TYH Nation / Thank You Hashem

This restaurant in Boro Park has no cash register. Nobody pays at Masbia. Every night, people in need sit down to a real dinner, and families can also take home grocery packages. One summer evening, a mother pulled out her children's homework and did it right there at the table after dinner, instead of rushing home. That was when the team knew they had succeeded. On its first night, Masbia served about five people. Over 20 years later, it serves millions of meals every year. Anyone can hand someone a meal. Alexander and his team serve it the Boro Park way, "as if they were your family." The Rambam says to give the poor person your fattiest cut of meat. At Masbia, they do.

What did a small Boro Park shul do while shuls were burning in Germany? In 1938, during Kristallnacht, the members of Shomrei Emunah held a rally in support of President Roosevelt, who was trying to help the German Jews. The shul, on the corner of 14th Avenue and 52nd Street, goes back to 1907, when only a few Jews lived in Boro Park. Its members established one of the first yeshivas in the neighborhood and were instrumental in building Maimonides Hospital. From this shul, Rav Yaakov Pollak led secret missions in Soviet Russia to save the manuscripts of the Gaon of Poltava, author of a commentary on the Talmud Yerushalmi, and bring them to America. Today Boro Park has hundreds of shuls. This little, unassuming building was one of its cornerstones.

Hats of Yona is less about what goes on your head and more about what is going on inside it. Made in Israel, each hat uses color, symbols, and old styles of headwear to bring a little of the neshama on the inside to the outside.

Boro Park was named by an antisemite. His name was William Reynolds, the same developer from our Long Beach series who didn't want Jews buying his properties. Today the neighborhood he named is one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. Around 1904, Jews from the Lower East Side came looking for room to breathe. After the war, the rebbes came to rebuild. Now it is home to Bobov, Munkacs, Novominsk and so many more. Ahead in this series: a shul they call the Brooklyn Carnegie Hall, the Jewish-founded hospital that invented the pacemaker, and a restaurant with no cash register. But the real heart of Boro Park is how it takes care of its own. Chaveirim, Shomrim and Masbia Kitchen all started at people's kitchen tables. A man who didn't want to sell to Jews gave it a name. Yidden with a few dollars at their kitchen tables gave it a heart.

Was the Mishnah Berurah written before or after the telephone was invented? What about Eliyahu HaNavi and the splitting of the kingdom? We put Yidden to the test with a game of Torah timeline “Before or After.” Along the way, the conversation turned to learning Tanach and discovering how much more there is in it than the stories we remember. Play along and let us know how many you got right.

He was shot in the leg at the Nova festival and lost many of the friends who came with him. So what does he want to tell Yidden? "A small light in the darkness is more than everything." We were in the Five Towns filming an interview when a group of Nova survivors happened to be right there. They told us they arrived with "zero schedule: plane, car, done." Ben shared the message he lives by now: "Every day is a party, and it's your choice to smile every day." Another spoke about being hugged by the people of the Five Towns, and about the people keeping Shabbos because of October 7th. A chance meeting, and a week they said they never dreamed of.

Walking through the Kotel tunnels makes the Torah feel real and puts everything else back into perspective.

Every generation has to decide what it is going to build next. Today, thousands of young Jews call this neighborhood home. They're building careers, dating, getting married, and figuring out what kind of Jewish lives they want to create. The advice we heard was surprisingly simple. Own the stage of life you're in. When you're dating, stop constantly wondering if there's someone better. And when you get married and things become difficult, lean toward each other instead of away. Because ultimately, the future of a Jewish community isn't only found in its beautiful buildings. It's found in the people who will fill them next. The previous generations built the community for us. Now it's our turn to build the next generation. See the Good.

What could possibly be good about a fridge light left on over Shabbos? That is one of the scenarios in the See the Good challenge, and Yehudah Pinsker, who produced a lot of Thank You Hashem music, finds the upside fast. Your kugel and chicken are stuck in there, so it is a chance to get invited to your neighbors. Can't find parking in Boro Park? "Der Aibershter wanted me to see the beauty of Yidden on the street." Then he shares the story of "Billionaire," the TYH Nation song. It passed through five different artists, he rewrote the chorus, a bridge was added, and it all came together in about two weeks. He wasn't sure anyone would like it. It became their most popular song. You hear the song. You don't hear the work behind it.

Send us your Bar Mitzvah dance! Watch and learn with the TYH Boys, then send us your own version for a chance to win TYH swag! Send your video to 347-987-1387 or email [email protected] By submitting, you give TYH permission to share your video on our social media and other TYH platforms. Please get permission from everyone shown, including a parent or legal guardian for anyone under 18, before sending. #TYHBoys #BarMitzvahDance

What if the energy that pushes every one of your buttons is also one of your child’s greatest gifts? Rabbi Taub explains why trying to shut down an intense child’s energy often makes things harder. That energy needs somewhere to go: a ball game, a run, a project to build, a puzzle to solve. A child who seems “wild” may be showing us just how much life is inside them. Our job is to help them find a good place to put it.

For Shalev, confidence comes from knowing who he is and joy comes from making other people happy

Never be afraid to ask your Rebbe. Three friends, three Before or After questions, and a $100 Thank You Hashem credit each if they went three for three. Avraham Avinu and the Mabbul, Yehoshua and Yericho, and the Purim story, where one of them checked with his Rebbe before answering. They got all three. Along the way they found out why Mordechai stayed away from Achashverosh's party, and they left us with a New York sports hot take.

Can getting hit in the ear with hard candy be a good thing? In the See the Good challenge with Roni, people pull a scenario out of a hat and have to find the good in it. One slip reads "Getting pelted with candy at an ufruf," the Shabbos when a chosson is called up to the Torah before his wedding. The first answer is simple: "I happen to love candy." But what about the hard candies that leave a black and blue mark on your ear? "They're just like so filled with simcha." Shabbos ending at 9:30 in the summer? More time with the family, more time with Hashem.

What happens when you test a rabbi on where the great rabbis were born? On the Globe: Rashi, the Ramban, and the Baal Shem Tov. Rabbi Diamond wrote down three answers and got all three. In between, we asked about a concept in Pnimiyus HaTorah he loves. His answer was simple: dveikus, being close to Hashem. The word comes from davek, glue, and you'll never be close enough. This is who's teaching the next generation.

We put three spicy chips to the test with Mendy Worch. The first two brought a little heat. The third one waited until after the bite. Mendy shared the meaning behind his new song, “Spicy”: Torah is the spice that brings life and purpose to everything we do. He also told us about visiting Kerestir before it became what it is today, when there wasn’t even running water. That experience inspired him to write his very first song, a tribute to Reb Shayala. Sometimes a place or moment can feel empty, but the spark of Torah brings it to life. Spicy! (Torah Tavlin) is out now with TYH Studios on all streaming platforms.

What happens to a great basketball player after the Yeshiva League? Ikey Cohen saw how much talent had nowhere to go after high school, so he built One Nation Elite. At The Vault, Jewish players from different backgrounds come together for serious competition, professional coverage, and a brotherhood that lasts beyond the game. For Ikey, sports were always a place to feel connected. Now he’s building the kind of space he wishes he’d had growing up, and showing the next generation that they can chase their athletic goals while staying connected to their faith and community. See the good in the Five Towns.

Was Moshe Rabbeinu born before or after Yosef passed away? Molina Mendelson didn't hesitate. Moshe took Yosef's bones with him, and it's right there in Beshalach. Her favorite parsha, her brother's bar mitzvah parsha, and yes, she still knows how to leyn it. Three Torah timeline questions on Central, a $100 Thank You Hashem credit on the line, and she went three for three. How many would you have gotten?

From antisemitism to pro-Hashemism. Your place is here. Come home.

Could there be a different way to do shidduchim? The Shidduch Lounge started in the Five Towns with an idea. Take some of the pressure out of the process. Bring together singles with similar hashkafos in a relaxed environment, have shadchanim there to meet everyone and facilitate introductions, and let connections happen more naturally. It was something new. And the Five Towns was willing to try it. With Da'as Torah and the support of the community, the idea took off. What started here has now expanded to Lakewood, Toronto and Florida. It's another side of the creativity that defines this community. Not changing our values. Finding new ways to help those values flourish. See the Good: Five Towns & Far Rockaway