It’s well known that Chazaq events are always eagerly anticipated and well attended.  But no one could have predicted the massive outpouring of support and enthusiasm that was generated for their sixth Annual Chazaq Big Event on July 15th.  

An estimated 2,000 people from all walks of life streamed into Elite Palace in Woodside all night long and were treated to a truly inspirational evening. This event wasn’t merely ‘Big’.  It was truly HUGE and a tremendous kiddush Hashem! 

Chazaq is a Queens-based organization dedicated to building a stronger future for their community through a variety of outreach programs including dynamic lectures and presentations, Torah libraries, chavruta programs, publications and more. Most importantly, CHAZAQ places much emphasis on inspiring Jewish students who attend public schools by providing exciting and educational after school programs in numerous locations.  

Under the leadership of Rabbi Ilan Meirov, Chazaq has a dedicated staff along with a board of directors that encourage us to strengthen ourselves while looking for ways to inspire others. 

Sunday’s mega-event was star studded in every sense of the word. There was tremendous energy in the room, but also a sincere desire for Torah inspiration. Men and women of all ages filled the Grand Ballroom and remained captivated and attentive throughout the program. Despite the overflow crowd, the event was organized and well planned. Dozens of volunteers ushered the guests to their seats, managed the flow of traffic, and ensured a successful evening.  

The evening opened with tehillim recited by Rav Ahron Walkin Shlit”a, Rosh Yeshiva of Chazaq’s Bais Nosson Meir. 

Chazaq Operations manager R’ Yaniv Meirov then shared great updates of Chazaq’s work especially with in their outreach work with Jewish public school students having officially transferred an astounding 400 students to yeshiva in less than two years time, leading to a thunderous applause by the audience.

Then Chazaq rolled out the red carpet for Charlie Harary, the first of the four featured speakers, who has been a repeat speaker at Chazaq events, each time revealing a bit more on his life and how it connects to the empowerment theme.

“We were in our eyes as grasshoppers, and so we were in theirs” describing the sin of the spies in the Sinai desert. 

As a teenager, Harary played in his school’s basketball team and did not regard himself as the star player. But his coach sensed potential in him, ordering Harary to take the last shot of a big game. “The coach is wrong, you’re totally going to miss,” Harary thought to himself at the time. He passed the ball to an unsuspecting teammate and the game was lost.

“It’s ok to feel nervous but have the decency to believe in me because I see something in you that you did not see in yourself,” his coach told him after the game. At age 65 with 40 years of experience in the game, the coach reminded Harary to have confidence. 

“All of us have challenges. The purpose is to grow through our challenges,” said Harary. “Who told you that you can’t? Why are we punishing ourselves?”

Rabbi Eli Mansour touched on the matter of the two and a half tribes that sought land across the Jordan River, as it relates to building a Makom [place of] Torah. Having seen Chazaq grow over the past 12 years, he described its work as building a Makom Torah in Queens. “Chazaq brought hundreds of students from public schools to yeshivot… It is a buoy in turbulent waters.”

Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson began his speech with a Talmudic line, citing Taanis 29b as the explanatory source for Tisha b’Av. “The spies inculcated them with dread and fear. They were terrified by the message of the spies. God was teaching the Jews about the consequences of learned hopelessness.”

“Whether you believe that you can or whether you believe that you can’t, you’re right,” said Rabbi Jacobson. Relying on some of his well-known humor, he taught the audience a few Yiddishisms, and a couple of anecdotes. A man who accidentally was locked inside a frozen meat train car was found at the destination to be suffering of hypothermia. But the refrigeration was not turned on, he simply believed that it was. 

Another story he pulled out was the origin of actor Zero Mostel’s name. Born Samuel Joel Mostel, he was told in his youth that he would amount to a zero. But instead the pursued his ambitions to act and adopted the nickname as a reminder of how far he had risen from those days when he was called a zero.

After a brief vocal performance by Israeli chazan Yosef Chaim HaCohen, R’ Yaniv Meirov joined him in welcoming Rav David Yosef, son of Rav Ovadia Yosef zatzal, to Queens. He was accompanied by Bukharian Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yisraeli and Chazaq Director Rav Ilan Meirov. Warming up the stage for the special guest, Rabbi Yisraeli spoke first. “I’ve been working with the Buhkarian community for 20 years. Nowadays we have 40 or 50 synagogues in Queens and they’re all full. We opened a kollel of Even HaEzer to learn dayanut in Queens. Five years later, we are established and building future leaders”. Like the guest speaker, he was a longtime talmid of Maran Ovadia Yosef.

Rabbi David Yosef fittingly concluded the evening by bringing the conversation back to the upcoming Tisha B’Av. “We have to cry when we recite Eicha, but unfortunately most people don’t cry.”

“Imagine the Moshiach arriving now” he asked the audience how they would respond. “Moshiach, now? But we just got a new home!!?” 

Because of that we are sitting on Tisha b’av and not crying. It is an exile of shechina, exile of kedusha.”

An example of sinat chinam that led to the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash was in Betar, Rabbi Yosef noted. The city was a religious one, but its people regarded Jerusalem as competition. “When Jerusalem was destroyed, Betar celebrated.” Fifty years later, that city was also in ruins at the hands of the Romans.

In the materialistic world that we live in, Rabbi Yosef urged the audience to remember the spiritual reality around us that was lost and yearn for its restoration. He proudly stated that he is part of Chazaq’s revolution in inspiring hundreds of public school students and urged everyone else to join Chazaq’s work as well.

It was a poignant conclusion to an incredible evening, especially meaningful as we enter the solemn day of Tisha b’av.  Thanks to Chazaq, we will continue to be inspired to build a stronger future for ourselves, our families, and the community at large.