http://www.jstandard.com en-us http://www.jstandard.com N/A editor@jstandard.com Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:54:56 MDT 20 http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4524/1/Moriah-science-team-shines-on-Israeli-stage Moriah team members in Israel are, from left, top row, Kevin Wolf, Sarah Samuels, Jesse Silverman, Hannah Lebovics, Ariana Schanzer, and Leora Margelovich; bottom row: Rachel Rolnick, Elliot Eisenberg, Max Shulman, Eitan Neugut. Photo by Abigail Klein Leichman JERUSALEM - When 10 freshly graduated Moriah School students bounded to the stage at the Israel Arts and Science Academy here to accept a 5,000-shekel prize on July 9, it was truly the icing on a many-layered cake. Layer 1 was the Englewood day school's participation in Excellence 2000 (E2K), a science enrichment program for seventh-graders developed by the Society for Excellence in Education, the organization that founded IASA in 1990 for gifted students. Layer 2 began taking shape last fall, when the society decided to clone its annual competition, Gildor Family Projects and Inventions, for the 58 American schools using E2K. Moriah science teacher Anastasia Kelly and math teacher Carol Iuzzolino flew to Israel in October to learn more about the project and meet its Israeli coordinators. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4523/1/The-long-voyage-home Eric Loeb, left, and Arnulf Borsche in Frankfurt, 1936. Eric Loeb left Frankfurt with his family in 1936, in the face of worsening Nazi persecution. Together with his parents and older brother, the 8-year-old left behind not only the city of his birth but a childhood friend. This spring, 72 years after Loeb's departure and at the invitation of the city of Frankfurt, the now 80-year-old Teaneck resident returned to the city and was reunited with that friend, Arnulf Borsche. "It was a great joy," said Loeb, adding that the two took an immediate liking to each other. "It was the re-establishing of a friendship." Lois Goldrich Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4522/1/Shaliach-bridges-gap-between-N.J.%2C-Israel Ofer Lichtig is UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey's man on the ground in Israel. Ofer Lichtig used to be Israel's shaliach to a Jewish federation; now, you might say, he's the federation's shaliach to Israel. Lichtig, who was the Israeli emissary for the Jewish Federation of North Jersey in Wayne, a precursor of UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey, began his task as UJA-NNJ's man on the ground in 2006 and has overseen the distribution of the federation's donations to various programs. "I saw [the merger] as an opportunity," he said. "Not every shaliach gets the opportunity to see two parts of the community coming together. It made a lot of sense. It was an artificial division between the two parts of the community."   Josh Lipowsky Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4521/1/Glen-Rock-woman-finds-traces-of-family-in-Nazi-archives Janet Isenberg Janet Isenberg went to the recently opened Nazi archives at Bad Arolsen, Germany, to learn the fate of 163 relatives lost during the Holocaust. After a week of intensive researching with 41 other genealogists, she returned to Glen Rock sobered but renewed. "My father was a Holocaust survivor," Isenberg, a genealogy enthusiast, told The Jewish Standard last week. She formed a passion for genealogy when she was 17. "I have been studying the history of my family for over 35 years, so when I discovered this opportunity I had to seize it," she said. Jeremy Fishman Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4520/1/JW-Vets-reach-out-to-community Cmdr. David Kronick presented Monsignor John J. Gilchrist with a commemorative clock at North Bergen's Temple Beth-El in appreciation for the monsignor's work in bridging Jews and Christians. While memberships in veterans' organizations are dropping across the board, North Bergen's J. George Fredman Post 76 of the Jewish War Veterans is doing what it can to branch out into the community. On Sunday, Post 76 met to plan its second visit to the Paramus Veterans Home, scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 10. The chapter initiated the event two years ago when it brought in musicians who performed selections from the Great American Songbook, a collection of Broadway music from the 1920s, '30s, '40s, and '50s. The last event drew about 60 families and Post 76's Cmdr. David Kronick is optimistic about this year's event. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4496/1/Local-women-to-serve-on-state-federation-board Two veteran community leaders will serve as officers of the New Jersey State Association of Jewish Federations for the upcoming year. Ruth Cole of Ridgewood has moved up to NJSAJF president-elect for 2008-09. Susan Penn of Alpine has been named a member at-large of the Executive/Operations Committee, a position with a one-year term. Cole has been involved in NJSAJF for a number of years and was in line for the position, said Jacob Toporek, NJSAJF's executive director. She is expected to become president the following year. Jane Calem Rosen Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4495/1/Area-dentist-volunteers-at-Israeli-clinic Dr. Scott Dubowsky and his assistant, Michal Englander, treat their "wonderful patient" Esther Chai. Scott Dubowsky had already visited Israel several times when a friend urged him to consider making a different kind of trip - one that would leave a more lasting imprint. So, Dobowsky, a Tenafly resident with a dental practice in Bayonne, decided to join Dental Volunteers for Israel (DVI), spending the week of June 22 to 26 in the organization's Jerusalem Trudi Birger Dental Clinic. It is the only facility in the municipality to provide free dental care to the estimated 200,000 children, 5 to 18 years old, who live below the poverty line. These include olim from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia, as well as haredi and Palestinian residents of the city. Dental care is not covered under Israel's national health insurance, Dubowsky told The Jewish Standard; thus, only those who can afford it have access to even the most basic dental hygiene services. Jane Calem Rosen Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4494/1/Ramapo-to-create-spiritual-center-for-students-of-all-faiths Rabbi Ely Allen delivers a blessing at the construction site for the Salameno Spiritual Center at Ramapo College in Mahwah. Photo by Carolyn Herring In the late1950s, Anthony Padovano was just a young boy, but his first visit to the Meditation Room at United Nations headquarters made a vivid impression. Created by the late Dag Hammarskjold, the Swedish diplomat who was the U.N.'s second secretary general, the small, stark space welcomes all people of good will of any religious faith looking for peace and serenity. Years later, Padovano was reminded of the Meditation Room by the Parliament of World Religions, a group of religious leaders and thinkers who gather every five years to foster world peace through interreligious dialogue. Padovano has attended these gatherings since 1999, when the parliament was held in Cape Town, South Africa. Jane Calem Rosen Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4493/1/Crafters-brighten-laundry-bags-for-campers Showing decorated laundry bags are, from left, Angy Lebowitz, Alice Blass, Sonya Oshman, and Inge Silbermann. Blass is UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey's Get Connected & Mitzvah Day coordinator. The others are residents of Jewish Home Assisted Living/Kaplen Family Senior Residence in River Vale. The kids at Camp Happy Times in Pennsylvania needed something to take their laundry home in after a week of fun in the sun. Some of the participants in the UJA of Northern New Jersey's annual Mitzvah Day needed an assignment. That's how the laundry-bag project got its start in November of 2005, and it has mushroomed ever since. Alice Blass, Get Connected and Mitzvah Day coordinator at UJA-NNJ, explained that Jewish Community Relations Council Director Joy Kurland is a longtime friend of the director of Happy Times, a free one-week overnight camp sponsored by the Valerie Fund for children and young adults who have or have had cancer.   Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4492/1/Greening-a-sleep-away-camp Adi Segal, left, is coordinating a program of environmental awareness at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires.Bergenfield's Adi Segal is just one year out of high school, but he's already leading a revolution. As the coordinator of the newly launched Green Camp Initiative, Segal is implementing a program of environmental awareness and ecological responsibility to Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, a Conservative sleep-away camp with many campers from North Jersey. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4491/1/A-conversation-with-Kevie-Feit Dr. Margit Kaufman and Kevie Feit hold their son, J.J. TEANECK - Kevie Feit, a 34-year-old resident of this second-largest Bergen County municipality, was unanimously chosen as mayor by the town council on July 1. He is the town's fourth Jewish mayor in succession, and is the second in a row to identify himself as Orthodox. His appointment coincided with the swearing-in of Mohammed Hameeduddin as the council's first Muslim member. The son of Dr. Carl and Shelly Feit, the new mayor has lived here since he was 3. He graduated from the Moriah School in Englewood and the Frisch School in Paramus before earning a psychology degree at Yeshiva College and a master's degree in public administration from Long Island University. He was elected to the Town Council in 2006, and has an additional two years to serve as mayor. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4500/1/Fort-Lee-man%92s-anti-Semitism-lawsuit-moving-forward A lawsuit accusing Bergen County and two employees of anti-Semitism toward a former employee is in its infancy but moving forward, the plaintiff's attorney told The Jewish Standard this week.Jack Lovett, 76, of Fort Lee began a part-time job at Teaneck's Overpeck County Golf Course in March 2000. He alleges that coworkers created a hostile environment for him because of his religion and that anti-Semitism led to his eventual dismissal in 2006. He filed a lawsuit in January for monetary damages, including loss of wages, back pay, and future pay."Mr. Lovett was an employee of the county working for the Overpeck golf course and was subjected to heinous comments regarding his Jewish faith," said Jamison Mark of Basking Ridge, Lovett's attorney. "Our case is based on those comments being heard by several people." Josh Lipowsky Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4472/1/Key-approval-stalls-Touro%92s-new-med-school Touro University's plans to open New Jersey's first new medical school in many years hit a snag last month when the school failed to win necessary accreditation. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education met in June to discuss preliminary accreditation for Touro University College of Medicine in the former Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood. In a move that will delay the school by at least a year, LCME announced this week that it would not grant accreditation to Touro, which partnered with Hackensack University Medical Center last year in order to create the state's first private medical school. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4471/1/Sderot-comes-to-New-Jersey Locals provide respite for Israeli youth Now entering its seventh year, the YJCC's Open Hearts, Open Homes program brings Israeli teenagers affected by terrorism to New Jersey to decompress from their stressful environments. This year's group, which arrives this weekend, includes a large number from Sderot. Photos courtesy of the YJCC. Despite several violations by the Palestinians, Israel is holding to a fragile truce that promises the residents of Sderot a reprieve from the almost daily rocket fire they have lived with for eight years. While people in Sderot begin to remember what life was like before the rockets began, some local groups are providing opportunities for Israeli teenagers affected by the rockets to spend their summer in New Jersey. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4470/1/Oh%2C-Jos%E9%2C-Can-You-Sing%3F-Oy%2C-vey photo Courtesy of The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. "The Star-Spangled Banner," the quintessential patriotic song, hasn't always been sung in English. There are versions of it in Spanish, Samoan, Polish, German, Yiddish, and Latin. More than 400 recorded versions in English are listed on www.allmusic.com, including the one Jimi Hendrix made popular in 1970. The latest version in Spanish, a CD titled "Nuestro Himno" ("Our Anthem"), was released at the end of April 2006 to coincide with pro-immigration reform rallies that were held across the United States on May 1. Forty performers sing on the CD, among them Gloria Trevi, a Madonna-like Mexican singer, and hip-hop star Pitbull. It touched a raw nerve with conservatives, one of whom even called it the "Illegal Alien Anthem." Daniel Santacruz Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4469/1/Americans-by-choice-celebrate-the-Fourth Amit Bejar, shown at his Teaneck home, said he is proud of his three nationalities. From left, Amit, Dael, Deborah, and Tamir. Who are those foreign Jews who live among us, who speak with a variety of accents? What did they leave behind, and how do they view the United States? There are as many reasons to come to this country as there are immigrants, and each is a tale of wandering and faith. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4468/1/Rabbi%7B47%7Deducator-cited-for-achievements%2C-creativity Rabbi Seth Grauer The winner of this year's Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Jewish Education didn't start out to be a teacher. In fact, Rabbi Seth Grauer of Bergenfield was studying law at Fordham University at night while working toward his ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University. But to complete a requirement for his ordination, he taught a class at the Ramaz School in Manhattan, from which he graduated in 1996, and he enjoyed it so much that he decided to stay in Jewish education. "I was more drawn toward teaching, and chose chinuch [Jewish education] and rabanus [the rabbinate] as a career instead of law," he said. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4467/1/Camp-helps-families-move-on-after-loss Social worker Greg Hedler does an arts and craft project with Carlos and Carlito Ortiz. DEMAREST - When Phyllis Klein died of breast cancer in 2002, her husband, Henry, would eagerly have gone to a family bereavement camp with his teenage children - if only one had existed. Three years ago, the borough resident founded one. "It struck me that there should be programs for people who have lost a family member to cancer - a weekend retreat, a camp," said Klein, who practices law in Englewood with the firm of Klein & Radol. Klein had already set up Phyl's Fund, a foundation in his late wife's memory to promote cancer support groups in the area. But he felt something more was needed, and after tossing around ideas with fellow congregants at Temple Emanu-El in Closter, he started a subsidiary of Phyl's Fund and called it Hearts of Hope. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4444/1/Offshore-drilling-plan-faces-opposition In the face of record-high gas prices, President Bush proposed last week that Congress lift its 27-year-old ban on offshore drilling, a position echoed by Republican presidential candidate John McCain. According to the government, the 574 million acres of federal coastal water that are currently off-limits are believed to hold nearly 18 billion barrels of undiscovered, recoverable oil. In targeting the outer continental shelf for development - with 260 acres of that area along the Atlantic Coast - the president, and McCain, have drawn the ire of a number of elected officials from this state. Lois Goldrich Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4443/1/Teaneck-unites-for-a-day%2C-looks-to-future Teaneck's Unity Day drew about 1,000 people Sunday. PHOTO BY Josh Lipowsky Despite intermittent storms, Teaneck's first Unity Day celebration pressed forward on Sunday as the township tried to heal fractures among its diverse communities. Planning for Unity Day began in late 2007 as an outgrowth of a similar celebration held in Teaneck twice last year by the Eid Committee of Bergen County. The Muslim group wanted to expand the event to include all of Teaneck, and eventually create similar events in neighboring towns. "We want to get rid of fear of the unknown," said Syed Tahir, a member of the Eid Committee. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4442/1/Cemeteries-lower-Sunday-rates Cedar Park & Beth El Cemeteries' announcement earlier this month that it would lower its Sunday burial rates was met with cheers from advocates of cemetery reform but also with calls for it and other cemetery associations to do more to bring the high cost of Sunday burials under control. According to information sent out to area funeral directors, the current charge for a daily grave opening at Cedar Park & Beth El of $1,545 will be lowered to $1,500. The cemeteries had previously added a flat $750 surcharge for Sunday burials before 2:30 p.m., but under the new rates, burials before 12:30 will be assessed only a $475 surcharge. An extra $575 will be added for burials between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.; $675 between 1:30 and 2:30; and $750 between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., representing a decrease of $250 for that hour. The rate of $400 per half hour after 3:30 p.m. remains unchanged. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4441/1/Locals-bring-Israelis-to-U.S.-%91burn-camp%92 Basil and Sally Massarwa, and Sagi Arusi and Hashem Abo-zalok, pictured with a rehab professional from Tel Aviv's Schneider Children's Medical Center, participated in an American "burn camp" in 2006. It might be hard to believe that four days can change a child's life, but the children who go to Camp Susquehanna, a weekend "burn camp" in Pennsylvania, have already had their lives changed in an instant - that moment when fire ravaged their bodies. And this week, for the fifth year in a row, Israeli Jewish and Arab kids are among the campers. "Burn camps provide an effective means to help young burn survivors cope with their painful new world," according to Burn Advocates Network, a two-year-old support organization based in the Teaneck law offices of Davis, Saperstein & Salomon. "The respite they offer from the cruel treatment kids receive can change their entire outlook on life." Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4440/1/Students-share-their-visions-of-peace Four drawings about peace were created by students from the Cliffside Park school district. Photo by Daniel Santacruz The theme was peace. The way to express it was left up to the students of Club Ed, in the Cliffside Park school district. They were told they could write a poem, create a drawing, present a photograph, or use any other kind of art form. Some chose to draw; others to write. Some did both. From April 30 to May 13, 325 students from grades one to eight displayed 120 works at the Cliffside Park Public Library, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Global Youth Service Day. The event, Speak Out for Peace, was organized by Youth Service America and the Global Youth Action Network, in cooperation with the Teaneck-based Jewish Family Service of Bergen County and New Jersey After 3. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4439/1/Melton-graduates-largest-class-in-its-history Special to the Jewish Standard This year's graduating class of 70 students was the largest yet for The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School of Northern New Jersey. There were no final exams and no term papers. There weren't even any caps and gowns. But Thursday, June 7, was a very special day for the 70 newly minted graduates of The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School of Northern New Jersey, the largest graduating class yet. Graduates gathered for this year's commencement exercises at Temple Emanuel in Closter, joined by several hundred of their guests, Melton faculty, and local Jewish leaders. According to Renah Rabinowitz, the director of the school, Melton students - adult Jewish learners who commit two years to a program exploring Jewish history, traditions, theology, practice, and values through sacred and scholarly texts - form their own community in which Jewish identity and communal bonds are strengthened. Jewish Standard Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4438/1/Cresskill-youth-wins-Bronfman-Youth-Fellowship Jacob Grunberger Jacob Grunberger will be taking his first trip to Israel this summer. But the 17-year-old will get to see the country as few young Americans do. He is one of 26 high school students chosen for the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel, a prestigious program that aims to be a training ground for the next generation of Jewish leaders. The heart of the fellowship is a five-week trip to Israel, where the students will participate in seminars and dialogues with diverse rabbinic faculty. They also will spend a week with a group of Israeli peers chosen through a parallel selection process in Israel. Melanie S. Kwestel Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4421/1/Reaching-out-to-help-Sderot The gym of RYNJ during the school's fund-raising "Tiyul-a-thon." The North Jersey Jewish community is banding together to help the battered population of Sderot, the Israeli city that has suffered almost daily rocket attacks from Gaza (see cover story, page 15). At least 75 percent of 4- to 18-year-olds there suffer from post-traumatic stress, experiencing nightmares, loss of appetite, and problems in school. Some 120 children are undergoing long-term mental health therapy. UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey raised more than $1 million two years ago for its sister city of Nahariya, which was hit hard during the Second Lebanon War. After the war ended, the group turned its attention to Sderot. Jewish Standard Staff Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4420/1/Natan-Sharansky-to-speak-in-Teaneck-Former-refusenik-to-explore-relationship-between-identity-and-democracy Identity and democracy can coexist, says Natan Sharansky, former Soviet dissident, political prisoner, and human rights activist, "but only if both are strong." "Identity has to be framed within a democracy," Sharansky told The Jewish Standard, taking a few minutes out from a busy East Coast book tour promoting his latest work, "Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy" (PublicAffairs 2008). The book is co-written with Shira Wolosky Weiss, professor of English at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Sharansky - author, political activist, and former member of the Israeli government - will speak on June 25 at Cong. Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck. Lois Goldrich Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4418/1/Two-shuls-poised-to-merge Cong. Beth Israel of Northern Valley stands empty at the corner of North Washington and East Central avenues in Bergenfield, the victim of changing times and demographics. A for-sale sign in front of the building means its days of glory are gone. The parking spaces in the back of the building, reserved for the rabbi, the office manager, and the cantor, will have new occupants. A swing set, on a small backyard, sits undisturbed. A Korean congregation is expected to move in soon. At a meeting on May 29, Beth Israel's general membership approved, by a 94 percent majority, a merger with Cong. Beth Sholom of Teaneck. Both synagogues are affiliated with the Conservative movement. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4417/1/%91Hall-of-fame%92-custodian-honored-by-Ridgewood-congregation Temple Israel custodian José Serna spins the dreidel at a shul Chanukah party. By all accounts, José Serna is a good custodian - in fact, an excellent custodian. But he's so much more, say the members of Temple Israel/Jewish Community Center of Ridgewood, where Serna has worked for the past 20 years. On Saturday, the synagogue dedicated its kiddush room in Serna's honor as part of a farewell ceremony for Rabbi Gil Steinlauf. and Cantor Michelle Freedman, who are leaving the congregation this summer. Steinlauf will become senior rabbi at Adas Israel in Washington, D.C., the largest Conservative congregation in the city, with some 1,700 member families. Lois Goldrich Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4400/1/Holocaust-diary-recounts-the-horrors-of-Hosht A woman places flowers at the base of the memorial in the forest near Hosht. Courtesy Irving Sklaver Peretz Goldshtein was not a writer. In fact, said Fair Lawn resident Irving Sklaver - who knew Goldshtein and his family from their days in the Ukrainian village of Hosht - "he was just a simple, plain Jewish man." It is all the more remarkable, then, that Goldshtein kept a diary documenting the horrors he and his fellow townspeople experienced under the Nazis between 1941 and 1943, and that the document, written in Yiddish, now exists in three languages. Lois Goldrich Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4399/1/It%92s-7%3A47-a.m.-Do-you-know-where-your-kids-are%3F The teen minyan at the Fair Lawn Jewish Center will resume in the fall. Photo by Cantor Eric Wasser The religious service for teens is named for a commercial jetliner - 747 - because that's when it begins. And the fellow who dreamed up the service promises not only a timely departure, but a delicious breakfast. When Cantor Eric Wasser of the Fair Lawn Jewish Center/Cong. B'nai Israel came up with the idea of a biweekly morning service for Jewish teenagers attending Fair Lawn High School, he chose the name carefully, he said in an interview. Daniel Santacruz Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4398/1/Climb-every-mountain Former Bergenites take 'kosher trek' to Kilimanjaro Eight adventurers flew from Tel Aviv to Tanzania for a kosher hike up Mount Kilimanjaro. Photo credits Yehoshua Halevi/Golden Light Images. You don't wake up at the age of 49 and suddenly decide to climb Mount Kilimanjaro," said Bob Carroll, a Jerusalemite who made aliyah from Teaneck in 2005. Maybe not, but this former Eagle Scout and "nature boy" did decide to do just that after careful thought and a bit of encouragement from his wife, Ruthie Levi. She was the one who had spotted an ad from an Israeli-based travel firm called Koshertreks, which happens to be co-owned by a former Brandeis classmate of Carroll's. Koshertreks offers multi-day mountain hikes to extraordinary destinations - Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Mount Everest (Nepal), Dolomites Traverse (Italy), Inca Trail (Peru), Kackar Circuit (Turkey), Great Glen Way (Scotland), Escalante Canyon (Utah), and a Mediterranean-to-Kinneret route - for people who are Sabbath and kashrut observant. Abigail Klein Leichman Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4397/1/Brush-up-your-Shakespeare TABC teens learn to love the bard TABC performers each received a special "Shakesperience" T-shirt. It was the best experience of my teaching career," said Carole Master, head of the English department at Torah Academy of Bergen County in Teaneck. "Of course in English class you want students to learn to read and write, but it's a bonus when you can get them to love and appreciate literature." On May 22, Master's 11th-grade honors English class, together with students from three public schools, performed scenes from Shakespearian plays as part of "Shakesperience," a forum where students in grades five through 12 spent an entire day "engaging in live Shakespeare." Lois Goldrich Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4379/1/Wyckoff-man-meets-with-Palestinian-leader AJCongress president Richard Gordon meets with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad in Ramallah last month. Last year, Wyckoff resident Richard Gordon - then newly elected president of the American Jewish Congress - met with Salam Fayad, then newly appointed prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, to discuss issues of common concern. Recently, the two men met again. Gordon was in Israel as part of President Bush's special delegation to Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations. "It was a tremendous honor," he said. "I'm pleased for the organization. It's a nice recognition of the work we're doing." The AJCongress president noted that his purpose in meeting with Fayad was to discuss the Palestinian leader's efforts to establish security control in the west bank and to spur economic development. Pointing out that they had met "when we were both new in our jobs," he said "it was fascinating to meet him a year later. He remembered what we had discussed last year." Lois Goldrich Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4378/1/Israel-parade-draws-thousands-%97-but-some-are-not-able-to-march Top, Despite a long delay, members of Temple Israel in Ridgewood manage to participate in the parade. Those who marched in Sunday's Israeli Day Parade in Manhattan enjoyed fellowship, high spirits, and sunny skies. But for those who wanted to march but couldn't, the day was a lot less fun. While an estimated 100,000 marchers showed up, hundreds found themselves left out of the main event. Batel Cohen, marching with five other high school students from the Israeli city of Nahariya, felt more Zionist in New York City than in Israel. Her group participated with members of Tzofim, a youth group from the JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly. "We knew about the parade before coming here, but we never thought it would be like this," said Cohen. "It was amazing." Daniel Santacruz Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4377/1/Shoah-museum-in-Fort-Lee-shul Congregant Gerda Warburg donated several artifacts to the museum. Photo by Ronnie Streichler The Torah was written in Romania, the kefiyyah came from Sarajevo, and the collection box from Germany. The bookcase was bought in Ikea of Paramus. Inaugurated four weeks ago, the small Holocaust museum housed on the second floor of the New Synagogue of Fort Lee, overlooking the sanctuary, is the brainchild of artist Ronnie Streichler and Rabbi Meir Berger. "I had the idea for a museum, but I didn't know how to start," he said. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4376/1/Soloveitchik%92s-students-preparing-series-of-his-work Rabbi Soloveitchik remains a major influence in Orthodoxy. Three North Jersey residents are involved in a major new Orthodox Union initiative to publish the teachings and commentaries of the late Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik - the foremost talmudist and philosopher in the milieu of Yeshiva University and centrist American Orthodoxy, where he is respectfully called "the Rav." Rabbi Menachem Genack, spiritual leader of Cong. Shomrei Emunah in Englewood and a former student and disciple of Soloveitchik's at Yeshiva University, serves as general editor of the series for the OU Press. Genack, also the CEO of the OU Kashrut Division, is co-editor of Mesorah, a journal expanding on the teachings of Soloveitchik, and "Shiurei HaRav," scholarly volumes based on Soloveitchik's lectures as interpreted by his students. He serves on the board of the Toras HoRav Foundation, headed by Soloveitchik's daughters Tovah Lichtenstein and Atarah Twersky, through which 15 English and Hebrew works have been published. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4355/1/OU-weighs-in-on-Agriprocessors-scandal Rabbi Menachem Genack tells a Teaneck audience that if Agriprocessors, the largest kosher meat producer in the country, is found to be criminally liable, the Orthodox Union will withdraw its certification. photo by josh lipowsky The problems at Agriprocessors that resulted in a federal raid at its Postville, Iowa, plant earlier this month highlight larger issues in America, rather than in just the kosher industry, according to the administrator of the Orthodox Union's kashrut division. "This issue of undocumented workers in plants is not a Rubashkins' story, it's an American story," said Rabbi Menachem Genack, who spoke Tuesday night at the Jewish Center of Teaneck to some 80 listeners. "It is standard in many manufacturing facilities that workers have documentation but are not legal." Josh Lipowsky Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4354/1/Dershowitz%2C-in-Teaneck%2C-makes-the-case-against-Carter Author and law Prof. Alan Dershowitz was the keynote speaker at the annual dinner Tuesday night of the Physicians and Dentists Division of the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey. Photo by Daniel Santacruz An hour a week. That's all the time you have to spend to help Israel. During that hour, write a letter to the editor or an op-ed piece for a newspaper, call in to a talk-show or read a book about Israel - in addition to contributing financially to the country. And you don't have to give up exercise. That was the advice Harvard law Prof. Alan Dershowitz gave the nearly 300 people who attended the annual dinner of the Physicians and Dentists Division of UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey at the Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe on Tuesday night. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4353/1/Community-musters-a-minyan-so-survivor-can-have-Jewish-funeral Samuel Drix with his wife, Alice. Severin Drix did not know the dozen or so men from Teaneck who came to his father's funeral in Paramus on Friday. Nor did they know Drix or his father, Samuel. What they did know was that Severin Drix needed a minyan to give his father a proper Jewish funeral. After a call from Drix last Thursday, Rabbi Ephraim Simon, director of Friends of Lubavitch of Bergen County, e-mailed his congregation that a Jewish man had died but did not have the required quorum of 10 Jews to bury him. When the funeral began at Beth El Cemetery in the early afternoon, Severin Drix had a minyan and more. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4352/1/Taking-%28many%29-steps-against-mental-illness There must be a heaven, because where else could Michael be now?" That's what a friend said about Michael Jakovich, who killed himself at age 43 in Florida by throwing himself in front of a van. He had just been released, on Aug. 5, 2003, from a psychiatric clinic, with no money, no medications, and only a bus pass. His wife, Elena, had been frantically phoning the clinic not to let Michael go because he was talking about suicide. She was five minutes away from the clinic when Michael was released. He died from his injuries three weeks later, leaving a son, Nathan, now 9, who still hasn't been told how his father died. Warren Boroson Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4351/1/Local-woman-takes-the-reins-of-Israeli-organization Anita Jacobs Reuth images TEANECK - Anita Jacobs did not know much about a nonprofit organization called Reuth (Hebrew for "friendship") until she was asked to become the first national executive director of Reuth USA earlier this year. Taking the offer seriously, the township resident stole time from her professional and volunteer schedule to go to Israel and acquaint herself with the ways in which the 70-year-old group serves the elderly, soldiers, and children. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4350/1/Organization-helps-poor-pregnant-Israelis Social worker Madelaine Gitelman at the Just One Life office in Jerusalem. Photo by Abigail Leichman. Almost 20 years ago, Teaneck resident Jack Forgash was vacationing in Israel when he read that as many as 20,000 pregnancies were being terminated in Israel each year. "I just didn't understand," said Forgash, whose mother's family suffered many losses in the Holocaust. He called acquaintances including Shimon Glick, then dean of the medical school at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, to learn more about the causes and effects of abortion in Israeli society. Glick met with his friend and learned the conditions under which so many Jewish women chose to terminate their pregnancies. Financial stress and medical problems were among the most common reasons. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4349/1/Panel-tackles-issues-raised-in-%91Jewish-American%92-film Why "Jewish Americans" and not "American Jews"? That's the question director David Grubin has been asked many times about the title of his most recent PBS documentary, "The Jewish Americans." His answer, in an interview last week at Temple Emanu-El in Closter: "We say African-Americans and Latino-Americans, so the title is in keeping with that tradition." Grubin, who moderated a panel discussion there based on the film, added, "It also affirms the idea that Jews have been changed by being in America." Daniel Santacruz Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4348/1/Brothers-are-finalists-in-Bible-contest Frisch students and brothers Darren (grade 10) and Ike (grade 11) Sultan, of West Orange, who finished first and third respectively in the national finals of the Chidon HaTanach - The National Bible Contest. PARAMUS - Brothers Darren and Ike Sultan of West Orange emerged victorious from last Sunday's national finals of the Chidon HaTanach, the National Bible Contest. Darren, a sophomore, and Ike, a junior at the Frisch School here, finished first and third respectively among about 200 students from across the county. In preparation for the famously difficult quiz - offered in Hebrew for yeshiva students and in English for supplementary school students on middle- and high-school levels - Darren and Ike needed to familiarize themselves thoroughly with about 70 chapters from the Tanach - the Five Books of Moses, Prophets, and Writings - along with selected rabbinic commentaries. In order to advance to the national finals, students must first participate in a three-part regional qualifying round, which both brothers had done successfully ever since seventh grade. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4326/1/Caterer%92s-closing-leaves-clients-and-employees-wondering%2C-%91What-now%3F%92 Photo by Johanna Ginsberg/New Jersey Jewish News Wednesday marked five weeks since Short Hills Caterers closed its doors, and its clients are still scrambling to recover thousands of dollars in deposits while former employees wonder what went wrong. "Unfortunately, the Short Hills Caterers has been operating at a deficit for many years," Richard Honig, the attorney representing the company and its owner, Michael Bienstock of Englewood, told The Jewish Standard earlier this week. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4325/1/Local-man-proposes-Hebrew-language-charter-school When a Hebrew language charter school opened its doors in Florida last year, some worried that it would blur the line between religion and state. Since that time, however, the school has been able to allay those concerns. Now, an Englewood man wants to create a similar school in Bergen County. Raphael Bachrach, a scientist in the printing industry, submitted an application to the N.J. Department of Education last month to create the Englewood Hebrew Language and Culture Charter School. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4324/1/Retiring-rabbi-says-movement-has-changed Rabbis were coming and going so frequently at Temple Sinai in Tenafly before Rabbi Bruce Block was hired, that - in many cases -children in the same family routinely went to the bimah as b'nai mitzvah under different rabbis. In fact there was a joke among the rabbis in the region, "There's a new rabbi in Tenafly. Let's give him his farewell dinner now." Block's farewell dinner (farewell Shabbat, actually) has had to be postponed until June 6, 2008 - more than 20 years after that joke was made. During the interim, he turned things around for the struggling congregation. For example, as positions in the Hebrew school opened up, he sought highly credentialed candidates from the Reform movement's Placement Commission. Anne Phyllis Pinzow Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4323/1/Jersey-City-shul-optimistic-about-the-next-100-years Façade of Cong. Mount Sinai. The building, crested by two Moorish onion-shaped copper cupolas, was designed by architect Eugene Ciccarelli in the Romanesque style. Photos by Daniel Santacruz Can you imagine? Hundreds of people sat in those seats, the men here and the women upstairs," said Ann Blaustein, the de facto historian of Cong. Mount Sinai in Jersey City as she looked at 30 rows of empty seats from the bimah in the synagogue's second-floor sanctuary. The sentence that is supposed to follow, "and look at it now," doesn't come. Instead, she sighs and goes over to check a window ledge that has been damaged severely by a water leak. The "now" of the synagogue is not what it used to be: a thriving congregation in the Heights section of Jersey City founded by Jewish immigrants from several European countries that, at its peak in the 1950s, had a membership of about 500 families. Today, only 14 to 15 men and 10 to 12 women come to Shabbat morning services, said Blaustein. There are no services the rest of the week. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4322/1/Survivors-share-stories-with-children For the first time since they published their book "And Then There Were Four," Ellen Stein, Marcelle Robinson, and Lisa Klein sat before a roomful of youngsters to describe their wartime experiences. The three women - speaking at the Midland School in Rochelle Park - told how their families had fled for their lives in the face of the Nazi juggernaut that enveloped Germany in the 1930s. The fourth author of the book, Daisy Roessler, lives in Israel. Since they have generally spoken only with adults during their book promotion tour, the authors said they were at first apprehensive about addressing some of the issues raised in the book. Nevertheless, they added, they were also excited. Jeanette Friedman Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4321/1/Keeping-kosher Know how to make a deep-fryer kosher? How to spot tiny bugs in celery? How to distinguish a swordfish fillet from a salmon fillet? Maybe you don't, but people who shoulder the responsibility for making sure an establishment meets kosher standards need to know these and myriad more hands-on details. That is why Passaic's Rabbi Solomon Rybak helped arrange for students at Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanon Theological Seminary (RIET) to take part in a three-week seminar offered by the Orthodox Union on the intricacies of kosher certification. The ASK OUTREACH Community Kashrut program, running from June 2 to 19, will feature lectures and site visits. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4297/1/Despite-Monday%92s-rain%2C-Jewish-groups-have-day-in-the-Trenton-sun Gov. Jon Corzine signed a proclamation on Monday honoring Israel's 60th anniversary. photo by josh lipowsky TRENTON - "Happy birthday!" The crowd at the statehouse on Monday applauding Gov. Jon Corzine's greeting for Israel's 60th anniversary included legislators, members of the New Jersey-Israel Commission, and 65 representatives from nine of the state's Jewish federations. Signing a proclamation honoring the milestone, the governor extolled the benefits of the relationship between the Jewish state and the Garden State. The day also marked the opening of a temporary exhibit in the Capitol Building on Israel, assembled by the N.J.-Israel Commission. The exhibit and the proclamation are signs of "the deep roots" of the New Jersey-Israel relationship, Corzine said. "My ticket's purchased," he added, referring to his twice-delayed trip to Israel, now scheduled for July, to boost economic relations. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4296/1/Hero-tells-Mahwah-congregants-of-the-Battle-for-Ammunition-Hill Colonel Shimon "Katcha" Cahaner speaking at Congregation Beth Haverim Shir Shalom, in Mahwah, about the Ammunition Hill projects. Photo Daniel Santacruz For Col. Shimon "Katcha" Cahaner, fighting for Jerusalem was an experience like no other. Cahaner, who spoke at Cong. Beth Haverim Shir Shalom in Mahwah on Monday, served as deputy battalion commander of the paratrooper unit that participated in the battle of Ammunition Hill in the 1967 Six Day War, considered one of the bloodiest battles in Israel's history. The site, whose name dates from World War I, was a maze of bunkers and trenches where some 120 Jordanian soldiers defended the eastern part of Jerusalem. The battle started on June 6 of that year about 1:25 a.m. when the paratroopers brigade, about 150 soldiers under the command of Col. Mordechai "Motta" Gur, moved in to capture the hill. When it ended at about 5 a.m., 71 Jordanian soldiers and 37 Israelis lay dead. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4295/1/Business-as-usual-after-Rubashkin-raid The Jewish community seems to be taking a wait-and-see attitude toward Agriprocessors, the world's largest producer of kosher meat, whose plant in Postville, Iowa, was raided by federal agents on Monday. Authorities charged that the factory employed hundreds of illegal workers and cited claims that illegal narcotics production took place at the plant. Agents arrested 390 workers Monday in what Immigration and Customs Enforcement called the largest raid of its kind in U.S. history. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4294/1/%91A-very-powerful-trip%92 Bergenites take part in mass mission to Israel Rabbi Meir Konikov dances with Israeli soldiers during a visit to an army base. It's not unusual for synagogues and Jewish organizations to sponsor trips to Israel. But the recent mission of Chabad of Fort Lee was out of the ordinary in that it was part of a national mission encompassing travelers from 30 American communities. Rabbi Meir Konikov, who founded Chabad of Fort Lee in 1996 and now presides over a flourishing synagogue, preschool, Hebrew school, and programs for Russian Jews, explained that the Israel mission grew out of a course offered by the Lubavitch movement's Jewish Learning Institute at nearly 400 Chabad houses all over the world. "Instead of every Chabad rabbi preparing his own courses, JLI provides the curriculum for three courses each year, so that, in unison, 400 rabbis are teaching the same course at the same time. The beauty of this is that if you are traveling, you can pick up that week's course wherever you are," said Konikov. "In Bergen County, about 250 people are signed up. Last fall, the course was 'Land and Spirit,' about Israel, and that led to the idea for a trip." Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4293/1/Books-across-the-ocean Debra Borden Novelist Debra Borden has participated in scores of book groups, "four in the past 10 days," she said. But, added Borden, who lives in Upper Saddle River, she is usually invited as a guest speaker. Now, however, Borden has taken on the role of moderator, leading a book club that embraces women "on both sides of the ocean." Women B'Yachad - with parallel groups in Bergen County and Nahariya - is a project of UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey's Partnership 2000, which "builds living bridges" among global communities, according to its coordinator, Machla Shaffer. She pointed out that the book club's name is a deliberate mix of Hebrew and English, reflecting the intercommunal, bilingual flavor of the enterprise. Lois Goldrich Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4292/1/Rabbi-celebrates-a-challah-day Rabbi Stephen Wylen makes a mean challah. So good, in fact, that he has been called upon to teach challah-making at his synagogue, Temple Beth Tikvah in Wayne, as well as at the YM-YWHA of North Jersey. "I started making challah when I was in seminary," said the rabbi. "But for the first couple of years, it was inedible." It wasn't until his stint in the 1980s as religious leader at B'nai Sholom in Huntington, W.Va., that his bread-making life changed forever. There he met Lil Fetter, a woman, then in her 80s, "who made challah for every bar mitzvah. She was famous for her challah." Lois Goldrich Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4291/1/Women-of-the-Bible-are-author%92s-text Eva Etzioni-Halevi feels her new novel, about Deborah, has special relevance these days. Photo by Abigail Klein Leichman Authors like Anita Diamant, Marek Halter, and Orson Scott Card have created a new genre using sparse biblical stories as the basis for full-bodied popular fictional works. Within this niche, Eva Etzioni-Halevy holds the distinction of being the only Israeli biblical novelist writing in English. A sociology professor born in Vienna during World War II, Etzioni-Halevy became fluent in English while living in Australia during a time when she was alienated from things Jewish. "As a child, I was very religious; I spent three years in a youth aliyah village in Israel," said the author, who will be making two Bergen County stops on a book tour of the United States next week. "When I grew up, I left Israel and religion, and I lived in other countries and other cultures." In time, she said, she realized that fleeing her roots "didn't work." Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4290/1/Going-green-at-20%3A-A-preschool-adapts-to-changes The 4- and 5-year-old class at Barnert Temple Preschool and Family Center made salad dressing using herbs they grew for their preschool Earth Day picnic. From left are Sara Lidsky, Ben Weinberger, Grant Sloan, Elizabeth Esterow, and Claire Sullivan. Photos courtesy of Barnert Temple When the Barnert Temple preschool class of 1989 is invited back to the June 2009 Preschool graduation next year, the members are apt to see many changes. Thanks to longtime congregant Susan Sauer, the Franklin Lakes synagogue now features the Nana Cele Outdoor Classroom, which will have a butterfly garden, hummingbird garden, pizza garden, and greenhouse. "Nearing our 20th anniversary, we looked into what we offered and how we could change.... There is so much talk about going green. We decided to translate this into 'Going Green at 20,'" explained Sara Losch, who founded the Barnert Temple preschool 20 years ago and who has also been religious school principal for 13 years. Karen Galinko Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4300/1/Daniel-Pipes-to-speak-at-Englewood-synagogue Daniel Pipes, a well-known and controversial commentator and author on the Middle East and Islamic terrorism, will speak at Cong. Kol HaNeshamah in Englewood on May 15 at 7:30 p.m. Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum, which publishes the Middle East Quarterly and sponsors Campus Watch, Islamist Watch, and the Legal Project. His Website, DanielPipes.org, is reportedly one of the most accessed Internet sources of specialized information on the Middle East and Islam. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4269/1/Helping-the-%91have-nots-on-the-front-lines%92 Israeli soldiers are shown with some of the baseball hats donated to their Golani unit doing training through very hot weather. 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. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4268/1/Messianic-%91shul%92-opens Jonathan Cahn is pictured in his congregation's temporary sanctuary. Photo by Josh Lipowsky 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. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4267/1/Rabbis-aim-to-press-China-without-hurting-Israel-or-Olympic-athletes Demonstrators protest China's hosting the Olympics as the Olympic torch passes through San Francisco on April 9. Elizabeth Friedman Branoff/Courtesy of American Jewish World Service. 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. Ron Kampeas and Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4266/1/Other-views%3A-A-continuing-debate 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. Lois Goldrich Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4265/1/Thousands-turn-out-to-mark-Yom-HaShoah Children at UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey's Yom Hashoah observance take part in a candle-lighting ceremony. Photo courtesy of UJA-NNJ 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. Commemoration in Teaneck bridges generations 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. Jewish Standard Staff Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4264/1/%91I-can%92t-ignore-these-refugees-knocking-on-our-door%92 Woman from Englewood leads effort to help Darfurians Sharon Reisfeld 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? Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4263/1/Volunteers-help-the-homeless IRF volunteer Ron Lieberman with Joan Hamburg and Susan Oliff-Lieberman at a luncheon last week to benefit the Interreligious Fellowship for the Homeless. 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. Lois Goldrich Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4262/1/Bringing-art-to-life Noted critic to speak in Teaneck Art historian Dr. Irving Sandler stands in front of a painting by Joan Mitchell, part of his collection. Photo by Jon Gams. Art critic and historian Dr. Irving Sandler is not certain how much his being Jewish has affected his work over the years. "I have grappled for half a century with this complicated issue," he told The Jewish Standard. What he does not doubt, however, is the importance of abstract expressionism, the art form he has followed throughout his career. "This was the most important movement in American art," he said. "It put American art on the map." Lois Goldrich Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4261/1/Schechter-schools-sing-out-for-Israel%4060 The choir of the Gerrard Berman Day School, Solomon Schechter of North Jersey at the recording studio. Courtesy Gerrard Berman Day School, Solomon Schechter of North Jersey. 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. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4260/1/Aliyah-diary%3A-Learning-what-it-means-to-be-an-Israeli-mother Abigail Klein Leichman hugs her daughter Elana at the Israel Defense Forces swearing-in ceremony. Photo by Jessica Raab 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. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4232/1/Community-mourns-%91lion-of-a-man%92 This 1986 photograph of Charles Rothschild "is the way everybody remembers him," says his daughter, Carol Kaufman. Charles J. Rothschild Jr., 86, a national and local leader in the Reform movement, died Sunday at his Teaneck home. Described by his daughter Carol Kaufman of Ridgewood as a highly charismatic and principled individual, he had a long list of accomplishments in Jewish life, including top leadership roles at the Union for Reform Judaism and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He was a past president of the United Jewish Community of Bergen County (now the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey), the Teaneck Jewish Community Council, and Temple Emeth in Teaneck. In addition, he was a former chairman of the board at Hackensack University Medical Center. At one time, he was on the editorial advisory board of The Jewish Standard. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4231/1/%91Painful-memories%92-for-family-of-bombing-victims In the Naimi home in the quiet borough of Closter, Passover was fraught with painful memories. It was eight years ago, on the first seder night, that Moshe Naimi learned of the suicide bombing in Netanya that killed his mother, Forough, along with 29 other Jews celebrating the holiday of freedom. This year, Moshe and Lisa Naimi and their three children at least had the satisfaction of knowing that the mastermind behind the deadly terrorist attack was finally behind bars. Omar Jabar, who headed Hamas' military wing in the west bank city of Tul Karm, was captured by the Israel Defense Forces in late March during a surprise raid. According to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, Jabar was responsible for recruiting the person who led the bomber to the Park Hotel, where Naimi's parents, who had made aliyah from Iran, had come for a group seder. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4230/1/%91Telling%92-the-Holocaust Some five years ago, Rabbi Adina Lewittes began what has now become an annual ritual at Sha'ar, her Tenafly-area synagogue. "I came across a Yom HaShoah Haggadah edited by Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale," she said, explaining that she was drawn to it not just because of its powerful content but because "it was a framework for engaging in a ritual to remember the Holocaust, and that brings great power. It makes very immediate something that's hard to teach and to feel." Lewittes said that the Hagaddah, published by Amcha: The Coalition for Jewish Concerns, Weiss' social action organization, "creates a natural invitation so soon after Pesach, capturing us while we're still in the spirit of reflecting through doing." Lois Goldrich Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4229/1/Kearny-teen-continues-church-state-challenge Some educators have recently come under fire for expressing their religious views in public schools. "Public school teachers and coaches wield enormous influence over their students and it is critical they do not use that authority - authority granted to them by the government - to create an environment where children of different faiths or no faith are made to feel unequal," said Etzion Neuer, director of the Anti-Defamation League's New Jersey office. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4228/1/Why-be-ethical%3F-Some-Jewish-reasons Rabbi Elliot Dorff admits to having what he calls a "stump speech." And, he concedes, it's a bit "preachy." Longtime director of the rabbinical and master's programs at the University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University), where he is rector and distinguished professor of philosophy, Dorff - who will be scholar-in-residence at the Fair Lawn Jewish Center this weekend - will focus primarily on the subject of ethics. But, he said, he will also find an opportunity to hammer home what he considers an urgent message, encouraging young couples "not to put off marriage [until] an age where they may encounter problems related to infertility." Lois Goldrich Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4227/1/Bat-Torah-headed-for-Paramus Suffern girls school to move to old Frisch site Miriam Bak, principal of The Bat Torah Academy - The Alisa M. Flatow Yeshiva High School in Suffern, N.Y. has long dreamed of starting a school in Bergen County. Now, with her Monsey school moving to the old site of The Frisch School in Paramus in September, she will see that wish fulfilled. A former resident of Teaneck - the family moved there on the suggestion of Rabbi Stanley Fass, first rabbi of Cong. Beth Aaron - Bak said she "fell in love" with the town, helping to found the nursery school at Cong. Bnai Yeshurun and providing an early home for Cong. Rinat Yisrael in her basement. Her children attended the Yeshiva of Hudson County when it was in Union City, she said, pointing out that when her daughter Nomi was in the fourth grade there, "60 percent of the students were from Teaneck." Lois Goldrich Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4203/1/Local-congressman-introduces-bill-curtailing-funds-for-Durban-II Rep. Scott Garrett has introduced a bill to keep taxpayers from funding the 2009 Durban II Conference. U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5) introduced a House resolution last week to prevent U.S. taxpayer money from funding the 2009 U.N. Durban Review Conference II, a follow-up to the 2001 conference that was decried by Western nations for its anti-Israel agenda. The United States and 45 other member-nations of the U.N. voted in December not to support Durban II. According to the resolution's text, the first conference was "used as a platform to advance anti-Semitism and, consequently, the United States and Israeli delegates walked out." While the United States has adopted a pattern at the United Nations of voting against the conference, Garrett's bill prohibits U.S. funding and participation in it and any related preparation. A congressional statement sends an important message that the government's constituency also supports the action against the conference, Garrett told this newspaper last week. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4202/1/E-mail-spurs-discussions-on-Internet-dangers A sexual predator may be using a social networking Website to target Orthodox youth, according to an e-mail sent by Yeshiva University to parents and area yeshivot. Although further inquiries by this paper revealed that the predator is not an immediate threat, officials have used the incident as an opportunity to repeat general precautions about using the Internet. The e-mail, dated April 10, was sent by Rabbi Hillel Davis, YU's vice president for student life. It notes that a young man using the names David Newman and David Goldman has been befriending young Orthodox men and women on Facebook while claiming to be a New York University student. In addition, it says, the suspect has reportedly attempted to meet with young men to "coerce them into physical contact" and "threatens them if they rebuff his advances." Josh Lipowsky Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4201/1/Pope%92s-visit%3A-%91More-show-than-substance%92%3F Jewish leaders are pondering the significance of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States last week. Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, who attended a meeting with the pope at the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., last Thursday, called it "more show that substance, but for the Vatican even show is substance." The fact that the pope invited the approximately 50 Jewish representatives to meet with him in a private room was an important gesture, said Foxman, because he "greeted us on the occasion of a Jewish festival, which basically was a recognition of religious Jewish life, Jewish faith, and Jewish rituals, and had that significance." Daniel Santacruz Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4200/1/A-Tehran-child-in-Passaic Chanoch Eyal of Passaic recognizes himself as the boy in the lower right of the photograph above, taken in 1943. In February, this newspaper ran photographs of some 800 Jewish orphans, called "the Children of Tehran," as they arrived in Palestine 65 years ago after a long, nightmarish journey. One photograph showed some of the youngest among them, in clothes either too large or too small, wearing uncertain smiles and holding hands. Chanoch Eyal, who now lives in Passaic, was the small boy in the right-hand corner with a bandaged right arm, carrying a piece of fruit. (He had had an infection on his arm, and still bears a scar.) When the train carrying the children had pulled into Atlit, where the British kept "illegal" refugees, the children were showered with candy tossed through the open windows by the joyful crowd that turned out to greet them. Warren Boroson Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4199/1/A-monumental-task Man who helped recover and return artwork stolen by Nazis will speak locally In this 2007 photo, Harry Ettlinger holds a photo taken in 1946 showing him, together with Lt. Dale Ford, viewing a self-portrait by Rembrandt in a German salt mine. A print of that painting now hangs in Ettlinger's Rockaway home. Eighty-two-year-old Harry Ettlinger is proud of the work he did as a "Monument Man" during World War II. "It was unprecedented," he says of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section of the Allied armies, which tracked down - and ultimately returned - more than 5 million artistic and cultural items stolen by the Nazis. Ettlinger, who will speak at the YM-YWHA of North Jersey in Wayne on April 28 about his experiences as a Monument Man, told The Jewish Standard that the elite group began operations in 1943 with just a small staff. By the time its work was complete in 1951, it had grown to include 350 men and women. Lois Goldrich Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4198/1/They%92re-the-top%3A-Locals-make-Newsweek%92s-rabbis%92-list For the second year in a row, Newsweek magazine has ranked the top 50 rabbis in America. Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, once again received the No. 1 spot, but this year's list also included two men from Englewood: Rabbis Shmuley Boteach and Mark Charendoff. Charendoff, who is new to the list, ranked No. 10. A non-practicing rabbi, he is president of The Jewish Funders Network in New York, an international organization of family foundations, public philanthropies, and individual funders that encourages philanthropy "rooted in Jewish values," according to its Website. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4197/1/Visiting-the-sick%3A-A-%91win-win%92-mitzvah Rabbi Daniel Feldman Everyone - people of all ages - should engage in the mitzvah of bikkur cholim, visiting the sick, according to Frank Buchweitz, national director of community service for the Orthodox Union. "Everyone should be involved," he told this newspaper. "It's part of belonging to a community." On May 3, the OU will offer a communal symposium, "Understanding the Meaning and Ramifications of Bikkur Cholim," co-sponsored with the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County. The program, to be held after Shabbat at Cong. Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, will focus on both the halakhic teachings surrounding the mitzvah and practical advice for volunteers. Lois Goldrich Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4189/1/N.J.-man-accused-of-spying-for-Israel-raises-ghost-of-Pollard Ben-Ami Kadish has been charged with spying for Israel. New Jersey Jewish News The arrest this week of a retired Jewish man in New Jersey on charges of transmitting classified information to Israel two decades ago shows how the Jonathan Pollard spy case continues to haunt the U.S.-Israel relationship. Ben-Ami Kadish, a former U.S. Army engineer, posted a $300,000 bond in federal court Tuesday in Manhattan before being whisked away from a mob of reporters in a silver Chevrolet without answering questions. Kadish is facing four charges of conspiracy to share classified information with Israel. From 1979 to 1985, Kadish allegedly "borrowed" documents from the library of the Army facility in Dover, where he was employed, and shared them with the science affairs consul at the Israeli consulate in New York. Ron Kampeas and Ben Harris Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4178/1/Prompted-by-rabbis%2C-state-takes-closer-look-at-cemeteries The State Legislature is examining concerns about cemetery regulation brought to its attention by area rabbis. The average cost of a funeral in New Jersey is several hundred dollars more than in neighboring New York, and families can expect to pay even more for Sunday burials. As The Jewish Standard previously reported, the North Jersey Board of Rabbis, assisted by other rabbis, has taken the lead in protesting a 15 percent surcharge that cemeteries have begun imposing on communal organizations that buy mass gravesites and transfer them to individuals. Although the regulation - designed to ensure that the nonprofit cemeteries have sufficient funds to operate - has been on record since 1971, it was not enforced uniformly until recent years. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4177/1/AJCongress-leader-wants-to-%91reinvigorate%92-local-group Valerie L. Boccadoro Hoboken resident Valerie L. Boccadoro - newly elected president of the New Jersey region of the American Jewish Congress - chose AJCongress because "I love its history." "I agree with its approach," she said, noting that the group implements its public policy advocacy through diplomacy, 
legislation, and the courts. Praising the organization founded by Rabbi Stephen Wise in 1918, Boccadoro, an attorney, pointed out that at one time, "the New Jersey Region was very influential; it played an important part in the early stages of the organization." But over the years, she said, it has become less effective. Lois Goldrich Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4176/1/Remembering-Rabbi-Blass Rabbi Jerome Blass Rabbi Dr. Jerome Blass, longtime religious leader of Cong. Beth Israel of Northern Valley in Bergenfield, family counselor, and former columnist for this newspaper, died last Friday. "He served the synagogue for 50 years and wrote the column in the Standard for about 20 years," remembers his son, Robert, who noted that when his father retired from congregational life, the family moved to Englewood. Coming to Cong. Beth Israel in 1949,the rabbi oversaw the building of the congregation's first home, watching its membership grow to more than 400 families. The Conservative synagogue closed last year. "He had a tremendous impact on the community," said his son, "particularly through his sermons." Rabbi Lawrence Troster, who took over the reins of the congregation in 1999, recalled that in the aftermath of the devastating fire in 1984 that destroyed the shul building, "Rabbi Blass was instrumental in keeping the community together. It could have just disappeared." Lois Goldrich Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4175/1/%91A-Shabbat-of-darkness%92 Community mourns tragic deaths Still reeling from the shocking deaths of their rabbi and his wife in a house fire last Friday night, the congregants of Young Israel of Scarsdale, N.Y., have been gathering photos and videos of the couple from their own family albums to share with the four Rubenstein children. As Shira Rubenstein, the eldest, noted on Sunday in eulogizing her parents, Rabbi Jacob Rubenstein, spiritual leader of the synagogue for nearly a quarter century, and his wife, Deborah, "the house is not there to remind us, so we will remind each other of our memories."   Steve Lipman Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4174/1/Arab-and-Israeli-photographers-depict-%91The-Land-Between-Us%92-in-Puffin-exhibit Ruthie Eliasaf, Rachel Banai's mother, stand with pomegranate trees on her kibbutz. Photo by Rachel Banai An Arab mayor sips coffee. Two teenagers, one Jewish, one Arab, touch hands. An elderly woman sits at a sewing machine. A family of six poses in front of crates. Those are some of the 80 pictures in an exhibit, "The Land Between Us," that opened on Saturday at the Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck. Consisting of four sets of photographs, the exhibit features the works of two Israeli photographers, Rachel Banai and Rauf Abu Fani. One set by Banai is of members of Kibbutz Sarid, where she was born 60 years ago. The kibbutz, in the lower Galilee, seven miles west of Afula, was founded in 1926 by immigrants from Europe, among them Banai's grandmother, Franci Fishel, who hailed from the former Czechoslovakia. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4173/1/Shul-relocating-from-Paterson-decides-to-buy%2C-not-build Temple Emanuel will relocate to this building, the former Union Reform Church in Franklin Lakes. Perhaps the congregation's Website says it best: "Temple Emanuel of North Jersey On The Move…" The Conservative congregation expects to move to a permanent facility in Franklin Lakes by summer, following about a dozen years of nomadic existence between its original home on 33rd Street and Broadway in Paterson and temporary quarters in Oakland, as it sought to establish roots in northwest Bergen County. Citing the escalating cost of construction, Temple Emanuel leaders recently abandoned plans for a new building on a 15-acre plot in Franklin Lakes the congregation bought for about $1 million, opting instead to enter into contract to buy the Union Reform Church on High Mountain Road there, said Seth Lipschitz, board president. The deal has been financed through a combination of donations, pledges, and proceeds from the $2.25 million sale in February of the historic art deco Paterson building. The property was sold to a developer who plans to convert the space to medical offices. Services were last held in Paterson about a year ago, said Lipschitz. Jane Calem Rosen Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4172/1/Area-native%92s-Website-helps-Israelis-find-work Zvi Landsman Zvi Landsman was determined to make a living in Israel, and he also wants to help other educated and motivated immigrants make ends meet. In September, the 28-year-old Teaneck native launched JobShuk, a Web-based employment network that seeks to pair Israel-based freelancers and service providers with employers in the global marketplace. ("Shuk," pronounced "shook," is the Middle Eastern word for "marketplace.") "The alarming numbers of poverty, hunger, and unemployment in Israel are incongruous with the advanced, democratic society which we are developing," said Landsman, a graduate of Columbia University's School of Engineering who moved to Israel five years ago. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4171/1/Yavneh-play-tells-the-story-of-the-St.-Louis SS St. Louis survivor Fred Buff with Yavneh student Jonathan Taubes, who portrayed Buff in Yavneh's eighth-grade Holocaust play. Right, Rabbi Shmuel Burstein, one of the play's producers. Dena Levie Over the years, the tragic story of the SS St. Louis has been told, and retold, in vehicles ranging from books to movies. Two weeks ago, the story was told once again, in an original play - "The Ship That Shamed the World: The Story of the SS St. Louis" -written and performed by the students of Yavneh Academy in Paramus. The show, which took place at the Teaneck Jewish Center on April 3, is based on the book "Voyage of the Damned," by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan- Witts, turned into an Oscar-winning movie in 1976. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4151/1/Corzine-signs-bill-creating-Jewish-Heritage-Month Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Assemblyman Gary Schaer look on as Gov. Jon Corzine signs a bill Wednesday in Passaic declaring April Jewish Heritage Month in New Jersey. Courtesy of the Govenor's office April will be known as Jewish Heritage Month in New Jersey, thanks to legislation Gov. Jon Corzine signed Wednesday at Passaic's Ahavas Israel in front of a multi-ethnic group. "For years New Jersey has been a gateway to America - a place of opportunity and new beginnings," Corzine said. "And today we take an important step to increase public awareness about the role Jewish Americans have played in the development of our state and the nation, and promote the rich heritage and traditions of the Jewish people, who have shaped the fabric of American society and global heritage." Josh Lipowsky Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4150/1/Passaic-rabbi-is-new-head-of-the-Beth-Din-of-America Rabbi Shlomo Weissmann of Passaic has been named the new director of the Manhattan-based Beth Din of America. The young father of two will oversee the daily caseload of this 48-year-old rabbinical court (literally, "house of law"), where each year some 600 affiliated and unaffiliated Jews seek halachically and secularly recognized divorce decrees, personal-status confirmation, and arbitration/mediation of commercial, familial, and communal disputes. A Fair Lawn native and graduate of Yavneh Academy in Paramus and Yeshiva University's high school for boys, Weissmann follows the rabbi-attorney model of his predecessor, Yale Law School graduate Rabbi Yona Reiss. Reiss is leaving after 10 years to become dean of Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4149/1/%91Native-sons%92-win-prizes Sam Reinstein reads from a portion of the tractate he studied for the contest. Four Teaneck native sons - Sam Reinstein, Shaya First, Baruch Goldberg, and Benny Herskovits - took top prizes in a scholarly contest sponsored in Jerusalem by Lander College for Men. The "Pre-Purim Bekius Blitz," now in its second year, was conceived as a way for young men studying at different post-high school yeshiva programs to come together for a good purpose, said Ari Gruen, one of the Queens-based college's Israel representatives. "Bekius" (also pronounced "bekiut") is a relatively fast-paced study method to gain a general familiarity with the talmudic text. "A unified Torah program is, surprisingly, not so common here, and it gives guys a chance to reconnect with friends at other schools," added Gruen. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4148/1/Young-donor-gives-unprecedented-gift-to-JFS Shira, Karen, David, and Robert Feurstein with JFS Executive Director Lisa Fedder, who presented David with a piece of Israeli artwork to thank him for a $30,000 donation he made to JFS in lieu of keeping any of his bar mitzvah gifts. photo by Josh Lipowky David Feurstein decided to do something different when he turned 13 in December. He told all of his guests that in lieu of gifts, he wanted donations for Jewish Family Service. David collected $30,000, and the welfare organization formally thanked the Alpine teenager on Sunday at a brunch at its Teaneck office. Because David had donated the entirety of his gifts, JFS decided to give him a bar mitzvah present, said executive director Lisa Fedder. She presented David with a painting by Michal Meron, depicting David's bar mitzvah portion. "Thank you for having blessed us and the people we serve," Fedder said. "A big motivation for selecting JFS was it wasn't just writing a check," said David's father, Robert Feurstein. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4147/1/Innovative-alliance-raises-funds-for-schools Four local day schools have been awarded matching grants through a new fund-raising initiative developed by an alliance, called MATCH, between the Partners for Excellence in Jewish Education and the Jewish Funders Network. The Gerrard Berman Day School Solomon Schechter of North Jersey in Oakland, The Moriah School in Englewood, the Rosenberg Yeshiva of North Jersey in River Edge, and Yeshivat Noam in Paramus received grants of $25,000 to $100,000, depending on their own fund-raising efforts. One condition was that the donations had to be from people who had never before donated or from people who increased their largest previous gift by five times. For every dollar the schools raised up to $100,000 they would be matched by 50 cents (up to $50,000). The total amount the 2008 program generated in giving to 146 schools in 26 states from 199 new donors was $15 million. Jewish day schools across all denominations, including Conservative, Reform, Orthodox, as well as nondenominational, were eligible. Anne Phyllis Pinzow Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4146/1/Gone-but-not-forgotten%3A-Cejwin-alums-reminisce The lay of the land. Courtesy of Eric Robbins. It was special. That's how Cejwinites remember their camp. As alumni plan a June reunion to mark the 90th anniversary of the camp's founding (the Port Jervis facility closed more than a decade ago), The Jewish Standard reached out to several former campers. What emerged was the picture of an institution that spurred lifelong friendships, brought together future spouses, and planted the seeds for campers' ongoing commitment to Jewish life. What also emerged was laughter (even a few giggles) as people now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s recalled those early days. Founded in 1919 by Albert and Bertha Schoolman, Jewish educators and fervent Zionists, the camp was a project of the Central Jewish Institute, created in 1916 "to integrate Judaism with the American way of life," according to a brief history of the organization on the Website of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Lois Goldrich Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4145/1/Jerusalem-arrives-in-Teaneck Cantor Ilan Mamber of Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff leads the Bergen County chapter of Hazamir in Israeli songs. Courtesy UJA-NNJ Teaneck's West Englewood Avenue on Sunday was loud and crowded, just like the famous Israeli street it channeled for the day, and just as David Hyman had hoped. The Ben Yehuda Street Fair drew as many as 3,000 people at any one time during the afternoon, according to police estimates and leaders of UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey hailed it as a giant success in celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary. "We wanted this Ben Yehuda fair for Israel's 60th birthday to be something people would not forget and I really believe we accomplished that," said Gale S. Bindelglass, the event's co-chair and mistress of ceremonies. "It was like all the pieces fell in their exact place," said Hyman, UJA-NNJ's Israel shaliach and one of the event's organizers. "The biggest achievement was the turnout. People really showed their support…. Israel's a great reason for people to get together. It was the place to be." Josh Lipowsky Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4144/1/Run-of-the-Miller Local woman does the half-marathon for special-education charity Nancy Miller rests after running the half-marathon. Photo by Rachel Kaminetzky The day after running 13 miles for charity, Nancy Miller was feeling a little achy but nevertheless triumphant. "I finished in under three hours," said the Bergenfield resident of Sunday's annual MORE magazine half-marathon in Central Park for women 40 and over. "I ran straight for the first 10 miles and then my knees started giving me trouble. I ended up walking a little, and running across the finish line." Miller's motivation was not just to shed pounds left over from her fifth pregnancy almost four years ago. She wanted to raise money for Jewish Education for Special Children, a Sunday program hosted at the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey in River Edge. JESC caters to children with learning disabilities, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or autism. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4109/1/Ambassador-Meridor%92s-message%3A-Part-frightening%2C-part-festive From left are Dan Silna, president of UJA-NNJ; Leo Gans, a member of the UJA-NNJ board of trustees who introduced Ambassador Sallai Meridor; Meridor; and Barbara and Phillip Moss, who hosted a leadership briefing before Meridor's talk. Howard Charish, executive vice president of UJA-NNJ, is in back. UJA-NNJ Sallai Meridor, Israel's ambassador to the United States, came to Bergen County last week, with a message that was part festive, part frightening. At the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades last Wednesday, he spoke at length about Iran and terror and called for action against the threat posed by Iran. Yet despite a speech marked by the domestic and external challenges Israel faces, he offered celebratory statements for Israel's 60th anniversary, and commendations to North Jersey for maintaining the community's strength through the 2004 merger of the UJA Federation of Bergen County & North Hudson and the Jewish Federation of North Jersey. Marilyn Henry Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4108/1/Teens-meet-with-congressman-to-publicize-soldiers%92-plight From left are Yaniv and Sima Peretz of Sderot, Danielle and Gabrielle Flaum of SOS, Rep. Scott Garrett, Dane Burroughs of SOS, Nancy Kislin Flaum, and Martin Radnor of One Family Fund. Photo by Daniel Santacruz Gabrielle Flaum's first trip to Israel two years ago included a war. The 17-year-old Short Hills resident and senior at Millburn High School was part of a group of 500 American students on a six-week trip organized by the National Federation of Temple Youth when war between Israel and Hezbollah broke out on July 12, 2006. That day, at about 9 a.m, Hezbollah attacked a number of targets on the Israeli border. Two soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, were abducted, three were killed, and two were wounded. Their abduction was preceded by that of another soldier, Gilad Shalit, on June 25, on the border with Gaza. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4107/1/Honoring-the-rescuers Debbie Teicholz- Guedalia, third from left, holds the medal accepted on behalf of her father, Bruce Teicholz. Louise von Dardel, Raoul Wallenberg's niece, holds the Wallenberg memorial stamp. Yasmine and Shira Guedalia, left, accompanied their mother to the event. While "the story of rescue in the Holocaust has been largely ignored and even marginalized" - according to a statement from the Institute for the Study of Rescue and Altruism in the Holocaust (ISRAH) - Demarest resident Debbie Teicholz-Guedalia is no stranger to stories about heroes. Her father, Bruce Teicholz, was one of them. "He told me about his work," she said, "and his story was depicted in a television miniseries as well as in books such as 'Lost Hero: The Mystery of Raoul Wallenberg,' by Rabbi Frederick E. Werbell and Thurston Clarke." Lois Goldrich Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4106/1/Two-young-Jews-talk-politics Daniel Mark Avi Smolen Acting on our commitment to reflect the total political landscape, The Jewish Standard sought out younger voters with divergent views, We found Daniel Mark and Avi Smolen. Both students agree that political activism is important. "It forces you to educate yourself and to engage the best arguments on the other side," said Mark, a 27-year-old Princeton graduate student raised in Englewood and a self-described conservative Republican. "Politics is not just focused on one thing but affects people in every aspect of their life," said Smolen, a 20-year-old junior at Rutgers and a Democrat. "If you follow political developments, you understand trends in the economy" and in other aspects of national life. Lois Goldrich Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4105/1/Local-rabbi%92s-Haggadah-shares-Soloveitchik%92s-wisdom Using meticulous notes saved from the 1970s, Rabbi Yosef Adler compiled "Haggadah for Passover with Commentary based on the Shiurim of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik" while on sabbatical in the summer of 2006. It was published last month by Urim Publications ($22). Adler, the longtime rabbi of Cong. Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck and head of school of the Torah Academy of Bergen County there, was a disciple of the man referred to respectfully as "the rav" in the world of Yeshiva University and centrist American Orthodoxy. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4104/1/Music-and-a-tasty-treat-for-nursing-facility-residents Alexis Lerner will present a classical concert at The Atrium, at The Allendale Community for Mature Living at 2 p.m. on April 6. The concert is free and open to the public. Karen Lerner ALLENDALE - Hailey Wilson had to do a mitzvah project for her Hebrew school class at Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff. So she called her grandmother, Rosalie Rothenberg. "I wanted to do something with my grandma," said Hailey, a sixth-grader at Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes. "She has this recipe for challah from her own grandmother that she makes for us every holiday. She brought the recipe over and we made it together." (The recipe appears below.) Hailey and her mother, Sandy Gonzalez, brought the challah to be given out in The Atrium at the Allendale Community for Mature Living here, at a Friday pre-Shabbat service. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4103/1/Let-all-who-are-hungry... On Sunday, April 13, 50 elderly residents of Jersey City, Bayonne, and Hoboken will receive packages with food for Passover, courtesy of CareLink. An extra treat awaits the recipients: The packages will also contain crafts from the children of the Jewish Community Center of Bayonne Nursery School, the United Synagogue of Hoboken Learning Center, and the United Synagogue of Hoboken preschool. The packages, tote bags that volunteers are scheduled to fill today, will contain chicken, grape juice, gefilte fish, horseradish, matzoh, macaroons, and a Haggadah. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4102/1/Welcome-to-Israel-%97-in-Teaneck UJA-NNJ will recreate Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street on Sunday in Teaneck. Because of Teaneck's large number of synagogues and mosques, The New York Times a few years ago dubbed it "the Jerusalem of the West." That moniker will become a little truer this Sunday as the aroma of shwarma and the sounds of vendors shouting in Hebrew, hawking their wares, fill the air as UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey transforms part of Teaneck into a replica of Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4101/1/Off-to-see-the-%28environmentally-friendly%29-wizard-in-Oakland These "vegetables" in the GBDSSS play are, from left, Eden Yosef, Erin Rivera, Jessica Siegel, Paige Suchoff, Tal Vaknin, and Talia Zames. Forty-five children and eight adults star next week in "The Wizard of Voz," an original take-off dreamed up by a parent and two teachers at Gerrard Berman Day School, Solomon Schechter of North Jersey in Oakland. "Just a week and a half before Earth Day, the show is a wonderful way to teach children about the importance of environmentalism," said Beth Paley of Wayne, a co-writer, co-director, and main choreographer for the musical production. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4100/1/Daughter-of-survivors-keeps-memory-alive Sandy Rubenstein, the daughter of survivors, visits schools to speak to children about her father's experiences, recollected in his recently reissued book. Joseph Horn died in 1999, 30 years after moving to Glen Rock and 60 years after the Nazis began a series of devastating actions that would leave him as the sole survivor of his Polish family. Horn and his wife, Dinah, did not discuss their wartime experiences with their three daughters - not until Sandy, at age 10, discovered a black notebook with yellowed pages covered in her father's handwriting. "I knew it was something my parents didn't want me to see," Sandy Rubenstein recalls today. "I locked myself in the bathroom [to read it] because I yearned to know where they got those tattoos, why they spoke with foreign accents, why we had no grandparents. I read voraciously, and the more I read the less I really understood." Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4099/1/Program-provides-%91real-life-experience%92-for-rabbis-in-training Rabbi Rafael G. Grossman of the Synagogue on the Palisades, is proud of his small Fort Lee congregation. "Our Shabbat Kollel program is the only such initiative in the United States," he told The Jewish Standard. "I can't find another one." Grossman - who came to the city four years ago after 30 years as religious leader of the 1,000-member Baron Hirsch Synagogue in Memphis, Tenn., where he is now senior rabbi emeritus - says the study program "adds a new dimension to synagogue life." Lois Goldrich Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4098/1/New-book-celebrates-breast-cancer-program Ruth Cowan displays the new "History of ABCs" book at last month's convention in Chicago of the National Council of Jewish Women. Many of us have had the shocking and sad experience of hearing that a mother, sister, grandmother, daughter, or friend has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The medical community is immediately engaged, procedures are done - but what comes next? Geraldine Markowitz Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4093/1/Victim%92s-father-to-speak-on-terrorism Arnold Roth, whose 15-year-old daughter was killed in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem, will speak in Englewood on April 5. Arnold Roth wishes he hadn't earned his billing as "a world-renowned expert on the victims of Islamic terrorism." He'd prefer to stay home with his family in Israel instead of spreading sobering news around the world. But because his middle child, Malki, was blown up by a terrorist on Aug. 9, 2001 in a Jerusalem pizza shop, this former Australian lawyer feels he has no choice. That is what brings him to Cong. Kol HaNeshamah in Englewood on April 5 for a Lunch & Learn session following Shabbat services. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4092/1/Likud-faction-founder-to-speak-in-Teaneck Moshe Feiglin, head of the Likud's Jewish Leadership faction, will speak at Teaneck's Cong. B'nai Yeshurun on Sunday. When the Jews of Israel begin to assert their historic claim to the land of Israel, their Arab neighbors will have no choice but to respect that claim and allow Israel to live in peace, according to Moshe Feiglin, founder and head of the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction of the Israel's right-wing Likud political party. "When we know what we want from ourselves, our neighbors will appreciate that," Feiglin told this newspaper during a telephone interview on Monday. "They'll understand they'll have to accept the fact that the land of Israel will remain a Jewish nation." Josh Lipowsky Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4091/1/Corzine-to-sign-religious-protection-bills-next-month Gov. Jon Corzine will sign two religious protection bills into law at a Passaic synagogue early next month, bringing the seven-bill package sponsored by Assemblyman Gary Schaer and Sen. Loretta Weinberg a step closer to completion. The first bill mandates that state universities and colleges provide alternate test dates for students with religious conflicts. The second bill, which Corzine had previously signed during the legislative break in January, mandates that employers provide alternatives to employees who have religious obligations on scheduled workdays. Because the legislature was on break, Corzine did not hold a public signing of the bill, and so he will ceremonially sign both bills on Wednesday, April 9, at Ahavas Israel in Passaic. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4090/1/Anti-Semitic-incidents-increase-slightly The number of anti-Semitic incidents in New Jersey increased slightly in 2007, according to newly issued statistics from the Anti-Defamation