Rachmastrivka rabbi dead at 92.
‍Chai Yitzchok Twersky, the rabbi of the Rachmastrivka Hasidic sect in Boro Park, died on Wednesday at age 92, according to multiple Haredi news outlets. “His humility was legendary,” writes the Chabad-Lubavitch news site COLlive. “The warmth with which he greeted every Yid who came to see him was palpable.”

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Crown Heights festival to bring local communities together.
‍The annual One Crown Heights festival is set for this Sunday, Aug. 20 at Brower Park. Thirty-two years after race riots rocked the neighborhood, the festival is meant to bring together the local Black and Hasidic communities for a day that will feature roller skating lessons, health screenings, a kosher food vendor, a community discussion, and more.

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Federal housing data shows growth in Kiryas Joel.
‍The almost entirely Satmar Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel in Orange County approved 3,500 new homes over the last 10 years, according to federal data mined by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration, reports The Journal News. Last week, Shtetl reported that, in response to high demand for housing in Kiryas Joel, a set of affordable housing units are being developed – but they will only sell homes to members of the Aaronite faction of the Satmar community "who send their kids to our schools and who are behaving appropriately," according to an announcement in The Kiryas Joel Journal.

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Monsey officials address traffic and crime concerns at dangerous intersection.
‍Representative Mike Lawler and other local officials met last week at Union Road and Elm Street in Spring Valley to brainstorm solutions to local problems, according to The Monsey Scoop. The article says an illicit drug trade is taking place near the intersection, and that Lawler’s office claimed 50 car accidents have taken place there in the last five years.

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New Square to launch shuttle bus.
‍A new shuttle bus is coming to the almost entirely Skver Hasidic village of New Square in Rockland County, according to The Rockland Daily. The site reports that two weeks from now, the buses will begin operating from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., six days a week.

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UJA-Federation helps address opioid overdose crisis in Bukharian community.
‍The UJA-Federation of New York will provide twelve local Bukharian institutions with free anti-overdose medicine to address the opioid crisis in that community, reports the news site eJewish Philanthropy. David Aronov, the UJA-Federation’s liaison to the Bukharian community, told the site he estimates that “several dozen” people in the community have died of overdoses within the last few years, mostly men between the ages of 19 and 40.

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Hasidic musician Chana Raskin transcends boundaries through song.
‍Chabad-Lubavitch singer Chana Raskin and the rest of her group, the RAZA ensemble, performed last Thursday at the JCC Manhattan in front of a mixed-gender audience to celebrate their album Kapelya, the first recording of Hasidic nigunim – melodies with repetitive sounds – performed exclusively by women. “By celebrating the voice of women in the male tradition of nigunim, Raskin’s project transcends both gender boundaries and the divide between Orthodox and liberal Judaism,” argues ethnomusicologist Jessica Roda in JTA in her essay about the album.

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Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi makes suits for all occasions.
‍The website AirMail profiles “one of the hottest tailors in town,” Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi Yosel Tiefenbrun, a New York transplant from London. “His calm cadence and God-given eye for aesthetics mean he has a diverse Rolodex of clients, from Hasidim in Lakewood and Borough Park to gentile businessmen from Japan and Vienna,” the article says.