_________________ WANTAGH ________________
HERALD Homecoming in Wantagh
New business welcomed
Women of the Bible
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Vol. 70 No. 43
oCToBER 20 - 26, 2022
$1.00
Chabad Center celebrates Sukkot By MICHAEl MAlASZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com
Michael Malaszczyk/Herald
RABBI SHIMoN KRAMER, center, and his wife Chanie, fourth from right, with their children, Mendel, Aizik, Leibel, Binyamin, Sarah, Mirel and Leah.
Not long after the holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the Jewish community of Long Island is celebrating another holiday — Sukkot, also known as Feast of the Tabernacles. Sukkot is a joyous holiday, filled with enthusiastic celebration. The Chabad Center for Jewish Life, which is in Merrick but has congregants from Wantagh and Seaford as well, kicked off the holiday on Sunday. Sukkot dates back to ancient Israel, when Jews built huts near Continued on page 2
Michael Kefer realizes dream of rescuing wild mustangs By MICHAEl MAlASZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com
As a child, Wantagh native Michael Kefer often dreamed about rescuing and training wild mustangs — and he’s been one of the few to actually make those ambitions come true. Kefer, who goes by the nickname Cowboy, is the owner of Black Crow Mustangs, a horse rehabilitation farm in upstate New Paltz. Kefer had been building horse fences for far ms upstate before he saw the opportunity to open his own horse farm two years ago. “I’ve wanted to rescue wild mustangs ever since I was a
kid,” Kefer said. “And as I got older, I just kept pushing it off and pushing it off.” Kefer’s love of horses at a young age started here on Long Island. He grew up in Wantagh and attended Wantagh Elementary School and Wantagh Middle School. His father had owned Mike’s Firehouse Pizza in Seaford for many years, so Kefer was connected to both Wantagh and Seaford. As a youth, he loved riding his bike to Jones Beach along Merrick Road, and said that when he was growing up, bridge jumping was a big thing in the area.
B
eing around horses made the transition easier. MICHAEl KEfER
owner, Black Crow Mustangs “ E ve r y b r i d g e t h at we crossed, we’d jump off real quick, then climb back up,” Kefer said, referring to the many small bridges that exist in Jones Beach State Park. “ T h a t ’s p r o b a b l y wh a t spurred my interest in taming
wild mustangs, because I’m still crazy apparently.” Everything changed, however, when his parents sold the pizzeria in Seaford and moved the family upstate. “We moved upstate right before I started high school,” Kefer said. “So that was rough — a bit of culture shock.” The move upstate was obvi-
ously difficult for a Long Islander like Kefer, but his saving grace was that he had been riding horses on Long Island as well. “I had been going to the Babylon Riding Academy since I was five,” Kefer said. “So when we moved upstate and my parents got the 100-acre horse farm, being around the horses made Continued on page 4