Poland was never on Cantor Faith Steinsnyder’s “top 10 destinations list.” Nevertheless Steinsnyder, of The Village Temple in Manhattan, was among 70 cantors, including four from Bergen County and hundreds of congregants from synagogues throughout North America, Europe, and Israel, who went on last month’s Cantors Assembly mission “Poland to Israel: A Journey Through Time.”
“It’s important,” said Steinsnyder. “It’s not a fun place to spend your vacation, but it was very moving, very challenging, and very enriching.”
Steinsnyder went on the mission — which visited Poland from June 29 to July 5 and Israel from July 6 to 12 — with her husband, Cantor David Perper, of Beth Haverim Shir Shalom in Mahwah. Unlike many other participants, none of their parents are Holocaust survivors.
Jewish communities throughout the United States know the role of the Israel Defense Forces. What they don’t know well enough, said IDF Sgt. Benjamin Anthony, is the role of the Israeli soldier.
In May 2008, to bring the truth about these soldiers to Jews outside of Israel, Anthony founded Our Soldiers Speak, he said. On Tuesday, he will speak at Cong. Arzei Darom at an event co-sponsored by that shul, Netivot Shalom, Shaare Tefillah, and Beth Aaron, all in Teaneck.
The program, called “Israel’s Sons Become Brothers in Arms: A 10-Minute Translation Under Fire,” is designed to show the soldiers as real human beings, he said.
But some North Jersey high school students are willing to do it again, only this time, they'll be 6,000 miles away from home.
This year, 58 students from North America were selected to spend the last three years of high school in Israel with the Elite Academy program run by the Jewish Agency for Israel and Israel's Ministry of Education.
In December, 18-year-old Samantha Gabbay was happy, healthy, and celebrating Chanukah with her family.
"Last December we were together at Chanukah and she just had itchy ankles," said her aunt, Sheerlee Mischel of Hillsdale. (Her mother, Mara Karolin, lives in Old Bethpage, Long Island.)
What began as a few seemingly odd, but not serious, symptoms was diagnosed on Feb. 3 as non-Hodgkin lymphoma stage 3, more technically known as large B-cell diffused lymphoma.
Even at the age of ', he was an athletic kid," said Merill Levine of her son, Dylan.
At the age of 3, Dylan was diagnosed with a condition called fibrous dysplasia. The chronic bone disease, which is caused by a defective gene, makes Dylan's legs prone to breaking.
Neverthless, said his mother, "he was always very athletic, always playing baseball, always doing something. It got to the point where he couldn't do what he wanted to do any more; he had to stop doing Little League. He was unhappy, so I started researching things he could do," Levine said.
Levine came across sled hockey. Players play a real game of hockey, only from a sled instead of skates. Through sled hockey, Dylan met other children who were active in other sports.
Michael Schneider, right, visits the Save a Child's Heart Foundation in Holon. He and Brian Welfel plan to donate a portion of their profits from their online retail busness to the foundation.
For those who feel most comfortable shopping at 3 a.m., in their underwear, online shopping is extremely convenient.
But that doesn't mean online retailers have figured out how to cater to consumers' every need — and to help Israel in the process.
That's where 19-year-old entrepreneurs Mike Schneider and Bryan Welfel of CremeCrop.com come in.
Many young people from several overnight summer camps, including these Union for Reform Judaism campers, added enthusiasm to Monday's rally at the U.N. to free the kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Justin Sulsky/JTA
On Monday, thousands of protesters made it clear that they have not forgotten the plight of kidnapped Israeli soldiers Gil Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev.
Last year, a rally was held to pressure the U.N. to do everything in its power to release them. One year later, the soldiers are still in captivity.
In September of '00', teacher Daniel Rothner founded Areyvut, a non-profit Jewish organization dedicated to bringing the values of tzedekah, chesed and making a difference in the world to the daily lives of Jews throughout the United States and Israel.
"We started out of passion by Daniel Rothner," said Shiri Bernstein, the organization's marketing and outreach coordinator. "He felt that kindness and justice were taught in the classroom but not implemented outside. It was a way for students to do hands-on interesting projects that they would be passionate about that interested them."
Rabbi Shlomo Singer raises the Yeshiva Passaic Torah Institute's new Torah at a gathering celebrating its acquisition. photo courtesy of YPTI
It started around 1' years ago as a small gathering of only a few people in the dining room of Rabbi Shlomo Singer's Passaic home. About six years ago, it outgrew his dining room, living room, basement, and garage, respectively. Since then, the Yeshiva Passaic Torah Institute has called 441 Passaic Ave. its home.
After four years at the University of Maryland, women's basketball guard Shay Doron has been drafted No. 16 overall by the team she's been watching most of her life — the New York Liberty.
Doron moved from Israel to Great Neck, N.Y. at the age of 3. Since it was created, the New York Liberty has been her team and guard Becky Hammon has been her hero.
When Doron was drafted earlier this year, it left her speechless.
