03 Sep 2010 | 24 Elul 5770
Jeanette Friedman
LocalPublished: 25 June 2010
The Fair Lawn Borough Council passed a non-binding, non-partisan resolution Tuesday night supporting Israel’s right to defend itself.
Sponsored by Fair Lawn resident Sam Heller, a member of Shomrei Torah Orthodox Congregation, the resolution had been moved to the top of the council’s agenda at its working session last Tuesday.
According to Heller, the idea came to him when he was driving home from Daughters of Miriam in Clifton, where he is a volunteer. The resolution — which includes a concise history of the State of Israel and describes in detail acts of terrorism by Hamas — states that Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza to prevent Hamas from getting materials to use against Israel and other parties. It further states that only after cargoes are inspected may humanitarian aid supplies pass through to Gaza.
The e-mail came from a news source in Europe, who got it from a guy in New York, who got it from a couple in Los Angeles, who got it from a guy who “just received this from my friend in Israel, who moves in high circles, who heard it from a consultant to the United States who meets once a month with the president in the White House. He is in the know. This is what actually has happened with the relationship with Israel and the U.S.A. and it is not pretty.”
What followed was a litany of “crimes” by the U.S. administration against Israel. Some of them were based on kernels of truth that had been convoluted into “reports” designed to galvanize people into action by injecting them with the fear factor. One accusation was exaggerated truth. Others were patently ridiculous, some were oversimplifications of complicated diplomatic matters that are not controlled by anyone in the United States, and some were outright lies.
LocalPublished: 14 May 2010
Charles and Rabbi Moshe Rosenbaum traveled from Geneva and Jerusalem to Paramus last Thursday to watch the Yavneh middle school graduating class perform “The Unlikely Hero,” a play honoring their father, Pinchas Rosenbaum, who saved Jews in Hungary during the Holocaust. In this production, Pinchas the younger was played by Leora Hyman and the older by Philip Meyer. The script was written and the scenery was designed and painted by members of the graduating class.
The script was adapted from interviews commissioned by the two brothers and their sister Leah, lifelong friends of Yavneh’s Rabbi Shmuel Burstein. Though he knew the family, the teacher first heard the story 25 years ago at dinner honoring the memory of Pinchas Rosenbaum, who died in 1980. According to Charles Rosenbaum, his father rarely spoke about his rescue efforts. But as his children traveled the world, they were approached by those he rescued who told them their stories.
My father — a yeshiva bochur from Munkacs who loved the Yiddish theater — tied his cousin (female) to the back of his motorcycle and headed into Prague from Presov to see drama queen Ida Kaminska. When he got back to Presov, his uncle gave him a “mishebeyrach,” a blessing (not), that he never forgot. But seeing Kaminska emote in Yiddish on the stage was worth every “patch” (smack). That love of Yiddish theater has been passed down to me.
Just five years away from its centennial as the oldest theater company in the United States and as a Jewish cultural icon, the National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene is thriving in New York and around the country. It continuously celebrates the vivacity of Yiddish and brings Yiddish culture to every “vinkele” (corner) of America. From the South Shore to the Deep South, from the Hamptons to Los Angeles, from Crown Heights to Cleveland, and from “da Bronks” to Dayton, Ohio, NYTF is attracting younger, fresher audiences to a wealth of programs. What they’ve discovered in recent years is that you don’t need to be Jewish or speak Yiddish to love Yiddish theater — audiences and performers come from diverse backgrounds and adore the whole experience.
LocalPublished: 23 April 2010
The first Jewish runners club, JRunners, was recently founded in Brooklyn by three 30-ish Brooklynites: Steven Friedman (no relation to this writer), Matt Katz, and Saul Rosenblum, who love to run. What they love even more is running for good causes, so when a neighbor contracted ALS, a severe degenerative disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, they put together a non-profit organization to bring Jewish runners together to raise money for charity. Their tag line is “We Run for Those Who Can’t!” and their first race is for the benefit of that ALS family. Each runner will raise a minimum of $1,000 and will be given tools to help him accomplish that goal.
Seder night is a challenge. There’s just so much to do and so many things to put on the table!
In addition to a formal setting — charger, dinner plate, appetizer plate, water glasses and wine glasses, four kinds of forks (salad, fish, meat, and dessert), two knives (one for fish, one for meat), three spoons (appetizer, soup, and tea), and dinner napkins — there are ceremonial foods and objects that need to be available to the seder leader.
Keep things as simple as possible. Use rectangular tables and get the smallest folding chairs you can find.
A few years ago I accepted an invitation to share a Passover seder at the home of my then-boyfriend’s parents.
Since we were becoming more serious as a couple, I was excited to experience this penultimate sign of family acceptance. I bought a cute new dress to wear and some gourmet kosher-for-Passover chocolates for his mom. I prepped by asking for short bios on second cousins I’d be meeting for the first time and, in case I was asked, I practiced the Four Questions.
Tuesday night, the 71st anniversary of Kristallnacht, was a “back to school” night of sorts. Teaneck residents, high school faculty members, students, and alumni gathered at Teaneck High School for the rededication of New Jersey’s first Holocaust Center, established in 1975 by history teacher and Holocaust education pioneer Ed Reynolds. Reynolds, who marveled at the fact that he hadn’t walked “these halls” for 17 years, was the keynote speaker on Tuesday. Addressing some 60 people, he described the long educational journey that began with a telephone call, in 1975, from the Anti-Defamation League in New York.
Reynolds was asked if he and teachers Richard Flaim, Ken Turburtini, and Harry Furman in Vineland would be interested in designing a curriculum for a course or unit to teach the Holocaust in New Jersey public schools.
