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What’s next for public water? Town appoints commissioners to newly formed South Shore district By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
Neil Miller/Herald
Snow play, all day Wantagh families and others stopped by Cedar Creek Park in Seaford on Sunday to sled down hills and play in the snow following last weekend’s storm. Wantagh received more than a foot of snow. More photos, Page 3.
On Jan. 25, it was announced that the Town of Hempstead had appointed John Reinhardt, Laura Ryder and Joseph Baker commissioners of the South Nassau Water Authority District Board. The decision brings South Shore residents who receive water from Liberty Utilities, previously know as New York American Water, one step closer to the creation of a public water authority, and with that, relief from high water rates. On Nov. 3, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the South Nassau Water Authority Act into law, provid-
ing a path for the public acquisition of the privately owned NYAW, which served approximately 113,000 residents of the Town of Hempstead. The utility is now controlled by Liberty Utilities, whose $608 million purchase of NYAW was finalized on Jan. 3. The town was required to appoint three people to the SNWA board. The other two board members must be appointed by the Nassau County Legislature. The deadline for those appointments was Tuesday, after the Herald went to press. Christopher Boyle, a spokesman for the county, said Monday Continued on page 9
Chabad Center for Jewish Life combats anti-Semitism By MARIA CESTERo mcestero@liherald.com
In the lead-up to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27, the Chabad Center for Jewish Life in Merrick hosted a special sermon, delivered by Rabbi Anchelle Perl, director of the Chabad of Mineola. International Holocaust Remembrance Day honors the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of the Nazi regime on the anniversary of the liberation of AuschwitzBirkenau. Perl, 68, was invited by Chabad Center’s Rabbi Shimon Kramer to give a sermon to chil-
dren deemed mature enough for a conversation about Anti-Semitism. The center has “karatestyle” levels, meaning that students work their way through Hebrew school at their own pace, according to Kramer. Those at the higher levels attended Perl’s sermon encouraging Jewish heritage and pride. “There’s a huge amount of ignorance out there,” Perl told the children. “The more you know about being Jewish, the stronger you are, and the less concern, or anxiety, or fear you may have of what someone else talks about.” Perl’s father, Holocaust survivor Zeida Moshe, survived three
concentration camps, including the Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen slave-labor and extermination camps. He was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp. In an effort to maintain a kosher diet, Moshe refused to eat the horsetails given to the prisoners of the camps. He survived by eating close-to-Kosher potato skins. Although he witnessed hate and horrible events, he dedicated his life to the teachings of Jewish heritage, Perl said. “He inspired us, even though he had seen with his own eyes such terrible things, to be tolerant and understanding to all Jewish and non-Jewish people,
and to spread what life is all about,” his son said. Inspired by his father and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Perl, who was born in England, left his home and moved to Mineola in 1974. As an emissary of Jewish heritage, he started his Chabad work in 1976. Comparing government actions of counter-
ing Anti-Semitism, Perl said he believed the U.S., and Long Island specifically, has made the best efforts to help people of Jewish heritage. Kramer, 47, the Merrick Herald’s 2017 Person of the Year, who invited Perl to talk to the older students, said he believes it’s important to teach younger Continued on page 20