The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Armonk Cover Stories

Filming in the Castles: Why Our Suburban Towns Appeal to Moviemakers

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Westchester County is increasingly being used as a location for television and film crews
Photo courtesy of Westchester County Tourism and Film

Shooting movies and television in New Castle and North Castle might be sparse, but the right to film in these suburban towns is strict.

Before residents hear “lights, camera, action!” in North Castle and New Castle, even big shot producers, directors and actors need to abide by town codes and receive the town’s blessing. Just like the average local Joe, people in show business need to respect local ordinances.

While there isn’t necessarily a large influx of camera crews coming to either New Castle or North Castle, the Westchester County Tourism and Film Office said there is a certain appeal to both towns.

What makes these towns a draw, Caputo said, is they can pass for almost anywhere. Suburban street, small-town centers and lush parks are always in demand.

“And both North Castle and New Castle have that and more,” Caputo said.

And while some residents might bemoan the occasional road closure or traffic delay due to filming, Caputo said most people in the vicinity of filming find it to be an exciting prospect that scenes from the big screen are being shot in their town.

“It makes the news and the social media rounds – so it is exciting. Also we are very fortunate that most producers and location managers are very sensitive to neighbors’ concerns,” Caputo said. “The last thing they want to do is to burn bridges and make it more difficult to film in the future, so they’re transparent about what they’re doing and when, and are willing to make adjustments and accommodations for neighbors – both residents and businesses – whenever possible.”

More Films Being Shot in the 914

Overall, there has been an uptick in film requests throughout the county, Caputo said. That trend is due to more productions being based in and around New York City and the reputation Westchester has earned as a convenient and “film friendly” location.

Film friendly doesn’t mean free rein, with municipalities requiring film companies completing an application that needs approval from town boards.

Filming in North Castle

North Castle town clerk Alison Simon, whose office handles filming requests, said in her four-year tenure, there are only 3-5 filming requests consistently each year. It can be a mixture from movies and television shows to shooting or even still photographing of commercials.

Most recently, the CBS television show FBI, created by Dick Wolf and Craig Turk that stars Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki and Jeremy Sisto, filmed in town.

Last year the Showtime series Escape At Dannemora, which is based on the upstate New York prison break where a married female prison guard helped two male inmates who she was having sexual relations with escape from Clinton Correctional Facility. That limited series starred Oscar winners Benicio del Toro and Patricia Arquette and Golden Globe nominee Paul Dano with Emmy winner Ben Stiller directing. The filming in town took place near the reservoir.

“By the time the application gets to the town board, it’s usually pretty well vetted,” Simon said.

Still, there are times residents aren’t happy with the filming if it’s occurring in their neighborhood. There is one Bedford residence in a quiet area that is a hot bed for film projects, which has a few bothered neighbors, Simon said.

Mostly though, strict parameters ensure residents won’t face much acrimony as a result of some filming.

“We work with the applicants and the neighbors to make sure that they’re all aware of what’s happening and make sure the applicant doesn’t start filming too early or stay too late so they will disturb neighbors as little as possible,” Simon said.

Filming in New Castle

In New Castle, the filming application is submitted to the Office of Town Administrator, which then sends it to the police department for a thorough review. Chief James Carroll said the department focuses on how the filming could affect traffic safety and flow and whether or not officers need to be hired and roads need to be shut down during filming.

During Carroll’s tenure with the department, he can’t recall a time where filming would be too intrusive that it would’ve been denied by the town board. Carroll said a few years ago there was a massive filming project that even rented out the Whippoorwill Country Club for staff and crew to stay between shoots. Most filming is done on private properties with equipment and trucks stationed on side roads. Officers are used to direct traffic, Carroll said.

The biggest celebrity that Carroll can recall coming to town is Jessica Chastain when she was shooting A Most Violent Year, which is a crime drama film from 2014.

Carroll estimates there are only a couple times a year filming is done in New Castle and typically, residents are more curious than annoyed when filming is done nearby. The town requires applicants to send a note letting neighbors in a 250-foot radius of the shoot know five days prior when the filming will take place so there are no surprises.

And even if a resident or two might be displeased, as Carroll said filming in town is “not on a regular basis.”

So the next time you spot a film crew or their van in the castles, know that they have been vetted thoroughly by your town board and if you are lucky, you may even spot a star or two.

Understanding Life After Suicide

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(L-R): Sean A. Mayer and Dr. Ashton

Dr. Jennifer Ashton from ABC News & GMA Shares her Experiences with Mental Health and Suicide at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center

We need to start looking at mental health and mental illness no differently than we look at physical conditions.

On Sept 26th, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, Ob-Gyn, ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent and Good Morning America (GMA) Medical Correspondent, met with members of our community to discuss her recently released book Life After Suicide: Finding Courage, Comfort & Community After Unthinkable Loss.

Westchester Mental Health Association (MHA) Board Member and mental health advocate Sean A. Mayer, who lost his brother to suicide several years ago, joined Dr. Ashton for this discussion; the latest in an ongoing series MHA has developed to educate the public about mental health.

The loss of a loved one to mental illness leaves unimaginable devastation. Ashton experienced this loss first hand in 2017. She pointed out that same year, over 47,000 Americans died by suicide. It is estimated that for every person who dies by suicide 135 people are directly affected. That means over 6 million people are impacted every year. Despite the enormity of this issue, she still felt very much alone.

Ashton and Mayer spoke of sadness, anger, guilt and how one is never prepared for suicide. Ashton’s world seemed to fall apart; she used the metaphor of a plate shattering to describe how she had felt. She was baffled by questions like: What did I miss? Was this my fault? She recalled others remarking: How could this happen; everything looked perfect? What is important to realize is that mental illness and suicide are complex issues and often not a reflection of what is seen on the outside.

As a survivor of suicide, the last thing Ashton wanted to do was to defend the father of her children during this difficult time. Suicide is misunderstood; many think of it as cowardice and selfish. She pointed out that it takes the antithesis of cowardice to take your own life. People who have attempted suicide explain that they were doing it for other people. They feel that they are a burden; that those they love would be better off without them. Mayer offered a helpful explanation that what people don’t realize is that the victim just wants the pain to end. People can’t wrap their brains around that, but it’s not selfish.

(L-R): Brian Halloran, Dr. Ashton & Jolina Halloran
Photos courtesy of Break the Hold Foundation
Ashton was proud of the emotional maturity with which her children viewed their father’s death. Her children felt their dad “had a disease like cancer and it killed him. They wouldn’t be angry with someone who died of cancer so how could they be angry with him?” They did not go down the “anger road,” and so she didn’t either. “When you think of mental illness as an illness no different than cancer, it certainly reframes it.”

Mental health and wellness should be looked at with equal importance to physical disease. Ashton referred to the phrase “check up from the neck up” and asked the audience when the last time their health provider inquired about their mental wellness? Similarly, she wonders how often friends and family inquire? “Until we (ask these questions) we are not going to accomplish as much in terms of prevention as we need to, to save people’s lives.” Ashton warns.

“If you have high blood pressure most people don’t have a problem taking a pill or going on a behavioral regiment to treat that. If you feel anxious, depressed or hopeless, there is help available… but we don’t ask for it…. Why? Because we look at it as a weakness. That must change.

We need to look at mental illness like depression and anxiety no differently than cancer or heart disease.”

Our Youth at Risk

Children, teenagers and young adults have poorly developed frontal lobes in their brains; judgement is not their strong suit. Hence, pediatric and adolescent suicides tend to be impulsive whereas adult suicide is often more methodical. Not only do children and teens have a biological explanation for their impulsivity but they also do not have the life experience to provide context to emotional distress. In addition, social media has opened a huge can of worms for the younger generation; cyberbullying is a big issue. We live in an increasingly complicated world. Awareness and support for those of all ages is needed now more than ever.

The strategy of not talking about suicide so the kids don’t find out about it is about as effective as not talking about sex and substance abuse. It’s not going to work to sweep this under the rug.

Lessons in Healing

Two mantras have been helpful to Ashton throughout the healing process: “If you resist, it will persist” and “If you want to heal you have to feel.” Ashton has reevaluated her focus on perfection, strength and accomplishment. She still wants to achieve her goals, but has learned that accepting flaws and allowing herself to feel pain, weakness and failure is what has enabled her to heal. Ultimately, the only option Ashton had was to glue the ugly, flawed pieces of her life back together. Ashton feels her “plate” is stronger now. She is still picking up the pieces, but she is no longer focused on external appearances and she knows she will be ok.

How Can You Help?

Open discussions like this are important in the fight against mental illness and suicide. Increased awareness is making a difference. Last year, New York State became among the first states in the nation to require schools to include mental health instruction in the K-12 health curriculum. Schools are now mandated to teach students skills they can use if they are facing a mental health issue or what to do if another student needs help.

Getting ahead of this mental health crisis is going to require a lot of compassion and nonjudgement. The stigma associated with mental illness is a huge barrier to the resolution of this highly treatable issue. Local resources, like the Break the Hold (BTH) Foundation of Pleasantville, are making strides by providing safe and accessible resources to those who need them. We know how to recognize and react to someone with asthma, allergies and many other medical concerns. Similarly, we need to arm everyone, including kids and teens, with the knowledge of how to identify the signs and symptoms of mental health issues and the skills to help someone in distress.

Special thanks to BTH (bthbreakthehold.org), MHA (mhawestchester.org) and The Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health (mentalhealth.westchestergov.com) for their work to reduce the risk of suicide in our communities. National Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-TALK, or text 741-741.

At Byram Hills High School, Scholars Think Globally

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Global Scholar students attend We Day for youth leaders at the Barclays Center –attendance by invite only

While STEM pursuits are enthusiastically encouraged these days, there are still students who love – and wish to find rigorous academic challenges – in the humanities. To better serve those students, a team of educators at Byram Hills High School has developed a three-year humanities track called Global Scholars. It’s research-based, and each year is “completely different,” according to program co-founder Duane Smith, chair of the English department for Byram Hills high school and middle school–grades 6 through 12. Smith designed and implements the Global Scholars program with Jennifer Laden, social studies chair, and Melissa Stahl, world languages chair.

This school year, 150 students will be involved with the Global Scholars program which is generously supported by the Byram Hills Education Foundation. “It really took off so quickly, and it said to us that this is something that is meeting a need,” Laden said. The three-year program starts with a seminar year that provides an overview of global issues. This first year is the most teacher-led while still emphasizing student-led learning, and most often taken by sophomores.

There are multiple entry points, though, so students can still join if they do a year or two of the program, although all first-year students in the program start at the beginning, with the seminar year. “We think year one is a great course for anybody,” Laden said, explaining that juniors and seniors are welcome to take the course.

(L-R): Isabelle Levy, Madison Gummer and
Ellie Margolin led a workshop on how
climate change affects human rights at
Iona College

A Focus on Global Competency Skills

From the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Smith and his colleagues developed three units for the first year of the program, in poverty, the environment and human rights. Students in the Global Scholars program find an area to explore more deeply within one of these three categories. “Within these units, we work on global competency skills,” Laden said, such as analyzing multiple perspectives, studying global issues and communicating ideas well.

“We want to expose the students to the problems facing this 21st century world and give them the preparation to do research, take action and communicate their ideas,” Smith said.

“The students are charged with choosing a topic that they are interested in,” Smith said, such as air pollution or sex trafficking in the U.S. The second year is the “action research” year. Much of this year is self-guided work by the students, and they learn time management while doing much work on their own in order to meet due dates. Students do independent research and “start to develop and implement an action plan,” Laden said.

Isabelle Levy’s area of interest is the lack of school supplies in Costa Rica, an area she said is considered to otherwise have a strong educational system. “I like that I can explore topics I wouldn’t get to explore in my other classes.” Levy, a senior at BHHS, said. Levy also enjoys the opportunity to do independent research. She has had a bake sale to raise funds and is currently selling bracelets and expects to assist La Escuela Balsaville in Costa Rica with a donation of hundreds of dollars so that school supplies can be purchased.

Student artwork exploring human rights
issues in Yemen

The Birth of the Program

Smith said the naissance of the Global Scholars program came from a conference at Harvard on global competency that he and some colleagues attended in the spring of 2016.

“Our mission was purposeful in that it was basically a charge from the former superintendent – he said the humanities were basically on the dark side of the moon and he wanted us to focus on the humanities. He wanted us to think big,” Smith said, adding that the current superintendent, Jen Lamia, has also been supportive of the endeavor.

Besides utilizing UN ideas, the teachers have drawn on sources such as the Asia Society, which offers a framework to guide those seeking to “understand the world through disciplinary and interdisciplinary study.” The Global Scholars program uses this framework to “guide the learning.” It has four parts: investigating the world, recognizing perspectives, taking action and communicating ideas. The third year of the program, that’s part of what students do: communicate their ideas to other students in the program, in part by leading workshops.

Creating Global Leaders

“The big goal is to develop leadership qualities, capacities and skills,” Laden said. Third-year students work as mentors for first- and second-year students to “put their leadership skills in action. Additionally, they will continue the action plan and see it through to fruition.”

“I really like it because it’s really different from the other classes,” Ellie Margolin, a senior at BHHS in her third year of the program, said. Margolin is focusing on water conservation issues in the U.S., originally inspired by an interest in the water issues in Flint, Michigan. But besides her personal area of study, Margolin said she has enjoyed the focus on discussion in the Global Scholars program, and also a trip she took with fellow students during her sophomore year to the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center at Iona College in New Rochelle, where they attended a variety of seminars on human rights issues.

The following year, as a junior, Margolin returned and with two other students, led a seminar on climate change. Margolin also said she enjoys the unconventional assessments employed in the Global Scholars program. “There’s always an audience that’s not just the teacher,” Laden said. Students have shown their work in a public art exhibition and entered podcasts in a contest sponsored by NPR. This way, it’s clear that work is being created for a broader impact – not just done for a teacher.

“Our sophomore class coming in is roughly 200 students and we have roughly 60 students who have signed up for the program,” Smith said. “That’s a huge testament to the need for a global competency program – and it’s a testament to the kids in the school who really want to make a difference. We’re thrilled that we’re tapping into something that’s an important part of the development of our students.”

“We’re continuing to work on it and reflect on what we do,” Smith said, with input from students as well as colleague-to-colleague. “We have to rely on a feedback circle.”  “It’s a great collaboration between professionals and we’re collaborating with the kids in developing the program,” Laden said. “They’re really creating the program as much as we are.” “I love the program,” Margolin said. “It’s absolutely amazing.”

Global Scholar students attending a Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center conference

In Armonk, Re-thinking College Admissions Success

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Bruni’s book will be part of the first community
book read event on October 17th

Armonk–and surrounding communities–is filled with residents who live there often because of the high quality of the school system. Parents and community members believe that Byram HIlls High School students are well-prepared in general for a competitive college application process. And they are right.

Last year, 68 percent of the Byram Hills graduating class was accepted into the top 11 percent of colleges in the country, according to the district website. These are schools identified by Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges as Tier 1, which is also called ‘most competitive,’ and Tier 2, referred to as ‘highly competitive.’ Yale, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Tulane are examples of schools recently ranked Tier 1, while schools that earned the Tier 2 designation recently include SUNY Stony Brook, the United States Coast Guard Academy and Baylor.

Partnering with Challenge Success

Yet, Byram Hills High School Principal Christopher Walsh does not think a student’s future is solely determined by his or her college acceptances–and he is not alone. That’s why the district entered into a partnership with Challenge Success, a nonprofit that partners with schools to “create a more balanced and academically fulfilling life for their kids.” Challenge Success seeks to help communities “embrace a broad definition of success,” and also help students engage with learning more. The program was generously funded by the Byram Hills Education Foundation (BHEF) and the Debra Leipman Yale Memorial Fund. The Debra Leipman Yale Memorial Fund is a fund within the BHEF that honors the life and memory  of Debra Leipman Yale, and supports initiatives that are consistent with her values. 

“Byram Hills is part of this little cluster of schools in the Westchester area that all partnered with us last year,” Jon Kleinman of Challenge Success said. “When schools do this in concert with their peers, it’s easier to make changes.” Kleinman said that Challenge Success works with schools to “identify where they want to make progress and help connect them to research, tools and ideas.”

Walsh, who attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), said the district is proud of its success in placing students in many competitive colleges, but he also thinks that there are many ways to become successful and start a fulfilling life without attending a top-tier school. For Walsh, attending USMMA “really came down to a financial choice,” he said, adding that “The more I looked into USMMA the more I realized I’d have great opportunities there. After I graduated I was commissioned as an officer in the Navy, I received a B.S. in marine transportation.” It was while traveling around the world that Walsh began seeing and thinking about the educational opportunities in different places, which eventually led him to graduate school at Harvard, he said.

Different Pathways to Success

“We’re trying to look at the overall student experience,” Walsh said. “We want to make sure we have everyone involved in the conversation about moving away from this idea about a single path to success” and “the idea that you need to have everything nailed down by December of senior year.”

Another way to go is to take a gap year after college, Walsh pointed out. “Some students have decided to take gap years and they report feeling much more prepared and not caught in the current of stress and anxiety,” Walsh said. Others decide to attend schools that may not be the most competitive institutions that have accepted them – an example, Walsh said, is a soccer player who was being recruited by Yale but chose to attend Ithaca. “I just heard from her,” Walsh said in early July. “She has an on-air internship with Fox Sports and she’ll be covering the World Cup.”

Part of choosing the right college is looking beyond name recognition, Walsh said, and to that end, college counselors at Byram Hills are expected to “know the students and know the best choices for them. There’s really an expectation that the college counselors should have an idea where the students should apply.”

Community Book Read Event on October 17

Students, parents and others who wish to be part of this conversation can participate in the first Byram Hills Community Book Read. The book is Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be, by New York Times columnist Frank Bruni. Bruni describes many high-achievers who flourished at less competitive colleges–and in many cases attribute their success to those institutions.

“It’s a book that’s really accessible to the community and it’s a great jumping-off point,” Walsh said. The book is recommended for students as an independent reading selection on the Byram Hills High School summer reading list this summer, and Walsh said, “We have had a number of students who have chosen to read it.”

On Thursday, Oct. 17 at 6 p.m., members of the steering committee that worked with Challenge Success will lead a discussion in the Byram Hills High School library. All community members are welcome to attend the free event.

Congregation B’nai Yisrael: Armonk’s Neighborhood Synagogue Celebrates 50 Years

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Rabbi Strom and Cantor Sugarman

When Douglas Krantz interviewed to become the rabbi at Congregation B’nai Yisrael in Armonk in 1979, he was 31 and in graduate school in New York City.

Sensing an undeniable connection to the congregation though, he ended up dropping out of school to become the CBY’s first full-time senior rabbi. Besides meeting his wife, he said leading CBY was the “best fortune of his life.”

Krantz ended up being the rabbi for 34 years. He loved how members were willing to question things and wanted to understand why the temple was doing things a certain way.

“Our major goal where we agreed instantly was that the role of the congregation was to nurture and raise the next generation of Jews,” Krantz said.

And CBY has accomplished that and much more as it celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The reform temple, which was founded by only a small handful of families in 1969, has thrived in Armonk for five decades, giving Jewish people in the community a true connection to their culture and religion.

Two founding members, John and Barbara Stern, still go to CBY and are pleased to see its growth.

Forming the Temple

The Sterns moved to Armonk in 1969. At the time, there was a Jewish community locally, but those that attended synagogue would go to one in Chappaqua for services. There was an idea of creating a school in town for Jewish children and possibly even starting a synagogue. Eventually, four to eight families started the small reform congregation.

The original name was the Association for Armonk Jewish Families.

As more families joined, there was a divide whether to simply be a school for youngsters or morph into a full-service congregation with most families opting for the latter, John Stern recalled.

The families would have services inside different homes and would also use different local churches, including a Lutheran Church in the late 1970s where CBY is now situated along Banksville Road after that Lutheran Church closed.

John Stern said his and other founding members’ goal was to see CBY become a strong pillar in the reform Jewish community.

“It was always the intention to grow along with Armonk,” John Stern said. “Community is an integral part of Jewish life. There’s a great drive to be together and be part of a community.”

Barbara Stern said it is thrilling to see the congregation evolve with younger leaders taking the reins. She stressed this growth is what she and her husband dreamt of.

Rabbi Strom Paves the Future for CBY

In 2015, the congregation welcomed Rabbi Joshua Strom as head rabbi. Strom lives in neighboring Chappaqua with his three young boys and wife Tali Ruderman Strom who works for UJA Federation. The family is actively involved in Northern Westchester Jewish life.

Strom said he really enjoys the CBY congregants and the rich history that exists at the synagogue. He wants the congregation to be the center of Jewish life for people through worship, education and putting those Jewish values into practice by taking social justice action within the community and world.

“There are so many ways to tap into Jewish life,” Strom said.

One way Strom represented Jewish values is when he appeared on the nationally televised game show earlier this year, Beat Shazam, which sees if contestants can name a song in only a couple of notes and is hosted by Jamie Foxx. The themed episode he was on was called “Keep the Faith” that featured other contestants from religious backgrounds.

Strom and his game show partner, Andrew, who is also a rabbi, won, but Strom said he thought it was more important to give people a clearer idea of what a Jewish leader can actually look like.

“Andrew and I don’t look like what a whole lot of people in America might think or assume a rabbi looks like,” he said. “I got a lot of comments from people in my congregation–not only was this super fun and wonderful–but especially with everything going on in our country and world today, people were saying ‘you being on television, this is actually good for the Jews. This is a good representation.”

Aaron Kwittken, who has been a congregation member for 11 years and started his tenure as temple president on July 1, said he thinks it’s important that Armonk and the rest of Northern Westchester has institutions where people feel enthusiastic and secure practicing Jewish values.

Come Be You at CBY: A Welcoming Synagogue

CBY has become a staple in the community, Kwittken said, because the synagogue is a “very welcoming, very inclusive environment.”

People who are interfaith or from the LGBTQ community are welcomed, Kwittken noted. Congregants are encouraged to “come be you” which initials are CBY, the synagogue’s acronym. Kwittken also lauded the current Rabbi, Joshua Strom, for his leadership.

“We’ve always had a modern mindset and a very forward looking, progressive attitude, it’s really helped us attract and maintain members for half-a-century now,” Kwittken said.

Kwittken said it’s rare for founding members, like the Sterns, to still be so deeply involved with the synagogue and it’s noteworthy that the temple has only needed three full-time senior rabbis in five decades.

“Not only does it make us rare, but it makes a treasure of northern Westchester,” he said.

It’s great to interact with a cross-generational group of people that Kwittken said he might not have met if not for the temple.

Rabbi Strom and Rabbi Krantz

Golden Anniversary Celebrations In the Works

To mark the 50th year, the temple will be celebrating the congregation’s founding members, including Rabbi Krantz, and will have notable speakers, including from The Union for Reform Judaism. Various other activities and programs are in the works, Kwittken said. A large gala was also held in April, honoring four families that represent the past and the future of the synagogue.

The temple’s executive director, Ava Saperstein, said she believes the synagogue has “turned a corner” and is on the “upswing.” In the last year, about 30 families have joined CBY, resulting in 340 families overall and many have children enrolled in the religious school.

There is also young clergy, like Rabbi Strom, with the temple that are still able to connect with older members, but can also relate to younger ones, Saperstein said.

Cantor Sugarman Joins the Clergy Team

Part of the youthful clergy members includes the temple’s new cantor, Lilah Sugarman, who started July 1. Before interviewing with CBY, Sugarman, who grew up in Los Angeles, had never heard of Armonk, but now she’s happy to call it home.

When she interviewed with CBY, she just knew, just like Rabbi Krantz had known decades earlier, it was the right fit for her.

“CBY has a really strong history of connecting the community to Judaism in very different ways,” she said. “I’m excited to continue to do that.”

Lifelong Learning at CBY

At CBY, the congregation stresses that Judaism is a lifelong journey that requires ongoing education and spiritual discovery.

“We discover the building blocks of Jewish life, explore our sense of selves in the context of our Jewish heritage, and apply the lessons and ethics of our Jewish people throughout our journeys,” CBY’s website states.

With that in mind, CBY offers learning opportunities starting in 3rd grade in preparation for a child’s bar/bah mitzvah. But the chance to better understand Judaism doesn’t stop there, with post confirmation courses for teens that’s focused on leadership and courses for adults to continue their Jewish journey.

The adult education program is accessible with different days and times for those members that want to pursue further learning. Rabbi Strom holds Torah study several times a month, including every Saturday morning from September to June.

He’ll even travel to New York City one Wednesday a month for a class called Times Square Torah for those congregation members that work in the city.