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Vol. 74 No. 8
FEBRUARY 19 - 25, 2026
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Offer of free heart screening draws a crowd grams, or EKGs, which record the heart’s electrical activity, followed by heart sound analyWith the aim of leading sis. District Superintendent healthier lives and possibly Adele Pecora described the day heading off medical problems, as a powerful example of the nearly 200 young people from district’s community spirit at Seaford and neighboring com- the Board of Education meetmunities received comprehen- ing three days later. sive heart screenings at Seaford “Saturday was an example Middle School earliof the Viking effect er this month in action,” Pecora through Heart said, referring to Screen New York, a the district’s theme partnership among of emphasizing the Louis J. Acomhow small acts can pora Memorial have big impacts. Fo u n d a t i o n , t h e “We still tested 198 Dominic A. Murray students, and we 21 Memorial Founidentified two studation and the dents that needed school district. further testing, Despite frigid which is really the weather, families purpose of that.” turned out in large When concerns numbers to receive lAURA MEtzdoRFF- arose, cardiologists free cardiac screen- RIVERA administered echoings on Feb. 7. Parcardiograms to crePresident, Seaford ticipants ages 12 to ate images of heart Wellness Council 24 moved through a structure and funcnumber of screention. Participants ing stations set up in the school also learned cardiopulmonary gym. After filling out medical resuscitation and how to use history forms, they were mea- automated external defibrillasured for height and weight and tors before receiving copies of underwent blood pressure their screening results to share checks. with their own doctors. Medical professionals then The program, organized by administered electrocardio-
By lUKE FEENEY
lfeeney@liherald.com
I
Courtesy Jeffrey Gale
Rabbi Jeffrey Gale, holding book, released “A Human Rights Odyssey” last May, which he described as a “Martin Luther King-type of a novel,” about civil rights, that draws on his own life.
Rabbi reflects on human rights, personal experience in new book By lUKE FEENEY lfeeney@liherald.com
When Rabbi Jeffrey Gale stood before his Wantagh congregation in September 2001, he was facing what he called an “extraordinary situation.” “Happened, what, 25 years ago, and it was a, it was a, it was a peculiar time,” Gale, 72, said in an interview with the Herald, reflecting on leading Suburban Temple — now Temple B’nai Torah — in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks. “I would like to define myself as an ordinary rabbi that was thrust into an extraordinary situation and had to respond.” Gale served the Wantagh synagogue from 1998-2009. Like many Long Island communities, Wantagh was home to commuters who worked in Manhattan. In the immediate
aftermath of the attacks, Gale and his staff scrambled to organize a memorial service to comfort a shaken congregation — before they even knew whether they had lost anyone. “We had to have some kind of a memorial service,” he said. “The purpose again, was to comfort the congregation as best we possibly can.” They reached out to members, checked in with families whose loved ones had not come home, and gathered the community in prayer. The congregation lost one member in the Sept. 11 attack. Gale declined to share the individual’s name, citing confidentiality. In the wake of the tragedy, he led multiple memorial services, including one attended by roughly 1,000 people. Presiding over the burial after remains were recovered, Gale COntinued On pAGe 5
t really showed the values of our community coming together and doing something good.
COntinued On pAGe 11