Englewood resident Dr. David Arbit has spent much of his adult life hearing about the Shoah.

“My father-in-law is a survivor,” says the physician, who practices in Fair Lawn. “At every bar- or bat mitzvah, he would get up and speak about his experiences.”

Now, however, Arbit can add many more firsthand accounts to those he already knows. As the physician designated by the March of the Living program to accompany this year’s honorees — some 16 former U.S. servicemen who were among the first to arrive at Europe’s many concentration camps during World War II — the doctor says he now has both new information and detailed verification of his father-in-law’s stories.

Last Sunday morning, 500 people came to the Jewish Center of Teaneck (JCT) to celebrate the life of Arthur Joseph.

Joseph, who moved to Teaneck in the 1950s and became a bedrock first of the town’s nascent Jewish community and then the Bergen Jewish community that followed, died in January at the age of 85. He was buried in Maryland. Sunday’s event — a presentation and brunch — provided an opportunity for area residents who could not attend his funeral to honor his memory.

Joseph made his fortune as a broker of apples and other fruits. When he retired, he decided he had to go back to work so that he could continue to fund myriad commitments to his community.

A musical pacifier, mittens and gloves with tissue pockets, a cleat guard — all these nifty novelties and more were displayed by their fourth-grade inventors at The Moriah School of Englewood’s Invention Convention on April 24.

Starting just after the January break, teachers guided the 45 pupils, working in pairs or threes, in deciding on their inventions. They brainstormed a need collaboratively, thought of possible solutions, designed the solutions on paper, and then built prototypes, said Robin Wexler, associate principal for general studies in the Lower School.

“Throughout our exciting Invention Unit, we hope to have stimulated the imagination of our children, and provided a channel in which to unleash their creative juices,” Wexler said. “It is our role as educators to show students the importance of integrating reading, writing, math, art, science and technology skills, as well as to emphasize the significance of becoming creative, divergent, and independent thinkers.”

In the late 1800s, seeking funds to build Alabama’s Tuskegee University — then Tuskegee Normal School — the author and educator Booker T. Washington went up north to solicit help from known philanthropists. Among them was Chicago resident Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck, and Co.

“A lot of northern philanthropists were looking to help out with education in the South,” said Tracy Hayes, field officer and project manager for the Rosenwald Schools Initiative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

In the end, she said, Rosenwald’s contribution would help not just Tuskegee, but the cause of public education throughout the south — and the nation as a whole. Through his efforts, some 5,000 schools were opened for African American children, some of which still function today.

In the late 1800s, seeking funds to build Alabama’s Tuskegee University — then Tuskegee Normal School — the author and educator Booker T. Washington went up north to solicit help from known philanthropists. Among them was Chicago resident Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck, and Co.

“A lot of northern philanthropists were looking to help out with education in the South,” said Tracy Hayes, field officer and project manager for the Rosenwald Schools Initiative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

In the end, she said, Rosenwald’s contribution would help not just Tuskegee, but the cause of public education throughout the south — and the nation as a whole. Through his efforts, some 5,000 schools were opened for African American children, some of which still function today.

BEIT EL – Alex Traiman stands under a tarp in his spacious backyard as 10-year-old Tmima turns cartwheels on the lawn.

“This is our home,” says Traiman, pointing to his single-floor apartment filled with books and children’s toys. “We did not come here to trample on anyone’s rights — we came here to raise our children with values and ethics, and to settle the Land of Israel.”

Through the haze on an unusually cold day in late April, the barren Judean Hills and, farther to the west, the modern office towers of the Palestinian city of Ramallah provide the background for his emotion-filled statements. Traiman, a documentary filmmaker, came to Israel from New York with his family eight years ago, moving to the settlement of Beit El.

Special to The Jewish Standard

Maurice Sendak revolutionized children’s literature in a career that spanned almost 60 years, but he did not think of his books as stories for children. They were stories he told himself. “I chose the picture book form because I could hide myself in it and talk about whatever I like,” he said in a telephone interview several years ago. “That it works for children is wonderful, but that is not what I set out to do.”

Sendak, who died on Tuesday at the age of 83, was best known as the creator of the horned and fanged “Wild Things.” Whether his drawings were of mischievous monsters or innocent-faced children, teeming theatrical tableaux or delicate portraits detailed with crosshatching, his style is hard to mistake for anyone else’s. He imbued his characters with an old-world yet timeless quality, their round faces, squat bodies, dreamy, closed-eyed stances or bare-footed romps a balance of movement and motionlessness, of floating, morphing shapes yet energetic immediacy. Even when his theme was brooding or melancholy, his characters reflected the hopefulness of childhood.