By Dina
On behalf of my neighbors and myself, I’d like to thank Junior N’shei for the Hakhel initiative of “Hello Neighbor.”
Additionally, we’d like to give a huge thanks to Rabbi Michoel Seligson for his words of inspiration. We all took life lessons from the discussion of Pesach Sheini, Lag B’omer and Hakhel.
My neighbor and I have discussed making a block shiur in the past, but the Hakhel initiative really motivated and pushed us to bring our idea into fruition. Last week, we hosted the first gathering on this block for women ever!
25 women from all over the world, Australia, South Africa, Belgium and Argentina gathered to socialize and learn with Rabbi Seligson. Women who’ve been living on the block for 10, 15, and even 20 years were being introduced for the first time ever.
I’ve lived on my block for four and a half years and only knew a handful of the neighbors; however, I always assumed that the other neighbors, especially the ones that have been living there for longer, definitely knew all the neighbors. And boy, was my assumption wrong!
Thank you Junior N’shei for building a sense of community in our bigger community of Crown Heights.
The positive feedback from all the women encourages us to continue the block gatherings monthly! We are all excited and looking forward to building and fostering our own small block community!
thank you!