_________________ WANTAGH ________________
CoMMuNIty uPDAtE Infections as of March 22
2,140
Infections as of March 15 2,077
$1.00
HERALD
Private pre-K opens new location
An opening win for Wantagh
A visit from the ‘book fairies’
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Vol. 69 No. 13
MARCH 25 - 31, 2021
Restaurants get boost in capacity Restrictions continue to lift as more residents are vaccinated By JENNIfER CoRR and BRIAN StIEGlItZ jcorr@liherald.com, bstieglitz@liherald.com
Courtesy Wantagh School District
Sharing messages of kindness Students in the Kindness Club at Forest Lake Elementary School, in Wantagh, partnered with Laura Capozzi, the school’s art teacher, to create a “kindness mural” in the lobby of the school.
Starting last Friday, maximum capacity for indoor dining rose to 75 percent in Nassau County. For restaurants in Wantagh and Seaford, this meant not having to turn away as many customers and, for some, cutting the tape that for months has closed off certain tables and dining sections. As restrictions continue to lift, restaurant owners spoke with the Herald about their experiences with capacity limits and what they hope to see in the coming months.
“We were pretty excited, first off,” said Abraham Lahood, the manager of Dang BBQ in Seaford, which opened three months before the pandemic began last March. “We’ve gotten about 10 more seats in the restaurant, which has allowed us to hire more staff and just overall benefit the whole restaurant. This past Saturday [we] felt like a real restaurant again, to be honest.” Lahood added that more employees are getting inoculated, and that’s helping the restaurant avoid the scheduling conflicts and “staffing nightmares” that arise when someone is exposed to Covid-19 and has to Continued on page 3
Celebrating the pandemic’s second Passover By JENNIfER CoRR jcorr@liherald.com
Leah Hartman, of Seaford, and her family saw their house go up in flames after a five-alarm fire spread from the first to the second floor and then the attic on Feb. 17. They’re expecting to be displaced for eight months to a year. “I have to say, even though it’s really hard, I don’t know what I would do without my Congregation Beth Tikvah family,” Hartman said, referring to the Wantagh synagogue. “They have been very, very supportive, generous and kind in terms of their love and compassion towards me and
my family.” Faith has helped some families in Wantagh and Seaford deal with the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. For Jewish families, this will be the second Covid-restricted celebration of Passover. The holiday will begin on Sunday. “This Passover will be a very different one from last year,” Hartman said. “We are going to our family, my husband’s sister and my sister-in-law, in Brooklyn. We’ll be spending part of Passover in Brooklyn with them, so we’ll be blessed to have them.” The Hartmans’ temporary three-bedroom apartment will be prepared for the holiday as well.
t
his Passover will be a very different one from last year.
lEAH HARtMAN
Beth Tikvah congregant Members of Congregation Beth Tikvah are more likely to observe Passover Seders with their extended families this year because of the availability of Covid vaccines, while some will limit their observances to their immediate families at home, according to Rabbi Dr. Moshe
Pinchas Weisblum. Congregant Jo-Ann Hertzman, of Wantagh, said that she and her husband planned to hold a Seder on FaceTime with their two sons, who live in Manhattan and whom she hasn’t seen in a year. While she misses them, she said, she is thankful to be able to connect with them virtually. Beth Tikvah will offer congre-
gants the choice of attending inperson or virtual services, depending on their level of comfort. Last year there was no inperson service, and the congregation was adjusting to holding virtual events because of the rising number of Covid-19 cases. “Last year was horrible,” Weisblum said. “We did everyContinued on page 3