Arts & Leisure: General
Jewish calendars: Artful encounter with past and present
The pairing of Jewish calendars with striking images of Judaica makes for an exciting combination.
With each calendar page we encounter an illustration of a historical, or contemporary, precious Judaic object that can brighten our surroundings, lift our spirits, and enlighten us about some aspect of our rich traditions.
All the calendars reviewed below give candlelighting times, Torah readings, and the dates for major and minor holidays.
Tenafly JCC holds open house
 | Children playing in the new JCC playground. Tovit Lore, courtesy of the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades. |
The Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly will hold a membership “Open House” Sunday, Sept. 19, from 1 to 7 p.m. From 1-3 p.m. there will be tours, membership drawing, and a reception with JCC staff. Guests can use the pool, sample classes, and use the adult and youth fitness centers. There will be special activities for children, including a moon bounce, tumble room, and use of the water park.
Sample classes and demonstrations for children and adults will be offered from 1 to 7 p.m. There will be a Health Fair, themed “100 Days to Make a Change” featuring experts from Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, chair massages, nutritionists, group exercise classes, and Polar Body age testing.
From 12:30 to 2:30 p.m, the Chuck Guttenberg Center for the Physically Challenged will hold “Special Games – Special People,” an annual field day event designed for those 4 to 70 with physical and developmental disabilities.
Babysitting will be available during select hours. For information or to volunteer, call Shelley Levy at (201) 408-1489.
Retired judge discusses his book
 | Thomas Buergenthal as a child, left, and Judge Thomas Buergenthal Max Koot Photos courtesy of Museum of Jewish Heritage |
Judge Thomas Buergenthal, recently retired American judge from the International Court of Justice in The Hague, will launch his memoir “A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy” (Little, Brown and Company, 2010), on Sunday, Sept. 19 at 2:30 p.m., at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City. Museum director David G. Marwell will interview Buergenthal. Tickets are $5 but free for members. Call (646)437-4202 or www.mjhnyc.org.
Feminism and painting at Manhattan museum
 | Miriam Schapiro, Fanfare, 1958, oil on canvas. Collection of The Jewish Museum. Miriam Schapiro, courtesy Flomenhaft Gallery, New York. |
“Shifting the Gaze: Feminism and Painting,” on display at The Jewish Museum from Sept. 12 to Jan. 30, includes more than 30 paintings and several sculptures and decorative objects drawn from the museum’s collection and some on loan. The artists represented include Judy Chicago, Louise Fishman, Leon Golub, Eva Hesse, Deborah Kass, Lee Krasner, Louise Nevelson, Elaine Reichek, Miriam Schapiro, Joan Snyder, Nancy Spero, and Hannah Wilke.
Joan Leegant’s novel shines a ‘blinding light’ on Jerusalem
Wherever You Go” is Joan Leegant’s first full-length novel and follows her acclaimed short story collection “One Hour in Paradise.” That collection garnered positive critical attention and also won the prestigious Winship/PEN New England Book Award as well as the Edward Lewis Wallant Book Award. “Wherever You Go” deserves comparable recognition.
The Jerusalem of “Wherever You Go” has complicated boundaries exposed by the blinding light of the city’s stone. The book’s three major narratives initially run parallel, then intersect, and finally come together. The novel’s power is derived, in part, from Leegant’s unflinching examination of particular groups of American Jews and their emotionally needy relationship with Israel.
Point of view
 | Stephanie Wang-Breal Stewart Simons |
PBS’ “Point Of View” series on Thirteen/WNET presents “Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy” by Stephanie Wang-Breal, on Tuesday, Aug. 31, at 10 p.m. The story is about Fang Sui Yong, an 8-year-old orphan, and the Sadowskys, the Long Island Jewish family that adopts her in China.
Flowers by J-ADD
 | A sample $36 arrangement |
The Jewish Association for Developmental Disabilities (J-ADD), a non-profit agency that serves those with special needs, offers Rosh HaShanah centerpieces and bouquets. Flowers can be picked up on Tuesday, Sept. 7, from 2 to 4 p.m., at Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County in New Milford; and Wednesday, Sept. 8, from 10 a.m. to noon, at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, and at Temple Emeth in Teaneck, from 11 a.m. to noon.
Centerpieces cost $36, $50, and $72; and bouquets cost $18 and $36. To order, call (201) 457-0058, ext. 18, or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). For information, visit www.j-add.org.
