Dear Readers,

Every year we eagerly await summer, then it flies by way too quickly. The good news is that there are still many events to look forward to before summer’s end. ENCORE, our community’s annual talent show, promises to be better than ever. The Deal Sephardic Network is having Olympic tournaments; and the Sephardic Food Fund is throwing a barbecue with live music and a Chinese Auction for our community’s young adults.

Last month, dozens of community members gathered for the Jesse Dweck Bike-a-Thon to ride and raise money for The Jesse Dweck City Learning Center which teaches Torah and provides students with a sense of belonging.

Elliot’s Legacy held their annual kite flying fundraiser to benefit lung cancer; Table...Set...Go was something completely different from the usual summer fun. Eighteen women created beautiful table settings for Rosh Hashanah, Shavuot, Mother’s Day, Shabbat and other special occasions, all proceeds went to the Morris I. Franco Cancer Center; a scavenger hunt was held to raise money for the Sephardic Food Fund and there was a walk-a-thon to benefit SBH in honor of young Jherin Gorcey A”H.

The Sephardic Bikur Holim recently made community member Roz Cohen’s dream come true by opening Home Central, a store where community members can go to get gently used furniture. Roz knew that the SBH provided food, jobs, health care and even housing for community members—so why not couches? It took three years, but Home Central was finally created.

This is our Back To School issue. Although the summer isn’t quite over, school will start before you know it. We have tips on school supplies, new clothes, carpools, how to beat the back to school blues and why school uniforms may be an excellent idea for our yeshivahs.

The Special Children’s Center is doing wonderful things for the children who need them. Ezra Friedlander wrote a tribute to little Lieby Kletzky A”H. We have tips on how to keep your children safe and what to do, if G-d forbid, you can’t find them, and Councilman David Greenfield created Lieby’s Law to ensure such a senseless tragedy never occurs again.

Councilman Greenfield toils diligently to keep our community safe and get money for our yeshivahs. We must vote as a community for other politicians like him who have our best interests in mind.

Did Obama divide the Jews? Writer Dovid Efune thinks so. The Angel of Debt, Norman Balassiano, explains the difference between good debt and bad. Find out why martial arts may be the perfect exercise for you and your children. And learn about Shoof.com, a company that offers amazing coupons to our community.

Enjoy!