israelite’s left
in such a hurry, in fact, that
the bread they baked as provisions
for the way did not have
time to rise. Six hundred thousand
adult males, plus many
more women and children,
left Egypt on that day and began
the trek to Mount Sinai
and their birth as G-d’s chosen
people.
Passover, celebrating the
greatest series of miracles
ever experienced in history, is
a time to reach above nature
to the miraculous. But how
are miracles achieved? Let’s
take our cue from the matzah.
Flat and unfl avored, it embodies
humility. Through ridding
ourselves of infl ated egos, we
are able to tap into the miraculous
well of divine energy we
all have within our souls.
Please RSVP to (718) 812-
1701 or by email to offi ce@
bronxjewishcenter.org. Reserve
quickly as seatijng is
limited.
The Bronx Jewish Center
is located at 1969 Haight Avenue.
BY GEORGE HAVRANEK
Cease and desist are words
we reserved for the fi nal outcome
of our ongoing battle
against the illegal parking
of tractor-trailers on the outskirts
of our community. As
the Spencer Estate Civic Association
works feverishly to
properly resolve this pesky issue
‘Cease and Desist’ takes us
down another path.
Cease and desist is a regulation
designed to protect homeowners
from unwanted
real estate solicitations by
telephone, mail, fl yers, door to
door, e-mail, text message or
any other direct means. Cease
and desist does not prevent a
homeowner from selling or
listing their home with a real
estate broker. Homeowners
within a C and D zone must
register to avoid all of the unwanted
solicitations. Despite
the desires of many communities
only select portions of the
Bronx, Queens, and Rockland
counties are covered under the
cease and desist regulation.
The Spencer Estate Civic
Association is perplexed and
disappointed to discover that
only a portion of our charming
community is within the
designated Cease and Desist
zone. The Cease and Desist
zone for the Bronx is all land
west of Eastchester Bay south
of Griswold Avenue to Bruckner
Expressway; then southerly
along Bruckner Expressway
to Layton Avenue; then
easterly to Eastchester Bay.
Simply stated, the Cease and
Desist zone includes the entirety
of Country Club and
only a portion of Spencer Estate.
The Spencer Estate Civic
Association fervently believes
the boundaries of the C and D
zone should be extended to include
the entirety of the Spencer
Estate community.
Great effort goes into proving
a need for Cease and Desist
designation. A community
must collect multiple
hundreds of unwanted real estate
solicitations as evidence
for presentation to the state. In
2016-2017, a multi-community
effort was launched by former
Senator Jeff Klein to secure
Cease and Desist status
for Country Club, Spencer Estate,
Waterbury-LaSalle, and
Throggs Neck. In 2017, based
on the provided evidence, only
Country Club and a portion
of Spencer Estate were designated
Cease and Desist zones.
It is implausible to suggest
that homes between Spencer
Drive and Griswold Avenue
were intensely bombarded
with unwanted real estate solicitations
while many desirable
homes in the adjacent
areas up to and including
Middletown Road did not follow
suit. This begs the question:
Is it plausible to suggest
that Griswold Avenue was selected
to create a convenient
linear east to west boundary
for Cease and Desist map
marking purposes? If so, inclusion
of that portion of Spencer
Estate in the C and D zone
could be unwarranted and
perhaps unethical. However,
we strongly believe New York
state agencies adhere to strict
ethical standards and would
not select an unwarranted demarcation
point for the ease
of map making. Based on the
high ethical standards of governance
in New York state, the
Spencer Estate Civic Association
believes excluding a portion
of our charming community
was an oversight; a simple
honest error that warrants
correction. In today’s political
environment the stroke of a
pen can turn a warehouse into
a high rise; that pen can easily
move a thin line an inch or
two on a map. It is our staunch
belief that the entirety of Spencer
Estate belongs in the C and
D zone. In this situation, inclusion
is the proper solution.
Community Footnotes:
From Pat Caruso and our
friends at Community Board
10: Mark your calendar: rain
or shine, Saturday, May 4 at
Orchard Beach Parking Lot,
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The NYC Department
of Sanitation will
hold a Safe Disposal event.
This is an opportunity to legally
and safely dispose of
pesticides, paints, automotive
fl uids, medications, electronics
and mercury containing
devices. Please note: only city
residential waste will be accepted.
The NYPD Summer Youth
Police Academy is one of several
innovative, effective programs
that the department
provides for young people in
New York City. The program
gives young individuals between
the ages of ten and 15
the opportunity to train with
police offi cers during the
summer, leading to positive
relationships between the Police
Department and the city’s
youth. For additional information
please call (718) 312-5079.
To help combat the recent
spike in social security related
scams, CB 10 and the Social
Security Administration
will hold an informative Town
Hall, Friday, April 26, noon to
2 p.m. at Fort Schuyler House,
3077 Cross Bronx Expressway.
Please call (718)-892-1161 to
register.
Looking for entertainment?
Turn back the clock and
join area resident Joe Milazzo
and the talented Belaires for
a night of oldies on Saturday,
April 13, 7 to 11 p.m. at Rivers
Edge. For reservations and additional
information call (914)
237-8923.
The next meeting of the
Spencer Estate Civic Association
is Wednesday, April 17,
7:30 p.m. at Knights of Columbus
(corner of Ampere and Research
avenues). Bronx DOT
Commissioner, Nivrado Lopez,
and Captain Thomas
Fraser along with offi cers
from the 45th Precinct are
our scheduled to address our
association. The diversity of
knowledge from this esteemed
group will hopefully bring
clarity to multiple community
related issues.
Any area homeowner or
renter interested in membership
to the all inclusive Spencer
Estate Civic Association
in box George Havranek on
Facebook or send-email with
subject matter Spencer Estate
to gghh55@aol.com. If
we want to ‘keep and reap the
blessings’ of our fi ne quality
of life ‘we must undergo the fatigue
of supporting it’.
Remember: ‘Inclusion
Brings Solutions.’
THE BRONX TIMES REPORTER
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT IS
CURRENTLY HIRING COLLEGE
INTERNS, WHO WILL RECEIVE
SCHOOL CREDIT AS
COMPENSATION.
IF INTERESTED,
CALL (718) 260-4593
link
/bronxjewishcenter.org
link