A Jewish Standard exclusive interview with the 2,000-year-old master comedian

It’s good to be an American." With those words Mel Brooks, one of only a few people to win an Emmy, an Oscar, a Tony, and a Grammy, accepted another award on April 17 at Ellis Island: The 2008 Ellis Island Family Heritage Award in entertainment. Presented by The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, the annual award recognizes Ellis Island/Port of New York immigrants or their descendents who have made their mark on American life.

Shortly after the rare public appearance, Brooks sat down for an even rarer telephone interview with The Jewish Standard. He is not a religious man, but anybody who has seen his movies — and witnessed such memorable creations as the "Jews in Space" musical number in "History of the World Part I," his Rabbi Tuckman character in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," or the thick Lower East Side accent of the all-powerful, all-knowing Yoghurt in "Spaceballs" — knows that Mel Brooks is a product of the Borscht Belt brand of humor who embraces his Jewish identity.

Eight Israeli combat soldiers sleep cramped together in a broken, hot trailer near the dangerous west bank enclave of Kalkilyah.

A group of Golani soldiers guard the northern border on frigid nights, with nothing but uncomfortable army-issued insulated jumpsuits to keep them warm.

An Ethiopian soldier lives a three-room apartment with her family of 11. She has no bed, let alone a bedroom. By day, she participates in tank exercises at a base for emotionally handicapped soldiers.

The Beth Israel Worship Center looks like any synagogue under construction. Its few hundred members meet in a temporary sanctuary where an ark holding a Torah sits near a podium in front of a giant flag with a Star of David draped on the wall.

But here’s a major difference: While many of the congregants claim to be Jews, the liturgy focuses on Jesus as savior. Beth Israel is a messianic congregation that recently opened its doors in Wayne, and the Jewish community has sought to educate itself against a possible missionary onslaught. Messianism has been condemned by Jewish clergy and leaders as a cloak for Christian missionizing.

A large group of rabbis spanning Judaism’s religious movements claims to have an answer to the vexing question of how to send China an Olympic-sized message without harming the interests of athletes or Israel.

In an appeal issued April 30 and timed for the commemoration of Yom HaShoah, 185 Jewish leaders — mostly clergy, and some with ties to this area — appealed to Jews not to attend the Beijing Olympics this summer as tourists.

The next day, the Anti-Defamation League rejected the boycott call and said comparisons the clergy statement made to the 1936 Berlin Olympics were inappropriate. This week, the leadership of three major Orthodox organizations released word of their opposition to the move as well.

While Yom HaShoah, established by an act of the Israeli Knesset in 1951 and observed on the 27th of Nisan, is widely observed by Jews throughout the world, not everyone agrees that the choice of date was a wise one.

A brief history: When the Knesset designated a Holocaust memorial day (formally, Yom HaShoah Ve’ HaGevurah, Remembrance Day for the Holocaust and Heroism), it disregarded the decision of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate that the Tenth of Tevet, which marks the beginning of the ancient siege of Jerusalem, should be the national remembrance day for victims of the Holocaust. The rabbis had also suggested that Tisha B’Av, the day of mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples, was an appropriate day to commemorate the Shoah.

Holocaust commemorations, large and small, drew thousands of participants — including survivors and their families — to synagogues throughout the region. Several of the larger gatherings were held in Teaneck, Englewood, River Edge, and Manhattan.

Hundreds of men, women, and children packed Teaneck High School for the annual Yom HaShoah commemoration sponsored by Teaneck’s Jewish Community Council.

Cantor Ellen Tilem led the Temple Emeth choir in Hatikvah, The Star Spangled Banner, and "Blessing," by Sam Glazer. Mayor Eli Katz then presented a proclamation signed by Gov. Corzine.

Woman from Englewood leads effort to help Darfurians

A woman who moved to Israel from Englewood in 1980 is spearheading an effort to help Darfurian refugees start new lives in her picturesque northern town of Zichron Ya’acov.

Last June, Sharon Reisfeld learned that students at Ben-Gurion University were banding together on behalf of Africans fleeing genocide, and she became determined to help as well.

"As a former social worker, I always had a leaning toward humanitarian causes," said Reisfeld. "As a single parent, I don’t have a lot of time available, but it just spoke to me very deeply. I felt ashamed that our country didn’t have an official policy and it was left to students to take care of the refugees."

How did nearly 3,000 Muslim Africans end up seeking asylum in the Jewish state?

Rabbi Kenneth Berger, a founding member of the Interreligious Fellowship for the Homeless in Bergen County and now its treasurer, remembers that before the organization was founded 22 years ago, churches were the only local religious groups reaching out to the homeless.

"The county did not have enough shelter space," he said. "The churches brought [the homeless] in as part of an overflow shelter program."

Then president of the Bergen County Board of Rabbis (now called the North Jersey Board of Rabbis), Berger said he "sought more Jewish involvement," encouraging his fellow rabbis to enlist their congregations in the program.

Noted critic to speak in Teaneck

Excited and nervous. That’s how Ethan Klein, a sixth-grader from Gerrard Berman Day School, Solomon Schechter of North Jersey, in Oakland, felt the day he and other students recorded a song in tribute to Israel’s 60th anniversary, which will be part of a double CD set.

"It was the first time I was in such a big studio," Ethan added.

Ethan is the soloist in "Shabechi Yerushalayim," one of the 32 songs on "Schechter Sings for Israel @60!" in which children from 32 Schechter schools in 14 states and Canada participated.

The set, to be released today, is a project of the Solomon Schechter Day School Association, a member of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Now that my daughter’s olive-green uniforms are hung on the laundry line outside, I have an inkling of what it’s like to be an Israeli mother.

When our son served in the Israel Defense Forces in 2004, I was buffered from the experience by a distance of 6,000 miles. I couldn’t hem and wash his uniforms, offer him a homemade meal and a warm bed, or send him off with hugs and snacks as he reported back to base on Sunday mornings.